What It Is

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my copy of What It Is by Lynda Barry from amazon. Part autobiography, part picture book, part activity book, Ms. Barry explores philosophical questions such as "Can we imagine something that we can't remember?" through her drawings, collages, watercolors, etc. I decided to become an owner of this book after reading this NYT review. Today I also found it mentioned in Julia Rothman's blog, Book By Its Cover. Rothman shows pictures and writes about art, design, handmade, comics, or children's books that she finds and enjoys. I want to own them allllll, each and every one.

Procrastination

Would I ever want to move The Finer Things Club to Russia for, say 3 months?



Eep, I just don't know.

Shakespeare Theatre Company free for all

Tonight Ali and I took ourselves and some fancy snacks to see The Shakespeare Theatre Company's free production of Hamlet in DC. The Carter Barron Amphitheatre is a pretty awesome venue for a Shakespeare play - it is outside in the park and you can come early and picnic. Other than it getting a little too chilly later in the evening and us sitting next to a kid who got a little too flatulent, we enjoyed the production. The story is set in modern day, the set design is contemporary and cool, the music is dark and electro, and the actor who plays Hamlet is totally my boyfriend. (Also and still my boyfriend are hockey star Alexander Ovechkin from the Capitals and lead singer Keith Murray from We Are Scientists.) Get thee to a nunnery.

Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?

Documentary about a 70-year old lady truck driver who buys a $5-dollar painting in a thrift store and then has a decade-long battle with the art world to authenticate the painting as a real Pollock. It was sort of frustrating to watch. You want the art "experts" to be right, since they are the ones telling us what is real and what isn't and basically determining what we see when we go to an art gallery. But then their only argument against forensic investigations that led to fingerprint and paint sample matches is that art is not a crime scene. They provide the following proof for why the painting is NOT a Pollock: "This is not an authentic Pollock. I am an art expert, and you are not." Very frustrating.

Mate

Last night, I was all set to have a quiet night at home. And then Kelli used the word "sushi" in a sentence. She also said the words "Georgetown" and "the waterfront", but all I needed to hear was "sushi". She, Elissa, and I went to Georgetown to Mate, a Latin fusion sushi cocktail lounge/restaurant. We should have known what to expect because Mate is owned by the same people as Gazuza, a hookah bar in Dupont where men wear white linen suits and the entire thing makes me think Eurotrash, Eurotrash, Eurotrash. Mate was more of the same. Low and uncomfortable tables, lounge music that's played a little too loudly, and a menu of sugary drinks. We wanted to check it out though and also try the Latin sushi. As it turns out, Latin sushi has the normal ingredients of salmon and/or tuna and/or yellowtail but then they also stick some plantain in there and roll it all in corn masa instead of rice. It's WEIRD. And mushy. And just WEIRD. I guess my pomegranate margarita was OK, but I would not go back there just for that. Glad we went and experienced the place, but it did not become a finer things club favorite.

Japanese version of The Office

Funniest SNL clip I've seen in like 10 years:

goodreads Updates

Just Finished:

Belong to Me by Marisa De Los Santos. I read this book with my book club at work. This book has a bit more substance than the traditional chick lit book in which a single 20-30-something buys clothes at expensive boutiques in London and eventually snags the man of her dreams after some bumbling. This book is about relationships between mothers and children, husbands and wives, friends. Let's call it women lit. Some chapters are written in first person from the perspective of one of the characters, and the style of writing reminded me of reading a blog. I liked those chapters best. 4 out of 5.

Things I Learned About My Dad (in therapy) edited by Heather B. Armstrong. This collection of essays was compiled by my favorite blogger. The essays themselves were written by various bloggers -- some are written by fathers about their experiences with fatherhood, some are written by children about their memories of their fathers, some are written by wives about their husbands as fathers. I liked certain essays better than others, but overall found the collection an enjoyable read. My other take-away from this read was to never buy a Diaper Genie -- bad investment. 4 out of 5.

Currently Reading:

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. Oprah pick. I believe this book is about spirituality and Buddhism and inspiration. Question mark, question mark. Its subtitle is "Awakening to Your Life's Purpose". Naturally, I am curious. If you notice me acting funny in the next few weeks, ask me if I've maybe had a spiritual awakening. I am aspiring to awaken to a purpose that involves me sitting at Starbucks, reading, and blogging.

WAS Concert!

I have purchased 2 tickets for the We Are Scientists concert in August:

We Are Scientists
Black Cat, Washington, DC
Sat, Aug 2, 2008 09:00 PM

If you feed me lots of sushi and chocolate and tell me how pretty my hair looks, I will consider letting you have the other ticket. Actually what will really happen is that I will have to beg someone to accompany me. PLEASE COME, THEY ARE GOING TO BE AWESOME, I'll say. And you will have to grudgingly accept after I complement you hair and stuff your hands with chocolate.

Katya and Dana's Great German Adventure

It's official - the plane tickets have been booked, so we are definitely going. Dana and I get into crazy adventures at work just by sitting in a conference room and preparing tax returns, so I don't even know kind of insanity will ensue in Deutschland. I do know that we are each getting one of those big backpacks. And we are really excited about it.

Here are the bare bones of our itinerary:

Sept. 24: Depart for Berlin.
Sept. 25: Berlin.
Sept. 26: Berlin.
Sept. 27: Berlin.
Sept. 28: Heidelberg.
Sept. 29: Depart for the "Romantic Road". Wuerzburg.
Sept. 30: Rothenburg.
Oct. 01: Augsburg.
Oct. 02: Augsburg & Fussen
Oct. 03: Schloss Neuschwanstein and other castles.
Oct. 04: End of "Romantic Road" tour. Depart for Munich.
Oct. 05: Oktoberfest!
Oct. 06: Munich.
Oct. 07: Munich.
Oct. 08: Depart for home.

After Hours

I've been slightly neglecting the finer things club recently, being a busy working mom and not tending to my baby. So sorry, my little bloggie.

Here is a fun We Are Scientists music video to tide you over in the meantime. I am still obsessed with their new CD, and I love driving to and from work because I get to crank up the volume, open my sunroof, and sing along, oblivious to the stares from the other cars.

Happy Thoughts

To get through the next 9 days, must think of happy thoughts of finer thing activities I can do this summer...

**American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore

**Artscape in Baltimore

**Broadway musical in NYC

**buying stuff on Etsy

**concerts

**DC United games

**farmers' markets

**National Portrait Gallery

**Nats games

**planning a detailed finer thing itinerary for the fall Germany trip

**reading lots of books for two books clubs and for myself

**Rodin Museum in Philly

**self-improvement (i.e. brushing up on my French, reading my Excel book, going to the gym)

**Sunday brunches

**trying new restaurants in DC

**watching the 238928938 movies/films in my Netflix queue

**wine, margaritas, mojitos, sangria & happy hours on porches

**winery tours

**Wolf Trap

**yoga classes

Finer Things Club SUGGESTIONS

This American Life, Season One on DVD