Category: Uncategorized

Spring is here which means my feet want to be free! If I could I would go bare foot from May until September. Unfortunately, it is tough to find a place to be barefoot outside in the city. I have to be content wearing the most open shoes I can find and running around shoe-less when I am visiting the Burbs.

My new obsession is tote bags. In addition to wanting to purchase many of the cute new designs out there, I am obsessed with the idea of making them. There are new patterns popping up every where I look. Here is the latest one I came across on Craftzine. Notice I say the idea of making them… I still have yet to make even one.

M&I have decided to enroll our doughy butts in bootcamp. Starting next week for three weeks, three days a week we are going to get up at 5:30 so we can start a punishing exercise routine at 6:00… am. Those of you who know me are undoubtedly going to surprised I would sign up for anything that started at 6am. I am figuring I can endure just about anything for three weeks. My understanding is it ain’t gonna be easy. Running up stairs, push ups, sit ups. I hurt just thinking about it. I am hoping this will jump start a more regular routine of exercise which will eventually lead to me being able to run on the soccer field for more than 5 secs without being winded. At least that is the plan. Mauricio, if you are reading this, please be gentle as you are demanding your 50 pushups.

“Why don’t you just put up a yurt?”, says Mom. She can’t understand why I would want to spend all that time building a ReadyMade modular when I could buy a yurt and put it up in a day. Why indeed. Well I guess it is because I am trained as an architect, I am working as a graphic designer and I can’t imagine a yurt being a hip and cool space for me. Functional, yes, I can’t argue with that, but… I am already thinking we will be more than happy (in fact much happier) with a small house than a large one. Less to heat, less to cool and less to build. It isn’t all about money, but let’s not be silly, it is a little about money. So since I am not building a McMansion, why should I not have a cool looking building? Something that makes me feel like I am living in a space out of that pages of Dwell (or at least ReadyMade). Something that is functional and hip and cool. Like this space. It is 450 sqft in Ft. Green, Brooklyn. Not that I am going to have 450 sqft to start (we will only have 100sqft) but if I can apply some of the same storage and minimalist rules, I will be set.

My parents always encouraged us to try new foods, so I am fairly adventurous when it comes to eating. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to eat it so what is the worst that can happen. Luckily M is the same way. One day conversation in our office turned to hummus and someone mentioned they have never had hummus. Really? We come to find out there are quite a lot of things this person hasn’t tried. I must right this wrong! Enter Experimental Food Day! Whenever my coworker is feeling up for it we will try a new cuisine. He so far has had Armenian, Indian, Cuban (although he declared that day a Safety Day so he was not so adventurous when choosing) Japanese (I am not sure he is going to try that again) and most recently Turkish. I have never had Turkish before, so I guess for me it was sort of experimental food day as well. It really helps to get out of the same old place for lunch rut.

Today a coworker sent me information about a brand new website that helps connect neighbors in a really cool way. It is called Household Network. It is a place where you sign in and create and account of things you are willing to lend out to people. The idea is if you need a ladder for a project and your neighbor has a ladder they are willing to lend, you can contact them. What a concept, instead of buying something we may only need one time, we borrow it from someone who already has it. I personally think it is great and I have signed up and created a network near our property upstate. I haven’t listed things we have to lend yet, I have to be up there to take inventory first, but I hope this catches on. Who knows, maybe the next time you need a punch bowl for that big super bowl party you are planning, you can borrow it instead of buying a new one which will then take up space in your cabinet for the next 10 years.

This weekend we stayed local which was a nice change. I had time to replant a few plants that had outgrown their pots and managed to do it without killing them. M&I put up his space invaders wall decals. They look fabulous! Much better on the wall then in a pile on his desk. Sunday I tackled a sewing project. It is little lunch sack. It took just about all day. I purchased a pattern and used scraps of fabric I had accumulated over the years. It turned out ok.. I am not the best at sewing so there are a few things I wish I had been able to do better. I may go back and try to fix it… I may not. M put together a space for me to work on my jewelry so now the pressure is on. All in all it was nice to get a few of these lingering projects out of the way so they aren’t taunting us any more.