the gorge

with phish back in rotation, alot of fun trips have come up. summer 2009 tour kicked off in june with good times on the east coast and later picked up in august on the west coast. going to the gorge to see phish was always on my list of things i absolutely must do. after the band calling it quits 5 years ago i thought my chance was lost but alas, my wish came true!!!

my time spent in portland and at the gorge was honestly the most fun i've ever had. i was surrouned by awsome people and all our planning proved perfect. we rented an RV which was a great decision .. we slept well, we ate well, we partied well! i don't think there is anything i'd have done differently - it was a couple days of easy going bliss, what more can you ask for?


on my way out west i had a layover in salt lake city, the salt flats were gorgeous!

thursday night in portland found alot of people in town gearing up for the 4hr drive north. when there is phish, there are friends .... a bunch of us got together at the moon & six pence pub for some west coast brews

tyler, my friend and former roommate, has lived in portland for the past 5-6 years. i was so excited when he said he could come and meet up. i hadn't seen him since 2004.

cruising down I-84 in the RV .. oh so comfy!

multnomah falls, oregon

our RV in all it's glory

once we finally arrived @ the gorge, denise and i climbed on top of the RV. within 0.5 seconds we were greeted by security telling us to get down. we still managed to get a few shots from the roof.

sarah b. & i hanging out in the RV after a visit to shakedown

fara & i are t00o0tally pumped to walk into the venue

behold the view .. waiting for the sun to set on the 1st night

my favorite picture from the whole trip .. i wish i was in it

the rv ladies ... fara, me, & denise

second night .. first set starts!

i did alot, and i mean ALOT, of dancing @ the shows so not many pictures once the music got going.

i was absolutely blown away by the views this place offered. the 1st morning when i woke up and went to the bathroom .. i saw the view, said "wow" outloud and started laughing, it was just amazing and at night you sort of forget about it as it's so dark, when the morning comes you recieve a gorgeous reminder.

some views on the way back to portland

i really dug all the wind farms

on our last night in portland we had a big group dinner at nicholas restaurant, lebanese and middle eastern yumieness. they made their own pita bread and it was served in a big way ......

so yes .. it really was the best trip ever. i made alot of new friends .. particularly fara & chris along with their son miles and dog luna, they were the greatest .. and became closer with friends i had known. i hope to go back to the gorge everytime phish plays!

impromtu L.E.S.

my friends chop & allie live in the lower east side ... aside from being awesome friends and alot of fun, they have great taste in food!! most of the time when we get together it's an impromptu gathering which somehow makes it more sweeter.

friday in the pouring rain .. allie & i hit up nurse bettie for drinks (and where the bartender gave me some fresh habanero's to take home for infusing, w00!!) and we were later joined by chop for dinner at the smith. all was delish and alot of fun but my favorite part was when we realized we were near momofuko milk bar and made a dessert pit stop for hommade softserve (one of their flavors is 'cereal milk') & cornflake crunch cookies .. nom nom nom!!

kissing fish

after many many wonderful hours spent at james' surprise party .. felicia & i segued into a dj dance party with shannon and jessie. there was alot of move-busting, sweating and fun!!!

prior to our dancing we were prowling park slope for a bite to eat and came upon a restaurant with a giant aquarium out front with lots of gorgeous fish and among them were a romantic pair that would not stop kissing. i know there is a fish called a kissing fish (or the kissing gourami if you want to get all wikipedia about it) but the gourami don't quite look like these lovers ... maybe they were just meant to be.

surprise!

yesterday was food, fun & friends in honor of james' birthday ... everyone gathered at the gate in park slope while howard did the sneaky work of luring james to his surprise party and oh what a surprise he got, good job howard!!

fish & chips as well as cake and drinks aplenty were enjoyed by all

happy birthday james!!

louis ghost chair

the louis ghost chair by philippe starck has always been a favorite of mine .. i'd love to get one if i had the room. maybe one day the small brooklyn apartment living will loosen it's grip on me.

lifestyle bazaar is reinvinting this chair ... "they have asked nine designers and artists from various disciplines (street art, tattoo art, taxidermy, sculpture, furniture design, conceptual salvage, product design, and interior design) to customize nine Louis Ghost chairs for the London Design Festival in September.The chairs will be auctioned off to benefit Children With Aids Charity. One chair will be decked with colorful cakes, sweets, and meringues to be photographed by Rosie Day, and for guests of the exhibit to actually snack on. I bet Starck never imagined his precious set would one day become a buffet." ... cool!!

these are the only sneak peak pictures i could find of the customized chairs

Der Schwarze Koelner

this weekend has been very busy & exciting with ivy moving in. yesterday we were strolling through the neighborhood and i spied something very intriguing, a new business opening up ... Der Schwarze Koelner, a beer garden!!! from a little online research it looks like it should have opened weeks ago but delayed inspections and permits have set things back. hope it opens soon!!

Der Schwarze Koelner will soon occupy 710 Fulton. Dale, a Mancunian who lived in Cologne, Germany for 15 years and his girlfriend Randi, a native German from Stuttgart, will be opening the beer garden come late June or early July.

"We’ll have communal tables, sidewalk seating, and a small garden out back, and we’ll offer snacks and full meals. The food will be inexpensive — we plan to price 80% of our meals under $10. We really want to focus on inexpensive food – we live here and it’s hard to go out to eat for 2 for under $40"

jon brooks

this is the home of sculptor & furniture maker jon brooks ... i found a post about this home on
apartment therapy .

you can see more of his work on his website

l

ween

a few of us headed down to ocean grove, nj this past weekend to catch ween playing @ the stone pony and more importantly .... hangout with our friends heather & mike. it was such a great weekend - beach going, food eating, music seeing, etc..

thanks heather & mike !!!!!

tent city

while visiting heather & mike this weekend in ocean grove, nj ... i was charmed with the cute little town and especially so by the tent city.

ocean grove was established after the cival war as a methodist revival camp, the tent city attracted 10,000 summer vistors. 114 tents remain that house families in the summer. having a tent is apparently a very big deal too ... there is said to be a 30 year waiting list for one of your own but often they are bequeathed by will.

the tents were all carefully decorated both in and out (the screen doors allowed for perfect peeping!). what a neat little summertime village!!