Tuesday, April 15, 2008

When in Greece...

This past weekend K and I met up in New Orleans for a girl trip. In the past year we've only had a chance to see each other at events (ahem, our weddings) so we thought it was time to get away and spend some real QT with each other. Why Nola? Well, the 10th anniversary of V-day was being held there...at the Superdome, no less.

We flew in on Friday and after a quick stop-off at our hotel/condo, we headed out to Port of Call for some burgers and fruity beverages. Here's K in the lobby of our building:

the courtyard at 519 frenchman

After we were sated, we headed off for a walk around town. We ended up at Jackson Square, where we saw this guy perform:

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Scary, huh? Actually Mr. Headstand was just one of four guys, each of whom did flips and spun on their heads on the concrete like it was no big whoop.

That evening we ate at Nola, one of Emeril's restaurants in New Orleans. Normally I wouldn't have been interested, but Eddo said it was good so I gave it a shot. Our take: we liked it but felt it was a little mass produced. Great service, though!

The following morning we got up and had beignets and cafe au laits at Cafe du Monde. YUM!

beignets at cafe du monde

This was followed by some wickedly good shopping on Chartres Street in the French Quarter and Magazine Street. We got some great deals! And it was really fun to shop with K, as shopping is pretty much a solitary activity for me these days. So it was fun to look at things that I might normally not look at and shop at a different pace than I might on my own...

That evening was the main event, V-day at the Superdome. It was really incredible to be in that enormous space around all those women! Here is a view from our seats before the show started:

vday!

We heard readings by Kerry Washington, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Beals, and a particularly heartbreaking piece by Rosario Dawson. I have to say, for a show featuring between one and four women on stage reading, the lighting and effects were incredible! The photos don't do it justice, but here's an idea:

Kerry Washington:

kerry washington

Liz Mikel, she was hilarious:

liz mikel

Jennifer Hudson:

jennifer hudson

Jane Fonda, she's amazing:

jane fonda

At the end of the show, Eve Ensler has a tradition of asking all women who have been a victim of rape, abuse, or molestation to stand up and break the silence. Kara and I watched as women stood up all around us and a good 85% of the women on the floor (African American women from New Orleans) stand up. It was a really powerful moment and we were both moved to tears.

The next day started with a lazy jazz brunch at the Court of Two Sisters. Here I am eating some crawfish:

eatin' crawfish

We tried to go shopping after that but ended up getting frozen margaritas instead. When in Greece, as they say...

frozen margaritas

See the rest of our photos from the weekend here

It was a weekend spent eating, shopping, drinking, v-daying, and talking. And talking...in the company of my best gal. What more could I ask for. The weekend went by way too quickly. Ah, K, thanks for the wonderful time spent, I love you and really cherish the memories we made this weekend. Where are we going next year? ;)

Thursday, April 10, 2008

i be edumacated

I just got this in the mail:

diploma

This is the most expensive piece of paper I have ever owned.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

happy 36th birthday, eddo!

Ha ha, just kidding, he only turned 26. :) But yeah, my little bro is 26 now! Crazy. It's funny, I expect him to be older, like 28 or so...but when I think back I can still imagine when he wore big glasses and orange shorts and played chess at Halecrest. My how times have changed...

Basically Eddo's 26th bday consisted of several days of activities, kind of like the Olympics only with less torches and more drinking, but just as many Chinese people. We started off with a dinner on Friday night with 30 of his closest friends at PPQ Dungeness Island. Here we are as I try to pry his nose off with a nutcracker and he tries to stab me in the eye with a crab fork. Awww, so sweet:

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Note the bibs. Oh please note the bibs.

The crab fiesta was followed up by scorpion bowls at Trad'r Sams. For the first time that I can remember, I didn't scream at his friends to make sure he got home OK. Either he is becoming more responsible (he's not) or I am learning to trust him more (ok, maybe he is becoming more responsible).

Tuesday was Eddo's actual birthday and we headed to The Mint for some karaoke fun. Here's a photo of Mimi, Sarah, and Eddo singing "Zombie" by the Cranberries. They sang this with a full on Irish accent. "...with their tanks and their BOMs and their BOMS and their GONS! Za-am-beh-eh-eh-eh!"

zo-om-beh-eh-eh-eh!

We left before Eddo and I could pay homage to our dad with a duet to Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie", but not before we saw Maria and Eddo perform "I wanna F* you" by Akon and Snoop. Sorry, but I am having problems posting this video to YouTube. Will update the blog with video as soon as I can! For now here is photographic evidence:

i wanna F you

Happy birthday, Eddo! I love you and I am proud of the man you are becoming.

Monday, April 7, 2008

WIWOT*

Often when I get together with other designers, we'll ask each other what projects we're working on. Right now I'm working on a project that I think even the non-designers will be interested in...I am designing the coffee table book for the new California Academy of Sciences building in Golden Gate Park, designed by Renzo Piano (who designed the Pompidou in Paris). The building opens in September of this year and will be directly across from the new de Young museum. It is a dream project and I am so, so, SO excited to be working on it. Since I think the studio signed an NDA or something with the Academy, I can't realy give away any details, but I can repost what has already been revealed on the web. First of all, a model of the building, from bird's-eye view:



And that's pretty much what it looks like from the top. BTW, that's a living roof, made up of over 20 million plants. There was the problem of figuring out how to plant stuff on a sloping surface, so they came up with these trays made of coconut husks and tree sap. Once the plants started to root, the trays were locked together and they will eventually biodegrade. Here's a current view of the roof:



And here is what it looks like from inside the building:





The building is entirely green and energy efficient. Most of the focus right now is on the roof, but the details within the building are quite impressive as well. There are tons more details that I omitting here cuz I don't want to get in trouble. It will definitely be worth visiting when the museum finally opens!

* WIWOT = What I'm Working On Today. I send an email to Cinthia everyday with this subject line, just so we can keep in the loop. She thinks the acronym is hilarious for some reason...