Party Hats!

A recent project/ possible new favorite thing to make, ever:

Thank you Jenne, you truly are lovely.

The Big Easy

And don't you forget it!

To those of you who have been around me these last two weeks, please stop reading. Now. You've heard it too many times already. I would really like to maintain our relationship, and if you hear nothing but the same from me you will grow bored and leave me. I simply cannot have that.

I LOVE NEW ORLEANS.

The favored vacation spot of my dear family, I was not exactly a stranger to the city when I returned on holiday. With the exceptions that I hadn't been since Katrina, and this was my first visit in which I could appreciate the cocktails.

Not only are the cocktails prolific, the cocktail culture is thriving. One can even find a bottle of Chartreuse or Pimms in dive bars with ease! There is a cocktail convention every year that brings multitudes of the world's best bartenders called Tales of the Cocktail... guess where it happens... yep.

New Orleans: the birthplace of the cocktail. The birthplace of Jazz. America's Paris. The most haunted city in America. The city that care forgot. As I have come to learn, the city of fast friendship. The most perfect place for a lady such as myself. Hence, a move at the end of February.

Work for someone in my trade should be relatively simple to come by, it is New Orleans after all. And booze is most certainly recession-proof.

The Sazerac Bar at The Roosevelt Hotel

So clever!

Quintessential New Orleans outlook.

Drunk undertakers laugh in the face of death.
-OR-
Wish you were here?

Pretty great graffiti in Marigny.

Multiple viewings of the sunrise over the Mississippi, followed by a Cafe Au Lait or two.

A long time coming!

Hello Friends and Neighbors!

I'm making my grand comeback after what seems like years of non blogging. Did you miss me? I missed you.

I feel that my place of employment has not taken a center stage (you'll get the pun in a moment) in my writings and that really needs to change.

I work at a local arts and entertainment venue called One Longfellow Square. I've been here for nearly two years, which is nearly as long as the place has been open; working as a bartender and more recently as an all around office chameleon. The fact of the matter is, One Longfellow Square has changed the way I listen to music. The quality of the music that comes to our venue is consistently high caliber; be it Blue Grass or Blues Guitar, your ears will go home smiling. There are people that claim to listen to everything then follow up with a list of exceptions. I am legitimately a person with the ability to enjoy most everything with a beat or melody (...except reggae... HA!) and have developed an acute appreciation for really great tunes.

In my time here I've seen Burlesque Dancers, John Hammond (amongst other blues legends and up-and-comers), and ummm... RICHIE HAVENS. I'm extra grateful for the ones I wouldn't have known otherwise: Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Brave Combo, The Wiyos, The Low Anthem, Stephane Wrembel, there are just too many to rattle off. The experience of seeing an artist you love (or grow to love) in an intimate setting (with a beautiful cocktail in hand) is certainly not one to miss.

The point that I've been working my way up to making involves a tune you've all heard on the radio. Every time it has come on lately my insides start swelling with pride. And then I start singing along...



That's right folks, right here in Portland, Maine: Pure Prairie League. In what is soon to be your favorite venue, with 199 of your new closest friends, with a cocktail in hand, coming up this Thursday 9/10/09.

Tickets are $45, but if you call in and mention "Lucy's Blog" you can save $5 per ticket (up to 4 tickets, only by phone). You really don't want to miss this, and as an added bonus you'll be visiting me at the bar!

So Amie, whatchu wanna do? (207) 761-1757

Birthday: the Best Holiday

Those of you who know me might recall that I absolutely love birthdays. Mine in particular. Birthdays are the one day out of the year that everything actually revolves around one single person, who is in turn permitted to embrace their inner narcissist- outwardly.

The proximity of the Fouth of July to my birthday traditionally pairs festivities with fireworks, perfect summer days, splishin' and splashin', and all the other lovely things that go on in early July. Festivities this year include a pot-luck barbecue and cocktail party- followed by a field trip to Boston to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and embark on a cocktail tour. I'm knocking on wood, but let us hope the rain will come to an end this weekend.

Those of you who might have interest in hopping aboard the party boat ought be in touch with me, and, just in case you were wondering...

Vintage bar tools... and other accessories

A dome bubble umbrella with white trim

Dremel Cordless Rotary Tool

Some wholesome reading material and materials...

Thriller

I'm certain that Michael Jackson has been on the mind of every devoted fan out there the last few days, and I am grateful that he is being remembered and honored for his contributions to entertainment above all else. My turntable has been blaring Off the Wall and Thriller since I got the news, and while this video may be old news to the rest of you, it put a big ol' smile on my face.

Certainly my fondest memory of MJ's music was when my friend Pamela and I tried to learn his moves from a DVD- It was a night of stumbling and laughter and the next day I was sore as could be. I never mastered the moves, but the man moves me just the same.

Cocktails!!

You might read down below, in my previous post about my recent vacation, that I made some visits to some lovely nighttime beverage establishments. Some of my drinks proved to be inspirational- literally. Hence, a new love of beautiful drinks was born. I have always believed that a perfect beverage, be it tea or tonic, can cure any variety of mean reds, bygone blues, or sneezy flues.

So break out the shakers, citrus, and all manor of spirits and send me your favorite cocktail recipes! I want to build a book- ultimately- but mostly develop a portfolio and practice the art of the cocktail. Naturally, you will be included in the process- and if we're lucky, my lovely little shop will evolve into a lovely little cocktail lounge.



Should you find yourself lacking inspiration, might I suggest a trip to your local used book store to find an antique collection of cocktail recipes, the one pictured above never lets me down! Some other suggested reads include either of Dale Degroff's books, and this website.

The Big Apple

Recently I took my first vacation in nearly two years. Moving to the city was something that has been in and out of my head for quite sometime, and I thought it silly to consider having not spent serious time becoming acquainted with it.

The flight from Portland was the easiest thing to do, if I had plenty of disposable income I would do it with regularity. Forty-five minutes is all it took to escape the banality of everyday life and arrive in what can only be described as a magical metropolitan area. Not to bore you with details, I will make a list of highlights!

• Joe's Coffee Shop (West Village)

• Magnolia Bakery (West Village)

• Little Branch beautiful cocktails (West Village) shh, don't tell!!

• Hell's Kitchen Flea Market (Chelsea)

• Topshop (Soho)

• Breakfast at Tiffany's (Upper East Side)

• Central Park (Upper East Side)

• The Rabbit Club (West Village)

• The Cangelosi Cards at Banjo Jim's (East Village)
  

• The Met

• Exit the King on Broadway (starring Geoffrey Rush, Susan Sarandon, and Lauren Ambrose)

• Billy's Bakery (Chelsea)

Little did we know, our vacation would become something of a cupcake tour. We went to Joe's on Waverley Place nearly everyday in hopes of getting an Amy Sedaris cupcake (to no avail). Thankfully, the lattes there were always worth the trip.

Magnolia Bakery skyrocketed to fame when it was featured in Sex in the City, and really is all that it is hyped up to be. Pictured way up there on the right is a caramel cupcake with caramel meringue frosting and caramel drizzle- it was the best thing I have ever tasted.

Billy's Bakery (above) was lovely, but no match for Magnolia.

The trip might be summarized as follows: great shopping, great eating, amazing cocktails, delightful company, thrilling entertainment, and a whole lot of walking. Needless to say, a move is still a pipe dream and a possibility.

Craigslist is the Only List

Such is the nature of my ways that I am constantly reading ads on Craigslist. Many an item has been gotten, and many items have been gotten rid of in my life through this magical, wonderful website. Every now and again I find myself in the 'best of' section. This is where the real magic happens. Here are some of my favorites:

Found: Short, Fat, Smelly, Fugly Critter (I LOVE THIS ONE!)

Thumb tack "Push Pin" Wonderful Item !!! $0.32 (A bargain!!)

Vintage British 3 Speed Bicycle, Very Nice! - $30 (Dover) (I actually flagged this for Best Of)

Roommate needed, but try not to actually live here, just pay (I couldn't agree more)

I wanted to talk to you, but I had to take a shit - m4w (Sometimes we are a product of tragic circumstance)

Couch - Very Uncomfortable, Red - $3.75 (Any buyers?)

my house mice have a missed connection with your cat - seriously

Cat Found (ha!)

Green (outer) Space

Don't you just love how lush they thought it could be!
http://www.baekdal.com/Design/Art/nasa-vintage-space-stations/

Six Feet Under

So, I've been watching quite a bit of television lately. The habit is unbecoming to say the least, too bad.

Typically when I finish a TV series I watch a few episodes of Six Feet Under. I had it on good authority that I would enjoy it tremendously. This wasn't the case until a few weeks ago (when I finished Big Love). I've been watching it at every opportunity since then. I bonded.

Today I finished it. It was rainy, I've been sick, I felt justified. They must have made the entire series for the last 6:14 minutes. I cannot think of another instance in TV history when a fictitious storyline has come to a more beautiful close.

I'm linking to it here, please don't watch it unless you have seen it before. If you are really curious and haven't seen the series, suck it up or spend many hours catching up with your television. I've watched it twice today...

bicycle, Bicycle, BICYCLE!

This is a story of perhaps the best thing that has ever happened to me. Ever. And then one of the worst.

On my thirteenth birthday my father took me to buy a BRAND NEW bicycle. This was truly an epic event. At his suggestion, we were about to spend a boatload of money on something we could have gotten used (where my thriftiness comes from should be evident at this juncture).

So we go to Andy's, the lovely local bike shop in my home town and spend upwards of $250 on a beautiful, shiny, red and silver Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike. I loved that bike. We rode to the pool in the summer, to work at my first job at the snack shack, to high school, to Prime Roast, just to ride... I took it everywhere, always.

After it was stolen and recovered (amazingly, three months later) I equipped her with a hot pink milk crate where her wire basket had been, to further insure the thieves wouldn't nab my bicycle again. You can imagine that this created quite an eye-catching ride, there was no mistaking that bike belonged to me.

So, one day I am riding this bike that I love down Main St, when an enormous, shady van slows WAY down behind me. They keep this speed going for about thirty seconds, enough to make me seriously concerned, before they pull up right next to me with the windows down. Not wanting to make eye-contact I am watching this all through my peripheries and experiencing their presence with every bone in my body (terrified, and still pedaling), and was jolted when at full volume they blasted "bicycle, Bicycle, BICYCLE. I want to ride my..." and drove away.

Here I was thinking I was about to die of abduction, instead I just died of laughter. It was perfect. It was one of those moments that I keep in my back pocket and pull out to look at on rainy days.

Naturally, I grew so confident in the fact that no one would steal my bike again that she was stolen. This time never to be recovered.

That bike taught me many things; the joy and freedom that only being on a bike can give you, how unnecessary cars are for most things, my father doesn't skimp when he knows there will be long-term value to his purchase, and a deep hatred of bicycle thieves. Stealing a bike is a very personal attack; the owner suffers more than the thief could know. Zarra's bike of fifteen years was stolen out of his house this morning and has brought some old emotions to the surface.

There are two morals to this story:

1. Don't steal bikes.
2. Listen to Queen.

On a side note, I now ride one of two beautiful bicycles on a regular basis (weather providing); A black and white 1970's Phillips English three speed by the name of Phillip, and a silver Puegeot ten speed with a pedal-powered head light (relatively new to the family and lacking both name and gender- but not at all lacking for speed). They are magnificent and bring me much joy.

As a friend of mine once said, "Bikes are pasta-powered."

And another, "Sex, bikes, rock-n-roll."

And me, "If I can't bike there, it isn't worth going."

Toy Camera

Toy Cameras are fantastic. I was able to score a beatup Holga on freecycle a few months ago and have been experimenting. What I really want is a Diana. My friend Aaron was sooooo right about needing the look to match the effects. And today- I discovered something else I want.

Lovely Postcards

In my many years as a treasure hunter, some of my happiest discoveries have been postcards. Here are two examples of such delights that make me smile every day, now you all can enjoy them too!

Spring Break!! Wooowhoooo!! Oh, that was last week.

Many apologies for a prolonged internet absence. I have no excuse, I am sorry.

First- a building update: I'm not buying it. Unless it goes to bank auction, and I can come up with some serious fast cash.

I split my time between not going to school, cuddling with my cats, spending much overdue quality time with my niece and sister, going to a CRMA recertification in Augusta, and having a bit of a getaway to the greater Boston area with Zarra.

My first thought on acquiring my Subaru was, "IKEA TRIP!!"

Ikea doesn't really play into my philosophy or aestetic... and I had never been before... but with that kind of trunk it just made sense. So, when the opportunity for a getaway arose, Zarra and I set off on the grand journey. I managed to stick to my alloted Ikea budget of less than $50, and was wowed by the opperation without being wooed by cheap modern-ness. Here are the highlights:

Pretty little classic plates.

These wine glasses were the only ones in this series to come home with me.

This chair spoke to me. It screamed, begged, and pleaded to come home with me to sit in my sunny, yellow living room so that it might be spring all the time in its own, happy corner.

This one too. Only it was talking about my sorry excuse for a yard.

I've always wanted a daybed.

A Very Serious, Very Desperate Plea

I just heard from the realtor who is selling my dear, sweet Congress St building. The contract has fallen through!! Hooray!!

And the bad news...

The bank will be putting it up for auction in two weeks if they don't get a reasonable offer in before then. One might think, 'great- better bargaining power' but the reality is quite contrary. They need a minimum of $400,000- and that is not great. I could take the risk of letting it go to auction, but then it probably wouldn't end up mine. I want it to be mine.

To reiterate: this building will be my whole life. I'll manage it, live in it, restore it to its full historical glory, have my little shop in it (planning is very much underway for that- different subject) and most importantly, I will love it the way it deserves to be loved. If you take a closer look at that picture, you can see a white Subaru parked in front... almost as if it were mine already...

So folks, I am asking you to maybe play a little poker and send me the winnings... or maybe you want to buy the building and lease it to me? Something, anything, please, I really need your help.

Spring Sprang!

Both today and yesterday have been suspiciously warm. I'm not letting it go to my head, but will it not be delightful when the crocuses are in bloom?!

Spring Sprang! - by lucindainthesky on Polyvore.com

Nuno

I've recently discovered the joy of podcasts, they are like portable professors. I've turned into something of a learning addict. That's right, addicted to learning. Where this is going is related to a tidbit on one of my favorite podcasts, Studio 360.

Asian cultures have always been something of a mystery to me, yet my curiosity was never quite piqued. I've read a few Haruki Murakami novels. I love Japanese restaurants. Ukiyo-e, or woodblock prints I find beatiful in their clarity. Beyond that, I've never felt the need to go and personally explore. Until now.

Modern Japan has quite a lot to offer, not the least of which being a textile company by the name of Nuno.

photos: 21:21 in Haslach

Reiko Sudo is the founder and creative force behind the fabric; using unlikely materials and technology Sudo is able to craft textiles that are works of art unto themselves. Rust dying, metal and plastic weaving, fibers first dissolved in chemical baths, spray plating (as used in the automotive industry), paper, biodegratable fibers, the more unlikely the material- the more likely it is to become something beautiful under her direction. When the average person looks at a piece of fabric they are likely to think of the texture, color, and drape. These textiles incorporate architecture and technology in a way that makes one forget they are looking at fabric at all.

photos: 21:21 in Haslach


Hear the podcast. I highly recommend subscribing.