basquiat

seasons greetings

life lessons

bohemian

artistic flavor

the artistic renderings of my good friend clymenza hawkins, you can see some of her work  as part of the African Voices: 20 years of covers  exhibit at the Schomburg Library in Harlem right now.

artistic flavor

''The black artist is dangerous. Black art controls the "Negro's" reality, negates negative influences, and creates positive images.''

Sonia Sanchez (b. 1934), African American poet. Black Women Writers at Work, ch. 10, by Claudia Tate (1985).

bohemian rhapsody

urbanista

stylish at any age, urban cool

life lessons

Artistic Flavor

Can't wait to see my favorite artist's new exhibit at the Met this week, "Matisse: In Search of True Painting.  This is Laurette, one of Matisses's inspirational  muses. Opens on December 3rd.

bohemian

this is beyonce in a photo from her tumblr page i like the juxtapostion of the raw natural materials with her glammed up look and the plastic red chair.

Sleepless in Seattle

Bruno's is an Italian-Mexican restaurant on 3rd Avenue in downtown Seattle.  Yes, I said Italian-Mexican, owned by Bruno who is Italian and his wife who is Mexican, Bruno's serves inexpensive down home comfort food.  Not far from Pikes Place Market but off the beaten track, Bruno's is a nondescript hole in wall with red checkered tablecloths, large portions and potent sangrias.  The service was warm and attentive, the place unprententious and the food was good. We tried Mexican dishes but the Italian plates looked equally enticing .  A bare bones place, definitely not for tourists or the faint of heart.  Quirky!! I wish we had a chance to go back.

Sleepless in Seattle

We were determined to indulge in the best Pacific Northwest seafood that Seattle had to offer.  We were barely off our flight, quickly checked in at the hotel and our conference before heading over to Blueacre in downtown Seattle for a late lunch or early supper.  We all ordered different entrees from the $15 dollar tasting menu.  I had a lovely lobster bisque, crusted Alaskan ling cod and a spiced apple cobbler for dessert.  I haven't had cod in years because frankly I think of it as sort of a boring choice but this cod was absolutely sublime.  We paired it with a lovely Washington state chardonnay recommended by our delightful and knowledgeable server, the name of which I regretfully have forgotten.  On Saturday we had a lovely, leisurely lunch at Cutter's Bayhouse overlooking the sound where I spotted this painted wall mural with a quote from Ovid. Perfect, for the bohemian in all of us.

Sleepless in Seattle

The iconic Pikes Place Market in downtown Seattle.  We couldn't get enough of this charming spot and returned several times during our stay.  The fish was the freshest I've ever seen and there was a variety of interesting articans and crafters selling their wares.What I really liked was that it's a spot that both tourists and locals alike patronize. 




 portage bay  cafe is a vegan and organic cafe  that has three locations in Seattle. a very hipster, cool ambiance, we had breakfast together there our last day in Seattle, a rainy and gray Sunday morning,  my friend C who follows a gluten-free diet was in nirvana, she had eaten at portage bay the two previous days and couldn't stop rhapsodizing about the french toast she ordered, such a treat for someone who eats gluten-free.  Needless to say my breakfast was delicious. 

the original logo for  the first starbucks, across from Pikes Place Market in Seattle versus the current logo, looks like someone got a makeover.

the infamous troll under the Aurora Bridge in Seattle

vintage harlem circa i have no idea but I love the pink cadillac.

bohemian

Does this look oddly familiar? The late Isabella Blow was the muse of hat designer Philip Treacy, a former assistant to Anna Wintour, she is credited with discovering fashion designer Alexander McQueen.  Are you listening, Lady Gaga?

pop of color

in my imagination, the interior of this house would match the exterior.

urbanista

carine roitfeld is the former editor of french vogue AND a grandmother, she exudes quintessential urban style, not done up but sort of undone, the better equipped to navigate the  grittiness of  the concrete jungle but with an aura of sophisticated cool.

my thoughts exactly

pop of color

Harmony in Red (1908) by Henri Matisse, I have a print hanging in my kitchen so its usually the first thing I see when I wake up!!

bohemian interiors

divalicious

josephine baker, retro-chic

in remembrance of hurricane sandy

i can't stop watching the devastation of hurricane sandy, the loss and the heartbreak, yet we knew it was coming and we could do absolutely nothing to prevent it.

bohemian rhapsody

chaka khan chaka khan

never compare

brooklyn boheme

beyonce's little sister, Solange Knowles, shows  off her eclectic style in her Brooklyn apartment

love poem

storage wars

Okay I confess I am a hoarder, I like stuff.  To tell this story, I have to admit this first.  Like a typical New Yorker, I just don’t have enough room for all my stuff and as a typical woman I never have enough closet space.  Actually in New York, men and women are neck and neck on this situation…but I digress. So to accommodate all my extra stuff, I rented a storage space at Tuck-It-Away, a storage warehouse on the Upper Upper Westside aka Morningside Heights/West Harlem, hard by the Hudson River.  So apparently there has been a long-standing turf war between Columbia University and the businesses in this little corner of Harlem and namely, Tuck-It-Away.  Columbia  wanted space to expand, to build a state  of the art research center, professor housing, student dormitories and additional classroom space.  So this neighborhood of mostly working class immigrants and African-Americans, which Columbia has almost always disassociated itself  from, although it is just blocks from its main campus fought the legal struggle of its life.  A little something called “eminent domain.”  became the reigning victor in this fierce turf battle.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              What is eminent domain?

“Eminent domain, broadly understood, is the power of the state to seize private

property without the owner's consent. Historically, the most common uses of

property taken by eminent domain are public facilities, highways, and railroads.

Traditionally the power of eminent domain has been exercised for the

construction of large public projects, but its use is beginning to be broadened to

projects involving not ‘public use’ but ‘public benefit.’ The decision in Kelo v. City

of New London, a case that came before the US Supreme Court in 2004, set a

precedent for property to be transferred to a private owner for the purpose of

economic development. The court found that if an economic project creates new

jobs, increases tax and other city revenues, and revitalizes a depressed or

blighted urban area it qualifies as a public use.”*

So Tuck-It-Away and many, many other smaller businesses (including my car mechanic) lost their fight to remain because public land can be allowed to be transferred to the private sector for clearly defined public use. If it is determined that the usage of the land will benefit a blighted or depressed area.  Hmmm. 

We just dropped hundreds of dollars at an upscale restaurant around the corner. Blighted? Or is this another case of bullying the little guy.

So I hope the newly recruited professors enjoy their well-appointed  new abodes and newly minted research center, for my storage, it has a new home in the South Bronx, like so many Manhattanites that have been out priced  and forced to relocate to another borough.

*Thanks to Wikipedia