I love the Manhattan Bridge.

Top (1908): Eugene de Salignac, New York City Municipal Archives
Middle (1974): Danny Lyon, National Archives and Records Administration
Bottom (1984): Still from Once Upon a Time in America, Directed by Sergio Leone

Tucked under the Manhattan Bridge on the Brooklyn side is my new part-time neighborhood, DUMBO. My apartment is really close the the bridge–it’s in a factory built by Robert Gair (inventor of the corrugated cardboard box) in the 1880s. You can see the building in all three of the photos above, and it still looks pretty much the same in 2012 as it did in 1908.

Whether I’m walking home from the subway, talking the dogs out for their evening stroll, or talking a little time to myself on the little beach in the park, I cannot get enough of the Manhattan Bridge. The more time I spend in DUMBO, the more I get to know this big blue friend from all angles. It doesn’t have a bad side. I take a photo of it almost every day.

On Friday I wrote a little bit about the passing of Adam Yauch and about having been a Beastie Boys fan for two and a half decades. The Beasties are New York for me…they are Brooklyn. That’s why they’re on my “Summertime Jams” and “Hustle” mixtapes: They signify energy and sunshine and attitude. Walking down the street feeling like a badass. A badass with a sense of humor.

I can’t separate the Beasties and MCA from Brooklyn, and combined with my new-found love for the Manhattan Bridge, I was pretty excited last night when Neal Brennan uploaded some previously-unseen footage of the Beastie Boys performing “The New Style” on a boat in the East River in 2004. It was supposed to air on the third season of Chappelle’s Show (which of course never happened). The best part is Ad-Rock yelling out “let me clear my throat” just before a subway rumbles overhead on the Manhattan Bridge…a sound that sings me to sleep every night I’m in Brooklyn.

Kick it over here, baby pop…

EDIT: It’s back!

EDIT: Sorry guys, the video is being repeatedly yanked by Viacom. Here’s an article about why. If Neal Brennan can find a way to get it out there legally, I’ll re-edit it back in. Sad…

A couple of weeks ago, one of my favorite groups was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I have a strong dislike for awards and certifications and ceremonies and that kind of thing, but I took a moment on Twitter to give love and congratulations to the Beastie Boys, because really—they deserved to be there. It was satisfying to see a group I grew up loving (and still love now and never stopped loving) honored for their contributions to rock music. If any group cannot be pigeon-holed into a single genre, it’s the Beastie Boys. So let’s just go ahead and recognize them everywhere. Hip Hop Honors, Rock and Roll, Walk of Fame, Grand Old Opry…go for it.

When I found out that Adam Yauch—MCA, he’s got a license to kill—wasn’t going to be able to attend the ceremony because he was too ill, my heart sank. I knew he’d been diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, because the Beasties had to cancel their tour and postpone their album. Somehow, though, once the incredible Hot Sauce Committee was finally released last year, the general assumption was that Yauch was alright. That he was going to be OK. He even directed the video for “Make Some Noise.”

And now he’s gone. I’m glad that induction ceremony happened when it did.

I blogged about that video just over a year ago, and I said this about it: “The new Beastie Boys video reminds me of how deeply satisfying it is to have been their fan for about 27 years now. They just never disappoint!” That’s the truth. I was lucky enough to see the Beastie Boys live a few times over the course of those 27 years in various stages of their career, and they were awesome. Life and energy and power and happiness and FUN.

I’ve had the “Who’s your favorite Beastie?” discussion many times with many people, and the general consensus always seems to wind up being all of them. But if you break it down, you do it a little like the Beatles—and Yauch was the George Harrison of the Beasties. Maybe you wanted to date Ad-Rock and party with Mike D, but MCA is the one you wanted to get deep with. He’s the one you wanted to philosophize about life with over a nice vegan dinner. He’s the one you wanted to talk to about art and New York and basketball and Buddhism. MCA, what up?

Two big things happened in my musical world in 1989: The Cure released Disintegration, and the Beastie Boys put out Paul’s Boutique. I have never listened to two records more than I did those over the next few years. 23 years later, they are both in my top five all-time favorite albums. The Beastie Boys never have never had a low point, but they have had a high—and that was it. Paul’s Boutique moved the bar for progressive, innovative rap music so high that I don’t think anyone can ever top it. Even Miles Davis called it the greatest album ever made. By anyone. Ever.

Even though there’s no video, I have to include the “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” here. It’s the greatest 12 minutes in the entire history of hip hop. MCA has the coolest part, of course—the “Year and a Day” section that kicks in at the 3-minute mark.

If the Cure were the soundtrack of my teenage isolation and anger, and Morrissey is the soundtrack of my adult disappointment with life, the Beastie Boys are the ongoing soundtrack to friendship, fun, and good times. They’re the sound of skate parks, hair dye, cool sneakers and cute boys. The Beastie Boys made me want to move to Brooklyn.

When I grieve over the loss of a person like MCA—someone I didn’t know—what I’m really grieving on a personal level is the recognition of lost eras of my life. Friendships that went by the wayside, people I did know who have passed on, and the realization that I’ll probably never feel that way about a group or artist that I might discover as an adult.

Adam Yauch was bigger than just the music, though, and over the next few days there will be lots of tributes to him and the other work he did (creating the Free Tibet Music Festival, directing tons of videos for the Beasties, making a movie about high school basketball players, and so on). This is just about me, really, and about losing another one of my musical heroes and another slice of my personal soundtrack. My heart goes out to Yauch’s wife and daughter, as well as to Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond, who I know must be feeling the loss of their brother in a heavy, heavy way.

Here are a few of my favorite Beastie Boys moments out of so many. And all of these videos were directed by MCA, of course…Nathanial Hörnblowér, Adam Yauch from Brooklyn, Yauch with his fisheye lens, Yauch with his close-ups and his hoodie and his gravely voice and his beard like a billy goat.

Good times, good man. Thank you.

Need a refresher of how much work Daniel has put into his little rental apartment this part year? Here you go. YEAH. So let’s go help this kid win FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

✚ Go here to vote for ‘Daniel’s Amazing Bones’ to win Small Cool 2012!

Remember, even if you marked Daniel as a favorite in the semi-finals, you still need to cast a vote for the WINNER in the finals. If you don’t already have an account, make one. It’s easy. Goodnight, and thank you.

All photos by Maxwell Tielman.

Am I over-thinking it? Maybe, but all of that over-thinking made me realize something: I am my own design project. Here are some Instagram snaps from over the past few weeks.

So yeah. I mean…I pretty much look like my house. I don’t really draw any distinction between designing myself and designing anything else. I have a set of limitations that I need to work with, and a knowledge of how to use certain tools and materials in order to achieve the results I want. I never think about what would be perceived as “sexy” or whatever, that’s just not something I’m concerned with. I do like to look attractive, of course, but for me physical attractiveness (in anyone) is determined not by a specific set of features, but by a series of proportions, contrasts, textures and colors—exactly the same things that make a room or a book cover or a garden appealing to me.

OH, AND: Here’s me matching my dorm room 18 years ago.

I’m curious: How about you? Do you “match” your home? If you’re an artist or designer, do you feel like there’s a correlation between your professional work and, say, your hair?

Spike Lee, The Dolly Shot / Montage by Richard Cruz / Music “Bra” by Cymande

I love this video essay that Richard Cruz put together assembling some of Spike Lee’s best dolly shot moments. Spike is definitely one of my all-time favorite filmmakers, and I’m one of those people who gets really excited when he busts out the dolly shots. I know he gets some criticism for overusing them, but I think that mainly comes from people within the film industry who have an awareness of how these shots are achieved technically. As a non-film industry moviegoer, however, I love the surreal, dreamy feeling these shots impart on his movies—and this montage makes me want to have a Spike Lee film festival in my living room this weekend.

I just watched Chuck Close read a letter to his 14-year-old self. You should watch it too. Sorry about the ad at the beginning—the four minutes that follow are worth it, I promise. I’ll wait…

Good stuff, right?

Chuck Close was the commencement speaker at my graduation from art school. He’d just had a huge retrospective at MoMA earlier that year, and it was very exciting to have him there. Purchase College is divided up into several distinct small schools, each with its own admissions process, its own dean, and its own requirements. The graduation ceremony, however, is all-inclusive. The painters are sitting next to the biology majors are sitting next to the dancers are sitting next to the sociology people are sitting next to the filmmakers are sitting next to the designers.

But Chuck Close was really there to talk to us. The art students. This is part of what he said:

I’d like to say something to the parents of the art majors. This is probably not what you had in mind, you know? You hoped maybe—I don’t know, maybe medical school, maybe a degree in law, but I want to tell you that a life in art can be a wonderful life. Artists live better at near-poverty level income than yuppie bond traders do at much larger income.

Now, I’m sure there are plenty of yuppie bond traders out there who are plenty happy with their lives and I certainly don’t deride them for that, but you know…the world is quick to judge someone who makes their living as an artist. The arts are considered expendable and disposable, as if their place in culture and modern society is not one of actual value, but merely something decorative and extraneous. It’s nice to have something to hang above the sofa, sure, but not if it means I’m going to have to pay more taxes! So it’s good to hear something like that from a guy like Chuck Close when you’re about to embark on a career path that will likely always feel a bit tenuous.

(Of course, I was created and raised by two artists who already understood and were actively living this lesson, so I’m pretty sure they did have “this” in mind. Actually, what they had in mind was that their children would become whatever they wanted to. I’d like to think they’d still love me even if I’d become a yuppie bond trader.)

But back to that video! I’ve watched it a number of times now, and I keep dwelling on this:

Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.
Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.
Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.

I’ve heard Chuck Close use that line before, but right now it speaks so directly to how I’ve been feeling about inspiration, appropriation, value, context, and work ethics. Far be it from me to claim to be free from inspiration, but I do think Close is right. If you imagine your creative work as a spectrum, you’d have the finding and saving of the work of others on one end, and “showing up and getting to work” on the other. Life doesn’t have to exist solely within the latter part of the spectrum, of course, but the more time we spend there (and, conversely, the less time we spend poring over “inspiration”), the more we likely we are to produce work that is truly the result of what we set out to do when we decided a life in the arts was what we wanted.

When someone asks me what I’m inspired by (easily my least favorite question), the first answer that always comes to me is EVERYTHING. Or if not every thing, then every possibility of a thing. I’m constantly looking at shapes and patterns and colors, whether in nature or in art or in the way my shoes happen to be sitting in front of the closet door. Every food wrapper is considered. Furniture. Bill envelopes. Music. EVERYTHING. It doesn’t have a start or end!

Because of this, inspirational stimulation can easily become overwhelming for me. I’ve never had an inspiration board/mood board/whatever board—I find them oppressive. Aside from the pressure of influence, I dislike the act of stripping context from another person’s work. And yes, I do do that here on this blog sometimes—but I cannot have it around me when I’m in “design mode.” I show up, and I get to work. OK, most of the time. Sometimes I’m an amateur.

So here are my lessons for artist/designer types, as inspired (oops) by Chuck Close:

Not every decision you make has to be crowdsourced beforehand. Trust your gut and keep it to yourself while you follow through.

It’s OK to strive to accomplish things that may never lead to financial reward. More than OK, actually.

Try to put a limit on the amount of time you spend searching for and cataloging images for the sake of inspiration. Think more about appreciating these things for what they are, and not just how you can apply them to your own work.

Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.

And hey, maybe yuppie bond traders can apply these things to their work, too.

Thanks to Kelly at LPP for sharing the video.

Left to right, top to bottom:

I spent a lot of time cleaning, unpacking, and arranging. I’m pretty impressed by how much I managed to cross off the to-do list! By midday Sunday I was able to sit down and enjoy an iced coffee and feel a bit more at home. (The book under my coffee is Lena Corwin’s beautifully illustrated book of city maps. I can’t stop looking at it!)

On Sunday afternoon Shilo and Jenna came over for hot coffee on the roof. It was a bit chilly out, but still so nice to enjoy the view! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it. Shilo brought some vegan blueberry crumb bars that were super-delicious. Perfect.

I’ve always had custom aluminum legs on my KARLSTAD sofa instead of the wood block ones they come with, but I’ve hung onto the wood ones since I’ve had a project like this in mind for a while now. I didn’t wind up with neon pink work table legs, but I did decide to give my sofa legs a set of neon pink socks! I’ll take better photos of the sofa and its new gams soon, but for now here’s a little sneak peek. I love how this turned out.

On Sunday evening, Daniel and Max came over to have beers with the dogs! Bruno and Fritz looooooove their Uncle Daniel. It’s so cute to see them jumping up and down with excitement whenever he’s around. Bruno immediately claimed his lap space and greatly enjoyed the extra attention—especially the belly-rubs.

Oh! And I decided to start wearing bracelets again. I used to wear stuff on my wrists all the time, but then I started getting annoyed by how they felt when I was using the computer. I like the feeling of security they give, though, so I’m giving them another shot. Aren’t those hot pink bangles great? They were a present from Jen. She, Tamera, Jenna, Shilo and I all have the same ones. I feel happy looking at them. I have nice friends.

p.s. Speaking of spray paint projects and friends, did you see Tamera’s amazing stool?! It’s so pretty.

The new apartment is really not feeling like a home at all yet, which is why I haven’t shared any photos. I like DUMBO and of course I love Brooklyn, but I have to admit to feeling pretty detached from the apartment itself. The building itself is from the late 1800s (that’s it on the right in the photo, and yes, it’s on the movie poster for Once Upon a Time in America, and yes, apparently it’s also used in the exterior shots of someone’s loft on Gossip Girl), but the interior is completely new. The entire building—formerly a cardboard factory—was totally renovated and converted into apartments last year.

With the exception of my college dorm room and a Brooklyn townhouse we rented briefly before moving upstate, I’ve never lived in a post-War structure. It’s very strange for me to not have the quirks and faults of an old home to fall back on. I’m someone who relies heavily on restriction and limitation in order to come up with solutions to problems, which is really the reason why it’s been so easy (conceptually, at least) to make the house feel like home. I’m used to depending on 120+ years of history to give my surroundings warmth and meaning and a sense of permanence.

I wasn’t prepared for how it would feel to suddenly be in a white box with absolutely no history, no mistakes, no damage. It’s funny how differently something like a plain pine board used as a shelf reads in an old house versus a new one—the meaning is totally different.

But really…I need to stop complaining. I know this. I have to just start doing what needs to be done in order to make this apartment not feel like a hotel room.

TODAY AND TOMORROW:

✚ Assemble dressers for closet storage
✚ Spray-paint dresser knobs (too windy!)
✚ Spray-paint sofa legs
✚ Put two coats of matte poly on the desk top
✚ HANG STUFF ON THE WALLS (some done, more to go…)
✚ Assemble sideboard; organize contents
✚ Figure out what needs to happen for closet storage
✚ Mount swing-arm lamp in bedroom
✚ Buy drawer organizers for kitchen
✚ CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN
✚ Think of ways to minimize the harsh bathroom lighting
✚ Deep-clean the triangle rug and make the dogs promise to not pee on it anymore (bribery may be required)

That’s not so bad. Once this is all done, maybe I’ll feel like I can take a few photos. I hope so.

So…that’s it, then. This weekend we moved the last of the furniture, odds and ends, and forgotten cabinet contents out of the Washington Heights apartment that we’ve kept for the past two years. While Evan was making trips back and forth to the house in Newburgh and the new apartment in Brooklyn, I was patching, filling, sanding, painting, and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning for two solid days and nights.

Despite the fact that no one else has ever paid me the same consideration, I believe in leaving rental apartments in nice condition and immaculately clean for the next resident. I don’t understand why it’s not standard for landlords to hire cleaning services to tend to apartments between tenants, but (at least in my experience in New York) that’s definitely not the norm. The things I’ve had to clean out of refrigerators when moving into new apartments…ugh. I just like to make it nice as possible for the next person, and I always leave the apartment in better working order than I found it in.

Painting over the black kitchen wall and converting the “office” back into a closet felt sad. We had hoped to assign our lease to a couple who actually wanted to keep the black paint, the fauxdenza, and all of our other modifications, but that didn’t work out as planned, so it all had to go. I don’t like the feeling of leaving an apartment and not knowing what’s going to happen to it. I know that might sound a little silly since people do that all the time, but I was really attached to this place. It’s a great apartment in a great building with GREAT neighbors. I hope someone nice moves in. I also hope nobody paints over all of the doorknobs and hardware that I spent so many hours stripping.

I started crying when we were ready to walk out the door for the last time. Good old 6F in Washington Heights is the complete opposite of the new place in Brooklyn. I’m comfortable in these old, concrete-walled apartments with paint-globbed moldings and cracked plaster and mismatched bathroom tiles. And I’m a little uncomfortable in gut-renovated white boxes with 90° corners and dishwashers and fancy amenities. I know how to live in old spaces, but I’m not sure how to live in new ones. It’s going to be a weird adjustment.

I’ll miss this place. Goodbye, Bennett Avenue.

UPDATE: Voting is now closed. Manhattan Nest took 2nd place. Yay, Daniel!

Here’s what you need to do:

✚ Go to the Homies 2012 Home Design Blog Finals page at Apartment Therapy.
✚ If you’re not already logged in, log in.
✚ Don’t have an account? That’s easily remedied.
✚ OK wait, go back to the Homies 2012 Home Design Blog Finals page.
✚ Here’s the easy, fun part: Vote for Manhattan Nest!!!

Just in case it’s not enough for me to just tell you what to do, here’s my campaign pitch:

✚ All-original content. Daniel blogs about one thing: His own home. Yes, sometimes his cute boyfriend and his even cuter dog (sorry Max, dogs always win the cutestakes) come up, but it’s all in the context of him building a home for his little family. The photos you see on Manhattan Nest were taken by Daniel. The content was written by Daniel. Everything you see on his blog is him. And nobody is paying him or sponsoring him, either—he’s sharing this stuff because he enjoys it.

✚ This kid is going places. I know it’s easy to forget when you’re reading his blog, but Daniel is only 22 years old. TWENTY-TWO. When I was 22, I was…well, OK, when I was 22 I had just started working at the same job I’m still at 14 years later, but that’s not the point. Daniel is young, and he is smart and kind and funny beyond his years. I don’t know what he’ll be doing in 5 or 10 years (I don’t think he does, either), but I do know he’ll be doing whatever it is really, really well.

✚ Daniel inspires me. He inspires me not by sharing a bunch of things that inspire him, but by sharing what he’s done to make his home feel more like an extension of himself. He’s living in a rented pre-war apartment in New York City that’s gotten pretty run-down through neglect over the years, and he’s fixing it up on a student budget. He’s not doing this to make the apartment worth more, he’s doing it to feel happier every day—and he’s sharing that process with all of us. Every time I take on a project in my own elderly home, I think of Manhattan Nest and have a little WWDD moment. He makes me want to go the extra mile, and to think of solutions to problems that might not be immediately obvious. Daniel makes me not want to be a slacker. Isn’t this exactly the kind of inspiration you want to take away from a home design blog?

✚ He’s my friend. I’m actually feeling kind of verklempt just writing those simple words. Daniel is my friend. He’s not just some guy I know on the internet, he’s my weekly coffee buddy, my personal mover, my confidant, my conspirator, my friend. I met Daniel because we both have blogs, and we’ve always supported and helped each other in whatever capacity we’re able. He’s a good person, and I’m very, very lucky to know him.

Ok, pitch done.

I promise I have a few snapshots I’ve taken during the last few days of moving into the new apartment, but I got sidetracked by some amazing photos of ceramicist Silje Aune Eriksen’s house while I was looking at Design For Mankind yesterday and couldn’t stop myself from putting together my own little post.

There is nothing here that I don’t love. I keep looking at this first photo and going from detail to detail and marveling over how well it’s all put together. There’s a lot more to this shoot, and you can see the whole thing on Silje’s blog.

The thing I keep getting stuck on the most is that hot pink and gray RUG, though. I seriously covet that rug. It’s the Dot Carpet from Hay, designed by Scholten & Baijings. I haven’t seen it in person, but according to the description, it’s actually made up of more than a thousand felted balls that are hand-stitched together. It’s not woven! Absolutely amazing.

I’d actually consider saving my pennies up to buy it if it weren’t for the fact that Bruno and Fritz basically see any rug as a giant wee-wee pad. Sigh. Thanks for saving me money, puppies. I guess.

✚ Home of Silje Aune Eriksen / Seen in Norwegian Elle Decor / Photos by Trine Thorsen / Styling by Kirsten Visdal

Isn’t the balance of colors, textures and shapes perfect here? Nothing is too heavy, but it all feels grounded and purposeful. The dominant color is gray, but the little slivers of neon and the natural light make the overall feeling really joyful and happy. I just love it, all of it.

✚ Home of Silje Aune Eriksen / Seen in Norwegian Elle Decor / Photo by Trine Thorsen / Styling by Kirsten Visdal

Yeah, this STOOL. I know. It deserves its own photo. Much like those neon table legs made me want to run home and spray paint every table leg hot pink, this stool makes me want to dip everything I own in a hot, hot fluoro shade of orange…while wearing this lipstick. [UPDATE: Thanks to Simone, I now know that this is Tom Dixon's Offcut Stool. I need to start paying more attention to Tom Dixon's work beyond his lighting!]

That said, you know what’s not spacious? The new apartment. The entire thing corner to corner is about 450sf, and that’s including a bedroom the approximate length and width of a Sucrets tin. The kitchen and living space are one open room, though, which does open up the possibility of having a decently-sized, multi-purpose table in the room—for working, eating, cooking, sewing and whatever else requires a flat surface.

Photo: Nina Broberg for Livet Hemma

I’ve been keeping this table idea in the back of my mind for a while now. It comes from IKEA’s Livet Hemma (Life At Home) blog, which, in case you’ve never seen it, is a trove of photos and project ideas that involve stuff from IKEA used in very un-showroom-like ways. To make this table, they just used a pair of inexpensive VIKA LERBERG trestles and some simple spruce planks for the top. I love the “runner” they created by painting the center boards! The great thing about the LERBERG trestles is that they’re less than 16″ deep, so it’s possible to make a shallower table with them to suit the amount space you have—and, of course, you can cut your planks to whatever length you’d like.

Photo: Corkellis House, interior design by Kathryn Tyler + Linea Studio

I definitely don’t have enough space for a setup like this, but I do like how much storage the base components provide. The top is supported by four VIKA ALEX units from IKEA—two with doors, and two with drawers. The depth is at least 22″, so it’s probably not an option to use even one of these drawer units in the new place (did I mention it’s tiny?), but I can still dream.

Speaking of dreaming, take a look at the entire house that this room is at part of. It’s one of those rare places I could move into fully furnished and not want to change anything.

Photos: House Tour: The Dickensons, Apartment Therapy (via sfgirlbybay)

OK, now we’re really getting somewhere. The second I saw this Victorian house tour, I knew I’d be needing some neon pink table legs in my future. I love the way this looks. Once again, the support for this table comes from IKEA—four VIKA FURUSUND legs—and the top appears to just be a simple piece of butcherblock countertop (NUMERAR, perhaps?). The legs are solid, unfinished pine, making them perfectly suited for painting. They’re really just asking to be neon pink, right?

I keep picturing a smaller-scale version of this table in the apartment, surrounded by the dowel-leg side shells currently in the “old” apartment kitchen (I have two more stashed in the basement at the house), and it just seems perfect. Enough space to have Daniel and Max over for dinner, even!

Yeah, this is my own big fat work table! It’s in the room at the house that Evan is now using as a studio, and it’s awesome. The top comes from my father’s huge old drafting table (the original legs are in storage, don’t worry!), and the legs are—you guessed it—VIKA MOLIDEN trestles from IKEA. You can see some more detailed photos of the top and the cool drawer handles in this old post. It’s a special table, this one.

More than any aspect of the new apartment (yes, even more than the roof deck), the possibility of having a big space to spread out and work is exciting me the most. I’m sure I’ll still spend plenty of time planted on the sofa with my laptop, yes, but for the long hauls, it’s going to be great to sit like a normal person. A normal person with dogs on my lap, of course.

p.s. Please vote for Manhattan Nest in the 2012 Homies Awards over at Apartment Therapy. You need to log in to vote, but it’s worth it. Daniel truly deserves to win this.

It’s been eight years since I left Brooklyn, and I’ve never stopped missing it. I wrote a little bit about that feeling a couple of years ago, and if anything, my longing for the County of Kings has only intensified since then.

I love Brooklyn.

I’ve always been a South Brooklyn (not to be confused with “southern Brooklyn”) kind of girl. I started off in Cobble Hill right after college, then moved to the “Columbia Street Waterfront District” (quotation marks necessary), and then finally to Red Hook…which is about as South Brooklyn as you can get. It’s also about as massively inconvenient as you can get in terms of transportation and conveniences (this was before Fairway and IKEA opened, of course), and that move to Red Hook really wound up being the impetus for moving out of the city completely and buying our house in Newburgh. I mean, if you’re going to live someplace inconvenient, why not make it really inconvenient, right?

Of course, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you know what happened about five years later—we decided to also rent a little apartment in upper Manhattan. You know, for convenience.

The apartment has been wonderful. I love Washington Heights (really, it’s great), I love my neighbors, and I lovelovelove the apartment itself. Stuff has changed a little, though. We’re in the city a lot more than we’d anticipated, and Evan got a job in Brooklyn. Which is kind of inconvenient.

You see where this is going, right?

Yeah, we rented an apartment in Brooklyn. In DUMBO, specifically, which is decidedly not part of South Brooklyn. It’s not North Brooklyn either, though—it’s right in the middle. It’s right on the water. It’s right under the Manhattan Bridge. And it’s beautiful there. The apartment is TINY TINY TINY, and it’s a new renovation—totally different from anyplace I’ve ever lived before. It doesn’t have much character of its own, but I think it’s going to feel good with our stuff in it.

We’ll be gradually moving our things from the Washington Heights apartment to the Brooklyn apartment over the course of the next month. We live pretty simply when we’re in the city, so it’s not a ton of stuff, but you know how closets and kitchen cabinets are—they’re sneaky. Daniel has offered to help (and by “offered” I mean he agreed when I asked), and I’m thinking that having the Boy Wonder on hand is going to make everything go pretty fast. I’ll do my best to take photos along the way.

And yeah, that’s the view from the roof deck of our new building. Crazy.

Brooklyn!

p.s. We found awesome new tenants to move into our Washington Heights apartment, which makes me really happy. They’re even going to keep the fauxdenza!

About a year ago, I convinced my friend, musician and composer Roger O’Donnell, to let me work on a complete overhaul of his website. Roger had been designing and maintaining his personal site (as well as the sites for numerous side projects he’s worked on) for many years, so it was with a bit of trepidation that I made the suggestion in the first place, but Roger was completely on board. It took a long time to migrate all of those years of content from a static site (there were literally hundreds of pages all nestled inside of directories within directories—I told him it was like discovering a giant box filled with filing cabinets inside of an enormous closet you never knew was in your house) to a WordPress-based format, and it’s still a bit of a work in progress, but I’m happy that Roger now has a website he can add news items to easily and keep up to date with information about all of his various projects.

Right on the heels of the website launch last month, Roger asked me if I’d design a poster for his collaboration with musician Adam Donen, which was to be a secular Requiem. I said of course (of course!), and the result is something I’m very happy with. Poster design is really still kind of an area of unknowns for me, but I’m finding that I really like thinking about how the eye moves and how the brain processes information when something is presented on a wall rather than on a table or shelf like a book would be.

I’d previously worked with Roger on two other design projects, the first being the packaging for Nothing Concrete, a CD sampler his label released in 2005, and then last year a poster for a performance of his Hockney-inspired work, Quieter Trees. I’ve known Roger for nearly 15 years now—the duration of my entire career as a designer—and it means so much to me to be able to work with someone whose own work I believe in and care about so much.

Roger has written more about the Requiem project on his site, and if you’re going to be in London on April 2nd, you can see it performed live with an orchestra at Shoreditch Church. I wish I could be there, as I’m sure it’s going to be fantastically dark and beautiful.

» Oh, and you can buy one! «

The poster itself is now available for pre-order. This is a rare chance to hang something on the wall that I designed, so if you’re interested in buying one (£20, including shipping to anywhere), head over to Roger’s store right away…it’s a very limited edition that will ship in about three weeks.

The redesign of Cute + Delicious is something I’d been thinking about for months before I actually started working on it. I love Alix’s blog (vegan treats, movie love and crafty fun…what’s not to love?!), and between the great photos and its fun name, it was hard to not come up with ideas for a new look. I did a lot of tweaking and adjusting and futzing before I even showed her a preliminary comp (always a nerve-wracking moment!), and I’m SO excited that she liked what I’d come up with right away. With just a few minor alterations based on Alix’s feedback, I think we wound up with a blog design that is, well, both cute and delicious. Alix was a dream client for sure, and I hope I have the chance to work with her again in the future. In the mean time, I’ll keep looking at this spinach dip and wishing I could coax it out of the monitor and into my mouth.

Thank you so much, Roger and Alix, for trusting me with your design projects!

It’s been so long since I’ve made a mix tape to share! I’m super-busy at work these days (OK, I know, when am I not busy…but it’s definitely better than the alternative), and I’ve been in all-headphones-all-the-time mode. I work in a big open space with a bunch of other designers, and as much as I love them, sometimes I really just need to tune everything out.

So here’s what I’m listening to today! Music that makes me want to GET. IT. DONE. It’s a fun mix, for sure, and every bit as suitable for listening to while speed-cleaning the house as it is for designing book covers to.

Previous Mixes:
+ Summertime Jams
+ Friendship Bracelets
+ Teen Goth Nite

You can find and follow me on 8tracks as doorsixteen.

There are certain things that come up over and over again in my (very small) wardrobe: Geometric shapes, black, white, grey, saturated colors, heavily textured knits, furry stuff, golds…and, of course, scarves. I have a lot of scarves. It can be 95° out, and I’m in a scarf.

My Bookhou bag and I continue to be best buddies. I’m also wearing my most favorite scarf of all here—it comes from the amazing Martha McQuade at the aptly-named Scarf Shop (GIANT size; mustard). I’ve had this scarf for a little more than a year now, and I’ve definitely worn it in every season!

And yeah, that’s a new watch I’ve got on. It’s from the Issey Miyake men’s GO line (I always wear men’s watches), and it’s the first non-Swatch watch I’ve owned. I still think Swatches are the best watches around (I have about a dozen of them that I’ve acquired over the past 25 or so years—and they all still work!), but it’s fun to have another option that’s a little bit more elegant. I’ve very very brand loyal when I like something a lot, though, so my heart will always belong to Swatch in the end.

(Is it weird that it never occurs to me to check my phone for the time? I always wear a watch.)

Oh, and? NEON PINK NAIL POLISH. I’ve had a bottle of this stuff for ages (it’s some weird generic brand), but I’d never tried it until last week. I wasn’t sure if it would look too garish or weird, but I wound up loving it. I don’t think I’d feel the same way if my nails were really long, but on stubby talons like mine, it’s pretty nice.

1. That totally incredible cape/poncho was a birthday present from Jen, and it’s from Pendleton’s Portland collection. It’s kind of the greatest thing in the world—thick and warm and beautifully made. I’ve worn it at least three times a week since October, and it’s one of those things I’m sure I’ll have forever.

2. My favorite favorite favorite earrings! They were a Hanukkah present from Evan a couple of years ago, and I’ve worn them almost every day since receiving them. They’re made by Lila Rice in Brooklyn.

3. Those rad superhero lightning bolt socks were also a present from Jen (clearly the girl knows how to give a gift), and they come from Sock It to Me. She got a red pair for Evan!

4. Ahhhh, yes, the Wookie coat. This thing is totally ridiculous but I also completely awesome. It’s basically like going out in a Chewbacca costume. (It’s surprisingly warm, too! Too warm for this Global Warming Winter™ we’re having in New York this year.)

OK, this is just silliness, but when I was thinking about the textures I love most, I realized that I’ve been a fan of superfake fur for a while now. The photo on the left is on my Wookie coat (earrings by Fay Andrada—Brooklyn ladies make nice jewelry!), and the photo on the right was taken almost exactly ten years ago. I was modeling my “nylon squirrel” muffler, which I still have and wear. And I had no bags under my eyes.

“David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee” commercial // Directed by David Lynch, 2012

Last year, I posted about the first commercial for David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee, and boy, was it a doozy. I’m not one to get overly excited about advertisements, but that ad made me not only want to buy David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee for drinking purposes, but also for bathing, tooth-brushing, and as an eyedrop substitute. It was that good.

So here’s the new one. Oh yeah.

p.s. Have you ever watched David Lynch cook quinoa for 20 minutes?

Is it just me, or it next to impossible to snap back into work mode this year? Maybe it’s because I took two weeks in a row off in December, but I just don’t feel like I’m fully present and engaged in what I need to be doing every day. I think the weather might be partly to blame—it’s been unseasonably mild in lower New York this year, and I constantly feel like it’s either late fall or early spring. I’m just sort of floating from one day to the next.

I did just have a really great weekend, though. Jen from Honey Kennedy came to stay at my house in Newburgh for three whole days, and we had a wonderful time. Jen is terribly sweet and funny and really, really nice to be around (just ask Fritz and Bruno, who fell deeply and madly in love with her), and I’m happy to have finally met her in person.

Aside from holding the very first semester of Anna’s School for Unicorns (a.k.a Photoshop classes), I also made us some very very thick and rich and spicy and almost too delicious hot cocoa using Vosges Aztec Elixer. And tofu scramble. And burnt kale chips. And reheated pizza. I’m pretty sure it was like going away to a fancy resort for Jen! (Or, um, not…)

I got my hair cut again, too. More of the same! I’ve been back to Mariko at Dlala Salon four times now since I got the best haircut ever 8 months ago, and that has to be a record for me in terms of frequency. Can I add that NOT ONCE have I taken a pair of manicure scissors to my bangs in a fit of midnight desperation since I started seeing Mariko? Her cuts look so good growing out that I don’t have to.

It’s pretty neat having LONG hair, too! I haven’t had this much hair since I was a freshman in high school, which was…um…23 years ago. I’m going to just let it keep growing. Now that I know about layers and deep parts and stuff, it’s nice to have waves and partial buzz cuts and long bangs.

On a side note, I just want to put this reminder out there: Much like paint is just paint, HAIR IS JUST HAIR. The great thing about it is that even if you do something stupid and it looks terrible, you can always just cut your hair short and eventually it’ll grow out. As a side bonus, you get to have a million different hairdos as it gets longer. If you want a fun haircut, get a fun haircut. It’s just hair.

Fritz turned four years old a few days ago. I can’t believe he’s four already! It seems like it was just yesterday that were were bringing home this insanely adorable, sleepy lump of fur. He was so cute! (And then he ate our sofa.) Fritzy is so good now. Yes, he has his moments when he does an ultra-annoying Chewbacca/seagull vocal impersonation for seemingly no reason at all and for lengths of time that are highly unnecessary, but he’s a total snuggle bug and just an all-around great dog. He’s also really warm and he likes to sleep under the covers at night, so our heating bill is less with him around. And he’s still really cute.

Oh, clothes! I found that nice triangle-print shirt at Target! The proportions really aren’t as weird as the photo on their website makes it look. It’s quite flattering, actually. And Martha has a the same one of course.

Yeah, that’s a new black + white iPhone case. I ordered one from Society6 because I’ve been thinking about selling some stuff through them and I wanted to know what the quality is like, and I’ll be honest…as cute as the illustration (by Dawn Gardner, whose work I love) on my new case is, the quality is really, really sub-par. I’ve had a capsule case from Uncommon since I got my phone in May (that’s the multicolored one in the top photo, designed by Marco Cibola), and I love it. The plastic is smooth, strong and durable; the edges are smooth and comfortable to hold; and the design is actually embedded in case. The case from Society6 is unbelievably flimsy, and you can literally scratch the printed image off with your fingernail. I fully expect it to look terrible in a couple of months. Both cases were about $40, and while that’s pretty steep for something so small and made out of plastic, it’s definitely way too much for the ones from Society6. Bummer! It’s definitely cute, though, so I’ll keep using it until it breaks.

UPDATE: Society6 contacted me after reading this post, and they have very kindly offered to send me a replacement case as they believe I may have been sent a defect. Fingers crossed that the new one is better. I’ll update this post when I receive it!

(Like I said, RAMBLY.)

The bookshelf-building project has been going well (aside from the fact that the shelves don’t really have many books on them yet), but it’s been at the expense of the rest of the house. You know when you start working on something and you wind up having to make the most giant mess in the world and then you realize you have to actually finish this other project first and that leads to a secondary giant mess on top of the first mess, and you were up until 4AM and it still didn’t make any difference and now you just feel sick but you also don’t want to live in that MEGA-MESS you created?

That’s how I’m feeling right now, and I have approximately 10 hours in which to make things better. Get it done.

TO-DO BEFORE 6PM:

+ PUT AWAY ALL THE STUFF.
+ Cut and mount roller shades in the kitchen.
+ Cut and mount roller shade in the guest bedroom.
+ Bring the records downstairs.
+ Hang the Flentsed mobile.
+ Hang the String light.
+ Clean bathrooms.
+ Clean kitchen.
+ Bring all tools and supplies to the basement.
+ Dust.
+ Vacuum.
+ Mop.
+ Frame stuff and then hang it on the walls.

(You’ll note that several of these items are carried over from my vacation to-do list from a few weeks ago. Sigh…)

When Julie saw that I’d bought this triangle-print day bag from Bookhou, she said, “If you were a bag…” And she’s totally right. Really, “old bag” jokes aside, this is me in bag form. Aside from the perfect print (which I blogged about in tea towel form a while back), the size is ideal. I have a reputation for dragging around huge, heavy bags that make my back feel miserable, so I’ve been looking for a smaller, cotton bag for days when I expect to be walking around a lot but want something fancier than a tote. This is exactly it.

Of course, now I also want the matching loop scarf (thanks to Victoria, who knows an Anna-scarf when she sees one!), and maybe also this beautiful pouch to store the iPad I don’t have…

Speaking of Bookhou, have you seen founders John and Arounna’s Toronto home in the latest issue of Covet Garden? It’s every bit as lovely as you’d imagine it would be.