a little sunday in the city (and CT)

so sunday me and my friend kristi took a little road trip to CT to take a class with ali edwards. other than starting our day at 6am (ugh), it was truly a lovely experience. ali has a really warm manner and an accessible personality, and i really loved getting to experience her work in person. she is a uniquely talented individual. the books we made are freaking amazing- i love being pushed out of my box and into someone else's for a minute; it is an incredibly valuable experience as an artist. and it is ever so fun to put on that "student" hat and play. 'twas a lovely morning. so here's a photo of ali edwards and k and me. and here's a photo of my dear friend laura and me, also from the class. laura is a scrapster-buddy of mine who boggles my mind with her book construction skills and teaches for us sometimes at YHP. she was there for the weekend crop and to take ali's class too. we also met some lovely ladie swho shared our table, but afterward though we could remembr the giggles, we could not remember their names. ladies, if you're out there, drop a line- i totally got a kick out of sharing the class with you! you were excellent table-mates. so, post-class, after wanderig around the inexplicably swank Hampton Inn where the class was held, we followed up our morning in CT with an afternoon jaunt to Harlem, where we dropped the car at the home of my childhood best friend Jared and headed downtown by subway to do some prowling and visit jared at his theatre in Chelsea. it's very gratifying when my friends get along, and kristi & jared and their funny little friend-crush crack me the hell up. i think they are similar humans, on the inside. may be why k and i recognised each other from the get-go. oh, and a note: i just gotta say, i do love hanging out with other scrappers because they are the only non-tourists in new york who don't freak out when i bust out the camera in the subway and other obnoxious places. i will never not love taking photos in the subway- tunnels and trains. case in point: check me and k looking super-fly in our rock-star sunglasses and big attitudes at the 125th st. station. super-fly.

mixed blessings

so the car-busted arm is not behaving and so for a time i shall not be working my regular job at YHP but instead i shall be going to physical therapy and strengthening and healing these messed-up muscles and whatnot. so for a few days i sat (laid) around my apartment moaning about how my apartment is dirty but it's too hard to clean (ever try to sweep with one hand? or change kitty litter?) and how i want to scrap but it's too painful with two hands, and too slow withonly one. and moaning when the aleve wore off (i'm a lightweight), etc.... i can think up any number of things to moan about when given the kind of opportunity afforded by entire days devoted solely to the pursuit of self-pity. so then i decided to at least try to make this time productive and so now i've been going for long walks in my neighborhood, smelling the fallness and taking lots of left-handed photos. i've been putting some time into organizing my photos, space, etc. reading books (the red tent, dear zoe, queers in space, hunger point). watching movies (but i'm a cheerleader, hercules, the opposite of sex, along came polly, better than chocolate, girlfight). taking time to see friends. and moaning a little bit in the afternoons (just for fun).

on monday

me and jared went to the central park zoo and it was oh so delicious. i love that zoo. it's so tiny i feel like it's mine. when i used to nanny i'd bring the baby there every day (we were members, so it was free) to watch the sea lion feeding. this time it was overrun with schoolchildren (we forgot it was a holiday) but they were mostly pretty cool. and this zoo is truly the most wonderful place, all open-air (mostly) and cool creatures. watching the polar bears play in the water was mesmerizing. the penguins are a freaking riot. but the monkeys are my favorite. i relate to the monkeys intensely. at the big zoos my favorites are the huge gorillas that are like magic old people. but at the central park zoo my favroites are the sassy little monkeys in the center of the zoo. there's a whole team of them and they're in this huge open air enclosure with all these mountains and valleys and ledges and play places and they are the most fun creatures. they tease each other and play and fight and cackle and wave their little butts in the air and they are just the most wonderful thing. yep, i love this zoo.