most pleasant free concert: grand archives at south street seaport. last time i was at sss was for camera obscura last year. it was muggy and crowded. on friday night, not so much. it was a nice evening with a slight breeze in the air and plenty of space so i was not jabbed in the rib or blocked by an extremely tall guy. grand archives was a mel find, so i had to call her during my fav "a setting sun" since she was away in sin city . i'm not sure she made it out.
i had perfect company with saki and anthony in tow. they are fans and you should be too. here's a great daytrotter session they did. you should check out.
belated olympics shout out: shawn johnson. oh my golly, she is the cutest thing EVER. shar hearts this pint sized daredevil with a smile. i was sad to see her only get the silver in the all around, but she got the gold she was dreaming of on the beam. i've always admired the petite gymnasts, like brandi johnson, kim zmeskal, dominique moceanu and carly patterson. i was never a huge cheerer for the shannon miller. have you seen that claritin commercial with her in it? she looks crazy different.
congrats to shawn! she's a gracious competitor and loved that despite missing golds in the all around and the floor she was super happy for the winners. that's a gold medal for sportsmanship. i hope to see her in the 2012 london games, where she will win that all around gold she so deserves.
reasons to keep truckin' despite the utter crapiness that is shar's life: sorry i haven't been good about posting. i've been sidetracked but apartment woes and this thing called the olympics. not that it's a revelation, but it really hit me that i have some of the bestest pals around. here is a shortlist (i mean it). these are just a handful of people who have really brighten my horrible month: leigh-anne, yoon, jac, jill, jen, mel, mike s., andy, eric, jeanie, kristen, alessia, lin, mike b., ester, young, saki, tara, virginia, bero and angelina. if you felt you've made a direct impact in the past 20 days of august and are not list, please feel free to state your case. you know i love you all.
top ten things done in sf bay area to recharge shar's batteries after apartment craziness:
10.) sunny brunch at zazie with jules. lemon ricotta pancakes with lemon curd and raspberry sauce
9.) coffee and pan au chocolate at tartine
8.) visit to the Q
7.) meeting lil' baby ashlyn and catching up with her mom anesia
6.) making cards at lin's and getting treated to the bestest tomato soup made by chef mike
5.) in n' out b4 getting on a plane back to new york4.) back to back weddings in the south bay. congrats christina and rich and jen and john!
3.) chihuly at the de young. shar hearts her some glass. lin and mike were kind enough to extend their de young membership goodness to me, so i could see one of my favs. the glass ceiling below is my new wallpaper on my mobile. i can't stop staring at it.
2.) belated father's day movie date with dad. finally watched the dark knight.
1.) one hawaii at stern grove. i haven't missed a season of stern grove since the big remodel and even moving across the country couldn't stop me. miraculously the sun was beaming in the sunset. apaprently, the first sunshine for the 2008 season. i really lucked out. cyn and i grabbed ono bbq to get in the hawiian mood. also, the brothers koehler and adam joined on our picnic.
must much anticipated show: headlights at tobacco warehouse in the empire-fulton state park section of the brooklyn bridge park. the fine folks of union hall organized the line-up and one of the acts i've been dying to see came out form champaign, il. hip hip for headlights! shar has been loving bands from the midwest as of late. i think the midwest is the new scandie invasion. lots of pensive, sweet tunes are coming out of here (bon iver, the owls, margot and the nuclear so and so's, pomegranates).
my love of for headlights started here. i was really drawn to "some stopping, some racing" and erin's vocals. nothing special but something about the simpleness of it all that made me really melancholy in a good way. so when i saw her finally last night i was a ball of glee. the sound was pretty terrible, but the stage presence made up for it. tristan called up two little girls to enlist some backup dancing goodness. i swear nick was going to knock down one of these gals, but the pro that he is, managed to dodge the jumpin' and twirlin' girlies. much tambourine was had.
best after concert treat: chocolate chocolate chunk at brooklyn ice cream factory. $3.50 is pricey for a scooop but oh so delicious while admiring the view of the bk bridge and one of olafur eliasson's waterfalls on the lovely night. dessert before dinner. jac made a garlicky fennel, artichoke and carrot salad. mmmm!
best way to cheer me up: i've been having some MAJOR apartment woes, so when i saw my friend adam posted this (hope you don't mind me reposting adam). it really cheered me up. sad music makes me happy too.
best place to run in the hills and sing "the hills are alive...": von trapp family lodge. yoon was so kind to invite me up to this AWESOME spot for the long weekend. this was much needed after work travel in the uk. yoon, mom and sis welcomed me into the lee family for the weekend. we swam, we hiked, we biked. twas loverily. this is the view from our balcony. jealous?
i'm going to do some downward dogs in the yoga studio overlooking the hills and cows. then, rest my muscles in the hot tub. :)
most annoying nazi: at a screening of the sound of music, a mother kept turning and giving us the look of death when we were humming and whispering lyrics. what the? isn't the movie about the joy of singing? sheesh. we made up for it when we walked back to our cabin singing "my favorite things" after the thunderstorm.
best weekday getaway: north fork of long island. ester was in town so young and i brought her to long island for the closet thing we could get to napa. it was a gorgeous day to hit the road and wind up to the wineries. who would have thunk long island a producer of vintages. we had gone to tj's for cheese, fruit, hummus, and bread to picnic.
on the third, we hit a sheeshy fa fa bedell. bottles started around $40. these wines were better than the last two wineries, but way over what we wanted to pay. it was a beautiful space with vaulted ceiling. it was definitely the most modern winery. we didn't bother getting a bottle here and look for one last spot.
were reasonably priced and delicious. they had magnums of the house white for $12. we didn't get that since young had to drive back, but it was quite tempting. we did get the muscat. it was so refreshing and perfect. the staff was super friendly without being pushy. the picnic area was the best part. with cushioned patio furniture and umbrellas because you know shar isn't a huge fan of tans. it was a perfect day and despite the limited high quality wine the company more than made up for it.
