The Good Life in Brooklyn

Roof Picnic With Bike
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

I returned from Austin with a renewed summer motive: to live the good life in Brooklyn. Meaning, I want to enjoy all that I can access here and the wonderful friends that I've made over the years. I think it's easy to get sucked into a daily routine and I have to remind myself constantly to snap out of it a little. So far I think i am meeting my resolution: an inpromtu rooftop picnic last weekend, a bike ride to Manhattan beach, Faust and Manu Chau (outside of the paying area) for free in the park, making watermelon juice and cucumber salad. I love the cities I've visited where "the good life" seems more folded into the fabric of everyday life (Austin, Paris, Portland), but I think it is fully accessible here too, it's just a matter of attitude.

Rooftop picnic

Nobody Allowed On Roof
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

I feel like rooftops are the secret, public spaces in New York City. Being onthem just feels incredibly freeing, even if you have to sneak on to them.

Ladies Weekend!

Ladies Weekend!
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

Here we are, the three ladies, at the garden party, before swimming and a big night out on the town. It's fantastic to have friends as awesome as Jennifer and Andi. They are people who are creative and committed to making their lives good and being the sweetest friends I could imagine. You can see more of our adventures on my flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/killerfemme.

Garden Party

Andi and Tina
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

Tina Sparkles hosted an amazing Garden Party in and outside of her cute little house! Tina's amazing taste in design and decor shows in every corner of her house. She is the proprietress of sparklecraft and makes amazing things like custom guitar straps and accessories. Check out her website at www.sparklecraft.com

Swimming at Gus Fruh

Andi at Gus Fruh
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

Andi and I are such city girls, we couldn't beleive this river was clean enough to swim in! And that it was natural! And warm! We spent the better half of an afternoon lounging on rocks in the middle of the stream. That's how to spend a weekend if you ask me!

Frozen Custard Zombie

Frozen Custard Zombie
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

I don't think that I need to say much more than that... I thought Jennifer was going to be mad at me for revealing her true nature.

On the air with Ear Candy

Me on the air
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

One of the coolest things we got to do was be guests on Jennifer's "indie pop and other strange and wonderful music" radio show on KOOP, Austin's community radio station. I've heard about Ear Candy for years and it was wonderful to be in the KOOP studio and get to help choose what songs to play. It has to be said our set was pretty Brooklyn heavy. We also solicited band names from listeners for the band Andi, Jennifer and I will start when/if Jennifer moves to Brooklyn. You can listen (online or in Austin) to Ear Candy on Saturdays from 5-7, www.koop.org.

Austin Eats

Pickle Eyes!
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

Andi and I spent a thoroughly enjoyable ladies weekend with Jennifer. Here we are chowing down on veggie dogs before Andi kicked both of our asses at foosball (she had never played before!).

Texas Trip

No One Belongs Here More Than You
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

The other weekend I traveled with my friend Andi to Austin, TX to visit our friend Jennifer. It was awesome. Here I am catching up on my reading at a spring fed swimming pool (as a side note I found Miranda July's stories like reading candy, but not quiet so satisfying). I was also introduced to the wonders of Frito Pie and a city that has rivers clean enough to swim in inside city limits.

Havana Harbor 2004 in a show!

Havana Harbor 2004 in a show!
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

One of the things I have been working on lately is a staff exhibition at my work. It opened (to other staff members and their friends and families) at the end of May. Looking at my co-workers artwork made me realize how long it has been since I have made anything significant artwise. I've been busy working with other people's work through POV, my current job and riffrag. This is fun and satisfying, as I love finding platforms for people to share what they do and make and how art plays a community building (hence why I worked on the staff show), but I also want to make things again. It was really inspiring to see the work that my co-workers make. Some of them identify as artists and others do not, but clearly everyone who works around art so often has some kind of personal connection to it. You can see the full installation shots and individual pieces on my work's flickr page at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklyn_museum.

Don't Ruin Coney Island!

Don't Ruin Coney Island!
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

This sign was taped to plywood encircling the now empty lot where the go karts used to be. Thor Equities has purchased Astroland and plans to "make it nice," but no one really knows what their plans are. Rumors are circulating- will the wonder wheel stay or not? What about the cyclone? What is considered a landmark? This whole looming tragedy of the disneyfication of Coney Island reminds me of a recent argument I overheard between my co-workers concerning the Ratner arena project in Downtown and Prospect Heights Brooklyn. One was insisting that he supported the project because "the city has to expand." The other was patiently explaining that "expansion" and "development" does not mean destroying peoples homes for stadiums and parking lots and building luxury housing and no schools. Or, in the case of Coney Island, destroying what makes Brooklyn Brooklyn to turn it into a theme park version of itself.

Birthday girls!

Birthday girls!
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

Last weekend LJ and I celebrated our 6th birthday together with a picnic at Coney Island. 7 of us met up at the Owl's Head Pier in Bay Ridge and rode there along the Shore Parkway greenway. It's so nice to have a mostly car free ride, though then the greenway dumps you off in the Toys'R'Us parking lot and you have to fight through traffic the rest of the way. Felix said that our birthday parties are some of the only times he gets out to Brooklyn public spaces, which I took as a great compliment. The sand was hot, the water full of trash, the boardwalk crowded and the arcades loud. All told, it was a perfect Coney Island adventure. And since it's the last season of it's grittiness, I plan to be there often to enjoy it to its fullest. Going back home (on the subway) the N train went express, nonstop, to 59th street, drawing cheers from all aboard and causing Jason to remark it was "like having a limo."