Blizzard 2010

Here are a few photos Will and I took yesterday while cross-country skiing around Park Slope and Prospect Park. There is a LOT of snow. And we weren't the only ones on skis. (I also think we are in a LOT of people's random phone photos-- like "Look! Skis in Brooklyn!")

It's been totally fun, but that's because we've got no place to be. Our trip to Puerto Rico got cancelled, which was kind of a bummer, but I'd rather be playing in the snow than dealing with angry stranded airport people anyway. But I do hope they'll plow our street at some point.... I mean, our block is making the news for being so unplowed.

Vinyl

I bought some vinyl wall decals from Byrdie Graphics on Etsy a while ago and am only just now getting around to putting them up-- I bought them before we knew we were moving, couldn't decide where to put them and then when I finally had it figured out, we had decided to move, so they stayed in their package for a looooong time. And they stayed there longer still, since I was going to put them up when we moved into the new place, but we decided to paint and the instructions for application say to wait 30 days after the paint dries for best results.

So, finally, today I started the road to bedroom wall decor. They include a test piece of vinyl to see how they'll work on your walls.

The tester comes in the form of a cute little bird that is now roosting in our bathroom and kitchen/dining room-- just look at him up there above the trees of the shower curtain! I love him.

Little birdie is making me very excited for circles in the bedroom!

Pretty Package

Sometimes I like to send myself little presents in the mail. And yesterday I came home to one of the prettiest of all!

I bought these little birdie earrings

and they came all tied up in a lovely little box with a pretty little bow

Going the extra mile with those little details really brightened my day. Not that it was a dark day or anything, but still. So cute!

And Then There Were Curtains

Or Curtain (singular), rather.

I had a very Betsy Ross kind of weekend and ended up finally making a curtain out of the fabric we bought a couple of weeks ago. I think two panels would be better for opening it up and perhaps tying back, but I enjoy the even spacing of the starbursts here.

Hand-stitched (because who's going to see the hems behind the bed?!) Ikea Kajsastina fabric and Vågen curtain rod.

Some New Members of the Family

Once my office area was painted, I realized that it was going to need some serious contrast with the art to diffuse the intense saturation of the deep bright blue walls.

I put up these two Matte Stephens prints that I adore:

and then thought it would be nice if some friends could join them. And this morning, those friends arrived!

I'd say one more round of Ikea (Will needs ANOTHER bookshelf if you can believe it-- BELIEVE IT.) and I'll post pictures of the finished product! It just about feels like home.

Midnight Carb Coma

Like the old drug pushers from the playground... The Bread Man Cometh

Apparently tonight's challah made it through... right through to Will's hands!

Brioche on the left will most likely be turned into French Toast come morning. The fate of the seeded loaf on the right is still TBD.

This one had chocolate. There is not much of this one left.

You guys. I am gaining weight AS YOU READ THIS!!! I really hope someone comes to stay with us next week who is taking a course in sweat and fitness!

Tonight: 11pm Muesli Roll

Best Worst My Favorite This one will be the death of me Most Kryptonite-like houseguest EVER, Will's dad and his breads.

Tonight was a muesli roll, which before about 20 minutes ago, I never even knew existed. I don't have a picture to show you because IT'S ALL GONE TO MY BELLY.

But I do have an after and before photo of sorts-- Chef is on the left and Il Stache Jr. on the right. Please note: dueling grey shirts, among other things...

There were also two more baguettes (SO last night) and something that looked like pita but had a very fancy name. I had mixed emotions over the story of how the challah braid failed.

There is apparently bagel dough in the refrigerator retarding (that's what they call it, really) overnight. Lord help me if I'm pulling out the cream cheese and chives in 24 hours...

Midnight Bread Snack

Will's dad is staying with us this week. He's in the city taking a bread baking course at the French Culinary Institute. And we, my friends, are rich in bread.

clockwise from top left: epee, baguettes, the world's most delicious kaiser rolls

Really. There's nothing like a quick, slightly sourdoughy kaiser roll before midnight to guarantee a sound night's sleep! Our friends at the CrossFit gym who exist largely on a Paleo Diet would die. Or die drooling...

And the Walls Said:

LET THERE BE COLOR!

Raul put in a major day today and blasted through the whole front of the apartment: my office area, living room, dining room, entryway and kitchen! He originally said it would take 3.5-4 days, but if he keeps going at this pace, he'll be done before the end of Wednesday.

We chose Olympic paint for no other reason than they had that fun little color visualizer tool on their website. We also chose to splurge an extra seven bucks per gallon for the "low VOC" paint which, as the helpful gal at the Lowe's paint counter explained, meant "less smelly".

And it really doesn't smell like paint in here! So we cooked up some dinner and ate by candlelight among the drop cloths.

In case you're keeping score at home, that's broiled flounder with dill atop perhaps the most delicious thing I've ever concocted, which Will calls "that pile of delicious". Is it strange to put a recipe in a post about paint?

Pile of Delicious

• pancetta - say 2 thin slices per person
• 1 granny smith apple, skinned and diced
• 1 firm pear, skinned and diced
• a smidge each: maple syrup, sriracha
• a nice handful of mushrooms, sliced
• thyme, enough to put into the mushrooms
• spinach, a hearty handful per person

Cook the pancetta in a pan over medium heat allowing it to crisp up. When it is fairly crisp, add the apple and pears and cook until tender. I like to cook the mushrooms separately, which I'd do once the apple and pear are in the pan-- put the mushrooms by themselves (no oil) into a non-stick pan with thyme and cook over low heat, covered, until tender but still a little firm.

When the apple and pear are to your liking, spread them around to the edges of the pan and add just a bit of maple syrup and a squeeze of sriracha to the center of the pan. When this seemingly gnarly but insanely tasty mix just starts to bubble, mix the pancetta/apple/pear bits around into it.

When the mushrooms are cooked, drain the liquid from that pan and add them to the pancetta/apple/pear pan. Add the spinach and cook until tender.

Enjoy! You don't need to use oil or salt in this, as those bases are covered by the magic that is pancetta.

Paint

Once we got all of our stuff in the new place, we (I) decided we were going to need (to hire Raul) to paint. Our living, dining and bedroom furniture is all really dark (black in the LR and dark brown black in the DR/BR) and I couldn't stop staring at the blotches left by the spackle used to cover the holes in the walls from the last tenant. It meant keeping some stuff in boxes an extra week, but I think ultimately it was the right choice*.

Today we finalized our colors and went to Lowe's to buy paint:

• green for the bedroom
• lemony off-white for the office
• bright white for the trim
• blue for the kitchen as well as living room and dining room accent walls
• grey for the living room/dining room

My friend Melissa's handyman Raul comes bright and early on Monday to put it all on the walls. I'm hoping that by next weekend we can finally finish unpacking (books, wall-hangings and the like) and finally settle in!

*meaning: I was going to go bananas without some color (besides Renter Off-White) on the walls!

I Should Know Better...

... than to expect Will to have an opinion about bath mats.

Maybe you have an opinion? Pebbles, branches or slatted acacia?

This is our shower curtain, if that helps you decide.

UPDATE: Holy crap. He chose! Pebbles!

Out of the old...

The move is complete. The old place is empty...

... wish I could say the same for the new one, but I can't seem to see beyond all the cardboard and bubble wrap.

We lost just a couple things to breakage (nothing important) and couldn't fit the wardrobe through the door, but one trip to Ikea and we sleep in the land of Malm...

I'll post photos once we get stuff up on the walls. We're debating now whether to paint or not (I'm saying 'paint' and Will's saying 'not'), but it's coming along as well as could be expected.

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but was exciting to buy laundry detergent at the Fairway today. But only because I know we have a washer/dryer and I don't have to lug it to the laundromat. Though I am going to miss the Chinese ladies at Li's Laundry and their killer Wash Dry and Fold skills.

Another thing I won't miss

Our block is just oozing with Americana-style charm today, as is evidenced by the incessant pogo-sticking of this little shi-- uh... kid.

(crank the volume for a fully immersive experience)

The Move: It's On

And how do I know it's on?

Oh, I don't know... maybe the HUGE SUPER GIGANTIC ROLL OF BUBBLE WRAP IN MY LIVING ROOM?!

I can't wait until I find my roller skates! I'm going to lay this puppy down as carpet and BLAM POP POP POP BLAMMO! It will be fun for my neighbors (only-for-five-more-days) downstairs!

And as for getting in shape...

Will and I have been going to Crossfit. What is Crossfit, you ask?

Crossfit is a grassroots fitness movement based out of Santa Cruz, California. It is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martialartists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist. The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.

It's been fun and challenging just to learn a bunch of new stuff, mainly the Olympic-style weightlifting moves. And the biggest challenge is yet to come.

On Saturday, September 25, we have signed up to do a fundraising workout called Fight Gone Bad. Other than the fact that it's to raise money for 3 incredibly good causes, this may prove to be one of the craziest things I've ever done. Maybe crazier than Boot Camp.

Proceeds from this nationwide event go to:

• The Livestrong Foundation
• The Wounded Warrior Project
• The Crossfit Foundation

If you can, please support me with a donation of $5 or more-- you can donate by following this link. (you can also donate via Will if you'd like... or even better, both of us!)

Thanks, and wish me luck!

Tumblr

I went and started a tumblr blog. Figured it would be easier to keep all the design and product images I drool over there instead of jamming up my google reader and that desktop folder labeled "design images" that I never look at anymore.

If you'd like to see what may or may not ever make it's way into the new apartment, check out In Lieu of a Moodboard...

At Least ONE Thing I Will Not Miss...

There have been many challenges in living in our apartment on Sackett St these past three years. It's a top floor walk-up. We have no yard. The living room doesn't get a lot of light. The kitchen looks like it was installed sometime during the Reagan Administration. Shall I continue?

But perhaps the biggest downer of the whole affair has been the layout of the place. They list the apartment at around 1100 square feet, which I think is a slight exaggeration on the part of some shady brokers, but let's just say it is not small. The rooms are big and square and comfortable. The only snag is that our bedroom and the 2nd bedroom we use as an office face Sackett Street. They get a good amount of light. But sadly, our living room is tucked away facing the backyard (that is exclusively used by Apt. 1L). It is quite but gets basically no light. It's not just my lack of green thumb: our apartment is unsuitable to sustain plant life.

The bedroom isn't so bad (if you discount the fact that I took this photo with my iPhone) :

we've got thick velvet curtains and dark roman shades that do well to block the light, and we're early risers, so it's not such a drag.

But the office. Oh, sad office.

The only logical place to put our desks, considering the space required for three sets of bookcases (which I won't show on principle!) to house the books Will would surely die without, is butting up against the windows.

Now Sackett Street is one of the few streets in Carroll Gardens that has a bridge over the BQE at Hicks Street, so we get a LOT of truck traffic. It also used to be a bus route, until that recently got cut.

Long story short, IT'S NOISY IN OUR HOUSE! Actually, it's noisy just outside our house, which is not helpful when my work involves audio recording. Now granted, I know it's dumb to have my desk next to the window, but it's a geographical necessity. And I have some ambient sound blockers and whatnot, but it's not easy.

Especially when one of our neighbors has a leaf blower fetish.

Daily. Multiple times per day. In any weather! (please note: rain in video. Also, turn the sound up-- even with windows closed and the fact that he's three stories down and across the street it's that loud.) Will is convinced that the guy is in a loveless marriage and this is his only escape from the kvetching of his awful wife. I have never seen a wife. All I know is that for the better part of three years, I've marveled as I've watched this man blow a napkin into the street. I don't ever think I've ever seen that gas-guzzling machine used on actual leaves, but he blows winter, summer and spring in addition to fall (when there are actual leaves on the ground). And it blows my ever-lovin' mind.

WHY, LEAF BLOWER MAN?! WHYYYYYY!!!???

All I know is, he is hands down the thing I will miss the LEAST about this apartment. The blower man across the street. (that and whoever plays the flute at 3pm...)

Many Plans for Fall

Hello to the six of you who still look at this blog. Sometimes it makes me sad how it just sits here, unused, save for the occasional VO Tips or Trip Documentation. I tried at the beginning of last year to go for a daily photo post, but I only made it through March 22 (there were some doozies, though).

But.

I am back. With actual projects!

First, we are moving at the end of the month. To a deluxe apartment in the sky-hi-hi on the other side of the Gowanus. It's incredible. We moved to Brooklyn nearly 3 years ago with the express purpose of having a place with a little patch of yard. Then we looked at a bunch of tiny awful apartments and chose our current place because of its spacious rooms. But no yard. This time, we've got a yard and more! From the ad to which we originally replied:

All the Comforts of a House!
950 SF!

Huge Master BR
Smaller 2nd Room: Office or Nursery
Huge L-Shaped LR w/space for second office!
Washer/Dryer
Large closets
Great Storage in Basmt Incl. **Exclusive Cedar Walk-in Closet!
Driveway Parking Space and Garage!
Exclusive Deck and Yard!
Plentiful windows: Tons of Light: 2nd Floor
Central Heat and AIR!

Did you see the part about the Garage? Or the EXCLUSIVE CEDAR CLOSET? It's like we're moving to some insane suburban condo complex! We're pretty excited and feel really lucky that we found such a great place.

I thought it would be fun to blog about designing the new space. I spend enough time drooling over design blogs on the internet, that I thought this would be a great opportunity to put all that drool to work. It should also keep me on track with unpacking. We still have a few never-unpacked boxes that got moved from Will's old Seaport apartment into storage into this apartment. OVER FOUR YEARS AGO.

I vow to you, Faithful Six, that it's not going down like that this time!

The second project was proposed to me over the weekend by a close friend. She says that in the past few months, she's been so busy with work and whatnot that she's fallen off the workout wagon. So to get herself back on, she's challenged some friends to a contest: 12 weeks to get in shape. $50 to participate, and at the end, Winner Takes All.

Will has said he's going to do it, and all I need is a little fight to the death healthy competition to keep me motivated.

I will chart our (?) my weekly progress, menus and workouts here.

Oh, summer 2010. I hardly knew ye. Welcome, fall!

Oh, to Be a Swedish Youth...

Will and I have been in Stockholm this week and we just saw possibly the coolest thing ever. Too bad it's just for kids... or so Will told me when I asked him for 60 SEK to ride the ride...

Anyone ever heard of funballz.com ?

Because they have single-handedly put bouncy castles to shame. I want one. Bad.

I Like This

Someone said something very similar to this to me a few years ago. I took it as a compliment. (and it's kinda sorta pretty much true...)

This is available as a print from a cool website called 20x200 -- you can buy this specific print here.

Cash Flow

Anyone got $7,000,000 I can borrow? My favorite house in our neighborhood is for sale!

Oddly, Will and I just walked by this place yesterday, not knowing it is on the market. I don't know when it was redone, but the house is absolutely gorgeous. Understated yet breathtaking. I play "what do you think that would sell for?" every time I walk by.

My guess was $5M. I was just a hair off...

COULD YOU IMAGINE LIFE IN A FEDERAL ERA MANSION?! Casual elegance, friends. Casual elegance.

Dare to dream...

On Writing.

“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.”

- Stephen King

via 1001 Rules for My Unborn Son

Competition?

Looks like there's more than one person in this apartment with some film credits...

(It's just a still image. Clicking that play arrow above will only lead you to a bigger image. I'll let our movie star release these videos on his own.)

Skiing (hold the crying)

Will and I hit the road yesterday and headed up to Hunter Mountain, just about 2 hours north of the city, for a day of skiing.

This may sound like a fairly mundane activity, save for the fact that the words "let's go skiing" send me into fits of terror so profound that never has a bigger pit grown in a stomach.

Will grew up skiing constantly, so he cannot comprehend this fear. The fear of jamming your feet into the world's most torturously uncomfortable boots and then locking them into two slippery boards pointed DOWN A MOUNTAIN. This sounds ridiculous, right? I agree.

The last time "we" went "skiing" was New Year's Eve 2009 at West Mountain near Saratoga, NY. It was freezing cold, snowing and windy, and not my ideal was of ringing in the new year:

Ski Trip from Robin Reed on Vimeo.

But yesterday I started with a lesson built for a three year old: "french fries" to go down the mountain, "pizza" to stop. Really basic, but it gave me a couple of hours to get comfortable on the silly little slippery sticks and not feel like I was just careening out of control.

After the lesson, I went down the little hill about four or five times. Then we had a little sushi for lunch (on a mountain. Crazy!) and then I went out with Will. This is where the whole thing nearly came crumbling down.

My biggest fear is the mountain being too steep. I don't want to go fast. I find it terrifying.

We get off the lift and I ski down to where the trail begins. I'm nervous, but it seems ok so far. We go down a little bit and it's fine.

I can't believe it, but it's fine.

And then it starts to get steep.

And I look at Will as if he just kicked a puppy in the gut.

And then it takes me about 15 minutes to go about 100 yards. In severe pizza mode going side to side across the entire trail. Poor Will, too, looked as if he knows I saw him kick that puppy.

But I made it. I went down that trail three times, and each time it got easier and easier. It didn't look pretty, I'm sure, but I'm starting to feel like I can at least medal in chair lift.

So. That was that. Three runs down the one-step-above-the-bunny-hill trail and it was just before 4pm, the time when the mountain closes. Will took one more run down the crazy mountain and it was all hot chocolate and stretching out feet after that.

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I might actually be looking forward to going again.

Hey, Tough Guy!

Bootcamp, Schmootcamp, folks. Until I can run through fire, I'm just a plain old girl.

Boston.com has got photos of the 2010 Tough Guy Challenge, an insane event that takes place in England. I remember seeing photos from last year's TGC, especially the one of this particularly memorable chap.

It looks like there are even ladies competing in the Tough Guy. I am not afraid to say it: these gals are certainly WAY tougher than me. All that mud? No thank you, very much.

The Unhappy Hipsters

Unhappy Hipsters is a hilarious blog that re-captions photos from Dwell Magazine.

We had a subscription to Dwell for a year. If they switched over to this writing style, I'd definitely consider re-subscribing.

Weird Day on the A

I had a doctor's appointment in Chelsea and then went to yoga in Tribeca, so I found myself on the A Train more than usual today. It appears the A has some semblance of a Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.), as he's got a little earache...

... and is entirely fatigued...

There were also not one but TWO different people doing a lot of preachin' for Jesus*. Loudly. I didn't take their picture, though, because... well, they were crazy and I wouldn't have wanted to cause a scene.

* This link doesn't have much to do with my post, but I do enjoy how quickly it devolves into people bitching about the MTA, which I, myself, have been wont to do:

Carroll Gardens: The Pilot

This is a little blip of what kept me so busy and blog-free for the bulk of 2009. You can get just a little more info here, and keep checking back for updates. I'll have more news soon!

Burrough's Stuff

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Could be sheer sentimentality, being from Kerouac town, but I am still fascinated by all things Beat.

This photo essay of William Burrough's belongings really got to me, especially the bit about these shoes.

What did we do before the internet? (uh, maybe walked around enough to bore holes in the bottoms of our shoes?)

The Last Thing I Need, really...

Great. Really great.

A new year already?! (or, Hi Bebeth & Courtney!*)

Hi. Remember me?

I used to post here. I know. It's been a while.

But I've been legitimately busy!

Commercials for Campbells kept me in the studio somewhat regularly this fall. Add to that spots fir GE Appliances and Wheat Thins and I practically had a full time job!

It all freed me up to work on writing a script. And after probably way too long, I am pleased to report that our pilot was shot the first weekend of October! I've seen a rough cut and I'm beyond pleased with how it's coming along. I should get a look at the next cut just as soon as we get back from our holiday vacation.

Oh, right. Vacation. Will and I decided to head south to ring in the New Year. I'm writing to you from beautiful warm Negril Jamaica.

If the start of the year is any indication of how the rest will go, it looks like 2010 will be pretty sweet.

Happy New Year!!

*Saw your mom. She said you commented on my lack of blog. You're right. I've totally slacked. But look now! Blog! Happy New Year!