New York, New York

I was thrilled to visit lovely New York city in November with a side trip to Philadelphia to visit the fabulous Nicole. I mostly wanted to visit with friends I hadn't seen in too long, but I also wanted to see the United Nations headquarters and my favorite museum, the Neue Galerie.

Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907, oil, silver & gold on canvas, courtesy of Neue Galerie

The Neue Galerie had the beautiful painting, Adele Bloch-Bauer I on display, whose fascinating story of repatriation you can read about here.

The UN Building was a dream come true for a girl obsessed with anything international. The strong 1960s futuristic design of the building was also a thrill. Here are some photos I took at the UN:

Mad Skills Craft Club

Last night was the inaugural meeting of Mad Skills Craft Club. We decorated candles with images, glitter, sequins, toy parts, etc. Some people got inspired and made shadowboxes. It was a fun event, where we were able to get creative and make pretty things. You can see more images from the club here. I'm looking forward to next month already.

Mission District Murals

Mission District paper cut-out piece

Balmy Alley piece

I'm so happy to live near the mission district. I love the murals, and I became inspired to take photos recently on a beautiful day. I ended up dining at super cute St. Francis Fountain, highly recommended for yummy eats!

Armchair Travel

Maya stela at the de Young museum
photo by Madeline Horn

Check out these dizzying virtual tours of Mexican Cultural sites I especially love the tours of the Mayan ruins. When you virtually 'visit' Palenque through Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia's site, you can enter tombs and see burials that were closed to the public when I visited the site in person.

Airstream Dreams

A blog post on The Wallflower (through the SF Chronicle) on customized Airstream trailers caught my fancy today http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/wallflower/detail?entry_id=49515

I've always had a special place in my heart for homes on wheels. As a child, my family would pack up the VW van for extended trips all over California, and sometimes all the way to Canada and Mexico. My grandparents also had a portable home, the Toyota Chinook, that looked like a shoebox on a small Toyota pickup. It worked great though, and included a sink, a stove, a toilet, and two beds! The ad above pits the two family camper vehicles against each other. Personally, I loved them both equally.

SFMOMA has a decked out trailer in the collection that I've coveted for years. http://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/9696#

It's on display now; go see it before it goes back in storage!

Polaroid Back in Action!!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6316829/Polaroid-cameras-to-be-produced-once-again.html
I was thrilled to read the above article that announces that Polaroid will continue to make film! I love my Polaroid camera and I've been guarding my last pack of film in the fridge for over 2 years now, feeling sad and wondering what subject would be worthy of using the last pack for. Now I no longer have to fret, Polaroid film will be available to purchase once again. YAY!!!

musee du quai Branly

http://modules.quaibranly.fr/metis/metis_en.html

This site connected with an exhibit (planete metisse) at the Paris museum, musee du quai Branly explores colonization and contact between the culture of the colonized and the colonizer. The exhibit displays objects from the begining of colonization to the present day. This is a subject I think of often, especially with regards to Latin American countries where indigenous people created a hybrid religion, that is still practiced to this day, by masking their own deities in the catholic saints of Spain. This phenomenon took on a whole new level in the Caribbean where Spanish culture met with indigenous culture met with African culture that came with the slaves imported by the Spanish. Masking the deities in Catholic disguise allowed oppressed peoples to continue practicing their religions under the watchful eye of the colonizers.

Los Angeles!

Los Angeles! I visited for the first time in years, soaking up the ambiance by spending lots of the day in the car. Although...we did walk from the Los Angeles County Art Museum (LACMA) to The Farmers Market for lunch. The streets just don't feel the same there for walking. I'm accustomed to the wide sidewalks of San Francisco, whereas L.A. streets are wide, while the sidewalks are narrow. The colorful image above is an installation at LACMA.