the wall in cambridge

time to start stealing
Originally uploaded by florajasmine

here's a shot from my visit to the wall in cambridge, right off of mass ave. over the past few weeks a ton of local and non-local artists have come by and put up their work courtesy of an art guy (www.not-rocket-science.com/) and a restaurant guy (www.enormous.tv). awesome move to take street art and make it accessible, legal, and collaborative.

i only found that this event was even occurring due to my random contacts on flickr. other street artist and street art fans all collecting and sharing their work over there. i saw a flyer for it listed on someone else's page. coincidence that i was even in boston this weekend. after a weekend of eagles, celtics and sox games, i finally got my butt in gear and made it over to the location. i could not convince any of my friends to go with me. so sad. why are none of my friends into graffiti? i need to find a few street art friendly friends.

so yeah. it was kinda chilly but the sun was shining brightly. i got to spend a while taking it all in, cos it was definitely overwhelming at first. the work of over 20 artists all piled on top of each other. the alley where the art was is under a canopy of colored plates which added a different layer onto the already brightly decorated wall.

while i was there some of the artists were hanging out, adding some finishing touches and pasting up a few more layers. of course, because i'm a loser, i didn't talk to anyone. i just walked around taking pictures and soaking it up. it was fun to have the work of all these guys and girls that i spot around boston all showing up in a single place. the city does really need to have more installations like this. san antonio too. i think san antonio does a big show every couple years whereas boston is definitely lacking, but this was a good step forward. if i ever get my act together i'd definitely love to help organize something like this. of course, then i'd really have a reason to talk to the artists and say something more intelligent than, 'awesome piece, dude!'

because the alley is a main walkway in central square, lots of people encountered the work on there way to somewhere else. retired couples, families, businessmen and street kids all walked through the alley while i was there. and at least half of them stopped to take a closer look or snap a picture with their cellphone. beyond satisfying street art junkies like me, this is why i love exhibitions- it helps other people encounter and appreciate street art that they might otherwise not stop to pay attention to. i saw a little boy staring with his mouth wide open and then tracing his finger along one stencil. an older woman walking with her husband stopped to rub her hand over a pasteup, getting a real 'feel' for the art as it was hung. it all made me happy.

many thanks to the organizers and artists who participated in this exhibition. it was totally awesome and definitely a highlight to my weekend. even though time wise, much of my weekend was spent hanging out with great friends watching sporting events, the 30 minutes or less i spent alone in an alley staring at paint dry - that was probably my favorite. i'm just weird that way.

UPDATE: ok. so the boston red sox winning the world series around midnight. also a favorite part of my weekend. for sure. yay sox!!! my fan-dom has definitely increased since the last one back in my college days. phenomenal.

icky poop

today's been a poopy day.

first this morning, i was almost in a car accident. people braking too quickly and not quick enough.

then i went to lunch at a seafood place and ate lots of clam strips and fries. 10 minutes later i felt like puking.

got home to work kinda early so rach and i decided to go play basketball at the park. and by "play" i mean have shooting practice. anyways. while i was bending over to pick up the ball once, i stepped on a curb and totally twisted my ankle. sprained it. hopefully no fractures or anything. dunno. it hurts.

dang it.

so poopy.

kel's almost to my house so maybe tonight/this weekend will get better. hopefully. ugh.

(yay spurs!)

the fan is really loud

i'm back in boston after my quick visit south of the border.

i really do like mexico city. my last night there i wandered around zona rosa doing some shopping, taking in the sights, and being overwhelmed and eventually lost for a bit.

no worries. i found my way home with the help of my pops who gave directions over the phone. from texas. yeah...

i REALLY want to go back there for vacay and when its not the rainy season. for sure.

back in the bean. it's been toasty warm and i bought a new camera. so taking pictures outside is now even more fun. love it. its big and has super zoom and image stabilization. fun. not really for 'party pics'. more for graffiti and flowers. cos i'm in to that.

after being in mexico for a week and then enjoying a 3 day vacation i am SO not in the mood to return to work tomorrow. like, at all. ugh. work is so blahhh after hanging out for 3 days straight doing nothing. oh well. gotta make the $$ to pay off my credit cards from all this shopping. eek!

spurs playing game 3. 2-1 series. eek! go spurs go!!!

dish w/o deets

quick update.

• bought some silver t-strap shoes. and play-doh.
• sunset last night, love it. dirty ho's all around.
• ellen got a wii. i love wii tennis. and boxing. not golf.
• i like watching other ppl play on the wii. its almost as fun as playing yourself. we've spent most of the day in the living room trying the thing out. activity day at hotel columbia!
• sushi for din.
• acn prom tonight at top of the hub. i'm dressing up and brushing my hair. craziness.
• daylight savings update tonight. spring forward.
• i have to wake up at 7/8 am for work.
• i fly to london at 7:30p tomorrow night.
• arrive in edinburgh at noon on monday.
• annatudor and i get to play together for a week! fun. :) yay for vacay!

up and at 'em

since i went to sleep at 7p last night, i was wide awake at 730am this morn. i always plan on getting up early on saturday to take pictures, so today i finally did it.

it was pretty mild out this morn and early enough that not too many people were out. i definitely got to see some cool stuff and take my time looking around.

while in an alley taking this awesome headshot, a guy stopped to watch me and then talk. he said he was friends with some artist and talked about a recent graffiti show called 'freight' at the store right around the corner. i had read about it somewhere, and now i'm mad i didn't check it out. it was a bunch of miniature trains painted up w/ graffiti. man. anyways, this guy was drunk (at 8am) and asked if i wanted to grab a drink w/ him at wonderbar right then. 'cos he owned the place.' sketch. it was a funny convo and i would legitimately like to talk to him, since he did know stuff/people, but not an 8am drink. no thanks.

so yeah. productive morning. then i got breakfast at mickey d's and came home to pick up the dog and take him for a walk. yosh. always entertaining.

next time i want to take a trip down to the train yards to take pictures. only i'm afraid of hobos and um, train-yard people. i might need to take someone along with me for that one...

doing tha dang thang

so i said i was going to change my m.o. and embrace boston.

it's been working. i can honestly say i'm putting forth the effort. while most of saturday i spent running errands and hanging out, i did take advantage of the mildly tolerable weather by running around outside.

diane invited me out on saturday night and since its been ages and i'm trying to do different stuff, i was definitely in. it wasn't that cold out and luckily we didn't have to wait in line. 33 wasn't really packed but still SO hot. humid/sweaty hot. but it was nice to get out and dance and meet new kids. i had fun even if i did have to worry about a kid puking on me for a while there. collegekids, pffft. haha. oh, such a recent memory. random observations: i love hearing ppl speak italian, even if i don't understand it all, and i didn't know albanians had their own language. i'm ignorant sometimes. eh. oh well. learn new things.


sunday morning the roomies, esteban and i ventured out to chinatown for dimsum. as soon as we entered the area we could here the drums and smell the firecrackers. apparently last weekends chinese new year festivities had been postponed a week cos of the ice. so while we had a heck of a time weaving our way over to china pearl, we did get to watch the lions dance and i was able to take a few pics of the parade and cute babies. then evan met up with us and we stuffed our faces. dumplings, porkbuns, meatballs. all sooo yummy, i love dim sum. then we did minor shoe shopping before heading home so i could nap and watch the oscars.


good boston weekend. i'm proud of myself. going out and doing stuff and enjoying myself.

now the countdown is on to my uk trip. yay! edinburgh, london and annatudor- oh my! 13 days! i'm working on making lists- what to pack, where to visit, what to buy, etc, etc. i'm excited for this adventure.

then hopefully a week in texas in april. maybe a trip out west in may. then... dunno. i'm basically going to be poor forever. basically.

also, ellen and i's new favorite song: cupid's chokehold by gym class heroes. first i made fun, but actually i love it. apparently they had a concert in cambridge like a week ago. only we didnt know the name of the band that sang that song we liked a week ago. dang it. they're a really fun band. i dig. getting heavy play on my radioblogclub playlist. man, i love that thing.

might see ataris this week. and ellen wants to see fountains of wayne next month. i only want to see them if they promise to play sink to the bottom and promise not to play stacey's mom. i hate that song and f.o.w. from that period. just saying.

alright, still

saturday we (rach, ellen, me) went to the outlets. got some new sneaks and a purse that i dont need. my addiction is strong and my shopping-celiacy vow is broken. that didnt last long. pooper.

we ate at ruby tuesdays even tho that place always makes me sick, its so tasty. came home and laid around watching tele and chick flix. v. productive and exciting, i blame it on our ice-palace.

around 3am i woke up with stomach grumblings and severe nausea. i was sick every 3o min from then thru like 10am. during an 8am conference call i had to run to the bathroom. it was gross. and to think, there was no alcohol involved!

when i found out another girl from work also had issues this weekend, maybe i cant blame it all on food poisoning and maybe its a stomach flu. i finally ate around 2pm today. yay! food in my belly!

even tho i felt like shite, i dragged ellen to the lily allen concert last night at axis. it was a good time in spite of our slipping and sliding all around fenway. lily's a fun girl. she sang her album plus cheryl tweedy and a few covers. i love that kooks' naive one. i bopped around a bit and sang along. she said f.u. to the brit awards, tony blair, gw, bank managers and fashion mags. her band was good and having a full horns section made it bouncy and fun. and her keyboardist was hot. the crowd was a mix of college kids, indie hippies, and ellen and i. by the end i kind of felt like puking again, i think its cos it was so toasty in the club. anyways, lily was great live and i'd def be into seeing her again, hopefully when i'm feeling better and can really dance around.

anyways, came home and found a tourfilter announcement saying she's going to be back in the bean on april7 at the roxy. slightly larger/seedier venue, but anyone interested?

my car is finally getting worked on. i'll get it back in about two weeks. great. carless for a while. good, that means for those two weeks i can't scratch it on my dumb driveway or get it stuck in a pile of ice somewhere.

its almost time for me to go on my uk trip. yay! uk here i come. figuring out this whole transportation thing will be a big iffy, but it'll get done. then AT and i can hang and be merry and do whatever it is college kids do these days. :p

moving on...

dad just told me spurs are looking at pippen as a possibility for next season. he's 41 and retired! i dont care if he already has 6 rings! ugh. spurs. why cant it be 1999 again w/ a baby timmy and wise old david.

productivity in the eye of the producer

my weekend was productive cos i finished reading straight up and dirty and now i'm all caught up on heroes. oooeeeeowww. i also am continuing to control the shopping impulses as well as eating out. technically i only ate out once and it was anna's which barely even counts. and drinks at charlie's and hongkong? there was no food involved! eh. oh, and a vanilla chai at dunkins at 2am. which was technically part of a new week, so yeah.

now if only i could get the motivation to finish cleaning my room and do all my laundry. and my taxes. i need to fini those out soon as well.

also, i made chicken and dumpling soup and its delish. i've been craving this food for ages, but its definitely a southern thing and not found at restaurants around here. so i finally made some for myself. how resourceful! i know. i'm sure eating it 4 days in a row however, will not be fun. i think i need to freeze some.

grammys on the tele tonight. lily allen concert in a week. woohoo!