The 2012 DATA Awards

The Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Creative Technology Network hosted the 2012 DATA Awards last night at Pittsburgh’s Grand Hall at the Priory on the North Side, presenting awards to seven regional companies at the intersection of art and technology.

In addition to honoring regional companies, the Council was proud to have world-renowned creative technologist, J. Moses, as the keynote speaker at the event. Moses traveled to Pittsburgh from New York City to talk to the DATA crowd about the next generation of social media and his new app, WeChi. In his past roles, J. has worked around the world on well-known projects such as Grand Theft Auto, BMG Interactive and MTV Russia.

Check out the 2012 DATA Award winners:

Innovation: The Changemakers

PPG Industries, Inc.: Olympic ColorClix

Maker: Design & Making

4moms: Origami Stroller

Joystick: Games & Applications

Schell Games: Race for the Beach

i-CON: Communications & Information Sharing

Fireman Creative: TweetRoast

Media Arts: The Intersection of Art and Technology

The Art Institute of Pittsburgh (Andres Tapia-Urzua/Jon Amakawa): The Painted Lady

Community: Art + Tech for our People and Places

Geek Art/Green Innovator’s Festival (GA/GI)

Next Generation: Kids & Creative Technology

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh: MakeShop

Click here for more information on the 2012 DATA Awards, winners and finalists. Contact Kim Chestney Harvey for more information on the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Creative Technology Network and associated events.

The event, Spirited Columbus, was held on Friday, October 28, 2011 and the tours departed from/returned to the Hitching Lot approximately every hour. Six individual tours were held and tickets were modestly priced at $13 per person.

The tours were conducted aboard a deluxe minibus, and were led by knowledgeable tour guides. Twelve points of interest were featured on the tours, with guests disembarking at four locations to witness a presentation. The tour was children friendly but added the spark of Halloween for the adult adventure.

Sponsors of the tours included: Ghostly Encounters of MS (GEMS), J. Broussard’s Restaurant, Main Street Columbus, ReMax Partners, The Columbus Packet, Brenda Caradine, and Whirllie Byrd. Chris would also like to thank Connie Shepherd of Take Me Too Travels, Jennifer Miller of The Painted Lady B&B, and Celeta and Dr. Holzhauer of Highland House.

The ghostly team included: Adele Elliott and Gwen Granderson – tour guides; Fred Shelton, Keith Worshaim, Shirley Evans, Christina Harris, Cherri Golden, Shane Tubbs, Melissa Tubbs, Jeff Reeves, Edwina Williams, and Monica Adams – presenters; and Tiffany Dugger – event staff.

Chris would like to acknowledge the contributions of local historian Carolyn Burns Kaye, whose tireless research was the genesis of this and all ghost tours in Columbus. Finally, he would like to thank the tour attendees; they are the reason that everyone put this tour on!

Chris Hannon and his organization should be commended for showing this great example of business smarts!

Chris can be reached at www.southernculturetours.com, if you have any scary tales to share!!!!

JBS

Progress so far :

First day on the job and I’m jumping with enthusiasm. I started on the rough sketches with pencil the day before. I started adding the colour on today and it was terribly painstaking. Apparently, you’ve got to add several layers of this acrylic paint to actually obtain the desired opaque texture. Its tough. But it’s definitely not a reason to give up. I know it’s not much, but at least I’ve covered Zuko and Katara’s piece sort of…

The biggest problem I had is that the Painted Lady doesn’t have much room for dancing, or I would have danced up a storm. Everyone with me felt the urge to sing along, although we didn’t know the words.

A project that is headed by Darren (Guitar, vox, banjo) and Kerri Silva (vox, Guitar), they also have a bassist, a drummer and a backup singer who they will be giving more to do at future shows as she is the newest addition to the group. Darren’s voice has a very unique power and sound,  that carries really well along with the banjo as well as when he plays the guitar.

One of our favourite bits of the night, apart from catchy songs with titles along the lines of “Whiskey Dick” (which is exactly what you think it’s about), was watching the interaction between Darren and Kerri. There’s not much better than watching musicians enjoy themselves on stage.

Growling Woods has gone in studio today and are starting to make their first album which I’m greatly looking forward to.

Check out their setlist from the evening here:

CLOSE MY EYES
WE AREN’T RESPONSIBLE
BOX OF ICE
BROKEN SOUNDS
SUPPOSED TO DIE
MURDEROUS HEART
TEN FEET
FUCK THE PEOPLE
WHISKEY DICK

Photos courtesy of Rachel Lee Tentcher.

Let’s get just a few things straight:

#1: Oregon is simply stunning.

The scenic beauty of Oregon rivals anything I’ve ever seen.  The drive into the Willamette Valley provides jaw-dropping views of lush rolling hills, rows of vineyards carefully tucked in, with sprawling snow-capped mountains set behind it.  Photographs don’t do it justice (especially not with our camera); it is something you’ll want to see for yourself.

We were told we were “lucky” to experience such amazing weather with 75 degrees and nothing but blue skies the day we toured the wineries.  Clearly, though, the rain has a major payoff—the thriving green landscape is breathtaking.  One local exclaimed, “THIS is what we wait for!  This is our reward for six months of rain.”

The views from our Bed & Breakfast, The Joseph Mattey House, were well worth the trip in itself.  Not to mention the fact that everyone here knows a great deal about wine and you can’t help but join in on the enthusiasm.  Jack and Denise, our lovely B&B owners, had several bottles available for their guests’ enjoyment.

View from our balcony at the Joseph Mattey House

#2: Oregon produces amazing wine.

Surprisingly, the modern history of Oregon wine dates back to the 1960’s—not very long at all considering the competition.  There are some 300 Oregon wineries today, almost all producing Pinot Noir, with 72 grape varietals and 16 approved wine growing regions known as American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), the largest of which is Willamette Valley.

There is so much to learn—but don’t let that intimidate you.  Craig and I are wine lovers, but we surely aren’t experts.  A familiar theme we heard throughout our visit was, “Start with knowing what you like.”  We all know what foods we like, why can’t we expand this notion to our wine palette?

Speaking of food, the culinary journey of Willamette Valley matches their pinot varietals. We were fortunate enough to dine in two award-winning restaurants: The Joel Palmer House and The Painted Lady.  These establishments—like most in town—tout organic, local seafood, produce, meat and wine.  While the backdrops of both places are beautifully restored Victorian homes, their menus are quite modern.

At the heart of The Joel Palmer House are mushrooms—and it’s no coincidence that their earthiness pairs perfectly well with the 500+ Pinot Noirs they have on their wine menu.  For dinner, I enjoyed the mushroom tart followed by the beef stroganoff.  The tart was unlike anything I’d ever had before—rich in color and taste, and complete with a perfectly flakey and tender crust (lard, perhaps?); it was a fungi-lover’s dream.

The Oregon Pinot Noir we ordered—The Joel Palmer House label—was strong enough to stand up to the stroganoff, yet it was low tannin, with a blend of red fruit and earthy notes, well-suited for Craig’s sturgeon, as well.  Caught the day before by the chef’s father (and founder of the restaurant), Chef Christopher Czarnecki served this dish with quinoa (a light, fluffy grain alternative to couscous, en vogue with cutting-edge chefs) with matsutake mushroom duxelle and cayenne aioli.  The solution to properly preparing this characteristically tough fish is to marinate it for more than 24 hours in olive oil, spices and herbs—and the outcome was worth trading plates with Craig halfway through dinner!  Chef Czarnecki was kind enough to speak with us at our table with as much care as if we were regulars, walking us through the wine selection, offering insight and expertise on the menu.

I must admit, it was with slight apprehension that I selected the stroganoff.  With all due respect to my mother, this was a dish I grew up with and had (foolishly) decided I didn’t like.   It turns out, I love it!  This was a perfectly rich and flawlessly balanced dish that incorporated Painted Hills Oregon Beef (served rare), wild mushrooms in a delectable cream sauce, and served over a bed of rice.

At The Painted Lady the following evening, they solely offer a tasting menu and you choose one dish from each of the four courses.  I ordered the vegetarian tasting menu, while Craig went with the main tasting menu; however, don’t consider for a second that my path was any less flavorful.  The elegant plating is worth noting, as well as the outstanding service, professional and friendly—and experts on wine.  Both Craig and I went with the suggested wine pairings per course, as well, which was absolutely delicious and added an element of surprise and fun as each bottle and pour was presented.  And, of course, it was amusing to see familiar wineries after a day spent wine tasting around Willamette Valley.  A few highlights from our culinary adventure at The Painted Lady: Craig’s Roasted Rabbit Roulade on Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Puree, and my Spinach and Artichoke Crepes with Wild Mushrooms and Red Wine Soubise Sauce, both paired with the 2009 Aryes Pinot Noir of Willamette Valley.  The small plates made it perfect for sharing (if we were kind enough to do so).  Our evening ended with a gorgeous chocolate soufflé and port wine.  Scrumptious!

the author enjoying a gorgeous view of the Willamette Valley

#3: While painfully obvious, let me remind you – Oregon is in the United States.

If it’s the mystique of another country you’re after, then a trip west won’t fit the bill.  For us, it felt amazing to, in essence, claim Oregon: This is our country.  How extraordinary!  And the people of Oregon do an outstanding job welcoming each and every visitor.  In fact, we are already daydreaming of our return.  In the meantime, we have many bottles of wine to savor our memories.  When I asked Fred Gunton, our wonderful tour guide of A Nose for Wine, how to choose a favorite, I believe he put it best: “Experiences make great wine.  That certainly weighs into your choice and enjoyment.”

Cheers!

Abby Cucci

Abby and Craig - enjoying life in the Valley

A few wineries we visited (and loved!):

• Alexana Winery
• Argyle Winery
• WillaKenzie Estate
• Winderlea Vineyard and Winery

What is your Cork Story?  Email Terrah Kocher – Terrahk@gmail.com to be our next guest blogger.

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Performers:

Lauren Uchalik as your shining MC
Scott Fischer
Mike Bobbitt
Ed Buehner
Marty Smith
Garri Madera
Chillian Thomas
Mike Evitts
Allyson Hood
Lee Smith
Jeffrey Conolly

Courtesy of Leona Thrift-ola merci!)

But if you happened to miss the event mes amies, don’t fear, Ms Ooh La transcribed a few highlights below for your delectation!…

From the age of 0-10 years Wayne described how his hip ‘mod Mum’ dressed the young whippersnapper in every form of, ‘youth culture’ going… one day he was a ‘rude boy’ the next he was, ‘one of the Beatles‘ probably explains the roots of the Morecambe-born fashion designer’s inspiration!  His love of vintage begun when he and his sweetheart Geraldine (who later became his wife & business partner) moved down to London in the 80′s, and as students started a  vintage stall on Camden market.  Priding himself on being a ‘thrifty northerner’ he and Geraldine salvaged most of their second-hand stock from jumble sales and charity stores, in those days something that just ‘wasn’t done’ he said.  This rummaging also ignited his love of vintage furniture and other collectables which lead him to read up on different designers through the ages.  As his hobby grew he became particularly fascinated with mid-century furniture & kitsch art such as Tretchikoff’s Painted Lady. 

In fact it the love of the latter artist turned into a bit of an obsession, he ended up amassing a collection of over 1,700 of these pictures which later donned the offices of Red & Dead, his home, and eventually formed part of his online archive of popular culture & design: the land of lost content.  His fashion label Red or Dead came about after Geraldine was spotted making some ‘Russian-style’ dresses at the other popular budget fashion market of the time, Kensington market, when iconic U.S. department store Macy’s picked up their first wholesale order.  At this point in the talk Wayne made up laugh by recounting that at the time, he and his wife were relatively ignorant about all things fashion and hadn’t a clue who the retail legends were!  Recalling the first big order, Wayne described how he made a frantic call to his Mum who roped in his sister and five family friends to stitch up the dresses & complete the order. This combined with the earnings from the Camden market stalls (apparently still run today by their pal Martin! ‘…’probably with the same stock too’ Wayne jokes) they invested in a hand full of sewing machines and an old factory and hey presto…Red or Dead was born. At this point, the designer digresses recalling how all the stall holders in Kensington went  on to become the fashion & music legends of their day,’ the boy selling mix tapes down the aisle was none other than Marc Almond’ Tres cool!

His obsession with fashion, whilst started by this mother, was no doubt fuelled by regular trips to London in his teens, where he remembers getting the train down from Morecambe for £6, and lusting after the iconic Vivienne Westwood two-cowboys-kissing t-shirt at Malcolm McLaren’s Sex shop.  Sadly it was beyond his reach, the cool threads cost a princely sum of £80 ‘and that was the 80′s’ he remonstrates! Perhaps that’s why when he and his wife were coming up with Red or Dead’s mission statement (‘…such an 80′s concept’ he jokes) that they decided to call it ‘designer fashion that everyone could afford’, and everyone really could afford it! 21 seasons of collections flew off the shelves, well apart from , ‘a dodgy one-legged-leggings design’* he recalls embarrassed.  Even though he moved out of London a few years ago, citing ‘better schools for the kids’, ( he has four, including a son in his mid-twenties…no  Ms Ooh La La couldn’t believe it either!) he still loves ‘the magic of London’.  Spending spending half his week in the city, he fondly described how every time he gets off the train in Victoria he’s ‘still inspired every day. London still holds the same excitement for me as when I was 15 and shopping down the King’s road’…ahhh!

10 things you don’t know about Wayne Hemingway:

1. Wayne is one half red Indian, being the son of a Canadian Mohalk Chief, and hence the reason for the first half of his label’s name , Red or Dead

2. One of his favourite buildings in London is the The Shell Building, he can’t comprehend, ‘why has no one protected this modern classic architecture’ which faces imminent demolition when the oil company sells, expected in 2011

3. He’s an excellent sportsman and golfer (apparently he snuck on to a posh course when he was a kid) and claims it was partly the reason for being offered a place at UCL!

4. His favourite restaurant is Chennai Dosa in Wembley but he had to travel all the way to Delhi to find it! He told the audience how he  stumbled across the amazing  ‘amazing’ diner during a family trip around India, only for his son to point out they had a branch in the big smoke too! ‘You’re full for £2.99, the best meal in London’! he claims!

5. Most admired Londoner? For Wayne this had to be , ‘Dick Van Dyke’s character in Mary Poppins’…& porquoi? ‘I always wanted to be able to click my heels’ he exclaimed

6. Whilst he claimed fashion is, ‘about attention’, and, ‘column inches sell clothes’… the worst pr he ever received, was when a London tabloid wrote an article ridiculing Red or Dead after they commissioned  inmates in jail to make jeans from hemp….well you can imagine the headlines!

7. Both he and Geraldine are perfectionists who hate the idea of ‘couldashouldawoulda’, instead promoting the mentality of giving 100% to every design project, even to the point of working 3 days straight (yep with about 20 mins sleep max gasp!) during the run up to Vintage at Goodwood  last year.

8. He’s a keen cyclist & even more so runner, claiming endorphins from this exercise inspire his most creative moments!

9. His top tip for success: ‘Don’t be afraid to fail..’ see ref to one-legged-leggings!*

10. He has a love for the Thames and especially The Southbank, in fact it was the creative director of Southbank who came to Vintage at Goodwood last year, & told Wayne how jealous they were of the festival.  Happily events conspired to relocate the whole show to the river side site this Summer.

It was a fascinating evening, with Wayne wrapping up by claiming that he and Geraldine were never really true fashionistas, since they didn’t go to enough parties! ‘We simply couldn’t, he said, ‘for a start we had 3 kids by the age of 27 to think about’.  Instead they just ‘went to what they loved…the real soul nights, the proper rockabilly clubs, and perhaps that explains his huge passion for music, and his well-documented DJing skills!

You can catch Wayne & experience his love of vintage fashion, music and design at Vintage Southbank on 29th-31st July, tickets are available from the official Southbank shop, and keep your eyes peeled for a preview and review of the event, coming soon on this blog by Ms Ooh La La herself!

…You may also be interested to check out more about Monsieur et Madame Hemingway and their other cool design projects at the Hemingway’s design website

Toronto in march couldnt be more different to Toronto in the summertime. The coffee shops, and diners still hug the streets. The trolly busses still call out with their familiar dull rattle and boom. Only now we are joined by snow and gripped by a chill wind. Mounds of snow line each flank of the sidewalk, piled around four foot high as we take our first walk around the district we are staying in.

We’re out here to play Canadian Music Week. It’s an international music festival featuring the likes of Anna Calvi, Janel Monae and Bombay Bicycle Club, alongside some of Canada’s finest musicians like Mother Mother & Yukon Blonde – and there are many more of those I can tell you.

We are staying in the Art and Design district. This area of Queens Street West is steeped in music history. Our hotel is the Gladstone, a beautiful boutique hotel that has an amazing story of it’s own. It’s Toronto’s longest running hotel, former flop house and now transformed with a gallery, bar and venue with each bedroom individually imagined and styled by a local artist. It’s a pretty amazing find and another great discovery by Anna.

We wander past the nearby Drake Hotel. A hotel that, for a period was a seminal part of the Toronto music scene. It was the beating heart of Broken Social Scene as they partly helped bring it back to life, restoring it to a key Toronto venue after it fell into a state of disrepair. Another beautiful venue along our path is the Cameron on Queen and Spadina. A crazy venue on both the outside with it’s heavily muralled walls that doesn’t stop in the inside with it’s ceiling frieze. It used to have a charming back room with banked seating, but when we arrive we see it’s being refurbished. Such a shame.

Our gig venue is the painted lady. It’s a burlesque bar with a major rockabily vibe. It’s about as long and narrow as a bar can get! It’s near our hotel and helpfully walking distance from one of our favourite places ever, Lakeview.

Lakeview is a beautiful old fashioned diner serving big, homely portions. It hasn’t tried to be a theme diner. It’s just simply feels like it’s never changed since the 1930′s. The breakfasts are amazing. They even have mimosas on the menu! Naturally we knock a few of those back with our pancakes and peameal bacon before wandering off to Kensington market.

Kensington Market offers another distinct change of pace. It’s got something of Camden about it, but slightly more ramshackle. It’s the home of great bars and coffee shops. We step into the Moonbean cafe and meet with some old friends from Toronto. The second you climb up into Moonbean you feel like you’ve been at the coffee all day so strong is the smell. I think I have the shakes already!

After signing in at the artist wristband pick up point at the headquarters downtown, we’re given our packs and passes. The snow still falls outside. It can’t be that far above zero.

Anna and myself have an appearance on Liquid Lunch later today. It’s about 2pm Toronto time, so peeps back in the UK can watch it live online. Until then we have to fill our morning.

Our friend Monica from Toronto arranges to meet us outside Honest Eds. Famous in Toronto, it’s simply the greatest poundshop you’ve ever seen. A gigantic maze of a building set over about five floors selling anything you can imagine. After a quick wander we decide to set ourselves a challenge. Secretly buy a complete outfit for $5. We each pull a name out of the hat and have to buy for that person. It must have a theme and it will be marked on if it suits that person and how close to the budget it was. When we have them, we have to nip to the coffee shop opposite, give them to that person, who then changes into it and does a bit of a catwalk for marking purposes. Funny thing is, no one really seemed to raise an eyebrow in the coffee shop. That’s Toronto.

The gig at the painted lady was amazing. The venue was packed from front to back. It was rawkus, just how we like it! We were headlining at 1am, but our body clocks were still off. It was pretty much 6am to us! The crowds energy got us through it and we squeezed every last drop we had out. The topless burlesque dancers standing on the bartop were pretty motivational.

The Toronto crowds were simply awesome, the town unforgettable and left us with a sense of definitely wanting to return soon. We’ll make it the summertime next time!

Toronto tour video – by Nathan T Crawley
http://vimeo.com/23285265 

BBC Radio live interview from Toronto
http://snd.sc/ijikqY 

Liquid Lunch – Invisible (acoustic)
http://vimeo.com/23276045 

Gig review – The Sound of Pop
http://thesoundofpop.com/2011/03/12/canadian-music-week-day-3/ 

Indie Craft Attack – Rob and Anna make bags from tshirts in Toronto
http://youtu.be/tF7ndsTOJGo 

Liquid Lunch – Full interview (2omins!)
http://vimeo.com/21060657

A poor boy runs out to thank this mysterious lady for leaving them food

So, I’m finishing the holiday with my family and household watching the third season of The Last Airbender series. I know, it doesn’t sound festive, but we’re loving it. It’s 1130 at night, the kids are wide awake, and this story is seriously addicting.

If you’re not familiar, it’s a kids show, geared to the 8-13 crowd, about a fantasy world. There’s 4 nations, each with an element; earth, air, fire and water. The fire nation is trying to take over the world.

Each generation there is a leader called the Avatar. He bridges the gap between the spirit world and the physical, and his job is to keep balance and harmony among the people.

The show fairly consistently explores a lot of Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu… and whether the creators meant to or not, Christian themes. One of the underlying ones is passivity verses action… detachment/enlightenment verses being attached, and emotional, and fighting for what’s good. *** (see below to understand what I meant there)

Well, we’re watching an episode called ‘The Painted Lady,’ where our heroes are trudging along on a tight schedule to defeat the fire lord before he kills everyone but his own kind. (very hitler-esque)

They’ve got a lot to do in a very short amount of time. But on their way, they come across this river village who’s been totally oppressed and run down by a factory just up river. Their water is so polluted that they’re all malnourished and dying.

Katara, the main heroine of the story takes pity on them. Her heart breaks and she wants to help. But everyone else wants to keep moving. They’re “…working for the greater good” they all say. They’re trying to take on the big problem, and they don’t have time to worry about each little village they come across that’s in pain.

Katara simply can’t hack this. She sneaks off at night and steals food from said factory and delivers the food in secret to the villagers.

Now, the villagers, not knowing who has done this, decide that their tribal deity, The Painted Lady, has helped them in their distress. Katara finds out, and takes on the persona. And the story unfolds.

Eventually everyone finds out the truth, her friends have mixed reactions. Some are furious that she would jeopardize their trip to do her own thing. Others join in right off, seeing that it’s probably a good thing to help these poor folk. They need hope, and they’ve got hope to give.

In the end, she triumphs. But she receives some reassurance that she had done the right thing. The real painted lady comes to her in secret to thank her for liberating her people, and her as well.

____

Now, this post isn’t about the Avatar series… it’s about a concept within it.

We can get going on the big things. We can be set on the ‘greater good’ that we’ve got to do. Basically, we can get serious tunnel vision, and miss the people who may need us right under our own noses.

I suppose that we can all find ourselves in this situation, where you have to actually fight to do what’s good.

In doing good, real and actual good, there is seldom smooth sailing. This story is a great picture of that. As Katara’s friends confront her about her lack of concern for the greater picture, she get’s in his face and says, “I will always help people who need me!” And she makes her stand.

____

We have a thought we try to teach each other here in our village, that ‘the people are more important.’

It’s a big deal. A very very big deal.

There is no issue, doctrine, agenda… nothing higher than loving people. Sometimes to help them means to give a buck or two. Sometimes to listen and give them a safe place to freak out. Sometimes it means giving a word that they absolutely don’t want to hear.

Katara, in the story above, was willing to set aside their whole agenda to help a handful of people.

I know, I know… it’s a cartoon. But I don’t care.

I think that there’s things that God just really likes. And taking time out of our agenda, the big picture, to love on someone, has got to be at the top of the list. You know, that whole thing in Matthew 25 that He talked about. Oh, and then there’s that description Isaiah gave of what real religion is, to care for the widows and orphans and such.

I think it’s on God’s heart. And that makes me think that I need to ask Him to put it on mine far more often.

“God, please give us eyes to see need around us.

Give us the grace to step out of our selfish will and be the answers to other people’s prayers.

God… help us be like you.”

____

****Regarding the religions explored in the above mentioned series, for those who are squeemish and too religious to take a look, I really think you oughta. It’s pretty neat the conclusions that they draw and the outcome of the entire story.

There’s a good reason that in every single ‘religion’ you can find amazing stories of amazing people who have risen above, and led the way in compassion and expressing God’s heart for taking care of the hurting in the world, and throwing off the chains of oppression.

The whole point of the Avatar series is that Aang is faced with the weight of the world. At one point, he has the opportunity to become enlightened… detached and free, and spiritual energy could flow through him. But Aang, our hero in this story, chooses to remain attached. He chooses to remain with the weight of love and so forth on his shoulders.

He cannot simply separate himself. His life is for the people, (as is ours) and he will not disconnect. At first, this appears a mistake, but in the end, we find it to be his greatest strength.

And just a side, that I don’t feel like turning into an entire post on it’s own; if you’re a Christian, you’re not to be part of a religion, you’re to be part of Christ. So don’t be afraid to grab hold of the teachings of others. You’ve got a good measure to hold them up to. We have nothing to fear in hearing out what people out there exploring life, love and faith have to say.

For example, I believe that the Avatar series is a sweet and precious gem in culture filled with nastiness. It’s amazing that a company like MTV, who owns Nick, allowed them to make something so deep and rich, with great moral aim. (the creators thought so too) The show is genuinely deep, with every episode leaving me with something to talk with my kids about.

Now and then it’s a little more romantic than I’d like for my kids, but other than that, (and only that) we love this one, and will enjoy it for years to come.

Anyhoo… that’s my two cents.

Although I had been to Post 27 before, there were a number of other antiques and decor stores I hadn’t seen. My favorite introductions were to  the Painted Lady, a well curated collection of vintage and new furniture and accessories, and to Molly Cranch’s bird paintings.

It’s odd, I love images, sculptures and food with birds in them, but am no fan of by actual birds.

Post 27

The Painted Lady

Tender by Molly Cranch

Warmth by Molly Cranch

Unyielding by Molly Cranch

Your boy’s playing them feel good tunes at The Painted Lady this friday. Go here for more info.

It’s the long weekiiend, y’all.

My words cannot barely express the way I feel about my recent visit to “The Painted Lady“ in Chicago, IL.  I went a short road trip with my parents and Kyle to downtown Chicago. I went expecting the usual city life experience. We went to the museum of Science and Industry and did a little shopping and cite seeing! It was definitely a windy day in the “Windy City”, but a great trip overall.

To make a long story short on this trip I came across this shop and my jaw nearly dropped (I’m serious my heart skipped a beat). Instantly, I thought… “This is it, this is my dream… my dream shop.” I fell in LOVE (Love I tell ya!) with this shop, the refurnished furniture, and vintage appeal.

The Painted Lady, Bucktown’s favorite chic place to shop, is an ever-changing collection of hand-painted antique furniture. From French provincial dining tables and apothecary jars to vintage chandeliers and antique armoires.  Collections of bedding, accessories, linens and MUCH more are within these doors of this antique shop!

The Painted Lady’s vintage chandelier. This shop had a large selection of lighting, chandeliers and antique table lamps. From wall to wall these lights gave the room a warm comfortable atmosphere. (*Notice the windings staircase, this place was beautiful).

Each unique piece is hand-painted or left in its original state; no two pieces are the same. Below are a few examples furniture, accessories and other home decor items The Painted Lady offers.

Isn’t this shop just beautiful! If I could I’d visit shops like this every weekend, but lets be realistic here! But I’d like to know if you have any shops in your area like this. Let me know (shoot me an e-mail)… this inspires me beyond words! Or if you know of a place that would like me to post about them (for publicity)… shoot them my link. Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did!

So my cousin (pictured here) bought these yellow jeans at H&M and yes, they were $7.00! She told us while we were in the middle of a 90′s dance party at The Painted Lady and Christine and I instinctively started singing and doing the robot to “seven dollar pants.” The next day we were recapping the night and we both thought SDP would make a great blog name. Thank you cugina for inspiring our name ! xx JD