quick pic: street graffiti

[At 10th and Main]

Not sure what they are doing to the street but the spray paint markings brightened up my day.

weekend review: long weekend

This past weekend was a long weekend officially thanks to my DC-based nonprofit's policy of following federal holidays (including the Fourth of July and Inauguration.) I made it even longer by spending Thursday night at my neighbor across the street, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. On Thursdays the museum is open late and they have music and dancing. I joined several wonderful friends for salsa among the art. I see the museum every day but the light at 6:45 Thursday was beautiful so I took a few pictures.

[VMFA]

Having seen some amazing art, Friday night one of my roommates and I went to figure drawing class at the Visual Arts Center. Having access to places like the VMFA (for free!) and Visual Arts is one of my favorite things about Richmond. Before class I grabbed dinner from Lamplighter.

[Woven BLT]

Saturday was the October Bizarre Market, hosted by Lamplighter. After I came home to cook dinner with two of my roommates- london broil, argula salad with raspberries and pine nuts, and roasted sweet potatoes.

[I like my steak rare.]

Followed by a night out on the town. Chalkboard paint has been all the rage on the design blogs for a year so I guess new restaurant/bar Friend of Pho got the memo. We left some artwork to commemorate the night.

[Love you Pip!]

shopping spree: jcrew warehouse

To continue the weekend review, on Monday I woke up with plan of being lazy until a massage at 4 and yet a desire for adventure. I lay in bed picking out the perfect outfit for the day. A few weeks ago when in DC, I picked up a dress from the Tucker for Target collection. Between work and the weather, I hadn't gotten a chance to wear it. I paired with my newest thrifted purse, a necklace I made, a navy H&M cardigan and brown ballet flats. Below are some pictures taken in my basement cave-room.



So what was I to do looking so adorable? I ended up going to brunch at Shafer (yes, the VCU dining hall), then delivering lunch to a friend in the West End. I realized between where I currently was and my scheduled massage was the JCrew Regional Warehouse sale. There goes my savings for the month! I bought a basic black blazer ($50), a black Sophia dress ($25), and two pieces below. A great gray work dress ($25) that can be dressed a lot of ways and a sparkly silver and white blazer ($50.) I also bought 5 bathing suit parts that can be combined in a couple of different ways. They were supposed to be $3 a piece but I was charged for child's suits so it was $5 total.



What do you think? Worth blowing my shopping budget on four items? I'm pretty happy with them.

one, two, three, four, five

Recently I was in Urban Outfitters and saw this sweet glass hand for $14. I immediately thought of how cool my rings would look displayed on the hand but I figured I could find an authentic one without too much work. Discovering one in a thrift shop seemed like a pretty chance encounter however. After all, I'm still kicking myself for not buying a male mannequin torso at Diversity Thrift a few months back and hoping to someday find an affordable dress form. So I took to The Internets. Etsy, specifically. And with only a 10 minutes of perusing options, I found a baller glove form in this shop. For $15. Though I did pay shipping, it ultimately was only $5 more than the UO hand and has much more character. Now it's in the mail and sadly won't arrive for tomorrow's Bizarre Market at Lamplighter (12-5pm) but come November I'll have the sickest table around.

weekend review: ruggers gonna rug

This weekend was full of many of my favorite things- art, hosting parties, music, puppies playing outside and sports. And yes, it's Friday and I'm finally getting around to posting this. There's been a lot of work. In fact, the aforementioned music was work- work that includes going to see LCD Soundsystem for free. Yes, I do love my job.

Friday night I joined a friend in my old neighborhood for First Fridays. We made it to most of the galleries and saw several great exhibits. I loved Vadis Turner's "The Last Dowry" exhibit at Quirk. Body parts made out of costume jewelry, though the stomach does slightly resemble a rooster.

[The Last Dowry]

[Lantern making for the Inlight Festival]
The Inlight Festival is one of the many Richmond events I missed out in my first year here. It's an art exhibition that includes a lantern parade. Before the festival, there are many chances to make lanterns including at First Fridays. We saw several other groups carrying around lanterns and were constantly being asked where we made them. I really enjoyed carrying our paper lanterns into one bar for dinner and other for drinks. We brought the ambiance with us.

Another neat exhibit was a collection of skateboards, many of which had some serious artwork on them. Of all the galleries, this exhibit had the youngest and most diverse crowd. My favorite part was the ability to actually made art at the exhibit.

[Love the participation of this exhibit]


[Congress on a skateboard]

Sunday was RUGBY DAY and the pups had a great time watching my roommate's team play. After we hosted a party that was a little less classy than our previous event, but somehow the rugby party had less bloodshed than Best Friends Day.

one potato, two potato, three bags of potato chips

Everyone knows kettle chips are the best kind of potato chip. They actually taste like they are made from potatoes and have such a satisfying crunch. What most people don't know is how amazing totally fresh kettle chips from the Route 11 chip factory truly are. You can find Route 11 chips around the area in their fancy bags, but if you are driving along I-81 (or, you know, actually on route 11) near Mt. Jackson, stop off at the factory to get them fresh.

[My two favorites, other than the lightly salted.]

[You can buy them in fancy gift tins...]

[But you should just get them in plastic bags. Super cheap and so delicious!]