SWAMPLAND

As I hinted in last week’s Flickr Friday post, I spent the weekend in Florida!  I had feared rainy weather but there were no storms to speak of, just tropical temperatures and fantastic ocean breezes.

Saturday was our Miami day.  Dad and I had never been before, but we’d both seen Burn Notice and The Birdcage and felt semi-prepared.  And neither show failed to disappoint!  Miami is just like Burn Notice and The Birdcage.  Just kidding!  But seriously, a little bit.  Lots of boozing tan people with designer clothes and nothing to do.  Wow, that was rude.  I’m sorry.  The little we saw of Miami gave me that general impression.  That said, we really only hit up the crazy tourist zones: Vizcaya, Miami Beach, and Lincoln Road Mall.  Mojitos were had, delicious food was eaten, a brief homage to Burn Notice was paid (I’ll post our pictures of that later…), and general site seeing of the “fanciest” spots was conducted.

Speaking of the latter, one of the highlights, and also one of the more freaky moments, was when we decided to explore the islands that house the ocean-front properties of the wealthiest Miami folks.  As we drove over the bridge to Palm Island, we realized, of course, that it was a gated community (according to Wikipedia, Al Capone and Barbara Walters have lived/live there).  The guard asked us our business and we told him the facts: we’re tourists from California  and we want to see some of the homes, sir.  And he let us in!  I was super surprised too, given that we were in a huge black van with tinted windows…but I guess Pops and I “passed.”  We spent the next half hour driving around Palm and Hibiscus islands, gawking at all the houses with their fancy cars and ginormous yachts.  I don’t think I’ve ever been in a neighborhood like it.  1% much?

By the end of the day we were ready for the real world.  A coworker of my Dad’s had told him about a great food place out in Little Havana (technically still in Miami), so we headed west for some authentic Cuban cuisine.  And damn was it good!  El Palacio de Los Jugos, man.  Check it out.  Dad and I practiced our Spanish and ordered two huge plates of carne and arroz con frijoles, proceeding to stuff our faces.  It was beautiful.  Then we got stomach aches and went to Whole Foods for a salad.  Typical Central Californians with a real or imagined need for ruffage.

On Sunday, Pops and I drove out to the Everglades for an airboat ride at Sawgrass Recreation Park.  Gators!  They swam right on up to the boat as our guide calmly explained that these guys have a five foot vertical leap.  Cool.  We learned some about the various Everglades ecosystems (complex!), the awesome animals that inhabit the swamplands (manatees!), and the foreign plants (melaleuca!) and species (think python snakes!) that are messing with the area.  Our guide also told us that Prez Obama has put 2.5 million into removing over 200 miles of Florida highway in order to remedy the dam situation that they’ve created (those damn dams!  You were thinking it so I wrote it).

We spent the rest of the day touring Ft. Lauderdale, once again driving around to check out the fancy homes (this time on “regular” non-gated islands) until I got car sick from looking out the window and scoffing.

Overall it was a lovely, though perhaps disorienting, Florida weekend.  Was it the shortness of my stay or the culture shock (hello tanned 60 year old women in miniskirts!) that made it all feel so crazy?  Not too sure.  No matter, I will return!  And when I do, I plan to hit up Key Largo and maybe even see some manatees!   I shall also sing Bette Midler’s “Only in Miami” and it will be great.*

*The whole time we were in Florida I couldn’t get the “Only in Miami is Cuba so far away” refrain out of my head.  Also, Bette Midler’s Experience the Divine was one of the first albums I ever purchased with my own money…no joke.

CROWN

These photographs from Mariam Sitchinava‘s latest project Crown bring me way back.  I’ve always loved garlands, from the daisy chains I wore in my hair as a kid, to the more “advanced” wreathes I constructed from wire and twigs at Waldorf School.  The subjects portrayed in Sitchinava’s photographs (thirteen Georgian women ages 17-23) each constructed their own crowns, meant to express their inner beauty.

My mother wore a beautiful handmade garland at her wedding and I intend to do the same at mine someday.  As Scott McKenzie advises so wisely, “Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.”  I think this applies for every city across the globe, not just San Francisco.  My ideal garland would have twigs, baby peonies and/or African daisies, and bits of fern.  If I could rustle up some moss that would be awesome too.  What flowers would you wear in your hair?

(Mariam Sitchinava via Miss Moss‘s Compendium of Radness)

BITS & BOBS No. 6

Step back and admire these cross stitched pieces by Evelin Kasikov (via Stylesight).

Maurice Sendak, beloved author of Where the Wild Things Are, passed away last week.  If you live near my neck of the woods, make sure to stop by the Rosenbach Museum & Library to see the Sendak collection housed there.  Also, if you haven’t yet watched it, check out Stephen Colbert’s interview with Sendak from back in January.  Here are parts one and two (via Colossal).  Simply fabulous.

These kick-a$$ National Park stamps by Valerie Jar (check out her blog Carnival for awesome sauce design inspiration!) for the new National Parks iPhone app by National Geographic (app design credits go to Rally Interactive) (via Design Work Life).  Long long ago I had “Jr. Ranger” pins from six of the parks listed below.  I want to collect them all!

Femke Agema‘s SS12 collection.  Crazy cakes or awesome sauce?  Maybe a bit of both! (via We Are Selecters)

I love these two images from Natalie Off Duty.  Definitely how I feel right now: sleepy and in need of a good stretch.

Jonathan Ogden‘s album art is so dang up my alley.  Recently, I’ve been really interested in covers, no doubt because of my own album design shizz (i.e. my monthly mixes).  (via Breanna Rose)

Ben Giles, you are a collage king! Definitely definitely check out more of his work!  Flower power!  (via Justina Blakeney)

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

I am so excited for Beasts of the Southern Wild, a film akin to Pan’s Labyrinthe in imagination but with a decidedly more joyful feel (at least that’s what I’m getting from these here previews).  The plot:

In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, a six-year-old girl exists on the brink of orphanhood. Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. Desperate to repair the structure of her world in order to save her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions.

Thanks, Marshall, for sending this link my way!  In theatres June 27.  I will be there (I’m thinking this is more of a Ritz Five film than a Rave Theatre film) with my kid cap on.

MYRTLE’S TOMBOY STYLE LOOKBOOK 2012

How rad is this?  One of my very favorite photographers, Megan Kathleen McIsaac (who, I’d like to add, wrote the sweetest note to accompany the two amazing prints that I purchased from her last year), shot the Tomboy Style book-inspired lookbook for the Echo Park shop Myrtle.  Props to Whitney Bickers, owner of the shop, for her terrific styling!  The clothes are gorgeous, as are the photographs.  Very framable.  Especially that last one which, according to Whitney, was the first photo of the day and “quite possibly” her favorite.  I would agree.

(Shop Myrtle via Miss Moss)