Guggenheim

Today was the first time I've ever been to the Guggenheim. I went with my coworker Jeffrey to see Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want To Believe. He is a Chinese artist that does explosive art. Literally. He uses gunpowder to create a lot of his drawings. It was really cool because the entire museum was dedicated to his work. He really took over the space. You can look here to see a video about him. The whole show was pretty great. I really liked how he used non-traditional media to create his installations. Like gunpowder. And wolves. Something else really smart that he did was make black fireworks that you could see in the day time. Wow. The best part was at the end the artist himself was walking around. There was a room where he made a boat with a long meandering shaped swimming pool. No one else was allowed to ride in it. But it was really cool to stand and watch him look so peaceful and happy moving along the "river" with his (or some) kid on his lap. He looked really happy with the way everything turned out. It was pretty intimate, not many people were there. All in all, it was a great day at the Guggenheim. Here are some images of the awesome stuff he makes:

Martha is a genius again.

No, this is not an update on my camping trip yet. I am waiting for other people to post their pictures on facebook so I can steal them for my blog because I didn't take very many pictures because everyone else was taking so many. This is a story about the SWEET stamps Martha Stewart Crafts sells. It isn't very often I get too excited about crafty crafty things, but this stamp is amazing. Take a look:

So you can buy different fonts and place them on the CLEAR stamp base and write whatever you want and see through the stamp to see where you are putting your words. They are sticky and reusable. Did I mention they have many fonts? I need to buy them. I really like that. Movable type. Imagine that. I'm not sure what I would stamp. But I would think of something.

Thanks!

from my work email:

Camping is for rockstars

I am going camping with Becca Shim, Christina Kim, Jessica Allred and Cristi Johnson to Lake Placid tomorrow, I am so excited about it that I am blogging about it BEFORE I even go. I love to camp! Hey, Leilani, Brooke, and Jens, remember when we went camping and ended up being in Wyoming and forgot pans for the camping stove or something so we survived solely on Kit Kats and marshmallows cooked on the fire made of wood I chopped with an axe with no handle? Yeah, that was fun.

Richard Saja

So I was walking into the print room to pick up my prints, and whomever was printing her stuff out was so excited about this really amazing artist, Richard Saja, that she had to tell me about it. I'm not sure who she was, but I am so glad she did. It made my whole day. He takes historical printed fabric and embroiders over it to make it really awesome. Here's some examples. To see more, this is his blog.

April 16, 2008

photo captions: 1.Me at the Apollo. 2. Just the Apollo. 3. Christina Kim and I in our seats.

So to do some catch up from when my computer was not working (the iphoto is still messed up. I'll have to visit the mac store sometime soon) April 16th was the day we all went to Amateur Night at The Apollo to see Jeff Hofmann's comedic performance. For those who may not be familiar with Amateur Night or The Apollo, here is a blurb from the website:

"Since 1934, every Wednesday night at 7:30PM aspiring artists and performers have graced the stage of the Apollo Theater in the hope that the magic of the hallowed stage and the approval of the infamous audience will launch their careers in the entertainment world. Apollo Wednesday night alumni is an impressive, ever expanding roster of world class talent including such legends as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Ben. E. King, Jackie Wilson, The Isley Brothers, Luther Vandross, Michael Jackson, Fat Joe, Lauryn Hill, Dru Hill, Blu Cantrell and many others."

The judging is done via the audience booing or cheering for people. It was a tough crowd. I felt too bad to actually boo anyone. Jeff got booed off, but only because all the comedians got booed off. No patience in that crowd. Afterward at the Soul Food party on our roof, catered by the one and only Becca Shim, we got to hear his show and it was great. Good job Jeff!

Presenting my Martha Stewart Pillow

Here is a photo of the pillow I sewed in the sewing class I went to at work. I guess I should have taken a picture of the zipper across the back. That was the tricky part anyway.

Dear Blogger,

Uploading more than one picture always seems like a good idea, but it always makes gigantic gaps in my posts. Please fix the upload tool so I can upload more than one picture at a time and then put text in between images without it being crazy.

Thank you.

Ashley likes to party all the time

Today is my birthday. I am 26 years old. At work they brought in bagels and we toasted them with delicious cream cheese. I love toasty bagels! After work I made some Banana Pudding using vanilla wafers I had made the day before. Some people came over. Here they are:
I'll shout out as best I can...Jen, Brooke, Greg, Garrett, Alejandro, Matthew, Marcus, Tara and Bardhi... Holly's brother John, Holly, Ty, and Meredith.


























































This is Becca Shim singing me my own karaoke song based on Eddie Murphy's Party All the Time. Not everyone has as great of friends as I do. Here are her lyrics, written around the fact that I am moving into a different apartment soon: v1:

girl i can't understand it

why you wanna leave me

after all of the things i've done for you

i let you sleep on my loveseat

and store things in the ottoman

but still you want your own room

what am i to do

(it's because)

ashley wants to party all the time

party all the time

party all the time

**some freestyling

v2:

girl i know i may not be an ideal roommate

hanging out in my drawers and talking til 3

but remember how i helped you find

your eternal mate

don't go thinking you can play MASH without me

(chorus)

And this is the remnants of banana pudding. Also pictured is the amazing golden good luck cat from my friend Sarah and flowers from Ann. Thanks everyone for a great birthday!













Ecard from Sarah.

One of the best stories I've ever heard about someone I don't know

So my roommate's coworker's roommate...

had her dog die in their apartment. It was a big dog. They didn't know what to do with the giant dead dog in NYC. They didn't have a back yard to bury it in and didn't want to throw it into the dumpster, so she decided to take it to the Humane Society to have them incinerate it or do whatever they do with their dead animals. So she puts the dead dog's body into a big duffel bag and took it down to the Subway. It was a really big dog and so she was struggling carrying it on the stairs. A guy saw her having a hard time and asked if she needed help. And she accepted. So he carries her bag onto the train and they are chatting a little while they are riding. At one point he says, "That bag is really heavy! What is in it?" And she answers, "...uh, some books...a computer..." and at the next stop when the subway doors opened the guy grabbed her duffel bag and ran off. She just let him go.

Birthday Celebration #1

Back by popular demand... I will post again. Sorry to those (2) of you who have complained. Who knew I had such a dedicated readership. Now that The Office is over and my Thursday nights are free, maybe I can dedicate Thursday nights to updating my blog. I'll try to get caught up soon.
























For my birthday (which isn't really until the 20th) me, Becca Shim and Jen Nuckols went to the Bishop Allen concert at the Williamsburg Music Hall and ate Thai food at Sea. Great food and an amazing show. I was so happy.

The opening band, The Silent Years, was really fun. Even at the end, when they invited people on stage (which almost never turns out cool) it was amazing. They had orange shakers for everyone and they were singing into their microphone made out of an old telephone receiver. There was at least one girl who was a plant because at the end of the song she took over playing the violin while the girl in the band was playing the keyboard. She looked pretty legit. I loved watching the girl play the keyboard. If you've ever seen Cole Nielson play a drum, that is exactly how she played the keyboard. She must have only been playing one note at a time or like all five in a row with her face really close to or behind the keyboard. It was great.

I didn't really care about the second band, The War on Drugs, except for their drummer. The front guys were a little grungy, the guitar player played facing his back to us the entire time, I don't even remember the base player, but the drummer was wearing a full suit and looked so happy and excited the whole time. I don't think he knew which band he was in. We found out later he was wearing a purple velvet jacket. Yeah. Loved that guy.

Bishop Allen made me really happy. We were in a great venue really close to the front and they played fun great music. They had a fun stage presence, but it wasn't too refined. The lead singer had some trouble dancing and playing the guitar at the same time. Not that he didn't do it, but it was kind of stiff and awesome. Just one limb going at a time. It was really fun. That is all I have to say. Now I am going to go make coconut pancakes.

Upcoming shows...Who wants to come with?

Thao
Rilo Kiley
Terminal 5, New York, NY
Mon or Tue, Jun 2 or 3, 2008 07:00 PM
tickets

Vampire Weekend Kid Sister Born Ruffians
Saturday, June 14, 2008 From 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM Central Park SummerStage

Hooray for SummerStage to come back