January 2016 Archives

January 8, 2016May 23, 2023

The Living Room in Chandler

I finally made it in to The Living Room, a cozy wine bar in Chandler, one summer day when my friend Katie was in town. A monsoon storm had just blown through, cooling the temperature down from unbearable to pleasant, and they opened up the patio for us.

The bruschetta was awesome. One kind had ripe cherry tomatoes. The other had prosciutto that reminded me of Spain.

My sangria was ok. Turns out I’m very picky about sangria. After that, I ordered the same red as Katie, and that was really good. That’s probably what I should’ve done in the first place. Katie has great taste and is kind of a Living Room expert from her Chandler days.

The servers came around just often enough, not so much they kept us from catching up, but enough to get our orders and bring us more bread, so we could finish off our delicous artichoke dip.

January 7, 2016

January 07, 2016 at 10:31AM

A glimpse into the #Pathmakers exhibition and pop-up makerspace at the National Museum of Women in the Arts #ontheblog . (Piece on the right is by designer Eva Zeisel.) https://www.travelcraftjournal.com/women-in-the-arts-and-a-pop-up-makerspace/ (via Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/BAPw3D4QjQy/)

January 5, 2016January 5, 2016

Women in the Arts and a Pop-up Makerspace

I am in Washington, D.C., down the street from the White House in a building that used to be a Masonic lodge, and I am sifting through a basket of embroidery floss, looking for just the right combination of colors. When you have been seeing/taking in, there is something especially refreshing about making/creative output.

My recent D.C. visit happened to coincide with the monthly community day of the National Museum of Women in the Arts and their second-ever pop-up makerspace. Inspired by several of the artists on exhibition, they had tables set up for crochet, drawing-machine making, and turning various odds and ends into jewelry.

I made a necklace from a couple of metal washers, some thread and wire.

The museum itself is organized into different floors for different time periods. Their current exhibition, Pathmakers, explores how women have used alternate media to create art, from midcentury to today.

Community days are the first Sunday of every month with free admission in the afternoon.

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