Was fortunate to have a few Danish pals visit over the last couple weeks. First, my pal Jesper, a fellow I met during my time in Copenhagen, Denmark and his friend/now my friend designer Thor Høy stayed with me during NYC Design Week 2010. It was a lot of fun cruising ICFF2010 and hopping around all of the showroom parties in SoHo with them.

Then, a week and half later, two of my best friends from Copenhagen, Rasmus and Laleh came for a visit. They lived, briefly, in NYC last year so they were pretty familiar with the city so they decided to spend most of their time here in Williamsburg. We had a great time! They shopped and shopped (the kroner is worth way more here) and we enjoyed a few nights out on the town.Interestingly enough, they both reported seeing a lot more New Yorkers on bikes. I think that’s was we were in Brooklyn most of the time, where NYC bike culture seems to thrive more. But I guess I do see a few more bikes in the city than before. Hopefully, the trend continues!

All of these Danish visitors makes me “homesick” for Denmark. I hope I can make a visit back to my adopted second home very soon!

Had this one on my iPhone screen saver for ages decided to finally post it. ;-P

Now, I am fairly diligent about carrying a shopping bag with me at all times. I became committed to the idea whilst living in Europe, where bringing your own bag to shop is pretty much a requirement, not just a eco-friendly gesture. I had decided to travel light to the Architectural Digest Home Design Show this weekend and found myself with handfuls of trade show swag and no bag. Not good. So I stumbled over to nearest booth for respite and as luck would have it, landed in the trusty hands of OBOE or One Bag One Earth. Seeing that I was two seconds away from a majorly embarrassing swag-alanche,  Sam from OBOE generously gave me one of their fabulously stylish reusable bags.

I love it! It’s so pretty. I know it’s hard to tell from the photo but the little green circles are actually little recycle signs! And the One Bag One Earth bags are pretty sturdy. I use it all the time now, my choices no longer limited to; faded canvas bag with the logo of the last event I attended or small purse, whose integrity is questionable. ONE BAG ONE EARTH is made with remnant fabric and comes in different patterns and styles. When I don’t need it, I just tuck it into it’s own little bag and pop it back into my purse. Pretty groovy! Thanks to Sam at One Bag One Earth for the sweet bag and the business card that you soak in water, then grow into flowers! :> I feel friendlier already!

I know it’s a little way past the gift giving season but I thought I’d share this kooky toy I found whilst out holiday shopping. I found the kit at a Big Lots (discount store) in Colorado. I love the items you retrieve from the ‘cadaver’: dog bones, donuts (?),  various organs. Gives new meaning to ‘playing doctor‘ because it’s way more lucrative for your kid, everyone knows surgeons make more.

It wasn’t as cold as it has been over the last few weeks so I took a walk over to Greenpoint today to mail a few letters and shop for soup ingredients. I am making a potato-cauliflower soup tonight and I needed to pick up the cauliflower and garlic but ended up also getting chives and an extra bag of potatoes.

It was a  good walk. On the way I passed: a house that looks like it could have been home to Norman Bates, some groovy street art and a little delivery truck with a mustache drawn on it’s back.

Groovy street art aside I actually didn’t intend on going to Greenpoint today. I needed to mail a couple letters and it was the nearest post office to me.

Overall a successful visit, I got the vegetables I needed for the soup (it turned out great), got some exercise which with all this cold weather I have been missing and I got to know Greenpoint a little better! Looking forward to exploring my neighboring communities once the weather gets warmer.

I am working on a huge project; curating a new designer showcase for Design Week NYC 2010 (more on this later) and I tell ya, it’s kicking my ass.  I have started channeling my inner Wonder Woman. Around my wrists, VAMBRACES for deflecting bullets (paper cups) and around my waist, the trusty Lasso of Truth (belt to old sweater).  I twirl around my room, chanting ‘Wonder Woman’~ I feel invigorated and ready to kick some ass. Thinking of trying it in costume. Stay tuned.

I have always abhorred those bloggers, who expose themselves so willing on the web. I tend to remain rather ambiguous on this blog, never wanting too expose myself too much to the online world. It can be a fine line between sharing and ‘I can’t believe you wrote that’. But lately my guilty pleasure has been reading the personal rantings on Becoming Jennie a blog written by Jennie Ketcham a.k.a former porn star Penny Flame. Jennie is currently on VH1′s Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew and a Colorado girl like myself. Jennie has been a porn star since the age of 18 and deals with her sex addiction, along with 7 others in a real rehab center in Pasadena. They attend group meetings with each other, participate in one on one counseling sessions (DRAMA! some really heartbreaking confessions) and hang out at the rehab center, all very Big Brother/Surreal Life like. There are occasional hallway confrontations, almost compulsive smoke break pow-wows (everyone whose been to rehab knows if you don’t smoke you miss out on the real dish) and even a physical assault thrown in for ratings.

During the filming of the show, Jennie grows particularly close to one of the other recovering celebrities, producer/director Duncan Roy. In her personal blog, Becoming Jennie, she often refers to her candid recovery talks with Duncan, revealing a little about his recovery too. She writes from a very honest place and discusses in detail everything from her thoughts about recovery to the former sexual abuse that led to her porn star life.What makes it an interesting read, is you detect a sincere honesty in what she writes and a conviction to overcome her struggles.

I normally don’t watch anything on VH1 and have never seen previous Dr. Drew Rehab train-wreck shows but Jennie’s story along with the other 7 celebrities on the show, drew me in. It’s not as catty as other celebrity reality shows…well their is one bitchy girl, former Miss Teen something or other, Kari Ann Peniche. You may remember her from her recent sex tape video with Rebecca Gayheart and McHunky from ‘over like two years ago’-Grey’s Anatomy. But overall, I find the show interesting and the celebrities stories intriguing. You get drawn into their recovery. I have to know what happens when therapy ends! It’s sometimes difficult to watch but you don’t feel too overwhelmed, I think the editors do a pretty good job balancing the horrifying details of past abuse with enlightening and sometimes goofy moments. What can I say, I am addicted to it, pun intended. ;>

Check out Jennie’s blog and tune in to Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew!

I am headed to Colorado next week to visit my family for the holiday season.  Sure I am excited to see my family but what I am even more excited about is visiting the half dozen Wal-Mart’s that line the valley. I am finally going to capture some People of Wal-Mart. Granted the valley I grew up in isn’t as low-class as one found in an Alabama suburb but I am still hoping I can snap a pic or two worthy of my favorite website!