The Things I've Seen in Richmond

When I was packing to drive to Richmond for a week, I was operating under the assumption that I would probably be doing the same things on a day-to-day basis as I do at home, with the notable exception of going to work.  There would be dogs to walk and entertain, but that wouldn't take up all my time.  I packed my PlayStation 3, thinking I'd watch Stargate while job-hunting online.  I even picked up a used copy of Assassin's Creed, a video game I'd been thinking of checking out.  I'd need a break from the Stargate and job stuff, I decided.  And then I got down there, and was seized with the urge to explore.

I've been to Richmond so many times that I forgot I'd never really seen Richmond.  Usually we're down for a family gathering or on the way to the beach in North Carolina.  But Richmond is a vibrant, interesting city and really there is so much to see!  I spent most of my time in Carytown, mainly because it's very close to my aunt's house, but I also consulted the Design Sponge Richmond city guide for ideas.  Here's a little not-so-little list of the things I saw and loved.

Culture


Maymont - Maymont, built in 1893, was the home of the Dooley family.  The house and its furnishings were left to the city of Richmond at their deaths, meaning it's in remarkably whole and immaculate condition for an historic house.  The furnishings are especially exciting, as some are pretty darn wacky (case in point).  Aside from the house, the estate also includes two gardens (the Japanese garden in particular is large and intoxicatingly beautiful), an impressive collection of historic carriages, and a small zoo.

Hollywood Cemetery - This is Richmond's big historic cemetery, and I have no idea whose idea the "Hollywood" was.  Home to the final resting spots of two US Presidents and Mr. Jefferson Davis of the CSA himself, there's a lot of historic significance in this graveyard.  However, I found it appealing for another reason entirely.  It's quiet.  It's beautiful.  It sits right over the river, and the trees keep it sheltered from the sun on hot days.  In short, it may be Richmond's most perfect park, if you don't mind sharing space with ghosts.  There are graveyard maps available for purchase for $1 just inside the gate, but I found if you follow the well-marked blue painted line through the cemetery, you can find all the really significant stuff from the road.  Be sure to check out the stone dog.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts - I've already written about the VMFA, so I'll keep it short: it's great.  It's a fantastic museum with an AMAZEBALLS decorative arts collection (primarily Art Nouveau and Art Deco), and the 20th and 21st Century art collections aren't too shabby, either.  Best of all, it's free!  They do charge for special exhibitions (there wasn't one this week), but based on my experience those are usually worth the price of admission.

Shop


Need Supply - It's no secret I love this place, it's a great little boutique representing the best of both local and national designers.  I walked away with just jewelry, more because of their dearth of larger sizes than anything else.  Their denim selection is amazing, but sadly they carry nothing above a size 30 (about a 10).  They do, however, have TOMs shoes in stock, if you've ever wanted to try them out.

Mongrel - This is about as close as Richmond gets to a place to buy souvenirs, though it's closer to a locally owned Paper Source than anything else.  Mongrel carries gifts and cards of all shapes and sizes, things you need and things you don't, and is super classy about it.  I think my mother put it best when she observed that she "could do a lot of damage to a Christmas stocking" in Mongrel.

World of Mirth - On the surface, World of Mirth is a toy store, but just walking through the door shatters that illusion.  Whoever does the buying for this place is a kitsch-loving nerd, and it is fantastically obvious.  From the cabinet of Day of the Dead skeleton goodies to the hipster fake tattoos, by the time you hit the wall of Doctor Who items near the back of the store, I can guarantee you'll have found something to make you smile.  And lest you think it's only fun for adults, I assure you there's plenty for kids to delight in, too.

Antiques in Manchester - AIM, as it's called, is a Saturday antiques market in the Manchester area of the city.  It takes place in a covered alley, so I imagine it operates rain or shine.  I went expecting to ooh and aah over things I could not afford and maybe pick up some art if I liked anything, but was surprised to find things well within my price range (and this from someone who pays full price--bartering terrifies me).  I walked away with furniture, but there were plenty of people selling jewelry, textiles, and assorted decorative elements, too.

Chop Suey Books - Another Carytown gem, this new/used bookstore has loads to offer, complete with the requisite uninterested bookstore cat.  They don't have much in the way of genre fiction (romance, mystery, sci-fi, etc.), but they do have a delightful offering of older pulp fiction paperbacks, and a fantastic poetry selection.  Non-fiction's not really my bag, but those sections looks formidable, as well.

Eat


New York Deli - Deli fare with a spin, this place serves food that's simply great.  They've been doing it longer than any other place in Richmond, so they should know their stuff.  I've never been in the evening, but the bar looks pretty solid, too.  Bonus: PHOTOBOOTH.

The Belvidere at Broad - My mom and I chose this place for our Mother's Day dinner, and were so proud of ourselves for venturing out away from Cary St.  I was impressed by their vegan and gluten-free selections, as well as their beer and bourbon lists.  Our one complaint was that our food was a bit too salty for our taste, but other than that it was delicious.  I had the vegetarian Nicoise Salad, which was a rare treat.

Amuse - This restaurant may be inside the VMFA, but don't let that fool you--this is no ordinary museum eatery.  With an impressive, ever-changing menu (they focus on what's in season locally, and take inspiration from whatever's currently showing at the museum), Amuse is a different restaurant every time you visit.  We sat outside overlooking the sculture garden and slurped cool spring onion vichyssoise--perfect for a warm spring afternoon.

Carytown Burgers and Fries - If you're someone who appreciates a finely crafted burger, then this place is a must for you.  A teeny space that feels as "hole-in-the-wall" as it gets, the food is worth and wait and the inevitable crowd.  I'm a non-vegetarian who happens to really love veggie burgers, so I was delighted to find not one, but three veggie options on the menu--Boca, veggie, and black bean.  I went with the veggie, and was well pleased.  I took my food to go, but there is also an outdoor area to sit and dine.

Can Can Brasserie - a perennial favourite, you can't hit Carytown without checking out Can Can.  A French eatery that actually feels Parisien, this place is a treat.  However traditional it may look, however, Can Can puts their own spin on classic French foods.  I dined here for lunch, but the brunch menu looked delicious, too (and from the brunch crowd we saw another day, I'd say it is)!

Conch Republic - Right on the James River, Conch Republic is a great place to spend a warm evening.  This place is all about the Florida Keys, with a menu chock-full of seafood and even some unexpected gator.  I had the spinach and strawberry salad, which was about as delicious as a salad has any right to be.

I highly recommend Richmond as a place to spend a day or weekend or week or month, there's so much to see and do.  I'd love to have done more, but basically I ran out of money (random observation: the Richmond HomeGoods was about the most impressive HomeGoods I've been in).  Honestly, if you can take only one thing away from this list, see the cemetery.  It may seem morbid, but it really is a lovely, lovely place to spend time.

And now back to my regularly scheduled life.

Richmond

I've been in Richmond since Thursday, occupying my aunt's lovely house while she's abroad.  You can't tell from the front, but this house is overflowing with art.  My aunt is my main art collecting idol, and being in her home is like being in candyland.  I love it.  I'm not alone, of course.

These dudes have been keeping me company.  I wish I had a better photo of Spencer (lower right), but he's distrustful of cameras.  I thought I'd be safe, as my little green box of an iphone in no way resembles a proper camera, but Spencer's no fool.  He knows the score.  Ergo, dark, under-a-tree photo.  Ah, well.  The rest of them are hams.  Here are a few other things I've been up to this week.

If you're ever in town, the photobooth is located in the New York Deli on Cary Street.  It's a proper black and white photochemical booth that the deli folks keep up themselves, and it's wonderful.  The food is great, too, so it's no hardship to spend an afternoon there.  The mask is a Yup'ik Smiling Face at the VMFA.  Their Pre-Columbian and Native American collections are small, but I'm a fan (clearly).

I've got a few more places on my list of things to check out, so expect more dispatches!  In the meantime, you can keep up with my Instagramming here, even if you don't have an iphone.  Not all of these are from Instagram (I'm a fan of TiltShift as a photo editor, too), but I'm sure I'll be posting photos one place or another.

James Chororos

I am really, really loving James Chororos' photographs, particularly his images of Hawaii.  I've never been to Hawaii, and admittedly have little conception of what being there is like (aside from sandy beaches), so I am loving seeing the islands through his eyes.

 

James Chororos can be found online here, or on Tumblr.

The People I Saw, the Meals I Ate

I've mentioned here before that one of my very best besties, a lady named Laura, lives and works in New York City.  So, I try to find a weekend once a year or so to drag my carcass up to her and let myself be entertained by the city (not to say that I only see her once a year--her parents still live a half a mile from mine, after all).  This year, I bribed my boss with the promise of the tackiest souvenir I could find him and took the Friday before MLK Day (not to be confused with MILK Day) off to give myself lots and lots of New York time.  Laura requested a blog devoted to our experiences, so I am providing.  She gave up half her bed for the weekend, after all.

In the past, my New York weekends have been about seeing museums and finding photobooths (spending time with Laura goes without saying).  I still love museums and photobooths, but this visit was more about seeing awesome people and eating great things.

Friday: Spent most of it on the bus, in the seat with the broken outlet.  I watched an old animated Tintin movie I rented from iTunes, praying my laptop battery would hold.  I finished with 10 minutes to spare.  Once in the city, Laur and I sped off to Brooklyn to a book release party I was determined to attend (we're in the above photo, sort of behind that other dude).  
People Seen: A Ton, including Yuko, Anath, Conrad, and John.  
Meals Eaten: Carrot Ginger Soup at Alchemy (A)
Bodega Kitty: Yes

Saturday: the theme was walking and photobooths.  Mostly walking.  Searched for a mug, sadly in vain, then hogged the photobooth in the Ace Hotel for awhile.  Were madly impressed by the place.  Walked a million miles to linger over brunch with good friends, then walked a million more for pie and more photostrips.  Happily took the train to Union Square to peek into Books of Wonder, then took in a flick.

People Seen: Peter, Jordan, A Bunch of Kid's Publishing Folks, Simon Pegg

Meals Eaten: Croque Monsieur and Mimosa at Le Parisien  (A+), Michigan Sour Cherry Pie at Bubby's (A)

Photobooths: Two

Souvenir Mugs: :(

Sunday: the theme was books and scones.  Scooted down to Harlem for an early brunch with an awesome Twitter friend, visited with her pups, then accidentally got off at the wrong stop for the Met, so we walked across Central Park (a first for me).  Tried to see several special exhibitions at the Met, couldn't find all but two (lots of galleries were closed, cutting off our routes across the 2nd floor).  Hopped over to Alice's Tea Cup for a Mad Hatter Tea.  Ended the evening at the Strand.

People Seen: Pamela, Chip, Ringo (pups are people, too), somebody's suit-of-armor boyfriend

Meals Eaten: Blackberry Cherry Pancakes at Kitchenette (B+), Curried Chicken Salad & Cucumber Watercress sandwiches (C & A), Tomato-Basil, Mixed Berry, & Buttermilk scones (A+, B+, & A), Lemon Tart (A+), and Trafalgar Square Tea (A) at Alice's Tea Cup

Books: 18 Miles

Scones: So Many

Monday was spent on the bus, with a functioning outlet, watching Jane Eyre and eating leftover Alice's cookies.  Since then, I have apparently been attempting to recreate the weekend, mostly through scones.  My tomato-basil effort turned out weird, my buttermilk (using the Alice's recipe) are better.

All in all, a very successful weekend!  Thanks for the food, art, books, folks, and pretty little flurries, New York!

back from the brink (Montana)

Hiya, folks.  I know I have been a neglectful blogger of late, but I like to be cheery when I blog, and it's tough to be cheery when there's little to feel cheery about.  Unless they are doors.  I have no trouble feeling cheery about doors.  However, I'm feeling pretty great about covering 12 states in 12 days in a car with my parents, brother, and sometimes a dog and not going stark, raving mad.  On that note, I thought I'd share the photos I'm proudest of from our time in Glacier National Park in Montana and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

I'm happiest because this was the first time following the post-VISTA move that I dug out my camera and had a good time with it.  The last 3 photos were taken of Mormon Row, an area I highly recommend checking out if you're ever in Grand Teton.

Bonus: a video of us hiking around Lake Josephine in Glacier.

a report on the galapagos

I went to the Galapagos Islands, and you should too!  I'll be honest, I did not have a clear idea how this trip would go, mainly because I'm an art historian and when I travel it's generally to visit art, ruins, monuments; things that man built.  The Galapagos, by necessity, is pretty man-free (only 4 islands in the archipelago are inhabited and only one has what one might term a town).  Well, happily, the trip surprised me and I would be willing to go back again and again and once more forever and ever.

There is just something so freeing about being in a place so free of man's influence, populated by fearless animals who clearly view you as something not even remotely approaching a threat to them.  Some of the wildlife was curious, some wary, but for the most part they just didn't care.  "Eh, you've seen one awkward, two-legged ape thing, you've seen them all," you could clearly see the Marine Iguanas thinking.

But now here's what you came to see: the beasties.

Galapagos Sea Lions.  These were EVERYWHERE.  We saw lots and lots of pups, too, and got to witness the classic "MAMA FEED ME" tactics every creature must employ.

Lava Lizard.  Saw lots of these, too, but they have different colors on different islands.  This guy was on San Cristobal.

Marine Iguana.  The only ones with these gorgeous colors were on Espanola Island.  Everywhere else, they were the same inky black as the lava rocks.

Sally Lightfoot Crab.  We saw these all over, too.  The adults were all this fantastic red, and the babies were pure black (you can see one in the lower right of this photo).  This camouflages the young from the adults, as (fun fact!) they are all cannibalistic.

Of course, the famous Blue-footed Boobies.

This is a juvenile Nazca, or Masked, Booby.  He was right on the path on Espanola, and was as curious about us as we were about him.  Love those big bug eyes.

And adult Nazca Booby on Genovesa.  These guys were my favourite of the boobies.

Red-footed Boobies on Genovesa.  These guys are the only ones which perch in trees--they've developed a prehensile toe in order to do so.

A Giant Tortoise, of course!  There are very few of these guys in the wild, as they were hunted nearly to extinction (entirely to extinction on some islands).  This guy was in the Charles Darwin Research Center on Santa Cruz.

We made friends.

A Land Iguana, also on Santa Cruz.  These guys were GORGEOUS.

There is a very small flamingo population in the Galapagos, and they can be hard to spot.  We saw three, including this guy, who flew in over our heads to land in a lagoon.

There is also a very small (less that 1,000) penguin population--we saw about 20, which was quite a treat.  We even snorkeled with them!

We saw lots of amazing things underwater, but most moved too quickly to get good shots of.  I sort of stalked this Sea Turtle in order the snap this.

Here's the ship!  The National Geographic Endeavour.  We were quite fond of it.

My fantastic Aunt Anne and me on Bartolome, with lots of volcanic outcroppings behind us.  We only visited the older islands, so we didn't see any of the young, active volcanos on the western islands.

All in all, it was the trip of a lifetime and I'm SO grateful that I had a chance to go.  We traveled with Lindblad, which has a partnership with National Geographic.  Our experience was wonderful--the ship was great, the excursions were great, and the naturalists were downright wonderful.  And--always good--the food was fantastic.  I'll recommend this trip to anyone who'll listen, and if I had all the money in the world, I would definitely take other Lindblad cruises (like one of their Arctic ones, for example).  I know some people have mixed feelings about cruises, but this was nothing like my first cruise experience, where we were essentially in a gigantic floating hotel.  Lindblad ships are much, much smaller, and the whole experience feels so much friendlier and more intimate (in our case, the staff and crew outnumbered the guests).

This is a trip that I'll be carrying around inside of me for a long time to come, I think.

Note: all photos aside from the adult Nazca Booby and the Sea Turtle taken by Anne Grier (except for the one we're both in, of course).

door of the day

So I went to the Galapagos Islands and came back again.  And it was amazing.  Here is a door from Puerto Ayora, the largest human settlement in the archipelago.

countdown

So in less than a week I depart for 10 days in the Galapagos Islands.  Whoa! you might be saying because I somehow managed to keep this a delicious secret all to myself, which is incredibly un-like me.  Well, I mean, not ALL to myself.  But I haven't blogged about it, which seems something like the same thing.  The reason for this inadvertent discretion is actually very simple: it doesn't feel real.  I'm hoping it starts feeling real sometime around the time I board the flight to Miami.  That would be ideal.

Anyways, last weekend I went to the (relative) metropolis of Charlottesville, VA to meet my mom and do some trip shopping.  Up to that point, my trip preparations consisted of ordering a pair of last-season Tevas (Tevas have seasons--who knew?) for half-price on ebay.  Mom figured I should get some shorts, which was probably wise on her part.  Partway into the shopping trip, I realized that what I really wanted was a simple, summer dress that I could wear on the boat.  Since I am notoriously bad at finding everyday dresses (whenever I go looking, I somehow end up with a special occasion dress), this was a tall order.  Happily, I lucked out.

Meet the Maritime V-neck Dress from J. Crew.  A bit pricey on my budget (which is generally limited to thrift stores and clothing swaps), but an attempt to walk away from it ended up with me driving back across town hours later to snag it.  It's cotton, lightweight but not insubstantial, and it has POCKETS.  Perfect cruise dress?  I think so.

I should note that the only way I can afford this trip on my (again nonexistent) budget is through the generosity of my fantastic aunt.  Thanks to her, I'm going on a 10-day expedition for the price of the round-trip plane ticket.  Now that's awesome.

the boy amelie

If you love stories of people doing kind things, the movie Amelie, photos, travel, people...basically, if you are a human person with a beating heart, you need to watch these little films.  If they don't completely enchant you, then I seriously doubt you actually are a human person with a beating heart.

Todd Bieber (who is making me rethink my knee-jerk negative reaction to hearing the name "Bieber") found a film canister in New York's Prospect Park during one of the city's big blizzards this past winter.  Seeing as how he had recently made a vow to seek more adventure in his life, he decided to develop the photos and try to find their owner.  Also, seeing as how he is a videographer, he did so by making a short movie about it.  And then another.  And then, after the owner was found, a third and final film.  Because along the way he had made contact with hundreds of strangers, many of whom he met when his quest to reunite the film with its owner took him all the way to Europe.

Watch these videos.

via Pret a Voyager, who probably loves Amelie even more than I do and makes me wish I had the courage to up and move to Paris, too.

door of the day

This is apparently in Bulgaria.

ewe should come

My parents, lucky dogs that they are, are going to New Zealand next year, and it's really hard not to hate them for it.  I was thinking about it the other day and was reminded of the hilariously underwhelming travel posters displayed in Murray's office on HBO's Flight of the Concords.  A quick google search turned up a set on Flickr where one can not only view them, but even print them out for display in your own home/New Zealand Tourism Office.  I'm sharing my favourites here, for my parents, and for all of you special people, too.

Printable version here.

Printable version here.

Printable version here.

Printable version here.

Printable version here.

Printable version here.