I love this cafe. It’s where Brian and I met. It has a beautiful, large interior with high ceilings, big windows, and doubles as an art gallery and performance space. The coffee is good, they have a full bar, and the food ain’t bad either. Plus, free wireless, sofas, craft shows, I could go on and on. It’s my favorite SF cafe and it’s in my ‘hood.
Anyway we went there tonight and talked about making goals and making art projects and getting off our asses. Meanwhile it’s Sunday night which means live jazz night, which is also excellent. I sipped my hot chocolate and looked around at the art in the gallery section.
My favorite pieces were by a Swiss artist known only as “Romanowski.” The two I liked the most: a series of dioramas made out of vintage suitcases and typewriter cases. The artist cut a large hole in the side, walled it off with glass or acrylic, and used the inside to place objects or small paintings. Very cool. The other thing this artist did (he or she is very prolific) was a series of large mobiles — made from old interesting matchbooks or generic 7″ record sleeves covered in laquer. Really neat.
The air smells so nice after a long day of rain. Sidewalks still damp, eaves still dripping.
Ok, time to go do a few neglected weekend chores.
That art sounds interesting! The coffee shop I usually go to in Midland has different artists’ work, however nothing quite as different as the pieces you mentioned. Its usually watercolor or sketch work.
I feel that I am missing out on a whole different world by living in this weenie city of Midland. I yearn for the culture and uniqueness that I think are in places like Chicago, Seattle, and S.F. Which, is one of the many reasons why Mike and I are going to travel all over the world someday 🙂
I can’t say enough about how much travel will change and inspire you. I am from a small suburb myself (though only 20 minutes from Seattle), and went to college in a town about the size of Midland. Then when I was 21 I just packed up my car and moved to SF.
I went by myself to England and France a few times, and this was with very little money (I managed to make a couple friends over there that I could stay with), and also traveled to New York a couple years ago for the first time. I have realized that I like cities better.
Did you know Brian and I are probably going to move to Chicago? We want to be closer to family and friends and we want to live in a city that has affordable housing (non-existent in the Bay Area).
I think I remember reading something about the two of you considering Chicago. Hehe every time I see “Bay Area” I keep thinking the Saginaw Bay! I’ve looked into housing in Chicago’s neighborhoods because I sorta entertained the idea of going to the University of Chicago for grad school…until I saw the $40k/yr price tag that is. It sounds like there are a lot of very nice and culturally mixed neighborhoods.
I think I like both the deep woods, like where I live now with my parents on 50 acres of land that is right next to state land, and the bustle of a big city. I’d prefer one extreme or the other, in the middle I get bored. The biggest city I’ve been to was probably Charlotte, NC or Detroit. But, I don’t see much of Detroit just driving through it.
I’m excited to finish undergrad school and then finish grad school because then I could accept a job somewhere other than this pit of allergies and bad roads that’s called Michigan. In fact, I really want to visit England to see if we’d like living there. But, then again, it’d be hard to be so far from family. I’m glad that you guys are considering moving closer! Especially if you have children in the near future, it will be nice to have family around 🙂