Some Cool Happenings in Dallas (+ An Ode to My Amazing Friends)

There are a couple of v. cool events happening in Dallas this week that I'm pretty jazzed about.

The first is the inaugural "tinyDallas Group Art Imitation DIY". Those of you peeps that keep up with tinyDallas might know that one of our editors, the super creative Lucia Simek, does regular "Art Imitation DIY" posts that are pretty brilliant. One of our goals when we started tinyDallas was to help create a stronger focus on smart, creative, interesting things for littles to do in our fair city. To that end, we want to drum-up events and activities and happenings, and (hopefully) this is the first of many.

So here's the plan. Meet us at the Dallas Museum of Art this Saturday, November 5th at 1:00 p.m. for a guided tour of the Mark Bradford exhibit. We'll follow the tour with a group art project at the former Bows and Arrows space on Greenville, where we'll be creating mini, Bradford inspired collage paintings.

But wait there's more... In honor of our group efforts toward art stardom, we’ll be hosting a one-night art reception on November 19 at Bows and Arrows so we can collectively ogle our kiddos’ paintings.

Suffice to say, I would LOVE to see you guys there!!


Ok next up is D Magazine Front Row Live tomorrow evening at the Dallas Contemporary. The event, which is the brainchild of my friend (and the husband of Lucia...seriously could there be a cooler couple) Peter Simek, will feature a line-up of curated DJs and experimental bands, a short film and video art screening, food trucks, beer and coffee from Pearl Cup. It should be an amazing event friends! So excited to see it all unfold...












Ok and now for a bit of an ode... I've shared snaps of Lucia and Peter's beautiful art-filled home before, but I thought this would be an appropriate time to post a few more photos I took of their space during a family dinner we shared over there a few weeks ago.

Lucia and Peter are just a magical couple... I truly think you meet people like this very rarely, so it deserves to be celebrated a bit, yes? They are not only incredibly smart and witty and creative and thoughtful, but they inspire the same in others. Having them in Dallas makes our city a more vibrant and interesting place. Bryan and I are lucky to call them dear, dear friends.

Creative Enablers (The Good Kind)

Ben Martin/Getty Images via NPR

image via WNYC

Behind the legions of amazing artists and writers and musicians, there are the "enablers" -- the people that champion and encourage, the people that support (both financially and emotionally), the people that consume and then come back for more...

Growing up with a musician father, I experienced first-hand the importance of this ecosystem, and several of the people that encouraged and supported my dad's craft (and somewhat unorthodox non 9-5 lifestyle) became extended members of our family and are still very much a part of our lives today. I think that experience has instilled in me a desire to be a massive champion for creative pursuits.

On the way home from work last night, I heard a story on NPR about Kathleen Annie Pannonica de Koenigswarter (or "Nica"), a wealthy baroness that devoted three decades of her life to helping jazz musicians, including greats like Charlie Parker, Art Blakey and (my beloved) Thelonious Monk. She was the ultimate artistic enabler and did so at a cost to her own comfortable life. It was brave and highly admirable on many levels if not infinitely fascinating.

Hearing the story was also timely, as I've been thinking and talking to others (hi Lucia) about what it takes to make Dallas into a great "creative" city. We now boast a formidable arts district, and there's a wealth of creative talent tucked into Dallas' nooks and crannies. But I think we need more enablers... It goes beyond financial support or visiting museums and galleries and buying art (although that's certainly an essential component). It has to be a sort of passionate commitment to a creative culture. It's has include fiercely supporting our talented local designers, attending creative events and activities (and helping to concept new ones in a sort of grass-roots way) and encouraging a general sort of soulfulness to balance Dallas' reputation as a hotbed of consumerism... This city is just so much more than the sum of our shops and restaurants.

So to that end, I wanted to highlight a couple cool creative things/happenings in Dallas on the off-chance that you want to help "enable"them a bit ;-)


image via The Criterion Collection

First up, the screening of Bottle Rocket next Thursday the 28th at Oak Cliff's Kessler Theater (part of the brilliant movie series Dallas, Outlaws, and The American Dream)... So much goodness packed into this one friends. First and foremost, Bottle Rocket is (in my humble opinion) one of the truly genius movies, and it's utterly local (created by locals, acted by locals, filmed locally). And then there's the matter of Oak Cliff and The Kessler Theater...both gems, (again my opinion) among the very best of our city.

Be an enabler... go to this screening. For sure.






Next is my dear friend (and partner in crime) Christine. I recently watched this video of her creating her Spring 2012 collection for Little Bean and was just, well...hugely inspired. Christine is a force -- her kid's clothing line, her shop (which is unequivocally unlike anything else in Dallas), Small Magazine... I am endlessly in awe.


Ok friends, now it's your turn. Share in the comments something or someone creative you'd like to help promote/enable. I'll pick a few from your suggestions and share them here in the next couple of weeks.

Making Me (Really) Happy... (in no particular order)

The giant bag of grapefruits I bought at the Whole Foods for $6.99... resulting in the luxury of getting to enjoy a (crazy sweet/delicious) grapefruit every. single. day. for the past week and a half. Good stuff.

The two lovely, thoughtful, smart "magazines" that arrived in my mailbox this week: the 3191 Winter Quarterly and the new Anthology. Man I love print...

Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt. Addicted. It's a bad scene.

image via this tumblr (which, I have to say, sports a pretty hilarious name) The fact that both girlies told us excitedly over dinner last night that it was Theodor Gisel's birthday today...That they knew that fact and they knew that Dr. Seuss' real name was Theodor Gisel made Bryan and me immensely happy to say the least...

The salad bowl that Bryan's mom bought me for Christmas (that glass number above). I use it all the time, and I have to say it is a perfect salad bowl...it's just the right size for a big salad, and it's wide so all the good bits (like the cheese and the nuts) don't all sink to the bottom.

The musical stylings of Cake (the girlies are obsessed...they especially love the horns and the clever lyrics). But specifically the musical stylings of Cake playing on our iPad in the kitchen. Music in the kitchen is a total game changer.

The fact that my sister Jennifer and her sweet baby Josie are flying in tonight from California for a visit. This one is making me happiest at all, so I suppose there was a bit of an order to this after all. What's making you happy today?

Some Happy Makers...

an intensely happy spot... (the home of Valentin Loellmann in Maastricht via Pia Jane)

Every once in a while I go back and re-read this post just to make sure I'm following my own "prescription" and, well...doing the things that actually make me happy. And I should note that going back to that "happy makers" list is an especially helpful tactic when I'm feeling on the brink of a little funk. (Which quite frankly, might be my situation of late between the mid-summer heat and blahs and being a bit under the weather -- never fun.)

Here's the actual list in case you're wondering ;-)

Cooking a great meal / Riding my bike / Listening to music / Road trips / Reading / Seeing art / Spending time with inspiring women / Making things with my hands / Being fully unplugged...

So late last week I did just that, and so far it seems to be working... I've tried to hit everything on the list in the past few days (with the exception of riding my bike, due to the aforementioned heat wave/being sick), but I thought I'd share a few highlights...a few major "happy makers" if you will.

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In the music category, there's Feist's Paris performance of "1234" and "Mushaboom"... Bryan sent this to me a while back. It's utterly genius and lovely. You must watch...

There's also this trailer, which, yes I know, has been all over blog-land, but it's on my list not so much for the movie (which does indeed look fantastic) but for the song in the trailer (again with the music) -- “I’ll Try Anything Once,” a low-key demo version of the 2006 Strokes song “You Only Live Once"... again genius + lovely...another must watch.


In the reading category, I've just started Willard Spiegelman's book Seven Pleasures -- Essays on Ordinary Happiness. Spiegelman explores the idea that there are seven core practices/activities that (for him) lead to sanguinity: "reading, walking, looking, dancing, listening, swimming and writing." I like his thinking...I'm digging this book.

Finally Christine and I are taking a batik class later this week, and we're in the midst of planning a fun event together in September...so check and check on "spending time with inspiring women" and "making things with my hands."

I've yet to unplug though, and I'm feeling the need (desperately) to do it, as I've been pretty tethered to my computer of late. I'm thinking I'll go completely tech-free this weekend. We'll see how that goes...

So anything making you particularly happy these days??

Just A Few Random Bits...

This is the sweetest video ever (thank you Lucia!) Audrey and I have watched it countless times... Speaking of Audrey's Paris obsession, I told her I was taking her someplace special this weekend (more on that later) and her immediate response was, "You're taking me to Paris?!"

You gotta give it to her, that girl dreams big.

One day Audrey, one day...I promise.

I can't stop listening to the new Vampire Weekend. Particulaly "Run", which reminds me a bit of all the best New Wave songs... (I swear there's a New Order sample tucked into that tune.)

How awesome is this pillow from SeeSaw vintage? Seriously those ladies have the best taste.

Case in point...the lovely image below (via SeeSaw) from the April Elle Decor. L.O.V.E