lets start at the very beginning

ok, well not the *very* beginning. but the beginning of travels. 

the weekend of presidents day/valentines day i headed up to the homeland to see benjamin's new show at the new museum, "urban china," which is a showcase/exploration of china based on a very cool architectural/sociological/philosophical magazine in china with the same name. although most of it was all new to me (i hadnt heard all the details until i got there), it was really interesting & thought provoking, about how we order our lives and adapt to modern times, especially in a country like china, where there is this constant pull of modern vs. past, rural vs. urban... i got to see benjamin host a talk on saturday afternoon with jin, the editor of the magazine a.k.a. the artist, and it definitely shed more light on the exhibit and china and the intent of the magazine, which was all very cool. of course, while ben is doing his thing, im sitting there in the audience flanked by my dad on one side, and terry on the other-- and they are fighting. not inside the auditorium, but previously that day at lunch and they will resume again later- so im trying to moderate and make sure each one is enjoying the talk.  anyway, once finished we took a tour of the rest of the exhibitions up, including a very cool piece called something like "conversations about iraq,"which involves art but also has people intimately familiar with iraq who are literally just there waiting to talk to you and answer any questions you have about it. both shows- very much looking outward, culturally, politically, a nice change.

view of urban china from lobby of n.m.

us in the lobby saturday, post-talk

that night we went out with jin, his girlfriend (a best-selling novelist in china!), and another curator from the museum- to momofuku for a heavenly dinner, and then next door to the momofuku milk bar for desert. lets talk desert. candy bar pie, dulche de leche cake, passionfruit cake, compost cookie.... out of this world. i was as happy as a clam tasting all these things and somehow finding more and more room for the treats...

the rest of the weekend was similarly great- long walks in new york, an intense indian-buffet brunch that was perhaps a bad idea first thing (talk about food coma), the guggenheim, dinner w kari and nic, hanging out with my mom and sister, and a trip back involving a transfer in atlanta-- which wasnt as bad as i expected.

after a hellishly long four-days at work, my sister came to town- for an entire week! as i wrote earlier in the week, we did corral castle, the everglades, a hockey game, a dinner w coworkers... 

gators!

... and then saturday while we are the everglades, we get a call from our uncle bob, who lives in miami, and who we havent seen since we were like 12, but our aunt barbara (his wife) recently passed away, so we had all been thinking of him and them, even though we hadnt talk to him directly.  he calls and says he has an important question for me: "what size shoe do you wear?" because apparently barbara had tons and tons of shoes she never wore-- and it turns out we are both a size 10 (big feetsies for sure!). thus, our plan for sunday turns from a trip to vizcaya or to the seaquarium into a quest for some art galleries and a visit with our uncle. we got to look through tons of old family photos, including many of our dad-- looking all dark and handsome, and in some pictures, totally nerdy! (that too runs in the family as im sure you know).  i also managed to throw some of our aunt's sunglasses into the bag with all the shoes i took- and laurie and i set off- stressed, sad that we didnt know them better- its depressing. it makes you realize whatever families fight over, whatever you get so angry about- its all bullshit you know? yet its so hard for some people to deal and reconcile with it. (patty, im sure you could write your own diatribe about this).  but in the end, you've got to make the best of it. so we grabbed a severely overpriced sandwich, noodle kugel and chocolates from a gourmet store nearby, and headed to the beach to eat outside in peace. 

sporting our late but fashionable aunt's sunglasses! laurie's are totally 1970s- but we think mine stem more from the 1980s. pretty fabulous!

the rest of the evening goes by quietly and calmly, involving me baking a pseudo eggplant-parm-with-ground-turkey-and-fresh-tomatoes concoction which is delish, and we relax. monday, after a long walk up and down the beach at sunset,  i turned laurie on to the sushi place near me- a benjamin staple- which involves sushi boats that go around in water, as if on a conveyor belt. sushi dinner... but also so highly entertaining, at the same time! tuesday night was low key too- we cuddled on the sofa and watched "my so-called life" on dvd, reminessing how horribly awkward angela was in high school. 

its strange, i cant remember the last time we spent so much time together, without any other family members. i mean, its one thing to have sister-days, or meet for dinner once in a while because you're both too busy to do much else-- and while i was seriously nervous about having her for a whole week and entertaining her, it was actually almost effortless in that department. it was so nice to have her around, to go on walks, to eat meals together, drive around, laugh, hold hands, and chat right before bed. it was just so nice to know her so well for a while.  sure, there were stressful moments involving weird garbage puddles on the floor, clothing strewn about, fresh coffee poured down the drain, and not getting enough sleep- but it all balanced out in the end to be a wonderful visit.

now, as they say, alone again- naturally... the foot was sucking this weekend, but its feeling improved now so ive been trying to get some biking in (and minor spurts of running - 5 or 10 minutes, but nothing more so far). the discomfort ebbs and flows, so still taking it easy. tomorrow night my friend rachel & i are heading to a lecture/talk at the wolfsonian museum of design down in south beach re: using shipping containers as houses-- im looking forward to it! then this weekend, ill be driving up to west palm beach to see kim & ira, who are coming down from new york for a few days to stay at kim's fam's house (nearby where we stayed on our spring break last year). should be a gorgeous batch of weather-- in the 80s, sunny, beachie... -- are you getting excited for *your* visit patty?! 

for now, time to veg out and cease any thoughts for a while. i will certainly try to maintain my bloggie upkeep for the near certain future. til then, buenas noches!

xo