Animal Skulls, Texas, and Family (plus a secret garden)

A special thank you to the service people and families that give selflessly to our country on this Memorial Day and to those that made the ultimate sacrifice. To find out more about women in the military, click here.

Surprisingly, the objects in the title were all found in a recent outing to Chelsea (with a stop in the Lower East Side) for an "art crawl" of openings. While not every exhibit was worth a recommendation, we found some great work along the way.

Pictures are included below for you to draw your own conclusions about the pieces. I will not attempt to critique - only provide what I enjoyed about the shows.

Timetraces by Esteban Pastorino at Praxis International Art was a big hit with our group. As we walked the gallery, I noticed a distinct donut shop on an image and recognized it as a place I visited in BUDA, TX! My sister and her family currently live in this small town just outside of Austin, TX. I was quite surprised to see it on display in Chelsea.

Timetraces exhibit at Praxis International Art

Timetraces image of Buda, TX!

Shelley next to the marathon piece at Timetraces. Go Shelley!

We found these interesting pieces at BDG by 
Quentin Garel "GUEULE DE BOIS."

For mom... 

Finally, we found a hilarious and poignant collection by Jerry Meyer. It reminded me so much of my father that I couldn't stop laughing... also wine.

Baby brother, Anxious mother, Bitter pill, Not invited

Later that weekend, Slim and I were undertaking the arduous task of (MORE) furniture shopping, and stumbled across a delightful community garden celebrating their 40th anniversary! It is such a lovely space, and worth a stop by (and a donation) to keep it growing.

Small footpaths led guests to intimate seating secluded from the busy streets nearby.

I appreciate the graffiti behind the trees to keep the city feel.

For an extensive list of Chelsea galleries, click here.

QUEENS! I don't mean the band or any royalty...

After quite the hiatus, I felt compelled to update this blog with new findings in our current neighborhood, QUEENS! More specifically Astoria, Queens, New York (yes it is necessary to use all location descriptions).

Non-standard addresses is one of the many reasons Queens has a hard time fitting into the NYC borough scape but reserves it's hyperlocal feel. I recommend Queens-specific maps to traverse the largest borough or a local that can explain the difference between 31st Road, 31st Street, and 31st Avenue. We have farms (labeled as museums - much to the dismay of this country girl's heart), 100+ years old German-style beer halls, and the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world.

Slim and I moved to Astoria in 2010, and we have fallen deeper in love with our neighborhood every year since. So much so, that when we recently relocated apartments we only moved one and a half blocks from our original place!

We are in the process of purchasing furniture for our new apartment, and the search led us to a broader area than we typically frequent in Astoria with new favorites.

The first stop was a meal on Ditmars Blvd. - one must have a nice base before any large purchases, of course. After checking a few Yelp reviews, we headed over to Fatty's Cafe and had a great brunch, which included an entree and drink (mimosa, bloody Mary or limeade) for $15 per person. Overall, the meal was good, but the return trip is based on one entree option alone - MOFONGO!

I have been a bit obsessed with finding a legitimate version of this Puerto Rican staple since our trip there last year. The most alluring reason to eat mofongo is if you have a big night planned that you know will include more than a few adult beverages. And it's delicious.

This sweet little man joined us for the meal:

Fatty's Cafe Decor

After brunch, we strolled to Nook n' crannie that had a lovely collection of antiques and mid-century pieces. We found some interesting items but nothing that fit our current needs.

We hit several other shops that we hoped would have something of interest but no luck. On to next weekend - the search continues!

Overall not a great day for shopping, but we had good luck with food and drinks, since we found a little bar to sneak into during the downpour yesterday, Dominies. They serve Astoria's newest brewery, SingleCut Beersmiths, on tap, which my beer-making boyfriend appreciates.

I have a feeling a post with more details on that is in the near future. To finish, a little treasure I found on 31st Street near Ditmars... 

More about the dedication here