Lame-ier Sculpture Park

This past Saturday after breakfast with the Hicks', we decided to drive over to Laumeier Sculpture Park for an afternoon of bird watching. I kid. I kid. It had probably been a good 12 years since I had last been there, and Josh guessed it had been roughly 15 years since he had last visited the park.

I don't know if I was young and dumb or if I had actually like the "art" when I was a teen...but wow! I couldn't believe how uninspiring that junk felt when we revisited the park this past weekend!

My poor parents have some crap-sculpture in their garden that I (quote un-quote) designed 2nd year that is reminiscent of the lifeless hunks of metal these alleged artist have welded together and presumably called "art". However there was one piece that struck me as beautiful, and that was Joseph Havel's "Twins" (as seen behind Josh in the photo below).

I probably thought this particular sculpture was interesting because, in a sense, it reminds me of the "Cow Chair" by Niels van Eijk.



My least favorite work of "art" was the "Eye" by Tony Tasset. What am I saying!? I'd be hard pressed to pick my least favorite! Now, I understand this collection is of a more modern ilk, but what ever happened to the intricacies in the craftsmanship of Gian Lorenzo Bernini or Michelangelo?! I mean, I would have been delighted if there had been a Noguchi in the park; too bad there wasn't.

Regardless, we had a wonderful time walking around discussing different modern day art philosophies...or maybe we had just enjoyed the weather and each others company.

Chim Chim Cher-ee!!!

I gotta say - I am super excited right now!

For the past two months (at least) I have been anxiously awaiting the pre-sale of tickets for the Broadway production of "Mary Poppins" at The Fabulous Fox. Yesterday I finally received the e-mail announcing the pre-sale, which was to begin this morning at 10am. I set a reminder on my outlook calendar and you'd better believe I got on there promptly at 10:00 this morning with Josh's credit card number.

We now have two of the best seats in the house for the first Saturday evening performance!



I'm usually not that into musicals, but I can still remember the words to "A Spoon Full of Sugar", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Let's Go Fly a Kite", so I'me extremely excited to check out this Broadway Musical!

Now I just have to wait patiently for the actual show which isn't until August 15!

Antique Furniture Cart Rant

A couple of years back, I saw a photo of this old cart which was used in an upholstery shop and thought it would make a beautiful coffee table. If my memory serves me correctly, it was constructed out of stainless steel and cast iron. So, after our house fire last year (and the subsequent destruction of my coffee table that I designed and built fourth year) I thought, "How great would it be to have one of those carts!?"


(Pre house fire coffee table.)

It took me months and months of constantly researching online, but alas! I found one! Well, it wasn't like the metal one I had seen but it did have the cast iron wheels and instead was constructed of wood. I found it at Wood Stock Supply, Inc. out of South Dakota, where I had seen an advertisement for their excess inventory, to included their antique lumber carts. I didn't waste any time. I immediately ordered two! One of which we are using as a coffee table, and the other of which I plan to hang on the wall above the stairwell.


(Not the greatest photo in the world, but you get the idea.)

Interestingly, just last month I received a catalog from Pottery Barn with this shitteous interpretation of a "salvaged dolly". The resemblance is almost offensive, but hey, I guess you have to get your inspiration from somewhere!


(Wheel Coffee Table by Pottery Barn, $699.00.)

More disturbing than the similarities is how this table sells for seven hundred dollars! Seriously? I bought two antique carts and had them shipped from South Dakota for under three hundred!

So if that wasn't bad enough, last week I received an e-mail from a friend of mine who lives in Kansas City inquiring about my coffee table. As I was responding to her, letting her know who to contact if she wanted one, my "new mail notification" pops up with an e-mail from her with the following link: Furniture Factory Cart. I checked it out and I noticed two things right away.

One - this cart is EXACTLY like the one in my living room.
Two - this cart has a price tag of $910!!!



The amazing thing about this is that Restoration Hardware is selling ANTIQUE carts that have been "restored by a Northern California craftsman". Oh! Now I understand why I would pay 9 times it's value! Don't get me wrong...by no means do I think I'm the first person in history to want to use a lumber cart as an occasional table, but I just find it funny that after a good hundred years, all of the sudden this style is being perceived as "trendy".

Well, it's getting late, so I'll wrap things up. Hats off to Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn for raking their customers over the coals. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy the carts I bought from Wood Stock Supply, Inc. and hope that interested parties will look to them for their purchase as a means of saving money and supporting ma and pa shops!