i might be wrong

Clay was on The Brian Lehrer Show last week discussing a few of his photos of food. I'm so proud! My awesome photographer love is also a radio star. :D

Yep, that's my future president, Barack Obama. He's everywhere online and miles and miles above and beyond John McCain when it comes to the internet. I heard John McCain says he's never even used a Mac. Savage! Anyway, I invited Obama to join my network. Let's see if he accepts.

My friend Clarence Eckerson shot and edited a piece for StreetFilms about how to properly lock a bicycle. This couldn't come at a better time... Clay just bought a brand new Fuji hybrid (and I have bike envy, but we won't talk about that). I've suggested he not lock it up, but after watching this short, I feel he can lock it up if he takes precautions. Another visit to the bike shop is in order. Gotta get some of those anti-theft gadgets for our quick release seats, wheels and handle bars.

Check out this video of the new art installation by Joshua Allen Harris. This is the guy who puts plastic bags, etc. over subway grates so that when a train passes by underneath, the bags inflate and we get to enjoy this...

Is Takashi Murakami paranoid? There are eyes are all over his art. They are sleepy eyes. Lazy eyes. Shifty eyes. Playful eyes. Wide awake eyes. And the are everywhere. They study you as you study them. Ok, now I'm the one who sounds paranoid. But really, what is the deal with the eyes?

Today was a rare day. A friend invited me to speak at career day at her high school. It was fun. The kids asked good questions and were very well behaved. Career Day ended a little earlier than I thought it would and since I had asked to have the whole day off, I took the opportunity to go to the Brooklyn Museum to check out the Murakami exhibit. I love his scary/cutsey pop art characters and was psyched when I heard about the retrospective right here in Brooklyn. Today being Wednesday, the museum wasn't very crowded so I really got to linger over the art works.

They were weird. They made me feel happy and they made me laugh. They also made me uncomfortable. There is a pink room. It is full of eyes. The eyes are all over the walls. All four walls. In pink. It's kind of amazing. There is another room with the walls covered in his signature flowers. It's an immediate mood lifter, that room.

The Brooklyn Museum does not allow visitors to photograph the special exhibits but I got a few bad shots on the sly. I didn't get a pic of the pink room or the happy flower room, unfortunately, but really, if you're in New York, go see it for yourself.

This image is called Tan Tan Bo Puking. The character in this painting is vomiting. The following words were in a thought bubble and they really affected me: "...As I cry for help, I regret my cowardly behavior, preventing others from loving me until now..."

If you haven't seen Barack Obama's moving and honest speech about race in this country then you need to watch it. We need this man to be president.

"Congratulations TAMMI! You are eligible for guaranteed entry to the ING New York City Marathon 2008, which takes place on Sunday, November 2. You will be able to take advantage of this opportunity starting at noon on February 25 when the 2008 online marathon application becomes available."

Aww yeah. I got this note in email today from the Road Runners. Yes! I'm in. I just need to register when registration opens on the 25th.

By the way, I ran the Bronx Half in 2:20:02 yesterday. Special shout out to my friend Ming, the Running Master aka The Mayor of Road Runner's Races, who had already finished the race but since he's training for Boston, had to run an extra 3 miles. He was doing his last 3 when he found me near the 12 mile mark. We ran it together. I was zoning out listening to Talib Kweli when I hear his friendly, "Hey Tammi!" Ming's great. When the wind kicked up, he ran in front of me. He coached me and showed me how to find the tangent and really got me to sprint into the finish. All I wanted to do was beat 2:32 and I did it. Thanks for the little push at the end, Ming.

The course itself was pretty nice. Part of it was through my old neighborhood where I had my second ever apartment. It was a one bedroom with wood floors and a window in every room in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. My aunt Denise still lives in the neighborhood and my mom and sister also moved to the area at one point. I ran past the playground my niece and nephew used to run amok in back in the day. Those memories made me smile. I was warned that the first half of the race wasn't as hilly as the last half. I think the whole course was rather hilly, which isn't surprising since the Bronx has some hills that rival places in San Francisco. I've only been in cars on the Grand Concourse so I didn't really have experience with the rolling hills. They were kind of nice to run, though I think the Gu helped a bit with my state of mind. I really had fun with this one. No misery felt at all. Just cruised along at my own pace with my music and my own thoughts. My sister works in the area on Sundays so she stopped by the see me at the start and we met up after the finish. I met a couple of her co-workers and then made my way home.

That's two five-boro half marathons down with three more to go. Brooklyn is next.

I pre-ordered my copy of Twinkle's Weekend Knits before I even completed a project from her previous book, Twinkles' Big City Knits. After a couple of unsuccessful projects I turned out from that book, I thought about canceling my order for Weekend Knits. After looking through the book, I don't think this one will be any better than the last. The patterns still seem to be written for really small sized people and some are similar to patterns in the other book. For example, the Borealis Sweater is a shorter version of the Shopping Tunic from Big City Knits. There is a scarf that is the same stitch pattern as the Karate Sweater. I don't know. I don't think I'll be knitting any of the sweaters because they probably won't fit me, but maybe I'll knit some of the accessories (but definitely not the hanger cozies). Here's a sample of some of the patterns.

CIMG4553.JPG, originally uploaded by digitaltammi.

I have been a crafting manic lately. Everyone who knows me knows I like to make things. My upcoming wedding has provided me with the perfect opportunity to do something crafty and unique for our wedding guests. While Clay and I were in Japan last year, we stopped by Tokyu Hands (several times) and I bought a cute little cell phone cozy. The fabric was of white bicycles on a black background with a little red cord that fastened with a small black clasp. I made a few of these pouches and gave them out as Christmas gifts to the ladies from my job who came to support me in the Philadelphia marathon.

They were so easy to make and the ladies loved them so I decided to make them for every guest at our wedding. That means I have to make at least 150 of them. I ran the idea by some of the ladies at Purl Patchwork, including Joella Hoverson, and she helped me see that, yes, I can make 150 pouches by November. I am well on my way. After just two weeks I have about 2 dozen done and several more in various states of near completion. The part that slows me down a bit is sewing the cord into the fabric, which has to be done by hand. I am having so much fun with these. I have such a large fabric stash and I'm happy to put these beautiful prints to good use.

I did have to break a rule. I told myself that I would only use fabric from the stash for this project, but I didn't realize I own so many prints with flowers and other overly girly things so a friend at work suggested silk tie fabric. I went to Beckstein's in the garment district and found some silk tie fabric that works really well for this project. Hopefully, my short attention span won't get the best of me and I'll have these done by October. I also hope the fabric hoarder in me won't feel the need to go out and buy any more fabric.

CIMG4547.JPG, originally uploaded by digitaltammi.

Ok, this is the first sweater I've ever finished that I actually like and would wear (although I think the sweater makes me look a little big). I love how this turned out. I stuck this sweater at the bottom of my UFO pile after getting frustrated with my lack of seaming skills, but I finally got up the courage to pull the thing out and finish. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and it wasn't nearly as tough as the firs time I tried my hand at it. Something finally clicked, I guess. I think I was inspired by the cute green tank top I found on sale at Nordstrom.com. Who knew an inexpensive tank top would be enough to make me finally finish this project that's been around since September.

The sweater is done just in time for the warm weather we're having in New York. I have a feeling this warm snap isn't going to last. I hear it's going to be in the low 30's this Sunday... just in time for the Bronx Half Marathon.