wide

2 weeks ago my friend Sung Won called me to ask if I could meet her for a cup of coffee. I hadn't seen her in a while and I told her I was happy to do that. At Starbucks that day she told me she was taking a leave of absence from school in order to visit her family in Korea for two months. She was leaving on Sunday, just several days later and she wanted me to go with her and stay for two weeks. Just like that. She asked me to meet her to see if I could fly home with her to Korea. I told her I'd do it in a second if my bank account weren't so anorexic, because that's the kind of girl I am.

We had a nice time together anyway, and in a little discussion we had about American culture, she left me with a great quote. Check it.

"America has a wide viewpoint because the land is wide and the people are wide."
-Sung Won Park

2 cute things

A notebook I bought at Omoi boutique in Center City to take orders at the French crepe restaurant where I serve.




And the cutest frog in the reptile house at the Philadelphia zoo where I went with my friend Irene last Sunday.

Cute attack!

fashion designer

This morning I photographed a young fashion designer named Melissa Choi. She's modeling clothes that are her original designs. I loved her energy and am quite excited about these images!

DC with Irene

I spent a couple days in DC going to museums with my little friend Irene who I tutor in English and with her mom and one year old sister. It was priceless. Little Lena (the 1 year old) is such a funny thing. She looks like she's too small to even stand on her own, but she's always running. It's a really funny sight. Their mom is a fun lady too. Her English is quite limited, but it doesn't keep us from having lots of conversations. Irene's English and accent are almost perfect. She's a smart cookie. I get a kick out of the some of the things she says to me. While we were flying her kite on the mall she stopped and looked at me and said, "Wait, is this Washington DC or is this America?"

We bought rubber bouncy balls at the Natural History museum and were having way too much fun bouncing them all over the place. But after hers bounced in the fountain, she would not stop saying to me, "Brae, my bouncy ball is cleaner than yours! Look at it! Look at it! Look at it!!" Everyone wants to be better than someone else in some way. I like how this desire comes out in such funny ways in kids.

cute family

Irene thought we should have a contest to see who could take the 'baddest' picture. Here's her attempt.




She says her favorite subjects are math and science. I tell her those were never my favorite subjects.

Little Lena.

Irene is always coming up with new games we can play. 'I Spy' is one of her favorites. She also likes writing stories a lot. I blogged one of her stories earlier. While we were sitting on a bench on the mall she said, "I want to write a story. I'll say it and you write it." I said, "Ok, cmon."

Below is her story.

The Girl Who Loved Sunglasses (don't think you've got this story figured out by that title)

Once there lived a girl named Brae. One day the girl decided that she should wear stinky clothes. She tried on a dress that was made of rocks. She tried on a skirt made out of trees. She tried on a hat made out of leaves. She tried on a tattoo made out of animals. Then she decided she should wear sneakers made out of teeth. When she was running the teeth cracked. Then she wore sunglasses made out of buildings. And then finally she was very stinky. She decided that she needed a stinky smell. The first stinky smell was in the bathroom. The second stinky smell was in the living room, and the third stinky smell was on the bus. She decided that she wanted the third stinky smell.

pregnant in style

M.I.A. continues to be my hero, role model and my favorite fashion icon. She's so bad-ass! Check out her two wardrobe picks for the Grammys. I love the black and white polka dots that make her look like a fun, hot symbol of fertility. She's got so much passion and lack of self-seriousness. What a fun lady. She had her baby on February 11th and the father is her fiance, some Canadian business man. She won't release the baby's name but I heard her quoted in some article saying something about him like, "Me and the little one are planning our tour for 2010 and making mix tapes together. Baby loved being on stage at the Grammys!"

I can't wait to be pregnant. M.I.A. makes it looks so hot. I'll have to quit smoking though.

coffee and cigarettes

The other night I re-watched the Jim Jarmusch movie Coffee and Cigarettes. I'd tried to watch it in college 4 years ago before I enjoyed coffee or cigarettes and on a night that I felt extremely tired.

This time, I loved it! Two friends had told me they'd watched it recently and that it was very boring. I gave it a chance anyway because my personal enjoyment of actual coffee and cigarettes is so intense and because I like films and books rooted in strong character development and conversation. My own art is a little like this. I do portraits. Coffee and Cigarettes is a sort of portrait film. And it's hilarious. My favorite was the awkward conversation between the humble actor and the pretentious actor where the humble one has figured out that the two of them are like third cousins ten times removed and then has the idea that they should do a film together and also vulnerably asks the pretentious cousin to love him. Of course, the arrogant actor is a total prick and won't even give the lame 'cousin' his number, UNTIL the humble actor gets a call from Spike Jonze during the conversation over coffee and cigarettes.
I absolutely love this depiction of people and their desperate desire for power, belonging, love, success, etcetera.

The conversation involving the Rza and Bill Murray is pretty excellent too. I actually felt a bit convicted over my addiction after hearing the Rza speak the praises of alternative medicine and the curses of caffeine and nicotine.

But the latter two really do seem to quell my desperation a bit. Alas, I like movies, coffee, and cigarettes. And I've got one life to live.


photo credit- Jean Daniel