cocoa and clowning.

i spent last week in new york learning how to be the best hospital clown i can be. this spring, i'm starting an exciting new job as a member of the big apple circus clown care unit here in chicago. it's a great honor to join this team; it's chock full of incredibly talented and fun people. yesterday, i purchased my very first professional clown nose (see above).

in nyc, i also got to do the following things whilst hanging out with b, my sis and her boyfriend: see central park covered with snow, eat delicious soup dumplings in chinatown, indulge in the best homemade doughnuts i've ever had, drink a cup of hot melted chocolate and go to not one, but two $6 movies at the movie theatre.

fat tuesday.

breakfast at "valois" in hyde park, 8:00 a.m.

dinner at "gandy gras," lincoln square, 8:00 p.m.

treasures.

i bought a couple of pieces of pottery at the thrift store yesterday. the color of the two bowls was what initially sparked my interest. when i picked them up, i realized they were each handmarked underneath. one is marked "made in calif." the other was made in roseville, oh. i tried to research them a bit on the ol' internets. i knew that a lot of pottery from the mid-century was produced in california, but i found out that the piece from roseville was made by a company called "robinson-ransbottom pottery co." which has been producing since 1900. as i carried the two bowls around the brown elephant (our neighborhood thrift store), i wondered how much influence antiques roadshow has had on peoples' desire to buy items of potential value for cheap. i watched a few other customers milling about, eyes scanning the shelves, hunting for items of interest. i picked these up because i liked the way they looked. i like thinking of them in someone else's home and the journey they must've taken in order to land in my hands.

did i need them?
no.

did i want to own them because they are lovely?
yes.

sometimes objects can be quite satisfying.

enjoy.

...click here for some info regarding a reading of some fun-ness happening tomorrow night at the neo-futurarium. i'm on the writing team for a crazy show called "picked up" which will run this spring.