Getting Down with Santa Fe

 While John tested out the local skate park, I examined the street art that covered the landscape.

To many this may appear to be a mass of nastiness, and it is, if you read closely, but I found some beauty in it.

John don't care, he just want to ride...

I love the layering in street art.  If you peeled back each layer you would see something totally original, and together the layers form a disparate collaboration.  The dude who made that chicken raptor thing didn't know that the sea foam and grey crazy hyphenated lettering would be placed over top.  I like it.

I like this guy.  He is the ultimate New Mexican warrior.

I like the fizzed out orange boarder against the duller, smaller scripts.  Speaking of script and fonts and things: these artists come up with some really cool designs.  Letters intertwining, transitioning colors, etc.  It's kind of ironic that they often become so intricate and ornate that they are unreadable.  I know that is part of the point, I just like imagining these hard gangsters making pretty pictures.

I also enjoy thinking about the amount of preparation that goes into the design.  I bet the artist sketches all of the time and even if they don't specifically plan the design out sometimes, there has to be a certain amount of practice to get to this point.

Obviously I have never talked to a street artist before.  I don't know why, but we generally don't run in the same circles.

Street art is just so alive, so here and now.  I don't know if this was done 3 years ago, or 3 months ago.

Fluid black and white.

Chu-ching!

I like this affect and the color choice.  The washed out strokes in the back and the matte outline.

In what other style is it okay to just put a few money signs here and there?

How long does it take someone to do this?

This "Waste" one is cool, especially next to that crappy "PRP" one.

Seriously, where do they come up with this stuff?

Don't Follow Me

Summer Music Playlist

1.  Little Numbers-BOY

2. Keep You-Wild Belle

3. Ticky Ticky-Owlle

4. Taro-Alt-J

5. Airfield-Javelin

6. Hail Bop-Django Django

7. Wildest Moments-Jessie Ware

8. Hat Trick-Empress Of

9. Recover-Chvrches

10. Don't Move-Phantogram

11. The Theory of Relativity (Diamond Rings Remix)-STARS

12. Sleep Alone (BeatauCue  Remix)-Two Door Cinema Club

Free Music on this Site

Chvrches-Recover

adobe abode.

Getting used to our new place.  So far Santa Fe is exactly the opposite of Chicago. Dry, quiet, small (but geographically expansive,) slow and hot.

Of Course We Crash Before New Mexico.

Okay okay, so it wasn't really that big of a deal, this crash.  We are very lucky it wasn't worse.  Anyone who has driven on Lake Shore Drive, and more particularly, the "S" curves around the Gold Coast/Streeterville area, knows how dangerous it can actually be.

We were on our way home from a lovely outing with some of my coworkers on Devon St.  We had eaten delicious Indian food, snacked on bite-sized Indian desserts, gawked at the majesty and detail in tradition Indian costume and even mixed with the locals at an Indian market.  It was delightful to get out and see a smidgin of what Chicago has to offer.




As we drove home we planned the naps and homework our afternoon would bring us.  We came to a stop at about 1000 N on Lake Shore Drive in the right center lane and were chit-chatting when a black SUV came careening into the driver's side of the car, ripping our side mirror from its roots, scraping the body of our little civic, then moving on to the Mitsubishi Eclipse in front of us.  The Eclipse got some pretty good body damage on the back left portion.

We all pulled over to a side road.  I called 311, the "non-emergency" number.  The operator told me that as long as everyone was okay with it, we could just exchange our insurance information and license plate numbers then file a report at a police station on our own time.  The driver of the Eclipse called the police though, so we all waited around.
Then it started pouring rain.

A police man showed up eventually and did all of the paperwork in about 30 minutes.  We got home 2 hours after we left Devon St, a 25 minute drive.

We are very glad no one got hurt, especially because John and I suspect that the 17-18 year-old offender was possibly texting, though he wouldn't admit to as much.

This comes at a not so awesome time though.  We are driving almost cross-country to Santa Fe, New Mexico in less than two weeks.  We will need to get our car fixed and everything taken care of in the meantime.  Wish us luck.

The good news of yesterday is that we actually found a place to live in Santa Fe!  Yay!  After much searching, calling around, shocking rental quotes, etc. we found a home to rent in a quiet family neighborhood. It has recently been renovated and has a green backyard with large trees.  We will not be saving any money on rent this Summer however.  Santa Fe in the Summer is apparently is somehow just as much as downtown Chicago.  At least, in our case.

I am excited to explore what Santa Fe has to offer. I have learned that there is a world-renowned opera there, a Spanish Festival in July, and of course, the Georgia O'Keefe Museum.