Pioneertown To Palm Springs
Last weekend we headed south to see Dum Dum Girls at Pappy & Harriet's, stay at the Pioneertown Motel in the high desert, drive through Joshua Tree and seek out some sun in Palm Springs. Here's what it looked like.
Buckminster Fuller: Geodesic Domes
Buckminster Fuller is most famous for popularizing the geodesic dome, but he was an all around visionary. A before-his-time figure who wanted to end war by means of good design, Fuller wanted do more with less before we even realized how much less we had.
These are pics of my current favorite dome at Slide Ranch, in Marin. It's a teaching farm and absolutely beautiful place where we're lucky enough to be getting married this fall. In addition to a yurt, this dome is the only other structure on the grounds where we'll be having the wedding.
Green's film was fun and interesting if not a trenchant, exhaustive examination of Fuller's life. But then again, what could be? He's said to have lived the most documented human life in history, and aside from the dome, Fuller may be most famous for his dymaxion chronofile — a 1300-linear-foot archive consisting of every documentable thing he came into contact with throughout his entire life (the dymaxion chronofile lives right here in the Bay Area at Stanford University Library — I could go visit!). On the one hand, this is an amazing art project that's left a fascinatingly complete and one-of-a-kind record of an exceptional man's life; on the other hand, it's radically anti-minimal. If the dome does more with less in the sense that it's the most efficient means of enclosing space, isn't collecting every piece of your life's detritus a way of doing less with more? I mean, you would need a really big dome.
Then again, what utopian figure isn't without his inherent contradictions? And that's the thing about utopian visions, they don't tend to work out. But they do provide inspiration, both earnest and reactionary, and it seems to me Bucky's ideas are valuable for that reason. We may not have achieved peace via dome, but they're certainly lovely, interesting, practical structures for some purposes. And if they didn't revolutionize humanity, they at least crystallize ideas that point in a hopeful direction.
Cocktail: The Sophisticated 7-Up
The Sophisticated 7-Up was born one evening in Brooklyn, invented by a couple we're friends with who had every intention of making us Old Fashioneds, but alas, didn't have the requisite ingredients and the corner store was closed on a Sunday evening. Lucky for us they had some other delicious cocktail makings, and some humble 7-Up. The St. Germain adds a sophisticated, floral twist to the 7-Up, and the Pimm's cuts the sweetness with an herbacious little kick.
Fill a small tumbler with ice
Add 1 shot of Pimm's No.1
Add 1 shot of St. Germain
Top off with 7-Up, stir, and garnish with a small lemon wedge
D.S. & Durga
On a recent trip to NYC I stopped by the rad little boutique In God We Trust. They have their own small collection of women's and men's clothing, an awesome wall of $15 sunglasses ("holy shit, these sunglasses are only $15!), and those little heart necklaces that everyone loves with the cheeky phrases engraved on them. But the one thing I just had to come back for is this amazing D.S. & Durga perfume (or is it a cologne? wondering is part of the charm), Cowgirl Grass.
D.S. & Durga is run by a fetching husband and wife team from Brooklyn — he concocts the complex, nostalgic, Americana-inspired scents, and she designs the pretty, botanic-apothecary vibe packaging. Names like Siberian Snow, Boston Ivy & Mississippi Medicine are paired with equally evocative descriptions that spin vintage narratives and list the rarefied ingredients that make up each fragrance. And if they sound dreamy, sophisticated and esoteric it's because that's how they smell. Like something very old and very modern.
Some of the scents are powerful enough to be challenging to wear, although the super friendly girl working in the shop that day said she wears Burning Barbershop, their strongest scent, but that "because she's a lady" she sweetens it up. Charming, and so true because scents can totally shapeshift depending on the wearer. They also make some less intense scents, which are easy to find since there's a little continuum guide from light-bodied to full-bodied for each fragrance.
Not only do I love the smell of Cowgirl Grass in and of itself, but for me it has that extra special associative power of scents to so strongly remind you of a certain time and place, and it will always remind me of my first trip to NYC!
Santa Cruz
We wanted to try out the Dream Inn this time, but it wasn't in the cards. In between going out with friends and to a vaguely Superbowl -themed housewarming, we got to hang out at a few beaches and drink lots of Verve coffee. Definitely pretty alright.
Dry Shampoo vs. Hair Oil
Cognitive dissonance much? Sure I was drawn to these two products for different reasons. Sometimes your hair seems dull and kind of frizzy and you wish it were as shiny and lustrous as the ridiculous long hair of shampoo commercial models. Other times your hair seems unwashed and oily and all you want is to feel like you've just taken a shower, but in like, 5 seconds instead of 5 minutes. But then you realize that you are maybe waging a kind of divided and unwinnable battle against yourself. Am I oiling my hair just to dry it out? Or maybe drying it to the point that it needs to be oiled?
In the end, hey, they may at least get you close to a real life, lazy girl's version of hair perfection: your hair looks clean and smells like candy, and you didn't even have to get in the shower.
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