Everything is Bigger in the 'Burbs.

Ahhhh. Home again after another weekend of adventure. This week's destination was Little Stetson, aka Norristown, PA. I say Little Stetson because what started with one (Peter) a year ago, has turned into six.

It was so great to reconnect with some old friends. I'm in love with my "new life", but I miss being able to see these guys. I forgot how much fun we used to have together. It was even better this weekend because we were free from all of the restrictions I used to have back in DeLand. Andrew is one of the funniest people I know. He's type-A, logical, serious, responsible, a treasurer, quiet, and reserved. But then once you get to know him and he lets that guard down, he is a closet gansta rapper and does the best impressions ever. We had a blast! Back in the backseat of Peter's car (careening down the road towards the bar) singing at the top of our lungs and having a little dance party. Ahh, just like old times.

Friday night, Matt, Andrew and I went to Legal Seafoods before meeting up with Peter and company (all of his new associates at SEI) for a night out. The associates were all busy impressing themselves with each other, so we had our own little party and enjoyed the outside deck with live music.

Saturday was when it hit me that we were really in suburbia. We drove the big SUV 20 minutes to get to the nearest diner then to the spa to drop Peter off with all of the housewives to get his monthly micro-dermabrasion. It seems like everything is bigger in the burbs. Big expanses of parking lots, big vehicles, big malls, big WalMarts, big big big.


This is what the parking lot looked like. I think this might be a test to your background and stance on certain issues about what your reaction to this picture is.

Andrew and I escaped to take a tour of SEI. It's a pretty interesting place, full of artwork.

One of the first pieces we saw was a pair of more-than-life-sized shoes made out of licorice. They even smelled like licorice. Mmmm...delicious.

Then an interesting sculpture made of many different plastic containers partially melted together.


My favorite piece on the tour was this little shelf filled with laser-cut metal in the shape of trees with silver metal shadows made by Zadok Ben-David. They were beautiful. Simple and beautiful.









This was one in a series of lightboxes of images made from pieces of cockroach wings by Fabian Pena Diaz. Gross, but totally cool.
They even had a Vik Muniz! It wasn't one of my favorites, I prefer his pieces when he uses non-traditional materials like chocolate syrup and sugar. This one was one of his "cloud" photographs. He uses one of those planes that can write in the sky and draws a cloud. They're so simple and cute.

Friday was his last day of the internship, so we stopped by Andrew's already cleared-out desk:

Sad.

The desks at SEI are interesting. They're on wheels without any kind of barriers or cubicles so they can roll around and reconfigure the desks at any time. Then they just hook into the ceiling for power and internet.
Though the outside of the building is mostly uninteresting, the interior design of the building is very nice. I love the contemporary/industrial design infused with bold colors.
In the room that Andrew and Peter work in they have these two pieces made out of brown packing tape. How cool!!

They also have a series of floorplans for fictional places: the Brady house, the Addam's Family house, the Flintstones house, etc. They're in glass so they don't photograph very well, but I like the concept of it.

This is hot hall, where artwork goes once someone complains about it. They're usually more explicit or controversial pieces.

One of my other favorite pieces was by Lars Arrhenius. It is a series of images, building different layers of possible outcomes as a man goes through the day.


We had fun.

Lots of fun.
Saturday night we went to the new home of some more Stetson peeps: the incredible loft that Marie, Leah, and Megan are in as new associates at SEI. The place was incredible. I've heard a lot about the culinary skills of Marie, but was never able to personally experience it. Mmmmm. It was awesome. She really went to town, making probably a dozen different dishes for our rooftop dinner party.

It was wonderful to hang out with Peter again. He was my partner in crime as we traversed the trials and tribulations of being student leaders. Despite our best efforts, we both came out of it all alive and well.


Eventually we took the party to a "pub". It was the least pub-like pub, but it turned out to be perfect. We had all been trying to make a dance party everywhere we went, so we finally found the dance floor we were searching for here, and had a blast. Truly murder on the dance floor.


Now it's back to home life. No time for knitting this weekend, but I have been reading a new book: Eat Pray Love. Fantastic!

The Gift of Music.
I got a library of new music courtesy of Stephen. I was getting tired my current library, so it was great to infuse it with some new tunes! Here are a few of my new favorites...

Legs of Bees by Fruit Bats
Huddle Formation by The Go! Team
You Can Come to Me by The Helio Sequence
Deceptacon by Le Tigre
Mr. Pitiful by Matt Costa