Poshdeluxe

finally, we have reached the last day of 2007!

we all woke up (coldly), showered and drove over to the arcon for some of mona’s fabulous cooking (she IS a european-trained chef, you know. oh you didn’t know that? well, let her tell you about it for thirty minutes).

matt fell in love with the napkin rings and really, really wanted to steal one.

he didn’t, though, cos he’s a good citizen.

i know i mentioned the overwhelming decor of mona’s place already, but i thought you would enjoy this centerpiece:

GOOD MORNING! yeah.

over breakfast, we asked mona if there were any ghosts in building 98. she said that yes, in fact, there is a ghost of a military officer who shot himself after they disbanded the cavalry (or whatever it was called) and put down the horses. which is actually, um, a really sad story. thanks, debbie downer! apparently he wanders around the old polo grounds (yes, they played polo. in marfa, tx) and cries for his horse.

good to know.

we decided to explore the main part of town (i.e. all one square mile of it), esp. cos the weather was gorgeous.

do they look like rock stars or what?

everything in “downtown” marfa has donald judd’s name on it. i am not kidding.

judd did a lot (ok, everything) for the art scene in marfa, so it makes sense that his name is popular. but when you see it everywhere, you start to feel like he’s, maybe, the prince of marfa. or the wizard of it. i like that image. and then i thought about having my name everywhere, except it’s not as easy to pronounce as “judd,” and i’d probably get really annoyed when i heard people asking why “Pit-ray” was all over the place.

there’s definitely been some growth in the five years since i’ve been in marfa. we visited this cute little resale store on the main street:

the store was fun, but it was more like an installation than a store. i can’t imagine anyone thinking, “hey! a plastic lobster! that’s EXACTLY what i need!”

still, it was a pretty place!

next door is a new (to me) coffee house called the brown recluse. mona told us it got the name from the story of the woman who murdered in the house a long time ago. apparently her husband got tired of her and decided to kill her by putting brown recluse spiders in her bed.

YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE

i mean, this place was cute and all but HEEBIE JEEBIES.

we wandered over to the bookstore, which i loved back in 2002. and it’s still great! they have some good YA selections (nice) and fun art books and it’s just a friendly place that won’t overwhelm you.

plus GUESS WHAT I BOUGHT.

THIS COUNTING BOOK! WITH WAYNE THIEBAUD PICTURES!!!!!!

this may be the best book i have purchased in recent history (although i’m going to get slash’s bio soon, so we’ll see how that changes things). if i ever have a kid, he/she will *totally* learn how to count with thiebaud paintings of cheese and ice cream and cake. talk about the perfect childhood.

back on the street, we headed towards the courthouse, which is v. charming, although we saw some guys being led in with handcuffs on, so, i guess “charming” isn’t really the right word.

on the way, we tried to get in to a gallery to see andy warhol’s “the last supper.” it was closed, so we improvised.

here was our view (not bad!):

i love the old palace theater in marfa, which started out (i think) as an opera house. it’s too bad it’s not open anymore. maybe henri could open up an alamo there and do artsy sing-alongs.

and now, the requisite MARFA picture!

matt spent hours practicing that pose beforehand, fyi.

unfortunately, i knew the chinati wouldn’t be open (it was a monday), so we didn’t get to see much art. however, we did peer into the chamberlain building so we could check out the funky crunchy car sculptures.

my favorite art that we saw all day involved an hour-long drive out of town, towards van horn.

you drive and drive and drive and then, in the middle of nowhere, there it is.

prada marfa.

prada marfa is actually an art installation designed to look like a prada store. there are purses and shoes in the front, but it’s never been open for business.

maybe it sounds silly to you, but i can’t tell you how surreal and strange it is to see a prada store in the middle of west texas. it’s just… really cool.

in the back of the store, people left their own offerings. like rocks and beads and… the prince ultimate cd 1!

henri decided to leave the card of his condo agent. if you want to take that as a commentary on development/industrialization/nature vs. man, feel free to do so. henri just left it there cos it was the only thing he had in his wallet.

it’s fun to take pictures on the highway in the middle of nowhere. i swear, we really need to be a band.

it’s also fun to make everyone jump.

robin, that’s not a jump! what is that? a peace sign? geez.

henri took this one. i like it, cos we look like giants.

back in town, we stopped at el cheapo (note: the name is a total lie) for some NYE drinks.

inside, we ran into lindsay, a friend from austin, and her boyfriend, dustin. marfa is SUCH a small world. you’ll see them on the blog later.

we had some time to chill before our dinner reservation, so i decided to walk over to the chinati field and spend some time staring at judd’s boxes.

it was the perfect place for a little contemplation about 2007. i had been in marfa exactly five years ago, and i couldn’t help but marvel over all that had changed in my life, and the lives of my friends and family, since then. i wondered if i would be back in marfa in another five years, staring at the boxes, thinking about the path my life had taken. who knows? who. knows. the possibilities of the future beckoned to me, promises tickling at the edges of my heart.

back in building 98, i found several people taking naps.

including matt and henri. EXPOSE!

ok seriously is that cute or what? btw that bed is originally from westpoint. according to mona.

everyone shook off their sleepytime tea and got all dolled up, mostly for the evening’s festivities but also to pose for pictures under the camp marfa sign.

matt brought his special camera to take photographs, which involved the subject shifting position several times and matt wondering if he had loaded the film properly.

thankfully, he did. and check out some of the results!

whoah. i’ve become a hindu goddess with multiple arms.

i like this one of matt, cos all of his faces are contained in one big face.

here’s henri, having a conversation with himself.

we drove over to el paisano, the fancy historic hotel in marfa, for dinner. james dean stayed here when he was filming “giant,” so, yeah, i guess that gives the hotel eternal cool.

we ordered fried brie with raspberry sauce, which was aaaawesome.

and here’s my pistachio-encrusted chicken fried steak. NUM NUM. not as good as the gage, but still. a fine meal.

at dinner, we discussed the various events in our lives during 2007, and by that i mean, britney spears.

at the end of dinner, our friend caitlin and her bf found us. i felt like we were gathering together a small army in marfa for Total Social Domination.

after our tasty business, we headed back to building 98 to indulge in some champers in our private officer’s club bar (classy!). before popping open the bubbly, though, we all called our parents! how cute is that?

here’s robin and matt with their rents on speakerphone, talking about our recent marfa adventures:

caitlin and dustin (her bf) joined us at our (private classy officer’s club) bar, and henri broke out the uber posh champers he purchased specifically for NYE:

the opening of the bottle wasn’t quite as dramatic as i had hoped, but hey, he didn’t want to waste a single drop of the stuff, which i have to respect.

we went around the circle and shared our resolutions, which ranged from silly to serious. and then, we toasted! to 2008!

the next stop was a party we’d heard about from the girl who owns the dolores store. “don’t tell anyone i told you,” she whispered, “but there’s going to be a brilliant party on texas avenue. just look for the cars.”

and so we did! and she wasn’t lying! the house used to be a dance hall, and now it’s home to a fancy shmancy interior designer who apparently hates walls. check out the bathtub, and note that you can see straight through to the kitchen. no walls. yeah.

even more cray? i realized i had MET this lady the FIRST time i was in marfa! seth, ryan and i kept running into this eccentric but sleek looking woman with rhinestone crutches, and when we saw her at the NYE party, she gave us all faux diamond rings.

well, this was the SAME WOMAN!

gah i love marfa.

here’s matt, in the sink/chair/lamp area.

the party was the perfect blend of artists, marfa superstars and random, weird-looking people. plus there was delicious free food (a posh d. requirement) and a fire in the fireplace.

here’s lindsay and dustin, who heard about the party as well (from another “secret” source).

based on a mutual love of fireworks, henri and lindsay developed the official “NYE handshake.” it goes like this:

i also made a new friend at the party. her name is pam, and she lives in houston, and she invited us to her xmas party on december 20, 2008.

we are totally going.

robin made a new friend as well… or shall i say, ADMIRER? and you will never believe who it was.

it’s the guy on the left… and no, that’s not jack nicholson. that’s the guy who designed prada marfa!!! I AM NOT KIDDING!!!!

prada marfa was totes in love with robin and told her that he would love to take her face and put it on a picture of someone else’s body. i don’t know what that means, but you know, he’s an “artist.”

finally, it was time for the countdown! well, according to everyone but henri. i love this video, cos everyone is really excited and yelling out the seconds, while henri keeps insisting that everyone is WRONG.

YAY!! HAPPY 2008!!!!!!

after a while, we left the party and decided to do some fireworks at the marfa lights observatory. when i say “do fireworks,” i mean that matt and henri would try to light the fuse, in the cold, howling wind, while the rest of us huddled near a pillar and tried to avoid getting hit with sparks.

even though i was freezing, i had to admit it was a pretty cool way to start off the new year.

2008! off with a bang!