Marilee’s Travels

victor has purchased a new camera and here is one of the fun things we did. we are not sure what the world would do with 3 marilee’s… but this might be what it would look like on a normal day.

be sure and check out the latest addition to woolace.net!

www.jimmy.woolace.net (thanks victor - our webmaster)
don’t forget to check out his photos, too!

on a side note. i’ll be in new york from the 29th-1st. this time it is for work. team building with our design team and collecting inspiration for the coming season. am excited to see even more of the city. i would imagine that i will see a whole other side. we’ll be staying in the soho grand and eating like kings and queens. will post pictures upon my return.

it is my lucky day. one of my portraits has been chosen as a finalist in the ‘photo of the year’ contest here in portland. woo hoo!

if you go to www.photooftheyear.net and look in the ‘faces’ category you can vote for my photo, that looks like this. “Morrow”.

tell all your friends and come to the event.

once again my mind is a blur …of christmas lights, cold wind, cramps, cars darting, laughing faces and exotic drinks.

i left on saturday the 23rd around midnight on a non stop flight to jfk. the airline, jetblue, is great. i fulfilled my tv watching quota for the next 2.5 years. i was able to flip channels on the arm rest until my arm went numb and those damn earplugs wore red spots into my skin. i suppose i slept, druled (how do you spell that word, anyway?) and snored. and when i woke up, i was on the other coast once again and looking forward to a fantastic 4 days.

victor was there with a warm hug and a smile. which is awefully nice at 7am on a sunday morning on your holiday. we hopped in his mom’s green bug and drove out to staten island to see his childhood home, grandparents aparment, grade school and other nostalgic places of his youth. it was a lovely island. not at all what i expected. it was hilly, lots of trees and beautiful old house and aparments. we found a diner and had breakfast and i loaded up on caffine in hopes of staying awake for the 45 minute drive to jersey. i think i made it out of the city and i was a goner.

when we arrived at his mother, connie and step dad’s (ted), house they were waiting at the door. it is a lovely neighborhood with lots of space and trees out back. we said our hellos, got the tour of the house and then i was excused to take a nap to gear up for the annual family dinner/night with a lot of ted’s family and victor’s brother, alex and his girlfriend patricia.

around 6pm the people started piling in with dish after dish of food. it was everywhere. victor started us off with pisco sours (which he has mastered!) and we chatted with everyone and munched on food. his mom made black beans, rice and fried plantains. (3 of my favorite things.) all the other food was your typical potluck food. after everyone was done eating we had a ‘white elephant’ gift exchange. it is loads of fun with 25 people!! i ended up with a GIANT gothic looking goblet that has been the gift that seems to come back every year. it was recieved with oohhhss and aahhhs from the crowd and when that happened, i knew i wouldn’t part with it, even if it was hideous. (it will match victor’s giant jar of pickled tomatoes.) after dessert all but victor’s mom, step dad, brother and his girlfriend was left. we exchanged a few gifts and had the privledge to get a phone call from North Pole for the annual reading of ‘the night before christmas’, read to us by my father. (32 years and haven’t missed a reading) it is always weird to hear it over the phone, but i was great to share the experience of my favorite family tradition with more loved ones. it was REALLY special. it was after midnight, but we all stayed up drinking, dancing tango and salsa and laughing for a while longer, until we just couln’t do it any more. what a christmas eve!!

christmas day i woke up to a huge breakfast of eggs, homemade potatoes and coffee. aaahhh. victor and i borrowed connie’s car, bundled up and drove into the city!! i have to say… i love the new york drivers. they know where they want to go and GO! none of the regular bullshit of driving other places. we went to manhatten and found a parking spot near time’s square and started walking. it wasn’t long and we were on the main drag looking up at all the billboards. it is pretty spectacular! what was even better was the smell. there are street vendors on every corner selling, hot dogs, shish-ka-bobs, pretzels, soda, candies nuts. mmmm… the place buzzed with people taking in the sites and basking in the chilly christmas day. unfortunitly this is also about the time i was started getting horrible cramps. shit! this kindof shifted my mood and slowed down my picture taking. anyway… we made are way over to rockafeller center where the big christmas tree and ice rink are. wow! that was shocking. the space is really quit small, despite the large tree. i am convinced that the rink is made for elves. it was packed and the line to go skating was so long. we hung out there just enjoying the realization that… we are in new york, together! we started making our way to the street but that seemed to be more than we bargained for. it was like charging the stage at a sold out U2 concert. we were literally packed together and couldn’t move until the ‘crowd’ moved. but to spite the close quarters… it was a good feeling. everyone was happy, warm and patient. thinking about it now… it makes me laugh.

we did a bit more walking and headed back to the car as it started to rain. victor drove me around to see china town and other hot spots as i started dozing in the passenger seat. we made it back to the house and had christmas eve leftovers for dinner and decided to go see ‘the good sheperd’ at the theatre. wwooha. that was a long three hours. it was good but hard to track at times. not to mention the lack of ANY action or drama. (which i am fine with in real life, but hey… this is a movie… entertain me.) we had a nice time and went back home to show ted and connie our south america pictures and go to bed.

let’s see… we are at tuesday now. the 26th. back into the city. we decidedt to go to the metropolitain museum of art that is near central park in manhatten. there are tons and tons of museums in new york and i am sure i could have stayed there for months and not even found all of them.

(so i forgot to mention… it cost $9 dollars to cross the verazano bridge from new jersey to new york. it cost $26 dollars to park in the museum parking lot for 3 hours and it cost $10 for a piso sour at the club.)

so… back to the museum. it was full and huge. there was no way we were going to see a quarter of it in the 3-4 hours we had before it closed. we decided, with little help of our map, to see the cezanne to picasso exhibit. a good choice. there was also the weapons and armor gallery, impressionist, american art. (the frank lloyd wright house was closed.) egyptian mummies… and so on. we were trying to end up in the modern art section of the museum and find a gustav klimt. well… as we are finishing up what we think is the last of the modern art the securtiy guard says… ‘the museum is closing.’ we begin to walk out of the current gallery and follow the masses to exit the building. as we start to leave i look down the hall and there at the entrance to another set of rooms, there she is… a klimt staring at me. of course i make a bee line right to it ignoring the orders we had just received, hoping, just hoping i could catch a closer look at her. i get about 5 steps away from the crowd and i was summened back with the herd. shit. i missed it. and who knows how many were just waiting for me around that corner. damn it. (found out later… only 2 total.) but what a bummer.

we went for a walk up park avenue and 5th avenue looking at the buildings and christmas lights.

ok… now we are getting hungry and thought going into the village would be the perfect place for dinner. we park near the washington square park in lower manhatten. now this is a place i could hang out in. it felt like an american version of palermo viejo in buenos aires. restaurants, cool buildings, pub and clubs a bit edgier and less stuffy… we wondered a bit to find the perfect place and settled on ‘extra virgin‘. partly because of the atmosphere, partly for the menu and mostly for the name. TANGENT… i am completely confused by this phrase, ‘extra virgin’. how can you be more than a virgin… and be extra virgin? it is like a tv commercial i saw once, “Now you too can find out if you are a little pregnant!” i thought both of these things were of the black or white scale, not GREY. am i wrong here?

back to the funny named restaurant. holy crap. fantastic food. mussels, herb crusted chicken, pumpkin ravioli, chocolate melty-cake, creme brulee…. a good malbec wine. oh heaven! next up was a local live jazz clup for a beer. by this time we get a hold of victor’s brother that works on the other side of the tunnel in jersey. we jump in the car and see the restaurant where he and patricia work. we make our way to his place for a quick tour and then it is back into the city and back into the village. it’s another local pub for a mojito and converstation… i figure, while i was there, i might as well get the bar tour. so off we went to anther place, called ‘employees only‘. the place was hopping with hip villagers all in black and looking the new york part. we happen upon a table and order pisco sours that would compete with their chilean/peruvian counterparts. mmmm…. we order some food. (it is about 2am by now and the raviolis have been diluted by cocktails). finally at about 3am we head back to jersey and say goodbye to alex and patricia and on to connie and ted’s. whheeewww… what a night!!

one more day… hold on, i think this is my longest blog yet. yikes.

we crawl out of bed around 10am, i pack and we have some breakfast/lunch at the house. this time it’s connie, victor and me that head into the city to take me to my evening flight back to portland via white castle, a view of statue of liberty, the pier and the brookly bridge. there was a ton of traffic but we made it to the airport with enough time for a long goodbye and for me to get some dinner.

what a way to spend christmas. i am really enjoying exploring new places for the holidays and always being nostalgic about home when it’s the night before.

i hope all of you had a great christmas and party your asses off for new year’s. see you next year!! love ya.

i was talking with my dad this morning and decided i better put up a few more photos. (in no particular order)
#1- the little girl is carolina’s youngest, esparanza. she is the sweetest little thing. her days consisted of laughing, getting the hiccups and listening to nelly(her nanny) sing to her while she worked around the house.

#2- my first meal in santiago. we (carolina and i were going for a snack) she had a lasagna and i had what i thought would be an asparagas side dish. i was a little surprised by what i got. i was sooo good. we also ordered a salad… palm hearts, avacado (fresh and local) and some soft white cheese. oh, let’s not forget my first and far from the last pisco sour. woo hoo!

#3- this is one of 4 photos that make up santiago. it was a 180 degree view of the city. in the background it smog. and beyond that is the andes. and they are HUGE!!

#4- carolina’s living room. look… no tv!!

#5- victor modeling our room at the guesthouse in buenos aires.

#6- the other side of the room.

#7- part of the guest house, out our front door, looking down on the kitchen. we were room #10 of 10.

#8- the front facade of the guest house. (our home)

#9- camerones pil pil… or something like that. it was perfectly cooked shrimp in a garlic butter with a little toast. (and papas fritas - french fries)

ok… so it is by way of new jersey, but it is still a trip!

i’ll be leaving saturday night and will arrive into jfk at some god aweful time of the morning. (not too fun for victor… who is kind enough to pick me up.) we will stay with his mom and step dad. christmas eve is the big day of celebration for them. all of victor’s step dad’s family will come over. christmas day is for relaxing and chatting, i imagine.

then somewhere in there is a trip to the city. i would love to see times square, central park, china town and the christmas tree. but let’s be serious here. i am most excited about the food. perhaps a new york bagel, a hot dog from a street vendor, a cocktail at a swank club…

let’s see if i get any photos posted from that trip.

i hope all of you have a merry christmas and a happy new year!!

ok… so little by little i am getting some photos up! there are more in my “favorites” album. i haven’t manipulated these at all. some i’ld like to crop, color correct or change to black and white. this may or may not happen.

i am sad to say that, it doesn’t feel like i was gone for a month. nothing really changed here in portland. people love me, people hate me and my work is where i left it. there are 2 things that happened while i was gone that prove to me that it all happened. my credit card balances went up and bodo’s nails got longer.

time to plan another trip. it somehow gives reason and meaning for going to work everyday.

(wooooha. can you say downer?)

“Travel pushed my boundaries. When you travel, you become invisible, if you want. I do want. I like to be the observer. What makes people who they are? Could I feel at home here? No one expects you to have the stack of papers back by Tues. or to check messages, or to fertilize the geraniums. When traveling, you have the delectable possibility of not understanding a word of what is said to you. Language becomes simply a musical background for watching bicycles zoom alongside a canal, calling for nothing from you. Travel releases spontaneity. You become a godlike creature full of choice, free to visit the stately pleasure domes, make love in the morning, sketch a bell tower. You open, as in childhood, and — for a time –receive this world. There’s the visceral aspect, too-the huntress who is free. Free to go, free to return home bringing memories to lay on the hearth.”
Excerpted from A Year in the World, by Frances Mayes.

here are some photos that i just put up. sorry… no explanations yet!

just click on photos up in the right hand corner, sit back and be entertained.
(maybe)

i’ll be working on my portraits and hope to have them up sooner than later.

yes! i have started the process of sorting out my (and victor’s) photos. in the next week i’ll have some of them ready. in the mean time i will be adding some of my favorites just for fun. hope you like them. and if you know me, they’ll probably all be portraits.
these first 2 are of a boy i fell in love with. constanza’s mother had taken me for a tour of goya and another town, santa louisa, near by. she wanted me to see a church that was made by the natives in the area. they had carved much of it. (photos later) we were coming out of the church and taking photos when i noticed a group of young boys running across the plaza to the empty lot next to the church to play futbal (soccer). there was one boy that stayed back from the others and came up to the church. when i saw him walking up, our eyes locked and i fell in love. (not in a perverted sort of way. damn i have sick friends.) but this boy… he was so amazing and there was something so special about him and he seemed to think the same of me. he watched me for quit awhile, when i decided to take his photo. (i had the telephoto lens) i then walked over to him to show him the picture and said, “muy guapo.” (very handsome) and he just smiled. we got ready to go and as i was walking away he followed me and that is when i took the other shot. i almost cried when i left…i wish i would have stayed all day, taken his photo or atleast heard his voice or knew his name… i guess i’ll just have to wait until i meet him again.