66. Visit Grounds for Sculpture
For those of you who aren't from this area, Grounds for Sculpture is a 35-acre sculpture park in Hamilton, NJ. It was founded by the American artist Seward Johnson. If you Google his work, I'm sure some of you would recognize it. Especially because he just installed a 3-story tall Marilyn Monroe in Chicago, so you might find news articles. I've always wanted to visit the Grounds and explore their collections and the perfect opportunity kind of just fell into my lap. Jamie actually just landed a pretty sweet job at the Johnson Atelier, which is where artists, particularly Seward Johnson, send their models to be made into their large scale counterparts. Once the molds are cast in bronze, steel, etc., the pieces are welded together. Which is where Jamie comes in! She's what they call a "chaser"; she goes over the seams and cleans up the welds and then creates the textures on the pieces. One perk of having this awesome job is that she knows where all the secret gates are, so we didn't have to pay! Clearly I, being the cheap-ass that I am, couldn't resist the chance to do something fun for free. So, Eamonn, Jamie and I jumped in the car and cruised up the highway to Hamilton, with the top down of course! (We clearly needed to soak up some sun.)
Once we found our way inside the Grounds, we wandered around for an hour and a half-ish taking in all of the works and the beautiful landscapes that went along with them.
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| Jamie and the main man, Mr. J (Seward Johnson) |
All was going well until we accidentally left the accessible area and when we tried to get back in, we were denied. Because remember, we didn't have wrist bands because we were too busy cheating the system. They thought they were inconveniencing us, but little did they know they actually did us a favor. Besides the fact that we were lost in the Grounds, we were also dying of heat exhaustion. Luckily, the spot where they kicked us out at was equipped with misters for plants and effects for a sculpture. So, it was actually the nice little cool-down that we needed.
After wandering our way back into the Grounds, we swung on over to the Peacock Cafe, which was rightfully named, since the Grounds are crawling with peacocks!
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| Baby Peacocks! |
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| The middle guy is actually a sculpture |
67. Paint a room
This one I found to be a bit strange. Some of us were over at Jamie and her boyfriend, Anthony's new apartment the other day to help them paint, when Sam let's us know that she's never painted a room, house, walls, nothing like that. This came to a shock to Jamie and I as our mother always seemed to use us as child slaves when it came time to paint a room in the house. So naturally, we put her to work!
She picked it up in no time, even though I think she got more paint on her than on the walls!
68. Go to a beer tasting/pairing
As many of you may have figured out already, Sam and I love to eat out and try new restaurants/cuisines. The other day Sam sent me a link to an event happening at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. The World Cafe, in its own right, is an awesome place. It is a combination music venue/restaurant. And once she sent me this link, it got even more awesome! It was to a Grilled Cheese & Craft Beer Tasting Event!! Two of our favorite things celebrated together, and with music!! We didn't waste one minute: we bought our tickets, the vegetarian option of course, and got Jamie on board too. But I mean it's not that hard to convince someone to indulge in two of the best concoctions created by man! I was counting down the days for a week, and it had finally arrived!
We started off the evening with a "cocktail half-hour" with our first beer at the bar and a sampling of Stoudt's cheeses. Once we took our seats, their resident music man, Jonah Delso, started his serenades.
He played the whole night while we ate but took a short break to announce the raffle winners. Sadly, none us won anything. Typical. But that's okay because the food and beer were to die for!! Here's the pairings they put together. They were yummy!
Beer: Sly Fox Rt. 113 IPA
Sandwich: Sharp cheddar and omelet on sourdough bread
Beer: Roy Pitz Best Blonde
Sandwich: Buttercup brie w/ smoked strawberries and burnt onion jam on olive bread
Beer: Stoudts Heifer-In-Wheat
Sandwich: Smoked Lady Bel Swiss w/ portobello mushroom, Jersey tomatoes and fresh mayo on rye
Beer: Weyerbacher Merry Monks Ale
Sandwich: Birchrun Brie with fresh cherries and walnut butter on cinnamon raisin bread
Beer: Dogfishhead Festina Peche
Sandwich: Mascarpone and peach ice cream sandwich
Oh yeah, we also got interviewed for WHYY Radio.
It was a fun night and we will definitely be going to the next event. Can't wait!
So until next time, good luck exploring the infinite abyss.
xoxo
The Go Getters
