uhh

house + travels

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:13:21 GMT

So I'm sure most of you that still read this already know, but if not we totally bought an old farmhouse in maine! Its not in what you would call "good" condition, but its standing and the foundation is solid and the price was ridiculously cheap. So starting in march we will be living with eliza's parents while we start working nonstop on rehabbing the house and getting it ready to live in. We think we will probably move in around june or july. I can't wait to learn about all sorts of things like how to rewire a house, carpentry, plumbing, etc. We are going to have some gigantic gardens in the back and the dogs will have acres and acres to frolic in. I'm also keen on getting some goats, although for some reason Eliza wants to wait a couple years for that. We will see.

You can check out more info on the place at eliza's blog here: http://blog.elizajanecurtis.com/category/house/

our house on designsponge!

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:07:40 GMT

eliza (and our house) were featured as a sneak peak on the designsponge blog.

check it out here:

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/01/sneak-peek-eliza-jane-curtis-morris-and-essex.html

puppy video

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:53:28 GMT

puppy!

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:41:44 GMT

we adopted a puppy!

her name is inga.

more pictures here

uruguay

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:13:53 GMT

went to a beachhouse in uruguay this weekend. it was fun and relaxing.

more pictures here

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:54:18 GMT

On Monday at noontime, we had Zviah put to sleep. We just found out this weekend that she had cancer, and she must have been sick for a while, though she only appeared to be suffering the last few days. It was an incredibly hard decision to make because we knew how much we would miss her, but I'm sure it was the right one because she's much more comfortable now, chasing bunnies in greener pastures.

most of this was just stolen from eliza's blog since at this point its hard for me to write down all my thoughts...

Zviah was born in Alabama in 2000, and raced in Daytona Beach and Palm Springs, Florida. You can see her pedigree here: www.greyhound-data.com/d?i=363747&z=roaC01 and her racing history here: www.greyhound-data.com/d?l=363747. Her racing name was ML Bannerville and her training name was Angie. When she was three years old, she retired from racing and was rescued by the Michigan Greyhound Connection. Mike adopted her on December 2nd, 2003 and named her Zviah, which is Hebrew for "deer." When she came to live with him in Ann Arbor, she had never lived in a house (having grown up in the racetrack kennels) and it was the first time she had to confront challenges like stairs and windows and cats. In 2004 they moved to Brooklyn, where she met Emmylou Elbows and spent many happy Saturday mornings running free with her friends in Prospect Park. In 2006 she came with us to Buenos Aires, where she was studying Dog Spanish and advanced napping.

She could most often be found sleeping upside down on her giant bean-bag bed, with all four legs sticking up in the air, eyes open and tongue hanging out. If you rubbed her belly, her teeth would chatter from happiness. She also enjoyed steak dinners, looking fancy, cuddles with Emmylou, eating garbage in bed, sprinting at the park, leaning on strangers, and sleeping in closets. She hated fireworks. Zviah was a great dog and we miss her lots.

patagonia

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:57:07 GMT

we went to patagonia and it was awesome.

more pictures here and here.

I'll just paste eliza's blog about this because its easier but it was seriously one of the best places ever and i want to move down there now.

1. flew to Bariloche on Tuesday morning

2. rented a car and drove to Villa La Angostura and stayed in a little cabin in the woods.

3. wednesday morning took a ferry ride from Villa La Angostura to the end of the Quetrihué Peninsula.

4. visited the Bosque de los Arayénes, a very special forest which grows at the end of this peninsula.

5. hiked back up the peninsula, 12 km, back to Villa La Angostura. Mike and Mat and Jan jumped in a lake for an icy swim! We hiked through magical forests and met horses and cows in grassy clearings under the trees.

We got lost in the woods on a very steep mountain. We enjoyed breathtaking views from the top of the mountain.

We made it to the end of the trail, hot and tired and hungry.

6. Thursday we drove the Ruta de los Siete Lagos (that's the Route of Seven Lakes) which actually passes nine lakes and winds between the mountains

from Villa La Angostura to San Martin de los Andes. It turned out to be a rough dirt road, sometimes one lane; it was a little scary but an amazing day of picture-postcard views.

7. Friday morning we went back to Bariloche and met our cabalgata guide, Carol Jones, and four other gringos and saddled up for our two-day horseback expedition!

This was one of the most amazing experiences EVER.

We rode mostly through fields, across creeks, up and down foothills, with the Andes all around us, and camped at around 1200 meters elevation. Carol served us steak from her own cows, cooked over the campfire, and it was delicious.

After the second day of riding, Carol drove us in her 1968 Land Rover over treacherous dry(ish) creek beds and dirt "roads" for at least an hour until we got back to the paved road to Bariloche. We collapsed into our hostel, took long, hot showers and slept a lot. Flew back to Buenos Aires first thing in the morning.

this is how zviah spends her days

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:09:18 GMT

coming back to new york

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:55:36 GMT

i'll be back in nyc for 2 weeks in feb or march for business!

hi

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:31:55 GMT

so i never update this anymore. I've been really busy! working a ton and trying to explore this new city I'm living in.

Met up with gaurav and michelle a couple of times. good to see ann arbor friends halfway across the world.

we move into our new place on friday! its real nice.

friends: you should come visit sometime! we have an extra bedroom that is cute and you can use it. plane tickets are somewhat expensive but once you get here you dont really spend any money because everything is cheap. very cheap. so come!

lan argentina ( lan.com ) flies out of miami now for super cheap and you can usually get a flight down to miami from jetblue or spirit for cheap!

ok email ( mtopper AT riseup DOT net ) or aim ( GeekPride) or something.

hola!

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 02:23:44 GMT

we have been in buenos aires for almost a week now! its pretty great here although we have only really been taking spanish lessons and looking for apartments. the food is amazing and the wine is cheap as hell (well everything is pretty cheap) the dogs are getting used to it but are pretty scared of all the new smells and noises.

i´ll write more when i have time.

i´m going to try to find some american bar tomorrow so i can watch the michigan ohio state game. hopefully someplace will show it.

goodbye dinner + take my apartment?

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:34:09 GMT

we are having a goodbye dinner for me and eliza this sunday. At eliza's place in bedstuy. you should come out if you live in the area. email me (mtopper AT riseup DOT net ) for directions and all that.

ALSO. if you know anyone that wants to take over my room in my apartment let me know. looking for someone that can move in nov 15th or dec 1st. roommate is awesome. She is a producer for democracy now/cyclist/activist/other things. she is never really home since she works so much so thats a plus as well.

here are pictures of the room and the rest of the apartment all the furniture in the room can stay if the person wants it.

let me know!

apartment

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:17:18 GMT

so we found a nice short term apartment for amonth until we can find a longterm place down there.

it looks nice! and is pretty big (85 square meters which is like 900 square feet).

and it comes with everything included and the lady says she has no problem with us having dogs!!

check it out

plane tickets bought!

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 13:52:04 GMT

we bought plane tickets last night!

we leave for our new life in argentina on the 13th of november!

i'll let yall know when the going away party is.

also, GO TIGERS!!!!

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:51:59 GMT

i'm moving to argentina!!!!!

craft fair!

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 14:27:12 GMT

so yesterday was the "hearts and crafts" fair at cafe grumpy in greenpoint. it went well! it was kind of hot and stuff in that room and I was so tired but I got to sit around all day and knit a bear hat and sell some stuff. one of my pillows sold!!

it was this one that i just made this weekend:

eliza sold some shirts and undies as well and we made friends with this girl named olive who does some AWESOME knitting machine stuff so i'm going to try to stay friends with her and hopefully I can get some tips.

the rest of the weekend was nice too. Took the dogs to the park in the morning on saturday, went to art parade. sunday I'm going to chicago!

chicago bound

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 15:45:11 GMT

just booked my plane ticket to chicago.

going to be there from the 17th till the 21st.

chicago people: come hangout with me sometime. all i have planned is baseball games.

new bike!!

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:14:10 GMT

my new bike is finished being built!!

here are two pictures chris took before he sent it off to the painter.

sorry they are so huge:

picture showing the rear end of the top tube w/ mint leaf cut out of lug

picture showing the front end of the top tube w/ other mint leaf

hopefully i can get the finished product sometime soon.

coney island

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:11:10 GMT

i'm going to bike to coney island after work to drink beer and watch the fireworks.

this weekend has 83298072364 different things to do.

backyard bbq, bbq on a boat, block party at 140th street, biking out to the rockaways, co-op shift. i am going to be real tired.

weekend

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 18:47:27 GMT

weekend was relaxing. friday I cleaned the apartment and then me and eliza walked down to park slope for thai food.

saturday I took the dogs to the park, got food from the co-o and ate a meal with eliza, andrew and vicki.

sunday i hungout and was lazy. took the dogs to the park in the afternoon and then kat came over and we made fried fish and peach cobbler.

this is my favorite picture of zviah to date:

weekend

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 15:07:54 GMT

weekend was relaxing. I forgot what I actually did for most of it but yesterday me, andrew and vicki rode our bikes out to the rockaways for some beach time. it was a fun ride. right at the bridge that goes over the bay we ran into my old roommate from boston ethan and a bunch of people all riding to the beach as well. we followed them for a while but eventually parted ways.

I got a flat on the way home, but luckily brought another tube with me.

went over to sarah and thomas's place for fireworks on the roof and then waiting around for eliza to come home from asheville.

today is gross and rainy and I just want to fall back asleep.

fun weekend!

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:30:26 GMT

ok so this weekend should be awesome.

we are either taking a roadtrip upstate to go strawberry picking or we are going to medeival times and the new jersey state fair!

strawberry picking sounds more exciting right now since its much cheaper and we get to go upstate.

either way it should be fun.

pillows

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:31:55 GMT

i made another pillow last night.

here is the front of it:

the back is an argyle pattern in the same colors.

hopefully i can crank out 3-4 more pillows before the fair. and eliza is coming ovre tonight to make a couple too so we should be good.

how much do you think we can sell pillows for?

working for the weekend

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:08:00 GMT

on my second day riding into work i got called an "absolute fucking faggot" by some dude that didn't like to share the road with me.

other than that the ride in was fine.

THIS WEEKEND IS THE CRAFT FAIR! everyone in brooklyn/nyc should come check it out. all sorts of friends and stuff with be there and i'll be selling some knitted crafts and crap.

i'm going to try and get emmy there but i'm not really sure how yet. maybe i'll just suck it up and take a car.

michigan!

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:54:13 GMT

i'm excited to get back to michigan for the weekend and show eliza around ann arbor!

I bought cooper this plant orb from this artist in red hook that makes cute stuff. hopefully him and darcy like it? I think they will. its much better than getting him all the shit on his registry. i just couldn't spend my money on some rug or a pair of sheets. I dont know if this is that much better but i think it is.

now i jsut need to figure out who is picking us up from the airport.