my oldest bestie

happy friday!! i’m excited to get back to real life now after all the jet-setting. dinner party tonight for 10 of our neighbors! hopefully i’ll have a chance to take some fun pics… it’s 7 courses total! oh, and it’s National Chocolate Cake Day! so eat cake! every meal. because i said so.

Crystal is my oldest friend. Our birthday’s are a week apart, we frequently shared a baby sitter while our parents hit the town, and we’ve traveled together to Hawaii 3 times ; )  (pssst… crys, let’s increase that number sometime!) you may remember her from a couple summers ago when I photographed her for a commercial project. see it HERE. She’s now a writer living in KC and I never get to see her…we don’t text…we don’t even Facebook. But she’s just one of those friends that that stuff just doesn’t matter. When we do see each other every couple years or so, it’s like no time has passed at all. That’s how I know our relationship is true. Her heart is awesome and she is so passionate about every project she’s involved with. I am a better person for just having her in my life.

Here’s a fun interview with Crys and some self portraits ; ) … enjoy!  xoxo

Stacy: You’re my oldest friend!!!!  I know you love art…  if you lived in the most rad studio apartment in a historic district in the most amazing city and could have a mural painted on your living room wall, what would the subject matter be? : )

CRYS: That’s easy. I would absolutely live in Honolulu, Hawaii — if not beachfront then in historic Chinatown — and the mural would be an oceanscape. It would be a highly naturalistic, nighttime oceanscape. The room would be outfitted with dimmer lighting, and the painted moon would glow under low light.

Incidentally, I possess a sort of oceanic mural that I “commissioned” five artists to create a couple of years ago when I lived in a downtown Kansas City loft. I sent each artist off with one panel of a room divider and asked them to paint something on the theme “ocean.” At the culmination of the project, I threw a reception at my pad. The only thing that could have made that night better is if it taken place somewhere near the Pacific.

Stacy: Describe your perfect date night…

CRYS: If it’s my perfect date night, it can occur on a vacation, right? It happened over and over again last March when my boyfriend Zach and I traveled to Puerto Vallarta, dined on rich and amazing food every night and then retired to our oceanfront room with a huge Jacuzzi.

Stacy: If you had to name your favorite all time pet, who is it? tell us about him/her….

CRYS: Scooby, my miniature pinscher of indeterminate antiquity, is the canine love of my life. He was wandering around my apartment parking lot on a night five years ago when I was throwing a rooftop party, so I invited him up. Our love was instant, and we have been together ever since. Although he weighs less than 10 pounds, he has chased off several boyfriends, won an argument with a pit bull and survived — with nary a bruise — an unfortunate tumble onto concrete from a porch 15 feet above the ground. His favorite food is Jimmy John’s sandwiches, and he is a spectacular snuggler.

Stacy: Favorite kind of pen to write with?

CRYS: I like click-action ballpoint pens that are really fat — like those gigantic pencils they give kids who are just learning to spell their names.

Stacy: What did you eat for supper last night?

CRYS: My boyfriend Zach made an Asian -style soup from scratch with fresh carrots from our garden, plus organic broccoli and tofu from Lawrence, Kansas.

Stacy: What’s the one topic you’ve written about that has been the most buzz-worthy?

CRYS: I will take this opportunity to hype my current writing project, www.waywarddogs.com, and Charlie Machete, the foster dog in my care who is currently seeking his forever family. The busiest day on my blog was the day I posted a video Zach made starring Charlie Machete being adorable to the sounds of The Cure.

Here’s the link: http://waywarddogs.com/2011/11/08/the-cure-for-y…gloomy-tuesday

Stacy: What’s your favorite part about living in KC?

CRYS: My favorite part about living in Kansas City is my neighborhood. It’s not the most cosmopolitan area, and most of my favorite hotspots are, unfortunately, not located within walking distance. However, the Waldo area of Kansas City somehow reminds me of where you and I came from. People are friendly and, as most of us are homeowners, concerned with mundane facts of life like roof repairs and water bills. Folks around here are also very willing to offer assistance, whether you’re tearing out a tree or planting one.

 We planted a rather elaborate garden last summer, and I was constantly amazed by the number of people who stopped just to say they appreciated what we were doing or even to help us pull weeds.

Stacy: What’s your favorite memory of us? : )

CRYS: I often think of that night when we got on stage with baby Bruno Mars. We were like 8 years old, and when his dad asked where we from, to his great confusion, we exclaimed “Beatrice!” as if it was a famous location this Hawaiian entertainer should know about. Maybe he should have.