Chapter 2

The journey following Whoop Dee Doo in Europe was transcendental and reformative. Bob and I explored some of the most touristic cities of Europe, Rome and Amsterdam, exquisite in their history and architecture, but much more impactful were our moments of seclusion in the wilderness, namely Corsica and Cinque Terre. Because we shared our experiences as one entity and will continue to do so in our adventure out west, we have started a blog together which will chronicle our adventures, past and present.

Please follow us @ http://eyeinward.blogspot.com/

Last Days of Berlin

For our last night in Belin, Whoop Dee Doo and friends visited Teufelsberg, an abandoned spy station used by the Allies up until the time the Berlin Wall came down, and shared our last meal at Pri Maria, a small Bulgarian restaurant in Fredrichshain. Both were amazing. So was the train ride home, where the girls all sang at the top of their lungs and charmed all of our fellow passengars. Read about the spy station here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teufelsberg (rumor has it David Lynch tried to buy it...)

Bob and I also visited the Pergamon art museum, viewing historically important pieces such as the Babylonian gates and the statues of the gods from the Pergamon.

Ich liebe Berlin!

I love Berlin...it is incredible! The whole Whoop Dee Doo crew came here from Malmö to see our friend Peggy Noland, who opened a self-titled clothing shop in Berlin's hip Fredrichshain neighborhood this summer. Peggy is the most amazing host. She has taken us to see and do such a wide variety of things...I highly recommend her as your tour guide!

Saturday we ate the most delicious food I have ever tasted at a Bulgarian restaurant around the corner from her shop. We ordered several rounds of food at our table because we couldn't get enough. Sunday was Peggy's birthday and we got up at 5am to go dancing at an "underground" all weekend rave in a 3 story club housed in the front portion of a functioning power plant. Apparently 7am on a Sunday morning is the hippest time to go. Who knew? No cameras allowed of course. All I can say is Berliners sure know how to party!

We spent the day Sunday in Mauer Park where they have a flea market and tons of people gather to play music and hang-out. The most popular thing to do is watch Bear Pit Karaoke. 2,000 people or so gather around to watch karaoke. It was strange how into the performances the crowd was, even if the performers were bad. It was entertaining, and Jaimie Warren from Whoop Dee Doo got up and sang "Man in the Mirror."

Monday we went on a free walking tour run by New Europe, and I fell in love with Berlin even more. This city's history is so intense; I am amazed that it is such a vibrant and bustling city now, considering their past.

Compared to Sweden, Berlin has a lot of character and flair. Yes, parts of it may seem a bit gritty, but that just adds to the color and excitement of the place.

Today is our last day here, so I've got to get going to see all that I can!

Malmö Part 2

It's come to my attention that I've fallen behind in blogging. It's quite hard to sit in front of a computer when there is so much to see outdoors. I'll make these brief but will provide an update.

Our final Whoop Dee Doo show in Malmö was Friday August 21. The show started off something like this: opening dance followed by a Sundae Face Off contest where contestants had to decorate their faces with sundae toppings, then scrape the contents of their face onto a bowl of ice cream and eat the whole thing. The first one done was pronounced winner, and as a prize got to dress in a wedding gown and have Matt, our werewolf-like host, sing a love song to them (recreation of a scene from Full House when Uncle Jesse sings to Rebecca during their wedding). I was a choir member that came out and sang back-up during this skit dressed in a robe but with clown face make-up. It was insanely absurd and funny. We also featured other random skits and performers including a south american dance troupe and a death metal Swedish band. Here are some final photos from Malmö.

Along the path

MALMO

Rose Sculpture @ Folkets Park

Altar @ St. Petri

Roof of art studio (looking towards ship factory)

View from roof onto back patio of apartment

Finally, I am getting around to posting some photos from my trip. Malmo is a beautiful small city. Predictably in Sweden, blue-eyed blondes, bicycles, and baked goods are in abundance. The city is very clean and Swedes are well behaved, even at rock concerts. Less predictably, we've found this place to be covered with lady bugs, a biting version, and you can hardly walk down the sidewalk without crunching two or three. I am also surprised by the number of Swedes with long dreadlocks...not what I had expected.

Whoop Dee Doo made the cover of the arts section in the local paper on Saturday. We had a good turn out to our first show and have 3 more to go this week. As guests/performers of the Malmo Festivalen, we get special VIP treatment, which is a unique experience.

Today we took a break from WDD and took a train over to Copenhagen. We rented bikes and rode all over town. I hadn't been back since 2002 when I studied there and although I had forgotten many specifics, I was somehow able to navigate throughout the city and take us by all of the hot spots. It was so fun to be back. I forgot both how beautiful and how urban Copenhagen is.

I'll post more photos soon.

Malmo

I've made it to Sweden and am suffering from JETLAG. We walked around town today exploring thrift stores looking for costumes, but I didn't find anything worth my money. I don't really have room or the strength to add anything else to my pack, and the dollar isn't worth much in exchange for what you can get.

I've yet to get camera happy...maybe after I catch some zzz's.

My Fashion Debut

Activewear by Steilope
Jewelry by Erica Voetsch

I modeled for my friend Emily Camille Boullear in the Kansas City Fringe Festival, Fashion on the Fringe, several weeks ago. Although the event was chaotic and run by amateurs who cared more about how they looked than the success of the show, I could not suppress my joy in wearing such innovative, beautiful, and fun pieces created by Steilope and Voetsch. And the adornments aren't all...Emily made the music for the runway too! Listen HERE

Fashion on the Farm

Sunday, July 19, a group of my friends participated in a fashion photo shoot courtesy of LemonLime Photo (http://www.lemonlimephoto.com/). Angela Bennet and I created only two outfits for the models shown above, but I must say, they looked fabulous. It'd be hard to make these ladies not look good, but hey, nothing like a little chest puff now and again.

I designed and made the clothes Christina, the burnette, is wearing in the picture above. The block print on the course cotton fabric looked great as a mini, and it paired nicely with the all lace, exaggerated sleeve top. Their tatts and the scenery complimented the ensembles nicely; I'm really looking forward to seeing the photo proofs. Thanks Eric!

memory of a man

As a teenager working my family garage sale, I was terrified when a kin of John Merrick came shopping at my house. It was early Saturday morning in suburbia, before cartoons and sugar coated cereal filled the air, when he walked up the drive.

Bulbous ulcers covered his head and hands, every part of his visible body. His hair grew out of deep valleys crevices formed by the collision of his tumors. He, thoughtfully, had tried to cover as much of his skin as possible, and even on this hot, sticky day in July, he wore a long sleeved flannel shirt, jeans, and work boots.

As his bawdy fingers sifted through pop culture remnants of the 90s, I tried to avert my eyes. Surely I, a 15 year old girl, had nothing to sell to this monster. In fact, my plastic treasures seemed obscene in his presence. "I'm trying to think nice thoughts, God" but all I could feel was disgust. Either my junk or my incendiary glances drove him away soon enough, but the image of this man remained seared in my mind long after he was gone.

In fact, this stranger's image has revisited me from time to time, and now, as an adult, I feel a deep gratitude and sorrow for his person. Despite my awareness of his devastated vanity and inferred immense pain, I had abhorred him completely. At the time he entered my life, he represented something which was foreign to me, and terrifying.

Now, as my own health and age have begun to teach me that we have little control over many things, let alone our bodies, I yearn for the freedom of vanity that this courageous man illustrated of that sweaty sunny day from my youth.

Hannah Taylor Knitwear

"You'll Grow Into It!" Collection
Oversized Animal Jumpers are all the rage.