Mari happened upon a nice little portrait project titled The Balcony Project. It may be the best way to save money and hang with friends ever. People come over to her place with a bottle of wine/liquour and they sit and talk, one on one, while she takes a few snaps of them. She gets to stay home catch up with old friends, get to know new ones a bit better all while drinking for free. This is my portrait from friday night:

About Mari's influence:

Mari inspired us to not forget that we are moving to NYC. See, Blazey and I made plans to move to new york after a year of being roommates in columbus (2004) but within the first 6 months things got comfortable and we were less focused on getting out. Well, Mari comes along and starts talking about New York this and New York That. Just about the same time I head to the city with Fitch for a video project and immediately remember that Blazey and I have no choice, we have to go. Seeing mari pick up and go made it easier for us to realize we can do it as well.

Once mari was here she became the most valubal reasourse we had. We chatted on line all the time. Blazey and I's first visit to nyc together was a random last minute friday afternoon decision to drive up with a friend from cleveland (photo gallery of the trip). That was the trip that got us both back on board and 3 months later we packed up and headed east. The rest is history documented on flickr.

More random things about mari and moving to nyc

Photo gallery of our first trip to nyc to visit mari (i used to be far less discerning of photos i put online)

from 3rd Ave in Columbus

To 344 Greene Ave in Brooklyn. Mari and Q helping us out.

view more photos from the first week in nyc

Woodstock '08

Spirits with the Ohio/Manhattan Kids

Guess Who's Bizzack.

The Balcony Project