Permanently Disco

re: Lessons from ALT

2012-01-31T14:37:00.000-08:00

I just got back to SF after a lovely 10 days in Utah, spending time at ALT Design Summit, volunteering at the Sundance Film Festival, and seeing a lot of faces that I don't get to see often enough.

I really enjoyed my time at ALT, and came away feeling simultaneously inspired and overwhelmed about projects I've been either working on or dreaming about. I feel like there are so many things that I want to start and do, but I have a hard time thinking about going out on my own (entrepreneur-ily speaking) and I'm not always sure where to focus my energies.

One of our keynote speakers was Ben Silbermann, founder of Pinterest, and he showed this slide to illustrate what it felt like to be involved in a start-up:

This was my biggest takeaway from the conference - that "chasing your dreams" doesn't always feel safe, but that the rewards of working on projects that you're genuinely excited about are priceless. It was especially poignant because I was there, surrounded by talented, accomplished folks who were out there really making things happen. Ben's story about how he quit being an accountant to start Pinterest instead was the kick in the pants I needed to remind myself to stop THINKING about things I want and to go DO something about them instead.

It was also reconfirmed that I don't post enough on this blog. I think part of my "2 posts a month" MO is me not always having a clear idea of what to post here...so I'm going to try to just start posting more often and you'll have to tell me what you actually like seeing here and what makes you wish that you had a time machine to give you the minutes you spent reading back.

I'll tell you what I DO know belongs on this blog - photos of me with my famous new best friend Anya (you know, from Project Runway), seen here on the left telling me that the dress design that I submitted during ALT was "on trend" and on the right, standing close enough to totally show me up in the hair department.

That's right, Anya generously called my scribble of a dress "on trend." Maybe this encouragement will be all I need to move "fashion designer" to the top of my project list.

re: Resolved

2012-01-16T16:37:00.000-08:00

I know we're already more than two weeks into 2012, but I still thought I'd talk a little about my New Year's resolutions. I have a big ol' list of things to improve in my life, as always, but I thought that this year maybe I'd pick 12 things and every month focus on making just one of them happen.

So, for January's goal, I decided to DO MY HAIR.

Don't pretend to be disappointed in my for not saying something about world peace.

Lately I've realized that my hair has gotten long. Like, loooonnnnggg. Longer than it had even been in highschool, when it was requisite to have enough hair to prove that you were a girl because the baggy men's flannels and shapeless jeans we were all wearing didn't do our girlish figures any favors, and the Kurt Cobains of the world were giving us a shaggy run for our money.

The thing is, no matter what the length, I have never really done much with my hair. I blame too many years of reading Seventeen magazine, taking quizzes on how high-maintenance I was and reading about how boys don't like girls that take too long to do their hair. Somehow I never realized that that doesn't mean you don't do anything with your hair, but maybe you just don't cry when you have to go camping and don't have a place to plug in your curling iron.

So, here I am. A full head of hair, and I've been wearing it down and stringy or in a pony tail for years, staring at photos of pretty girls with shiny bangs and cute styles, and thinking all along that they somehow must have "better" hair than I do, as if they had the luck to have been born with a milkmaid style french braid on their heads. Since I never practiced doing much with my hair, when I actually wanted something different up top, I'd have no idea how to execute it (which is why the only way that you would have known that I was at prom is that I was wearing a velvet dress. My hair looks just like it did every other day of the week).

Well, I say, NO MORE.

My goal isn't even going to be to do something daring every day, but to reacquaint myself with my round brush and give a few non-ponytail styles a try so that I have a few more go-to looks in my arsenal besides "I just woke up". That way when I have some place to go where I actually want my hair to look nice, maybe I'll know what to do with it instead of fumbling around like it is my first time touching a straightening iron.

There are so many tutorials out there on doing hair these days that there is officially no excuse. I've already watched six different girls on youtube trying to teach me how to to make a modern beehive using just a poky comb, a gallon of hairspray and 64 bobby pins.

Part of the reason that I started my year with this goal is because all this perfectly good hair getting pony-tailed every day seems like a metaphor for a lot of things in life. We often have all the materials at the ready, but we don't reach our full potential because we don't take the time or make the effort to achieve a little more.

Hows that for a little motivation in 2012?

re: iPads in Space

2012-01-02T21:56:00.000-08:00

I don't know what you guys did over your Christmas break but we sent an iPad to space.

For reals.

Derek gave his dad and brothers a big blue box for Christmas, inside which was a big blue balloon that popped up with a note promising a day of adventure.

Basically, Derek wanted to launch a weather balloon into near space with a few cameras attached, and once the balloon got so high that it popped and fell back to earth, we'd hunt it down and retrieve it and see what kind of pictures that it took.

Before we left the house, we enlisted the help of our five year old niece to write a note to any potential finders of our balloon, begging them to return the balloon (and iPad, and all the other expensive gear we would be tying to the weather balloon) and hope that whoever happened upon it would have a heart.

The next thing we knew, Derek had us hauling things like enormous helium tanks and weather balloons out to a field.

Many things were duct taped and tied together, including a GoPro camera and iPad for documenting the journey to space, a pretty gold ball for deflecting radar (or to stand in for a disco party later), a red parachute for the flight back down, a GPS so that we could find everything later, little hand warmers to keep the machinery toasty and functioning in negative degree space weather, and a custom made metal contraption to hold it all together - all weighing in under the 4 pounds required to keep us from having to have official paperwork saying that we can launch things into (near) space.

We filled the weather balloon with helium until it was about 7 feet in diameter, and when we let it go ... well - it left for space in a hurry.

This is us watching it go:

This is the balloon, watching us watch it go.

The GPS tracked the progress of the balloon, and after a few hours of nail biting, we finally got a signal letting us know that our balloon had landed in the middle of nowhere a few hours southeast of where we had launched it.

When Derek finally tracked it down, the cameras had some treats like these:

Not a scratch on the iPad. We've still got two more weather balloons, so we may be making a habit of this.

re: A (sticky) Birthday Tradition

2011-12-26T21:51:00.000-08:00

I've always liked the idea of an annual birthday ritual of some sort, so I hope Derek doesn't mind that I'm making "weird food inside of a chocolate fountain" into his birthday tradition.

(Remember last year? We had BBQ sauce pouring from our chocolate fountain)

This year we started his birthday with the smell of leige waffles and bacon, and forced everyone to eat their breakfast in bite-sized portions on the end of sticks while dipping them in the hot syrup dripping from our chocolate fountain.

Tradition is so yummy.

re: A Very Rainbow Christmas

2011-12-25T18:27:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!

These are the Christmas cards we sent out this year:

(cover)

(interior)

The good news is that now that we've had this photoshoot, we may never have to take another picture again, since we can achieve an endless supply of cards with a few simple color combinations:

See?

The other good news is that our photo backdrops lived on this Christmas morning as the rainbow wrapping paper for all our gifts.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Hope your Christmas was just as colorful.

(and a huge thanks to Karen for the awesome photoshoot)

re: Hairstyles

2011-11-28T23:54:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a few Thanksgiving days hanging out with my family in southern California over the weekend, and decided to check out the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library while we were there, partially because it is always interesting to learn about past presidents and mostly because they have an actual Air Force One that you can go inside of.

The museum also had an entire wall dedicated to portraits of past presidents and their wives, so Derek and I played the game "which first lady haircut could you pull off?"

Derek choose Caroline Harrison because he's already got the little duck curls off the back of his head like she does, and he just needs to achieve a massive bang to complete the look:

I chose Jackie O, duh, because she is by far the best looking of all the first wives on the wall. I'm going to have to do some serious teasing of my hair to achieve the bouffant she did, but I'm ready to invest in some hairspray and make it happen.

As I was admiring Jackie's hair, I couldn't help but feel a little bad for poor Mamie Eisenhower, whose portrait will always be placed sequentially right next to Jackie's. Nobody would want to be constantly compared to the eternally elegant Jackie O, and let's be honest - Mamie's little tightly curled bangs don't even have a fighting chance.

re: Thankful

2011-11-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

We took an awesome trip to Greece and Turkey over the summer, but I never blogged about it, which is a shame, because how else are you supposed to know that pictures like this exist?

Our fancy fish pedicure in Mykonos:

The ultimate scooter gang:

And... a whole series of "sexy captain" photos. There were just six of us on a boat we'd chartered in the middle of the Greek isles, so it shouldn't be THAT surprising that once we discovered a captain hat onboard that we all took turns wearing the hat and posing with an American flag and pretending to drive the boat.

Let's just say I immediately made one of the sexy sailor photos my default picture for Derek on Google so that every time he writes me an email, this is what I see:

Its a little daily reminder of all the things I'm thankful for.

re: In Print

2011-11-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

As Rachel, our lovely wedding photographer, posted about today, our wedding was featured in a few magazines this year! Check us out on our bikes, proud and in print in the likes of Glamour/ France, Wedding Magazine UK and Elite Wedding Magazine:

I'd like to think that they wanted us on the cover of Glamour, but then Blake Lively was like "well where am I going to wear these little pink pants, then?" and so they let her do it instead.

re: Christmas Cards

2011-11-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

I know it may seem premature to jump straight from Halloween to Christmas discussion here, but Derek and I took some photos for our Christmas cards this week, and I made such a mess of gold glitter all over our living room that it seemed to deserve a mention.

I always loved the tradition of Christmas cards - collecting a mantle full of smiling friends and a yearly update to keep you abreast of what everyone is up to. I always imagined myself to be the kind of person with a meticulously kept mailing list and cards out on December 1st (though I realize that with my track record, that is going to mean starting them in July if I really intend to send them as Christmas cards instead of President's Day cards).

But, with the advent of Facebook and blogging and all other digital means of staying in touch these days, actually mailing a paper card seems a little more based in tradition than necessity. I live in fear that more people are going to start skipping the headache of printing and addressing and mailing and accomplish the same task with the click of an email. Don't do this to me, technology! I've just barely made it to the stage of life where I'm ready to commit to a yearly Christmas card! Can't this be the last thing that stays out of the hands of those digital robots?

What are your thoughts? Yay or nay for good ol' fashioned snail mail Christmas cards?

re: Dead Heads

2011-11-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

I usually lean toward Halloween costumes that are clever or topical instead of particularly gory, but this year we got an invitation to attend a party dressed as a dead luminary, and it seemed too great of an opportunity to miss dressing up as someone who had the misfortune of meeting a somewhat bloody end.

Of course, we couldn't be completely non-clever, so we technically went as Dead Heads (of State). Derek was Abraham Lincoln (complete with bullet wound to the temple), and I was Cesar (stabbed in the back).

Doesn't this look like the kind of party you'd like to attend? I'd love to eavesdrop on whatever Che, Joseph Smith and Abe Lincoln might possibly discuss at a candlelit dinner party.

And, since everyone seemed to want to know exactly how I got a knife to stick so convincingly out my back, I'm including instructions in this post so that you can do it yourself some time.

HOW-TO
Step-by-step instructions on making it look like someone stabbed you

You will need:
Knife with a relatively thin blade! (that you don't mind cutting the tip off of)
Thick plastic cutting board (we cut ours smaller with a hand saw)
Rope/string
Clothing you don't mind cutting a hole into or getting bloody
fake blood

Tools:
Drill
Two vice grips
Open flame (like your stove top burner)

Step 1: Break your knife

This was surprisingly easy. Having a husband meant for me means having tools at my disposal that I never knew existed. Derek took a pair of vice grips, put them on either side of the knife where we wanted it broken, and then just carefully bent the blade it until it snapped.

We tried this on two different kitchen grade knives, and they both snapped cleanly, and really easily.

(But, this is also the point in the tutorial where I still tell you to do this under adult supervision, wear proper eye protection, and that I don't take any responsibility for flying knife bits in your home)

Step 2: Stick the knife in the plastic board

Hold the tip of the knife in the flame of your stovetop until it is hot enough to melt plastic. (Be careful if your knife is all metal not to let the whole thing heat up and burn you).

Take your small plastic cutting board and stick the knife in slowly, and at whatever angle you'd like for it to appear it is coming out of you (we angled the blade up a bit). Try not to wiggle the knife around or it will make the hole loose and come out. We managed to stick ours straight into the plastic, and when it cooled it was in there tight, but you could always reinforce with hot glue or something if you felt like your knife was loose. You just want it not to be falling out of the cutting board.

Step 3: Attach the harness

Drill a hole in each corner of the cutting board (you can also do this before you stick the knife in the board if its easier) and loop your string through each side so that you can wear your knife board like a backpack.

At this point, I was just wearing an undershirt. Put on the knife harness, and tie it tightly so that it doesn't move. Then you'll want to get whatever clothing you are using as your bloody overshirt out. Cut a thin slit in the fabric for the knife edge to go through. Make sure everything sits naturally, and that now it looks like a knife is sticking into your back.

Then add the blood! We got some costume-grade "bloody scab" makeup that stayed red and chunky looking all night, but dried and didn't permanently stain anything. You can be as tasteful or as bloody as you'd like in this step.

Voila! You now look like a mean girl has had her way with you.

disclaimer:
In the end, you do still have a real knife (albeit one with a broken tip) tied to yourself, so be careful out there, ya'll.

Happy Halloween!

re: Creative wrapping

2011-10-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend our friend Clay turned another year older. Derek found the perfect gift for him while thrifting in Ohio:

I told Derek that I would wrap the gift, and that he was in charge of the card. I got a little nervous when he immediately started rummaging around in the trash, but there was no need to be worried - he was just salvaging an old Bi-Rite ice cream bag to make a tank top card for our gift (our message was written inside the tank). I thought the tank top really worked well thematically with the 80s feel of the rest of gift.

Incidentally, this is also how I found out that Derek has spent his entire life thinking that "tank tops" were actually spelled "tang tops."

re: Cheese School

2011-10-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

In an effort to be more educated about the food that I put in my mouth, I attended a "Perfect Pairings" class at the local Cheese School of San Francisco to learn all about what to serve your cheese with to really compliment the flavors (thanks to Em and Mark for the gift!!).

I spent TWO HOURS devouring a mere 8 pieces of cheese:

The top two things I learned in Cheese School are:

1) I actually don't know anything about cheese.

(In fact, I may have just educated myself just enough to know that I'm probably doing things wrong when I serve it.)

My head was spinning after two hours of my teacher name dropping fancy cheeses like I should have heard of them, while I'm the one raising my hand asking things like "should I eat the rind?"

Luckily the point of the class was to taste all sorts of different combinations of cheese and various accompaniments so that you know what tastes good to you. That I can do. I may not always remember which cheese knife to use for which cheese, but I do know that Roquefort and honey is the best thing that happened to my cheese plate.

2) Taking two hours to really savor a meal is awesome.

It was so helpful to have someone walk you through every bite you took - instructing you to "try the cream in the middle, then the firmer cheese on the outside, then try them all together" rather than my normal method of "put all the cheese in your mouth, chew twice (or once if you are really efficient), swallow, repeat as quickly as possible."

I wish that I always had someone helping me to eat more slowly, and really examine every bite's different flavors and textures:

"Now just nibble a corner of the sandwich - do you see how the crunch of the peanut butter compliments the sweetness of the jelly, and how the whole wheat bread crust really evens it all out?"

I obviously still have a long way to go in being any sort of graduate of Cheese School. Luckily, this is the kind of homework I can handle.

re: Fancy Fingers

2011-10-18T23:33:00.000-07:00

I first got clued into the fact that the 80s were revisiting us via people's fingernails when my friend Claire started posting pictures of glitter-filled, rhinestone encrusted manicures. I've always trusted that her perfectly polished fingers were firmly attached to the pulse of what's cool, and it was then confirmed when Pinterest started to fill itself with photos of nail art in bright colors, mixed patterns, and all sorts of tribal designs. Suddenly boring nails were, well, boring, and I wanted to start expressing myself through some fancy fingers.

I scoured the internet for nail inspiration (trust me - there is plenty out there), invested in some neon polish, paint pens and a fancy nail stamping set, and then hosted a Ladies Activity Club party where we all helped eachother achieve the kind of nail polish nirvana that none of us had experienced since we were 12 years old.

Here is the photographic evidence:

All the LAC ladies are in their 20s/30s and have jobs, which meant some of our choices were more conservative, less 80s. Since I was the only one that wasn't meeting with Japanese businessmen or interviewing prospective students and their parents this week, I took advantage of the fact that I had someone else to help me compensate for a left hand that has the dexterity of a newborn and did some free hand tribal inspired drawings (copied almost exactly from the design spotted here)

We had also had some conservative glitter (though one sneaky finger has gold polka dots)

A sassy lil red slash:

And some zigzag stamping thrown into the mix:

We also had fun trying to take photos of our hands and not make them look like weird fleshy sausages. Though most nail photos are taken with the hand grasping something like a bottle of nailpolish to properly showcase the nails, we also thought the demure hand over hand was an appropriate solution:

If anyone is ready for a full nail makeover, come to my house. We can also have a sleepover and talk about boys.

re: Halloween Inspiration

2011-10-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

Its already October, which means the pressure is building to come up with the perfect Halloween costume. Derek and I have been tossing ideas around (am I all of a sudden the kind of person that only plans couples costumes? oh dear) but I thought to get us all in the mood I should share some photos that I never shared here from earlier this year. We had the best homemade group costume ever for our annual entry into the Columbia Fourth of July Parade.

If you can't tell, our group dressed up like a Fourth of July Picnic:

We had our picnic basket and a buzzing bee (both on roller skates):

Derek and I were hot dogs:

...which wouldn't be complete without the ketchup and mustard:

And every picnic needs some grapes and watermelon:

You shouldn't be surprised that this whole getup walking down Main Street won Best of Parade.

This is totally how I picture the hotdog and ketchup on their break - BFF, bun off.

re: Mom Jeans

2011-09-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

This is the outfit that I put on Thursday morning. It includes a pair of funny high waisted pleated trouser pants with tapered legs that I found at an estate sale for $2 that I've been wearing around lately, despite the fact that they make my butt look big:

I came out of the bedroom in this ensemble, and Derek told me I looked nice and asked what I was dressing up for (he asks that pretty much any time I wear heels). I told him that I had a meeting this afternoon. Then I turned to the side, and I could see him examining the back of the pants, since from the front they are deceivingly normal looking but from the back the mom-jean-ness really comes across. I suspected he was re-evaluating his complement that I looked nice today.

"Do you think my butt looks big in these?" I asked. He looked at me like I was asking one of those questions that women ask to trick men into saying something that they will regret.

"I promise, people are wearing pleated trousers again," I told him. "Granted, I think the style right now is usually a little looser than these, but I liked them anyway because of the double buttons on the waist band, and the cropped leg ..." I trailed off because his eyes were glazing over, and I could tell that despite me trying to lecture him on current fashion trends, the only thing he could knew was that I was wearing a pair of pants outside the house that made my butt look weird. And that I was wearing them to an important meeting.

We finally agreed that this probably was the kind of outfit that I should wear when having a meeting with fashionable girls, because a dude is just going to think I'm wearing mom jeans. Which I kind of am.

(I wore this to my meeting anyway)

re: Shirtless Hangouts

2011-09-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

In the last few years, my brother has taken to not wearing a shirt most of the time unless it is absolutely necessary. And ... you'd be surprised how seldom a shirt is absolutely necessary. In fact, last year on Christmas morning he came down stairs shirtless for Christmas breakfast. The brother-in-laws, not to be outdone, took theirs off as well and declared the holiday Shirtless Christmas.

Over the weekend we were hanging out on Google+ on a family conference call, and my brother Dave appeared onscreen shirtless. No surprise.

Without even missing a beat, Derek and Jake removed theirs as well, and we proceeded to enjoy a shirtless family hangout:

My family has the best traditions.

re: The Art Houses of Detroit

2011-09-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

Why does everyone look at me weird when I tell them that Detroit is where Derek and I decided to go for our one year anniversary?

The rise/fall of and struggle to rebuild Detroit over the last few years has been interesting to watch. We'd been hearing about so much opportunity in the revitalization of Detroit - you can imagine that the news of abandoned buildings being sold for $500 spread like wildfire to anyone who pays four times that in rent every month - and wanted to see it firsthand.

When a city built on the wealth of the car industry loses its big stronghold in that market, and the only other surviving industries left in town include Faygo (drink of choice for Juggalos everywhere) and Better Made Snack Food* (whose best selling Rainbow Chips are actually just a bag of crispy-to-the-point-of-being-burned potato chips).... well? It makes it easy to see how so many buildings have ended up abandoned, and how people have moved elsewhere.

One upside of those abandoned buildings is the artists that they are attracting.

There are a group of several homes on Moran Street in Hamtramck that were purchased by Power House Production and left to the hands of various artists to beautiful and create out of the rubble. The houses aren't really open to the public at this point, but we happen to have an IN (thanks, Harrison) and were able to see the awesome Powerhouses up close and personal.

We started with Monica Canilao's Treasure Nest, which includes an elaborate porch collage, a chandelier room with rotating mass of lightable objects, an installation made of the soft wooden backs of destroyed Detroit furniture, a huge wooden bird on the side of the house and more.

photo credit: Juxtapoz

Saelee Oh's illustrations, with wooden installations by local architecture students:

Swoon
(the hole in the floor existed even before the artists arrived. apparently the neighborhood folk used to congregate there at night, and one person would sit in the hole and tell ghost stories to the people sitting on the floor above):

Richard Colman & RETNA:

I'm not sure who made this light barn out back, but it was beautiful. The roof was filled with glass rods that filtered the sunlight into the darkened room and looked pretty rad. Apparently it works at night too:

It was really inspiring to see so many great artists currently hard at work to beautify and revitalize the area.

Closer to Downtown Detroit is one of the original "art house" projects by Tyree Guyton - The Heidelberg Project started in the 80s, encompasses an entire block, and encourages a lot of community interaction/artwork. (Check out the Google Maps Street View to get a good sense of this one).

3658 Heidelberg Street Detroit, MI 48207

We also visited Hamtramck Disneyland, which was built in the 90s (and looks a little more rickety than the Disneyland I grew up with).
12087 Klinger St (Alley in back)
Hamtramck, MI 48211

I really enjoyed seeing all these wonderfully creative spaces that my homeowner's association would have been shocked and appalled by. It makes me want to buy a $500 house, bust out my hammer and a glue gun and see what I could create. And the Faygo would flow freely ...

*Fun Fact: The Better Made Chip website boasts that Detroiters eat 7lbs of potato chips a year on average, whereas the rest of the country is hovering somewhere around 4lbs

re: Labor Day Thrifting

2011-09-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

Derek and I visited Amanda and Casey Smith in Northern Ohio over the long weekend, and they all indulged my thrift store obsession and let us hit all the Labor Day sales.

Casey took several photos throughout the day, and I laughed because all the photos I'm in show me delightedly shopping to my heart's content ...

And all the photos of Derek show him loitering in the background or patiently hanging out, trying his best not to look bored.

To be fair, Derek knew all about my impressive tolerance for shopping and sorting through piles of junk before he married me, and I rewarded him this time by doubling his shortsleeve button-up wardrobe with some real Ohio gems.

Thanks to the Lynch/Smith/Twelmeyer clan for hosting us and showing us all their favorite Ohio thrifting goldmines.

re: Another Year, Another Bikeride

2011-08-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

Since a year ago we made all of our family and friends hop on bicycles to celebrate our wedding, it seemed only fair to keep the tradition alive and do it again for our one year anniversary.

We organized a little trip over the Golden Gate Bridge by bike (GG Bridge not actually pictured here thanks to a severely foggy August afternoon. Sorry tourists.):

First stop was Fish. in Sausalito for some chowder and calamari.

Then we headed to the Marin Headlands Hostel for a sleepover, because I can't imagine anything more romantic than spending your one-year anniversary eve in a dorm room style twin-size bunkbed with plastic mattress covers.

We did enjoy a breakfast in the morning of yummy hot chocolate recently imported from France, and some fresh homemade Milk Pail croissants that made all the other hippie hostel guests cry into their cold muesli and yogurt with jealousy.

One year down, many more to go. Enjoying the ride.

re: One Year

2011-08-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend marked the one year anniversary of the best decision I ever made (and the best party I've ever thrown).

I never did a great job of publishing any of the photos from the wedding, so I'll have to make that happen this week, but to mark the day I thought I'd share one of my favorite pictures from our wedding day:

Would you look at those faces? This was exactly what I wanted to see when we walked out of the temple, officially hitched.

re: Hello, My Name is Married

2011-08-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

Just a week or two ago Derek and I just got to see our dear friend Grace get all dressed up and marry a dude named Joe.

This is Grace and Joe. There was a cute banner to prove it:

My entire family spent some time in (i.e. totally hogged) the photobooth.

Photobooth props provided were black wayfarer glasses and bright red lips - a little bit of Joe and a little bit of Grace:

Like a nerd, I wore my own black rimmed glasses:

The wedding was full of lots of cute details, like aqua and cherry colored holgas and a cavity-inducing candy bar, but I especially loved these buttons that they made for everyone to customize and wear. A good way to make awkward introductions more stylish:

Or maybe they were worried that with everyone walking around in black glasses, we'd never be able to tell eachother apart.

Congrats to Grace and Joe! It was a beautiful day to be part of.

re: DIY with Vintage Records

2011-08-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

I've been busy crafting with vintage records! I made a record sleeve bunting and some vintage cake plates from old records for Animal Head Vintage's first ever pop-up shop.

The decor was perfect for the shop, but I think they would also work if you were throwing a vintage or music themed party as well:

If you'd like to make your own, instructions have been posted as the latest DIY project over on Oh Happy Day:

DIY Record Sleeve Bunting

DIY Vintage Record Cake Plates

**

All Photos by the lovely and talented Robyn Kessler of Verité Photography.

re: Paper Punk

2011-06-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write a quick post about a project that I've been involved with for the past few months.

Grace Hawthorne, publisher of my beloved ReadyMade Magazine (RIP. snif.) is the mastermind behind these colorful paper building blocks called Paper Punk. The results are some fun, fantastically good looking toys/models that you can create yourself with a series of folded paper:

The first Paper Punk kits being offered are called Singles- they are kits where everything you need to build one paper toy comes complete in a sturdy re-useable folder. The first three Singles making their debut are BOT001, PUP001 and RIDE001.

The Kickstarter campaign met its goal today (hooray!), which means Paper Punk is well on the way to becoming a reality. If you'd still like to be the first to get your hands on some, you can continue to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign for the next 11 days, AND have a chance at some fun limited edition items created exclusively for Kickstarter, like a special screened poster, a bot lamp (that was so hard to make that this is really the only time you'll ever be able to get your hands on one) and more:

I'm sure I'll have more to share once things really get rolling, but right now we're all high-fiving with a successful kickstart!

re: a Pop-Up Shop in San Francisco

2011-06-16T00:39:00.000-07:00

I've been dabbling in selling vintage online for awhile, but I don't usually sell vintage in-person, so this is something new for me:

Two of my favorite artists and friends are moving and selling some of their art before they go, so we decided to hold a one day Pop-Up Shop in San Francisco. They'll be selling their artwork, and I'll be there with a big pile of vintage clothing.

Please come by and check it out! I'll have lots of stuff that hasn't made it to the shop yet, and a big bargain bin full of other ferociously fine goodies to paw through.

Saturday, June 18
10:00am - 2:00pm
The Ferney Art Studio
766 Valencia Street
San Francisco, California

*****

Participants:

Paintings, drawings, and collages by Casey Jex Smith

Ceramics by Amanda Smith (she's got lots of vintage plates and cups with her cute and cunning girls gracing the sides that she made for the sale - to die for!)

Animal Head Vintage, by yours truly, with a smörgåsbord of vintage fashions to peruse.

re: Walking the Commute

2011-06-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

Normally when you ask me what I did over the weekend, I have multiple things to list off. Last weekend there was really just one thing to list: walking.

That's because last weekend was the first of what will be an annual event, "walking The Commute." The Commute is a 24 hour, 50 mile walk from downtown San Jose to downtown San Francisco. Participants spend one full day walking through and experiencing the communities that they drive past in the rush of their daily commute...which is just so crazy that you know it had to be all Derek's idea.

The whole event was pretty well summarized in the tee-shirt design:

The first question I get when people ask about The Commute is usually "why?" since there isn't the charity aspect to the event that most people associate with organized walks.

Well. Derek gets to (i.e. has to) commute down to Cupertino every day from San Francisco along with what feels like a majority of the Bay Area. At one point he was thinking about that distance that so many people travel daily, and how in the days before cars, living in SF and working in SJ wouldn't have even been an option. He decided that he wanted to walk that distance to get a better sense of the space and surroundings, and after one failed attempt, managed to complete the entire 50 mile stretch in one (very long) day, all by himself. It was such an interesting (and dare I say rewarding?) experience that he decided to organize a formal event and make it possible for anyone else that wanted the challenge of attempting the SJ-SF walk to do so. It is about a different way of exploring familiar space, and pushing your body.

He teamed up with two of his friends, Nick and Kristian, and the three of them organized the event.

The first annual "Walk the Commute" event took place over the weekend, and nineteen hopefuls (including yours truly) donned our comfiest shoes and started out from San Jose on Saturday morning. It was pouring rain. Not the best way to start a 50 mile walk, but surprisingly nobody was deterred.

It was legit. There were fancy signs marking the route:

There were planned pit-stops every few miles with treats (including fresh coconut juice at one!)

The weather turned nice in the afternoon, and we all had a really good time walking together along El Camino. It was so nice that even a baby came and walked part of the route with us.

By 9pm that night I had only made it to San Carlos (around 26 miles in), and my legs weren't cooperating with me when I was telling them to keep moving. I ended up taking the Caltrain of Shame home at that point, but there were nine brave souls that kept pushing and made it all the way to San Francisco by about 6am on Sunday morning, Derek among them.

We drew some festive chalk signage at the end of the walk in Justin Herman Plaza. Everyone crossed the finish line, was a good sport about taking some photos for us ...

and then immediately did this:

The whole experience was pretty awesome. Since I only made it half way this year, looks like I'm going to have to go all the way next year. So, start training now, and come Walk The Commute with me next year!

(if the photo looks fancy, it was probably shot by Zoe Lonergan for The Commute)

DIY Dinner Party - Test Your Tastebuds

2011-06-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

For my latest party post over on Oh Happy Day, I decided to embark on a little adventure in food.

For this event we pitted some of our foodie friends against one another in a "TEST YOUR TASTEBUDS" dinner party. Nobody knew what food was being served, so each course was a surprise as it came out. Guests were given cards to keep score on, and got points based on how many correct ingredients that they could identify in each course. We served a cheese plate and a three course meal in Jordan's studio:

It was fun to see everyone taking their time eating each bite, trying to figure out what each of the different tastes were (and trying to sneak peeks at their neighbor's sheet).

At the end of the evening we tallied our scores and the winner took home a Tartine gift certificate! It'd be easy to scale this party down and just do a cheese plate for your guests - you'll be surprised how hard it is to know what your food is made of!

Get the full story and more photos over at Oh Happy Day.

******
All pretty photos are by Robyn Kessler of Verité Photography for Oh Happy Day.

The fancy food was prepared by the talented Tom Call and helpers on a tiny cooking stove in the back of Jordan's studio! If you would like to try some of Tom's cooking without the tastebud trickery involved, check out his fun n' fancy pop-up dinner events in SF and SLC.

If you find yourself in the Bay Area and want to "test your tastebuds" without doing any of the prep, keep an eye on Maverick's semi-annual Mystery Dinners or the Punchdown's blind flight challenge.

re: Winning

2011-05-28T18:23:00.001-07:00

One of the things I decided to do this year was enter more contests.

It just seems like there is a lot of stuff that people are giving away for free out there, and that if I put myself out there and ask for it, maybe I'll be able to get my hands on some of it. I've entered a few sweepstakes here and there, but then a contest caught my eye last week that I actually wanted to win: a Vespa!

Unfortunately, these guys have been giving away a Vespa a week for the last 9 weeks, and I only found out about the contest during the last week to enter. I sized up my competition, figured I still had a chance, and got a crack team of photo stylists and art directors to come make our entry the most awesome it could be. The rules stated that you needed to take a photo inside of a Vespa dealership, wearing a helmet, and that creativity definitely counted. This is what we came up with:

Picture Yourself on a Vespa:

The sad thing is, there is no way I'm going to win. In the last few days, some new entries showed up, so now I'm up against some like these:

But maybe our photoshoot is worth it just to have pictures like these:

re: Eat Your Heart Out (aka What To Do With Lemon Curd)

2011-05-24T12:33:00.001-07:00

Derek and I attended our friend Tom Call's inaugural "Made By Tom" pop-up dinner last week. Tom has worked in lots of the fanciest restaurants in SF, and has finally decided to break out on his own with a series of dinners and events outside of the normal restaurant setting. We've eaten food by Tom before, which is always delicious, but we have always have experienced "pot-luck" Tom Call ... where the presentation isn't all his own. Once he got to really pull out all the fancy stops ... well. We stuffed our faces with five courses worth of tasty treats and marveled at how the food managed to both look and taste amazing.

As a parting gift, Tom left us each with our own tiny and delicious jar of lemon curd. We took it home and kept it in the fridge, but weren't totally sure what to do with it. Derek tried spreading it on pretty much everything he put in his mouth, which surprisingly seemed to work pretty well...but we decided to prepare something that Tom might be proud of: something cute AND delicious.

Since the hard part was already done (making the lemon curd) all we had to do was get ourselves some pound cake, raspberries and a cookie cutter, and put together some bite-sized treats:

Ta dah! Then we brought a plate of them to the neighbors and took all the credit for them being so good.

If you love delicious things, Tom will be throwing a few more different pop-up events in SF and SLC. Eat food Made By Tom. You won't be sorry.

re: Earthquake Prepardness

2011-04-19T00:17:00.000-07:00

Our friends Emily and Rob invited us to their annual dinner to celebrate the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. I'm a sucker for parties with themes, and this one turned out to be both educational and fun.

First of all, appropriately, the lights were off and all business was conducted by candlelight:

Everyone divided into teams and participated in earthquake quizzes/challenges between courses (they served a yummy, traditional cioppino with toasted garlic sourdough bread).

The first quiz made us take stock of what we had on us that could be useful in an earthquake - cash, a knife, any food, etc. We lucked out with a new mom on our team, which means she had an entire purse full of cereal and munchies, while the rest of us unprepared fools just had cellphones in our pockets. We also were quizzed on basic earthquake facts and regional info, and had to identify things like water main wrenches and SF landscapes pre-earthquake. Our team did okay .. but mostly thanks to lucky guesses and the whole mom thing.

Nothing like a party where you are eating, drinking and being merry to remind you that you might not be quite as ready for an earthquake as you'd like to think you are.

DIY Party: Glitter Confetti Eggs

2011-04-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

I'm a longtime fan of the parties thown and featured on Oh Happy Day, so I am so glad that Jordan asked me to add a few of mine to the mix on a monthly basis.

We posted the first party today - a DIY Glitter/Confetti Egg Game!

Confetti eggs (aka Cascarones) are like mini pinatas for your head. Traditionally, hollowed out eggs are broken over the head of a friend, showering them with confetti....and supposedly good luck (but definitely confetti).

We decided to shake things up in our hunt this year by turning it into more of a game.

Fill most of the eggs with confetti (in our case, Fruity Pebbles), but - one of the eggs in the batch is filled with gold glitter, and whoever ends up with the head full of glitter gets an awesome prize (besides all the good luck they have coming to them).

Full party instructions can be found on Oh Happy Day.

(special thanks to Robyn Kessler of Verité Photography, whose magic photo fingers managed to capture minuscule pieces of flying confetti and glitter, and her husband Shawn who knows things you wouldn't suspect about glitter and fruity pebbles)

re: Martha Knows Real

2011-03-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

I'm finally going to get around to uploading all of my wedding photos this weekend, so stay tuned for more to come, but in the meantime I just wanted to share a little something that was published this week...

Martha Stewart (or at least one of her bloggers - thanks, Shira!) has deemed my wedding to have been REAL.

Real Wedding: Rebecca and Derek, Los Angeles, California

If that "Real" is as in "Real Fun", then I'll have to agree.

re: It's a Sign

2011-02-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

On our way home from Big Sur yesterday, we started noticing some brightly hand-painted signs along the road. Each sign was spaced out a mile or so, and as we kept getting more of the message, the implication of such a series of signs grew more and more exciting.

"Hey Jen, will you ...."

Once we got past "will you" I was just SURE that this was going to be a marriage proposal. I watched in eager anticipation of the next word ...

"Be"? Well. Maybe he is being tricky and asking her if she would BE mad if he didn't ask her to marry him.

But then it became obvious that this was just a cutesy valentines message.

I hope Jen is not as mad as I was that this was not a marriage proposal.

re: Love Birds

2011-02-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

Everyone always says that you hit a certain point in your life that makes you want to settle down and make a little home. They call it "nesting" but I'm pretty sure we reinvented the term this weekend.

In honor of Valentines Day, Derek and I headed down to Big Sur to do a little camping.

Not just any camping - we journeyed to Treebones Resort to stay in the Human Nest.

The Nest is basically a big treehouse shaped out of big sticks to look like a nest - so you get this semi-protected, open-air camping experience with the most incredible view of the ocean. We slept perched in the tree like little birds, and journeyed out during the day for kayaking, near-death encounters with submerged Elephant Seals, hiking and tasty meals.

Basically, if nesting always looks like that, count me in.

Happy Valentines Day!

(full set of photos posted here, including some candids of Elephant Seals amorous overtures)

re: Sundance 2011

2011-01-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

Derek and I returned this week from our annual adventure volunteering at the Sundance Film Festival. The two of us got to spend some quality time with lots of our Utah friends (though not all of them - sorry to those we missed), watching movies and making prolonged eye contact with Paul Rudd.

(Actually, the eye contact thing was just me).

One of the more glamorous parts of my movie job involves cleaning the theatre between screenings. While scraping gum off the floor and cursing those people who snuck coffee into the house, I found this under one of the seats:

That's right - Michael "CEO of Miramax Films" Lang's business card with all of his direct contact information. Some poor movie-making hopeful finally got their big break, met the CEO of Miramax films, got his card and then dropped it on the ground while they were laughing too hard during My Idiot Brother. Now they'll never be able to send the manuscript about a "nerdy highschool boy who falls in love with the popular girl in school" and finally see their name up on the big screen.

In the meantime, I am considering selling this card to the highest bidder. Either that, or I'm going to start sending him crazy movie ideas every day until I'm the one up on stage at Sundance.

re: A BBQ Birthday

2011-01-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

Derek's birthday is the day after Christmas, which means that he is used to people being too busy playing with their new toys to remember to throw him a party. I decided that in my first year of wifedom, that I wouldn't let him down, and would make sure that his birthday was not overshadowed.

So to celebrate his turning 32 we bought a really high-class plastic chocolate fountain, and filled it with BBQ sauce instead of chocolate. My mom grilled up a bunch of meat and veggies, and then we dipped the treats into warm, dripping BBQ sauce

Let it be known - there is nothing that says love and happy birthdays like a BBQ sauce filled fountain where there should have been chocolate..

Next year - a nacho cheese filled fountain.

re: Ringing in the New Year

2011-01-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

2010 was a pretty great year, and it seemed appropriate to end it with something awesome. I don't think anyone would argue that New Year's Eve is always best spent with good friends and old ladies in fancy wigs.

To achieve all that, just follow these easy steps:

1) Plan your evening at a predominantly pink boutique hotel.

2) Check into the Pony Room.

3) Sit in a bright pink booth with your friends and order the most expensive thing on the menu (lobster tail!) while admiring the over-the-top decor and outfits surrounding you.

4) Abuse the photobooth all night long.

If only the old ladies in wigs had been as interested in the photobooth as we were - alas, they mostly ignored the booth in favor of the dance floor, so their awesome hair and outfits will only be recorded in my memory.

Here's to many more years of slow dancing to Unchained Melody and balloon drops at midnight. Happy 2011, friends.

re: Stomick Akes

2010-12-29T08:04:00.000-08:00

While I was home, my mom showed me a note that she had found in a stack of old papers that my grandfather had written when he was a boy. In the stack was an awesome hooky note that he had written himself and signed with his mother's name in attempts to get out of going to school.

Brilliant. That kind of trickery runs in my blood, folks (though I am usually a little more on top of the "ch" instead of "k" spelling errors).

re: Holiday One-Upped

2010-12-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we are only a few days from Christmas already. Derek and I have been so busy trying to make our little apartment more like home and finish other projects over the past few months that we haven't even had time to send out Christmas cards or get a tree or any of the other things that make it feel like the holidays. Our one attempt at festive decor was this lovely paper wreath that we didn't even make ourselves - we had to win it during a homemade white elephant gift exchange.

Still, we came home and dutifully placed it on our door. Festive!

The next day, we opened up our front door to find this staring at us from across the hall on our neighbor's door:

Another paper wreath! But one that is much larger, and appears a little more complicated to create than ours, and with fancy writing and intricate ruffled trim in the middle. What are our neighbors trying to do? One-up our only attempt at holiday decor?

Well. If they are into showing me up, I hope they try to beat us in the "bring some homemade holiday treats to your neighbor" game (because some chocolate chip cookies sound really good to me right now).

For those of you that want to try your hand at one-upping us some more, you can find tutorials for making your own paper wreaths from old books here.

Happy holidays!

re: Nerd Alert

2010-10-31T01:32:00.000-07:00

Our friend Emily was throwing a black and white halloween party, so Derek and I spent a few weeks trying to think of the perfect costumes to wear to it. We went through all the costumes that we thought were obvious - salt and pepper, newspapers, jailbirds, etc until we decided to try to go as coal and diamonds. However, the morning of the party, Derek had a much better idea:

Each one of us dressed as a certain element from the periodic table (C = carbon)

Which means that when the two of us walked around holding hands, we were carbon dating.

Derek kept calling me his little radioactive isotope all day long. My parents would be so proud.

Happy Halloween!

re: Over the Moon

2010-09-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked my one month anniversary of getting married. People have been asking me how I like married life, and I have to say - it is pretty wonderful (though half of our first month has been spent in Italy...so it might not be exactly a snapshot of your normal month of married life).

I thought to mark the day I'd share a few of our honeymoon photos. We traveled all over Italy for two weeks, and it was the best honeymoon a girl could have hoped for.

I love Derek because he makes everything we do together more interesting. His brain works in ways I never understand, which means I'm usually delighted by the ideas he has and the things he does because I never would have thought of them.

Which is why when I take photos in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, they look like this (boooooring):

But Derek makes the Leaning Tower of Pisa look like this:

And Pompeii look like this:

And Tuscany look like this (from inside the home and in front of the classic Italilan woodburning oven of our new best friend Gabriel, the breadmaker, that Derek met at the farmer's market):

And bike riding looks like this (imagine Katy Perry's California Gurls being kazooed while we ride):

And gelato looks like this:

And every day after the honeymoon has still looked like this (though not always with as much pretty stuff behind us):

All our honeymoon photos are here, if, you know, you are dying to see 2000 more photos like those.

re: Wedding Photobooth

2010-09-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

I love the Photobooth that we had set up at our wedding, and had to share the pictures. We used the same backdrop that we had drawn for our engagement shots, and I love all the faces and personalities of our guests that were captured:

About the Photobooth:
My friend Dan and I drew the background (taking our cues from the amazing Charlotte Mann who has been making gorgeous hand drawn backdrops way before I have). We drew the wall and floor on sheets of 8.5x11 paper, scanned the pages in at the highest of high-res (dan cleaned the lines up in photoshop as well) and then we saved the image in pieces and printed it off in several strips of 3x10 pieces of paper and taped them all together to get the full effect.

The "wallpaper" we drew is actually the pattern from our wedding invitations (created by the wonderful Cindy Ferguson). The rug is patterned after the rug in our friends Mark and Collin's house. And that door and hardwood flooring can be found right inside our San Francisco apartment.

Check out the full set of pics here from both of our receptions:
Newbury Park Open House
Photos taken by LA based photographer Angela Smith

Pleasanton Open House
Photos taken by SF based photographer Clay Brown

re: Wed!

2010-09-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

Wedding is over. Am I allowed to think that it was the most perfect day of my life? It probably was (thanks to the help of my parents and so, so many people (and especially jordan) for volunteering so much time to help make it happen). So many wonderful people came out to be part of the day, and I can't imagine how the celebration could have been any more perfect.

There will be a full post of pretty photos and all the details once we get our pics back from the photographer in a few weeks, but in the meantime, you should know that this kind of happiness can't be faked:

(photos by the lovely emily)

re: At least I'll be a tan Bridezilla

2010-08-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

I have officially entered into "my wedding is less than two weeks away" mode, which everyone always warns you is a little stressful. I was expecting a few hiccups, but was still surprised when my caterer tried to quit on me over the weekend, and my photobooth photographer announced that he had to have emergency foot surgery this week. Silly me for thinking that the most I was going to have to endure was a misplaced pin on my dress by the tailor or the bakery calling to say that they only have regular chocolate frosting for the cupcakes instead of double-dark chocolate.

(This is the x-ray of his foot that the photographer sent to me, like a doctor's note, explaining why he won't be able to man our photobooth.)

Still, of all the minor emergencies that I have been dealing, with, I think one of the most annoying is a tacky set of tan lines that I got two weeks ago. I haven't really seen the sun all summer long, which means I'm already unusually pale, and may have gotten a little lazy about my normal daily sunscreen application. The sun came out for a whole 30 minutes the other day, and it managed to give me a ridiculous tan line on my ankles where my capris cut off and on my arms where my sleeve hit. Really? Tacky, terrible tan lines, two weeks before I have to take all sorts of photos of myself looking pretty?

I'm sure I'll figure something out, but hopefully my next post won't be me bemoaning the fact that using self-tanner for the first time has left my palms orange and my ankles streaked.

re: Love: The Grand Experiment

2010-08-04T10:31:00.001-07:00

Along with getting married comes bridal showers, and I am lucky to have friends who have offered to throw them for me. I had to share details of our San Francisco shower, because the details are just amazing. My dear friend Emily REALLY outdid herself on this one (with a thanks to Jordan for the invites and other friends for contributing food).

The theme of the party was R&D, The Grand Experiment (R&D being Derek's and my initials, and "The Grand Experiment" being an awesome excuse to incorporate science into a bridal shower).

Upon entering, all guests were issued a lab coat and clipboard, with a Grand Experiment pencil for scientific note-taking. (Seriously. All the pencils had "The Grand Experiment" stamped on them).

The tablecloth was a bunch of different graph papers sewn together, and the flowers were kept in beakers.

The food was laid out in threes - marked A, B and C for control purposes. Each food group had three components - a generic version, a grocery-store-but-brand-name version, and a gourmet version. Everyone tasted each of the three types of each food, and then voted on which one they liked best. At the end, by raise of hands, we tallied which foods were most popular. All my favorites were represented: cheese, chocolate, bacon, mint icecream, chips and salsa, chocolate chip cookies, junior mints and more.

The whole thing was positively nerdy.

It was actually a lot of fun to find out which of our friends had more refined taste, and which ones could get away with eating generic for the rest of their lives. I'm not surprised that my expensive tastes showed up in my food choices (if there had been a Prada brand cupcake there, I am sure I would have tasted it) . The big upset was when McDonald's honey packets won over the special raspberry-flavored gourmet honey from Marin.

We finished it all off with my favorite cake - the princess cake from Schubert's Bakery. No need for any testing there. Already know this one is awesome.

I am so glad that my shower was a good excuse for fun food and friends. All in the name of science.

(some of these photos were stolen from liz, who hosted us in her home/laboratory)

re: He Liked It (so he put a ring on it)

2010-08-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this with 24 days to go before I marry my favorite person in the world. I haven't made a whole lot of internet mention of my engagement or impending nuptials, but it is the biggest thing I've ever done, so it might just deserve a blog post or two.

When I first got engaged, people kept asking me if I was excited about it. I was never sure how to respond, because though I was excited to marry Derek, it wasn't exactly that patented giddy feeling that makes you giggle and walk around unable to think about anything else. The whole concept of wearing a diamond on my finger actually seemed rather surreal. I often feel this way with major events that I've anticipated my whole life. I always recognize that I am in the middle of something that I know is significant, but it never seems to exactly match up to whatever weird feelings of excitement that I imagined that I would have.

But, as our wedding date fast approaches, and the two of sit on my couch talking about the details of the big (read: expensive) party that we are throwing to celebrate it, I look at him and get really excited for many, many nights just like that, in patient discussion of whatever adventure the two of us are working on next. It still isn't a giddy excitement, per se - more of an overwhelming feeling of being with the right person who just fits me, and loving that we have an entire lifetime and eternity to be together. He is wonderful, and I am so, so lucky.

I was showing my mom pictures over the weekend of when Derek and I first met, in 2005. She said "What? We could have been doing this whole wedding thing five years ago?" I look at those pictures and know that at the time we were both still exploring other things, maybe not totally ready to let go of our single lives and the freedom that came from being unattached. Our friendship took its sweet time developing into what it is now, but let me tell you - I'm so excited to marry this man, and I'm not even upset that I'm not a Single Lady anymore.

(engagement photo by the ever-talented Aubrey Trinnaman, backdrop handdrawn by Dan and I)

re: cUPcakes are apparently not that big of a deal

2010-03-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

Derek and I were invited to an Oscar party last night that we knew was going to be a serious affair. There were fine DVD prizes available to winners of the various trivia quizzes, bingos and ballots, and extra points were promised to those that brought Oscar-themed foods to snack on. Since we hadn't watched all the films this year, we figured that any extra points we could get couldn't hurt, and decided on mini cupcakes with balloons tied to the top - cUPcakes!

Derek hassled the folks at Safeway until they filled up a sack full of tiny balloons for him, and after patiently tying some really small knots, ended up with a few of these tiny delights:

Though we found the mini floating balloon suspended above the mini cupcake house to be pretty much the cutest thing ever, SCIENCE was working against us with crazy static electricity and quickly escaping helium gases. So Derek would work so hard to get a balloon filled, tied, and suspended, only to find that the balloon was drooping into the frosting after about 20 minutes of cuteness.

We finally had to compromise with deflated balloons glued to toothpicks, which still turned out pretty adorable when all lined up:

We arrived at the party, patting ourselves on the back for our creative treats, only to find that the only other themed food that had been prepared was also cUPcakes, (though they had bypassed the whole SCIENCE problem by just using really cute suckers as balloons). I guess we should have gone with red velvet dolphin cupcakes like Derek had suggested, but it seemed inappropriate at the time.

re: Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea

2010-03-01T00:26:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, Derek and I watched a really interesting documentary called Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea. The film is all about this big body of salty water down below Palm Springs that used to be a vacation spot where people waterskiied and fished and hung out drunk by the Yacht club until the whole place flooded, leaving only a few brave people that still call the place home. There are also major salinity issues, and big algae blooms that cause huge amounts of dead fish every year to wash ashore (think 3 feet high in some places), so nobody swims in the Sea or lives down there anymore, even though it is the cheapest real estate you can find in California. Basically, the place looked fascinating, so Derek and I went down there for the President's Day weekend to see the marvels of the Sea for ourselves.

We set up our tent in the dark, and awoke to this scene. Pretty!

Then we stepped outside of the tent and saw this:

In fact, once we walked outside, there were dead and drying fish remains everywhere. This was kind of exciting, because it was what we were expecting of the Sea. I made Derek this Valentine to celebrate.

Perhaps because the Sea is so remote, there is a lot of crazy stuff in the surrounding area. My favorites were:

1) Cabazon Dinosaurs

You would have stopped too if you had seen the billboards advertising a "Robotic Dinosaur Exhibit."

Come to find out ... this is the place with the huge dinosaurs that you can walk inside of, which you may recognize from such awesome films as Pee-wee's Big Adventure and The Wizard.

(INSIDE the mouth of Mr. Rex)

It does not take long to realize that the whole exhibit was pushing the Young Earth creationist belief that most dinosaurs were created on Earth about 6,000 years ago - the same day as Adam and Eve.

Which meant there were signs like this all over the place, emphasizing that Evolution NEVER happened ...

And, a lot of the exhibits have men in medieval costume fighting dinosaurs.

2) Salvation Mountain

Also close to the Sea is Salvation Mountain, where a man named Leonard Knight has been painting the side of a mountain since the 80s.

This paint, plus a mountain, some haybales, and a serious obsession with the Bible ...

Equals this:

3) Slab City

Salvation Mountain marks the entrance to Slab City, a little dessert community built around some concrete slabs and pylons that remain from an abandoned World War II base. They call themselves the "last free place," since the site is both decommissioned and uncontrolled, and though there is no electricity or running water, there is also no charge to be there. This attracts a lot of people that either can't afford to live anywhere else, or people with a desire for freedom from the American government.

This is how you find people in this little makeshift town. "Come find me! I'm over by the Pirate Flag, near Mark the Barber."

I thought it was cute that they have this library set up that anyone can go hang out in and borrow books from.

We added our mermaid that we had found while visiting the dinosaurs to the Human Powered Fountain, and felt pretty good about our contribution to the Library.

This trip made me want to start exploring all the weird and wonderful spots in the US. Any suggestions for future travels?

re: Sundance 2010

2010-02-18T07:41:00.000-08:00

Another event I'm a little behind on posting about ... my annual trip to Sundance! I was back at the Eccles for my eighth year (booyah) doing things like tearing tickets, enforcing arbitrary rules and just basically looking important. See?

My favorite part of Sundance this year was volunteering with Derek, since he has never (willingly) touched a copy of US Weekly (honestly, I don't know WHAT he does in line at the grocery store) and watches very little television/media in general. This made him the perfect person to go celebrity spotting with, because he doesn't recognize anyone.

He was working the door at the Eccles one day and America Ferrera (aka the 'Ugly Betty, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Real Women Have Curves, etc' America Ferrera) comes up and tells him that she needs to get backstage. He gives her that blank look that means he doesn't have any idea who she is, and tells her that she can't go back without any credentials. I like knowing that people like Derek keep celebrities from getting too big in the head.

Anyway - the movies. I didn't see as many movies as I normally do for some reason, and those that I did see all had big movie stars in them and will show up in theaters in a few months anyway. Although I'm not raving about anything I saw this year, here is a brief rundown a few movies that I did enjoy. The comedy. The drama. The documentary. No spoilers, I promise.

The comedy
If you want to watch a slightly oedipal mother/son relationship, and how a new boyfriend reacts to it, watch Cyrus.

The drama
If you want to see the marriage of two beautiful people dissolve, watch Blue Valentine.

The documentary
If you want to get all angry about the state of education even though you went to a public school, watch Waiting for Superman.

re: Have Spacesuit, Will Travel

2010-02-10T00:44:00.001-08:00

I went to Seattle with a few of my favorite travel companions a few weeks back, and never got around to posting about the fun.

One thing I had avoided in past trips to Seattle was the Experience Music Project, because everyone said that the building made the place look like it was going to be way cooler than it actually is. (They are right). BUT. Entrance to the Science Fiction Museum was included in our admission price, and THAT place was pretty cool.

If there is one thing that I always notice, it is Fashion. Space Fashion is no exception. I just want to point out one thing that I noticed...

First, look at all these manly man space suits that the men-folk get to wear while traversing the cosmos:

And then, please note what the women of the space museum get to wear:

It seems that when going to outer space, men get to wear protective head gear and suits that make their muscles look bigger than they are, while the women get to wear clothing more appropriate for a disco party on the beach. Perhaps that makes us the stronger sex? You men need oxygen chambers around your heads to keep you safe and all we need is a properly placed pleat on a skirt that shows off most of our legs?

(Sidenote - if this is true, do you think that all the olympic figure skaters realize that they are actually wearing SPACESUITS on the ICE?)

All I know is that it looks like the original Captain Kirk didn't get the memo - in the future, only sissies wear glittery rickrack.

re: Building a Party

2010-01-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

Apparently, I only blog about birthdays these days.

Derek just turned 31 too, so we decided to celebrate by challenging our friends to a Strongest Spaghetti Bridge Building contest! (An excellent use for super clearance Christmas gumdrops, if I do say so myself)

The Tools:
20 gumdrops
30 pieces of spaghetti
30 minutes

The Challenge:
Build the strongest bridge you can out of just gumdrops, spaghetti and yer engineering wits that can span a 12 inch gap. Bridges will be tested for strength by seeing how many quarters they can hold before breaking.

The Prize:
Winner takes home as many quarters as their bridge held before cracking.

The Challengers:

The Quarter Placing Technique:*

The Anguish in Breaking Bridges and The Joy of the Winning Team: not pictured, but just as awesome as you are imagining

*Note to anyone who may try this at home: we realized pretty quickly that the "cup of quarters balanced precariously on top of the already unstable bridge" was not the ideal way to test the strength of the bridge by weight. I would recommend tying a cup to hang below the bridge and filling it with quarters underneath. However, our original method did insure that the cash prize was considerably lower than if we had a more reliable weight testing system in place, so if you are a cheapskate, stick with the first attempt.

re: Happy Highways Challenges

2009-12-16T00:13:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in the previous post that during the bus tour, attendees were given various challenges and asked to document them. I thought this needed its own post because of all the great photos that were taken.

Chinatown Challenge:
Work together and try to photographically recreate this snapshot, to the best of your abilities. You should be in the photo.

And these are a few of the fabulous recreations:

(I like the last one, because maybe they couldn't find dead ducks roasting in the window, so they made do with live ones instead. brilliant)

Upper Market Challenge:

Come up with some simple but useful information that can be made into a plaque or sign and then install it in some public place for people to learn from and use. Note: do not bother making a plaque that is witty. Think of information that you routinely wish you had, and provide it to the public.

So you see - no free rides here. We all had to work for our fun.

re: Happy Highways

2009-12-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

I turned 31 a few weeks back, and to celebrate this year we all went on a magical bus tour of San Francisco!

Determined to make our highways happy, we drove everyone to various parts of the city, armed them with maps and suggestions of sites to see, and let them explore. I also made sure to issue challenging challenges at each stop (ala Miranda July).

I got this idea because I know Brad. And Brad owns a bus. Not just any bus - a big, white, beautiful school bus. He also owns a tiny broom and an awesome blue uniform.

So, I assembled this good looking bunch of people:

And we were off to explore the city!

We stopped in Chinatown and ate fresh fortune cookies from the factory there (each of the custom-made cookies contained dire fortunes for anyone unlucky enough to not get back to the bus on time). We ate sandwiches together and were instructed to propose to one another under tacky wedding gazebos. And, we ate birthday cake in the park with a beautiful view of the city. Adventure!

Nobody even got (too) bus-sick, so I think the whole thing was a raging success.

re: The far as I can see ...

2009-12-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

While waiting for my birthday bus party to start (photos coming soon!) Collin found this handwritten love note in the park and gave it to me as a gift. Someday, I can only hope to have a note this good written for me, complete with unrelated snowman drawing.

"Your are the one. The far as I can see, your the one"

Don't worry. I've already submitted it to Found.

re: Old Friends

2009-12-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

I made it out to Colorado a few weeks ago to visit some old college roomies and friends. I can call them old friends because we have known eachother for a LONG time, and because we are getting old(er), and there are several babies between them all to prove it. I was waiting to post photos until I had dug up some old college pictures of us, but maybe I'll just wait until we are all old and gray haired and look really different so that the comparison is more awesome. For now, you should just know that these girls are some of my long-time favorites, and we got to spend the weekend up in Vail together:

And this is Amber and I with one of the babies that we met on this trip for the first time - Amelia!

Amelia's dad is a real comedian, and likes to joke with me about how my glasses get bigger each time I see him, which is true. His favorite joke is telling me that someone famous for their thick black frames called me and wants their glasses back.

These are all the people that called and wanted their glasses back while I was in Denver:

I haven't come up with a good comeback yet. "Gerber Baby called and wants their cute kid back" doesn't seem like the zinger I need it to be. Any help would be appreciated.

re: Being Born

2009-12-02T10:10:00.000-08:00

My birthday was on Monday, and though I only have crappy cell phone pics to prove that it was awesome, you should know that it was.

First, I came home to some of these:

And one of these:

(Which rivals Heart Throb as best board game ever). Because this is how you win this game:

And then we went to eat at a delicious restaurant that serves pretty food on cute plates, and when it is your birthday they give you itty bitty pieces of chocolate to celebrate:

And then, just when I thought my birthday was over, this sign was waiting outside the restaurant...:

...on top of this borrowed vintage tandem schwin with balloons tied to the back, on which Derek and I rode all around the Mission.

I can't even go into detail about the fog machine and dance party that awaited me at home with icecream and cakeycookies:

And my mom made me a frangipan and everyone wished me a happy birthday, and so, I really can't have asked for anything better. Maybe 31 aint gonna be half bad.

re: Internet Fame

2009-12-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

When YouTube and Google joined forces, my YouTube account sent me a message telling me that I had a very popular video and should consider putting adwords advertising on it to make a little cash. I racked my brain trying to think what I had ever posted on YouTube that might have been a big deal.

Turns out, it was this little number from the days of the New Awesome:

Bets' niece Allie has a cute lisp, so she filmed it (and an example of what happens when Allie tried to say "sit." In the tradition of true America's funniest home video comedy, you know what she actually says when she tries to say "sit"). And as it turns out, ALOT of people take the time after watching it to weigh in on the great debate - whether this makes her parents irresponsible and trashy, or if this is just a kid being cute.

The debate continues. And has. Every day for the last two years. Seriously - I get a direct message with every inane comment that gets posted on the video.

I think this is a little ridiculous that 200K people have decided to weigh in on that. (But will gladly photograph children fake swearing all the time if it makes me rich.)

re: Reality

2009-11-29T23:14:00.000-08:00

I went home to Southern California for Thanksgiving, and took a lot of pictures in front of, on top of, and behind a whole lot of fake things while I was there. In fact, I have more photos of myself from the trip in front of fake stuff than I do in front of anything real.

But, you know? Reality isn't always all it is cracked up to be. By opting for the fake stuff, I saved myself a lot of trouble and effort to get a lot of really realistic looking shots.

For instance, I didn't really have to actually be fat, wear a tacky hat, or split peas one at a time at Andersen's to make it look like I did:

I didn't really have any embarrassing "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" moments in order to stand by the big fake fork at the fork of St. John and Pasadena avenues in Pasadena:

I didn't have to do my hair or buy a fancy dress before hanging out with the stars of Access Hollywood:

I didn't have to climb any unfortunate hills or bypass any painful barbed wire to get close to the Hollywood sign:

I didn't worry about about losing precious fingers to a man-eating shark, strung up by its tail or otherwise:

I did, however, cry real tears of joy when I saw how good our Escape from the Terminator shot looked:

Buy it/Make it: Scarves!

2009-11-18T12:35:00.001-08:00

I just posted a little tutorial over at Animal Head Vintage on some scarves for the season. You can try to make them yourself, and then when that fails, you can go buy the other version:

Check out the full post here.

re: Cheating on this blog with Animal Head Vintage

2009-11-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

I didn't ever really talk it up here, but I started a blog for the vintage clothing online store that I run with some friends (hello, Animal Head Vintage) and every once in awhile post some interesting things over there that maybe you would like to read about. Also, if you like seeing girls wearing animal masks and wearing old clothing, that is the place for you.

Just last week I posted about a slideshow that Aubrey and I put together for NBC of pretty people we spotted at the Treasure Island Music Festival. Aubs took all the photos, of course, and they turned out really lovely.

Check out my favorite pics and extra commentary over on the Animal Head Vintage blog, or see the full slideshow over at NBC.

Or, don't do any of those things. See if I care. (snif)

re: Going Under The Knife

2009-11-04T19:17:00.001-08:00

WARNING - there are real live BLOODY photos in this post

So, I had my first taste of plastic surgery today. Surprisingly, it was for a little freckle on my lip that my dermatologist was nervous about instead of for the butt implants that you probably all assumed that I'd be getting any day now.

You wouldn't think that this lip freckle was all that bad. In fact, I thought it was kind of cute. Sorta like Marilyn Monroe sneezed and her beauty mark just fell down her face a little.

See? Cute!

My dermatologist, however, decided that the spot looked suspicious. Beautifully suspicious, perhaps, but suspicious nonetheless. It had to come out! So she referred me to a plastic surgeon.

I made a really big deal about how nervous I was about the whole thing, how I hate big needles and scalpels and how I was worried about being scarred for life, and then THIS is what they gave me:

Totally no big deal. He even used see-through stitches so that you can't really tell that I have anything but a little cut on my lip. Nothing like the half-Frankenstein face that I was expecting.

In fact, the swelling makes it look like I have Angelina Jolie lips. This turns out to be the sexiest plastic surgery I could have asked for. If I could smile or actually eat anything, this kind of thing have been addicting.

re: Explaining Yourself

2009-11-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to show you this:

And, teach you an important lesson:

When you dress up for Halloween like characters from a film that has only enjoyed a limited release in two major metropolitan cities (the one you live in not being one of them) you will be explaining yourself all night long.

Though, that still might be better than making your costume painfully obvious:

-- Look, mom! I'm a toilet.

re: Being Around

2009-10-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

It has been brought to my attention recently that I haven't posted on this blog in a few months (which is basically one million years in blog time). I have been tweeting a little, and I post photos on So Verbose, so I haven't disappeared off the internet completely, but this poor blog has been a little neglected. Well. Stuff has been happening that you should know about.

Like, look! I went to the Longest Yard Sale in the World with Tom and Sarah! And scoured thrift stores in Northern Ohio with Amanda and Casey and fam.

Sorting through old junk is one of my favorite pasttimes, and part of it is because you sometimes stumble upon treasures like this:

I hope someone can say the same about me some day.

(thanks for the pics, Alana)

re: Rainbow Birthday

2009-04-07T08:08:00.003-07:00

I've already been scooped by Jordan, of course, but we celebrated Aubrey's birthday over the weekend and the two of us planned one fun party that was one of the best I have ever helped throw.

We got a group of friends together for a city-wide scavenger hunt. To add to the fun, when we handed everyone the first clue, it instructed them to go downstairs and hop into one of the small fleet of MINI convertibles that we had rented for the occasion.

The weather in San Francisco was perfect for cruising in the MINI with the top down, and we lead everyone on a wild chase around the city.

First every car got a bag check claim ticket to a thrift store in the Mission.

That clue led everyone to the Seward Slides, where there were pieces of cardboard with the clues written on them at the top to slide down on.

The next clue was dangling from a string off the edge of Pier 7.

This led us to the Chinatown Fortune Cookie factory, where each group was handed a box of fortune cookies with the clues hidden inside of the cookies.

The last clue was hidden at the top of the Lyon St stairs, inside of little yellow balloons.

That clue lead everyone to Crissy Field, where we had a table set up with cupcakes and fruit...and several bowls of colored powder as used in traditional Hindu Holi Festival of Colors that we used to ambush the birthday girl. We threw the colors at one another until everyone was painted in a rainbow of chalky dust.

It was a perfectly surprising and colorful ending to the party, and totally worth it even if it is not as glamorous to drive home in your MINI wrapped in a garbage bag so as not to paint the seats fluorescent pink.

Don't tell anyone, but I think I had more fun at this party than my roommate did.

(and thank you paul, jordan and emily, for all the photos)

re: art imitating life imitating art

2009-04-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

After London, I chunneled over to France to stay with Kristine in Paris for a few days.

It turns out that there is a lot of art happening over in Europe. I was in the middle of a DaVinci Code sightseeing tour, and part of it led me to this museum that I guess is a pretty big deal.

I went inside and was overwhelmed by all the things to see. Even though the Louvre is massive and houses who knows how many billions of pieces of art, there were a few pieces that seemed to really be grabbing all the attention.

It turns out, this is what the Mona Lisa looks like:

(It is also what the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame look like - crowded.)

But, I managed to still see my way around a lot of great art while I was there, though I got a little distracted by all the people taking photos in front of some of the pieces. Especially in the sculpture portion of the gallery, a simple 'standing and smiling' photo rarely sufficed. Most people had to somehow try to interact with the art, or imitate it.

Like this woman that is apparently pretending to get inside of the marble tub to take a bath?

Or all these blurry people making themselves look all statue-ish?

I found it almost more fun to watch the people imitating the art than to even look at the art itself.

But it gave me a great idea. I found this excellent photo in my Time Out guidebook:

...so I made it my goal to find that exact spot and take my photo just like the bronzed Parisian man. I was wearing a few more layers than he was, but managed to find the exact spot (minus the fake London Eye in the background. Apparently that was only a temporary exhibit):

Kristine was pretty spot on as well.

I pass the challenge along to you. The next time you find yourself in Paris ... please make it your trip's goal to find this spot and take your photo there as well.

re: The non-drowsy Chaperone

2009-04-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

I've been a little absent on the internet in the past month, but that is because Emily and I just went to London for Spring Break, and stayed right in the middle of all the fun in her sister's place in Covent Garden. We did a whole lot of everything that London had to offer, including a lot of the mandatory tourist stuff. Every time we would walk by a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! or a wax museum, I would cringe a little, knowing that there was no surer sign that we were in the heart of something touristy.

I loved this sign that we saw on all the ticket booths. Of course the student featured on the international student discount card is a smiling dude with dreadlocks. He looks like everyone I have ever met in a hostel:

Anyway. One night we were feeling ambitious and decided that we ought to embrace our #1 tourist option and take an overpriced spin on the eyesore that is the London Eye to get a fun bird's eye view of London at night. Everyone sits in these little transparent pods and stares at things while the wheel slowly rotates.

To our delight, in the pod right behind us, there was a couple that had splurged and paid a whopping £299.00 for the romantic Cupid's Capsule, which promises an entire pod to yourself with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Champagne and a luxury box of Charbonnel et Walker pink champagne truffles. Sounds pretty great, right? Just you and your sweetie, suspended above the stunning skyline of the city in an all-glass capsule, feeding eachother chocolates and champagne? No better to guarantee that your date turn to putty in your hands!

What they don't really emphasize is that your champagne and truffles come along with a butler to pour the bubbly and make sure that you don't get up to any hanky panky in the middle of the ride. So what in theory is romantic, actually turns out to be weirdly awkward, because it is just two people on a date in a tiny glass pod with a butler in the corner wearing a suit and pretending that he can't hear everything you are saying. The poor guy tried to kiss his girlfriend at one point, but she was so obviously uncomfortable that he didn't try it again. I am sure it didn't help that our entire pod had our noses pressed to the glass, watching the awkward scene unfold in delight.

At least the butler can take photos of the two of you ...

As the rest of us stare you down.

This was the happy couple's tourist shot that they try to make you buy at the end of the ride. In one frame it almost looks like the happy couple is alone in the pod. Until the back shot shows a creepy butler lurking.

re: Resolution Updates

2009-03-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my desk might still be pretty dirty, but at least I knocked my Scuba Certification goal off this year's list of New Year's Resolutions.

(Without even meaning too, I also fulfilled my goal to dress like a ninja more.)

This was Team Scuba. We were sort of the ragtag bunch of all the other scuba groups. Everyone else had nice tarps laid out to lay their matching scuba gear on top of and all ran into the water in V formation. Our group showed up late every morning and one of the other divers walked by and even told us that it looked like a "diver had exploded" in our area. I felt like we were the underdogs in a Disney movie like Mighty Ducks or Cool Runnings.

In the end, it was fine. No one died. We saw a seal. And certainly no other group took glamour shots quite like ours:

Mark.

Adam.
Me.
Marshall.
Derek.

Uh, Derek? Maybe you can take this whole photo shoot a little more seriously?
Thank you.
Not bad for a group that just survived the 45 degree ocean waters of Monterey.

(many thanks to em, unofficial photographer for the weekend.)

re: A New Blog

2009-02-16T09:11:00.000-08:00

As if I do not contribute enough things (inconsistently) to the internet, I have started a Tumblr Photo blog. I got myself an iPhone for Christmas (thanks mom and dad) and have been using the handy camera to take photos of things as I see them, and can upload them straight from my phone. I am posting those pictures on this blog: So Verbose.

I'm not getting rid of Permanently Disco or anything crazy like that, but for a little more snapshot look of things ... check out So Verbose.

re: Valentines

2009-02-14T12:09:00.000-08:00

My rooommate Aubrey Trinnamen made me this valentine as part of this great Valentine project that she took on this year.

She took photos of all these really cute gestures of love and mailed the photos to people. I hope she continues the project, and you can all buy one for a loved one for some special occasion some time.

Go out and kiss someone today. Happy Valentines Day.

re: Red Carpet Birthday, the final post

2009-02-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. I have practically turned 31 in the time it has taken me to get these photos together, but I still wanted to share the pics from my Red Carpet Birthday Party. Maybe you want to know how to throw your own?

First.
You have to invite people. We goccoed these postcards and mailed them out to many friends to lure them out on a chilly Tuesday night.

On the back of the postcard, I glued a small coin sized envelope (a pretty color, from Flax) and inside included two movie tickets and details for the party.

Second.
The space! I sweet-talked a good deal out of the Victoria Theatre by renting it out on an evening in between their scheduled shows. It helped to find a theater that wasn't a movie theater with regular programming, AND one that has been around since 1908, so it has that old classy feel to it.

Third.
Feed people. The theater let me use their popcorn maker, so the whole place smelled like hot butter, and we stocked the place with lots of soda and classic boxes of theater candy. (Make sure not to invite any friends that are overly health conscious).

Please note - people like food better when presented to them on trays held by lovely ladies. Luckily I know a few that come with their own fishnets - many thanks to Mandy and Meredith, my cigarette girls for the evening. The trays were custom made and painted by the ever talented worker of wood, Jared Rusten.

Be prepared to have real San Franciscan pimps hear about your party and want to attend. (We didn't exactly shoo him away, did we?)

Get some tough (or just tough looking) bouncers to make sure the pimps stay outside on the red carpet. Where they belong.

One of my favorite treats were the custom fortune cookies that I had made. I wrote a bunch of "fame" and "film" based fortunes and had the Fortune Cookie Factory lady in China Town make them into a big bag of personalized fortunes, right in front of me. I let my cigarette girls walk them around on the night of the party, and it was fun to see people's reactions to the fortunes that I had written.

My favorite:
"Darth Vader is your father too. Surprise!"

Fourth.
Take lots of photos of people! This is important for proving to everyone later that people actually came to your birthday party. I had the help of many talented photo takers. Aubrey Trinnaman took the paparazzi pics outside on the red carpet.

Paul Ferney took some lovely candids inside.

And Juliann Wheeler ran our photo booth. The pictures turned out great. (It didn't hurt that I told the bouncers not to let anyone ugly inside the theatre).

(If you are lucky, friends from far away will travel many miles to be at your party.)

Fifth.
Watch alot of really amazing films made by some of your favorite people ever, many of whom are in attendance.

For those that didn't get to attend (and actually, those that did), this was the finale film that wouldn't play right on the theatre DVD player.

turn it up! it's a Mary Cox and the Pop Rocks singalong:

Sixth.
Make sure to serve the marzipan iced birthday cake of your dreams (thank you, friends), and have a quick dance party to end the evening on the right note.

Pretty much, this was the best night ever.

See all the rest of the pictures here. You people are beautiful.

re: Resolutions

2009-01-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

There have been lots of good lists of people's new years resolutions out there, and though I am more of a constant goal setter than taking care of it all once a year, it is still kind of fun to think about what I want out of 2009. A few things that I feel pretty good about putting on a list this year:

1) Throw the party that you wish you were invited to.

I stole this cartoon (with permission) from Mike, because I always loved the idea of doing your best to proactively make the world a place you like to live in. Throwing a Family Matters party is probably a good place to start.

2) Buy less. Produce more.
I've been cleaning out my room this week and decided that I own far more clothing and knick knacks than I can ever use. So. I'd like to spend a little less time and money buying stuff I don't need, and spend more time making stuff to sell to other people that didn't make that same resolution. J/K. But I like the idea of learning to better use what I already have, and focus more time on my personal projects and saving my money for bigger stuff that I need a little .

And though there is no way I can cut shopping out of my life completely, I like the idea of sticking to mostly second-hand stuff (I already do, mostly) and if I do buy new, to buy something nice that will last. No Forever 21 in 2009. That doesn't rhyme or anything, but it seems like a pretty good shopping motto.

3) Keep my desk work spaces clean. This one might be impossible, but I would like to think that every Sunday night I am going to make sure that my desk space is cleaned off. I'd like to believe this will help me be more productive during the week with projects...

4) Get SCUBA certified. And then go some place tropical to celebrate! You will all be invited. But you will have to dress like your favorite Family Matters character.

5) Write my Grammy a letter every Sunday. I used to be good at this and quit some time this year. I am starting it up again.

6) Get more out of SF. See more local art shows. Eat at new restaurants. Bike to places I haven't been.

7) Watch a lot more Gossip Girl. (Hey. I always have to add something to the list that is going to be easy to accomplish)

re: Danger is my Middle Name

2008-12-30T11:12:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that standing by dangerous things makes people look sexier. I don't know why this is - maybe it is something in the contrast of the exciting and dangerous and the soft and beautiful - but James Bond uses that old trick over and over. Shiny metal gun in one hand, sexy girl in the other.

I went to Puerto Rico by way of Miami a few weeks ago, and had the chance to encounter some dangerous wildlife while I was traveling. I saw an alligator, and remembered that being close to something that could kill you can make you look sexy, so I really tried to work that angle as much as possible.

Do you see how that snake that might strangle me at any second? So sexy!

It is important to remember that the trick only works if you look like you don't care that you are standing next to something dangerous. Crying isn't sexy.

We tried hard to risk our lives constantly during the vacation to keep looking as sexy as possible. This photo was taken right after we went diving with jellyfish and huge lobsters. That is why Derek's back looks so good to you right now.

Almost falling out of a palm tree to your death can be sexy.

And jumping on the beach in your speedo for an hour until your friend gets the perfect sunset shot of you?

That is dangerous for a whole lot of reasons. And therefore ... pretty sexy.

re: Happy Christmas

2008-12-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

Holiday traditions are in full swing.

Watched Tom Goes to the Mayor? check.

And the new Flight of the Conchords is out too. Merry Christmas indeed.

re: a Preview

2008-12-13T04:01:00.000-08:00

My big Red Carpet Birthday party was this week, and though we are still working on getting all the photos viewable, I wanted to give you a sneak peak of the awesome:

This party was so much fun for me - thank you to everyone who submitted films and came all fancied out!

re: Fantasies

2008-12-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

For every "you be the stable boy, I be the milk maid" fantasy that I might entertain, I probably have at least three much more boring (but strangely satisfying) fantasies where the past men in my life that have somehow wronged me come back to me to apologize, telling me how wrong they were and how they still think about me. Lamenting that they ever let me go! What fools they were to think that they were ever going to find anything better out there! (Usually at this point I also imagine them on their contrite knees, faces twisted into a grimace that can only be caused by the unimaginable pain my absence in their life has caused them).

Usually this is the song that is playing in the background.

And then, in response to that (at least in my fantasy) Beyonce and I put on our french cut leotards and do a punching dance while running around in a circle together.

Probably this is the song that is playing in the background.

At least my fantasies have good soundtracks.

re: YADHTRIB YPPAH

2008-12-01T01:06:00.000-08:00

My mom called me yesterday and said "I know what you were doing 30 years ago." Because it was my birthday! My Golden Birthday.

And even though I have a ridiculous party coming up next week, my SF friends still decided to throw me a little dinner party on my real birthday too. Because they are great.

My birthday was awesome for three reasons.

1) My party banner got assembled backwards. (thank you, juliann)

2) When I walked in to the party, everyone was wearing these really, really creepy looking masks of the top half of my face. (Sarah and Tom, creepy to the max)

3) My traditional birthday Frangipan almost lit Brant's apartment on fire.

(the lighting of the "special candles")

(the presentation)

(the excitement!)

(the fire alarm goes off)

(the apartment fills with smoke and sparks start burning holes in couches. excitement turns to mild panic)

(the whole frangipan is covered with a crunchly layer of burnt, crispy fireworks)

Everyone ate the frangipan anyway, the good sports that they are.

re: Black Friday

2008-11-28T22:48:00.000-08:00

I love that the one holiday we have built 100% around being thankful is followed by a day built 100% around consumerism – Black Friday. Despite this alleged recession, the stores I saw were brimming with people and credit cards.

I don't know if you can see it very well, but this is a shot of about 10 dudes just hanging out in front of Jeremy's, waiting patiently for their girlfriends to get finished clawing some other girl's eyes out over a discount Marc Jacobs overcoat and standing in line for over an hour to check out.

This is Emily, after having clawed some girl's eyes out over a tee-shirt. She still had to stand in line for another 30 minutes.

Years ago I swore to never enter a mall on Black Friday if I could help it, regardless of the sales and slashed prices they try to entice me in with. This year I decided to make a tiny exception – my neighborhood Thrift Town was opening an hour early and offering $5 off to the first 100 customers in line. This is awesome, because $5 can buy you a lot at a thrift store, and I don't really put thrift stores in the same category as mall shopping at all.

Of course, when Emily and I showed up bright and early on Friday morning, this is what we saw:

What? A line around the block for Thrift Town? No one stands around the block for Thrift Town. All it took to turn my favorite thrift store- which is normally a very casual shopping experience- into a frenzied mess worthy of Black Friday was a $5 gift card. There were people elbowing in front of one another at 7:45 am, and once we were inside, dresses were being ripped off racks and the line for the dressing room was longer than I have ever seen it. I blame the free gift card.

To top the day off, Emily and I were standing in line to check out, when a woman grabbed for the large roll of gold wrapping paper in Emily's hands, and accused her of having stolen the paper from out of her cart. We were totally baffled – we had been walking around the store with that paper for at least 20 minutes, and had certainly not intentionally taken it from anyone, but the woman stood there yelling “How DARE you” at the top of her lungs until she had wrenched it from Emily's hands and walked back to her shopping cart.

Aside from that incident, we escaped mostly unscathed and with a few treasures of our own to show for it, but I have yet again resolved to never go shopping on Black Friday. No slashed prices are worth that kind of crazy.

re: LA stereotypes

2008-11-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

We were all eating breakfast at Swingers on Beverly, and we were delighted that our waiter was so good looking that he was obviously living the stereotypical 'actor-working-at-a-diner-while-he-tries-to-make-it-in-LA' life.

Just being served by such a perfect broad shouldered stereotype made my homefries even tastier. I hope he gets discovered soon.

Thanks, Stephen, for the stealth photo.

re: True Love, part 2

2008-11-25T00:34:00.000-08:00

I went to LA last week to celebrate the fortuitous union of Keith and Leslie.

(Aptly named and illustrated in this welcome sign by jared p.)

The wedding was held at a lovely little place called the Victorian in Santa Monica. And, yes - the event was just as special as the sign promised it would be.

Keith and Leslie are pretty popular, so there were a lot of beautiful people at the wedding to talk to and I didn't take as many pictures as I should have. Luckily Dave was carrying around his Super 8, capturing all the special moments. This is how you knew something good was happening - you would hear the loud 'whir'click-whir-click' and know to look for Keith and Leslie kissing or saying "I do" or something. (This picture makes it look like Dave is taking sneaky perv shots of people without them knowing. And. Well. Maybe he is).

They also had his really cute candy bar set up, where you could take a bag and fill it with swedish fish and rock candy and all sorts of other sweet stuff, as if all the cake they had on the table wasn't enough.

I don't actually know if the other candy was any good. I could only eat the watermelon one, since it matched my dress.

Also, I am speculating that maybe they got an embroidery machine for their wedding?

Because I noticed that the large doily where they stood to get married was clearly labeled with their names in large, embroidered letters. (Maybe this was just in case they got the wedding jitters and forgot where to go stand the way down the isle? )

And Keith had his cuffs done up all fancy.

They seem pretty big on putting their names on stuff, and are probably going to monogram everything they own, so don't try to steal anything of theirs.

I always like going to weddings of two people that I like so much, and this is one of those weddings where you just believe in two people being so perfect for eachother.

Of course, weddings are also a good time to be reminded that either you do have someone else to ride the proverbial bicycle built for two with..

...or if you don't.

Here's to true love. Congrats to the cutest ever K&L.

re: True Love

2008-11-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

I am at home in LA for a wedding this weekend, and I just want to report that my mom secretly practices Rock Band when no one is around so that she will be good enough for her kids to want to play with her when we come home.

She is actually pretty good for being a mom. I am going to make her try vocals tonight.

re: Animal Head Vintage

2008-11-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

My obsession with vintage things has been no secret, so it shouldn't be a surprise that eventually I would try to turn my thrift store shopping obsession into something constructive.

So, Emily Cox and Aubrey Trinnamen and I put our heads together and came up with Animal Head Vintage. We are selling vintage clothing online!

Best of all, we just got all of our cute friends to play dress up with us and model our clothing.

Thanks to Tiffany, Nikki, Juliann, Claire and Jane. It is truly a shame that we covered your lovely faces with animal masks.

(Go check us out! We will be putting new stuff up as often as we can)

re: Baby, I'll make you a star

2008-11-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

My birthday is on November 30, and since I am a shameless Sagittarius, I am throwing myself a "Red Carpet" birthday party in which I will be screening short films made by anyone I have ever known.

This, of course, is where you come in.

I want to screen a short film made by you! "Short" is around 5 minutes or less, and the deadline to send me your film will be Dec 1, 2008.

I know most of us aren't professional movie makers. Don't worry about it. These films don't have to be anything fancy. We'll accept your music video. Something awesome you come up with in your bedroom late at night. Secret confessions of love. Anything you've got. I cannot emphasize how non-professional these are allowed/expected to be. Just email me to let me know that you are planning to send one in. (rgholdston [at] gmail).

I am serious about wanting films from anyone and everyone that I have ever known, so if you want to spread the invite to anyone that you know that I know...please do. We only have a few weeks left, so maybe you should quit reading this and go make a movie or something.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Red Carpet Birthday FAQs

Is there a theme that I should work with when coming up with a film?
Nope. If you need a theme, do something with the number 30.

How long should my film be?
Try to keep it around 5 minutes or less. If you have something longer, lemme know.

Screening Format?
DVD, baby. No title menu. If you can burn your DVD so that it just starts your movie when we put it in, that would be the best.

Where do I send my DVD?
Straight to me. Email me for my address (rgholdston [at] gmail).

OR. If you don't have a DVD burner or don't want to bother intrusting your film to the USPS, I can have you send your movie to me electronically and I will take care of putting it on DVD. Just email me (rgholdston [at] gmail).

When is this due again?
We want to get all the DVDs to compiled by Dec 1 so that we have time to review them and make sure that everything works.

Do I have to make a film specifically for this party? Or can I send you a film that I already had made?
We'd prefer original work for the party, but are not too picky if you have something brilliant to share.

Am I invited to watch the screening on the night of the event?
Yep. Save the date - December 9, right here in San Francisco at the Victoria Theatre. I will force you to wear fancy clothing and come enjoy yourself.

What if I don't live in San Francisco?
Well. I want your movie, even if you can't be here to watch it with us. But, seriously. This is why God invented airplanes.

re: My Pants

2008-11-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make: The "pants" that I am wearing right now are not actually pants. They are leggings. Stretch pants, if you will, but not allowed to actually to be called just plain ol' pants without some sort of qualifier. I love them, and am so glad that they have been made socially acceptable, and even stylish, for this season.

Warning: I am probably going to wear my stretch pants every day for the next 4 months. They are just so comfy! I walk around tricking everyone into thinking that I actually got dressed for the day - stretch pants are like getting to hang out in your pjs all day long. They are warm and comfy and I could probably do the splits in them (if i could do the splits). And they have an elastic waist. How great is it that I get to wear pants with an elastic waist before the age of 80?

re: a New President, with alot to do

2008-11-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

We have a new president!!! It makes me kind of excited for the future. I wonder if Obama woke up this morning realizing all of the things he had to do, and if he made a "to-do" list anything like this one that I found out in the hall of my apartment building.

You don't really think he got to be president by forgetting his chapt stick do you?

re: Voting

2008-11-04T00:47:00.000-08:00

When you go to the polls this morning, it is important to remember ..

Thank you, San Francisco.

re: Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

You get the idea.

Happy Halloween! Don't get stabbed.

re: Fall Weddings

2008-10-27T11:48:00.001-07:00

I got to go to the wedding of the lovely Rebecca Jacobson and Cameron Turner over the weekend. It was a perfect fall wedding at a gorgeous vineyard up past Sacramento. The bride looked so lovely in her (homemade!) dress, dancing in the little gazebo.

The only thing better than the apple juice they served was the treats they gave out. Homemade love jam? I suspect/hope it all just sounds weirder than it tastes.

But maybe the caterers snuck a taste of the love jam. I caught the caterer with the top ponytail blatantly oogling the caterer showing off his calves while cutting the beef.

Love is in the air. And the jam.

re: Political costumes

2008-10-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

If there were someone out there keeping track of these things, I think there would be some neat charts that would show how on an election year, the number of political Halloween costumes goes way up. And this year, when we have such easy targets? We all know the streets are going to be overrun with hockey moms and Joes carrying six-packs and plungers.

Because I have brown hair and glasses in my every day life, I got a lot of people telling me that i would make a perfect Sarah Palin for Halloween. Initially I decided not to dress as Palin, even if I can get the perfect bouffant and am a really good winker, mostly because it was going to be the obvious costume of the year, and I never like to be one in the sea of the unoriginal. I mean, even Lindsay Lohan is taking the low road this year!

But...political costumes can be pretty funny, and when else am I going to look this much like a candidate? So, at the costume party I attended over the weekend, I still decided to go as Sarah Palin. Just Sarah Palin dressed as a shark.

re: Hiding the Past

2008-10-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

I went to a flea market last week with Aaron, and was delighted to stumble upon a huge bin of old photos full of people that I can only imagine were documenting some very important times in their lives.

The time you taxidermied your favorite cat into a new toupee for yourself!

The special short shorts outfit you wore when meeting your in-laws for the first time!

The big box to hide behind when you are naked on Christmas morning!

Seriously. If these were your photos, would you ever allow them to make it into a bin of photos at a flea market, for sale to anyone with a dirty dollar in their pocket?

re: Getting the right caterer

2008-10-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Parks/Sparks wedding finally took place this weekend! You can tell it happened in Southern California because...

1) That is most certainly the LA Temple behind the happy couple.

2. In n'Out catered the party.