recap

Trying to get back to blogging. 

Updates : 

got a marimo moss ball!!  

 have had a cold for 4 weeks gahhh 

 tray of dim sum at jook time (it is all mine)

 while i was sick i didn't really have energy to go buy food..or make food..so brian gave me a bunch of black bean ramen. i got pretty good at making it delicious. (above is first attempt)

second attempt (added onions and peas)

 enchilada night!(michelle is enchilada master)

 how coffee is served in hayes valley.

 my new juicer. i watched fat sick and nearly dead while i was...sick.. and a little fat...and decided the main reason it was taking so long for me to get well was my lack of micronutrients.

dinner tonight - spinach kale carrot apple cucumber lime juice and a slice of homemade bread.

Best Video Ever.

POOM!

Dress Angst

It might be because everything is breaking at work so I have too much time to online shop or I'm just really materialistic, but I have been having the hardest time deciding on what to wear to an upcoming wedding.

A few months ago this anthropologie dress went on sale and I was like perfect! done.

Then they cancelled my order because they oversold. Then I ordered the dress on ebay for the same price and USPS lost it. Then I found out you aren't even supposed to wear red to a wedding.

Then I saw this madewell dress. Perfect! done.

Then my size sold out. Then I also realized it kind of looked similar to a wedding dress.

So now I am so confused. I might borrow a dress from Loren but what if it doesn't fit? I found this dress at Jcrew and really like the color/shape but does it look too bridesmaid-y?




Or should I just get a simple whatever dress

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

SFCB

Last night was awesome. I went to San Francisco Center for the Book ( SFCB for short...which is really confusing because I also recently joined SFBC) for a 3 hour 'Personalized Stationary Letterpress' class. I patted myself on the back for cleverly signing up for this and not their 'Introduction to letterpress' class which is always PACKED(the stationary class covers the exact same things as the intro course ) . There were only 6 people and 3 vandercook letterpresses to share between us. So luxurious!

I got to (finally) set my own type, choose a color, and print a bunch of stationary! 

one of the vandercooks oohhhh...

slugs - for line spacing

furniture - to keep everything in place on the press

setting my first type! they had SO many typefaces to choose from - i switched twice before landing on this. For the first set I (eventually) chose 'pack my box' - kind of random but i liked the clean, vintagey look of it. 

 inking the press - sorry for some reason blogspot keeps rotating these last few pictures :( 

 finished product!

i had an hour left and asked the teacher if there was time to do another set - she was like 'if you hurrryyyy...maybe just do an image' ..then i found an entire drawer of birds hahahaa i wish i took a picture of that. but anyway i through this together( typeface is just futura) and forgot to take any pictures of the set..but really it was not very exciting. 

anyway. maybe i'll put some of this new stationary up on my etsy! the paper is divine - i forget what it was called but it is made from linen and is velvety/pillow soft!

new videos

new videos posted to my vimeo.

1.my grandma's woman of valor ceremony in march. i had kind of thrown it to the side because i had forgotten to record anything besides the speeches - no room to insert cute music meant nothing to work with...at the time. but then after last week..which i guess is 2 weeks ago now..things changed. and i was so happy i had recorded my grandma's last public speech. she comes in around minute 13..other family and friends speak before that.



2. more fun video - just a catch up of home movies from dec - apr. all caught up now!

some light

i got home yesterday just in time to see some actual sunlight peeking through my bay window. my studio faces north so i had never seen this before but the sun was setting and a single honey colored ray poked through to my succulent table. 

many of these are new additions- my grandma and i shared a love of succulents so i took some of hers home with me when i left santa cruz.

jelly beans sprouting!

have you seen the tumblr trextrying? it is so ridiculously cute.i thought of it last night as i was planting a new clipping into the soil. it was too heavy to support itself so i looked for something to prop it up with. i grabbed this plastic trex toy(because who doesn't have toy dinosaurs scattered all over their apartment duh) and his arms instantly clutched the clipping - it was perfect! trex triumphed! 

and my stop motion project is still in effect- i put the first month's pictures in the computer yesterday - it has already grown so much! (i like the intense flash in this picture - it's like domo is reporting on site in the jungle or something)

oh yeah - anyone see gmail tap on april 1st? i thought it was pretty good. i knew my dad would be into it too: 

last week

last week my grandma passed away. i should probably go into how great our relationship was, all the things she did for me. but i feel like I've been doing that nonstop for what feels like forever now. and it's exhausting. because what i really want to say is last week was the most horrible week of my life. at least that's what i kept saying in my head. and then quickly followed by this guilt driven '...you spoiled girl'. because if the worst thing in my life so far has been my grandma dying, then i guess i've had a pretty easy life...mostly because of her. ironic. hah. it was sudden and fast. unexpected and simply horrible. but i just thought i'd mention it because it was so odd sitting in temple, feeling like bullets were shooting through my heart anytime anyone said anything to me about her. thinking to myself 'this is the most horrible day of my life...you spoiled spoiled girl'.

when i got back home i was about to go to a dark dark place. and then brian took me bike riding.

 15 miles and 3 scoops of  mr. and mrs. miscellaneous ice cream later, i was feeling a bit better(that's a picture of carlin ...not me)

typography tuesday

The other day a friend asked if I could set up a template to play around with indesign. Well. I am still working on the template ( hopefully that will be next week's post) but I thought it would be good to at least lay out how to set up a document because it is not exactly straightforward. 

I don't know if this is the best way to do it. It is certainly not the only way, but it is how I learned when I took a DESMA typography class in my last year of college(how this course was the best and most life changing class I have ever taken would require an entirely separate post) and has worked out for me. 

So here are the steps to set up a new, basic project in InDesign: 

1. Open a new document. just ok whatever default size/settings are there - we will adjust it all in a minute.

2. We want our units to be in inches because I don't know about you but judging the size of a pica is a little above my head. 

so go to indesign > preferences > units and increments

then select 'inches' in the dropdown menu for both 'horizontal' and 'vertical'.

3. Cool! Now it will be much easier to select the size of the document. 

go to file > document setup

From here you can select the width and height of the document (in inches woo!) 

4. Oooook almost ready to actually do something! Last thing is to make sure you have all the tools you need to create whatever it is you are creating. There are a bunch - if you click on 'window' at the top you will see just how many. 

There are 3 or 4 I like to have available at all times:

- The main toolbar should already be on your screen(shown below on the lower left with the      arrows, shapes, and buttons on it) 

- Some other ones you will want will include the character toolbar - easiest way to get that is to just press cmd+t for mac or ctrl + t for pc. This is super important because it is where you adjust your fonts, sizes, and spacing WHOA!

- Finally the 'Pages' and 'Color' windows are good to have around. 'Pages' is a great overview of what you have going on and..believe it or not, you can add additional PAGES by simply dragging the white square under the ones that are displayed. Don't use the master pages unless you know what they are*. And the 'Color' does exactly what it sounds like.

* Master pages are kind of like an overall template. If you create a master page, then all of your pages will have what is on it. it is mainly used for books to display page numbers/column widths/etc.

5. woohoo!! Now the fun can start! To make a text box just click on the T in the main toolbar, drag whatever size you like in the main doc, type something out, and start messing around :)

basically all of my dreams answered

as i was doing my usual hunt for whatever bow-laden clothing i saw zooey deschanel wearing on the latest episode of new girl, i came across everything i have ever wanted.

wwzdw.com 

videoz

new video of pretty old stuff. I have 100% neglected imovie since I moved. Another 5 months of clips to come soon...
 

things i want that will never go on sale

There have been some items lately(as in the past 6 months) that have really been nagging at me. I hate paying full price. I always have a promo code for online purchases and if it doesn't have it's original price covered with a markdown sticker, I will rarely touch it in stores. I always check craigslist before going to ikea.

These items are all expensive.They will not be going on sale anytime soon. Actually the only way I foresee a discount is if I hunt down a warehouse sale or win a blog giveaway that happens to be featuring them.

1. Lo and Sons O.G. bag  - $295
This is the quintessential 'weekend bag', designed to fit a laptop, extra pair of shoes, and whatever else for a quick trip down to la. It has been featured on two giveaways and of course I lost both times. I guess I should really consider getting up with this twitter fad because at about 300 bucks, it is just too much for me to spend on something I would pull out only five or so times a year. Gah I would feel so chic at airport security though :/

via lo & sons

2. Woody's Bamboo Fenders - $140
I got a Public bike last week. Mostly because my walks back home to Hayes Valley from the Mission were getting a little too long and creepy for my taste. It's been fun and scary(this was my first time taking the bike out - my manic face comes out when i am either terrified or there is really good cake in front of me)

via public bike and my iphone

Anyway, my bike is ORANGE and also one of the older first generation bikes..meaning my fenders don't match like the newer models! I'm planning to add front and rear racks, but augh these fenders. I have some intense cycling friends and even their intense cycling fenders are cheaper than this. Also, I really don't foresee myself biking in the rain. This is just to make visiting my friends easier and safer at night when public transit isn't a sensible option. So unless I happen to go to Oregon where these are made and run across a Woody's sample sale, I'm not quite sure what I'll do about this. Maybe I can just cover the fenders I have now with wooden contact paper ;)

3. DON'T JUDGE ME!
Ok. This one is weird. But I do really want it. The Hatch Collection Coat in twill runs for $338. Oh yeah. and it is a maternity coat. BUT. the whole point of the collection is for it to a be a transitional piece that works before and after pregnancy too. I'm nowhere near being close to even thinking about being a pregnant lady, but I already kind of dress like one. Jeggings, loose sweaters, moccasins...these are my staples. and this coat is FLEECE LINED SO COZY! but with 3/4 sleeves you can still keep cool. I just think it looks so chic and easy and would keep things dressed up outside while being a slumber party inside. Out of the three items I have listed this piece is the one I would most likely buy because I would probably wear it everyday. But still. $340? I rarely go over $100 for any one piece of clothing. We'll see if I crack.

: (

I have 2 cavities. I have never had a cavity. EVER. I am very sad about it. No more perfect record :( :( :(

via mymilktoof

uhmmm may we discuss spoonflower for a moment?

during my daily blog reading today, i saw this  arrow print in sfgirlbybay's post. oh man that is some cute fabric. spurred by my recent and slightly frustrating trip to michael levine this past weekend, i got VERY excited about this newfound website. basically anyone can create/design a fabric pattern, share it with people, and spoonflower will produce it!!! the price is kind of $$$ (all the prints i want are $18 a yard) but the designs are like nothing i have found anywhere else. i usually come across 1 or 2 of these prints in an ENTIRE fabric store and here they are - by the thousands! i've started a pinterest board because once my cart got up to over $100, i considered that maybe i should think about my choices first. or start planning a quilt :)

In other news, the rare baby bunny Til recently faced his tragic end - at his first press conference, a cameraman accidentally stepped on him:(

metropolis

in la for the weekend- today i checked out the metropolis exhibit at LACMA - very cool. maybe i will make a video soon.

the boulder has arrived!

erin and anne marie drove up and we got delicious chai at profetta :)

that's all for now :) hoping to make it to some bead stores and michael levine tomorrow.