Seasons Changing

Transitioning from Fall to Winter....

fallen leaves from our trees.

Feast for the eyes

I know these ridiculous photos created by Forsman & Bodenfors & Carl Kleiner for Ikea’s new baking book, Hembakat är Bäst (Homemade Is Best) have already traveled around already...but I needed to share it here!
Conceptually this is very similar to what I did for L&G's Superior Servers where each photo had an arrangement of ingredients for a dish....except they did it THOUSANDS times better and have taken it to a WHOLE other level that just totally blew my photos out of the water...and my mind.

I went with simple route and did dishes like ...caprice salad, berries with mint, and rosemary ham with potatoes....
And that was hard enough just shooting those 3 photos picking out the perfect-looking uniform sized cherry tomatoes, berries, mint leaves and all that...and oh...and that piece of picture perfect ham cost me $45.....I'll never forget that moment when I laid my eyes on it at the deli....I immediately called Dylan and said "I think we found our perfect ham..."
It's not very often where I would get so excited over a piece of meat...but boy was that a fine-lookin' piece of ham!

So with that said, I can only imagine how long it takes to plan and making the arrangement for all these recipes! There are only 50,000 of the book printed and only offered at Ikeas in Sweden....bummer...
So until I can fly over there and get a copy myself, I just have to enjoy them here.

Also this video showing the making of it is pretty awesome, too.

IKEA – Homemade is Best. from Forsman & Bodenfors on Vimeo.

Oh! You Silly (stupid) Bird you...

Found this amazing but pretty hilarious photo taken by the cool peeps of Pacific Standard. They saw this crazy bird's impression left on their window pane which they assume that the bird (hawk?) was trying to attack their cat not realizing there was a window in front of it...and then ended up flying straight into the window dead on...If only someone had actually witnessed the bird flying into the window and caught the facial impression on the birds face when it realized what they just did...as the bird peels itself off from it. That would have been priceless...
Apparently the bird was fine (besides losing it's dignity) since they didn't find the bird dead outside their window...so it's ok to laugh out loud. :)

Via Pacific Standard

Time for Beach

Was just going through some photos and found this one that I took when I was last in Taiwan, which I'm especially fond of...
it reminds me that I really need to get my butt over to the beach and start enjoying the summer!

BRITE lite RESULTS!!

Hello! We apologize for the delay!! We held our first BRITE event on May, 16. We FINALLY went through the photos (I took 400+ photos!) and can now share with everyone what a fun event it was!

Just to backtrack a little, Dylan & I and Christa & Nin (from Cafe Weekend) teamed up to organize this design charrette (and a trial run) with a mission to start connecting people through interactive and spontaneous design activities. We're calling it the BRITE Collective.

For this first event: BRITE lite, LOCAL DESIGNERS & CRAFTERS teamed up to participate in a spontaneous 4 hour community scavenger hunt/design-build to create ready-made lamps from household and second hand materials.
There was a good turn out with 18 people (total of 9 teams) who participated that day. We asked people to bring materials to share with everyone and there were a great mix of lamps that came from it. We gave every team a BRITE lite kit...which I had a little too much fun with. :D
Everyone also got a special wooden BRITE badge! Our plan is to do that for every event! ...I mean , who wouldn't want to be rewarded for such accomplishments! A simple badge is a perfect item that says "HEY! I accomplished something today and that's a wonderful feeling! (blank stare and a giant stiff smile)" And THAT's pretty darn special, wouldn't you agree? We were all about making this event special. Christa even went and got some cheerful balloons!
It was a beautiful Seattle day so we were able to open the garage door at the Hiawatha community space and some people worked outside or walked to the nearby Goodwill Dearborn to hunt for interesting materials for their lights.
Nin and I were in charge of documentenging the event...we followed people around trying taking candid shots capturing their process at the Goodwill. And in the process of taking photos, I crept around like a creepy stalker trying not to get noticed....and also trying to stop myself from shopping. That was hard.Oh and look! Here's Steve with his new Friend! Apparently he decided to replace his hand with a rubber dinosaur head instead. Oh! all the wonderful things you can find!
It was so inspiring to creative energy in the room and see everyone brainstorming, sketching, playing ,and exploring with materials. It was just amazing to see everyone use ordinary things and turn it into something extraordinary!!

Okay I'll stop with the talking.. On with the results!

Here are some lights people made in 4 hours! Drum roll.....

Pair of hanging lights made with walnut edge banding and paper cups by Lindsay & Sena.

Table lamp made with stainless thermos and glass coffee pot by Joelle & Steve. Hanging shade made with wire ring, staples, and letter envelopes by Mat & Dylan. Table lamp wit braille paper and Stevie Wonder record at the base by Christine & Nick. Hanging chandelier made with mix match of magazine organizers by Chika & Cat.Come see TONS more photos here to see the entire process! The lights will also be exhibited at JOIN's Ctrl Alt Design show at Ouch My Eye, beginning June 12th, with the opening starting from 7-midnight.

If you like what you're seeing and would like to know about our future events, please join our BRITE facebook !

Thanks to everyone who participated. It was a very fun day and great way to kick off the BRITE Collective!!

Abby Done It Again

Photographer and blogger, Abby, from Abby try again last year opened her online shop selling her beautiful photographs taken with film cameras. And since beginning of the year she started a collaborating with Chelsea from Arugala Press...Their new project, Print + Press, is where each month one photograph (by Abby) and one art print (by Chelsea) will be produced and sold as a set in limited edition.
Each month they focus on a theme that correlates with the season, the mood, or things that they did that month. Each Print+Press pack is only $20. Visit their shop, here! Make sure to read about their process! You'll appreciate the thoughtfulness and the care they put 100 times more. I've been looking at them repeatedly and still, I can't decided on which to go with...since I want them all! (My natural tendencies is that I want everything!)
Seeing such talented people creating such wonderful work together makes me very envious of life in Portland! Having to have grown up in Eugene, OR, I appreciate the even more laid back lifestyle. I think it's really what makes Portland so unique as a city. They're a small city with big ideas. Their openness to new ideas allow lots of great things to happen. I think it's the fact that most people there seem to be more uninhibited, and there's a general honesty and distinctive charm in their work whether it be art, fashion, food, design, or lifestyle. Perhaps one day collaborating between Portlanders and Seattleites can happen...until then, I just gotta decide which Print+Press pack to get!

Happy Anniversary Happy Anniversary

Today is Dylan and I's 5th year of unmarried anniversary!! I know it's April fool's day, but I'm not here to fool anyone...If that was the case, it would be the lamest joke ever.

To give you a little background story, Dylan and I met at UW when we were both in the industrial design department. It took us 2 long years before we became official. It was similar to Pam & Jim on the Office (we like to compare ourselves to fictional TV characters...) where we were both too shy to do anything besides making dumb jokes and goofing around. It wasn't until 2004 when we went on a class roadtrip to a design conference in San Francisco where we officially became an item....along with the help of a little alcohol. :P
We're not proud to say that we had to resort to that, but sometimes they sure come in handy! :D
But now...we're not quite sure how we're going to tell our kids that...I suppose we can tell them when they're in their 30's.
The following year, we spent our first anniversary in our most unforgettable trip when we went on a study abroad trip to Rome for almost 3 months. (more photos, here) Going through all the photos brought back so many memories. I made a little booklet for Dylan as our fist anniversary gift before actually going to Rome. The book was titled "w/o Words" and they're just series of images that highlights our first year together with silly graphics. (FYI, I'm not a graphic designer, so don't mind my horrible layout)The front & back cover of the book
We started dating in April, so just a little chart showing our year from month to month.
Yes....This is how and where it happened. Shots of Absolut Mandrin in SF. Oh yeah...what a romantic beginning.
And then Teddy Bear (Dylan) and Taiwanese Doll (Jean) is in love. He can't call me Chinese Doll, because I'm not from China....and yes, there is a difference.
When I dream, I tend to dream of flying with butterflies in lollipop wonderland.
Dylan on the other hand dreamt that the Space Needle was on fire...That's when I fell in love with his humanitarian character. But Space Needle...really? I can care less about that thing let alone dream about it. :P
and THAT was our first breakfast we made together....you know what that means..(double wink...with both eyes) It was supposed to be chocolate pancake, but they didn't quite turn out the way we wanted to. We ate it anyways event though it looked like dog crap.
We took a short trip to Lyon & St. Etienne in France for School. We like that poster of Bush and the message saying "Cloning, no thanks!" That other poster totally CRACK us up! This bizarre wall art was in a romantic French style hotel room we stayed in. Everything about the room was beautiful and perfect, white soft bed with clean bedding, sheer laced curtain in front of a tall window with ornate iron fence and a view of the city...and then there was that print! The dreamy flower garden with an empty chair, a cello leaning against it and a draped white cloth...and then there's the German Shepperd staring at it....HUH?!?
These are photos I took of different knobs and door details in France. I love the colors and character of it all. But the facial expression on that thing on the right totally kills us, too. We thought it was hilarious that it was on a fancy public fountain. That was the face we made when we were looking at the poster with the German Shepperd. :D
And that's us, super-imposed around Rome....and with Pope John Paul II. Awesome!
THE END.

Storytime on Poppytalk Part II

This is our second storytime post. It's a book by Tana Hoban, an amazing photographer and children's book publisher. This book if from the 70's and the photos are simply beautiful. It's fun for both adults and kids to read!

Check out the post, here to see the inside of the book!

And that's suppose to be me holding the book...hee hee.

F YEAH!

I just have to gloat about the newest edition to my camera collection: A 1960's Nikon F + fun bells and whistles. Back in the day, this camera was the workhorse in many pro photographers' arsenals. Now that I finally picked one up, I know why...this photo-machine is tough as tank, very versatile and takes grrreat photos!

The coolest part about the camera is that the finder is interchangeable. It came with a standard metered finder, but it can be switched out with a waist level viewer like the old TLR Rolleiflexes and Hasselblads. I just got my waist level finder and can't wait to take some shots with it...there's something about the perspective in shooting from waist level that makes things look so much more interesting.

I wanted to share some of my second roll of film (black and white mostly taken in Portland, OR). I'm pretty happy about the way they turned out and can't wait to hit the streets again (packin' the waist level finder this time).

More on L&G Flickr.