texas foreva

| October 19, 2010

Our dear friend Ben is leaving this morning after a few days’ stay down here. So this weekend was spent filling up on Rudy’s BBQ, solving Lone Star puzzle caps at Warren’s, grilling, watching ND cream Western Michigan (I think I took a little nap during the game but I did overhear a Tim Riggins’ cheer before a round of shots), multiple episodes of Eastbound and Down, Zombieland, Whataburger, and much much more. Texas foreva.

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  1. Keepin’ it classy
  2. A little music while we eat. BenK on the melodica and Andrew on the guitar
  3. Waiting to eat Max’s Wine and Dive‘s delicious fried egg sandwich & a smiley-faced chocolate chip pancake for me
  4. The plant with 9 lives. Maybe my plant-killing days are over
  5. Monday night dinner at Christian’s Tailgate
  6. Smallest burger they have.

a break

| October 18, 2010

Winding down. I rarely eat my lunch during the sadly allotted 15 minutes, so my end-of-the-day conference period is a combination of lunch, catching up with work, and giving my feet a break.

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My trick to getting myself to finishing a sandwich: adding Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar between the layers. It’s like magic.

de-stressing

| October 15, 2010

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Simple pleasures that relieve stressful moments: painting my nails, taking pictures, Sonic’s Strawberry Limeade, ginger ale in a can, Trader Joe’s ginger snaps (which I guess is not so simple because my dad only gets them for me during his business trips to Atlanta), and buying new makeup.

I’m trying to get in the routine of free drawing everyday. And as a self-imposed rule, I’m not allowed to pre draw or erase. So far, this Copic multliiner is one my favorites. (Hey teacher friends, you get 10% off at Texas Art Supply)

restored

| October 11, 2010

Oh man. On Thursday, I slept through my alarm and BJ had to drive me to work (since me + stress+ Houston highways = bad morning), dealt with a few difficult kiddos who made me consider throwing in the towel, and, for the third time, missed seeing Beach House! And this was only 1 day out of a pretty rough work week for the both of us. So this weekend—filled with food, family, friends, and alliteration—certainly restored our spirits a bit.

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We had friends over on Friday for wine, snacks, and girls-versus-guys Taboo. After the girls beat the guys, I went to bed early, but everyone else drank and talked until 3 a.m. The next morning, we hung out with Mai and her dog Scrappy at the new Market Square Park downtown. She invited our cousins over to her place afterwards for slowly cooked lamb shanks, ribeye steaks, mashed sweet potatoes, and bacon-looped jalapeños loaded with cream cheese. Highlight of the weekend, though, had to be playing with Scrappy, who loved to jump onto the bed and spoon. (Meanwhile, Igby was in such a territorial, jealous mood all day; her inner Napoleon rose to the surface.)

sun kissed

| September 29, 2010

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(photo by Bill)

Last weekend, we made our trip up to the northeast for a backyard wedding party. BJ’s mom went all out with the decorations, cooking, and assorted prep work. She even had a cartoonishly enlarged close-up of us that BJ half-jokingly referred to as the Asian funeral poster. We were so lucky to see many of his relatives and parents’ friends and to have Uncle Bob sing and play his accordion during the party.

We badly needed a break, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather, which was surprisingly chilly at times and much much drier than Houston’s (hello, smooth hair!) Saturday morning, as we walked from his dad’s to his mom’s and toured the town with the windows rolled down, I was like a broken record expressing how awesome the weather was. I loved being in the valley surrounded by all the hills, and the drive back to Seattle was picturesque with the evergreens, low clouds slash thick fog, fly-fishermen, orchards, and rocky cliffs.

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BJ’s dad also let me test-drive an old Canon of his and—ahhhh!—I thought I took a good amount of nice portraits, only to discover I left the flash on. Those flash-on photos were washed out and gave people unhealthy, morgue-like complexions. Above are a few sun-kissed photos that I liked. With all that light in the lens, they suggest amateur versions of Fader photos. The girl in the second photo is Carly, my fellow cake lover and a little friend of the family. (And daughter of the sultan of Brunei’s former oral surgeon.)

mismatched

| September 21, 2010

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Mismatched photos from the last few weekends, which have been relatively busy and continue to be. We’re looking forward to seeing B’s side of the family and visiting the east coast this weekend.

And after that, I hope for a little bit of stillness, some time to work on my own projects, a moment to sit, and a chance to sleep in.

Colony

| September 20, 2010

I remember working at a show in Boston and seeing Steven and William Ladd’s Ant War Box wishing I could one day own a little piece of their work. The closest I’ve come: picking up the issue of American Craft with the feature on the Ladd brothers. Their new Colony necklace finally brings their one-of-a-kind work within reach (of my budget).

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Available at Anthropologie and in silver and brass on their website.

Speaking of jewelry, I wish I could be in NYC this week for this Hannah Clark sale and Odette Open Studio.

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| September 19, 2010

When I was living away from home, I always looked forward to the handmade cards my sister and brother sent. These are recent cards by Ky, my only brother. Where does he get these ideas?! I think he should start an online comic.Check out his flickr.

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Aladdin + Yao Ming B-day card

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LOTR Christmas comic

Brooklyn Wedding

| September 7, 2010

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BJ and I were fortunate to travel to Brooklyn over Labor Day weekend for our friends’, Cassie and Jamie’s, wedding. There was sunshine and breezes the whole time; I can’t remember when I last slept with the window open. I wish our trip had been much longer, but we squeezed in plenty of eating and visiting in those 2.5 days. After the beautiful ceremony and reception, the highlight of the trip was meeting our friends for brunch. These trips are also a little bittersweet because they are a reminder of how dispersed our old ND community is. So we live for these mini reunions.

I shot with an inexpensive film camera during our trip and will post them soon*, but this was the invitation cover BJ and I made for the couple.

Update: A few good pictures from the camera. I think I had the focus setting wrong so a lot were blurry.

* One of our bags was stolen on our last night, and I thought the pictures were lost forever, but Vanessa found it lying in a neighbor’s trashcan. Unbelievable!