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Chau and B.J.'s notes from Space City

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My spring break is drawing to an end, and, like I do with most weekends, I’m left wishing I’d done more before it ended, and probably dwelling a little too much on it all. But it’s been a pretty great week so far. I got to wake up late and it wasn’t pitch dark, eat multiple lunches with BJ, organize the house, hang out with my siblings, enjoy the spring weather, tackle loads of laundry, and work on fall orders for the store. We’ve also been watching The Americans. I’ll always be a Keri Russell fan (Felicity forever!), and although it was a little slow to start for me, I’m pretty hooked. The 80′s look good on her too.

While cleaning the house, I took some pictures of some of the things I’ve been collecting or using frequently. From the top: new comfy Anniel shoes from Leap and hat from Creatures of Comfort, Mujji restock from our last trip to NY, bits of fabric and packaging remnants from Julia and Shara + pretty business card I found in NY, and some of the art supplies I’ve using these days. Still obsessed with stamps!

 

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Yesterday, we took BJ’s mom, who’s in town for the week, and some of my family to the MFAH. I took phone shots of a few of my favorites from the museum’s collection while our moms and my aunt walked through the War Photography exhibit.

2012 was definitely a trying year for the both of us—apart from the opening of a store, we had a lot of change going on. Looking back, I definitely got burned out, and I often didn’t handle the stress in the best way. But I feel very hopeful and determined to have a healthier and restorative year. Moving into our current place (smaller and in a more walkable neighborhood) was a step in the right direction. This year we’re resolving to take time to visit our city’s museums. They’re only a short walk or drive away.  We’ve already had two museums visits so far—not bad for the first month. Here are a few other goals. I tried to keep it simple:

+ Decompress each night by reading or drawing in bed. Close the screens, put down the phones.
+ Call, write, text my friends in other states at least a couple of times a month.
+ Drink water & eat breakfast.
+ Collaborate, create, and continue to practice my craft.
+ Watch movies with BJ.
+ Be a more patient and better teacher, wife, sister, daughter, friend, etc.

 

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A stop at the Menil Collection, which is amazingly close to our new place. At the Twombly gallery, the guard who was working the front desk on the day we got engaged was on duty.

We’re working on getting the images bigger and cleaning up the blog during my break. Apologies for any distractions/disruptions.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday! Here are a few shots from this month.

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I’m almost done with a roll of film, so hopefully those turn out okay! Most of my time behind the camera these days are for shooting M&S stock, so I haven’t really picked up the camera just for fun. I’m slowly would like to balance that out a bit more.

Lately, I’ve enjoyed working with soft carving blocks. It’s much faster than linoleum although it probably won’t hold up as long. Like beading or paper cut, the required repetitive motions totally gets me into relaxation mode. I ended up making a of wrapping paper for the holidays, and I’m looking forward to hosting a workshop later at the store. For Christmas, I was lucky to be gifted several of Angel’s ceramic pieces. I love her use of color and pattern. We’re brainstorming ideas for a collaboration later so tuned! And finally, BJ’s been working on some new lettering that I’m really excited about. Here’s his recent one for Myth & Symbol.

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Cheers friends!

Crossing my fingers that we can have a couple of months where things feel more settled. The week long break was so nice for me to get caught up at the store and feel a little more restored.

So since I last posted, this is what we’ve been up to:

  1. We finally settled into our new place and loving it! We’ve been walking to the grocery store, coffee shops, and exploring our new neighborhood
  2. BJ’s been working on some freelancing and applying to jobs. Check out his new portfolio here.
  3. I nervously hosted my first workshop at M&S. It was a blast and I got to meet new people.
  4. Cheering on the Irish! #1
  5. Watched and loved SkyFall and Silver Linings Playbook
  6. Caught up on Nashville and Revenge
  7. Planning collaborations and pop ups with different creatives.

As always, so thankful for all my friends and family for their support this year. Love y’all. Best advice I heard this week to avoid burning out – take mini breaks and have a good cry. Going to Miami to see good friends getting hitched this weekend comes at the best time, and I’m sure there will be happy tears flowing.

* I fell in love the Sammie (above) this weekend. We let her sleep between us which I think is totally breaking hers rules. shh.

Moving definitely has to be one of the top 5 things I hate (It may even top flying cockroaches). For the past five years, I think we’ve moved at least every 1 -1.5 years, and now in a couple of months, we have to do it again. Luckily, our landlord is giving us a few months notice but the search has been less than fruitful.  It’ll be awhile before we buy our own house, but we were really warming up to our current place! Things were getting hung, plants were potted, outdoor furniture was bought, and we were warming up to all the add cracks and stubborn drawers. Oh well, on the bright side of things, this is a great opportunity to edit and purge. Send us some good luck vibes please!

 

A few outtakes from the last roll. Between navigating buildout hiccups and the less fun details of starting a business, BJ and I took a break to shoot a few items of M&S stock in the MFAH sculpture garden and around the house. I always have an easier time shooting film than digital, although I know it’s not always a feasible option.

A big thank you to Ameet and my sister for handling a lot of the buildout (especially while we’re away) and BJ for being a patient stand-in model and taking the photos. In the future, I probably will be the one behind the camera—I looked so awkward in most of the unused shots!

 

Did everyone have a good Memorial Weekend? Things are picking up with M&S just as the school year is winding down. It’s been exciting, stressful, and rewarding – sometimes one more than the other. I’ll be back with more to share on the store progress and hopefully some personal watercolors that I need to finish. Next week, BJ and I will be heading to NY for a few days for work. Looking forward to squeezing in a movie and some good eats once work stuff is squared away.

Photos from above: Stopped by the Empty Bowls event and brought home some  hand made pieces, visited Igby a few times, new/old rug to add some color to the bedroom, dyed rope all Monday for the store.

This weekend was all social, and I’m glad we ventured out (we tend to be major homebodies) to spend time with family and friends.

Saturday: Shopped for organizational stuff at Ikea and bought some outdoor furniture on a whim (they can do it to ya huh?), saw Avengers with my siblings and cousins, played games at D&B, scored a personal best of 49 on the basketball game, and got our fill of Vietnamese food at Huynh’s.

Sunday, all the to-dos went out the window after meeting Steve, a local ceramist and fellow Domer (’74). We originally planned to meet up briefly to talk about his work, but soon hours passed as we bonded over rounds of his home brews, dog Ginger Lee, whiskey tastings, and watched an Japanese video from way back showing old techniques and processes. I learned about Steve through his work on the Oxheart website, and I’m so happy we made contact. He is such a kind soul and it was one of those afternoons we’ll look fondly back on. If you’re in Houston this weekend, you can take home a piece of Steve or other local maker’s work through the Empty Bowls project for the Houston Food Bank. We’re also planning on bringing his work to the store once it opens!

After our meeting, we hung out at a friend’s salon. I decided to try something new and got highlights for the first time. It took a little getting use to, but I’m like how it turned out. Although I don’t know how people can do this regularly. I’m too impatient to sit under the dryer haha.

Last week of regular school before finals. I’m looking forward to the summer! Hope everyone has a good week.