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.
Happy New Year! Wishing all of you the best for 2013!
(Doodle by BJ)
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday! Here are a few shots from this month.
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.
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:
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. Â 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.
The little things: finished my first weaving project, catching up on 3191 Quarterly, and eating lots of Texas peaches.
Happy Teacher Appreciation Day to all my teachers especially my RISD peeps, Tuey, and Megan!
When things get a little crazy around here, we tend to eat out, load up on sweets (mainly me), and just get frazzled – it’s just not good all around. So last week, I took a little break to regroup, tidy up our place, hang some pictures, eat lots of fresh fruit, cook simple meals, visit my mom and Igby several times – and take home new plants she potted for us. Friday night, I decided what the heck, let’s go to Austin for the weekend. So BJ, my sister Tam, and I left everything behind for a relaxing couple of days. It was just what we needed.
It’s mainly been quiet around here with my teaching and work ing on the store. I’ve been picking up a few vintage pieces here and there to furnish the space. Just as we were leaving Uncommon Objects, BJ spotted the fold out mirror pictured below. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with mirrors – especially old shaving mirrors-  even though we really don’t need more. So I said – Hey, if the store doesn’t need it, I’ll buy it for our place. Said the same thing goes for that rug. (I promise the M&S gets first dibs though!) We’ll start posting more often here, if you want to keep up with our progress.
