Where I Discuss Being a Wife.

Image from Pop + Shorty via design work life.

My dear friend Emily (one part of frenchie and flea) is getting married on Saturday to her long time sweetheart and I couldn't be more happy for the two of them. I'm so excited for the wedding (and obviously the reception!), even if it's partly so I can selfishly relive what it felt like on my wedding day a little more than a year ago.

While I was getting my hair cut and colored this weekend (So overdue by the way. I hadn't been to the salon since November. Egad is right!), my stylist, cued by the girl getting her hair done for her own wedding, asked me what it's like being married. That's a hard thing to answer because it's not really different per se, but there is a real, albeit subtle and nuanced, difference.

Being married is just nice. Nice is normally a word I hate but I think it captures what marriage is like - it's knowing that someone will be holding your hand for years to come as you try to navigate this crazy world. And there is an amazing, indescribable comfort in that knowledge. I just hope that one day very, very soon every one will have the legal opportunity to hold that hand.

Cheers to Emily and Meeko!

The Path to Happiness.

By Blog.H34 via TypCut thanks to Lori at automatism.

So true, so true! And even though it's simple, it still manages to map out the path to happiness perfectly. I need to bookmark this or better yet, wallpaper my house with it. There are many days where I need to remind myself that it really is this easy.

Tail Between My Legs.

I'm sure anyone who reads my blog is also an avid devotee of Apartment Therapy. So, imagine my enthusiasm when they were looking for a new blogger in San Francisco. Sweet!

My uber-stylish friend Thuy referred me to a couple she knows that has a gorgeous apartment. Melinda and David invited me into their home, welcomed me with a mimosa and allowed me to attempt to capture the heart and soul of their vibrant abode. I took tons of photos, but had to narrow it down to five to submit to AT. That was an incredibly difficult task considering all the great images I had.

I mean, look at these photos! Not to pat myself on the back, but you know, home run, right? Er, well maybe not so much when one misspells knick knacks in her post. Still, I'm pretty excited to be a finalist for the next SF blogger position.

So, feel free to check out the post. And in a last attempt at shameless self promotion, if you like any of it please feel free to post a comment. No need to point out the typos though as I think someone has already taken care of that.

Oh Oh Alberto.

Muchísimas gracias to Color + Design Blog for bringing this stunning illustrator to my attention. Alberto Cerriteño is a Mexican designer currently based in Portland, Oregon where he works as a Senior Creative Director for Curiosity Group. He sites his influences as "lowbrow artists and contemporary surrealists." To me, his work feels a bit "Ren & Stimpy" meets Barry McGee meets Tim Burton meets Jim Flora (thanks for that introduction Alison). Don't be thrown off by the overwhelming amount of bluish hues here. He works in all shades...I was just drawn to this particular color story this morning (as I am nearly every morning).

All images courtesy of Alberto Cerriteño.

The Good Husband.

The other night Chris and I were enjoying some Prosecco at our favorite little enoteca when he asked what that day's blog post was. I answered with, "My exhaustive list of fall clothes I NEED." Since he's a good husband, he obliged and asked what comprised that list. His eyes basically glazed over as I expounded on the importance of the boyfriend blazer and ankle bootie in one's sartorial arsenal. But His ears perked up when I mentioned the leather jacket. This shouldn't have surprised me. He's asked on multiple occasions why I do not own leather pants.

When we got home, he grabbed the computer and told me to show him my favorite so I pulled up the Anthropologie jacket economically priced at $248. He thought it was "nice," but asked about other ones we could peruse. (Note: This is my husband. The one who hates shopping for himself, let alone dressing himself, and he wanted to online shop with me. It was awesome!) This led us to the Barney's website where he found the jacket for me, all $1,100 of it.

A.L.C. Asymmetric Leather Jacket

Please realize that there is no way in hell we could afford this jacket...now. Chris has, well, I won't call them delusions, but aspirations of hitting it big and when that day comes he'd love nothing more than to buy me that jacket. Until then, I'd take this one to hold me over. And Christmas is coming after all...

Lucky Brand Burnett Leather Jacket

!!!

I can't believe this country does not recognize today as a paid holiday. It's just disrespectful to every quotation mark, asterisk, em dash and type lover (moi) out there. It's a dying appreciation thanks to the advent of text messaging. I'm sure much of today's youth has no idea how to properly use a semi-colon or parenthesis beyond this - ;) Don't get me wrong. I couldn't live without text messaging either, but I still punctuate my sentences. Rant. Done.

In honor of this blessed holiday, I leave you with 37 images of the best punctuation mark ever...the ampersand (with a close second being the ellipses which you know if you follow this blog).

Happy National Punctuation Day! Be sure to celebrate responsibly.

(Click on the image below to go to my flickr favorites to see each individual photo.)


And because I just can't get enough...

Baby Boy Was Me.

So, I've determined there are two types of people in this world: those that love "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and those that abhor it. Apparently not everyone appreciates jokes about abortion or underage drinking or sodomy or crack or homelessness or North Korea or blasting one's nips or pronouncing "boy's soul" like "boy's hole." And I guess there are also those that have no idea what I'm talking about. Okay, so three types of people.

If you happen to fall into the first category, yay! Welcome to the irreverent a-hole club. Oh, and guess what bitches? I'm going to see the cast perform their legendary play, "The Nightman Cometh," tonight. I cannot wait to see the waitress and Mac and Dee and Dennis, but honestly I'd go if the play only featured Charlie (this is why).

Completely Misdirected.

I glanced at my Google Analytics report this morning like I do every morning. Because I'm a numbers whore (in addition to a trend whore. see previous post), I check it religiously. Beyond the graphs and charts and reports, I also find it interesting to see what searches lead people to my blog. This morning I found the best search yet:

anal goddess, i love anal

Boy, I bet whomever stumbled upon my website after that search was disappointed. Maybe I'll start throwing around words like "porn" or "naked girls" or "foot fetish" in my posts just for fun from now on. That's one way to get people (men) to read my blog. Ah, reminds me of that random message I got on Facebook from some creepy guy who apparently liked my profile pic of the red shoes. His total message was "Is them your feet?" Ick.

Fall, Schmall.

I know I should hop on the "I love fall" bandwagon because it's what all the cool kids are doing, but while I'm incredibly excited by all the fun fashion that comes with it, the price tag associated with said fashion brings me to tears. And yet I've already started my wish list for fall/winter clothes:

• leather booties
• flat knee high (or over the knee if I dare) boots
• leather motorcycle jacket
• boyfriend blazer
• the perfect skinny jean (that also miraculously makes my thighs smaller)
  
• leopard print flats
• girlish ruffle-y blouses
• scarves, scarves and more scarves
• fun tights and knee high socks
• an uber-chic trench coat

Um, hello $1,500 I don't have. Fall, definitely more than summer, is that season where I envy every fashionable woman walking down the street in a coat I don't own paired with boots I can't afford over tights I could never pull off. And while I have boots and skinny jeans and tights and a trench already, I don't have any of those from this season, damnit.

Isn't that basically the same list that's in every single fashion mag about "fall's must have" pieces? There must be subliminal messages telling me what to buy on my iPhone as well (Yep, I had to buy one of those, too. Damn Apple marketing is so effective). Hi, I'm Jessica, and I'm a total sucker and a trend whore.

(Click on any of the images to go purchase these items right now. You can blame me if you are one of those that needs justification to buy things. It's fine.)

Unchartered Territory.

Yesterday, the husband and I went for a late afternoon walk through Golden Gate Park (it was our compromise after I allowed him to waste half of our day eating pizza, watching football and napping...okay, maybe "waste" is the wrong word).

Golden Gate Park is one of my great respites in this fine City. If you don't know much about GGP, it's actually 20% bigger than Central Park and was completely man made, built on sand and shore dunes. Starting by Haight Ashbury, it spans over 3 miles and ends at the Pacific Ocean. Within its 1,000+ acres the park houses an endless array of things to see : the Japanese Tea Garden, bison (for real), an archery field, a golf course and frisbee golf course, a fly fishing pool, the DeYoung Museum, the new California Academy of Sciences, a windmill, Spreckels Lake, the AIDS Memorial Grove, a botanical garden, and the list goes on and on.

Every time I enter the park, I stumble upon something I never noticed before. Thanks to a post over at Design*Sponge a week ago, I learned about the Dahlia Dell. Chris and I made our way behind the Conservatory of Flowers to discover this test garden of hundreds of varieties of dahlias. The bevy of colors reminded me of the poppy field scene in the Wizard of Oz. It's simply magnificent. We were very lucky to see it before all of the blooms die. If you don't make it to see the flowers, here are some pics (as well as a pic of the nearby succulent garden).

Summer Lovin', Happened So Fast.

In a poor attempt to save every last fleeting moment of summer, I sat inside and searched for sunshine on flickr. Wow, something is so incredibly wrong with that statement.

Nothing against fall (after all it does bring Fleet Week and Halloween and scarves and boots and changing leaves, but also shorter days and daylight savings time and a foreboding feeling of winter), but I just love summer. Well, not the summers that I grew up with in Arizona with 122 degree weather, but those I've enjoyed in California for the last 10 years. More specifically, summers in Encinitas with 70 degree water, 80 degree weather and evenings spent watching the sunset while doing this:

This is summer to me. Image from The California Surf Project.

In three months, I know I'll be referencing this post daily. Winter is always hard on me. As soon as time changes, I'm literally counting down the days until December 21st because at least after that each day gets longer.

I'm off to linger in these images for a bit. This talk of short days and no sun is bringing me down, man.

(Click on the image below to go to my flickr favorites to see each individual photo.)

PARK(ing) Day.

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid.

Tomorrow, September 18th, is the fifth annual PARK(ing) Day (or today if you are in Australia). Developed in 2005 by Rebar, a San Francisco art collective, PARK(ing) Day was a means to reflect on our urban landscape and how much is devoted to cars versus public open space. In 2005, they turned a single parking space into a temporary public park. PARK(ing) Day has now grown into an international event where independent artists create their own short-lived parks around the world.

From Brisbane PARK(ing) Day.

This year, I'll be checking out SPUR's park set up in front of their new Urban Center at 654 Mission Street and then meandering around my office's neighborhood to hopefully catch a glimpse of the five other parks in the area.

If you want to find PARK(ing) Day events in your city, check out their map here.

Someone Is Paying Attention.

Remember when I proclaimed my love for paper cutting? Well, apparently Marchesa got the memo.

Image by Imaxtree via NY Mag.

Blog Love.

It's been a good week over here at TWOAA (doesn't quite roll off the tongue like SATC or NKOTB, huh?).

Last week, my apartment move around was featured on Apartment Therapy's Before & After.

And then on Saturday, one of my photos (this one) was again one of the flickr faves of sfgirlbybay, blogger extraordinaire. That never fails to make my weekend.

But the excitement doesn't end there, my friends. Oh no. Today, my blog and Oh Hello were highlighted by Melissa on the Ruby Press Blog. It looks like we not only share a love for fonts, fashion and food, but also a fondness of turquoise and red.

Thanks again Beth of AT, Victoria and Melissa!

Where's the Party?

Now that I've found a handful of chic party dresses to choose from, I just need you to plan the swank soiree. But don't fret, you have until Spring 2010 since I can't get any of these before then. Oh, and one more thing small thing, do you have like $700 I can borrow? Thanks.

Reem Acra, Sophie Theallet

Herve Leger, Badgley Mischka.

Lela Rose, Tracy Reese.
All images by Imaxtree via NY Mag.

All About Chad.

Chad Hagen, an artist and designer living in Minneapolis, is getting a lot of love today, and rightfully so. Jan of poppytalk and I both spotted his work over at 20x200 where they are featuring a couple of his Nonsense Infograph prints.

Nonsense Infographs.

After seeing his images at 20x200, I went to his website straight away and boy, am I glad I did. Citing Joseph Beuys, Lawrence Weiner and Ed Ruscha as favorite artists, you can see the influences from Dadaism to conceptualism to Pop Art coalesce in his work. And if the imprints from these mega artists aren't enough to create something spectacular, Chad's flawless use of line and form and color and texture seemingly seal the deal.

Historical Fragments.

Type Experiments.

Red to Black.

I am not a number.

Anatomics.

Be sure to also check out Chad's group on Flickr, Make Something Cool Every Day, for daily updates of his work.