An April Fool.

Image via Damon Green.

Today is my birthday. The good ol' 3-2. Before you ask, no, no one ever plays April Fool's Day jokes on me. I think I got the first and best one in when I was born. I was due on May 15th, but was six weeks early so everyone thought my birth was a joke. Ha! Beat that suckers.

To celebrate, we are heading up north to Bodega Bay (or as Chris likes to call it, Bodego) for some good food, good wine and good times. Life has been ridiculously busy for Chris and me (hence my woeful neglect of this here blog) so getting out of town for 3 days is beyond exciting. I'll bring my camera along so hopefully I'll have some amazing pics to share that will also be used for an exciting project soon to be announced!

In the meantime, you can see some of what I've been up to here and here, as I've been playing photographer and designer for one of Chris' latest projects. Granted, this isn't anything new, but add that to my normal AT posts and my recent stint of 12+ hour days at work and, well, it's been a lot.

I can't promise I'll be back posting daily, but let's compromise. How's 1-2 times a week for now? I figure sometimes is better than never, right? Please humor me...it's my birthday after all :)

Blinded by the Light.

So, getting back into the swing of things was a little harder than I anticipated. My first mistake was adding "finish grad school application" to my already ginormous pile of To Dos (more on that later). In hopes of a quick post, I've been waiting to see something fabulous all week and I finally found it!

Germany's Light Art Performance Photography takes these photos using slow shutter speeds and varying light sources as their paint. Click on each image to see it in its full glory or head over to The Daily Mail to read more about this dynamic duo.

Please Forgive Me.

I should really be banished to the gates of blogging hell for abandoning you all for the past 6 days! Two photo shoots, an 18 hour trip to Orange County, a dinner party, a HUGE deadline at work, photos to edit from said photo shoots, etc. have made blogging and reading blogs nearly impossible. Don't believe me? I had 789 items in my Google Reader yesterday morning. Ouch!

The photo shoots this weekend were awesome though! I got to shoot my friend Thuy's ridiculously cute apartment as well as all of the odd and beautiful goodies within Paxton Gate!

I hope you are all having a fantastic week getting ready for the holidays. I promise to be back tomorrow with my Christmas wish list items and the reason why we decided against presents this year. Hope you have your hankies ready ;)

She's Got a New Attitude.

hydrated by nolando.

Are you sick of me talking about being busy and tired? Me too! Since I have no fat to cut from my to do list, I realized this is my reality and it's time to get used to it. And really, who wants to listen to someone complain about too many things going on?

In honor of waking up on the right side of the bed (yay sleep!), here are some photographs from one of my favorite Flickr pools, Urban Flattened. I picked these images in particular because while they are void of humans and look like they are from an empty city, they are still bright and sunny. Makes me think there needs to be more yellow paint in our urban landscape (the aqua hues don't hurt either).

Beer Beer Beer by tom clearwood.


Visit crazy Switzerland by 8.59cc.


1250 by nolando.
All images from the Urban Flattened Pool on Flickr.

She's Baaaack!

I apologize for it seeming like the lights have been out over here for the past few days. Getting adjusted to this new crazy schedule of constant writing, working and little sleep while still finding time for my blog and fun has been a bit overwhelming. Week one is done though and now that I've been through it once, I'm learning how to balance everything (with a cold too boot!!). So these dark days on the blog shouldn't happen again. The porch light is back on my friends! And now on to that fun I was talking about...

On the first Thursday of every month, most of San Francisco's galleries stay open late and people come out in droves to enjoy First Thursdays. This Thursday, two of our friends had openings so I surgically removed the laptop from my lap and stopped by both of their shows for a bit.

First, we stopped by 111 Minna to check out our friend Dusty Genard's work as part of The Novemberists group show. Dusty creates these beautifully crafted, yet completed macabre shadow boxes. They stand a mere 8 inches high, but the attention to detail verges on compulsive. Upon each look, I saw a new element I hadn't noticed before. They are eerily stunning.

While 180 degrees from Dusty's work, the technicolor photography of Kelly Nicolaisen also caught my eye. Her well composed whimsical portraits of suburban landscapes made me smile.

Next, we headed over to fivepoints arthouse to see Kevin Taylor's work as part of Paper Tigers. Kevin's paintings often portray members of the animal kingdom, but in anthropomorphic scenarios outside of their normal habitats.

One day, when we have money to support local artists, I will buy the above painting of the rabbit on the left. I have first dibs so please don't buy it. And Kevin, we are good for it (in a couple of years), I swear!

What About Bob?

Artist Jenn Ski's home photographed by Bob O'Connor.

Now that I'm contributing to AT, I'm forced to quickly learn the art of interior photography and, let me tell you, it is a whole different beast. Each time I go do a shoot, I learn more and more, but there are so many AMAZING interior photographers out there that it can be a bit overwhelming. Take Mr. Bob O'Connor for example...his portfolio is ridiculous. I can only dream of reaching that level of pictorial genius. And don't even get me started with his styling skills....I lit-rally die.

Unfortunately, my posts will likely become less frequent (I'm hoping to still maintain one a day) thanks to that aforementioned AT gig. I'm now contributing two posts per day so most of my time not at work will be spent surgically attached to my laptop. I expect I'll be kissing my social life good-bye, but luckily it got a great send off last night when Chris and I spend the evening hanging out with the uber-fabulous Alison of Lipstick on Your Teeth and her lovely boyfriend, Mark. I do wish these kids lived in SF.

The Wife and the Lipstick. We are so coordinated in our matching stripes.

The Loin.

That's a crappy iPhone sneak peak of Chris' storefront. And this and this (and it's free wine) and this are why this post is only this long.

Another Poster Post.

General Dynamics Posters by Erik Nitsche from Chisholm Gallery Vintage Posters.

This weekend is the International Vintage Poster Fair down at Fort Mason. Unfortunately for me, poster prices are ranging from $100-$1,000. Still, I'm tempted to pay the $15 entrance few just to get an afternoon of design eye candy. This is of course assuming that I actually get out of bed, get dressed and leave the house this weekend. After the week I've had (and it's only Wednesday) that sounds like an awful lot of work to see things in person that I could see on my laptop from the comfort of my couch.

Forced Smiles.

Left brain Myopia by Kate Banazi.

I am not going to lie or pretend or put on a happy face. This week has been rough, but in that "wow, I really shouldn't be complaining" sort of way. The husband is preparing for this amazing show through the San Francisco Arts Commissions' Art in Storefronts program and I got this great new gig at AT, but um, wow, I'm scared we bit off more than we can chew. I feel so silly complaining about having too much work to do, but I'm tired (and most likely PMSing) and freaking out. Don't worry...I have this process I go through. I only allow myself 1-3 days to freak out and then I'm forced to deal with it. And since this is now day #3 you won't hear much more bitching. In preparation for that forced happy face, I'm positive the work of Kate Banazi is good enough to make you smile even if that's the last thing you want to do (thank you to Sweet Sweet Life for bringing Kate to my attention).

1950000 more virgin airmiles to go by Kate Banazi.

Cheers. It's a new week! Wow, that's the most excited I've ever sounded on Monday.

Deviating from the Norm...Not.

Sorry kiddos, but work is CRAZY right now. I'll be back tomorrow with something that I'm sincerely hoping will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, here are some images via my new favorite website:
We Love Typography. Don't worry...you don't have to pretend to be surprised.

Image via Share Some Candy: Ben Javens.


Image from MARIN DSGN.


Image via Nails Oeltjen.


Image from Seven Days.