Love Week -- wedding details

I was updating my portfolio, and reminded how much I enjoyed making all the pieces of our wedding. I'm dying for another event to make for, and wish we could get married all over again, or have another super fun party to create things for.  I'm pretty sure our paper suite was my favorite part.  

In honor of Valentine's Day, I'm going to celebrate love all week!

Let's do it again.

Domino

  I have a confession.  I've been holding on to a copy of Domino magazine for three years now, saving it for a time when I'm in serious need of a pick-me up.  Domino was the best magazine ever to grace the stands, in my opinion, and the day it came in my mailbox was even more exciting than now when the day House Beautiful comes is the best day of the month.  Perhaps the only magazine I've ever read every issue cover to cover, and when they folded three years ago, I was heart broken, as if it had been my name on the masthead that was no more.  So, the February 2009 issue came, and I didn't read it, saving it to savor it, wanting to allow the right amount of time, of attention, and state of mind to devour it. And then I just kept saving it, and saving it. I laughed when I moved and placed it, still in it's unopened plastic mailing cover, first in a moving box, and then into the bookshelf, waiting for that day that would be just right.

UNTIL NOW:   They are making a new one, on newsstands April 17th!!  It looks like a one-off, "Quick Fixes."    I'm having my wisdom teeth out this morning, and taking this news combined with that pain and reading my ever-old copy whilst I recover.

P.S.  It turns out I'm super nerve about getting my wisdom teeth out today, so much so that I didn't sleep at all last night.  Eeek!!  Here's hoping for quick and easy recovery!

MIT Chapel

I think there is something so wonderful about buildings that are designed specifically for worship.  I think it's something we've gotten away from, at least in California, and even more specifically, in Southern California.  When searching for a new church after moving, I was hopeful for a building that was designed as a church, with that single purpose.  Not a church that met in another building, not a church that moved into a strip mall, not a church that built itself a sanctuary that was more function than form, even though I believe wholly that church is about the people and community, not about the building.  I think there is something special about seeing God's beauty while in a place that reflects his creations creativity and ability, and for a building that has been built for the sole function of meeting God.

How incredible is this chapel at MIT?  To say Eero Saarinen is one of my heroes would fit the bill.

Don't you just love this light at the altar?  It breaks my heart when churches eliminated natural light, because it's better for media presentations -- power point, controlled lighting, video screens.  What a fabulous place for a wedding.

Saturday night at the ballet

We bought a season subscription to the San Francisco Ballet this year, and the season opened this weekend.  The first program this year is Onegin, which is a ballet adaptation of a Pushkin poem. Here's how they describe it online:

The passionate story of Russian aristocrat Eugene and his lost chance for love with the beautiful Tatiana, unleashes heartbreaking themes of unrequited love, anguish, and tragic irony. Set to a powerful score by Tchaikovsky, this production features lavish scenery and costumes by award-winning designer Santo Loquasto and lighting by James F. Ingalls.

It was fantastic. I think even a non-ballet lover would enjoy it.  You can get tickets here, they added an additional performance so it's running through February 3rd.

photo:  Erik Tomasson

I think it's my dream to have white-washed wood floors.  If they were cheveroned that might be the best floor ever made.

Funny how we use the word “mustache” to describe handlebars, and the word “handlebar” to describe mustaches, isn’t it?

How fun is that tee from Amos Bros?  You can get one here.

Video Wedding Invite

How amazing is this wedding invite??  I can't even imagine how long that took, and I love every second of it. I wish I was as creative as some people!

(Via A Cup Of Jo  (Via Gangsta Bride))

I think this about sums up my feelings:

HAH! Thanks to the good folks at Wikipedia, you are too much.

hey:

Excellence: yes, please.

Take your pick. George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom Playboy Magazine, July 1961 (via The Selvedge Yard)

Baby There's A Shark In The Water

Let Her Dance

In the past three weeks I have seen three of the best movies made last year. Fantastic. See them all. See them all and improve your life.

I immediately bought the soundtrack, and might just call this my new favorite Wes Anderson film, but that's likely because I LOVED this Roald Dahl book as a kid. (Though I was disappointed that Mr. Bean's hearing problem was not explained in any detail, as stuck with me from the book so long ago.)

OF COURSE it's amazing, who DIDN'T know it would be? and it is. Wonderfully exciting, a perfect follow-up to Helvetica.

This ain't no place, for the weary kind

I was NOT prepared for the movie experience that was Sundance Kabuki Theatre and HECK YES I will be going back for incredible films, Stone Brewing 22's at my 21 and over balcony seat with a side-table. Whoa.

I am in love with this movie. In. Love. Jeff Bridges is incredible in it, incredible. Break my [crazy] heart.
I tell you, I've seen some incredible films in the past year (2009 included Scarface and all three Godfathers for the first time) and this, THIS has got to be the best.

It's never sunny in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, day's one-point-five and two!!

Took a little trip to the East-- coast that is, and spent the first two days in Philadelphia. We left San Francisco on a twice-delayed red-eye Wednesday night, flew into Newark and landed at 7:30 am. Adventurous and thrifty souls that we are, we decided to take the bus to a rental-car site a little ways away, rather than rent at the airport and pay lots more. So one grande and one vente drip to-go, (no pastry because we were heart-set on build-your-own Grand Slams in the future) and we made our way to the NJ Transit stop to catch the 8:30am, #72 Bus to Woodbridge Shopping Center. This was a local bus, and lead us on an hour and a half scenic tour of residential Newark. We finally got in the car and on the road at about 11am, and began the Yelp quest for a near-by Denny's. Oh what a breakfast! Then: welcome to Pennsylvania.




We took the Turnpike's --NJ to Penna, for my first turnpike experience. BTW, for those of you who don't know --it's just a freeway that's a toll road, and they have little truck-stop-like fast-food malls along the way. Can I just say, what is with the abreviations on the road signs?? NJ, Phila, Penna?? Can't you write the whole name? Arrived in front of our lovely host's, Troy and Caitlin's darling Chestnut Hill, PA victorian flat about 2pm, and I tell you, I was ready for a nap. So much for seeing the city, we napped and then spent the evening with The Krezouwski's at their small group for dinner and Bible study. A fantastically spent evening of fellowship.



After a weak run in the AM, we headed in to Philly to meet Scott Ritter for lunch, and a walk around UPenn, where Scott is starting med-school. Cold and rainy but, Penn is beautiful, and all full of old brick buildings and iron staircases in old libraries. Thank you Scott Ritter for a delicous lunch and an excellent campus tour.




After UPenn, we took the car and drove over to Rittenburg Square where we delighted in Belgian beer, mussels, and fries and got out of the rain, at Monk's (I yelped it here). Next up: rico suave. We walked down the street and around the corner for happy hour mojitos at the recommended Alma De Cuba. So swanky, it makes you want to out on a slinky top, sit in their low, low mid-century-modern club chairs, lean over the table and whisper to your date about that time when you were in Cuba and the heat...
The only things we knew we wanted to see and do in Philly were the art museum and cheesesteaks, so we drove to The Philadelphia Museum of Art for their Friday night happening, which is similar to what the Academy of Science does here, but geared for the older Philly crowd-- 5-9pm, cocktails and snacks, and a live jazz band. All we really wanted was the Duchamp exhibit based around his last work Etant Donnes. Amazing.
We had to be kicked out. So we left, pretended to be Rocky, and went for steaks at Jim's. This vegitarian ate a little, she ordered: Wiz, with, and could you please make it 1/2 steak and 1/2 veggies? I have to say, yum. I was a little freaked out, our Nutritionist hostess, Caitlin, told me that if you haven't had meat in a long period of time, your body no longer has the digestive enzymes to break it down, and you can get very sick-- so I only ate a little of the steak side, and my body was a champ. Don't worry, it's not a perminant step to meat-eating.







It took us two hours to get home, as we got very lost, but got to see the beautiful bridge, and boathouse row, and feel near the liberty bell at one point, and excercise locking our doors before finally finding our way back to Chestnut Hill and passing out exhausted, in love with Philadelphia, but ready for Princeton.

Thursday nights are for lovers (of art, music, and each other)

Dear David Bazan,
Thank you for starting your tour in my fair city, and for doing such a great job at it. So nice of you to bring our friends too, what a fun surprise it was to walk into The Independent and be greeted with people we love but did expect to see! You bring out the best, well done.

Sincerely,

Team Kerry and Co.

Before that, we went to a special (to us) Anniversary edition of First Thursdays, and saw (among others) and loved this Michael Gregory show at the John Berggruen Gallery. It struck such a chord in my wanderlustful heart, and makes me want to be on a long road trip in the heartland. (I wish I could add an image here, especially of my favorite from Western Constructs, "The Way Things Dissolve" but I think they are protected, and rightfully so, I guess.)

Go see it, I know you'll love it.

John Berggruen Gallery

228 Grant Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94108
Hours: 9:30am - 5:30pm Monday through Friday

10:30am - 5:00pm Saturday

Frank on beauty.

“The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”

- Frank Lloyd
Wright

Baby I'm a Working Girl.

I have an Etsy site now. Perhaps one day I will be able to call it more, for now, I'm excited just at the idea of calling myself an artist, and at the hope that someone else will like my things as much as I do.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7503833

Here's to the working women.

Helvetica

Brilliant and exhillilrating. My favorite kind of documentary film.

Calling all pirates, bandits & rebels!

Slumdog Millionaire

Phenomenal.
Gorgeous, heart-breaking, inspiring; left me weeping. This is what film is meant to be.