Sunday, November 25, 2007

Gobble Gobble

Jeremy hates traveling on Thanksgiving weekend and will do anything to avoid it. Thank goodness I married him! I LOVE the city Thanksgiving weekend. It is dead quiet, there is tons of parking, and no one is working so you don't feel guilty neglecting your to-do list.

This Thanksgiving was all about catching up on our housekeeping and dealing with the wreckage of Burning Man and the wedding. It has been a crazy few months! But we also had some time to make some good food, drink some good wine, and do a few social activities.

We started off Wednesday night on the right foot...with a couple glasses of Selim, a sparkling wine from Italy that MR and I tried at A16 (and then, like a good binder girl, she immediately found the following day on the Interweb). And yes, that's the flower arrangement that I made in class with the Melissas! Still standing!

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For eatings, we made roasted squash stuffed with lentils, sausage, and kale. YUM!!!

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On Thanksgiving day, in lieu of a turkey, we made horseradish and salt encrusted prime rib. Again, YUM!!! We cut up a bunch of veggies (sunchokes, cauliflower, parsnips, celery, carrot, and onion) and placed the meat directly on top of the veggies so they could soak up all the meaty goodness:

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We also made some brussels sprouts with bacon, and some brown rice stuffing with pecans and dried cranberries. Here's my plate after it was all said and done:

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And here are our happy faces as we prepare for the feast!

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But wait, there's more! On Friday night, we went out to dinner with Eddo and Chris. Afterwards we ended up at The Mint, Eddo's favorite dive + karaoke bar. Oh my gaw, it was SO. MUCH. FUN! And actually, everyone there was really good! I kept telling Eddo that I thought we accidentally crashed the annual LGBT Choral Ensemble's Thanksgiving outing. Here's Eddo working "Chop Suey" by System of a Down:

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Afterwards, Eddo and Chris and I sang "Waterfalls" by TLC, and then Eddo and I tried to karaoke "The Final Countdown." Turns out there's a lot more words in that song than just "It's the final coutdown! doo doo doo doo". Who knew?!?

Saturday we finally went with tradition and roasted a whole turkey. After our bellies were filled, we went and saw Beowulf in digital 3D. Not the most substantive film making, but it sure was fun to see on the big screen!

What a nice way to spend Thanksgiving...if only there were more 4 day weekends in our lives. :)

Friday, November 23, 2007

Inspiration

I absolutely love my job as a graphic designer...sometimes as I'm sketching ideas for a new logo or poster, I pinch myself because my job is just. so. COOL! I truly feel like one of the lucky and privileged because my work doesn't feel like work.

But just because I love my job doesn't mean I don't have bad days...sometimes I just don't feel creative, or I am feeling drained, or I don't want to work on a particular project...any number of things can happen which cause me to feel like the inspiration well has dried up. In moments like these, I've learned that it's a good idea to turn to books, magazines, websites...any sort of visual stimulation that will get the ideas flowing. In the past few weeks, I've run across two designers, both women, both extraordinary. Check it out...you won't be sorry.

First off, Tauba Auerbach. I have to warn you that her website is kinda...harsh on the eyes. But click through to her work: http://www.taubaauerbach.com/works.html. Maybe it's because I am a type nerd, but her work is just so lovely to me. Most of it is ink or pencil on paper, and in some way relates to type. I mean, how can you not love this, her study of the letter K:



Or this, which is the entire alphabet, broken down into strokes:



Or this piece, which is composed of 10,000 pieces of cut letters on paper:



I mean, WOW.

Courtney Skott is a furniture designer; she actually went to my school and I first encountered her work when she won the annual Ronald & Anita Wornick award (a scholarship that is awarded to two student furniture designers every year). The following piece is one of those things you just never forget once you see it:





Yeah, that's right...they are little tree stools with zip-up bark jackets. Brilliant!!!

I also really love this piece, her thesis project. It is an alcove bed and the pattern is a pixelated image of clouds.



It is absolutely insane how she made this...you can see a step-by-step of her process on her Flickr set.

Check out some more of her work here: http://courtneyskott.com

Thanks for the inspiration, ladies!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

K + P

I realize that I am massively late on this, but I didn't want to neglect posting about Kara and Patrick's wedding. It happened a few short weeks after we returned from Huatulco, and its proximity to our wedding brought up so many surprising and unexpected feelings. I felt so honored to be by Kara's side during this truly special and meaningful day in her life, especially after meeting all the people who love and care about these two wonderful people. I kept thinking, "Why me? Why am I so special that I get to stand next to these two as they make this incredible commitment to each other?" Seriously, I hear people all the time b*tch and moan about being bridesmaids...being forced to wear ugly dresses with dyed-to-match shoes. These people clearly don't know what it's all about...I would have worn a burlap sack with some potatoes (???) on my feet for these two. I really can't explain the feeling other than to say that I felt so HONORED. I think that really says something about the couple when the "Best Babe" is eternally grateful just for being included!

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Kara was such an amazing Mistress of Honor for me that I wanted nothing more than to do the same for her. I wanted to be there to take care of all the loose ends the day of; I wanted to take photos during all the non-photo ops so she would have a memento of the times when the pro photog wasn't there; I wanted to make sure my toast was incredible and memorable. Kara did all these things for me and I felt like I couldn't express my gratitude in words so I tried to do it through my actions.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite images from their wedding:

Kara's wedding gift to Patty was a set of Scrabble tiles...the letters "K" and "P". I took this photo on the bus to HollyHedge:

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It's hard for me to pick which of the next 2 photos Kara looks prettier in:

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Once I gave my toast, I was free to catch up with the other Party Poodles and shake my ass on the dance floor with my man:

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The bride, having said her vows, also felt free to work the dance floor like she owned it (and she did):

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The next day, our flight left late so we had the time to take a nice, leisurely walk along the towpath, where we took this photo:

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See my entire Flickr set of photos from that weekend here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hopemeng/sets/72157603065974879/

I love you, Kara and Patty. May you always rock on with your cocks out.