where my feets have been

ACME

2012-02-05T17:09:00.002-06:00

On Tuesday, my construction class took a field trip to the ACME brick factory in Elgin, TX.

IT WAS AWESOME.

We learned all about how bricks are made.. ok its sounds incredibly dull. But, it was really cool to see all of the science that goes behind it.. in the 'new factory,' which is like 11 years old, everything is almost completely automated. there are huge machines everywhere that extrude the clay, apply coloring, shape it, cut it up into bricks, stack it to dry, then stack it again in a different way and roll it through a huge long kiln.

It gets up to +2,000 Deg F in there.. and we got to look inside -- all you could see was orange.

Jonesy Jones took us around on a tour and told us not to touch anything because if you touched the side of the kiln, you would leave all of your skin behind.. and the employees complain about the smell.

Anyway, this location is cool because they make this rose colored brick that can only be made from the clay they mine on site.. so they ship it all over the US because people love this rose brick..

and Jonesy Jones hand stamped a bunch of longhorn bricks especially for us UT kids. so sweet.

dog park

2012-01-13T14:04:00.004-06:00

the other day, I took Dakota to the dog park for the first time.

we did not have a good experience. we are both traumatized.

When we first arrived, all the other little dogs were leaving.

After a few minutes, a dog and his owner showed up. He (the dog) ran over to greet us, and after sniffing Dakota's rear, proceeded to mark his territory on my leg. :/

Dakota, being protective of me, was not pleased. This dog did not make a good first impression on either of us.

A few minutes later, another dog and his owners arrived. Mr. Butters was his name and he was white, fluffy, and half the size of Dakota.

But even though he was much smaller than she, he liked her very much.

so much that he would not stop humping her. She did not appreciate his forwardness, and started yelping every time he came close to her. She was so scared of these two dogs, that she didn't want to leave my lap.

I asked if she was ready to leave, and thus was the end of our dog park experience.

We returned home violated and smelling of dog pee.

I don't think we will be returning anytime soon.

Warped Interior Boulevard?

2011-11-05T11:47:00.002-05:00

sooo.. here is my project. it is a "very interesting project"

This semester, I'm working on a team of three, and while we were assigned the site, we get to choose the program. Above is a model I built for our first review.. it just gets the massing idea across.. platforms (that are now called Decks) that accommodate parking and car program -- drive-in theater, auto shows, and a high class Porsche dealer -- with retail volumes hanging off the side..
Here is an excerpt from the few pages of bs we submitted with our initial proposal.

Summary: The current Whole Foods Parking annex is strategically located on the edge of several conditions – the edge of work, play, and home. This space is meant to be a transition – transition from work to home, home to play, work to play, etc. as well as a transportation transition. Bordered by 6^thSt., 5^th St. and Shoal Creek, our site is an under-utilized transportation hub. The proposed program for the site involves integrating the 3 main modes of transport in Austin – the vehicle, the bicycle, and the pedestrian. By intertwining select retail, open space, and public and private parking into one site, we seek to create a new urban environment. Condensing and folding the urban street and storefront in on itself, the project succeeds in producing a new definition of urban density – the Urban Car Park.

The Urban car park creates a node of transition between the automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian. Stacking program vertically, the project promotes interaction between the users of the designed parking space, retail, event space, bicycle facilities and green space. The project is essentially a warped interior boulevard of ramps and parking space, creating an urban sponge of accessibility and program.

The project will integrate seamlessly with the surrounding context – it provides small-scale retail to counter the larger stores on Lamar, parking for shoppers, an open public space for the nearby residents, and a bicycle storage and shower facility for those commuting to work.

One of the latest models.. we spent 2 weeks developing the ground site and courtyards.. so they are staying put while we develop what the heck happens above ground.

We had our first formal critique (with outside professors) a week and a half ago, and we were torn apart. Project was called a vertical suburban strip mall and a glorified garage. but we took a few days off, rallied, and are changing the way we talk about and describe the project.. "Parking Platforms" and "Garage" have been eliminated from our vocabulary, and we are pressing on! Next review is on Wednesday... hopefully it will go a lot better. We'll be better prepared to present the project, i think.

sooo... this project is nothing like what I want to do with my life.. and just when I was getting discouraged, I got an email about a lunch session with Katie Swenson -- who is pretty much who I want to be as far as architecture goes.. here is her bio from the email:

"Katie Swenson, a national leader in sustainable design for low-income communities, recently named an emerging leader by the Design Futures Council, and to Steelcase’s prestigious Green Giant list. She is the Vice President of National Design Initiatives at \Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. She is also the Director of the Rose Architectural Fellowship and Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute."

The Rose Fellowship is AWESOME, and something I have had in my "opportunities for the future" list for years... you have to have a professional degree, so I definitely plan to apply once I'm done at UT. Anyway, I'll be meeting her on Thursday, so I've got to come up with some great questions and become her best friend. advice? AHHHH so excited!

sketch models

2011-10-02T13:44:00.001-05:00

First project is OVER.!

So, I guess I will chronicle the studio events in my life. hah cause i'm lame like that.

For the first project (well second really, the first was a bunch of mapping of the site) we made a series of sketch model that were to depict Attitude, Concept, Space and Form. They are supposed to be really abstract and "fun!" these are my favorites from our group - we made like 13 models hah

We started by talking about what interested us about the site.. Right now, it is an overflow employee parking lot for the Whole Foods on Lamar.. it butts up to the rear service entrance of Whole Foods, and is on the edge of the creek. There is a ton of shopping and single family housing to the west, tall condos to the south, offices to the north, and bars/downtown to the east.

Our site is kind of this transition space between work - home - shopping but it is kind of an eye-sore right now. So our plan is to make this space a pause button of sorts.. a place where you drop by on your way somewhere else and can help foster this transition to work, or to home, or a night out. We don't really know where these ideas are leading.. but i know we will provide open public space, retail, and revolutionize the parking situation! but since we get to pick our own program (no restrictions!) it should be pretty fun!

credits: YT, James Sherman and Chad Bunnell

walking toourr

2011-10-02T11:17:00.004-05:00

On Friday, my studio class went on a walking tour of parts of downtown..

We started on the 17th floor of the Shore - my professor's apartment.

some gorgeous views!

we analyzed why this sunken public space does not work.

It was a beautiful day for some exploration, but we were exhausted by the time we actually reached our site!

this week

2011-08-28T23:16:00.005-05:00

Hi friends,

So, I’ve now had my first week of classes – although I might place out of one and I haven’t yet attended another… oh well. First graduate school assignment? Create an object that appears to be a circle in plan, a square in elevation, and a triangle in another elevation. It took me the remaining 10 minutes of class to figure it out, and the next 1.5-hour lecture to determine how to build it. K you got it? Go.

I’ve been able to get to know a little bit about my studio-mates. there are 12 of us in my studio, and it seems pretty well divided between newbies and the second years. First question to ask? Where is the best place to sleep?

Answer? Across the street in the “presidential suite” of the student union. AWESOME.

In other happenings, I think my keychain has doubled in weight in the past 7 days. I need to find a way to divide it up.. any advice? I have car, home, lake house, apartment, bike lock, studio, studio desk lock, and mail key. I guess I could take the house keys and car keys off.

Also, today, I went to a new church. Last week I went back to Austin Stone – which I know is a solid, great church, but I am not certain it’s for me. Today, however, I went to check out Austin City Life. I went in thinking that I wanted to just check it out, not expecting to like it. On their website, they say, “We’ve been told our downtown gathering ‘feels like Austin.’” And, “On Sundays you'll find an interesting juxtaposition of theological depth and cultural expression. You might say we are ‘theologically conservative and culturally liberal.’”

I think they identify closely with the Acts 29 church movement? Any thoughts on this? I really want your input, so I know I am supported in which church I choose to join.

About City Life – It was so cool! They meet in the Ballet building downtown, and there were fewer than 100 people there today. 3 people introduced themselves to me before the service began – which was really great and refreshing. It seems like they have great community, and are really invested in each other’s lives. They kept saying that they wanted this to be a place to meet God and stressed that ‘church’ to them is the gathering of people and community, not just meeting on Sunday in a building. We talked about generosity today, I heard the gospel, and they made a point to say that the point of today’s talk was not that you don’t give enough and to go give, but that we should seek God so we can begin to understand His great grace and generosity towards us.

Anyway, I really liked it. And although they are not listed on the 9marks site, they did have some of 9marks’ literature on a table. Soo idk. oh and they used to have sunday services in a bar on 6th st - the local college bar hangout aka where Jenna Bush was ticketed for MIP.

oh AND they played Sigur Ros - Staralfur while we were filing out of the auditorium. this is like one of my favorite songs, and this simple act scored major points in my book.

Ok. Gearing up for week 2.

and let me add a picture because this post is lacking visuals.

the painted desert summer 2008.

moved

2011-08-17T15:05:00.003-05:00

Feets have moved!

Finally.

As of this past friday, I am an Austinite.

been fixin the place up.. it's getting there. I really want to explore the city, but it is just way too hot to set out on foot. seriously. the high is 105 today. and tomorrow? 107. ridiculous. fall weather please get here fast.
I rode my bike to campus yesterday and almost had a heat stroke on the return trip. not to mention the basket on the back was making the brakes brake, making this high pitched AWFUL NOISE. I was SO EMBARRASSED. Finally got it fixed. thank you clown bike shop.

Today, I took the bus to campus and it wasn't too bad. only a 4 minute ride! I am hoping its not too crowded when the semester starts. And I stopped by the Library. I heard that the library was a little difficult to get used to.. really who knows how to used the library of congress catalog system? But it wasn't that bad once I found a map. And I get to keep Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire until Jan 22. woot

In other news, guys, I am totally experiencing a spiritual slump. will you guys please pray for me? I went to the Austin Stone church this past sunday, and the message was very convicting. I know that I've been pretty lazy in my walk with the Lord these past several months, but that message hit me like a ton of bricks. please pray for a stirring in my soul and a desire to KNOW Him deeply and truly. How can I say I Love Jesus when I do not whole-heartedly pursue Him, meet with Him daily, and seek HIM in all things?

I am also really hungry for a biblical community to be apart of, and I hopefully will find a church to be grounded in soon. I'll let you know how the process goes. I went to Austin Stone on a number of recommendations - they are part of the SBC, but a little out-there. Many many students and young people - and this church is BIG - 7-8? services every sunday at two locations. I went to the 1100 service, and it was packed. They did fulfill my #1 though - I heard the Gospel in the message. The only thing that concerns me is that before the pastor shared the gospel, he said something to the effect of "many of you don't know what the meat of the gospel is." or something - it leads me to wonder how often it is shared in the large-group setting. But, I will definitely need to attend more Sunday services before I can make any assumptions.

Also, guys, my dear friend David Brown received a kidney on Sunday! I am so so so happy for him! He'd been on the transplant list for 5 years. He is 4 days with the new kidney, and so far so good. pray that he has a quick recovery!

TV on the Radio

2011-07-25T21:59:00.004-05:00

just watched the TV on the Radio film - Nine Types of Light on Palladia and this is my favorite I think:

I was trying to remember how I first discovered TV ot R.. and it was 2006 - they opened for Nine Inch Nails - I was in the pit. weird huh?

am really enjoying their new album btw.

estate sales.

2011-06-26T14:59:00.003-05:00

so, lately, i've been going to lots of estate sales and resale shops. I am trying my hardest not to buy a lot of new stuff for my apartment, and instead am looking for quality used items that I can give a second life to, and maybe save from the garbage heap.

anyway, lately, i've found some pretty awesome things, and I thought I would take the opportunity to share them with you.

First up, this paper towel, wax paper, and foil holder! It is copper and pink, and you mount it on the wall or inside a cupboard for easy access... I did a little internet research and it was manufactured in the early 50's. also, it was made by "Beautyware" so you can't really beat that!

Then, yesterday I scored all of these cameras and a lot of other stuff! (it was a fill up a paper grocery sack with whatever you want for $10). Two of them still have film in them, (35mm and 110), so I'm planning on using up the rest of it, get it developed and if there is anything of import, hopefully I can send the pics back to the family.

THEN, I saw this beauty. Sunbeam stand mixer - with a lamp! It had all of the parts, and the previous owner kept all of the manuals and warranty information.

Once I got home and took a closer look, I found where she had written the day it was purchased on the inside cover: April 21, 1981, from Foley's. Then, I noticed something familiar on the cover of a pie booklet that came with it too:

She bought it from Womack's Minimax: which was my grandpa's (Lounds Samuel Womack sr.) grocery store!! He opened the store before my grandparents were married, and owned it for 30+ years, opening a few others in the area. We have a great picture of him on opening day: he rode an elephant around the store. haha anyway, that was a fun surprise.

Paulina

2011-06-07T09:36:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, the next door kitty came over to play. She's sweet.

and it was fun to shoot a new subject!

new (old) art

2011-06-06T15:16:00.001-05:00

I finally got some of my stuffs framed.. I've had all this lying around forevs, and finally found frames for them..

I got the idea of framing various currency from Hob Lob - no joke. There was a print of all this old money in the framed art dept. I thought it was a great way to display the bills I've collected from different countries, instead of keeping them hidden in an envelope. They are so pretty, and works of art in their own right - how dare they be hidden away. If you have some old or foreign currency stowed away, I definitely suggest digging it out and displaying it!

And this fun painting will keep mao bi company for a while..

she was pretty excited about it!

I scored this frame at a storage complex clean out - 1 pound of stuff = $1. and painted it green .. and the photograph was given to me.. This lady at my cousin's church donated her entire house and all of the contents to the church for them to sell. She was an amateur photographer and had all these really cool photos from the 50s and 60s.

and I made this clock a few weeks ago.. less than $5. gotta love hobby lobby.

lately...

2011-05-23T22:22:00.004-05:00

i've been dreaming of faraway lands..

le sigh

on the way

2011-05-23T19:52:00.001-05:00

this past saturday, I had the honor of attending Melanie and Evan's wedding in Crawford. It was so cute, sweet, and glorifying to the Lord. They were married in a little white church surrounded by pastureland. My GPS took me down a bunch of one lane roads through this:

It was so pretty! and since it was stormy, the sky looked really cool. After driving through this for a while, I was greeted by a little hand-painted sign that simply said, "WEDDING" so I knew I was on the right path. Between the ceremony and reception, I went back through the roads to take some more pictures.

I won't post any pictures of the bride and groom without their permission, but I will say it was such a joyful occasion!

On the way back to Houston, I passed through Calvert, TX.. which is about two blocks of "old town" very quaint. I stopped to explore a little and found this cool building with trees growing in the middle.

it was a nice trip, and I decided I love Texas a lot, and someday I want to build/buy a plantation house with creaky wood floors, a huge wrap-around porch, and lots of pastures, cows, and rope swings .. where my kids can spend their summers smelling like fresh air and sunshine, not coming home until dusk, and catching lightning bugs. yep that would be nice.

yashica

2011-05-15T22:44:00.000-05:00

I recently got an old roll of film developed.. black and white.. my 1970's Yashica

and these are my favorites

anniversary party

2011-05-09T21:45:00.004-05:00

My parents' 30th wedding anniversary was on April 26, so the weekend after, I threw a surprise party for them! I was pretty exhausted by the time the party started, so I totally forgot to take pictures til after dark, so most of these were taken by our family friend, Judy. Thanks Judy!

We had the party at my uncle's house - which used to be my grandparents' house - in the SAME backyard my parents were married. They had absolutely no idea about it.. I had been planning for a little over a month, and had to lie to them about a plethora of things. The big one: I told them I was going to the lake house with all my friends that weekend. I needed an excuse to leave the house to set up, and needed to keep them from making plans to go! I had to give specific details, make up a reason why I would be driving instead of anyone else, tell all my friends to lie to my mom if she asked about the lake.. On Friday night, I had to send my mom a text to tell her we made it ok, and she promptly called me back to ask questions about the lake.. after a 15 minute convo about the water level, the condition of the dry grass, and other things, I hung up the phone - scared at how easily all of those lies came out! hah

Anyway, they were SO Surprised.. My mom pretty much burst into tears immediately, and was in shock that I was there, "you drove all the way back from Austin for this?" hahahaha She said this was the first surprise party that she was actually surprised.. and before my parents arrived, my uncle was about to jump out of his skin with excitement, "I've never been to a surprise party before!"

I set up the receiving table with photos, their wedding album, and a guest book idea I had seen online..

guests left their thumbprints as leaves, and signed their names..

My grandma made these Mark and Kathy look-a-like dolls for their wedding, and we still have them! they look a little raggedy, because we all played with them as kids.

Thank you, Martha Stewart, for teaching me how to make these pom poms!

Before I "left for the lake" I asked my dad if I could borrow some of his vinyl to take to the lake. He was a little reluctant, but said I could take some. I asked him and my mom to pick out their favorites, and things they think we should listen to. So, we had all of their favorite albums playing at the party.. My dad was pretty happy and played DJ all night!

We had several cakes.. this one was a carrot cake with cream cheese icing that Kimberly made:

I made a dark chocolate cake with peanut butter cream cheese and a chocolate glaze:

and we had Three Brothers Bakery (My uncle is good friends with the owner, Bobby) make the sheet cake with a wedding picture on it:

at night:

everyone was still there! They had moved their seats over to watch a slideshow I put together.

and all the guests got to take home a chocolate, chocolate cream cheese cupcakes packaged in these boxes:

It was a fun night!

Here is the slide show of my parents'/family's life if you are interested.. here.

giant doily

2011-04-23T14:27:00.001-05:00

so I saw a rug on Oh Joy!, its actually the rug in her house that looks like a giant knit pattern.. I did some searching and found the same rug for about $800, just a wee bit out of my price range. I searched and searched for alternatives, but nothing I found was very affordable (for me).
On my search, I found this artist, Jean Lee, who crochets the mega doily rug.... which is SO AWESOME, but also out of my price range. So I decided, I'd just have to experiment and make one for myself.

I headed out to the fabric store, and got two 10-yard samples of rope (one was rope, and one a rope-ish thing that you use to make trim). I knitted several different patterns and styles, and crochet-ed the crap out of those two 10-yard pieces.. but 10 yards would only get me an 8"x8" square, and I would have to spend over $150 for the 5x7 rug I want... not sure if I wanted to invest $150 in a DIY project that might not work, and would be WHITE (probably for only a short time.. hah), I scrapped that idea.

Then, I remembered I had bought a hot pink, king size, jersey knit sheet set for like $8, and already used part of it for its intended project.. so I cut the rest of it up into 2" strips, crocheted by hand, and voila the hot pink doily was born.

Its pretty fun.. not to sure where it will go though.. its only about 3' diameter. I really want to do it again in another color, with some different crochet patterns. And I still realllyyy like the knit-look, but it just didn't look right with the jersey fabric.

weekend in austin

2011-03-28T21:38:00.004-05:00

this past weekend, mom and I took a trip over to Austin for my UT architecture open house! we stayed in my parents' new-ish house.. I built this chandelier for them for Christmas, and I finally got to see it installed and in action:

saw the idea at an anthropologie store, and decided, hey, I could build that! so I did.
they look a little uneven in this picture, but I fixed it later.

while I was in open houses, mom worked on mosaics..

Ps. open house went pretty well, there are some things that I think it was lacking in their presentation, but that's ok. It will take a LOt of getting used to - big departure from berkeley.

anyway, we looked at a few potential housing options, and then went to goodwill. where I hit the jackpot. Found this taiwanese tea set:

and a sheepies! mug for my growing green mug collection.

and these plates.. "Golden Meadow" by Sheffield. I found out that these plates are worth $10 each! and I got.. a lot for $8. There are also really cute teacups, a teapot, and salt and pepper shakers that go with this line.. maybe I'll acquire those at some other point.

and my favorite picture from the weekend:

box #2

2011-03-16T10:09:00.001-05:00

the second box... labeled "oh you know" haha

Its full of stuff from my time in Italy..

Random party invite..

and a sketch of my thesis concept... pretty abstract. It represents how even though this kilometer long building-city is huge and incomprehensible, all of the units and individuals are connected by various means. more later..

welcome to cal

2011-03-15T18:03:00.000-05:00

This is an official UC napkin. from the garden party at the Chancellor's house welcome week.

yes, i know, i'm lame.

？

2011-03-14T18:02:00.000-05:00

apparently I ordered a camera lens from Japan and kept the stamps.

SF

2011-03-13T18:02:00.000-05:00

I don't remember which bay cruise this was... I have been on several. the 08/05 seems like it would be either august, 2005, or the 5th of august. I don't recall going on this cruise in august of 05, and i was only in ca on august 5 one year, and I didn't go on the tour. so yeah..

The first time I went on this was with Carolyn and Marcus. We had been in the dorms for a month and they decided that it was time for me to get my first taste of in-n-out. M checked on his phone and found the closest one was at pier 39.. so off to the city we went. We got off the bart at Powell, and in our infinite wisdom decided to WALK to the wharf. We followed the trolley lines and had an adventure.. we dressed up as disney princesses, took part in a protest, and got flipped off by some Stanfurdians on a scavenger hunt. When we finally got to the pier, it just happened to be the day the Blue Angels were there. So we had a fantastic day at in-n-out, and watched the blue angels from a boat in the bay. awesome.

vote yes!

2011-03-12T17:59:00.000-06:00

In 04, I was 19 and it was about time to vote. My mom sent me this whole section of the Houston Chronicle that outlined all of the important issues, and each party's position on them. I remember M stayed up all night with me to help me figure out what I thought was important, and what stance I took on every key issue. I don't remember a whole lot, but I remember talking about abortion a lot, and being happy that I had someone to talk to about all of this.. I was pretty proud of him too, for remaining mostly impartial and letting me talk out all of my thoughts and opinions and figuring out my own stance.

Anyway, I also had figure out my stance on all of the local issues, and since I couldn't remember all of the letters and numbers and whatnot.. I wrote them down.. cheat sheet!

go bears!

2011-03-04T17:58:00.000-06:00

I think this is the only Cal game I have a ticket for.. since we just entered with our Cal ID. This was the first time my family came to visit me at school, so they bought tickets and we watched the game from other side of the stadium and sat the whole time.. borring..

a cappella

2011-03-01T17:58:00.001-06:00

My freshman year roommate, was an amazing singer, and was involved in A Cappella all four years.. That year, I think I went to every single one of her shows.. even though I am not the biggest fan of a cappella.. I even made Carolyn come with me to a lot of them!

Every show, I always bought her flowers.. we went so often that Moe, the florist, knew me by name and would sometimes give me free extra flowers.. I think my freshman year was all about flowers.. I think there were CONSTANTLY flowers in my room for me or Allison.. for birthdays, shows, and just because. For valentine's day that year, I got this HUGE box from 1800flowers and Carolyn and her roommate signed for it and were sooo excited that maybe I had a secret admirer or something.. they got me all excited, I opened it to see two dozen red roses.. we ripped open the card, and who was it from? my mom.
so disappointing! sorry, mom. hahaha

sproul

2011-02-28T17:57:00.000-06:00

just a few pamphlets from Sproul that I kept.. idk why.

slo

2011-02-28T17:56:00.002-06:00

In 2006? for President's day, the fam (minus d) took a trip to D's hometown: San Luis Obispo. This is a sand-dollar I found at some beach on the way.. It was whole when I picked it up, but got crushed before we made it back to berkeley.
That was a pretty awesome trip.. I remember driving along the 1, and everyone oohing and ahhing over the views, but B couldn't look, too terrified of heights to take his eyes of the road.

Man, there are so many memories from that trip.. it was just one weekend, but so much happened.. we ate at all the iconic slo places.. went to bubblegum alley:

hiked to the top of the town hill.. I can't remember what it is called..

jumped off sand dunes..

hiked to a waterfall..

I just remember driving around in D's honda listening to Smashing Pumpkins on tape..
and one night D's mom gave us a gift certificate to some hot springs that she was never going to use. We took the opportunity and tried out the place.. which was more like a couples' retreat place, and we had our own private enclosed sulfur spring hot tub thing.. hahaha ridiculous.

taylor and kendall

2011-02-27T17:56:00.000-06:00

One year when Taylor and Kendall (my favorite little cousins) came to visit, I took them to the wharf in SF. We OF COURSE stopped at Musée Mécanique, the antique penny arcade. love love love the old timey photobooth..

I got my bio-rhythm (whatever that is) checked:

and a fortune?

"You have a strong, magnetic expressive eye, you can easily induce other people to do as you wish. In affairs you like to be your own commander, and possess the faculty to oversee the work of others."
true guys?

the master

2011-02-26T21:36:00.001-06:00

So, back in 2006 (i guess it was) this guy was featured in some ad in the daily cal. L and I saw it and joked about going.. who was this grand master they spoke of? We decided we just had to check it out.. so one day we ventured over to SF to check out this master artist. Well, as usual, we got pretty lost, and had to walk a long time in the rain before finding the place. But it was well worth it.

The pamphlets for this guy were ridiculous! one paragraph quotes:

"It is precisely due to his unfathomable Buddha-dharma realization that the Master has acquired erudition and penetrating understanding of the laws that govern the growth and change of everything in the universe. He has thereby attained the highest philosophy, vocal performances, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, application of colors to portray realistic rock texture and rock grains, medicine, and science. No one in history can match such achievements! The Master truly deserves to be called a great master the likes of which have never been seen in history! Because of this, today we can stroll in this inexhaustibly profound, rare, and beautiful world of art and enjoy one after another ingenious work that retains Nature's spirit and form but transcends its superlative craftsmanship."

and that is just ONE paragraph! this guy is.. ridiculous!

There was this only sculpture that looked like melted Styrofoam, painted different colors.. it was supposedly worth $2 million.. and could NEVER be replicated. Many had tried, but the work of this master artist is unreproducible and actually could never even be produced by human hands.. so apparently Master Wan Ko Yee claims to be a god?
He also claims to be the master of 21 different forms of art, and has the most accomplishments of anyone in the universe.

check out his propaganda site here. and here.

after the 'show' we of course went to get sushi and I tried a bunch of stuff for the first and only time..I can't even remember.. mussels? idk.

my whole life.

2011-02-26T09:24:00.003-06:00

I had this word doc on my computer (rip bobby) that was called "My Whole Life" and every semester I would try to plan out the rest of the classes I would take at cal. I tried sooo hard to get everything figured out ahead of time, so that I knew exactly which classes to sign up for, I knew what semester and time they were offered.. I wanted to take every Architecture class offered.. and make sure I had all of my 120 units lined up for graduation.

Well, every semester, the whole thing changed again. As much as I tried to plan it out.. nothing ever went according to plan. This one was evidently printed in Fall 06. That semester I was frustrated because I was Waitlisted! for my last required studio course (because there were 4th years still needing to take it). I signed up for photo instead (waitlisted again). One day they tell me I am not admitted into studio, but I am IN photo.. then a week later, the studio professor calls me and tells me I'm In. So, I drop photo to take studio. In the process, I made the photo professor really mad and she never let me into her class again :/ haha

Also, through all this planning, I didn't account for the unexpected.. like my senior thesis option. and since I put off my American Cultures credit until the last semester.. i know, stupid, I had to take summer sessions after graduation. now THAT was an interesting class. Never taking a women's studies course again, thank you Berkeley.

I also didn't get to take every architecture course. :( I missed one - structures.
I did, however, have a class on every floor of Wurster.. including the secret 10th floor only accessible by stair. Thank you thesis language instruction/wine and cheese discussion nights for that one!

sunflower

2011-02-25T21:07:00.001-06:00

Found this rough draft of a colored drawing I did in my first studio.. this studio was so fun! It was all drawing, and taught by two crazy professors - Joe Slusky and Chip Sullivan. Joe is a sculptor, and you can see his work all around the bay area. Chip is a landscape architect, he did the courtyards in the units!
Anyway, we did one major drawing each week..

here's the final drawing one of my favorites from that class.

At the end of the semester, we had a huge party in the lobby of Wurster.. with everyone's artwork from the whole semester.. Joe provided the music (he has a boom-box on wheels) and Chip provided the wine. This party pretty much set the tone for what being an architecture student would be like.. work really hard all semester, and then have some drinks with your professors when its all over!

found this picture of studio filled with everyone's flowers.. oh memories.. I'm really liking this process! haha

pete yorn

2011-02-25T17:55:00.001-06:00

This story starts loong ago. When I was like 15, my family took a random trip to the land of Appalachia. Actually, it wasn't that random.. it was my mom's cousin's 50th birthday, and she wanted us to climb a mountain for her birthday. Actually that does sound kind of random..

Anyway, we stayed at many different places over the course of like, 2 weeks. One place we were staying in had tv, and I was lucky enough to sleep on the couch at that place, which meant I could watch tv all night if I wanted. So, one night, I was up late watching this music station that just played music videos all the time. There were two artists that I caught my eye/ears that night.. one was John Mayer singing No Such Thing and jumping around on cafeteria tables.. and the other was Pete Yorn.. If you haven't seen the video for For Nancy, its pretty good.. I hadn't heard of either of these people before, so as soon as I got home I bought both their albums.

Fast forward about 6? years.. I'm walking down Telegraph, and I stop in Rasputin to check out who will be around playing free shows.. who's name do I see but Pete Yorn's. So, I finally got to see him live, while squished in the dvd section of Rasputin.. it was awesome.

watercolor

2011-02-24T13:53:00.000-06:00

Just a simple watercolor sketch of my first site! I don't even really remember where it was.. I remember walking past the Transamerica tower on the way, and being told not to go to the site at night.

I designed a Beat Poet Memorial on the site.. this was... 2005?

NORP 07

2011-02-23T13:17:00.000-06:00

For my Spring Break in 2007 Cindy and I led a team to New Orleans to aid in the relief effort. We both went the year before (well, I went to New Orleans, and Cindy went to Biloxi, right?) and had incredible experiences.

The preparation for the trip was a little intense at the time... we needed to raise about $800 in support for each person going.. The year before, one of our friends put on a talent show to raise funds, so we decided to do the same.

we had so many great people put on performances! it was a really fun night.. we also had a service auction.. people would bid on things that others could do for them. We had apartment cleaning, writing help, a running buddy, cooking lessons, a chauffer, help with resume writing, and I made a home cooked southern meal.

One of the things we did to raise support was talk to several local businesses to see if they would want to sponsor us. Many of them gave us gift cards to their stores.. Moe's, Amoeba, Rasputin, etc. so we were able to raffle off those as prizes! I remember one day I was walking up and down Telegraph getting rejection after rejection from businesses, and I was so burnt out and tired from walking.. I was trying to decide if I should just stop for that day, go home and rest, or keep going. I had already skipped several classes that day to talk to businesses, and I felt like I needed to press on even though I was physically and emotionally exhausted. But as I was wrestling with myself it started hailing.. i know.. I have never seen it hail in Berkeley except for that day. So I stood in a doorway until it finally stopped.. and took that as a sign that I should go home and rest.. haha

We ended up getting all of our support, and some came from really unexpected places. At the time, I was working as an intern at a firm in Oakland, and told one of my coworkers in passing about what I was doing for Spring Break.. The day after I was caught in the hail, he gave me a check that completely covered one person's entire trip. It was so so so cool to see God working in others, and see that I, in my limited abilities and stamina, can only do so much. But HE is soooo much greater than me and everyone, that HE can move mountains, and does!

apparently, I kept all of the info we received.. from emergency contacts, to maps.. Because I was the only one over 21 with a license, I had the privilege of being the driver of the rental mini-van.. so we had lots of maps.. hah

and then the instructions on how to properly gut a house.. priceless. This year was a little different from the last.. It had been a year and half since Katrina, and the city was a little more put together than the last time I was there.. We actually stayed in a hotel, and were able to take a shower every night.. instead of in 2006 when we stayed in an old warehouse and had portable tent showers, with no heat.. I think I took 2 showers that week.. haha
It was also different because we had to wear these intense face masks to protect our lungs from the mold.. before, we just used the little paper ones you got from the hardware store.

one of my film prints from the trip
those are some tough looking girlies!

This was a church in the lower ninth ward, about 100 yards from the levy. Not much had changed after a year. I would really like to go back now and see what is in its place..

march 5, 2006

March 28, 2007

soft oranges

2011-02-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

Every year, the M. Arch students were always getting grants to do weird things around Wurster (my architecture building). Usually interactive installations, seating, or a green roof. This one was my favorite though.. the orange slices were filled with water and lights.. it was supposed to be heated as well, but I never went while the heater was on. It sat 8 or 10 people and was actually pretty comfortable.. you could go chill at night while it was lit up and the wurster kids were working hard, or during the day between classes to lay in the sun for a while.

"what if a warm, soft orange lived at wurster..."

the international noise conspiracy

2011-02-22T22:04:00.001-06:00

my ticket to the show..

That semester, my friend D and I went to sooo many shows.. mostly by obscure bands I had never heard of.. Most of the time they were in Berkeley or Oakland; but for this one, we ventured across the bay into the City. I remember getting off the BART and having absolutely no idea where we were.. it was already pretty late, and we weren't in a very good looking neighborhood (around civic center). so once we figured out where we were, we pretty much ran to the venue. then we had a great time at the show, but had to leave early to catch the last Richmond train at 12:20. and then we got on the Pittsburgh/Bay Point train and had to wait at the Macarthur station in the cold for the transfer.

You should try to check out the (international) noise conspiracy .. I only have like.. 4 of their songs on my comp, one of them is called Capitalism Stole my Virginity. so you know they're good. haha

bring your friends

2011-02-21T20:15:00.000-06:00

found this on the street.. i liked it.. so i brought it home and put it on my wall. haha

audium

2011-02-20T12:00:00.001-06:00

This was also on my wall for a while. When I first moved to California, my mom gave me this book called, "San Francisco Weird." It has a TON of weird things to do.. from Da Vinci's Camera Obscura, to the acid blotter museum, to the fortune cookie factory.. and of course, Audium.

It was on my list of things to do from 2004 to 2006, when I crossed it off the list. Having only the description that it was a musical mastermind, from the 60's, that would basically blow your brain to bits, we jumped on the bus.. well, bus to bart to muni.. to go to Audium.

tickets are cheap: only $15 for the most INTENSE musical experience of your entire LIFE.
and you get to explore this weird dimly lit museum first to get you in the mood.

after, you go sit in this round room with speakers all around you. you are instructed not to make ANY noise, and not to move.. not to even touch the person sitting next to you, in pitch black darkness. the neon exit signs kind of ruined the mood, but what can you do? and then the program starts. it lasts an hour.. and we were definitely expecting a musical experience.. but it was more like a bunch of weird/odd noises coming from all sides.. bombarding each other and you.

I'm glad I went, otherwise I would have wondered about this mysterious audium for the rest of my life.. but we all agreed that it probably would have been much more enjoyable if we lived in the 60's and were all tripping on acid.

You can read more about Audium here.

i don't want to be a hoarder!

2011-02-20T09:01:00.003-06:00

So, a few months ago, I was watching that hoarders show.. that show FREAKS me out. Every time I watch it, it reminds me of.. me. and that’s scary. I keep so many stupid little things for “sentimentality’s sake.” It’s really ridiculous.

One of the people on this show, like many others, had strong attachments to some of the objects, even though she didn’t use them anymore. Her therapist told her to take a picture of the object, and then get rid of it. A digital picture takes up less space than the actual item.

I figured, since I have hoarding tendencies, I need to start combating them Now, instead of when things take over my future home. And since my feets aren’t doing anything special as of late, and this space has been pretty quiet, I figured I’d document the process of ridding here. I’ve got several boxes of memories stowed under my bed, so I’ll go through them box by box, item by item, and recount the memories as best I can, then get rid of it! This way, I can keep the image, and the memory and story it provokes forevs! And not eventually end up on Hoarders. Sound good? Good.

Box #1. Apparently my mom sent me some stuff while in the studio.. I think most of this stuff was taped to the walls of this bitty studio I shared with Ellen.

I laughed out loud when I saw this sign! I was taking a city planning class at the time, and as a requirement, we had to go to a city council meeting. Ellen needed to go for one of her classes, so we picked a night and went. As most of you know, living in Berkeley was quite the experience, and the council meeting would be a bigger glimpse into the craziness that is Berkeley. As we headed into the meeting, we were given these signs: note the no public urination on the bottom.. that’s a real problem in Berkeley - on a side note, I was waiting for the bus once, on University, and this woman was waiting there too. Before I knew what was happening, she was squatting next to the tree on the side of the road! I couldn’t believe it! On other occasions, I have seen guys peeing in MY front yard..

Anyway, turns out, that night they were holding an open meeting about this black and white liquor place. There were about two-dozen people there, half on the side of the store, half outraged by the store. The store had been damaged by a fire and they were going to decide if it should reopen or close forever. I remember one woman standing up and saying that the owners of the store had helped her out on several occasions when she had to leave her home fast. Another man was an employee and said he was grateful for the job he had there.

Others talked about the people the store attracted and how they would get drunk and then pee or puke on their front porches. That their kids couldn’t play in the front yard, because they didn’t know who had peed in it that day. They were outraged and crying.. it was the most intense city council meeting I’ve ever been to!

I can’t remember if they closed the store or not.. but I remember the adventure.

行不行？

2011-01-03T12:52:00.000-06:00

This is a little segment I like to call... XING BU XING. (行不行？）

sooo... "xingbuxing?" means "is this OK or not?"
here are some translations from the internet: " all right; capable; competent; OK; okay; to go; to do; to travel; temporary; to walk; to go; will do"

to explain this a little better, I've thought of some illustrations.

Case #1: You want to add some hot spice to the soup you are sharing with your friend, you ask "xing bu xing?" and she replies "xing" "OK, that's fine".

Case #2: You are riding in a taxi to the train station because you are extremely late, and the driver has the audacity to try to pick up another passenger and not use the meter (so he doesn't have to pay taxes). He starts to pull over and you yell, "BU XING!!" "HEY! That is NOT OK!"

Case #3: You make your morning coffee, add the sugar, and then go to the fridge for your milk/creamer. You find that the milk is.. oh no.. expired.. for like 3 days. You are feeling really sad because your coffee is just not complete without the creaminess. Then you remember there is a tub of vanilla ice cream sitting in the freezer.. you add a spoonful of ice cream to your coffee.. all the while thinking to yourself, "行不行？"

xing in my book.

Homemade Blue Bell Ice Cream is the perfect way to saaayy
Have yourself a Blue Bell Country daaayy

tis a new year!

2011-01-02T12:51:00.002-06:00

I know its been a while since I've posted - been way busy, as usual.

But, its been so beautiful these past few days, I just need to share these photos with you. Yesterday, the doggies were needing some attention, so we went to the park aka the vacant lot next door that used to have a volleyball net.

Buddy and I laid under a tree and watched the squirrels..

and Daisy fetched the ball..

perfect day for some glamor shots!

Happy New Year!

mesmerized.

2010-12-12T22:57:00.001-06:00

I'm totally mesmerized by this video..

Morocco & Spain from Mike Matas on Vimeo.

makes me want to go to morocco even more now!

via smallest things

poll.

2010-11-07T22:02:00.002-06:00

Hey guys,

I need your input.
I am so done making decisions. I can't do it anymore.

I added a page on the right -->
called "skies"

you get to vote which pics make it into the portfolio!

soo.. rank your top 3?

i numbered them

thanks guys!

jena

four tet

2010-11-06T12:43:00.000-05:00

I've re-discovered Four Tet.

love this xx remix.

The xx - VCR (Four Tet remix) by Four Tet

a week in the bay area

2010-11-02T13:54:00.004-05:00

I just returned from a week out in Berkeley.. and I have to say it was AMAZING!!
We went on campus and pretended to be students. I also got to see a few of my professors, which was both fun and awkward at the same time hah.

On Tuesday, we saw.. SUFJAN! which was pretty epic. I think that's the only word I can use to describe it. and the decor makes the Paramount remain my favorite venue.

But yeah, there are a ton of Sufjan reviews out there for his latest tour, all saying pretty much the same thing. I left the night feeling a bit depressed and concerned for his well-being - this has never happened to me before. I want to write him a letter. hahah He shared some personal stuff but still left everything a little vague. While he played mostly stuff from the most recent LP - Age of Adz, he threw in some acoustic oldies to satiate the fans, and ended the set with John Wayne Gacy, which is a weird song to end the evening with and left me even MORE depressed. oh well. Sufjan, you are a mystery.

Steph and I also got to spend a day in the city, and took a trip to Baker's Beach. it's been a while!

We had a pretty good time until some pretty awkward stuff happened.

Here's Carolyn being sad about this huge tree on the wall in Mulford.

And for all of you missing YoPo :

It was delish!

Also, you guys, I am working on Grad school apps right now and would REALLY appreciate any advice or input or criticism on my portfolio.. here's a link to a recent draft:

portfolio

fishies

2010-10-12T20:28:00.001-05:00

just some favorites from the last roll of fish-eyes.

chi town

2010-10-03T23:01:00.002-05:00

Last week, I got to go to Chicago!! woo hooooo I had three missions while in the windy city: visit friends who I hadn't seen in a while, go to the Architecture for Change summit on affordable housing, and see some architecture icons!

First stop, the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower (now called Willis tower, boo.)

buildings just get eaten up by the clouds!

The city also looks fabulous at night from the 60th floor of steve's apt.

Kathryn and I went to Millennium park to visit the bean!

and held some eyeballs:

and I got to see some Calder sculptures, with my favorite architect (Mies van der Rohe) in the background.

and then, visit Marina City (the round building) which, ironically, is designed by Mies' understudy.

Oh Chicago, I'll be back to visit your too many museums and stare at your monet paintings another time.

ps. hopefully I will be able to compose my thoughts enough to create a post about the architecture summit, but we shall see about that one. I'm not really known for my eloquence. HA

BSF!

2010-09-17T11:48:00.002-05:00

So, this week I started this Bible study called BSF - Bible Study Fellowship

Its a pretty awesome concept. All over the world, people study the Bible in same format. It is an 8-year series, and every year they study a different book of the Bible. I know last year they studied John, and this year we are studying Isaiah for the first time. Each week you meet together to worship, then break into small groups to discuss the portion of Isaiah you read for the week. After discussion, you go back to the large group for a lecture/message on the next portion of the book. You then get to take home lecture notes, and a set of questions to answer for the next week. BSF is non-denominational, and they actually ask that you not bring in outside references, but take everything from the Word.

What is also great, is that no matter where you are, you can probably find a BSF in the area, and we will all be studying the SAME thing!

soooo... to learn more about BSF and read their statement of faith go here: BSF

and just so you know... they have groups in Modesto,CA; Rancho Cucamonga,CA; Portland, ME; New Providence, NJ; New Brighton, MN; Tempe, AZ; Crystal Lake, IL; Richmond, CA; Las Cruces, NM; and San Diego,CA.

DO IT!

magnetic snaps

2010-08-30T19:47:00.003-05:00

So, I'm working on this custom bag order, and I opened up a new package of magnetic snaps to find the backings are made of...

recycled metal! woo hoo

this makes me SO happy :D

especially because i recognize this blue and white "S" label from somewhere in asia.. can't remember what package though. any ideas?

on another note, on sunday i was also SO HAPPY (will and mike can attest to this) because my church switched their land-fill filling polystyrene coffee cups to recycled paper ones! happy happy happy.

on an unrelated note, i've been listening to this song on repeat. apparently they like to sample old sega genesis songs.. I thought this one was from sonic's labyrinth zone... but I was wrong. any other guesses?

rando trivia question: at 22 years of age, after not touching the sega for a number of years, jena hammond beat the entire sonic the hedgehog (1991 version) sega genesis game (for the first time in her life) in what length of time??

apologies for an overly random post today.

hearts

2010-08-25T22:11:00.002-05:00

this is the newest addition to my wall decor :)

I've been thinking of getting a great map for a while.. but couldn't really find one I liked.. then I randomly found this one at Aaron Brothers.

I thought about getting regular map pins, but then I found these awesome brads in the scrapbooking section at the Hob Lob.

hearts for where my heart lies.

from asia land

2010-07-29T21:32:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, I finally got this old roll of film developed. I knew it had pictures from Greg and my trip downtown.. but I had forgotten about all of the pictures from Asia

At first I was really disappointed about the quality of these photos.. the prints and negatives are fine.. but the digital copies on the CD SUCK! I could have scanned the prints and got better quality photos.. Its getting harder and harder to find quality places to print 35mm without paying an arm and a leg for digital copies.

but now they are kind of growing on me.. have that vintage grainy feel going on.. and I didn't edit at all! haha

These next few were from down the street from my house..

water camera yay

2010-07-29T21:14:00.003-05:00

ok. one water camera down, one to go. here are some selects:

I reaaalllly like kayaking in the early morn, when you don't have to dodge tubers.

Also, MaoBi and I went for a little walk today..

Once she got accustomed to the grass (her first time in grass!) she took off! running through it.. mom asked if it was her first time running... I guess it was.

rio frio

2010-07-25T19:30:00.005-05:00

I got back from the Frio River, in Texas Hill Country, on Thursday!

The last time I went with my family was about 9 years ago.. I can't believe it had been that long. BUT Dennis, Carolyn, Linda, Cindy, and I were able to make a stop there 2 years ago on our awesome summer road trip. We should do that again, for sure.

anyway, after driving through miles of nothingness:

we made it to the frio!

We always stay at Seven Bluff Cabins.. named because the campground is at the base of this bluff, can you see the 7?

our 5 day trip was spent relaxing at our swimming hole:

jumping off of rocks and rope swings. watching tubers float by:

We floated the river a few times, and we even rented kayaks.. those pictures to come when i develop the underwater camera.

Kendall and I found a little whirlpool near the bridge..

I miss it already, and definitely did not want to return to work yesterday.

In other news, Mao and I went to the vet on Friday for the junk on 'his' shell... and guess what!
well, 1. the junk is just minor superficial fungus and should be fine after a few applications of jock itch cream. yes.
and 2. Mao is a GIRL! calling him a her is taking some getting used to. I don't know how I feel about this yet. But it makes sense. This is one dramatic turtle we are talking about. hyperventilating when I take her out of the tank.. dancing on the water when she's hungry (which is all the time) and even swimming backwards when she gets too excited. explains a lot.

ps. that pic is really old. like oct 09 old. She's much bigger now. ahh!

central asia

2010-06-29T13:46:00.000-05:00

I recently found a bunch of fisheye photos from our trip to central asia last summer.. I guess I never loaded them onto my computer, and just forgot about them.

traditional house for your nomadic lifestyle:

gorgeous views while stuck in traffic:

brightly colored benches:

and oh so lovely grass!!

I also added a page on the side ------->
of the ground in central asia... i took so many pictures, because it was just so perty.

etsy find: spinthread

2010-06-28T12:35:00.003-05:00

new etsy love:

spinthread.

i think these pieces speak for themselves:

and she most recently added bracelets:

so cool! check out her shop to see more stuff..

sandcastles in the saaanndd

2010-06-25T20:09:00.003-05:00

on Thursday, Greg and I went down to G-town (Galveston) for a mini photo shoot. going from my house, to car, to hobby lobby, doesn't make for interesting ground shots, and I needed to replenish my stash.

We stopped by our Galveston house.. It was built in 1905, and had been abandoned for about 20 years when my parents bought it. They spent 3? years restoring it.. I thought I had posted about it before, but I guess not. It miraculously survived Hurricane Ike with only 3 feet of water in the first floor. While my parents were here in Houston, without power, I was in East Asia looking at this house from a satellite image on the city's website. I was able to tell them the house was still there, and the roof was intact. It only took them a couple of weekends to get it ready for the our renters to move back in.

My dad recently built this brick walkway in the backyard... he's so skilled. hah

guess who built that porch on the second floor?? none other than yours truly.

After stopping by the house, we went over to the strand for milkshakes and to look at the cool buildings.. THIS building survived the 1900 Storm, and 8? feet of water with Ike.

Oh Galveston, and your smelly beaches...

and murky water.

we still love you.

happy summer solstice!

2010-06-21T15:41:00.003-05:00

So people at work have been begging me to make more cupcakes for them, and I've really been wanting to try out this icing decoration I saw in Hello, Cupcake! so I made some today :)

they are the same dark chocolate cupcakes I always make, but I just used a simple cream cheese icing recipe. It was a little runny for making sunflowers, so next time I will make butter cream icing.

they look so yummy!

yay cupcakes!

j. bliss

2010-06-16T06:25:00.002-05:00

Jill Bliss has a new journal! I actually don't know when this came out, but I have just now discovered it.

so pretty.

yay jill bliss!

you can look at more of her work on jillbliss.com

etsy shop!

2010-06-14T21:23:00.002-05:00

guess what?

I have an etsy shop! I put all of the photos up a while ago.. my lovely cousin Taylor modeled for me.

I only have 5 bags for sale.. haha but maybe I will get around to making some more soon.. I am playing with cool designs in my head, so we will see where that leads.

I also won the JACKPOT when I stumbled across my grandma's stash of sewing machine feet.. I see lots of piping and zippers in my future. hehe

I'll keep you updated when I update the shop... for now, just trying to get rid of these bags, so I can make some more jena-like ones.

edit: sorry! i forgot to link... here it is.. jenateresa

go stros

2010-06-09T21:46:00.001-05:00

I just got these fish eyes developed.. just some images from the astros game a few weeks ago.. note the thread design in the sidewalk outside of minute maid park..

and the lovely minute maid park... too bad the other pictures i took with people didn't turn out :(

blob

2010-06-06T00:32:00.001-05:00

Last week, i spent my spare time pool side. We have a pretty big pool next door that's used as a neighborhood pool. Usually there is a week or two between the opening of the pool and the end of school.. which means lots of peaceful time in the pool sans kids.

When I was little, my friend and I would fill balloons up with water and throw them in the pool.. I know.. not very smart.. but if you let all of the air out, they just kind of blob around the pool (yes, i did just use the word blob as a verb) and look really cool. We took pictures with an underwater camera one time, but it was too dark, and they didn't turn out.. ever since i've REALLY wanted to do it again. But my parents are so paranoid about them popping in the pool and clogging the filter and whatnot..

Anyway, the other day, i went over to the pool to try it out again.. I was very careful to make sure none of the balloons popped

I think it turned out pretty cool.. but the ziploc I put my camera in kind of distorted the photos..

I really want to try it again with a real underwater camera.. more balloons, and some friends to swim through them.. anyone up for it?

urban market

2010-05-25T00:01:00.002-05:00

Last week, my mom, cousin and I went down to the Urban Market in the Heights. It was reaally muddy, but fun nonetheless.

There were a ton of booths selling antiques and interesting things.. one place had a bunch of random stuff in jars.. like these sea creatures:

I got to take some fun shots with my fisheye!

crazy cool coral..

I bought some upholstery fabric from this bin.. should be able to make a Ton of bags from it..

I wish we had more opportunities like this in houston... I miss Urban Ore like CRAZY and wish wish wish I had one around here.. there probably is one, I just haven't seem to have found it yet.

guest

2010-05-24T11:46:00.000-05:00

I'm guest blogging over at Stephanie's blog today, i ate everything! go check it out!

junip

2010-05-18T19:52:00.002-05:00

guess what?!

Junip just released a new EP, titled Rope and Summit. Only 4 tracks, and i've only listened to it once through, but so far, i'm in love. Junip is Jose Gonzalez' Swedish band. If you haven't heard of jose, you should definitely check him out.. or at the very very least watch the sony bravia commercial that made him famous.. here. (that's the best quality version i could find..)

Anyway, you can dl the new EP for.. FREE if you join the mailing list.. which I was already apart of..

I am pretty bummed that they won't be touring at all in Texas this year.. but then I remembered I've already seen jose gonzalez.. I got to see him in SF on my 22nd birthday.. Even though I was thoroughly sleep-deprived (hadn't slept in about... 40-some odd hours due to studio) it was a very enjoyable evening, and I slept like a baby. All in all a great way to start my 22nd year.

art in the park

2010-05-03T22:02:00.002-05:00

so, as you guys know.. maybe.. I participated in the First Annual Art in the Park in F-wood. My mom, our friend Carrie, and I shared two booths and sat around all day on saturday trying to sell stuff.. I was the only one who sold anything.. hah

My mom has started making custom headboards for kids.. and Carrie whipped up some paintings the week before to sell. Because this was the first one, I don't think the people who attended knew what to expect or that there would be stuff to buy.. and I don't think they quite got the custom headboards concept.. but live and learn eh?

We hung old gates from our house in Galveston to make walls, and we put the bags and paintings on them...

This particular bag was a huge hit:

Two of the three bags I sold were of this pattern!

I made little owls to match the lining of each bag. Also, I got my grandma's old cursive typewriter and made all the tags with it.. love my $1 stamp I got from Michael's hahah

On the table, I set up little photo clips.. I had some ladies buy them for their cubicles.. and even though I only sold 3 sets, I made a $6 profit! awesome

Mr. Owl (help me name him!!! or is he a she? Henrietta? ) made an appearance, and got quite a bit of attention from the ladies..

Anyway, 1st goal of the new year completed! says the one who never makes new years resolutions...
I thought it was fun, and I know what to do and what not to do for next time.. if there is a next time.. for now, I think my sewing machine needs a break and needs to be cleaned out.. so she'll be out of commission for two weeks.

In other news, Gregor totally hooked me up w his professor at UHCL and it looks like I will get dark room access for the summer!! woooo hoooo so be on the lookout for some fun jena-printed originals. I have 8 rolls of film from the past 3-4 years that have been sitting around.. so I am pretty anxious/really nervous to find out what is on them... ahhhh I know one of them is from New Orleans 07.. so that should be fun

summer 2010

2010-04-27T20:50:00.004-05:00

another mix! hehehe basically I'm making this because I like these songs, and I can't afford any CDs right now.. so, I just listen to my own mixes on repeat. lame? no.

anyway, I likes these songs, and I think it makes a great summer mix.

I was thinking about doing an intro to chill wave mix.. but I don't think I like this genre quite yet. I'm warming up to it. thoughts on chill wave? nudge nudge, donna. ;)

Anyway, here are nine tracks..

We've got:
Radiohead - 15 steps
Yeasayer - O.N.E.
Passion Pit - Little Secrets
Cults - Go Outside
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home
Local Natives - Wide Eyes
Toro y Moi - Blessa
Real Estate - Beach Comber
Jonsi - Go Do

enjoyssss

apparently...

2010-04-25T21:47:00.006-05:00

I make bags now..

It all started in the middle of march when I decided to make some tote bags for my mom for her birthday.. and then it morphed into me learning how to make pockets and attach clasps:

and then I started experimenting with different styles (still very simple, box-like):

anyway, its been fun creating things.. the architect in me likes making bags because it involves taking a 2d object and making it 3d.. so fun!

I also designed a tag for them using my chinese name stamp. I felt it was appropriate because the name stamp is like a signature and used on artwork.. i dunno 行不行？

I even got Daisy to be a model, which only works if I have a tennis ball in one hand.

Hopefully I will be selling these at an arts and crafts fair on Saturday, so I made some zebra ones too:

Its been a fun distraction.. and as long as my sewing machine that my grandma bought in the 70's keeps working, I'll be set for saturday! updates to follow of course. hehe

remember

2010-04-12T09:13:00.000-05:00

back when baby mao bi was a baby?

remember when I made this video of him eating in his red carrying case..

When I got him, I actually got two turtles, who fit into that red carrying case very comfortably..

back when he was the size of an yi yuan coin:

now, he's pretty much quadrupled in size: (same yi yuan coin, about the size of a quarter)

and won't even fit into that carrying case...

so crazy how much he can grow in a year and a half! and I think most of that growing was in the last 6 months... my mom always thinks he's starving.

He's got some weird stuff on his shell that the vet will soon take care of.. but for now, he very much enjoys his life of leisure. He swims and swims and sleeps on his basking rock, and climbs up on the filter and then dives off... he even swims backwards when he gets too excited about food. And he actually prefers to eat out of my hand rather than me drop his food in the tank.

Yesterday, I got him a girlfriend. a felt girlfriend with flowers.

He already had CJ as a companion, so now he has a lady friend too.

art festival

2010-04-10T21:24:00.002-05:00

Today, mom and I went to the Woodlands Arts Festival. Her friend from Wisconsin, Jill Schienle, is an artist and travels around the country selling her jewelry.

You can find her work at her website. Very cool stuff..

We also visited her friend Kristin Wornson's (of skipping lilies) booth

She works with her brother outside of Minneapolis and they make these amazing pendants:

photo from skippinglilies.com

You should definitely check out both of these artists' work.. its amazing!

happy one hundredth!

2010-04-06T23:29:00.001-05:00

feets one hundredth post! from jena hammond on Vimeo.

ps. thank you stephanie for the idea!

martha foster womack

2010-04-06T21:39:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago I received four, yes FOUR boxes of fabric and crochet that were my grandma's. I have one box full of crocheted granny squares... they need to be stitched together into an afghan or something.. the other three boxes are full of cut squares of this polyester blend fabric. My grandma loved that stuff.. I don't really know why. Nor do I know why they are all cut into squares.. was she planning on making a quilt? out of polyester? (not the most comfortable quilt) And they aren't the most appealing colors either.. I assume most of them are from the late 60s early 70s and feature some awful browns and mustard colors. Anyway, Thank you granny for leaving me all of these projects to complete! hah

Anyway, I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon sorting all of the squares into colors and thinking about my granny.. I decided to dedicate a post to her and let you all know how wonderful of a woman she was and all the little tidbits I remember about her.

She was born in 1919 (side note: I found a 1919 penny the other day!) and married my grandpa, Lounds "Red" Samuel Womack Sr. (Now that's a southern name!) in 1956.

She was TINY! I tried on her wedding dress when I was like, 10, and could barely zip it up...

They had two kids: my mom and my uncle (Lounds Samuel Jr.).

She was the craftiest person I've ever known. She made me all of my dresses when I was little, and when I got an American Girl doll for Christmas one year, she already had a whole wardrobe that matched my own.

When my grandparents had their house designed and built in the 50's she made sure to have two pantries in the kitchen, and two huge closets in the hallway - one for fabric, and one for yarn.

She called the ladder to the attic the "dis'ppearin' staircase." And all little kids we called "Angel foot."

She was a pack-rat and kept everything. When I got her sewing machine, I also got every receipt from every service she had had on it.

She had the biggest sweet tooth and when possible, ordered dessert first.

Every Sunday was like Thanksgiving at her house. She had everything timed impeccably. We would go to church, and within 10 minutes of returning to the house, supper would be ready. I was in charge of filling the tea glasses with ice and mint leaves from the back yard.

She always had a fridge stocked with her newest dessert creation and glass-bottle cokes. Coke was always offered before any other drink.

She had this insane ability to make anyone and everyone feel right at home. She loved to have parties and would jump at any opportunity to have a wedding or shower at her house.. often accompanied by punch with a handmade ice ring (with lemon, lime and orange rinds carefully shaped to look like roses), and dyed sugar cubes in shapes to fit the occasion... hearts or baby booties.

If you ever had a baby born, a birthday, or a death in the family, you could count on my granny to be the first one at your doorstep with a basket of goodies and some handmade blankets or toys.

In the early-nineties, she wrote to Woman's Day magazine and asked for a recipe for cracklin' cornbread. We were eating that stuff for months because letters and recipes from all over came into her house in huge bags. She must have received hundreds if not thousands of letters with recipes from all sorts of people. We kept getting them for years and years, but they finally stopped. Then in 2006, a year after my grandma passed away, my uncle got one more recipe (he lives in her old house).

She made THE BEST chicken and dumplings I've ever had, and anyone who has ever had the pleasure of tasting them will say the same thing. And my mom is still trying (in vain, sorry mom.) to make her rolls rise and her potato salad taste just right..

And, when she got older, and moved into a retirement community in Friendswood, I would go have dinner with her after school. We would sit at the table of the, "most handsome young man" server and she would proceed to try to set me up with him. "He has the most lovely blue eyes." hahah

My dad says that they were so special because they just came from a completely different era.. My grandpa was 52 when my mom was born.. while my other grandma was still a teenager when she had my dad. They loved and lived life to the fullest and would never miss an opportunity to bless others.

on another note, I totally thought this was going to be my one-hundredth post. danshi, I had one unpublished draft in my post archive thing.. making this post my 99th published posting..

therefore...

this too shall pass.

2010-03-12T22:47:00.002-06:00

This has been going around the interwebs for a few days now, so I thought I would pass it along...

I love all of OK Go's antics, and this one is great!

so here's OK Go - This too shall pass

and here are some making of videos:

tiiiightt

fresh start

2010-03-11T18:53:00.002-06:00

its time for a new journal! I got my square ruled moleskine last year (started march 16, so almost a full year) and I have very much enjoyed it. I decided I would just stick with what I like and so I got squared moleskine #2 the other day. This, accompanied by my pink march colour-a-month planner just makes me smile.

also, today I decided that 3-4pm is my favorite time of day.. especially in this kind of spring-like weather. I have also found in my various 2-4pm art/architecture history classes that this is the most difficult time of day to stay awake. hope ya'll had a lovely thursday!

international women's day!

2010-03-08T20:16:00.001-06:00

Monday was International Women's Day and to celebrate, I went to work. ha.

There are 29 countries who celebrate the day as an official holiday. Obviously the US is not one of them, but for the past two years I was able to celebrate the day in two countries who do.
In 2008, I was in Rome, Italy working on my thesis. On this day we used the opportunity to go to a celebration at Corviale, my thesis site. It was a very interesting experience which included a 2-hour long video about Women's liberation in Italy... all in Italian of course. We did receive yellow mimosas though, which is tradition, and very lovely indeed. If you want to read more about my day there click here... which is a link to the Thesis blog I kept back when.

Last year, in 09 we celebrated in E. Asia! Our teacher 马老师, took us to eat at a brazilian bbq buffet. It was both a strange and delicious experience. I miss her and all of these lovely ladies sooooo..

Next year, maybe I will be more up on my game and be able to celebrate with a nice dinner or cupcakes or something. maybe.

homes for haiti

2010-03-03T21:41:00.002-06:00

tonight, I had the opportunity to help build some homes for haiti. The church I've been going to has teamed up with CORE Alliance and Builders Without Borders to build 10,000 homes. They aren't meant to be permanent structures, but next-step, temporary (lasting around 3 years) shelters to replace the tent cities that thousands of earthquake survivors are now living in.

The homes are shipped as walls and floors and the assembled on site. We had this whole assembly line going on. I got to use the circular saw! And my team cut all of these sheets down to size:

While I was working and covered in saw dust, I was thinking about that sweet smell of fresh lumber. I was reminded of the two spring breaks I spent gutting homes in New Orleans. I remember the smell of mold and rot.. I remember that down the street from one of the houses we worked in was a home that was actually starting to be reconstructed. You could smell the fresh lumber all the way down the street.. I remember thinking that that is the sweeeeetest smell... because it means newness, hope and progress.. I hope that these fresh, sweet smelling homes can provide the same kind of relief and hope to those in haiti.

more chocolate cupcakes mmmm

2010-02-19T13:55:00.001-06:00

I made more cupcakes for work this week! This was the best batch yet.. they were delicciousssss

I had sooo much fun making them pretty and dipping them in pink sprinkles.. I was all giggling and Eric was like, "What's going on in there?!"

I'm so glad I had people to share them with at work, otherwise I would have eaten them all!

just another day

2010-02-13T12:07:00.002-06:00

at Hob Lob #12.

we just got this shipment of owl pots in our "Garden 2010" section, and I already bought the cutest little owl.. I almost had a fit when i walked by this aisle and saw them all set up on the shelf.. AHHhhhh so cute!

He is keeping baby Mao (who's not so baby anymore) company until I can work up the courage to kill another plant.

also, in between days of non-stop rain, we have had a few days that make me feel like I'm back in the Bay Area.. clear skies and cool, drive-with-the-windows-down, lay-in-the-grass weather. perfect.

cupcake explosions

2010-02-12T12:08:00.002-06:00

so I wanted to make a ton of valentine cupcakes for people.. work, life group, friends, family, etc. so i got some recipes off of Bakerella and set about making some delicious fun.. the chocolate ones kind of exploded in the oven for various reasons, but the yellow-cake ones turned out pretty decent.

All of the supplies on the baking aisle in Hobby Lobby have been calling my name for a while, so I finally bought some decorating tools and had some fun!

I think they turned out pretty nice.. Atleast they look pretty even if the cake was a little dense.. I really need to work on my baking skills.

Also on Wednesday, I got to play mommy to this little guy:

I found him in wandering in the rain a few blocks from my house.. his owner was no where to be found. It was getting dark, and I was afraid his 4-pound soul would be turned into owl or coyote food, so I picked him up and brought him home. (we have one owl that stalks the neighborhood at night, he's huge! And I saw a coyote in DAYLIGHT run through my front yard the other day.. kind of scary.)

he makes Dakota look like a monster!

His dad came to claim him yesterday evening.. it was a good thing I picked him up, because he had just left for a 14-hour work shift when lil' toot (aka Nugget) had escaped.

daisy girl

2010-02-05T15:15:00.001-06:00

lately, my days have been full of heaping bowls of chili and cornbread:

and daisy:

Recently, daisy has been completely glued to me. Everywhere I go, she's right on my heels. If I fall asleep while watching tv, she's right there next to my bed, asleep as well. This is new for me.. usually the dogs follow my mom around, so its nice to have someone follow me.. I still don't really understand why she's taken such a liking to me all of the sudden, she never did this before.. but its fun! She even tried to jump on my bed last night... she's not a jumper, and is pushing 10 years old, so she didn't quite make it, but its the thought right?

also, since she's my new best friend, she gets to try on all of the headbands I've been making for my cousin. She's such a great model, don't you think?

oh the exciting life i lead.

2010-02-01T12:45:00.008-06:00

So, working in retail for this amount of time has been a very interesting experience. It has also been the longest I've had a job! go me.

Anyway, in the past 3-4 years, I haven't been in Texas for longer than 3 weeks. Now that I've been here for 5 months and talk to hundreds of people a day, I've noticed quite a few things I hadn't noticed before. Here are just a couple:

Besides the obvious Southern drawl and slang found in every-day communications, I've noticed a ton of people call a shopping cart a "Buggy." This is new to me. I've never in my life heard it called a buggy... I thought buggies were old baby strollers... Anyone else encounter/call it this?

The other is the number of people who belong to the Johnson Space Center Credit Union. I see a LOT of credit cards, and I was really surprised to see that JSC far outweighs the other banks and southwest credit cards. I guess this makes sense because I live like 10 minutes away from NASA, but still, NASA employs THAT MANY people?! crazy.

Also, working at the Hob Lob has allowed me to become an avid coin collector. I have only four more of the state quarters to collect, and three of the US Territories. According to my dad the DC and US Territories quarters are pretty collectible because the US mint never announced that they were going to make them and very few were actually made. I have District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and I am on the lookout for American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. I have also found so many wheat-back pennies. Among others I have a 1919 penny (the year my grandma was born), and a 1911 penny!

Due to my recent enjoyment of coin collecting, I decided to pull out this old box I have with my name written in my grandmother's handwriting. It is filled with all kinds of goodies from her travels to Europe and Africa in the 60s, and I pull it out every once in a while to look through all of the little treasures. I had forgotten about all of the stuff in there! Among postcards, slides, really rough toilet paper and old bills from Germany, Italy (Pre-Euro), England and Norway I found some $3 bills from the Republic of Texas and a few $100 Confederate States of America bills. Given they are authentic, in pretty good condition, and earn 2 cents interest every day, they are worth about $500! Thanks Granny! I don't know if they are authentic or not, since most of the bills in that time were hand-written, so I am anxiously awaiting to see if I receive tickets to the Antiques Roadshow in Biloxi, MS. Wish me luck!

happy new year

2010-01-15T14:16:00.002-06:00

i forgot to post this after the new year..

this is the 'Message toward 2010' my East Asian planner has given me:

" Today is the beginning
of new happiness, new directions
and new relationships.
If you keep an smiling although in the face of
any frustration, you can
get the visa to success.
Happy New Year! "

happy everyday.

dance.

2010-01-14T19:17:00.005-06:00

hi.

so i made a new mix.

its called.. feets like to dance.

basically a compilation of all the songs i've been shamelessly dancing to recently.

i have fallen head over heels for Sirius XMU, indie station. its legit.

enjoy.

long overdue.

2010-01-07T22:10:00.003-06:00

It has been far too long since my last post. Though I have a whole list of excuses stored in the back of my mind, there really is none. and I apologize.

I've been pretty busy the last two months. I got a job at Hob Lob #12. I was hired as "Part-time Seasonal" but I've been working 38-46 hour weeks. That will all change on Jan 17, after inventory, when I will go to strictly part-time. Anyway, working has its ups and downs.. Dealing with angry/ridiculous customers = downs, fun co-workers and discounts = ups. Let's just say it continues to be a humbling experience, for which I am grateful. Also, I get TONS of crafting ideas.. I want to do everything. I want to make jewelry, bind my own books, decorate my future house, knit like 436278 scarves, etc. Actually, one of my goals for this year is to take part in a craft show. I think it would be fun! I have realized that one of my passions is making things with my hands.. and why not make pretty things, and then spread the love. Because I certainly don't have the space to keep everything I create.

Anyway, here are some of the projects I've had going on in the last couple of months:

first, it was the pinwheel baby quilt for my cousin's little girl, Leah June. This was really fun because it was my 3rd quilt I made by myself and my first try at triangles! I was grateful that it was made for a baby though. Also fun about making it for a baby girl: ruffle trim!

Little Leah June was born on Dec 17, and yesterday we went to visit and deliver the long over due quilt. I think she likes it. :)

another quilt is for my cousin Taylor:

When I showed her the baby quilt on Thanksgiving, she decided that's what she wanted for Christmas. So, I've been working on it for a while, and hopefully it will be finished tomorrow. Let's hope.

I also made her a cock-eyed owl to match, isn't he fun!?

And, guess what I spent Christmas Eve doing?! Learning to Crochet! My grandma taught me to knit when I was a kid, but I never learned how to crochet.. so I watched a few youtube videos and set out to make a yokoo-esque cowl. I ran out of yarn, so it isn't as big, but I like it! And I've got quite a few compliments on it.. I even told a girl at work that I would make her one too.. I am still waiting on the yarn..

ps. yes, that is a picture of me, nakie, as a baby, sitting in a tub in the background.

Last, is probably one of my favorite, on-going, long-term projects that will take quite some time to complete. And now I will reveal a little of my idea...

I decided a while a go (actually I decided in early July while traveling) that I wanted to do something with all of the pictures I took while exploring the East. I decided that I want to make an illustrated journal/organizer/day planner thing.
I took a lot of pictures of details, and I thought I would turn it all into something lovely that people can carry around.. thus, the idea of taking part in a craft-show.
I am also looking into publishers/printers who use recycled paper and soy-based ink, but I am having a difficult time finding them in Houston. I have two companies I'm looking at now, but I still have a while before I get to that point. I am thinking it will be ready to be used as a 2011 Planner.. So hopefully you will see a finished product in November-December. Let me know if you want one!

here is a sneak-peek:

The illustrating is pretty time-consuming, especially since I am pretty much working full-time and have about a million other projects I'm working on.. (still working on your recipe cards, stephie!) and I have so many more ideas.. and of course, I am still looking for a real job in my field (I have some prospects in the next 3 weeks, chat for me!).

Anyway, I just thought I would update you on my life for a while.. I've been pretty MIA, but I'm working on it.

also, this shot is from about a month ago when it froze and we had a pretty good snow..
Right now we are having a 'Big Freeze' and it should get into the 20's tomorrow.. so lets hope for snow!

ok. back to quilting and drinking beer.

happy bday

2009-11-16T08:05:00.002-06:00

Saturday was Where My Feets Have Been's one year birthday!

so, in celebration, I'm posting some Feets highlights from the past year. get ready for a lengthy post!

we took soo many trips to get street food:

relaxed on some beaches:

fed some monkeys:

ate lots of korean barbeque:

prepared for below 0 temperatures:

wished you a merry christmas!

danced in the new year:

took LOTS of trains:

experienced monsoon season in malaysia:

walked above the jungle:

were pampered in vietnam:

took some tiny planes:

admired the streets of central asia:

and made it safely back to houston.

wow, what a year!

the f-a-r-m

2009-11-15T22:03:00.003-06:00

this weekend I went up to Willis / New Waverly to visit my grandparents.

They live on our family farm, and I hadn't been there in soooo long!

i drove down the country road to get to the Womack gate:

My grandparents live in a big house, but I stayed in the little red guest house. It used to be a milk house, but my other grandma transformed it into a guest house in the 50's. this is where my family always stays when we come up. When I was a kid, we would get excited about sleeping in the 3-tiered bunk beds.

we hand fed some babies...

and i took the required jumping pic by the pond.

ps. we have to spell out 'farm' because the dogs know the word, and they'll go crazy if they hear it.

this one

2009-11-11T15:37:00.003-06:00

goes out to the one i love.

this is a post to show my collection of b&w fish eyes. i know you are all dying to see them. hah

first up, bday celebrations..

just cause i really like my shoes. :)

bday roses.. thanks stephie!

now off to santa clara..

carolyn's favorite house.

oh the palm trees.. i've been kind of scared of them ever since i heard of people being killed by falling palms :/ makes those 9-story tall palm trees in Berkeley a little scary

and greg and I at the air show weeeee

it was game day.. even though cal is embarrassing me this year, i still have to represent.

all hallows eve

2009-11-04T23:44:00.003-06:00

this year, I got to dress up as one in a mighty duo.

none other than wayne campbell.

Greg, my trusted sidekick, was Garth. and we spent the evening sharing many high fives, psych-ing people out, and saluting the numerous babes at the party. I also got to make an acceptance speech.. yes, we won "most original costume" haha

hope your halloween was as exciting!

ps. the b&w pics were taken with my lovely bright orange fish-eye lomo. I had this b&w film sitting around forever and needed to use it up. more lomo's coming shortly.

leaving my heart in the bay area

2009-10-28T14:57:00.002-05:00

all over again.

yep, i took a trip out to the 'left coast' (as my father so lovingly refers to california) this past weekend to visit my loves.

i was SO GREAT!

I went to berkeley to visit Jess and eat frozen yogurt. I took a trip to wurster to visit a professor, and went up to the 8th floor for my favorite view of the bay.

I stopped by the house Ellen and I used to live in, and the former residence of the purple velvet couch. the couch has since moved to Stanley Hall for safe keeping. Sadly, I was not able to visit it. :(

oh how i miss you, 2539 durant.

and i found this outside our house: weird?

It was great to visit Carolyn's new 'hood, and I think I know my way around south bay prettyyyy darn well.

look at my little law student, all grown up.

and we of course had to pick up the school newspaper and try the sudoku... none of us could finish it. :/ but the santa clara library is hella tight.. you should check it out.

on sunday, we got all swanky and set out on a surprise adventure...

to a tea house!

mmmmm so good..

this past weekend was a much much needed retreat from tx and the job search. i am coming home refreshed and re-energized (except for the migraines that keep attacking me). i love you guys so much, and miss you like crazy. Maybe the job search will lead me out there and then i will never have to leave you again.

and i have to mention coopy somewhere:

i loves him the most.

rainbow cake!

2009-10-18T16:40:00.002-05:00

yesterday, i embarked on the crazy experience of the making rainbow cake.

the gel colors my dad purchased for me (thanks dad!) turned out to be more My Little Pony rainbow rather than Rainbow Brite... but thats ok!

even dakota liked it!

with that chocolate frosting, it tasted GREAT!

if you want to try and make your own rainbow cake, you can get the really easy recipe here

the recipe says to double it.. so I did.. but it made the cake rise really high in the middle, and i figured if i cut the top of one to stack them, i would cut some of the color off. So, I decided to just make 2 separate cakes. which turned out fine because i had one with chocolate icing, and the other with vanilla... but my family isn't picky at all so it didn't matter.. ha
Also, I made this cake using the low-fat recipe (which calls for clear diet soda instead of everything else) and I think the soda made the cake a little flimsy and crumbly. Usually my box cake doesn't do this, so i am attributing it to the use of soda. One of my cakes completely fell apart as I took it out of the mold.. I ate some of it, and stacked and mushed the other parts together as best I could and then covered it with frosting. In the end, you couldn't even tell!

nerd alert

2009-10-07T18:02:00.002-05:00

So, a long time ago, probably high school bio, i learned about some special mushrooms and what they can do to your brain. jk! i learned about their root structure. its SO COOOOL. I learned somewhere that the part of these mushrooms you see are actually the 'fruit', and the entire plant mostly exists underground. Their root systems are CIRCULAR! Ever since I learned this I've been on the lookout for an entire ring or mushrooms, but I have never seen one.

until Today.

behold the magnifcant ring of mushrooms.
found not so far from my own home.

cool huh?

soo.. i googled this just now, and figured out they are called "fairy rings" because people used to think they were put there by fairies. but, actually, it is a fungus that has eaten up all of the nutrients in one area of soil, so it expands outward. the mushrooms that you see on top of the soil are on the edge of the ring i guess? interesttingg....

acl

2009-10-03T14:34:00.004-05:00

last week, my uncle told me he could get us last minute tickets to Austin City Limits. So guess where i was on friday?! My poor cousin is really sick, so she wasn't able to go. but some friends and i drove over to austin friday morning for a great afternoon and evening of laying/dancing in the sun.

i got to see phoenix (who, thanks to dons, cafes, XM, and Cadillac, will never ever get out of my head), thievery corporation, andrew bird, and kings of leon. i made you a little mix at the bottom. ;)

i also decided i realllyyy wouldn't mind living in austin for a while.

houston

2009-09-30T17:50:00.001-05:00

On monday greg and i went downtown for a much needed photo walk. i've been cooped up in the house calling potential employers, so it was great to get out and visit downtown.

i got to see the place my grandma lived when she moved to houston. it is being demolished soon, so it was cool to see it again. it is the place my grandparents met.

also walked by the building she worked in:

downtown is pretty fun, i guess. hah

score!

2009-09-19T15:38:00.001-05:00

check out these really cute fire king, bake ware bowls i scored today. apparently they (6 in all) used to be my grandma's, but i've never seen them before. I see some shepherd's pie in my future. any other ideas of what i can make with these?

hey! I had that book

2009-09-14T14:17:00.002-05:00

my brother is now a junior in high school. a few days ago, I saw his physics book out on the counter, and exclaimed "Hey, I had that SAME book!" I opened it to find the name of one of my friends a few lines above my brother's.

A few days later, I saw his Lit book on the couch and said, "Hey, I had that same book too!"

we opened it to find that I literally, had the SAME book 7 years ago.

i asked him, "didn't you notice that my name was in there when you signed your name in it??"

to which i got an "iunno" ...typical.

our water guy

2009-09-08T14:27:00.003-05:00

this past year, we were not able to drink tap water, so we had to call and have some spring water delivered about every two weeks. we got to know our water guy pretty well over the course of the 6 months we knew him. we would see him on the street a lot, he would come over for short english lessons, we would give him little gifts from the places we traveled and he even brought his daughter over one time.

well, the night before we left, we got an unexpected knock on the door. who was it, but ding wen cheng, our water guy. he was so happy that he caught us before we left, and said he had a present for us.

he had this russian guy who lives across the street sketch his portrait for us, so that we would never forget him. isn't that the sweetest thing ever? now i know i will always remember him

also found this pic of my feets on a rainy day in berkeley, circa feb, 2008:

where his feets have been.

2009-09-04T13:46:00.001-05:00

I just found this video the other day.

maybe after I've rested for a while I'll try this. anyone want to walk with me?

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

unpacking nightmare

2009-09-02T19:53:00.001-05:00

i've been home for about a week and a half, and i still haven't made much progress in the unpacking department. my mom gave me her 'studio' room to unpack in and take all the sweet time i need. so that means i'm moving pretty slowly.

where am i going to put all of this little stuff??

more dancing

2009-09-02T13:13:00.002-05:00

while we were in central asia, we showed the students we were working with the dancing video we made in east asia. They absolutely loved it, and since they all love to dance, they wanted to make our own, English Club version. One Saturday, we all got together and danced our way through the city!

candyland dance from jena hammond on Vimeo.

new moleskines

2009-08-30T17:35:00.003-05:00

so, this 5-year diary that looks an awful lot like the one my grandmother used to keep and tell all about meeting boys behind the boat house, used to be on my wish-list.

but I think it was just replaced by the new 2010 daily 12 color 12-month diary by moleskine.

isn't it lovely?

it features 12 different colored volant notebooks encased in a black, hardcover to protect them all. Each page in the notebooks features a different day of the month, and each color is for a different month! its so cute! and it would be so much fun to change your notebook every month with a different color.

back back back

2009-08-30T15:56:00.003-05:00

sorry for the delayed posting..

moving out of my east asian home and traveling back to the states was quite the ordeal. i've been in recovery mode for a while, which means a lot of starbucks and shopping.

mao baby made it safely home, and is now comfortably residing in an over-sized aquarium we got for FREE. He seems happy and is adjusting well. it took him a while.

the last few days i've been working with my mom on this huge project:
in a local church.. this is an in-progress picture from my mom's camera.

also, etsy find of this week, the charlie bag:

i wants!

east west east far west

2009-08-18T10:10:00.001-05:00

hey, just a quick update to let you know i've arrived back in the east!

central asia was incredible.. the place is just amazingly beautiful and i can't wait to share it with you.

but, seeing as i am busy seeing friends for the last time, buying last-minute gifts and packing up my life, i will just give you a snapshot of my life for the past month. real posts w more pictures to come when i am not too tired, heh.

enjoy!

back in the states saturday!