how was your weekend?

pretty nice actually ... did another barbeque with a bunch of friends on saturday out at lake merced. they roasted two whole pigs. i went early so we were all kinda gathered around the roasting area to stay warm because it was so cold and foggy. but it definitely warmed up closer to noon, and i just lounged on the grass for the rest of the day.

[and these were my favie treats/moments of the day.]

summer fruit pastries made especially for the early crew

crazy good fried chicken ... they disappeared as swiftly as they hit the serving tray

the pièce de résistance of the day ... 1 of 2 crispy-skinned piggies

paps swarming around the pig's unveiling

how was your weekend?

really good/fun. we drove down to half moon bay for a barbeque. i remembered to put sunblock on my face, but totally forgot about my neck. it was overcast all day, but still really bright ...

[we have another all-day barbeque/pig roast fundraiser next weekend, so this time, i'll be prepared. either with a long-sleeve/high-neck shirt or at least sunblock all over. and sunglasses. and possibly a hat.

and about this pig roast thing ... it's a fundraiser this saturday (july 11 @ 12 noon) at lake merced to benefit the sf food bank. per person donation/access to all the good eats including 2 heritage pigs from clark summit farm, roasted on-site, is $30. and $2 raffle tickets for a bunch of really nice prizes. and for every $1 donated to the sf food bank, $9 of food is distributed to seniors and families and shelters! all are welcome.]

how was your weekend?

it was ... ok. i got like a 24-hour flu or something. all day saturday i felt like crap. my body ached all over and i kept getting hot flashes. so i just tried to rest the whole day. then sunday i was a lot better. and now i just have residual coughing ... yep, pretty lucky. sounds like most people are getting it for a week or two ... fun how the flu bug was so considerate of my workweek.

not us, but pretty close to what our saturday looked like (source)

how was your weekend?

if to one of the fatherly types around the office ... not too much. took my dad up to napa for brunch for father's day. it was nice. we didn't get to do much else though because there was tons of traffic, so it was kinda late once we were done ... there was one pretty long stretch of 80 that was just PACKED like a parking lot. we were delayed like 45 minutes. can you guess where everyone was going? ... we thought everyone was going up to see the nascar races at infineon. totally wrong. apparently, THE place to go for father's day is marine world.

the view from our table at brunch

or if to a non-fatherly type ... not too much. drove down to san jose to watch one of my friends in a women's hockey game. it was pretty fun. first time i'd watched a whole game. and they were pretty good ... no, they actually have a rule against checking ... and it's funny, the friend who was playing, i've never seen her in normal clothes. the first time i met her was at her wedding, so she was in a gown with her hair up and everything. and this was the first time since then, and she was in full hockey gear.

can you imagine, with all this action, we were the only ones in the bleachers

how was your weekend?

this weekend, i have two options for a response.

one ... i became an aunt! my brother's wife just had a boy on saturday. he should be coming home next month, so i'm really excited. it should be interesting with a baby in the house ...

welcome to the world, alex!!!

two (if i don't feel like getting too personal) ... went up to napa for the day. there's a really cool new hotel up there. bardessono. we didn't stay there, just got drinks. but they were really nice and let us walk around. if you end up in the area, you should check it out, especially the pool. that was our favorite. we almost wanted to hide out and stay there the whole night.

(pictures from here)

[seriously, check this place out. the hotel's lobby with its vertical garden has been blogged and written about tons. it's definitely neat to see in person, but because i'd already seen tons of pictures, i wasn't wow'd. but the pool area was awesome. there were rows of cabanas lining the long, narrow pool. the lot of us piled into one of the larger cabanas and shared daydreamy what-if scenarios of spending an entire day lazing away, being fanned with palm fronds while sipping champagne. that is, until we had to hop out and jet to our dinner reservation.]

it's summer!

it's different for everyone, that specific something that signals the beginning of summer. for me, it's the posters and banners for the stern grove festival

it will be the 72nd year of free summer concerts in stern grove. since stern grove is within walking distance for me, every year i say i'll go check out a concert. and every summer passes by so quickly with packed weekends. so i still have yet to go. we'll see if it changes this year.

this year's poster features illustrations by spanish clay illustrator irma gruenholz. you'll have to hit the streets to see it larger.

the style kinda reminds me of a clay version of jessica hirsch's work. check out her site. super fun stuff.

how was your weekend?

i've never really been one for small talk. that, coupled with having pretty terrible memory (both long-term and short-term), i always find myself stumped on monday mornings when faced with the seemingly simple question, "how was your weekend?"

i typically answer with something like, "good!" and leave it at that. or when i'm feeling extra talkative, "pretty relaxing. only had a couple hours of work." neither response really encourages conversation, as you can imagine. instead, there's an awkward silence while my colleague waits for his coffee to finish brewing and i wait for the copier to cooperate.

so anyway, i've decided to come into the office prepared each monday morning with something interesting to share when i inevitably get asked "the question." (and trust me, i really do need to prepare, due to my aforementioned terrible memory.)

so this past weekend ... really nice. the war memorial was doing a simulcast of the opera tosca at at&t park, so i went to that. they were doing a live feed of the whole opera up on the huge hd screen. it was almost like we were there, except we were huddled up in our blankets, sitting on the grass way out on right field, eating hot dogs ... even my friend who was home for the weekend from des moines came out for it ... they just started doing it recently and not super often. you should check it out. i think the only other one this year is in september.

this was similar to our view, except we were on right field, not left. (source)

filled stadium ... more or less where we staked our area (source)

[it was superfun. we were there from 6 until around 11. and it would have been a perfect night with great weather, free entertainment and good friends, if it weren't for the jerk who kicked me in the arm. he was trying to show off his acrobatic deficiencies or something, and succeeded and essentially hammered his heel into my arm. and the jerk didn't even apologize, at least not until we prompted him to. and he was in his late-20s, early-30s, by the way. so he obviously should have known better. seriously, who acts like that??]

a weekend in chicago

suitcase art installation in the james hotel lobby

spring arrangement from a new leaf

fish fresh out of the smoker at calumet fisheries

frank lloyd wright's robie house

cloud gate in millennium park

one of the 68 thorne miniature rooms at the art institute of chicago ... crazy!!

our seats at the violet hour (picture)

business card holder by delphine press, found at paper doll

lemongrass shooter at alinea (picture)

cards and goodies stuffed in card catalogs at greer chicago (picture)

curious construction banner in millennium park

champagne chairs tucked away among the 3 floors of a new leaf

portion of the el rail

a fun owl door along n wells st in old town chicago by edgar miller

pasolivo: part 2

and i totally did just buy some pasolivo olive oil this weekend. just the classic one. bottled in dec 2007.

feltron annual report

i kinda glanced at this a couple weeks ago on twig & thistle, but didn't really take a closer look until this weekend when we were talking about visual representations of qualitative/quantitative attributes (will make much more sense in a later post). anyway, immediately upon that conversation starter, we dove into the obsessive mind of nicholas feltron, or at least his websites.

feltron is a ny-based graphic designer who does all sorts of fun stuff like editorial layouts and logos and website design. he also started a side project in private beta called daytum that tracks any type of data imaginable, from something as simple as miles traveled over time (actual or in virtual games) to something as unique as, perhaps, how often a person sneezes including at how many decibels and whether it was covered by a tissue, a shirt sleeve or a bare hand. don't steal that idea! ok, you can.

anyway, one of two main attractions is his 4th volume of the feltron annual report, which is powered by the other main attraction, daytum. so clever of him.

it would be so neat to be able to make my own annual report, but it would probably take way too much of my time to track all the random stuff i can imagine including. it might make more sense and might be more meaningful to track a year, or a month, or whatever, for an actual reason ...

like tracking a baby's first year, which would be so neat for the kid to look at when they get older ... or for a couple's first year of marriage, which would be fun to look back on at each anniversary ... or a report to share with parents of a student's semester spent abroad ... or tracking progress of an intense weight-loss regimen ... or as a hygiene diary ("itchy today, not itchy today") ... or, well, that's enough examples for now

seriously, i track so much stuff in my life already, i can't believe i didn't think to develop daytum myself. although i guess i just never imagined that other people might be as obsessive.

pasolivo

it's not too often that i respond so intensely to product packaging. but while browsing through the aisles at rainbow grocery over the weekend, i came across pasolivo olive oil. i had never heard of it, but was really drawn to the packaging. its simplicity, the font, the kraft paper, the glass.

and apparently, in 2005 and 2006, they won awards for their label and brand design, which was put together in 2001 by 300feetout. nice job! i guess i'm not the only one who likes their packaging. they even sell posters of their labels!

these bottles are a bit on the pricey side, but if i keep obsessing, i may just break down and have to buy one. then the challenge will be to decide whether to get the classic, the california blend, lemon, orange or tangerine.

japan: paper goods

i should really put each of these following items in separate posts, but it's just so much quicker to dump everything all at once. so here goes. too bad i'm lacking motivation in make separate posts, because i really was trying to save the best for last. and japan's paper items were definitely my favorite. oh well.

papierium in ginza is two floors of paper mania. the ground floor is very much like paper source, down to the color collection and shape selection for cards and envelopes. the second floor is geared towards scrapbookers with shape punches, fun scissors, scrapbooking papers, stamps and more. reminded me a lot of scrapbook territory out in berkeley.

the only thing i picked up there was some brown flower tape by space-joy or o-check design graphics. very difficult to tell which, since the websites aren't very straightforward. i'm going with a joint effort.

another fun set of tape i came across was mt masking tape. it's basically masking tape made from washi-type paper that comes in 20 or so different colors, plus several seasonsal patterns. and you can also order custom logo tape. they're sold in single rolls, two-packs, and ten-packs and fun coordinating variety five-packs. i was about to buy the pastel ten-pack but thought more practically and ultimately went with the gold and silver combo two-pack.

and i know i'm not the only one enamored with this masking tape. because there are entire books (multiple) and blogs dedicated to the many uses of mt masking tape. and i've also come across a few japanese magazine articles featuring the tape.

the main stores that carried mt masking tape were loft, ito-ya and papierium. other fun stuff we found at ito-ya were animal d-clips by midori japan. those japanese folks are so innovative though, that the site no longer features the cow-shaped paper clips we picked up. found some pics online though.

source: bundoki

these shops also had tons of calendars. ito-ya even dedicated their 9th floor to all calendars. here's a quick look at the calendar section of shibuya loft's basement.

my favorite paper store though was winged wheel in the omotesando area. there's a huge column right by the front door where they display a portion of their cards.

and the perimeter of the store is made up of shelves holding various papers and cards, but mainly their "plainer" stuff.

and then there are two long display cases in the center of the shop where you can see their designs through the glass.

the extra special surprise is that below each display case is another three or so drawers that you can thumb through. they featured their entire lines of designs as well as example books for inspiration. so basically i studied all 48 drawers in addition to the shelves on the wall.

i left with a few choice cards and envelopes, the distribution of which will require careful decision.

postcards, with the pretty bag they came in in the middle.

little business card sized cards and envelopes

the cutest shop card ever. folded like an envelope, revealing the shop info inside.

and finally, i thought their bookstores were fun too. they print a good portion of their books in small handheld-sized versions so it's easier to read on train commutes. they also color code the books, although i'm not sure what the color system is. or if there even really is one.

but unfortunately, when you buy a book, they wrap it neatly with a bookcover. so much for the cute colors! and i noticed shops sold lots of bookcovers, so many folks just like to keep their reading materials private.

japan: faces stamp

we saved the bulk of our shopping days for the last couple days of our trip. one of the fun things we came across was this faces stamp that was released about a year ago. and i think it may have won some awards or something.

it's basically a silicon cylinder with a face at the end. and the face is easily manipulated by squishing the tube however you want. i figure the main application for such a stamp would be for grading school papers. but the way the original face is cut out, it's easier to make funny/angry/sad faces than happy ones. i bet this would be a mean teacher's dream.

japan: 100% chocolate cafe

i was enamored with the concept, design and drink & snack offerings at 100% chocolate cafe. they offer a different chocolate each day throughout the year, so in one year they'll make 365 different types of chocolate. they also keep in stock another set of 56 chocolates that you can buy whenever. i'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. seriously, if i had the resources, i'd open up a shop like this over here.

japan: takazawa

since it's a holiday week, i figured i would cover some food presentation we saw in japan. this first example was my overall favorite.

the chef's dream is to one day have his own farm. but until then, he'll continue to present his dream in a scaled-down version on the table. here, we have a sweet little glass milk bottle, topped with his dairy cap, tied with twine. and a farm fresh eggshell holding scrambled eggs with truffles.

the surprise though, is that it's not really milk in the bottle. instead, it's white corn soup. delicious, at that.

he also presented a cross section of his dream root vegetable garden. a bunch of vegetables including carrots, radishes and even potatoes were "growing" out of edible soil.

japan: 45 rpm

and the other denim trifecta of shops we visited: 45 rpm in the minamiaoyama area.

the badou r in minamiaoyama is THE location to go to if you see only one 45 rpm store. it's tucked away off the main streets in a japanese-style house, so you have to switch your street shoes for comfy slippers once you step into the front foyer. you feel like you're browsing through a friend's huge closet because of the comfy factor as well as the super friendly staff.

the entrance from the street

the indigo-dyed paving stones leading up to the shop entrance

details of the exterior

full sliding glass doors to the patio

one of several "rooms", this one being the showroom for women's wear

the fitting room, with chestnut floors

source: life of seisho

the other badou r in the area, badour r ai is on a main street with a more urban feel

and the third one, the smallest of the three was 45 ai indigo, or maybe it was an umii908 store. not really sure. but all these brands are under the same 45 rpm family.

and this is a scarf that showed up in every location. as if it were asking for me to take it home.

there are a couple us locations of 45 rpm if you're interested. both are in manhattan.

japan: kapital (part two)

and oh, how could i have forgotten?! at the kapital duffle shop, i spotted a few rolls of packing tape that had bandana designs on them. but the shop folks were milling about, so we couldn't snap any photos. then we saw the same tape at the legs shop and asked to take a picture. they said ok, as long as that was the only thing we took a picture of. so here it is!

kapital is known for their indigo dye, which they use for their denim as well as for making bandanas every season. so i thought it was pretty clever of them to make bandana packing tape.

i was so excited too when we bought a few pairs of jeans, because i thought they would use it to tape up our bag. but they didn't. so i wonder what they actually use the tape for?

japan: kapital

among the various fabrics produced in japan, denim is high up there on the list, in terms of having a huge/fanatical following. and kapital is one of the finer denim makers around. i'm no denim expert, nor part of their cult following, but i do appreciate fun design when i see it.

so here's a quick look at their cluster of three shops just south of ebisu station in tokyo. fun "shop cards" and bikes and merchandising. since we ended up at kapital past sundown, our pictures didn't come out all that great. so i've supplemented with daytime pictures from their site.

first off, each location has a different shop card, printed on thick chipboard, about the size of a poker chip. on the back of each is a little map showing the location of the shop, printed on the raw chipboard. shown here, we visited the legs, ebisu and duffle shops.

ok, so let's go in order of the shop cards. first up, legs. this location focuses on carrying a ton of the styles of denim kapital makes. there are stacks and stacks of jeans all over the store. and every single stack is not just a stack of one style in different sizes, but rather a stack of all different styles. on top of that, there are shirts and jackets and socks and hats and scarves and bandanas hanging all over the place.

next is the ebisu store, with a whitewashed wood exterior studded with horseshoes and a plastic curtain as the front door. there's also a little teddy bear to great you at the door. and again, you'll see a bike outside. this one has two floors, more or less the same feel in terms of merchandising. but then again, there's no way to tell what's what since there doesn't seem to be any order in how stuff is stocked. but i guess they're trying to recreate the feeling of rummaging for vintage goods at a flea market. it's definitely not for everyone.

the third of the kapital trifecta: duffle. this one is set up like a house, in that all customers have to take off their shoes before entering the tiny door. and most of the floors are covered in tatami mats. the entrance is a converted garage made to look like, well i'm not sure what it's supposed to look like, but it kind of reminds me of the prop room i had back in high school. except this one had a cluster of birdcages as lighting fixtures. and the merchandising in this store was a little more organized that the other two shops, with goodies spread out among three floors.

japan: kyoto fabrics

so before embarking on our adventures, i told my boyfriend something along the lines of "if you see something you want to buy, just buy it. because chances are, we won't have time to go back or find it somewhere else." well, too bad i didn't listen to my own words. we stumbled across a cute little (3 huge and packed floors!) fabric shop along shijodori in kyoto. i browsed through the stacks of fabric on the ground floor and decided i couldn't choose any fabrics until i had a project in mind. and decided i might circle back the next day if i had any good ideas.

and then i changed my mind and figured i could get the fabrics first and then choose the projects. unfortunately, i never got a chance to go back. ugh, my only major non-buyer's remorse for the whole trip.

nomura tailor has tons of fabrics, from japanese denim to french lace. ugh, i'm still kicking myself for not going back. anyway, here's a quick look at what the ground floor looks like. the 2nd and 3rd floors held the notions and ribbons.

source: flickr

and here are a bunch of additional pictures snagged from their site, a quick virtual shopping list, if you will.

japan: street "art"

when i wasn't searching the ground for manholes, we came across some cute stuff on the streets. here are just a few on this lazy friday.

discarded soy sauce canisters

faded political ad?

toei bus stop sign in tokyo