Progress with my evvvillll plans

This is Wendy & Lior. They are aiding and abetting in my eevvillll plan.Photo by Kim Fox Photography

I met Wendy through the Knot. We've become friends over the last couple of months. So, when she asked me to design her wedding invitation suite, I was honored. Wendy only had a few stipulations:
1. Invites had to have a modern feel
2. Incorporate a "Swirly Pattern"
3. Simple enough for her to Gocco print and DIY at home

I drew some of my inspiration from her wedding venue - Villa de la Vina in Malibu.
Here are some pics of her venue:


We ran into a few production hiccups. Because of that, her invites have had several incarnations. Thankfully, we got the kinks worked out. I helped assemble these invites.
Here is the finished product:

***Personal info has been removed to protect privacy.

Thank you Wendy & Lior for being among my first clients!

I have another invite suite to blog about, but I'll wait until after their wedding to post. Don't worry, JV...I didn't forget about your invites;)

Repetition of a Theme

Here's an another photo from my early portfolio.
I took this photo when I was a Senior in High School.

This is a photo of my would-be Senior Prom dress. I was so in love with this dress at the time. My mom and I purchased it at a Nordstrom Rack just outside of Washington, D.C. It was a steal. We bought it for the low price of $75. I was ecstatic. If only, my quest for a prom date went as smoothly. As luck would have it, I could not get a date and decided to go sans date. It was a bold move at the time, but I wasn't brave enough to rock this dress without a date. So, I wore something else. I never wore it anywhere except for in pictures.

So, I dug around for pictures of me in this dress and made a startling discovery...

my prom dress = my wedding dress!



























On the left is a photo of me in my Prom dress in 1991. On the right is from my wedding last summer. The dresses are freakishly similar. Aside from me wearing them, they had one common denominator - my mom.

My mom had suggested I wear my prom dress for my wedding since it was ivory and classic. I was horrified and immediately rejected the idea. I thought it was a Miss Havershim (from "Great Expectations") idea. All I needed was a rotting cake, a wilting prom corsage and I would have been set.

I underestimated that my mom is a clever, clever woman. I should have known she would find a way to sneak my prom dress (or an amazing facsimile of it) in . My mom and I found my wedding dress at a bridal boutique's Going-Out-of-Business sale. She handed it to me after I had tried on a multitude of blah, ill-fitting dresses. I was relieved to find a dress that fit. It was $200. I snatched it up.

I realize now that I had been duped. Thankfully, this is one time that I don't mind that my mom was right. My wedding dress is classic. I don't think I will cringe years from now when I look at my wedding photos. Now, if only I had just listened to her and had my prom dress altered. I could have saved $200!

Helen Backwards

For those that don't know, I've been a photographer since I was 15. I was a photographer long before I was a graphic designer. Photography has always been my first love.

A friend of mine (Jordy Pants) has decided to explore photography in-depth. Her explorations have inspired me to think about my own photography. Sadly, I have not been an active photographer since the fateful Summer of '06. My trusty Nikon D70 and matching lenses disappeared while at sporting event. The experience left me incredibly disheartened about my photography. I took it as a sign that I was not meant to be a photographer any longer and didn't have the inclination to replace my equipment. Recently, I've been rethinking that outlook. To motivate myself, I've been digging through my photo archives and I thought I'd share some tidbits of my photographer past.

This is Neleh Sawsiengmongkol

Neleh (pronounced: Nellie or Nel-E-ah) was my wedding photographer. She has a great site - www.helenbackwards.com. You can see some of her fantastic photographs in my previous post recapping my wedding.

Here we are hamming it up at the end of my reception. Don't we both look exhausted?
Long before she was Neleh S. - photographer, she was...

Neleh B. - photographer's model

This photo of her was taken circa 1999 when I was taking a studio lighting class. Our relationship as photographer and model actually went back to her days as a High School Junior. It's hard for me to believe, but I've known her that long.

Here's a contact sheet of her getting ready for prom. I can't remember if it was for her prom or her then-boyfriend Edgar's prom. These photos were taken in 1995.
Just click on the image to enlarge this contact sheet. If you look carefully, you can see her older brother Mike, my then-boyfriend, carefully watching the proceedings.

This is one of the last shoots I did with her and another "ghost of boyfriends past". I really adore these. These were taken towards the end of my studio lighting class in 2000. I loved these photos so much that I had copies framed in my apartment for years. This reminds me of how much I really loved playing around with studio lights.
It's funny to think that our creative relationship has come full circle. We have had our ups and downs, but it's good to know that we're still friends.

A Tasty Treat

Sometimes it's the little things that make me happy. My mother-in-law left a little package on our doorstep. I opened it up to find this.

She left us some tasty treats from Vanilla Bakeshop! Sometimes, there really are benefits to having your mother-in-law living next door.

In the box was a vanilla cupcake with a strawberry on top for me and a chocolate cupcake for Rob the choco-fiend. I am not a cake person, but I enjoy cupcakes for their frosting to cake ratio. I was a bit reluctant to partake in this cupcake because it was heaped with icing. In my experience, heavy-handed icing equates to inedible cupcakes, even disgusting cupcakes. The over-exuberant use of icing is a diversionary tactic. In this case, I was pleasantly surprised and a bit disappointed that there wasn't more icing. The icing was buttery and smooth with little bits of vanilla bean in it. It did not have the gritty, overly sweet taste of lesser quality cupcakes. It was airy and reminded me a little of whip cream. The cake was equally tasty. It was moist and delicious and it also had vanilla bean pieces in it. I swear it was like a teeny tiny bit of heaven and it made me smile. Now if only I could figure out how to con Rob out of his cupcake...

Planning ahead

I promised my best friend that I would do some Inspiration Boards. Here's the first in the series. I don't have the room for a design studio at present. In the spirit of positive thinking, I decided to go ahead and visualize what my ideal workspace would look like. I went for style points as well as wallet points. I chose items that would actually work in a my real life budget. You won't find $1000 office chairs here.

Computer
What kind of designer would I be without a computer? #5 is a definite MUST-HAVE. For the type of work that I do, an iMac is more than enough computing power for me. I wouldn't turn down a G5 tower, but this would work wonderfully for me. Anything is better than the G4 powerbook I'm currently using. The iMac's form-factor and new design doesn't hurt either.

Desk
The focus of my studio would definitely be #2. 2 Trig Desks and Bookshelf from CB2. I really love the look of the metal and glass. I have worked on glass tables and have found they are really great surfaces for assembly. I would go with the L-shaped desk format. I'm dying to work area.

Lighting
I do a lot of fine detail work when it comes to my designs. So, lighting is important to me. #1 Photo lamp from CB2 is both bright and chic. It would also remind me of my photography roots. The desk lamp from Ikea is so sleek and would allow me to pivot between the computer desk and the worktable portion.

Seating
#4 I love the white desk chair. I'm not sure how practical it would be. As an alternate, I would go with #12. I'm definitely a fan of high-backed desk chairs.
#9 Every studio needs a lounge for clients or a place for a designer to nap. I'm all about catching naps. Naps are the greatest cure for creative block.

Storage
I like the idea of having all of my supplies accessible but not necessarily out on display. I've tried having supplies out in the open and I feel that it looks cluttered.

I have a plethora of paper on hand at all times. #10 is a perfect size to accommodate the different sizes of paper. #11 is a multi-sided cart. It allows for accessible storage of design tools like scissors, punches, adhesives, etc. It also has a magazine rack, which is a huge bonus for a magazine addict like me. Both of these would sit underneath the desk. The casters would allow me to move them around as necessary.

Being a gadget girl, I love #14. Pottery Barn created this bulletin board/gadget storage cabinet. It has a space cut out of it for a power brick. This allows you to charge your camera, cellphone, ipod, etc. while storing it.

I have several reference books on hand -- books about etiquette, business, design, weddings, etc, etc, #6 & #7 are great because they allow the books to become part of the decor.

Decor
More likely than not, I'd cycle through different pieces on the walls. I would probably keep #8 & #13 up at all times. #8 is fairly self-explanatory. Who doesn't need a little encouragement every now and then? #13 is hilarious. I constantly need to be reminded that Hindsight is always 20/20.

Here's a link to where each item can be purchased.

I want a puppy

This is Pichu.
She was rescued from the streets of South Central L.A. When she was found, she was already several weeks pregnant and due to deliver any day. She was adopted by my friend nspeis from the Knot.


These are Pichu's puppies.
They were born on Sunday February 24. There are 5 boys and 1 girl. They are what I call "muttlings".

I want this one.
Or this one.
The jury is still out on whether or not I will actually be able to have one.

If you live in the Southern CA area and want one, email me.

Feast One Hundred & Eighty One

Here's today's Friday Feast.

Appetizer

Who was the last person you hugged?

Rob:)

Soup

Share a beauty or grooming trick or tip with us.

I wear lots of sunscreen and am obsessive about using facial lotions.

Salad

What does the color yellow make you think of?

My mom. It is one of her favorite colors. She used to always buy yellow dresses when I was a little girl.

Main Course

If you were to make your living as a photographer, what subject would your pictures revolve around?

People. I love portraiture. I even dabbled with wedding photography for a short time.

Dessert

What was the longest book you ever read?

I can't remember. I think it was "War & Peace".

The Knot Sisterhood

Name tag I designed for Saturday's event

Before my wedding, I had posted that I had some favorite wedding-related websites. One was Weddingbee.com and the other was the Knot.com. To say that the Knot was my favorite wedding website is a gross understatement. The Knot is an addiction. I have an alter-ego - bANNEd_in_LA. Even though my wedding was more than 6 months ago, I'm still heavily involved. I should be ashamed, but I am not. I don't know what it is, but you really get emotionally invested in the weddings of strangers.

Actually, after a few weeks on the Knot, the ladies on the boards stop being strangers. You form an unspoken sisterhood forged by the stress of wedding planning. I swear, wedding planning really does rot your brain. Things that never would have been of any significance suddenly are important. It really does help to have people to talk to that don't think you've lost your mind because you're stressed out because you can't find "the right" flower vases. It also helps to have people who understand when you want to kill your entire bridal party for not ordering their dresses in time or that your future mother-in-law is crazy.

This past Saturday, I went to a Knot Get-together (GTG). I've been to a few in the past. I've even organized a few events. This was the largest one I've been to thus far. Approximately 30 ladies attended. It was really fun to finally put faces to the names. It was held at the Granville Cafe in Burbank. Poor Granville, I don't think they know what hit them. The event started at 2pm. There were sangrias and mojitos aplenty. There were so many people that I wanted to chat with that I didn't know where to begin. I sat on one end of an L-shapded table and sadly did not get to talk to as many people as I wanted. The majority of people left around 4-4:30.
Seven of us, however, drove the staff crazy and stayed until 7pm! We really just couldn't tear ourselves away. I enjoyed it so much that I'm disappointed that I'll be missing the next GTG:(

Here are some pics from Saturday:

Kit12345, Chocolatelver, & event organizer Janice74

(L-R facing the camera) Joellaann, Wendy55, POG, & Jord.Taylor

OCBride08, Miss_Randi & ptflip
Mrs. Veroni, KZ, & POG
Springtime_bride, Stempsko, Coconuthoney, gingerbreadgirl, csunsweetie, & AliGoesBridal

Here's a better photo of the name tags I designed. Borrowed from jord.taylor's blog.

Legomaniacs Unite!

Rob and I were legomaniacs growing up. We even paid homage to this shared love of Legos at our wedding by having a Lego cake topper.
When the nephews expressed interest in going to Legoland in Carlsbad, we were secretly thrilled. Who wouldn't want to go to a theme park with Legos everywhere? This was our perfect opportunity to check the place out. We hadn't gone on our own because the place is definitely geared towards the 3-12 crowd.

Franky and I had gone to Legoland 4 years ago and had a blast. We both knew it was going to be fun. This was Rob's, Cathee's, & Ethan's 1st Time there. The place did not disappoint. Even though the place was a tad bit crowded, we were able to ride some rides. Getting the nephews on rides is a HUGE deal. They will snowboard all day, but are completely terrified of the simplest amusement park rides. These are the same boys that were freaked up by the tram ride on the Universal Studios backlot. I have a sneaking suspicion that the temporary newfound courage was brought on by the presence of "Uncle Rob".

The highlights of the day were not the rides, but all the goofy portraits we took amongst all the Lego statues and dioramas. I think I have created monsters. For years, I've been a photo hound. Now, Cathee is also a picture-taking fool and my nephews are hams. Add Rob to the mix and you get some really silly pictures.

For your entertainment, I present these:

Typical Tourist Photo of Rob & the nephews at the Park Entrance
"F" is for Franky
"E" is for Ethan
Lego Tourists
Ethan with a Lego Spongebob
Ethan going for a drive
Franky going for a quick trip

How about some Lego Mariachis?
Rob trying to blend in with a bear while "borrowing" Ethan's hat
Sir Ethan of Virginia
Sir Ethan in action

Franky and his favorite Bionicle
More Bionicle love

Kids wear me out - Part 2

Day 2 -Sightseeing around L.A.
Rob and I traded tour guide duties. Cathee, the boys, and I had a big breakfast at Foxy's in Glendale and headed out. The boys are both fans of Gundam models. We made a stop in Chinatown at a few stores that I knew had deals of these models. The stunned looks on their faces were priceless. They had never seen stores with variety quite like that. They shopped until they dropped or something close to it. We refueled with some boba drinks or bubble tea. Then, we headed off to Olvera Street. We wanted them to see a bit of L.A.'s history. We took a short tour of Avila Adobe. We continued the buying frenzy with purchases of Luchador masks. The kids were ecstatic. We had dinner at Brownstone Pizza and cupcakes for dessert from Dots Cupcakes. We finished the day by passing out in my living room while watching "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".

Franky & I at breakfast

Ethan & Cathee
Clowning around with the super candy machineChinatown
Toasting with their Boba drinks
At the Avila Adobe
Luchadors!
Dots Cupcakes in Pasadena
Franky enjoying the aroma
Doesn't this pizza look ginormous?!
Franky trying to make a dent in the Pizza