Thursday, November 27, 2008

Last weekend we went to Death Valley. And on our last night we found a cabin. Not exactly like last year's cabin, this one had electricity and water fed from a near by spring. It was incredible. I could have up there for days.

{forgive the poor quality of the images: unfortunately some setting on my camera changed without me realizing until we got home. I suppose that's a good reason to go back and and take betters one, right?}

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! Having grown up outside of America, Thanksgiving is not really part of my family's vocabulary. Usually we all do our own thing, go to our friends' houses, but we never really do anything as a family since... it's always just been an ordinary day for us. But this year is different because this year I actually have something to very thankful for and only want to be around my family. The fact their house survived the recent fire is something I'm still not really over yet. It'll take a while to settle in, and in the meantime a little pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce will help I'm sure.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I recently got this tile sample by Stone Impressions, and while it's not right for the project on which I'm working, I was quite taken by it. The detail is incredible! I wish I knew more about pattern design and tile fabrication. It's definitely not hand painted, but how do they get such fine detail?

My thing is that I just like the one tile.... as a field it's a little too much; you miss out on the tiny dots.

Or maybe not... see 4 tiles here.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Once again, fire has humbled us.

A terrible wild fire broke out in Santa Barbara on Thursday night. My parents house was spared, but only barely. Their next door neighbors were not so lucky and have lost everything. It's been incredibly sad watching the fire and reading about all the homes that have been lost. I cannot fathom losing everything by fire; it is such a helpless feeling one has watching things burn.

I am even more grateful for the things that I do have.

And also, in Los Angeles... I think there are three separate fires, over 1000 homes lost. Luckily R and I are not very close to these fires this time, a far cry from what we experienced this past April. But the air is so thick with smoke. It's the worst I have ever seen it. Air quality is poor and even in the heat, we're hesitant to open the windows. Visibilty is ridiculous. It feels like the whole city is fogged in.

So please excuse my (projected) absence this coming week, I think I'll be back and forth between LA and Santa Barbara and may not get back to blogging just yet... but then again, we'll see. I might welcome the distraction.

{image via ffffound}

Friday, November 7, 2008

My 2009 Calendar is done... finally and listed in my store.

This week has been a big one for me... not so much sleep and lots of work.

Except for the election, I pretty much tuned out of the world for last 2 weeks trying to meet this big deadline.

But I am back, ready to make stuff like there's no tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008


I couldn't be happier. And I can't wait to see how we progress after this; can't wait to see what future elections will be like and can't wait to see what other barriers we can break. This is really big and so great.

What a relief! Glad we now just get on with it...

{image via ffffound}