Browse Month: November 2009

I’m sewing!

sewing project

We have a fundraiser at work every year for our Pediatric Rehab Activity Fund and it usually involves a basic craft/bake sale and raffle.  I usually bake coconut macaroons and call it a day but this year I’ve decided to sew something!  I found a pattern in a book that I’ve had for the past year and finally decided to try it out.  Last week I bought some pretty fabric at the store next to Modern Mouse and borrowed Susie’s fancy sewing machine.  Thanks, Susie!

Teresa

I made a couple samples last night after figuring out the machine and this evening Teresa came over to help me cut fabric.  Thanks, Tiger!

dog

It turned out to be a pretty simple project and I managed to make 10 tonight in about an hour.  We sipped wine, ate some pizza, and Koa hung out under the table and nearly made me mess up by taking a nap on the sewing pedal!

half-way done

Here’s what it looks like while I’m half-way done.

All done!

Ta Da!!!  Here are all 10 stacked up together.  They look so legit!  I can’t believe I made these!

tissues

By the way, they’re travel tissue covers to keep in your bag.  I like to carry travel packs in my bag but the sticky tab gets all dusty and the whole pack falls apart.  With this cover, I’m able to keep everything together in a pretty little package!  Yippee!

Modern Mouse is now open!

Grand Opening

sign

Modern Mouse is now open for business and it’s located in a shopping center in Alameda.  It was kicked off this afternoon with friends, family, Haamoni drinks, and Teacake Bakeshop goodies.

Teacake Bakeshop

store_01

It was so exciting to see all of Eleen’s products alongside the 40 other designers’ items.

store_02

products

Everything was so cute and interesting that they make me wish I could quit my day job to do something more creative.

Eleen was kind enough to offer me a little space in her shop too but I couldn’t get my act together in time for today’s event.  But she was very cute in making me a nametag anyway with the name “Beakatude” underneath my name…funny.  I’m actually in the process of thinking of an actual name for my photog stuff so stay tuned.

Congratulations, Eleen!!!

Here are the rest of the photos.

Lights, Camera, Photoshoot!

backdrop

Last Thursday I agreed to take product photos for one of Eleen’s friends who also makes handbags.  She’s building a new website and needed photos taken of her bags.  Eleen warned her that I had never taken product photos before but Penny hired me anyway!  I don’t know how much others charge but I must be a bargain!

test shot

So, I borrowed Eleen’s 500-Watt light and supplies, rented a lens from Borrowlenses.com, and rented an umbrella from Adolph Gasser.  With Eleen’s foam sheets, I made a seamless backdrop and experimented with the set-up until I got it just right.  Here’s a test shot of a bag that I already had lying around the house.  Yay!  Not too much shadow and plenty to work with for whiting out the background with Photoshop.

planet penelope

This morning Penny came over and we spent 2 1/2 hours taking over 150 photos of her 9 bags in different positions and getting the details just right.  Here’s a sample photo of one of her bags.  Her website goes live next weekend (www.planetpenelope.com), which will be just in time for Eleen’s Grand Opening of Modern Mouse.

Speaking of Modern Mouse…I visited the space on Friday and it’s huge!  The products that she’s already received are really cute and I’m so excited to see them all on display next weekend.

Belated Birthday Pictures

Jes' birthday

Back in September we all went out for Jes’ 34th birthday.  We celebrated it in Italy on our own but I thought I would be fun to have our friends together a week later.  We all met up at Hi-Dive for some burgers and beer.

Ta Da!

Gerard also did his bottle-stacking trick for us and although it could have been a really bad scene if they came crashing down, it didn’t.  Pretty impressive.

I’m not sure how these photos slipped out of the rotation but I JUST went through them this weekend.  Here are the rest of the photos.

Michelle’s Bday

Michelle's Bday

Tonight we had dinner at Ironside to celebrate Michelle’s 33rd birthday.  The usual crowd was there and it was fun catching up and enjoying some tasty roasted corn and butternut squash soup. Happy Birthday, Michelle!!

Here are the rest of the photos.

7 and 14 years later

barrels

Today marks our 7th Wedding Anniversary.  I also figured out that we’ve been “together” for 14!  Whut?!  Crazy.  It’s been a blast so far and we went to Napa for the weekend to celebrate.  Koa came along and he was surprisingly well-behaved.  We took him to Fleury, a very small winery that accepts dogs inside their tasting/barrel room.

Westin

We also stayed at the brand-new Westin that also allows dogs to stay without an additional fee! For dinner we went to La Toque and had a fantastic one-Michelin-star meal complete with wine pairings.

Bouchon

On Sunday morning we also had brunch at Bouchon.  I finally got to have their famous salmon rillette and it was just as tasty as I had hoped.  On our way back to SF, we stopped at the outlets and did a little shopping to round out the trip.

Tonight we had a quiet Monday evening with some homemade lasagna that I prepared while Jes was finishing up his last meeting at work.  Happy Anniversary to my bestest friend in the whole wide world!!