The countdown is here!

photo from martha stewart or real simple. I can't find where I found it.

Christmas is in two days. This means an expedited screen printing fiasco will ensue.

besides wedding hub bub.

60% grey

natural office supplies


if 0% is white and 100% is black, then 50% is exactly grey, with varying shades all inbetween.

Wouldn't paper be easier to reuse (That is, the backside) if we all printed in 60% grey? Less black shows through to the otherside, AND You use less ink.

Saving money and trees.

hair

Dear future Kristina,

Don't get bangs again. You won't like having them in your eyes. They will tickle and be irritating. They look good on other people, but can't handle the trade off. No more bangs.

its beginning to look a lot, like....

C H R I S T M A S!



My non-wedding project of the week: little christmas stocking!
-tree: suede leather scrap
-Upolstery brocade
-tree topper is from a snowflake shaped punch- one of my faves.




This is one of my favorite details: the ribbon flower bow!

Dream

Last night had my second dream about my wedding. (The first one was hectic and only included the night after the wedding where we had a girls slumber party in a library, and Timon was nowhere to be found)

In this dream, my mom took me to pick up my cheongsam from the tailor, My hair was already done, and we had a hard time find a parking space b/c the tailor didn't have their own parking lot. but because we were two hours late, 7:30 instead of 5:30 She wouldn't let us pick it up. So I was bummed, esp since it was 7:30 and my wedding was going on at that moment?

In reality, my cheong sam does fit and Timon is picking it up and bring it from china!

Dear gmail

Sometimes I love Gmail.

But recently I hate it. When would I EVER want to do into "Flaky connection mode"? It says I am not, and yet nothing will work. All i get are errors and my google doc wont' allow me to share or even see other users, even though I can edit the document to my heart's content.

I Downloaded the Gears Gmail offline feature, to avoid situations where I couldn't access my emails, yet I can't even SAVE an email to be sent later. What up with that?

Please save me.

Sincerely,
Kristina

where?

tick tick tick

There's goes the time, never to come back again.

super cuteness

My mom & cousin/bridesmaid threw me the cutest tea party surprise bridal shower last week! Timon's mom and sis flew in from Oregon, and my aunt flew up from LA(so did Timmy, completely unrelated)

Megan, who did the branding is an architect, a crafty one at that. She did the branding the amazing invites and games, including 20 unique bingo cards. SOOO adorable!



My mom even made pressed pink sugar hearts for the tea.. in varying shades of pink!



ANd this sweet , sweet, garland with our names.

Yummy!!!

Europe Mixbook: Finally completed!

Two years later- and I've finally finished sorting through my photos after my Europe trip. 4 countries and 12 cities later, I had an amazing time! 4 of us, went to Switzerland, Italy, France, and Germany. We camped at hostels, hotels, and friend's apts. We sampled delicious foods, made friends, and got used to being lost.

woo hoo!

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Mix books aren't just digital books- they can be printed hardbound and in different sizes. Just sent mine to the printer! They've got some super cute theme templates and "stickers", backgroundsand it pulls photos from your existing photo accounts- like picasa and even facebook! Very cool, and easy to use. Even my mom can do it! See for yourself.

Follow up

four wheels on the beach,
waves of coffee,
fried fish

Summer...where did you go?

o, the wonder

IDEA: email per country

This probably a niche market, but I think people who travel often might appreciate it. In the group of expats I know who straddle China and their home country, they spend roughly one month per yeah at home, sometimes going back twice or more- besides business trips to other parts of Asia and the world. They have lives in all of those locations to maintain- and something that has been driving my inbox buggy is all those location specific emails-

"Join us for a lecture at Kathleen's 5 at Nanjing Road...."

or

"RPS collective hosts a screenprinting 101 this weekend at the Oakland YXZ..."

Maybe its my fault for subscribing to these mailing lists- but its so much easier have info sent to me, instead of me searching to see what cool thing is going on this weekend, wherever I am. Monthly discounts, events, etc. and living in two places has gotten me twice as many (and I do use the discounts!!) Why go out and buy a newspaper if you can have it delivered to your door?

You probably could have an email for each place... but thats another set of business cards, etc and more passwords than I need to remember!

SO I propose that there should be a email sys that filters out emails regarding parties and such per location, so you won't feel let down that you got excited to go see you favorite band, oops, in Boston. Seems silly, but anyone who hurredly skim emails for the details always manages to miss some.

Tying the knot~

This knot was on display at the Ancient village walk (half a mileabouts??) where you follow a path and visit about 9 different little "museums" on the way, which were really well done. And by well done, I mean surprisingly modern presentation on mostly historical objects, and no display cases with hedgehogs and toy tanks....(That was at the Sea museum at the amusement park) The funniest exhibit we saw was the last one, featuring a few rooms about "The china fly man" aka stunt man/actor/daredevil on a motor bike jumping tall buildings, mountains. Really cool!

This is the beach in Shi pu, 5 hours outside of Shanghai by bus. We came here for a wedding of timon's friend. This amusement park had rides and a ferris wheel, you could rent a four wheeler or a pony. People could buy swim suits and sandals... but no one was swimming. The water was coffee colored, to say the least.



Below is a view from the bridge at sunset! So beautiful!!




The wedding car!




Here is the lovely couple in a very fanciful stage. The Bride entered and the grom got on one knee and gave her flowers. They cut their cake, poured champange, and exchanged rings. They had an emcee in a pink shirt who mixed their names... calling the groom the brides name and vice versa... eek awkward pause. After that a delicious lunch banquet was served that was just AMAZING. Shi pu is a fishing town, so fresh seafood if their forte. Amazing!

shanghai october holiday

200 photos and 2 weddings later, I am super jetlagged and back home. I worked a few days a week, an experiment to see how it'd be like working remotely from SH as well as visiting one of my boss's contacts. I did TONS of shopping for the wedding tons of hanging out with friends and tons of talking with Timon.


Origami exhibit at Narita Airport


Teal


Cutting the cake


Timon's speech



kristimon!

Target run

Leaving for Shanghai in less than 1 week!

Ran to Target to pick up last minute things for building a new life in Shanghai! Meds, carmex, and anti-perspirant for T. Cough, allery, headache, etc. woo! Not that I don't trust Chinese meds, which I've definitely found as a relief, but it's nice when you can actually read the dosages + ailments. Last time I got sick in Shanghai, I drew pictures of noses and symbols for coughing. Their nighttime pills were actually black, which made that one easy for me.

I've got about 15 books to bring over, some relationships, marriagey, family economics. I've got quite a collection of books, including some beloved "concept cars" and other design books which I'm debating whether their are worth their weight to haul to China.



As part of the cleaning/sorting/packing process, I'm recycling my old sketches from school, framing for my new apt, and giving the rest away. The link is here to my picasa album if you are interested in any! I have a ton of monotype prints plus some charcoal drawings. I spent a LOT of time on some of them and well- honestly just hate to trash 'em. Monotype, incase you didn't know is basically "painting" on a sheet of plastic (we call it a "Plate") and then putting the ink side facing paper, roll it through a press. Sometimes the ink squishes, sometimes I would print several layers of ink on one pieces of paper. The fainter ones are called "ghosts" as the second or third "press" of an ink'd plate.



Racking my brain on where my chinese cell phone is. blah.

very cool

handle & spout have some super creative takes on common things, like the chain above made of leather!

my fiancé

h e l l o l a s v e g a s

I spent this past weekend in good ol' Las Vegas visiting my cousin Jenn as well as setting for a trade show for Kangarooms. It was a quick trip; worked most of sat working in a NON air conditioned convention hall, hit the UNLV v. Oregon State football game, then went quickly through "The strip" checked out competitors at the trade show and headed home.

It was a great mini vacation from work and wedding stuff. How? I purposely left my laptop at home! Computer free! I'll admit to checking my email twice, to see about my flight stuff and work stuff... anyways had a fun seeing my very first football game. We played ladder golf and ate yummy layered dip while the sun set (what a big sky!) and then sat in plastic seats while I tried to figure out where the ball was. There was a TON of oregon state'rs. Like, hundreds it seemed like!



We also visited the Ethel M. chocolate factory where I learned that chocolate originated as a drink, and when it eventually reached spain, they kept it secret for 100 years before the monks who were making it passed it on to the french, and then the secret was out to all of europe. (And it was still only a beverage at this point)

Ethel M. Was Mr. Mars' mother, and they showed where all the diff "Mars bars" are made, i.e. Snickers are from Tenneesee, etc. I had a classmate in school from sweden who always called candy bars "Mars bars" and in one of his presentations threw them at us. (He was demoing a leg bag for snowboarders, of course) Sorry for that tangent... there was also a neato cactus garden there, all labelled and prickly. As it should be.

v e g a s

The city center building, in the making. Looks super interesting, and reminds me of LA's Gehry building for Disney(right?)


A cool lookin resturant with these walls that have a dizzying 3D effect, not too mention their fish tank walls!


I saw this snail, liked it, and for a moment considered it for my wedding... haha



Hi friend! On display in the bellagio with the snail. There were giant watering cans pouring water, and a ferris wheel with sunflowers in the benches. [besdies the cornocopias and other vast "fall" themed decor]


My flight was delayed and I stumbled upon this "vintage" display of bonanza air. Cute, retro, and inspiring in a different way.

sewn stuff

Last week had a room clean/ use up materials frenzy! Buttery chenilles, brocades, upolstry samples (good for little cosmetic bags), leather, and trims too!

A file tote for my friend's mom of some scrap ballistic nylon, screen printed. In the background you can see a bit of a blanket crocheted by my gramma; its black with neon flowers on it. (so hip, gramma!)



Pillow! I really like this one; rich purples and hues of green. I made it as a gift for my fianceé- which is why you only see the back!



My next project: aqua-gold-beiges with a dainty touch of coffee. Because I can't handle the caffiene. I really love the top swatch with the circles and dots, as well as the X's and Squares, which I believe is an eames pattern.

cleaning up

Time's not so recent article on how to live on 100 things has brought a challenge to Timon and myself. He's moving into our new apt and I'm ever-so-slowly slimming m belongings down to bring to shanghai in two suitcases.

My rules to get rid of things:
-Things I haven't worn in 2+ years. I have these last few months to work them into my wardrobe, otherwise they are OUT.
-Supplies I haven't used in 2+ years. I have boxes and bags of fabric goodies- I have the next month to use them up before I donate them. So far I've made a LCD monitor cover, 3 gadget bags, a pillow, and a tote. My goal is to make 2 tops, 10 rhinoceroos, use up all my zippers(10+?) and at least 1 more pillow.
-Books: Shanghai stack(limit 10), heirloom stack(kiddies classics), Free for all stack(TAKE IT!), donate(textbks)
-Notebooks and sketchbooks: a toughie! I think i have about 20... part of the kristina history
-I''m allowing myself 2 boxes of "Kristina heirloom" stuff to store my medals, baby artwork, and special sentimental stuff.
-Bags: (Shanghai: 5) Donate the rest.

woo. we'll check back later to see what I turn up with!

take 3!

I decided to take little break(One night a week!) from the wedding frenzy to do something crafty after being inspired at Scrapbook territory in Berkeley. Scrapbook territory has a wonderous array of goods, trendy, mouth watering and beauiful. They had a make-n-take sponsored by Hambly screenprints; where one of their designers taught us how to make nifty notebooks(so charming!Shimmer papers in great color combos!) and we also got a presentaion(and raffle prizes!) from MLS- My little shoebox paper company. cute cute cute! I won the new "robots unplugged" set of products. Sweet!

1.


Also I've been following this blog Inchmark, by the former art director of martha stewart. She has some great ideas, one of them being security envelopes, as in her post here Above is my little interpretation-sketch. I just a little obsessed with flower punches now...

2.

Had a little print making action going on. (With the flower punches, as pictured above. This one we got in Sh) I punched a ton of holes into one strip of paper, sandwiched it between my fabric and my silkscreen, and inked it. Instant print! Not sure what I'll be doing with these squares.... either pillows, or bags for socks, or something.

3.
And last but not least, Harold one of my small plush friends delivered a "happy birthday!"

East bay churches:

San Leandro Pres.


Eden, Hayward


First Pres hawyward/CV


Northbrae, Berkeley

Park blvd. Pres, where my parents got married!

I think I've visited or called almost every christian church for over 200 people in the East bay: Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, san leandro, Hayward. Foomf.

I've got a database going to compare all of them plus photos. I might as well write a manual. Center aisle? Reception hall? Kitchen? Outside pastor allowed? Flash photography? Organ? The list goes on.

Teal!

I just discovered Polyvore- which helps you shop and snag the pics into inspiration boards. (Mostly for fashion)

Teal-peacock by krustuna featuring Forever21

This is what I'm attracted to with the peacock inspiration....mostly playing around with it!

January.

1. Garage Sale. Get rid of everything

2. Move to China

Engaged!

Timon proposed to me on our 1 yr mark in Golden Gate park.