the next step

life is interesting.  I am keeping busy with the kids and hair and art.  feeling very inspired these days, especially since the boys are back in school.  I usually get a little caught up with some new project.   and there is one.  a new project. a spin-off of some earlier project.  I am using recycled clothing mostly, since I have a lot left over from the many years of thrift store shopping.  and now, my friend has helped me go through my closet and empty half of it out.  now I have more to work with. excellent.

I have been covering furniture for the last few years.  I started with chairs, maybe 3 or 4 years ago.  time flies, I can't remember.  the chairs have been evolving.  I got motivated again recently when I was trying to get rid of some rabbit fur.  some pieces looked perfect for some projects, so I went in that direction.  made some serious progress, but need to really finish some of these chairs up.  pretty awesome to me.  I like them.  

my new work entails draping and fitting and creasing and styling, just working with the shape and structure of the piece, be it the fur or the object I am dressing.  this is a new series of 6.  this last project started when I was covering shelves for a bookshelf.  I don't know where I get these ideas.  I do have some tables covered though.  the first piece touched me.  I felt a connection.  it is a learning experience.  it is a process.  it takes such a long time too.  I made some good progress today.  when I was trying to finish the last bit of a piece I spent a few hours on today, I thought about being late to pick up the kids from school.  it is hard to walk away from that flow.  I just had to be ten minutes late if it meant I could be very close to feeling satisfied with the latest board.  

the noisettes

rocked.

rickshaw stop last night.

shingai is unbelievably talented and gorgeous.  inspiring.

"don't give up" was a theme song for me about a year or two ago.

thanks for the entertainment.

I will check you guys out again in november.

awesome.

busy

I have been so busy doing so much fun stuff.  I don't know even know where to start.

just this past weekend:

friday:

richard avedon member opening at the moma with miss leigh and jason rail.

dinner at beretta with 15 other girls, so many to mention.

dancing at amnesia with many of those girls and eug dj-ing

saturday:

metal mayhem with mina

project one for rico's birthday and closing of "come as you are"

today:

silent film festival movie-oswald the rabbit (pre-mickey mouse disney) for the kids

party for guts

how can I complain?

really.

companies and stores I like

indicate design

gimme shoes

object fetish

mohawk general store 

eairth

incase

generic man

arkitip

one and co

eight inc.

project one

number (n)ine

huf

fuse project

ideo

randolph designs

apple

R.I.P. Michael Frederick Quirie

went to Mikey's funeral.  I wasn't planning on being there the entire time, because I have so much laundry to do and I needed to get the boys early from school.  I was fine driving to the church and walking there, but as soon as I was walking up the stairs, I started losing it.  I always cry at these things.  when I saw the boards of photos, that was intense.  tears just streaming down my face.  and there was no tissue to be found.  I knew I needed to stay at that point.  get some closure.  he was so young, 33.  he was always smiling and an amazing, super generous guy.  someone you wanted to know.  someone you wanted on your side.  incredibly good-looking and beautiful energy.  I know that energy will be nearby.  I stayed for a cocktail like mikey would have wanted.  party!  I really hope to stay in touch with some newfound friends.  mikey had some great friends.  thanks for being a part of my life, mikey.  you will be missed by so many.  

black label society

what an awesome time!  they rock!

mina took her 4 year old to the fillmore to try and get tickets when they opened up 1/2 hour before the doors opened.  after she waited for an hour or so, they told everyone that the show is sold out.  SOL.  but we still wanted to go.  I went home after work instead of dinner with other friends, so I could get ready.  I needed to get the outfit on.  I put my sneakers on with the heels for the show close at hand (always so important for seeing over people) and walked over to her place.  as I was getting close, I thought maybe I would see if joey was working at bar 821.  they serve bubbly cocktails.  he was there and mina would still be at least 5 more minutes.  got some cava and saw some friends, as well.  dean and ian.  they are good friends with joey.  ian lives in philly now.  but it amazes me that I haven't run into dean in ages.  walked the two blocks to mina's, changed shoes and then she was finally ready.  she had to wait for her man to finish a tennis match and return home.  by the time we got there, we missed the band dope.  she said they are incredible.  I don't think I have seen them, but who knows, maybe I have.  after all these years, I can't remember them all.  while mina was parking, I found one ticket for $40, and the scalpers wanted "$100, $75, $60, how much do you want to pay?  it's sold out".  whatever.  we waited and she asked some guy who was coming out of the space if he had an extra ticket.  he gave it to her!  we didn't even have to pay for it!  nice!  then I saw jimi dunlop.  long time.  rich worked on some graphics and packaging for dunlop a while back.  they make guitar picks and accessories.  so, we got some zakk wylde picks and a vip pass.  I like that.  I decided that I have been around so long that I need perks.  I have earned some privileges by now.  the show was awesome!  they are amazing.  everything was great, but the asshole next to me at one point (not in the vip area) who was starting a fight with the guy on the other side of me.  I was pissed.  just enjoy the show, you asshole.  what a pain in the ass distraction.  then I saw them doing coke off a key, so that explained some things.  I love the bill cosby bit about coke.  " it enhances your personality.  yea, but what if you are an asshole?!"  exactly.  looking forward to slipknot in sacramento.  I can't believe I am going to sacramento.  whoa.  hopefully, jimi will answer his phone at that show.  backstage could be fun, but also 6th row isn't too bad.  and this time, I will have my camera.  I promise, mina.

cream

gross. this was the cream on my flight to LA on Southwest.
caution: be more afraid of this than a plane crash.

happiness

inspiration wall #2

here is another shot. over the years, I found sliced leather goods. two are expandable bags from thrift stores and there is a hanging planter from a sidewalk sale. I recently found this cardboard bit sliced up that is used for packing. (it was from some old samples my husband had) that dome is totally cool with a deer in the foreground. maybe you can see the bit of caning from an old table of mine. and the other cardboard white bit that was used to separate small containers. oh, yea, there is some sea something in there, too. I like the textures. there is also a picture of the early humans from a magazine. I think that is hiroshi sugimoto. loved his exhibition at the deyoung. the ocean shots were amazing. an irving penn still life. and the smoking skull is from the van gogh show that was at the LACMA. I am so glad I have a wall to put all my stuff up. get it up and out of the way so I can actually see it.

OBAMA!!!

very excited about our new president.  he has a lot of work ahead of him.  watched the inauguration proceedings.  very glad to see that asshole cheney leave.  I think he was even worse than that spoiled brat, loser bush.  good riddance, greedy war-mongers.

shoes-gucci

I have a thing for shoes. and I bought a lot of them in the 90s, during the dot.com boom here in SF. nieman marcus would always have such a great sale. and then you pick out a whole bunch and they tell you that they can hold them for you, because they are going on sale even more in a few days. sure! I love to save more money. that seems like such a long time ago.

nowadays, having two children and trying to get my jewelry line going, I don't buy new shoes too much. I almost always buy my new pairs of shoes from gimme shoes. I did get those dries van noten shoes from their warehouse sale. I will show you those another time. I already need to get them re-heeled, though, so they are hanging out at my studio. gorgeousness. like a glove.
the only other shoes that I buy are from thrift stores. my favorites are thrift town, the salvation army on geary (which I just recently discovered, since it is so close to my therapist's office) and there is always goodwill.
lately, I have pulled out some shoes from the past. I just try to make them work with the rest of my fashion.
I love these gucci shoes so much. they are so hot! really 90s, though, sort of dominatrix. steel heel. so tough. uber-sexy! enough said.

inspiration wall

here is an image from my studio wall.
see, I already had a ruth asawa postcard up there.

art and inspiration

went to the academy of science today with my friend robert. I like to think of him as my music mentor. we did have loads of fun and saw lots of amazing bands playing live. the first xmas he knew me, he gave me 10 cassette tapes with bands I needed to know. I actually ended up making 4 mixed tapes from those tapes for some halloween party one year. the music was hard and a bit scary. good times. so, today, we checked out the 3D Bugs movie which I tried to bring my kids to after school. why don't they want to do the fun stuff? I didn't force them, after all, I already saw it today. they are like that with the beach too. anyway, we also went to the living roof, saw most of the enormous aquarium, then the planetarium. the albino alligator was missing though. we had enough time to see the african hall and the rainforest too. we did a lot. but that's not all. we went across the way to the deyoung to see the yves saint laurent show after that. there was a lot of fashion. some of it was definitely crazy. but you need to respect it. I mean, the 80's and 90's were a bit crazy when you look back on it. all that beading shit. ugh. that was a trend. maya lin also had some landscapes which were interesting. I had forgotten the ruth asawa pieces near the tower. love them! those are some of my favorites. the shadows and the simplicity are beautiful.

the new year

having lots of fun since new year's eve and beyond. and of course, before that! went to damon and suzy's for the ringing in of the new year. and made rich drive me over to erik's after that. 2am. so, I was a little freaked out when I got my glass of champagne, took a sip and proceeded to spray it all over everyone in my close proximity. I didn't understand. days later, erik pointed out to me that if I drink bubbly stuff and start shaking my head, it will explode. ok. good. I didn't think I was that out of control! sure, I drank a bit of champagne that evening and I didn't drink enough water through the night. I did have fun and len was so sweet and sober to give leigh and myself a ride home at 4.
january 2 was my mom and dad's 50th anniversary! wow. there were some times I didn't think it would last. but they did. and they are quite happy now. probably because my dad can barely hear, so he can just ignore her sometimes. maybe.
worked hard doing hair for two days. and then today I went to the alameda flea market to buy some supplies for my upcoming trunk show. it had been raining for some of the last markets, and I haven't been in, oh, maybe 10 years. it was ok. a lot of untangling of chain. was it really worth it? we'll see. maybe there was some inspiration picked up along the way. there usually is.