grass books

loving this book art from Corol Silverman.

via my love for you.

This will make you want to make books..

One of the books I am most excited we are publishing this Fall is called Pictrial Websters, it's a beautiful book packed with the illustrations from the original 19th century Webster's Dictionary. The author, John Carrera first self-published and printed this amazing book, here is his video of that process- it's so worth watching!

Pictorial Webster's: Inspiration to Completion from John Carrera on Vimeo.

focus

i've been away from here partly because i've just been so busy but mostly because i don't know what i want to do with this space anymore. i need focus. i always love blogs who know exactly what they are and i've been struggling with exactly what i want this blog to be. maybe i'm overthinking it.. anyway that focus is what drew me to this wonderful little blog called We Make Words. first of all i love words, and i love how the name of the blog tells you exactly what you will find there.

it's the little things

i went straight to the kitchen at work before i hit my desk this morning, i needed coffee immediately. i love the random collection of mugs gathered in the pantry - i usually go for the biggest one, limiting the amount of times i will have to get up to refill it throughout the morning. but today i spotted a mug i had never seen and laughed out loud thinking about using it all day, it's white and in a horrible font close to comic sans in dark blue is the name HARRY written across it. i don't know why it made me laugh so much but it did, and i since i have pretty good associations with that name i thought i should make it my own today. there is no one in the office named Harry, and if he's just been hired and i haven't met him yet i hope he doesn't see me using his mug today.

the above picture is from julie's wedding from just a few weeks ago. this summer has been a lot of wedding planning (not mine) and babies and work... which is all good and just a little bit tiring. not the most flattering photo of me but i just love how happy we all look up there.

well hello!

I think no one is checking in here anymore... but the blog has become a good place for me to keep poems and I think when it takes its new incarnation it will be all about writing. I found this very old poem today and brought it to writing group to polish up. I like it. And I really want to send it to the person who it is about ... but thought here would be a better place to put it.

Blame it on Barry Bonds

What matters is that he didn't hit the ball into the water
we were waiting for homerun number 758
it didn't happen
we drank eight dollar beers
sneaked cigarettes where ever we could find an open space
almost got kicked out of the ballpark for getting caught
and Barry Bonds did not tie the home run record that day
the sunburn on my chest didn't fade for weeks
I was numb
pretending you lived here
answering that girls questions like we were a real couple;
I felt like a fraud
but when you saddled up to me like you owned me
hooking your arm around my waist
kissing my forehead
inhaling my hair
it felt like the real thing

I blame Barry Bonds
for not pulling through when we needed him most
for not making that day one we would never forget
I tried not to look for you whenever you left the crowd to smoke
and I wanted Barry to hit that ball far into the water
I don't care much for sports or records
but I wanted something to come shooting at us
hit us square in the eyes
to be able to turn to you and say I told you so, impossible happens all the time.

It didn't happen
instead we got sunburnt and drank too much
kept going late into the night
the lot of us stumbling to each new bar loud and unforgiving
of course there were tears
of course you didn't remember any of it in the morning
but that's okay, because I took the minutes
chronicled it all in my head, wrote down each sentence,
kept score, held my breath

And damn Barry Bonds for not doing it that day
he couldn't have had a more perfect setting
home game, unfathomable blue sky, packed stadium,
damn him.

oh Grizzly Bear how i love you..

lazy sunday

next?

i've been busy. so busy i'm afraid to open my google reader because it will likely take me days to get through... and i don't need to mention i haven't been spending much time on my own blog. i'm in flux... ready to leave this lovely little blog behind and start something new. i'm still thinking about it all and figuring out what's next. i'll be around here a little more until i figure it all out and will let you all know what's next when i know! i feel it coming.....

hugs

isn't this the perfect shirt for making up? or making out!

via design for mankind

Swine Flu !! !!

This is both hysterical and terrifying.. .

i'll have a dirty pig please

i'm cutting out sweets and alcohol for two weeks staring today. which is maybe why all week what i noticed most on the blogs i read were the things i wanted to eat....

the cake above is not just a chocolate cake it's a bacon chocolate cake with salted caramel and when i start eating chocolate again it may be the first thing i request. too bad the creator of this cake is in brooklyn. i saw this beauty on the blog a baker in brooklyn who made some stenciled cookies for Ed's book release party in January. i've had those chocolate bars with bacon before, and while they're good, i can only imagine this is a thousand times better. i mean real bacon in a three layer chocolate cake. oh. my. goodness. and he's named it the Dirty Pig!

and will you have a look at these strawberries? i spied them over on the small object. Sarah calls them double chocolate dipped strawberries + dirt and she made them with fresh strawberries, semi-sweet morsels, and dark chocolate. yum.

Sometimes I do have favorites...

It's true. I love all of the books I work on, I really do. But sometimes there are books you just get attached to. Such is the case with the totally awesome (yeah I said it) Like I Give a Frock, written by Michi Girl and illustrated by Kat Macleod. I've long been a fan of Kat's lush watercolor and mixed media illustrations.

A book packed with beautiful illustrations and wickedly funny fashion advice, what could be better? If you want to get your hands on a free copy head on over to the Chronicle Books blog where I wrote a post today asking people to leave comments about their worst fashion faux pas. There are some pretty good ones up there already, daisy dukes, side crimped pony tails... go add yours!

heat and ice cream make everything better

i had a silly day. the kind of day where you feel a little like a punching bag and all you can do is just sort of laugh about it. but the weather in san francisco right now is beautiful, it feels like east coast summer. the gorgeous weather canceled out my silly day. i met up with a great friend, we had a lovely dinner and than walked to Maggie Mudd in Bernal Heights. there's nothing like walking a good long distance in the heat on a summer like night for ice cream. it was delightful. and in honor of my night here are some adorable ice cream etsy finds!
(poloroid transfer above by etsy seller shehitpausestudios.


ice cream soap by etsy seller LoveLeeSoaps.


little ice cream hand stamp by etsy seller hola.


cupcake misses ice cream card by etsy seller fuzzygrapefruit.

i am game...

happy happy friday!


I Don't Know from ATO Records on Vimeo.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

This was the question that we asked people and I guess the theme of my birthday party this year. I think it's a question we should never stop asking ourselves, because no matter how old we are I really do believe we can always reinvent ourselves. And I think there's some freedom in embracing that. So once again Chris was the photographer at my birthday party, she had a little spot set up in the front of the bar and we had markers and a big blank pad of paper where we asked people to write down what they want to be when they grow up, or who they want to be, or what they wanted to be when they were little. It was so much fun and there are so many great photos. I'm going to put them together in a book. Here are just a few.












To see the whole set go to Chris's flickr page.