Jenny N. Design

Our Wedding Album

2012-01-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

A few pages from our wedding album from Pinhole Press. I bought these for my parents and in-laws for Christmas and I made another copy for Boy's relatives in India. We're absolutely floored with the quality of the printing from this company.

I totally want to make more albums! Living in such a digital world, I've completely forgotten about the nostalgia of flipping through physical pages of a photo album.

I just need more stuff to photograph now...

p.s. Photos from the wedding ceremony

Friday: Link Love

2012-01-27T10:54:00.005-05:00

Mini Ruche in Kiwi

Remember on Fridays I used to pair a cool outfit with one of my bags? Yeah. That didn't last long.

I will share the latest addition to my shop, though! (See above image)

So I'm dedicating Fridays to cool things I read on the interwebs. Because I browse lots of sites, and I want to share them with you!

The most awesome things my lady crush (Liz Lemon) says.
Cutest DIY heart garlands (for Valentine's Day) <3
She's camouflaged into her wall paintings!
Feed your face right to prevent acne.
The dollar stores got it right.
This probably cuts down some time on mashing potatoes.

Happy weekend!

Love,
Jenny

The Perfect Pair

2012-01-26T09:00:00.016-05:00

I'm looking for a pair of neutral-ish shoes to go with my new bag, the Packet in Chai Latte. I was making an order + the rest of the bags in this leather and one of them didn't turn out too well. I thought about offering it in the shop with a heavy discount, but I quickly decided that I needed a new bag (the last time I gave myself a bag was last January! It was the Mini Ruche in Black). And you thought I kept every other bag!

Now I'm looking for the perfect shoes to go with the bag (Not that I need a specific pair of shoes to match this bag --it will pretty much go with everything I have. But who said I need to make excuses not to shop?).

I usually go for pairs like B, C, and E. But I know Boy will not allow it because they are similar to what I have in my current collection. And seriously. Jenny. Let's be more practical about shoe-shopping. For once.

Here I go. I'm talking to myself.

WHICH! is why I am leaning towards something a little more menswear-meets-womenswear-but-with-a-little-bit-of-heel-because-let's-face-it-being-5'2"-with-a-really-long-torso-and-stubby-legs-is-not-so-exciting-in-flats-and-life-is-way-more-fun-with-the-possibility-of-a-sprained-ankle-in-4"-heels. A is my top pick right now, but D looks so airy and fun. I wish the heel were at least one thousand* inches taller, though.

*Side note: I say one thousand the same way Kristen Wiig says, "Just one thouuuuuuuuusand more songs, Mr. Meyers! Please, please, please! Mr. Meyers!" in "Garth and Kat" on SNL.

Okay, leaning towards D... since it's on sale. A sale justifies everything.

I hope you learned a valuable lesson from all of this.

p.s. Another conversation in my head about buying shoes. This is not a new thing.

Diamond in the Rough

2012-01-24T11:19:00.000-05:00

Rough Black Diamond Studs by LexLuxe

I am not a jewelry girl. The only pieces I sport daily are my engagement and wedding rings. Otherwise it's just costume jewelry on occasion. (And by costume jewelry, I mean inexpensive humongous dangly earrings.)

However, I am really drawn to these raw diamond pieces. I don't know what it is about the rough diamond next to the shiny metal. A modern decay look. Really intriguing to me.

I'm totally digging these!

Rough Diamond Studs by LexLuxe

Rough Diamond Stacker Ring by Specimental

Hubert, The Snow Leopard

2012-01-18T13:12:00.002-05:00

OK, fine. The title is false advertising. He's actually more like a chubby bunny running around the backyard.

But still, my chubby bundle of love! :)

Speaking of love.

Valentine's order deadlines are posted on the right side of this blog (and in the announcements section of my shop). Tell your husband. Or mom. Whoever is going to buy you your Valentine's gift(s) this year. ;)

Love,
Jenny

Pink Lemonade, Anyone?

2012-01-13T12:59:00.000-05:00

Even though it's frigid and snowing now, I couldn't help but think of sipping on pink lemonade from a mason jar on a warm sunny afternoon while making these new bags. It's a refreshing to have some pops of color in the shop again! :)

Happy Friday!

Love,
Jenny

Handbag Designer 101

2012-01-13T08:00:00.002-05:00

Remember in 2010, when I was a finalist for the Independent Handbag Designer Awards?

Well, that gave me the opportunity to be included as one of the design inspirations for Emily Blumenthal's (founder of IHDA and HBD101) book, Handbag Designer 101.

Yay!

This book pretty much has everything you need to know to start your own bag line. I mean. Pretty much. Everything.

New Things for 2012

2012-01-10T13:14:00.000-05:00

Images from Heidi Adnum (author of this book!)

Recognize a little something something on the back cover of this book?

I've contributed a little bit of photo-taking knowledge in this book by Heidi Adnum.

I'll be getting my copy sometime soon so I can share it with you! :)

Besides the cool book feature, I've got a handful of good news about the business to share for this year. In the meantime, please excuse my lack of posts, as I am a little short on time and brain capacity to blog while getting all these things sorted out at the same time!

Love,
Jenny

2011 Recap

2011-12-30T08:00:00.010-05:00

This year was a special year for my business and my life.
New things, improved things, and experiencing important things. :)

Baby Ruche in Dark Navy

Let's start from the beginning...

01. Introduced the Mini Ruche, a smaller alternative to the Baby Ruche.

02. Reinforced the Briefcase, minimizing saggy bottoms!

03. Boy and I raised $2,136 for Together for Japan, our initiative to help those affected in the earthquake in Japan... thanks to your support!

04. Started my addiction for reading books written by comedians. Started with Tina Fey. Followed by Demetri Martin, Mindy Kaling and Ellen DeGeneres. More book reviews to follow.

05. Experienced my largest business loss to date. Very valuable learning experience.

06. Clutch had a makeover and transformed into the Foldover Clutch.

07. Introduced the Packet.

08. Started and ended my series of outfit posts. Dressing up was too much work. :(

09. Had a blast at Chicago Renegade (as always).

10. Married my best friend and better half.

11. Moved into our new home, bought lots of stuff, shopped for lots of gifts.

12. Enjoyed the holidays at home with family. :)

What are your plans for the new year?

I can imagine a fun night dressing up, ordering in food, and drinking sparkling wine while watching the ball drop on TV. :)

Our Holiday Home

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Boy and I really enjoyed decorating the house this year. :)

It's not too late to order your gifts for Christmas arrival! TODAY (by 11:59pm EST) is the LAST DAY to order Ready to Ship bags for arrival by Christmas.

Happy holidays!!

Love,
Jenny

p.s. I sewed those stockings. (You probably guessed that, right?)

Hubert Pushups

2011-12-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

Hubert likes to cuddle and nap on top of anything. Namely back, belly and lap. Boy takes advantage of this when he needs a little added resistance to his pushups.

Just simply lie on your belly, let Hubert crawl on you and make himself comfortable, and begin your exercise routine. He's a wiggly 24 lbs, so he'll help you engage all those support muscles.

Life in the 'Burbs: Pros and Cons

2011-12-09T08:30:00.051-05:00

I took a break from cooking to see what Hubert was up to (if he's not snorting around the kitchen while I'm cooking, he must be up to no good). Lo and behold, he's perched like a little cat looking out the front door at my husband (still getting used to that) installing Christmas lights around the house. Melt.

Watching Boy set up lights around the house made me super happy. Then it got me thinking of how life in the suburbs is so different from life in the city.

Thinking = Pros and Cons List (What's life without one?).

Cons:

1. It's excruciatingly quiet at night. I have been having many sleepless nights, friends. I'd wake up in the middle of the night startled, "Babe, what was that noise?!" "[grumbling] I dunno. Probably a clown." Then I would stay awake until sunrise.

We've had to turn on a really loud fan in order for me to sleep and not fear killer clowns creeping out from the forest-of-a-backyard. (Did I ever tell you about my irrational fear of clowns? I'm sure I have.) I was never scared living in the city --it's bustling at all hours of the night. You can always depend on your neighbor's party to fill the hall with noise so it's easier to sleep. Or someone vacuuming in the unit above you at 11 at night. Or for the train to blow its horn at 10pm as its passing by. Or all the dogs in the building to bark in unison. AND. Most importantly. The city does not contain leftover clowns from kid parties in the backyard.

2. No more pizza and wine Thursdays. This. I. Will. Miss. Paying high prices of city living = great amenities and perks! Every Thursday our apartment hosted happy hour(s) with pizza and wine and lots of mingling. It's always fun and we've met many cool neighbors. I guess we can still have wine and pizza on Thursdays...but it won't be free. I'm Asian --free is like my favorite word.

3. Where will I get Vietnamese food? Sure, I'm Vietnamese and I can cook my cuisine. But we were walking distance to two really great Vietnamese restaurants. AND wholesale markets. With lots of (cheap) fruits, vegetables, meats and sea food! On the weekends, everyone in Pittsburgh flocks to our neighborhood and takes up all our parking spots and gets said food stuffs. I would be able to walk down the street during the weekday and get first-pick of the goods without the crowd and long lines. I guess I can technically still go on the weekday (it's not like I have a boss or anything), but that means a 20-mile commute to the city. Sad face.

4. There's too much space. Is this really a con? Keep in mind that Boy and I used to live in one small loft box. We were always in the same room at the same time. If he was reading, I was likely not sewing and most likely cooking. If he was watching TV, I was likely not sewing, and probably succumbing to TV watching. If he was on the computer with noise canceling headphones, I was probably sewing. If he was drumming, I was most definitely sewing, and we would both be stopped by the hard knocking on our wall because we're being too loud. Okay, fine, this is a pro. But it feels weird that I can be in one room and Boy can be in another room. Or I can be in the basement working, and he can be on the second floor in the bedroom (2 flights of stairs away! So far! How will he hear my screams when a clown breaks in?). Now when I need him, I can't just call his name in my "inside voice". I have to text him.

5. What about my dream loft? I've always wanted to live in a renovated warehouse with tall ceilings, brick walls, exposed pipes and cement floors. When we moved from Austin to Pittsburgh, I knew that was the opportunity to live in one. I mean, c'mon. Steel city. Warehouses. Everywhere. I lived in that dream loft for only a year! :( :( :( :( Though it wasn't as big and way more expensive than I imagined, it was kind of my dream.

5.25. No more Hines Ward spottings. I only gave this 0.25 points because it's not that big of a deal. But really. How many people can say they live in the same building as Hines Ward? Technically. About 200. But still. Cool factor. OK?

Pros:

1. It's quiet and peaceful. As you probably guessed, this is quite a perk. We can watch our favorite TV show without hearing our neighbor's favorite TV show (which is not the same as ours) at the same time. I guess that's kind of nice.

2. Everything is just a short drive away. Walmart. Target. Grocery store. Restaurants. It's a bit like heaven plopped itself on one street and said, "Welcome, my friends. Make yourself at home!"

3. I love having a yard! I can open the door and let Hubert run leash-free in the backyard to potty while I'm still in my pajamas in the house. In the city, I would have to get dressed and look somewhat decent as I walked two blocks over to the dog park. This would get a little inconvenient in the winter when I'd have to put on a jacket, scarf and gloves and get Hubert in his harness, then walk and stuff. Ugh. I get exhausted just thinking about it again. Lazy life is good. :) Hubert also enjoys the freedom to run around and jiggle his neck fat rolls without the constraints of a harness.

4. I can work without disrupting anyone. Sewing and hammering has never been so liberating. I'm not scared of hearing a loud knock on one of our neighbor's wall because my sewing machine is too loud, or my hammering is disruptive. I'm much more productive, which means more inventory in the shop!

5. Boy is closer to work. I'm not sure why we decided to live downtown when Boy works in the suburbs. Traffic was obviously never an issue since everyone else was driving into the city, but the commute on the highway was a bit long and that meant he had to leave home earlier. Now he can sleep in a little bit longer, and I have more time to prepare his lunch in the morning.

6. Parking. Parking in the city sucks. We paid for parking for Boy's car in the apartment garage, but guess who didn't want to foot an extra $100/month to park her car in there? And then in the winter had to shovel her car out of the snow? Yep. Now I have my own spot in our garage (attached to the house, and has direct access to my studio) and my car is happy happy. Sorry car, for the torture. I heart yous.

7. We're contributing to the family house. One of the guilty feelings of being a renter is that you're putting your hard earned money into someone else's pocket. In this house, we're paying part of the mortgage for the in-law's home, so we know this money is going to pay off the house that will be the central hub for Thanksgiving gatherings, Christmas vacation, and inevitably be the place we'll come back to visit with our kids to see grandma and grandpa.

8. The basement is ALMOST like a loft. There's exposed cinder block, cement floors, exposed pipes and an unfinished ceiling. It's not quite the same, but it's good enough for me while we save money to buy our own place.

9. Speaking of saving money. $10,000 yearly savings from renting in the suburbs instead of the city. Did I even have to write the pros and cons list? Probably not.

10. More money for shopping!!!

Home, sweet home.

Gift Guide: For the Geeky-Inclined

2011-12-07T09:56:00.000-05:00

Need I say more? (All on Etsy.)

A. Vintage orange clock, $60, TheBIG8s

B. Circuit board necktie, $30, Scatterbrain Ties

C. Star Trek ornament set, $45, Yellow Bug Boutique

D. Literary earrings, $24.50, bookity

E. Four Eyes embroidery wall art, $20, What. No Mints?

F. XX Chromosomes tank, $22, Xenotees

See lots more awesomeness here.

Gift Guide: Warm & Cozy For Her

2011-12-05T08:30:00.018-05:00

I'm going to precede the following post with the fact that today is the LAST DAY to order Made to Order bags in time for Christmas arrival. After today, I can't guarantee that Made to Order purchases will arrive in time for Christmas. Even if you beg. I shan't accept it.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post...

I have a lot of outerwear. But like my thoughts on handbags, shoes, kitchen gadgets and knives... you can never really have too many ~~[insert object of desire here]~~ outerwear pieces.

Unfortunately, that argument doesn't work with Boy since he has prohibited me from purchasing outerwear until I donate some of my winter coats...

So I'm secretly buying sweaters and hats and gloves and stashing them in my moving boxes, then they'll be stored in my super secret spots in my new studio and he'll never know. He'll likely notice some really cute new things I'm wearing and ask "Hey cute stuff! When did you get that?" and I'll likely respond, "Oh...this old thing?" and bat my eyelashes. *

Jenny is sneaky sneaky. Yes, she is.

A. Wool winter coat, $118, FM908 on Etsy

B. Faux fur trapper hat, $34.50, AE (I have this in cream, and I love it!)

C. Bowtied leather gloves, $78, Anthropologie

D. Knit wool socks, $20, Tatiana Orlova on Etsy

E. Big ol' Bow ear warmers, $44, YesJess on Etsy

F. Leopard scarf, $59.50, J.Crew

* What actually happens is that I fess up my guilty purchases at the end of the day when Boy comes home from work... JUST as I'm presenting him with a wonderfully prepared dinner of one of his favorites. He'll let out a deep sigh and come to terms with the fact that nobody puts Baby in a corner.

Gift Guide: For the Coffee Lover

2011-12-02T08:30:00.004-05:00

It would be an understatement to say that I come from a family of coffee lovers. Coffee addicts. There was an intervention. And caffeine withdrawals. Then relapse.

I'm not really in the coffee addict category (yet). I am more of a creamy-icy-blended-drink-with-a-bit-of-coffee-in-it type.

My brother is a "drink it black or die!" type.

My parents sprinkle in a little cream and sugar.

I'm sure the uber-love will come with age. (Just as it did for my brother at a very young age. Much younger than I am now. But who knows. It'll happen. I'm sure.)

If you know a coffee lover (or a liker, doesn't have to be too extreme), they might find these gifts quite delightful!

A. Facebook Mug, Like It, $16, LennyMud

B. Vintage Drop-O-Lator coffee maker, $68, Phat Heads

C. Vintage wooden coffee grinder, $30, Bridgewood Place

D. Coffee coaster set, $16, girls can tell

E. Coffee fridge magnets (6), $7.50, Piping Hot Papers

F. Mint Mocha holiday soap, $5.50, Roots Soap Co.

You can see more coffee lover gifts in my Etsy treasury.

Happy weekend!
Love,
Jenny

Gift Guide: For the Designer

2011-12-01T08:30:00.008-05:00

We finished renovating the basement for my studio last weekend. Now, I'm gathering all my things to move in this weekend! I'm really excited to move into a larger space. Sure, it's a basement. It has two teeny tiny windows that receive little to no sunlight. I may become a vampire working down there. But it's a larger space and I desperately need space more than sunlight.

I will miss my current studio (our living room) that has two 10ft windows (Our apartment has 14 ft ceilings. I will miss this, too.) and gets lots to sunlight. It's a trade off.

30 sqft of work space + dining table for my work bench + hallway for storage?
Or 470 sqft of space that's all mine?

Yeah. You got it.

Since it's really dark down there, we brightened it up with some paint. We didn't really think any colors through (I am an equal opportunity color lover) before heading to Home Depot. The only requirement was that it needed to be bright and in the warm color spectrum. We just kinda browsed the swatches and chose one on a whim...without testing it on the wall.... Good idea? We'll see. :)

All I can think about are all the cute things I want to get for my new office.

These would make perfect gifts for a designer. Or me. Just sayin'.

A. Wallclock, $49, Art is Everything

B. Candlestrip Candle Holder, $30 (on sale!), A+R Store

C. Iwako Zoo Panda Eraser, $0.99, JetPens

D. Desk Organizer, $59, lessandmore

E. Anything Tape Dispenser, $39, Unica Home

F. Orange First Aid Pillow Cover, $20, pillowhappy

G. Retro Wall Shelf, $69, PIGandFISH

Yes, I'll post pictures of the new studio when I'm all moved in.

And they'll be before and afters! :)

Love,

Jenny

New Colors!

2011-11-29T09:49:00.000-05:00

Have you noticed the two new colors in the shop?
Chai Latte and Olive.

They're really soft and luscious.
The colors are earthy and warm.

I named them after my favorite things.

So really, they're quite spectacular. :)

Oh, and both are in extremely limited quantity. I could only find one hide of each, so they may not stay in the shop for very long!

Happy (Early) Holidays! :)

2011-11-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

Remember to place your order in time for Christmas arrival!

Holiday Shipping Deadlines:

US Orders
Made to Order bags by Dec 5th
Ready to Ship bags by Dec 19th

International Orders
Made to Order bags by Nov 25th (this Friday!!)
Ready to Ship bags by Dec 9th

Wedding: Photos (Part III)

2011-11-21T08:00:00.005-05:00

Last of the wedding photos!

In this series, you'll see:
Me receiving some money money moneeeey. And an orange.
Us feeding the fire with ghee.
Us circling the fire pit and me burning puffed rice.
Us saying our vows as we step on piles of rice (ouch!).
Me crying.
My parents-in-law happy to see that I'm crying.
Boy comforting me and holding my hand and saying something sweet that makes me cry more.
Me getting a mangalsutra (equivalent to a wedding ring), which is presented with the married women of Boy's side of the family.
Said women whispering something to me in Sanskrit...probably some advice on dealing with my new husband.
Aparna trying to untie our little love knot.
My brother pinching Boy's ear and telling him to take care of his little sister (hilarious!).
Us as a married couple!
The end!

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures from our wedding.
It was so much fun sharing all of them with you! :)

Love,
Jenny

p.s. Revisit Part I, Part II and The Details (including our budget and how we spent it!)

Wedding: Photos (Part II)

2011-11-18T08:00:00.003-05:00

Part II of III, my friends! And Part I if you missed it.

Here's where you get to see lots of colorful outfits, my brother walking me down the aisle, unveiling of the bride (note Boy's reaction), garland exchanges, and lots of rice stuck in my hair. It's not lice. Just so you know.

Stay tuned for Part III on Monday! :)

Love,
Jenny

Photos by BellaPictures.

Wedding: Photos (Part I)

2011-11-16T09:43:00.001-05:00

The professional photos are here! Yay!

I had to separate it into 2-3...or 3-4 parts because there are lots of them. And I kind of love them all. :)

These are the photos we took before the ceremony. Even though we're not supposed to see one another before the ceremony, I did my own hair and make-up, so who knows what I would have looked like after a 1-hour wedding ceremony with rice chucking, walking, fire burning and crying.

So. Yeah. We took pictures before to assure that I wouldn't look like a hot mess with colored rice stuck in my hair, my bun falling out and my mascara smeared all over my face. Which is kind of what happened, actually. Good planning, right?

Plus it was early morning and slightly gloomy, which makes for really pretty pictures. :)

Can you spot Boy's name in my mehndi? :)

Photos by BellaPictures

Gift Guide: All That Glitters

2011-11-11T11:34:00.002-05:00

I have this obsession with gold (the color, not necessarily the metal). The glitzy glittery kind. Around this time of year, all my glittery stuff comes out of the closet! It only seems appropriate.

Do you know someone who loves glittery gold?

a. Aidan Mattox Cold Shoulder Sequin Top, $195, Neiman Marcus

b. MCINTYDE Platform Pumps, $100, ALDO

c. Deborah Lippmann Boom Pow Nail Laquer, $20, Neiman Marcus

d. Revamped Gold Star Burst Sweater, $48, Wear the Canvas

e. Gold Sequins Dress, $115, Th3rd Palac3

Hint: you're reading her blog right now!

These are great gifts for the gold glitter obsessed. Like me. These are great gifts for me.

My shoe size is 7. And I wear an xsmall or small.

Thanks!

Love,
Jenny

p.s. These are great glittery DIYs to try this season:

Glitter nails, LoveMaegen

Glitter eyeshadow, beautylish

DIY Sparkly boots, LeFanciulle

p.p.s. A cool gold glitter tutorial for Photoshop from Pugly Pixel.

Gift Guide: For the Man Cave

2011-11-09T10:39:00.004-05:00

I'm pretty sure it was a bad idea to introduce Boy to HGTV, but he's excited to claim his man cave in the new home. He has requested a "Hubert-and-Jenny-Free Zone" where he can shut the door to read, listen to music and drum without interruption.

a. Lion Silhouette Paintings, $240 (set of 4), Ricky Colson
b. Vintage Poker Chip Carousel with Chips, $178, ReFindery
c. Vintage Travel Bar, $75, 5th Street Bazaar

Considering how annoying Hubert and I can be when we want his attention, it's a fair request, I guess.

I shall grant it.

d. Vintage School Clock, $46, GoreeLane
e. Vintage Leather Briefcase, $78, SmallEarthVintage
f. Vintage Porcelain Bulldog, $14, KissaVintageDesign

But what's a man cave without some manly essentials like a boss lion painting, travel bar and some man-cessories?

It's not a man cave at all, my friends.

Not at all.

You can see more manly additions here.

Gift Guide: For the Holiday Hostess

2011-11-07T11:56:00.002-05:00

We never made a wedding registry because I (impulsively) buy everything I ~~want~~ need for the kitchen and home. I'm a little obsessed with kitchen gadgets and kitchen decor. By little I mean a lot. Now that the wedding is over and we have a little cash to spend, ~~I'm~~ we're compiling my our post-wedding registry to gift ~~myself~~ ourselves after our move to the 'burbs.

We're moving? Why, yes. I forgot to tell you.

a. Organic Batik Table Runner, $50, Margot Bianca

b. Vintage Crystal Ice Bucket, $38, Rhapsody Attic

c. Glittered Pinecone with Custom Sash, $9.75, Potter + Butler

d. Farmhouse Cutting Board, $65, Red Onion Woodworks

e. Vintage Mid Century Modern Bowls, $24, Solstice Home

f. Winter White Handprinted Linen Napkins, $40, Giardino

If you saw my recent post on my Facebook page, you'll know that we've been preparing for our move into a house! We didn't buy it, sadly. We're renting it. It's actually Boy's family home in the suburbs near Pittsburgh. His parents moved to Chicago (for work) shortly after we moved to Pittsburgh. While it was really sad news, I kind of really extremely love their cottagey home and was overjoyed to move in.

For practical purposes, it was a good decision because our one-bedroom apartment in the city kind of turned into Jenny N. Design studio rather than a home. Boy and Hubert don't have any space to themselves. We moved Boy's drumset to the house because I needed the space for my leather and equipment. We moved Hubert into a small nook under one of my sewing tables because I needed his space for another drawer set for tools.

Poor boys? Fine. Pity the boys...

But what about my growing business? ;)

Well, there's a large unfinished basement in the house (about the size of our apartment), which means I get to renovate it and make it my studio! You know how much I love renovating. And claiming space. :)

Are you wondering about this gift guide, by the way?

I am wondering why I wrote a novel before even mentioning it.

Well, moving, in my mind, means "time to make a list of things to buy for the new home!". So I put some items on the list to get for our new home. My if-I-had-made-a-registry-for-the-wedding-this-is-what-I-would-have-put-on-it kind of list.

This is the first of many lists -- this one is for the kitchen and entertaining.

You can see more things on my list for the kitchen/entertaining here.

Wedding: The Details

2011-11-04T12:07:00.019-04:00

When Boy and I discussed wedding details, this was our genius plan:

Drive over to the court house and pay $2 for parking. Get a PA marriage license for $75. Pay whatever officiant fees associated. The end!

That didn't go over so well with the in-laws.

We fought the idea of spending our future-home savings on a party. Paying for a venue, tables and linens, food, booze, decor and a photographer is not a small expense. We were well-aware of the business of weddings and we didn't want to contribute to it. We also knew that 100% of the guests would be from out of town (and out of country), and we didn't want them to feel pressured to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to attend just a party.

After being forcefully persuaded by the in-laws into having a wedding, we set a date, set the guest limit to only immediate relatives, and set rules on what we were willing to contribute financially (invitations, photographer, decor, reception). Then, I was off to make the wedding invitations.

Once the RSVPs started coming in and my mom and future mother in law started receiving phone calls from our relatives planning their cross-country and cross-world travels to attend our wedding, we had a big realization. Our wedding wasn't just about going through a ritualistic ceremony and throwing a big expensive party...

Our wedding was about uniting two groups of people with two different cultures into one close family.

We then embraced the wedding and all it would offer to the two of us and our families. It was the only reason these two groups of people would ever travel to the same destination at the same time to celebrate one event. The response to attend was overwhelming and we were really starting to realize how special our wedding was going to be.

I bet you're wondering what our budget was and how we spent it? Well, here's the breakdown...

Budget
$3,000 (Not including guests' gifts, which we totally splurged. :) I won't divulge.)

Invitations

Printing + Envelopes: $75

Stamps: $22 (RSVPs online, no return postage)

My Outfits

Mehndi outfit + jewelry: gifted by MIL

Ceremony dress + jewelry: gifted by MIL

Reception dress + jewelry: gifted by MIL

Boy's Outfits

Ceremony outfit: gifted by his grandmother

Reception outfit: $210

(blazer from Banana Republic - $150 on promotional sale from $250,

pinstripe pants from Banana Republic [2 sizes too big, but I altered them to fit him] - $20 on clearance from $98,

button-down shirt from Express - $40 on sale from $60,

tie he already had from ALDO)

Mehndi
My manicure/pedicure: self-done
Decor: Used lanterns and fabric purchased for ceremony and reception
Mehndi artist: gifted by in-laws
Catered appetizers: gifted by in-laws
Dinner: lovingly cooked by in-law family (it was yummy Indian food!)

Ceremony
My hair, make-up: self-done
Venue + Officiant: gifted by in-laws
Mandap: used my canopy from craft shows
Fabric: $120 + some borrowed from Aparna's wedding
Flowers for garlands: $120
Breakfast catering: gifted by in-laws
Lunch at Indian restaurant following ceremony: gifted by in-laws

Photography
$800 (promotional offer from $1,400 for 4 hours ceremony coverage + digital negatives)
Our photographer told us that in 4 hours, he took more pictures than he normally does for 8 hour weddings because there's so much to photograph in an Indian wedding. Yay! Photos to come in about 2-3 weeks!

Reception
Venue: In-law's home :)
Paper lanterns: $70
String lights + flameless candles: $50
Cocktail tables/linen rental: $180
Fancy disposable plates/utensils: $80
Appetizers/Dinner: $1200 (from Jimmy Wan's)
Desserts: $200 (Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, Tiramisu Cheesecake, Burnt Almond Torte)
Alcohol: $200
Servers (for serving appetizers, alcohol and clean-up): gifted by in-laws
Music: $0, mixed CDs made by Boy (lots of Bollywood music, lots of Bollywood dancing)

Total spending
$3,327

Fine, we went over budget, but we had fun doing so. :) We had a ton of help from family to cook food, make the garlands, decorate all the venues and help clean-up. We are extremely grateful for all the help we received!

Now that it's all over, we're pretty lonely without the commotion of 50 of our closes friends and family in one house. We're yearning for the next family reunion!

{All photos courtesy of our friend Harry Chou. Thank you!}

See Mehndi/Sangeet photos
See Ceremony/Reception photos
Professional photos coming soon!

Wedding Photo Diary: Ceremony Part II

2011-10-30T13:47:00.001-04:00

Photo overload? Wait 'til the professional photographer's pictures come in 3-4 weeks!

I'm still on cloud nine right now -- it'll be a while until it wears off, I'm sure.

Money savings tip #1: I did my own hair, make-up, manicure and pedicure. ($0 vs. $200)

Wedding Photo Diary: Ceremony

2011-10-28T16:04:00.003-04:00

More photos on my Flickr.

Wedding Photo Diary: Mehndi and Sangeet

2011-10-24T12:09:00.001-04:00

More photos on my Flickr.

Wedding Countdown: 3 Days!

2011-10-19T10:33:00.003-04:00

Boy (on drums) and his cousin Advait (a music director in Mumbai) practicing for the Sangeet

We're getting so close to wedding day and there's still so much to do!

I wanted to write a quick update in case you were worried about my long absence. If you've been following my Facebook page, you already know I'm still alive and will be updating soon. :)

Wedding festivities start this Friday with the Mehndi and Sangeet. Saturday is the ceremony and reception, and then (!) I'll be able to have some time to update you on all the details (including lots of pictures!).

Talk soon!

Love,
Jenny Soon-To-Be Mrs. Nemlekar

Pink Ribbon

2011-10-10T10:10:00.005-04:00

October is my favorite month.

Pops of red, orange and yellow in the trees.
Chilly breezy weather.
The month of our wedding anniversary (!!!).
Football season in full swing.
What more can you ask for?

In all the excitement of watching football, those pink shoes and gloves reminded me that October is also an important month for something more important than the pretty trees and a chilly breeze. It's the month of breast cancer awareness.

Then I started to think about the amazing women in my life who have fought the war of breast cancer, but did not live to tell their stories. I know one very inspirational woman who is a survivor. This month is dedicated to her. This month is to help women like her live to tell their stories of surviving their battle against breast cancer, so that they can enjoy the colorful trees and the clean, crisp breeze of fall.

I'm donating $50 from each sale of the Mini Ruche in Bubblegum Pink Leather to Susan G. Komen for the Cure this month.

You can also donate directly to Susan G. Komen here.

SillyBuddy

2011-10-05T08:00:00.014-04:00

You know, when I first started looking into getting a pug, I knew I wanted a little fatty named Hubert. I wanted him to wear a monocle and top hat, and bark with a British accent. He would wear a black bow tie collar and a cummerbund. He would fetch me a glass of wine on a silver platter on command.

For three years, I just had a fatty Hubert who snorted and snored. All the time. He brings his slobbery rope to me for a game of tug-of-war every once in a while in between long naps. He can do a handful of fun tricks, which are always a crowd pleaser.

But then! I found SillyBuddy and the cutest bow tie collars. And things were lining up for ole Liz Lemon. I mean for me. I quote shows a lot when I speak. Though I try not to when I blog, I can't help it sometimes. It happens.

I didn't get the black bow tie collar, because I was heavily influenced by Boy's preference to get a pop of color, like red.

It makes him look a little less pretentious. :)

p.s. He was pretty tired at the end of this photo shoot.

What He Wore

2011-09-30T08:00:00.026-04:00

Bag: Briefcase in Dark Navy Leather

Bracelet: Riskybeads

Jacket: Urban Outfitters

Button down: Nonnie Threads

Jeans & belt: Levi's

Shoes: ALDO

Uh oh. Do I sense a new series coming into play?

Well, kids, let me tell you a little story.

I had to pout for 2.25 days before Boy finally agreed to stand in front of a wall for me to photograph.

It should be noted that the last time Boy modeled one of my bags was sometime in 2009, which is the photo I use for all my promotional items for the shop for mens stuff. So naturally, I felt like I need to update the look more regularly.

I've contemplated hiring a model for these model photos. It is just way easier because I prefer to stand behind the camera and take photos than model myself or force my fiance to model. But seriously, for 10 minutes of time, this is just more efficient. And free! Ish.

So once Boy agreed to model, I quickly handed him the bag and said, "wear whatever!". While he got dressed, I gathered my camera, tripod and light bounce. I glanced at his outfit as I rushed him out the door and thought, "Oh la la! I'm marrying a hottie hottie with awesome fashion sense!" and immediately knew which location I wanted to shoot. The building next door! (It cannot get easier than this, people.)

10 minutes later, we're done. Everyone survived. Boy warmed up to the idea of doing once-monthly photo shoots to help me out. And I am giddy giddy to get these pictures posted!

So, I'm pretty happy.

And that means Boy doesn't have to listen to more complaining.

Win-win.

Happy Friday!

Love,
Jenny

Are you ready?

2011-09-27T11:41:00.001-04:00

Traveler in Black and White Houndstooth

I may be too eager too soon, but...
I'm ready to pull out the sweaters and jackets from the vacuum pack.
I'm ready for red, orange and yellow foliage.
I'm ready for crisp cold air.
I'm (a little) ready for snow.
I'm ready for Hubert to stop shedding already!
It's mainly Hubert and the shedding.

Making this new Traveler made me ready for all of these things.

Are you ready??

Lazy Sunday

2011-09-25T16:02:00.000-04:00

Lazy fatty.

Hello, Merlot.

2011-09-23T14:02:00.004-04:00

My last post had some important info about my shop for the month of October, and also featured some almost-completed bags in the new leather color, Merlot. (Lighter than the popular Fig from last year.)

This color is gorgeous. Incredibly gorgeous. A deep multi-tone burgundy. Shiny, soft and a beautiful pebbly grain. It reminds me of fall... and wine tastings... and cheese platters. Hence the name Merlot. Because I am in the mood for some wine and cheese.

Mmmm.

Just a reminder that you have seven days to order your Made to Order bags before they disappear from the shop for the month of October.

F'real. Do it!

Shop Announcement for October!

2011-09-21T13:14:00.002-04:00

Bags in Merlot, in the shop now!

Hi hi friends. I'm busy preparing lots of inventory before my wedding.

Why?

Starting October 1st, only Ready to Ship items will be available in the shop for the duration of the month.

For you, that means September 30th is the last day you can purchase Made to Order items; then the next day, they will all disappear from the shop for a month!

I'd like to spend my October with my future family members flying in from India, preparing for the wedding and also enjoying the wedding. Then enjoy the last week of October as a giddy woman married to my handsome husband (and not my sewing machine).

Please plan ahead because you have NINE (9) DAYS to purchase Made to Order bags!

Thanks in advance for understanding. :)

Love,
Jenny

My Steelers Boys

2011-09-20T10:15:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday before the Steelers vs. Seahawks; taken with phone.

My favorite boys. So cute in their Steelers jerseys. I'm also wearing one.

The right image just makes my heart melt a little bit. :)

Giveaway: JenSan Candles

2011-09-16T08:00:00.016-04:00

I told you I'd surprise you, right? I totally didn't spoil it by telling you the giveaway at the end of Wednesday's post, did I? I did. But you're still happy, yes? Yes. Yes, you are.

Have you heard of JenSan Candles? If you haven't, you're missing out on some major pampering opportunities. I have the 16oz tub of dead sea salt scrub from their shop that I got a while back. I use it when I want to smell of lemongrass (all the time).

Today the lovely ladies of JenSan are offering a very generous giveaway to one of my readers (lucky you!):
1 8oz soy candle
1 8oz scrub
2 organic soap bars

You choose the scents!

Tell us about yourself!

Hi, I’m Sandra and together with my big sister Jennifer we make and sell handmade candles, soaps, body scrubs and reed diffusers. By day, Jennifer works in the legal field and I work in the book publishing industry, but most evenings we can be found in our kitchen creating and testing new products or packaging orders up for shipment.

We are originally from the beautiful Caribbean island of Barbados but have lived in the US since we were kids. As kids and young adults, we lived in Queens, NY but have now lived in NJ since 1991 when we bought our first house together. We are now in our 2nd home—a 1920’s colonial that like most old houses needs constant upkeep. Our elderly mother, two nieces, a nephew, our dog Happy and cat Nibbles live with us. We love living in the NYC tri-state area and can’t imagine ever living too far away but we have been thinking recently of relocating so we shall see what the future holds.

Both Jennifer and I are voracious readers. We are fans of all types of books from commercial romances to literary novels and will usually recommend books to each other. Some of our favorite authors are Zadie Smith (White Teeth is the perfect novel), Elizabeth George, Phillip Pullman, Ken Follet, Glenville Lovell, John Steinbeck (East of Eden is probably my favorite book), and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Although I read all types of books, my two favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy. I am also a serious Star Trek fan.

How did you get started?

It is actually because of Jennifer that JenSan Candles was started. And as you may have realized, we came up with JenSan by using the first part of our first names.

We both love the fragrance, mood, and ambiance created by burning a candle. Over the years we have spent a lot on candles but we were often disappointed with candles that smelled great in the store but had little or no fragrance throw when lit at home. So one day Jennifer decided to try making her own. She bought books about the subject and spent a lot of time in the kitchen making some samples and testing out different scent combinations. I saw her at it but didn’t think too much about it until I started smelling the amazing scents that she was coming up with. When she felt truly comfortable, she shared some samples with friends and other family members to garner their opinions. Their feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Word got around and people started to ask if the candles were for sale. It was then that we discussed the idea and made the decision to invest some money together and offer candles for sale. Thus, JenSan Candles was born.

How does your lifestyle cater to your craft?

Jennifer and I have very hectic daytime jobs. We also have two active teenagers in the house who are always demanding our attention. On top of that, we both work in NYC so we have to commute to and from work every day. As a result, most of our work with JenSan is done in the evenings and on the weekends. This means that we have to be very careful with how we schedule our time. Most of our products are made to order but we try to keep a small inventory of the more popular items on hand to keep things running smoothly.

Since we commute together, sitting on the train in the morning and evening gives us time to discuss things related to JenSan. It is then, along with the weekend that we discuss possible new product ideas. Because we are from the Caribbean, we tend to love bold colors and lively scents. We have tried to bring this love to JenSan and if you visit our online store, you will see lots of color because that is all we saw around us in Barbados. You will also find products filled with lots of the bold floral and fruit scents of the tropics. We have carried these scents across our product lines—including candles, soaps, body scrubs and reed diffusers. And soon we will be launching our body cream line of similar fragrances.

Jennifer and I never thought that at this point in our life we would be in the bath and beauty/home fragrance business. Her degree is in business administration and mine is in marketing. However, you never know where life will take you and although it is a lot of hard work, we love it!

Enter the Giveaway

Visit JenSan Candles on Facebook and like them.
Come back and fill out this form. Winner will be chosen based on answers.

Giveaway is closed.

Chicago and Showers

2011-09-14T10:18:00.005-04:00

Renegade Chicago, Day 2 (with an emptier booth)

Don't be fooled by the title. It didn't rain in Chicago for the show this year (yay!). I'll tell you about the shower thing later in the post.

Let's talk Chicago Renegade!

As you may remember, we were in Austin last year, and flew to Chicago for the first time. We made lots of mistakes, learned lots of lessons, but overall had a fun trip. This year, we drove from Pittsburgh (500 miles each way) and applied lots of the lessons learned into this trip. It turned out to be so much more fun and a lot more successful business-wise. We also met lots of ex-Pittsburghers, which was a super-bonus. We love Pittsburgh and love meeting people who used to live here and are still in love with the city.

Chicago still loves the Briefcase, so I made sure to have lots in stock. Time well-spent!

Speaking of the Briefcase.

I got the best testimonial from a customer who purchased a Briefcase at Renegade Chicago last year. He's a student at Northwestern and heavily uses his Briefcase. Well. "Heavily uses" is an understatement. The Briefcase has been through war and back.

He came by the booth this year to let me know how he's been enjoying his bag.

His Briefcase in Chestnut Brown...
...survived the Chicago blizzards.
...lived through all the salt, snow and wind of the Chicago winter.
...wiped clean after a long hiking trip.
...endured a small scratch when he was hit by a bus while riding his bike (he and his laptop are intact).
...easily carried his Yorkie on some summer days.
...is a great bag for carrying his laptop and books.
...is still in great condition!
...is sold out, but this one is a great durable one for guys (and gals)!

"Well, we certainly won't recommend all those things to customers, but we'll gladly take the testimonial!" said Boy after Customer told us his story.

And we did. And now you know.

Moral: Be careful with your Briefcase around buses. You may scratch the leather. :)

With the show out of the way, I've been thinking about wedding stuff non-stop. So much so that I had a dream last night that it was the day of the wedding and I wasn't sure if I had showered or not. I spent the entire dream trying to entertain guests and timing when or if I should take a shower.

I wonder if the lack of showering last week has caught up in my dreams...?

I could use some pampering right about now. Like, a long bath next to some scented candles. Or just a normal shower. With soap. Or a nice salt scrub.

Speaking of long baths with candles, soaps and salt scrubs!

I have a surprise for you on Friday. It involves candles, soaps and salt scrubs. That's all I'll tell you now. Because it's a surprise.

See you Friday!

Love,
Jenny

p.s. It's a giveaway. There. I said it. Come back, OK?

Kit Kats for Breakfast

2011-09-09T08:00:00.011-04:00

I've been preparing for Renegade Chicago and getting a head start on new items for the holidays (that you can find in the shop now!). Then, then then. I will be able to shift my focus to wedding decor!! At least for a few days. :)

Oh gosh. What have I been up to for the past week?

I've been sewing all day every day, eating snack-size Kit Kats for breakfast, popcorn for lunch, and leftover Indian food from Boy's mom's visit has come in handy for dinner. I nibbled on a carrot here and there. And threw in some orange juice for vitamin C. I'm probably in need of a little diet before the wedding.

Juuuust a little.

In other news, I finally got to wear one of the outfits Boy's mom gifted me for my birthday last June to Ganpati with Boy's family last weekend (I love getting clothes for my birthday). The photo was taken with my phone, and I didn't have time to re-shoot it for a proper outfit post. Because that meant changing out of pajamas and showering, which would obviously disrupt my efficiency in making all these bags...

Good news! I've managed to ~~bribe~~ convince Boy's mom to prepare all our meals for our entire stay in Chicago (they live in Chicago). How did I negotiate such awesomeness? Holding her son hostage. Ah, leverage. Essential in times of need[ing home cooked Indian food].

See you soon, Chicago!

Pajamas and Heels

2011-09-02T05:00:00.000-04:00

Bag: Mini Ruche in Coffee Bean Leather

Top: American Eagle via TJ Maxx

Leggings: Lamixx*

Heels: Aldo

You guys.

I cleared out one of the windowsills in our apartment because I had this idea to do a fancy high-fashion photo shoot while posing with six-inch heels and a bag and let the light shine through my semi-see-through top. I was going to be a sexy goddess. It was a genius plan.

Except. Body Pump class killed me.

I have been limping for the past two days, and I can hardly lift my arms above chest-level. I already had a hard time getting dressed, so when the heels went on, immediately my gluts were like, "Oh nu uh girlfriend, I don't think so. Sit back down, sista!" (Because my butt cheeks talk and all.)

So I sat.

On Boy's big comfy reading chair.

I'm sure he will kill me when he sees that I dug my heels in his chair. But my quads were really sore and I couldn't keep my legs (which were six inches longer than normal thanks to the heels) up high enough. Sorry babe! I love you! ;)

The things I do for a good photo shoot.

Though if you're wondering, I did wear this outfit, but with flats. Like. Really. Comfy. Flats.

Besides the heels, the outfit feels like pajamas.

Love!

*If you haven't noticed already, I own practically everything from Lamixx. I even have a section in my closet dedicated to Jacqueline's clothing line.

SketchChair

2011-08-31T16:33:00.001-04:00

Sure, I like human-size furniture just fine, but it doesn't compare to my love of their 1/6th scale miniatures.

I've been staring at my SketchChair mini, flat and disassembled on top of its shipping envelope for the past week. Today I finally took a break to put it together.

It's so cute. I wish I were 1/6th of my actual size so I could sit in it.

In the meantime, it sits on the windowsill next to my desk.

Renegade Chicago

2011-08-29T08:50:00.007-04:00

I've been busy preparing for my last event of the year! (Then preparing for my wedding!)

Will you visit my booth at Renegade Chicago, Sept 10-11? Boy and I will be there, and we'd love to meet you!

How do I pee?

2011-08-26T09:04:00.004-04:00

Bag: Baby Ruche in Blue Turqoise

Top: Vintage, Dear Golden Vintage

Dress: Lamixx (it's a skirt I wear as a strapless maxi dress)

Boy's mom is in town. That means lots of wedding planning this weekend! And by wedding planning, I mean lots of nodding my head and agreeing while I stuff my face with home-cooked Indian food.

Last night, Aparna, Momzie (to differentiate from my Mom) and I sat down and talked wedding.

The following were my responses:

1. "Oh, I'm wearing yellow instead?", "Pretty!", "Loves!"
2. "India!", "Italiano!", "Vietnamese!", "Chinese!", "Buffet!!!"
3. "Oh yeah. Group rates for hotels."
4. "I want a helmet of jewelry, pleaseTHANK!"
5. "I want sleeves! Can we do sleeves?"
6. "Can I leave my fingertips blank?"
7. "Just the pointer and thumb."
8. "How else do I take out my contacts?"
9. "How do I pee?"
10. "Will it stain my sheets?"
11. "Yes! Cake tasting!"
12. "Dilly Dally Dally Krisha!"

The following are explanations:

1. My Mehndi/Sangeet outfit will be yellow/pink instead of blue. Equally as pretty!
2. Referring to all the catering we'll have for the 3-day event.
3. My only duty for the entire wedding planning.
4. Referring to the amount of jewelry I want to wear at the ceremony.
5-10. Referring to mehndi. This was obviously my biggest concern. While I will not be allowed to use bridal henna as a way to live out my desire for a sleeve of tattoos, we agreed it will go midway up my forearm. I have to keep the henna on all night, which means I probably will need someone to take out my contacts...and help me potty. Yes, it will stain my sheets.
11. We don't want a big wedding cake, rather an assortment of our favorite desserts. But cake tastings are still in order.
12. I can't sing in Hindi (or any other language besides English, forthatmatter), so I just make up my own lyrics to the tune of Bollywood songs when I need to convey my excitement in song. To make things more legit, I tag a Hindu god at the end of a line.

It's a crowd pleaser.

(Almost) Married Life

2011-08-24T10:41:00.005-04:00

When Boy and I moved to Pittsburgh nine months ago, we were faced with a steep increase in rent to live in our nice little urban-decay-turned-fancy-loft apartment in the city. We decided to offset the increase by opting out of cable and a TV.

We only watched TV sparingly in the apartment lobby, for important things like Steelers football. But even during those times, the lobby would be full of neighbors and a small potluck and we would socialize.

Our nights, which were once filled with the sound of TV and vegging on the couch were now filled with lots of conversation and cuddling. Boy would spend hours reading while I sketched new bag designs. We'd have romantic dinners in the kitchen at the dinner table. We'd frequent the gym and explore our new city. Weekends were spent outside, visiting the nearby markets, or shopping for new things for our new apartment. We were living a new life with just the two of us. It's been romantic and exciting!

So naturally, when my brother emails us saying he's sending us a TV for our wedding gift, we had a sit-down for a serious discussion on how it would impact our new life in the 'Burgh.

It went something like this:

Me: [reading e-mail] OMG! CHRIS! TV! WEDDING GIFT!
Boy: WTF! HELL YES!
Me: CABLE!
Boy: CALLING!!!

Thank you, Chris. You're the best brother ever!

Love,
Your little sister

p.s. Now that my date-night-outfit-modeled-with-a-bag-from-my-shop wall has been replaced with a TV and our couch now divides our living room from my studio, I'll have to find a new spot to take pictures. No worries. I'm a trained problem-solver.

p.p.s. I can see the TV just fine from my studio (photo above of my view). Productivity killer right before Renegade Chicago! Oh noes!

Banh Mi Thit

2011-08-22T10:28:00.006-04:00

I crave banh mi thit. It's my life source.

My mom used to pack me a banh mi for lunch in middle school through high school, and upon opening said sandwich in the cafeteria, my dear friend Sally would promptly ask for her daily bite of my sandwich and then continue with her lunch. I could have asked my mom to make an extra sandwich for her, but it was much funnier this way.

Since moving to Pittsburgh, I've been on the hunt for a good banh mi place.

While at Eric's going away party, Boy and I met a neighbor, Aim, who told us about this awesome banh mi place two blocks from our building!!! How have we not seen this? Because it's an unmarked tent with a grill and a Vietnamese lady selling sandwiches. We were told to arrive before 2p on the weekends and before noon on weekdays because she sells out. I asked her how much the banh mi was. $6?!?!

Side note: Banh mi is always cheap. Like, $1.50-$3.50 for a 12" in all my experiences. Or free if your mom can make awesome ones and pack them for lunch. In comparison, $6 is steep.

While walking around the Strip District, Boy and I were debating on lunch at our favorite Vietnamese place...or the $6 sandwich place. Oh, what to do.

Fine, we caved and headed to the unmarked tent and ordered. Chicken for Boy, pork for me.

She cut two 7-8" pieces off a long baguette and slathered on some homemade mayonnaise, then took what looked like 4 servings (each!) of meat off the grill and stuffed it into our sandwiches. She then proceeded fill it with picked red onions, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, jalapenos and cilantro. She set the entire sandwich onto the grill to get it nice and toasty. It looked amazing.

And now I know why it's $6. Which is completely affordable, by the way. We were just being ridiculous.

We heavily tipped her and I said "Thank you" in my American-ized Vietnamese and skipped our way back to the apartment for pictures.

I think I may skip on over there for lunch everyday for the rest of the year.

Thanks, Aim, for the new addiction!

Hot Lava

2011-08-19T10:25:00.003-04:00

Bag: Traveler in Vintage Rose Garden

Top: BDG from Urban Outfitters

Jeggings: Gap

Boots: Dingo, vintage from 20twentyvintage

Friends, I am reporting to you with a runny nose and a mad cough.

I'm not sick.

I inhaled some of my Bun Bo Hue. See Exhibit A.

Exhibit A: Straight from my desk.

It is so spicy. I couldn't finish half of the bowl from last night's date night because my lips were so red and burning that Boy suggested that I stop before I die.

I saved the rest of the torture for this morning.

I'm not sure when I started to enjoy really spicy foods. I remember as a kid, I asked my mom put ice in my Bun Bo Hue. She also had to wash off the buffalo sauce from my hot wings.

Now I add extra cayenne to my hot wings and like my soups straight from the volcano.

Molten.

In other news, what are you doing this weekend? It is storming in Pittsburgh as we speak, so that pretty much puts a damper (hah!) on any plans to have picnics in the park (we don't even do that).

Tonight we're going to see Britney Spears!!

Wait. That's not enough enthusiasm.

For more enthusiasm, see Exhibit B.

Exhibit B: Straight from G-chat.

The guys were not nearly as enthused.

We could not understand why.

Candied Walnuts

2011-08-18T10:23:00.004-04:00

I made an XL batch of candied walnuts for a going away party for one of our favorite neighbors, Eric.

I ended up eating handfuls of candied walnuts after I made them, so I think I ended up taking a M to L batch to the party.

I had to swat a few hands away from my nuts near the end of the party so I could take them home.

Just kidding.

Not really.

Yes, really.

My favorites are the small pieces of walnuts floating on a sugar island.

Candied Walnuts
Adapted from this recipe

Hmm... I just realized I didn't measure anything, so I will omit the amount of materials and just tell you how I made it, and probably did it incorrectly. Remember? Sugar + heat + I don't get along.

Walnuts
Sugar
Cinnamon
Salt
Milk
Vanilla Extract

I toasted walnuts in a pan. Meanwhile, in another pan, I heated sugar, cinnamon, salt, milk until the mixture got all boily and scary and then I added vanilla and poured the entire thing onto the walnuts. I don't think it got to a "soft ball" stage because I freaked out.

Don't do what I did. Wait until you get to the "soft ball" stage and do what the original recipe states.

You'll probably have tastier nuts.

Mine were good, though.

I won't lie.

p.s. My batik napkin is from MargotBianca. She makes great batiks. I use some for my Travelers.

Q: Are you still getting married?

2011-08-16T11:33:00.005-04:00

Mehndi + Sangeet

I've received a few emails from some of my readers worried/curious/excited about my upcoming marriage thing. I thought I would answer some of those questions here, just in case you're wondering, too.

Q: Are you still getting married? You haven't mentioned anything about it lately.

A: Yes I am! Thank you for reminding me. I haven't mentioned it because I sort of forgot I was planning a wedding. (I've been preparing for Renegade Chicago lately.)

Q: When is your wedding? Have you been busy planning?

A: October 21-23, 2011. It's a three-day party. Like Woodstock. Minus everything except the music*. I haven't been busy planning, actually (see above statement).

Q: What have you done so far?

A: I made and sent out invitations. Then I booked a photographer.

Boy actually had a dream last night. He said that we were at our reception with all of our family, but we forgot to ~~call caterers and the place wasn't decorated and we were all panicking.~~

Correction! Boy read my blog and told me that his dream was that we were at our reception with all of our family, but we forgot to get married and we were panicking. Apparently, I'm an awesome listener.

He suggested we spend this weekend sorting all the details of our wedding. See? I didn't have to push him at all. His subconscious did it for me without me whispering things in his ear while he slept.

My biggest contribution will be designing the mandap for the ceremony and decorating for the reception at Boy's family home. It will be an Indian + Vietnamese fusion. Lots of colors and lots of silk.

Wedding Ceremony

Q: Will you be wearing traditional Indian outfits?
A: Yes! I'm really excited about this because white makes me look fat, so I'm glad I lucked out with an Indian husband.

My future MIL, SIL and I worked together to design the outfits and they are being made now in Mumbai.

But really...I said a bunch of things that I wanted, MIL and SIL looked at me all cross-eyed, then future husband stepped in and said, "Yuck." "No." "You'll look like a turtle." "More midrift." and all of a sudden my ideas transformed into Boy's beautiful vision of how I should look for our wedding. The guy's got raw designer talent. None of my ideas were used. I'm not good at dressing myself.

Boy picked out all the colors and described the vision.
MIL designed all the details.
SIL and I played scrabble on her iPad.

Q: What are you wearing for your wedding?

A: I don't have the outfits yet, so I don't even know! But I made some visuals so we can visualize together!

1. Mehndi + Sangeet: Blues + Silver
2. Wedding Ceremony: Reds + Gold
3. Reception: Pinks + Silver

Reception

Q: Where are you going for your honeymoon?

A: What do you call a honeymoon where you stay home and prepare your shop for the holiday season?

Image sources: a, b, c, d, e, f. See more of my wedding inspiration on Pinterest.

*We both come from families centered around music and singing, so there will be lots of it all three days. We're excited. We love music.

My Skirt is a Shirt

2011-08-12T09:26:00.009-04:00

Bag: Packet in Arabian Spice

Tee: Banana Republic

Silk ~~Shirt~~ Skirt: Thrifted

Heels: Banana Republic

I have a pile... no... boxes of thrifted, garaged saled, and stolen* button-down shirts that I've claimed I'll go back and alter/modify/redesign into something else.

In all the years I've been ~~hoarding~~ collecting those shirts, I've only modified three. You can see them here and here and here.

Last night, before date night, I was rummaging around on Etsy and found this great skirt on Dear Golden Vintage I wanted to mimic with one of the bajillion button-down shirts I have. It totally looks like it was made from a wool shirt, right?

Sewing at the end of a work day? Nah.

I button the silk shirt up to my waist, tie the sleeves into a cute little bow, froof out the cuffs, then call it a night. No sewing necessary.

Win!

Pose with the Packet and look like a little school girl.

Double-win!

Go out for sushi and Korean and drink an entire bottle of Soju.

Triple-win!

*I only steal from my relatives. Namely my brother and my fiance who are about to donate shirts that are too big for them and I go in and swipe them. Because I'm ~~a hoarder~~ interested in recycling them.

BAGGU Addiction

2011-08-11T10:55:00.000-04:00

I think it is safe to say that I have a BAGGU addiction.

My total count to date is 23.

Pretty sure that's considered hoarding.

It all started in 2007 on a December day when I decided to switch from plastic bags to reusable bags. I got 6 that day and have been collecting them since.

Anyway.

I was reminded about how cool these bags are because my friend Nathan posted this on my FB wall:

"I was at the grocery store Monday and realized that I waste a LOT of plastic buying tons of produce... I've tried saving it to use as litter box liners but there are WAY too many bags and not enough cats at my house.

Then I remembered your blog from a few months ago and I just purchased some BAGGU's and produce bags from Love for Earth! I'll let you know how I like them :) Thanks for helping me save the planet."

And then a follow-up today saying he loves them and that 3 bags (filled half-way) replaced 7 grocery bags.

Yay!

I also converted Aparna to BAGGU, so I'm pretty sure I'm getting extra brownie points with the BAGGU gods.

No, I'm not affiliated with BAGGU, but I would gladly accept free BAGGU bags. Or a discount. Whatever. I'm down.

This brings me to this factoid:
MOCIUN + BAGGU = AWESOME

I'm ready to continue to embrace my BAGGU hoarding with these awesome new designs.

Kaju Barfi

2011-08-10T11:57:00.001-04:00

Boy wants to make an Indian wife out of me before we're even married.
He requested Kaju Barfi for dessert, as though I knew what it was.
I googled it and said, "Easy!"

Although the recipe looked easy, I struggled to gain my composure for a bit because sugar, water and I don't get along. I've burned of many caramels in my past.

But this is really easy!

Simply made with cashews, sugar, water and cardamom. And a little splash of rose water if you have some handy (I do).

This is normally adorned with edible foil, but I don't have edible foil. I'm not that fancy.

Kaju Barfi
Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients
2 c cashews, unsalted
3/4 c sugar (I used half of the original recipe I looked up)
water (enough to dissolve the sugar)
cardamom (a few pods, finely chopped with my razor-blade knife)
rose water (just a splash, optional)

First things first. Why did I use half the amount of sugar? The first time I made this, it was too sweet for us. The sugar does give the barfi a more crystalline structure so it has a nice little bite to it. Reducing the sugar gave it the slight chewy texture of traditional barfi (according to Boy).

Finely powder cashew in small batches with a coffee grinder. Small batches will avoid making a sticky/oily mess (think peanut butter, except you don't want that).

Mix sugar and water in a large pan (I used a wok; I'm Asian) on medium heat until it turns into a nice syrup (no need to caramelize based on my experience).

In another pan, ever-so-lightly toast freshly-powdered cashew. Add cardamom to toasting cashew. Add cashew/cardamom mix into syrup and stir.

Add a splash of rose water for fun and stir to incorporate. You'll end up with a dryish "dough".

Plop "dough" onto oiled surface. Let it cool a bit and work it! It will never come together like a dough dough (no gluten or anything to hold it together). Just work it until it cools enough to roll with a rolling pin (or a wine bottle if you don't have a rolling pin like me). 1/4" thick works fine for me.

Use a pizza cutter to cut into diamonds or squares. You can use cookie cutters and make them into whatever shape you'd like. Don't go moving around the dough and stuff after you cut. Leave it be and place in refrigerator to cool and set. In 30-60 minutes, you will have a nice fudge-like cashew treat!

I'll go all Bobby Flay on you.

2011-08-09T09:42:00.009-04:00

I've been goin' all Bobby Flay lately.

Really. I'll find any reason to grill something. Mostly meat. Then I'll get all territorial about what I cook, like, "Nuh uh, that's my [chicken] leg!" and swallow it whole.

Fortunately, Aparna is vegetarian. She brought over veggie burgers and I grilled them for her. Then I ate one, too.

Last Friday's menu: BBQ Chicken, veggie burgers, grilled peaches, pineapple and corn. I ate the veggie burger before I took a picture of my plate. I had to. I was in mid-fight for it.

It was delicious.

I'm still full.

Tried and True

2011-08-05T09:32:00.003-04:00

Bag: Mini Ruche in Dark Navy Leather

Dress: Sample from Lamixx

Cardigan: LOFT

Shoes: ModCloth

Earrings: PacSun

I'm thinking this is definitely something I can do each week. Like a, "What I Wore on Thursday Night to Date Night + Modeling a Bag from my Shop" blog entry.

I'll need a catchier title, though.

Based on last week's date night experience, we decided to go with our tried and true Vietnamese spot. I usually order the Bun Bo Hue. That I did. Though I asked for it to be a little less spicy. The owner shot a confused look at me. I know, right? I never adjust my orders. I always order this and eat it as it is. But but but. I was dressed up and didn't want snot and sweat dripping all over my outfit.

They delivered.
It was amazing.
As always.

I almost picked up the bowl to drink it up, but I decided it was not lady-like.

On a side note: I love these heels. They make me feel like a giant. Or a model. Though I'm only 5'7" in them, so I'm still short of model height. This is the closest I'll ever get. No, I take that back. I do have 6" heels. That gets me a little closer. Yes, indeed.

I've been absent...

2011-08-04T12:03:00.009-04:00

Please excuse my absence, friends. I've been cleaning and organizing the studio and my home. Once in a blue moon, I enter what is called The Cleaning Zone. It's unstoppable, so I let it run its course. Boy likes this.

You see, ever since Anna of Doorsixteen mentioned this beautiful home for sale in her neighborhood, I got into this, "I want a house!" frenzy.

I browsed homes for sale in Pittsburgh.
I fell in love with this one*.
I proposed it to Boy.
He liked it, but told me we're not buying now.
I asked for a new dining table instead.
He agreed to one before the wedding.
I said yay.

While this may sound like a really good tactic for getting things, I found that I don't want to buy a home (at least not yet). I just want to feel like I'm at home.

And a homey home for me is a clean home.

Thus, I went through all my belongings and split them into three piles:
1. Keep
2. Toss
3. Donate

It took 6 hours to clear out our general closet (12.25sqft).

1.55% of our loft.
Yikes.

At this point, you're probably thinking, "Okay, so what's that picture have to do with this post?"

I'm glad you asked.

I am cooped up at home all day working that going to the kitchen to prepare food really bums me out. Mainly because the kitchen has a clear view to the studio, which reminds me of all the work I need to do (downside of having your studio in the living room). So I am taking my food prep outside to the grills in the pool area of our apartment. Yeah. Way better with a view to the Allegheny. Behind me, the view to the apartment and pool.

Bonus: Saving $$$ on our next electricity bill!

*They kept the original chalkboard from when it was South Side Schoolhouse. So cute, right?

Date Night

2011-07-29T11:34:00.007-04:00

Bag: Foldover Clutch in Blue Turquoise

Dress: Banana Republic

Earrings: I forgot. :(

Date night last night! We were adventurous and tried a new sushi place. We usually dine at Plum, but felt like we needed to give other places a try, especially if they're so highly rated on Yelp.

I'm lying. You know me --I love routine. When I find a good restaurant, I stick to it. When I find a good dish at said restaurant, I stick to it.

BECAUSE!! It minimizes disappointment. Disappointment != Fun.*

The adventurous side comes from my other half. :)

If you're wondering what adventure gets you, the answer is disappointment.**

~~I hate winning every debate (no, I don't), but~~ we will continue to visit our go-to sushi place from now on.

Good news!!

I finally wore the dress Boy bought for me for my birthday in June. Boy is good at this -- picking out really great pieces that I would never choose myself and they end up being my favorites. This is my new favorite dress; it's bright, flouncy, soft and from Banana Republic (which is kind of my favorite store).

I paired it with turquoise earrings, which made me realize I should probably take this opportunity of having my hair did, make-up done, and being all dolled up to model a picture with one of my favorite bags in the shop, Foldover Clutch in Blue Turquoise.

I think it makes the outfit.

Sadly, I didn't keep it. I placed it back onto the Ready to Ship shelf after Boy snapped some photos. I wore one of my reject/mess-up Clutches instead. :(

Happy weekend! :)

Love,
Jenny

* != translates to "does not equal" for non-nerds.
** Overpriced sushi. Muddy crawfish tasting tempura softshell crab. Under-miso'd misoshiru. A bajillion bones in my unagi kabayaki. In their defense, I'm pretty sure eel always has a billion bones and you're supposed to eat them, but I didn't enjoy it. I spent the entire night practicing my awesome chopstick skills in removing pin bones.

Fall 2011

2011-07-28T15:29:00.002-04:00

If you've been keeping up with me on Facebook, these bags will look familiar.

These beauties are available (and ready to ship) in the shop.

The Packet in leather, coming soony soon soon!

Painting: Austin Memorabilia

2011-07-27T11:13:00.005-04:00

The Boy wanted some colorful art above our newly-installed floating bar (BESTA BURS wall shelf) that we got for half-price because it was in the as-is section at IKEA. It's previous life was a display piece in a living room showroom. This is typically used to store media above an entertainment set, but since we don't own a TV, our second thought was a bar. Naturally?

I haven't painted anything in years. Many years. Like, high school years I am pretty sure. Wow, really? Nine years? Time flies.

I had some canvases that I purchased to paint some simple pieces for our headboard alternative, but that never panned out (see above statement).

Boy and I decided that we should have some art to reflect our previous life in Austin, TX. Cute, huh? Sadly, it's not a gushy goopy story. Many of our weekends were spent with amazing friends on 4th-6th streets. If you've lived in/visited Austin, you'll know what I mean.

I should mentioned that I lied earlier. I was not a part of this idea for the art. It was just him. But, since we're getting married, I figured it would be nice to consider all his ideas my own as well. :)

I actually wanted to make life easy and mount a $10 mirror from Walmart and call it a day. That was quickly vetoed.

He suggested painting the memorable drinks of Austin. I didn't like the idea of having the actual representations of drinks (too difficult for my skill-level), so I suggested making abstractions of those drinks. We came to an agreement.

I started with mini drafts with ink and marker and texted the drafts to Boy until I got the final approval. I cut the drafts out, taped them together and tested the colors and placement.

I then penciled on the canvas, mixed colors and painted each color at a time, from lightest color to darkest, to save myself trips to wash my brushes. Efficiency is key here.

The end result: See first image.

So now, a quiz for you. Can you figure out the three drinks?

If you've lived in Austin, it may be a little more obvious. If you know us personally, you will probably be able to figure it out pretty easily based on our favorite places to visit in Austin.

Yes, I took a (time-away-from-the-sewing-machine-to-stay-sane) day-off yesterday to do this project. I'm rejuvenated now and continue getting back to the daily grind.

Love,
Jenny

p.s. We got those two bright bar chairs at the Pittsburgh Flea (a block from our apt!) for $25. For both! I know, right?
p.p.s. What's on the shelf? Vintage ice bucket, Graffiti Cocktail Shaker, glasses, empty bottles for mixers, gin, Maker's and Glenlivet.

My New Knives

2011-07-25T11:25:00.005-04:00

My mom called me and asked where I got my knives. We don't talk regularly on the phone. I don't like talking on the phone --I can't sew at the same time, or multitask. Instead, we text and gchat, which took some heavy influencing and teaching on my part, but she's a quick learner. She just calls when she's reacting to something I wrote on my blog, like,

"You're getting a tattoo?!"

Just kidding. She didn't call about the [fake] tattoo.

She called about my knives! My mom loves kitchen gadgets just as much as I do. But she loves the old fashion things, like antique crank coffee grinders and pepper grinders and things that involve a lot of manual labor. I like food processors and electric things that involve little manual labor. So I was a little surprised she inquired about my new sleek knives.

Maybe my dad was more curious about them and asked my mom. He loves knives. His appreciation strongly influenced me to love knives, too. Kitchen knives and pocket knives, mostly. We both share a great appreciation for those sharp guys.

I still feel guilty that the pocket knife that he gave me for my 18th birthday got confiscated at airport security on my way to Boston (for a summer internship at MIT). I forgot to take it out of my purse before I left (oops). Security asked me why I would have a knife in my purse. I told them I use it as a box cutter because I order a lot of packages online (would it have been weird to tell them that I use it to peel oranges and sharpen my eyeliner pencil?). They then searched all my bags and scanned me for metal stuff.

After that summer, on the way back from Boston back to Austin, I got my pepper spray confiscated and got written up for carrying a fire arm without a license. I joked with the policeman that pepper spray is one of those essentials, like lipstick for a girl to carry in her purse. He wasn't amused and then threatened that I may get arrested when I get back in Texas. I cried. But then realized he was full of bull.

Anyway, my dad was a little heart broken that he couldn't find that same knife again, but he bought me an even cooler knife later. I still have it --I do use it as a box cutter since I do order online all the time. I don't use eyeliner pencils anymore, so no sharpening needed.

Am I now just getting back to talking about these kitchen knives?

I get off track easily.

I got these Kai Pure Komachi 2 knives on sale at Rue La La, but they are on sale at Amazon now!

Pros:
1. They are super sharp, like razor-blade sharp. Filleting and thin slicing are super easy with these!
2. They are colorful, which adds a great pop of color in the kitchen.
3. They are conversation starters, which is great when you have guests over and haven't finished cooking yet.

Cons:
1. They are really light weight. It's not really a con. It's just weird to experience. The intention of the design was to have a really light weight knife so your hands don't fatigue if you're doing a lot of cutting. Very true. I can cut vegetables for hours with these guys. It just feels a little strange when you're used to heavy knives. So rather than this being a con, it's more like a "something to get used to".
2. Cutting quickly is a little difficult. No dimples on the blade and the blades are so thin and straight that vegetables don't get pushed off like when using knives with the thicker spine. Vegetables get stuck easily. Kinda sucks, but maybe I have to work with them more to get into a groove.

I really do love the, though!

The knife rack is from IKEA.

So if you're like my mom and read last week's post and wondered where I got my rainbow knives, you've got all the info to get yourself a set!

Love,
Jenny

Dear Rainbows

2011-07-22T09:12:00.006-04:00

I'm re-obsessed with rainbows. Or maybe the love never left. I'd like to think that this love started from my childhood love of My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, and Care Bears, all featuring plenty of rainbows. OR. We humans are just intrinsically drawn to the pretty colors.

My order of the Tattly temporary tattoos came in early this week and I could not contain my excitement. I'll admit. These things gave me a sense of badassness for an entire week, even if they are rainbowy.

The little one on my forearm I took off after a day and replaced it with the one on my shoulder. Oh, I love this one. After a shower, the glossiness goes away and it looks a little worn and super cool. The last one I have will go on my shoulder blade, because there's where I've always wanted a tattoo if I were to ever have the courage and commitment to get one. Which I don't.

Mom, relax. I won't get a real tattoo (yet). But I think I found something that will appease me for many years, if not my entire life time.

In other news, I found my latest daily addiction: Dear blank, please blank. It goes along really nicely with my other daily read, Dear Photograph.

The draw may be the nostalgia of formal letters... or I just like crowdsourced content.

Happy Weekend!

Love,
Jenny

p.s. Did you see? There are new Packets in the shop! :)

Introducing: The Packet

2011-07-18T13:14:00.007-04:00

The Packet is the newest addition to the bag family. Little brother to The Briefcase, this little guy carries all your reading material.

Wear him crossbody, on one shoulder or carry him by the handles.

E-reader in the front, magazines/notebooks/files plus essentials in the main compartment.

He closes with two metal snaps on the top.

He's a cutie.

Man-friendly, too.

p.s. More colors and leather options coming soon. Can't wait? Convo me on Etsy for a custom listing.

Sneak Peek

2011-07-15T10:41:00.001-04:00

I've heard all of your requests for a smaller one. Here's a sneak peek of the new little guy.

What's his name?

Check back on Monday; he'll be available in the shop!

Happy Weekend!

Love,
Jenny

p.s. In the meantime, please enjoy a discount on ready to ship bags!

San Francisco: In Words

2011-07-13T11:57:00.005-04:00

Since SF was a new place to visit for us, we flew in three days early so we could make a mini-vacation out of it. We stayed for a total of 5 nights and 6 days.

Here's the breakdown of the pros, cons and lessons learned from Chicago that I applied to our trip to San Francisco.

Lessons Learned

1. Overweight luggage sucks. Last year traveling to Chicago from Austin, I faced overage fees because I vacuum-packed my merchandise, making it impossible to redistribute the weight. This year, we weighed each suitcase before zipping it closed.

Extras: Continental/United allowed us TWO check-in bags each for free! I had three suit cases of merchandise (2 large, 1 good for overhead) and one overhead bag for our clothing/toiletries. Heck yes I checked in all my merchandise. All I had to carry was my Mini Ruche with a book which I never read on the plane because I was too busy sleeping.

Extra Extra: Because this was an indoor event, we decided not to take the canopy (which feels like a 50lb rigid body bag on wheels), so that gave me that extra 50lbs for merchandise. Which I gladly used. Which paid off at the show.

2. Parking in [San Francisco] is expensive. Last year in Chicago, I paid nearly $200 in JUST PARKING because our hotel (in the financial district) didn't have free parking (I am from Texas...we have lots of land) and we rented a car, which added even more to our travel expenses. Talk about cutting into profits...

This year, we skipped the car rental and chose a hotel walking distance to the venue. We took a taxi to and from the airport. Totally worth it. Carrying 200 lbs of luggage onto crowded buses for an hour to get to the hotel did not appeal to either of us.

Total ground transportation in San Francisco:
$100 in cab rides (including tip) + $12 in Muni rides for both of us = Better investment than renting a car and paying for parking everywhere you go.

Cons

1. San Francisco is colder than Pittsburgh. Oops. We did not learn our lesson from Chicago (from "Chicago is colder than Texas"). We've been living in Pittsburgh since November, where we experienced snow until March. It's been hot lately here and we just assumed California's got nicer weather. Nope. Not SF. In our defense, we did check the weather for that week and some residents in our apartment used to live in SF and recommended that we take a light jacket. I figured that they were cold-weather wussies and that we could survive off of really thin cardigans. Plus, I already vacuum-packed ALL our jackets and stored them away. Jackets = more weight. More weight = less merchandise. I was gonna risk it.

We arrived and a lot of people were wearing winter jackets. Like, wool jackets. So yeah, we were pretty cold but we still looked summer-stylish!

2. San Francisco is ~~really~~ ~~hilly~~ ridiculously mountainy. Too bad our map did not have street incline. "Yeah, let's just walk down Lombard to Fisherman's Wharf!" After two climbs up Mt. Everest, you make it there all tired and winded and realize you're not setting your elliptical to a high enough resistance and incline at the gym to prepare for moments like this.

3. Vacation time before show time makes you really stingy. Because I pre-paid a good fee to travel and lodge in San Francisco, spending three days on vacation before making any sales at the show was pretty tough. Pair stinginess with being a lazy traveler and you get 4 hours of watching Hoarders in the hotel, followed by a strong desire to clean your apartment when you get home, followed by a full night's sleep.

This is why we don't have cable TV in our apartment.

Pros

1. Sales were good! Even better since we were so frugal with the vacation section of our trip.

I didn't realize that Baby Ruche/Mini Ruche bags and Travelers would do so well compared to Chicago. In Chicago, Briefcases won. Hands down. In SF, Travelers pretty much sold out. Compare to two Traveler sales in Chicago.

I do try to look through my historical sales to see what bag types appeal to which cities, but you can never be 100% prepared for the turnout. Insight comes with experience, so next time will be better.

2. San Francisco loves Pittsburgh. I mentioned last year that Chicago loves Austin, so maybe every city loves every other city?

We actually met a LOT of ex-Pittsburghers, which was really nice! We love Pittsburgh, and it's so great to meet others who share the love. I can see why people end up living here for ever once they move here.

3. San Francisco is a great place to make connections. I've never met so many people wanting to help my business/be a part of my business/have my products in their shop. Software developers, shop owners, marketing people, PR people, other small business owners who have been in your shoes. Lots of people want to find a way to help.

We got lots of advice, stories and tips for my shop. Of course, most of this I already know, but I don't have the time or manpower (by myself) to implement it all. That may be the bottleneck of my business: I am the only one running it. But I'm a bit of a micro manager and perfectionist, and I'm not ready to deal with employees who hate me yet.

4. I Love Chinatown. $0.79/lb ginger?? Lychee! Peking duck! Oh my god. I must move to Chinatown. The first day in SF, we did some touristy stuff and ate at touristy places which turned out to be a big tourists' disappointment. Once we discovered Chinatown, we were set. We ate Vietnamese food every day thereafter. No lie.

Overall, we had such a fun experience!
See pictures in yesterday's post, San Francisco: In Pictures.
You can see more pictures from our trip on my Flickr.

Now to prepare for Chicago in September.
Then for my wedding in October!
Oh dear.

San Francisco: In Pictures

2011-07-12T12:04:00.001-04:00

We're back from San Francisco! I'm peeling from my sunburn (from the first day of touring), spending some time with Hubert after a long absence, and getting some items packed and shipped so that I can gather my thoughts together for a wordy recap of our vacation/show in SF. Stay tuned! :)

In the meantime, see last year's Chicago: In Pictures and Chicago: In Words.

San Francisco, Here I Come!

2011-07-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

Orders shipped (ones due by July 12th if you're waiting on your bag). Check!
Inventory for Renegade SF (which ended up taking up some of The Boy's luggage space...). Check!
Packed and ready for a vacation. Check!

I'll be back on July 11th and will complete and ship all pending orders and then pass out.

You can follow my trip on my Flickr.

Hope to see you in San Francisco, my friends!

Love,
Jenny

p.s. Thank you for all the great suggestions! We'll try to hit up all the obvious SF places and then check out those restaurants ya'll shared. :)

Salmon, Squash and String beans

2011-07-05T11:33:00.002-04:00

Carb-rich weekends call for light low-carb lunches. Since I'm completely obsessed with my new little julienne tool....

I made squash noodles and cut string beans on a bias. Blanched them in salted boiling water with a few drops of sesame oil. Served it with my favorite preparation of salmon (get wild-caught, you'll taste the difference) --marinaded in soy sauce, orange juice, honey, chopped garlic, chopped ginger and pepper. Sear and serve.

Simple and light.

You'll love it.

Blue Skies, Rainbows and Bricks?

2011-07-01T12:44:00.000-04:00

Pictures outside and around the studio.

Happy Weekend!

Resident NY Feature, July 2011

2011-06-30T13:33:00.003-04:00

I'll be receiving a copy of the magazine soon. Excited!!

Thanks, Jenny Lee for the wonderful interview and feature. :)

Emails are funny when you're reading and writing, "Hi Jenny.... Sincerely, Jenny" over and over.

See an online copy of the magazine here. I'm on page 24.

Goi Cuon (Vietnamese Summer Rolls)

2011-06-29T10:40:00.003-04:00

These are often served as an appetizer at Vietnamese restaurants, but we Vietnameses eat these as a main course because it involves a lot of ingredients and unless you're serving a party of 20, you will eat these as a main course as well. You can easily serve these as an appetizer for a party of 20. Or use a smaller rice paper and serve to a party of 40. Really. The possibilities are endless.

I probably had a run-on sentence in there somewhere.

I've made these and posted the recipe before. But the pictures were from my cell phone.

I make these every time I am in a lazy cooking mood. Which is often (i.e. all the time). The hardest part of this entire preparation is frying eggs. Or maybe it's boiling meat. Or wrapping the entire thing without breaking the rice paper. Depends on your skill-set.

Oh wait. I have one disclaimer. See that obviously-not-boiled pork meat?

I actually had to marinade and braise something because my fiance doesn't like pork unless it doesn't taste like pork. He may have hinted that he wanted me to replace pork with chicken or fish. I may have said that he was overstepping his backseat cooking boundary and that I bought a lot of pork and pork is what's for dinner. He may have stepped down. I may have won that one.

I made a special marinade for him using hoison sauce/soy sauce/garlic/pepper and then braised it until cooked and tender. You can find a better marinade pre-made at the grocery store (see below).

Julienne carrots and cucumbers are easy with this tool.

If you're feeling a little more ambitious, you can try this with Chinese BBQ seasoning.

Ingredients
Pork, I used shoulder roast, cut into large chunks
Shrimp
Eggs
Rice noodles, cooked
Cucumber
Carrots
Cilantro or any greens you like (Thai Basil is popular)
Banh Trang, rice paper

Dipping Sauce
Hoison sauce, the thick kind
Peanut Butter
Spoonfuls of the pork/shrimp stock to dilute (and add flavor!)
Add sweet chili sauce or Sriracha for an extra kick
You can top with chopped peanuts, but I'm not that fancy

Bring water to a boil with salt, peppercorns and rock sugar. Add pork and cook until done. Remove pork and add shrimp into the same water. Remove shrimp when orangey pink and peel, devein (unless you have EZ peel shrimp like me) and halve. Save this stock. You can use it for Bun Bo Hue or Hu Tieu or anything that involves pork/shrimp stock.

To make the egg, you can make really thin crepe-like omelets. I just break 4 eggs in a frying pan, poke at the yolks a bit with chopsticks, cook, flip, cook, then slice. Lazy cooking methods still make for tasty dinners. Heck, you can just scramble eggs and it will distribute nicely in the Summer Roll.

Julienne carrots, cucumbers and any other greens you'd like to add. Growing up, my mom always had a backyard full of fresh herbs growing that she would use for our Summer Rolls, but I don't have a garden and cilantro is all I've got, so I make do. I would recommend Thai Basil, if you really want to make it yummy.

Boil rice noodles, drain and rinse in cold water (Yes, RINSE. This isn't flour pasta. Rice stickiness is not fun when you're wrapping these guys).

Pour water (warm is ideal) into a deep plate for dipping the rice paper.

Dip rice paper on both sides in water and set on an empty plate. Fill the paper with all the yummy stuff, fold in the sides and roll that sucker without making any holes.

Dip in the peanut sauce and enjoy.

If you're like our friend, Justin, you can just pour all the ingredients in a bowl, drizzle the dipping sauce on top and eat it like a salad.

Or layer soften rice paper and filling and dipping sauce, cut a slice out (like lasagna) and enjoy.

Possibilities. Endless.

Poppytalk Summer Colours

2011-06-27T10:19:00.002-04:00

One of my photos made it to the kickoff entry. Pretty happy start to the week. :)

I will be a little absent this week since we're 1.5 weeks before heading to San Francisco and I am in the midst of mad preparation. Plus, since you SF residents keep buying things before I can even take them there, it's making it a little difficult for me to have enough items for the fair. Just kidding. Keep shopping. It makes me happy. :)

The Boy and I are heading there on Wednesday so we can actually take a mini vacation before Renegade.

We would love suggestions as to where to visit, what to eat, what to do, how to get around without a car....

A Super Duper Clutch Sale

2011-06-24T12:38:00.011-04:00

*Update (7:00p): All sold out! Thank you for a wonderful sale. Your Clutches are shipping this weekend!

I must apologize.

I never warned you that I was going to launch a new Clutch design. Then remove all the old Clutches. And replace them with the new design.

We never got to say farewell to the old design.

I've received lots of emails from you about my old design. I know you miss it. I miss it, too. But we must move on and embrace change. Change is good, I promise.

Please accept this ridiculous once-in-a-lifetime sale (up to 75% off!) of the old design as my apology for not letting you say goodbye.

I hope you still love me. :)

Happy Weekend!

On Our Walk

2011-06-24T09:00:00.013-04:00

Taken on Hubert and my morning walk.

Happy weekend!

Photo Diary: Nooks

2011-06-23T12:08:00.003-04:00

We live in a 790 sqft 1-1 loft, which is quite small if you're used to living in a 1300+ sqft 3-2 apartment in Austin (for less than what we're paying now!).

We've learned to really appreciate the little nooks we can claim our own. Okay, you got me. I claimed ~~most~~ all of the space in this loft. In my defense, I run a business from it. The Boy does have his drumming corner. All to himself. He also has a reading chair next to his drums which receives lots of light from the window behind it. Besides that....

Oh, I did add a little vintage letter 'N' to spruce it up -- originally for my last name, but it also works for his, too! Convenient, huh?

Also, I added a lamp next to his chair for night reading. That's it. The rest is his.

You can see how I made those air plant terrariums.
And view the rest of my studio (with that comfy chair).

Renegade San Francisco

2011-06-21T13:48:00.003-04:00

Renegade San Francisco is just two-ish weeks away and I'm working hard to prepare inventory.

I want to bring as much inventory as possible, but I need some help from you. I can't make and take everything with me, so I need to make sure I'm spending my energy making the right things that you want to see!

If you do plan on attending (or not and just want to say hi and fill out this form), please fill out this form. No commitment to buy necessary, but a strong interest is highly preferred.

If you would like for me to hold an item for you, please include your name and email and which day you plan to attend in the last entry. No payment is necessary; I just want to make sure I have the bag available for you to see and feel (and smell) in person. You can decide what you would like to do from there! :)

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Wedding Invitations

2011-06-21T08:00:00.002-04:00

Remember when I tried to carve out a stamp for my wedding invitations and it ended up looking like some surfer print?

Plan B: KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid)

I drew the mehndi in marker and scanned it. I designed the invitations in Photoshop and sent them out to be printed. I recruited Aparna to help me score and fold. Done with little effort and way under budget. Win!

Photo Diary: Tennis

2011-06-20T09:57:00.006-04:00

I'll make any excuse to use my telephoto lens, so I followed The Boy and his brother to the tennis courts and tried to capture some action shots. The Boy is the one who is photographed most, obviously. :)

See all the tennis photos on my Flickr.

My Favorite Boys

2011-06-17T10:16:00.001-04:00

Happy Weekend! :)

Roasted-Strawberry Shortcake

2011-06-16T11:33:00.002-04:00

I wasn't sure what to name this cake. I'm afraid the name suggests that I roasted the cake when I actually roasted the strawberries. So I hyphenated it. But I'm no grammar expert. Remember, I'm still educated as an engineer, and we are not good with English things.

My second concern is that this is not technically a shortcake.

I should have named this cake, "Roasted Strawberries On a Layer of Mascarpone Topping On a Duncan Hines Yellow Cake with Cool Whip Piped Along The Circumference".

Hubert had a great time sniffing around when the cake was baking. He was even more interested when it was all done and I was photographing it. See above. High interest level. Or is it high-interest level. Or high interest-level.

As the new title suggests, I made this cake by following the directions on the back of a Duncan Hines Yellow Cake box. I replaced water with Very Vanilla Silk because water does not taste yummy and sweet.

I made this in a spring-form pan to make serving easy. I cut off the top layer because it poofed on the outside. Or the middle sank after baking. Not 100% sure.

Then! I spread a generous layer of custardy mascarpone topping (recipe from the Tiramisu recipe I used to make The Boy's birthday cupcakes). It'll soak a bit into the yellow cake. Mmmm.

I sliced strawberries, coated them with brown sugar (because they were NOT sweet) and roasted them in a pan until my apartment smelled of cooked strawberries (20 mins?).

Then then then, I snipped the end of a zip top bag, placed a star tip inside and filled up the bag with Cool Whip and started doing some decorating action.

I realize that the sides of the cake are not covered. Too many calories. Remember? Wedding dress? Right. But I'm baking a cake and wanting to eat it, too. Small compromises, my friend. Okay, fine. It's not the calories. I was lazy.

If I didn't use soy milk in place of water for baking the cake, I may have covered the sides. But I have to live with the consequences of my decision-making. :)

Vietnamese Tacos

2011-06-15T11:09:00.006-04:00

After The Boy finally submitted to taking me to The Cheesecake Factory for my birthday, I convinced him that the Vietnamese Tacos appetizer would be good.

Side Note #1: The Boy was hoping I would want to go to a dressier restaurant for my birthday, but my first suggestion was our weekly spot for Vietnamese. He gave up after that. That's how we finally agreed on The Cheesecake Factory.

Side Note #2: I typically don't order Vietnamese food in non-Vietnamese restaurants, but I was in the mood for Vietnamese.

Side Note #3: I always get the same thing at The Factory - Spicy Ahi Tempura Roll. So good. God, so good.

The Vietnamese Tacos came to our table and they looked so yummy! I wanted to take a picture...but I left my phone at home. "Hey babe, can I see your phone?" "Jenny. No. Eat." Sad face.

I will describe them to you. Wait, I found a picture online. You can see what they look like here.

Then, we took a bite. It was so good. We left one of the tacos for after our entrees so I could remember the taste to make something similar at home.

I made a simplified version because I just wanted the essence of the food without too much work. Seriously, it's just a weekday dinner. :)

I made mine with pork. I made a second batch with skinless boneless chicken breast because The Boy doesn't like pork.

I would recommend using a slow-cooker for the meat preparation, but since I don't have a slow-cooker, I used pans with lids.

I cut the meat into large chunks, seasoned with salt and pepper and seared in a pan. Add water, soy sauce and a teaspoon of sesame oil. I quartered an onion and added half in the pork and half in the chicken. Lid the pan, turn the heat to low, let it cook for about 2 hours or until fork tender. When it's done, use two forks to pull apart the meat. Yuuu-huuummm.

The topping is really easy...

Cucumber, thinly sliced
Coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)
Cilantro, rough chop

5:2:1 ratio (I totally made this up; I didn't measure, but this sounds pretty good)
Soy Sauce
Rice Wine Vinegar (sushi vinegar)
Sesame Oil
+ a splash of Lime Juice

Toss the veggies in the dressing. They are now very happy.

Last night, I did add sesame seeds on top, but today for lunch (fine, breakfast), I forgot before photographing and promptly eating. But you can add sesame seeds to make it look fancy schmancy.

Throw all this on a flour tortilla, in a rice paper wrap, between two slices of bread, in an English muffin, on a bagel, on a bed of rice, on a bed of noodles...

For a vegetarian alternative, I would use fried tofu in place of the meat. Skip the slow-cooking all together.

Enjoy!

This is 25.

2011-06-11T08:00:00.009-04:00

I'm 25 today.

I was going to draw this time line of "How My Life Could Have Been vs. How My Life Is" for this post. I did not expect to be where I am now at my quarter-century mark. In a positive way, of course. Though "How My Life Could Have Been" would have been pretty cool, it would have been a completely different story.

Well, I did not end up making that time line. Instead, I took pictures of myself. :)

I don't have a lot of photos of myself because I prefer to stay behind the camera. But once in a blue moon, I don't mind taking a shower and putting on some make-up for a little photo shoot.

And that I did.

Here are some equally attractive photos. I'm sure my parents will be pleased to see the poised and mature woman I have turned out to be. :)

I lied.

Here's one that my mom would appreciate since she likes when I look shy and dainty.

p.s. Does my facial expression remind you of this one of Hubert?
p.p.s. The Captain Pug shirt I'm wearing is from Grand Wazoo.
p.p.p.s. I really love my leather hi tops.

Happy Birthday to me!

Foldover Clutch

2011-06-07T18:40:00.003-04:00

The Clutch got a little makeover -- she's a Foldover Clutch, now!

This bag is a bit roomier inside. When folded over, it can perfectly house the new iPad. It'll also fit your essentials.

Still comes with a detachable adjustable strap to wear short, long, crossbody or remove the straps for a cute clutch.

And an upgrade that I know many of you have been asking and waiting for -- a zippered interior pocket!

Available in most leather colors listed in the shop. Just ask!

What do you think?

If you're wondering, the zippered interior pocket upgrade is available for the Mini Ruche, Baby Ruche and Briefcase (+$10 to replace the open pockets, +$15 to add as an additional pocket opposite the open pockets). Just mention it in the Message to Seller upon purchase and I'll send a separate invoice for the upgrade!

Crawfish and Scallop Pink Pasta

2011-06-07T12:34:00.002-04:00

Aparna and I were on our way to visit the temple where the wedding ceremony will be held so we could plan decorating logistics. On the way, I suddenly felt a small tug at my soul, forcing me to look on the right side of the road. There. A Popeyes restaurant in the distance. In Pittsburgh (Monroeville, to be more specific).

I was born in New Orleans, LA. The first morsel of solid food fed to me was Popeyes fried chicken (which explains my adept Popeyes radar. Thanks Mom). I lived there for the first eight years of my life. There, I developed a love for Cajun food, King cake, beignet, crawfish boils and strawberry shortcake.

Strawberry shortcake?

My brother and I were on the swim team and after swim meets, my parents would drive to the McKenzie's near our house and treat us to a slice of strawberry shortcake. This was the only opportunity where I was allowed to lick the plate clean. I still do this, but don't tell my parents. They will feel shameful that their little princess acts like a Hubert. Actually, Hubert doesn't even lick his bowl clean. I'm digressing.

Since my Popeyes discovery, I've been craving everything related to my New Orleans experience.

I bought a box of strawberries, a pound of frozen crawfish tails and thought about buying a canister of Cafe Du Monde coffee, but I still have lots of coffee beans left, and I'm not sure I can go back to pre-ground coffee (so snobby, I know).

The box of strawberries will soon be converted into my birthday strawberry shortcake.

The pound of crawfish I used last night in a pink pasta.

I started this dish with the intention of making an etouffee, but after I cooked down the onion, oil and flour, I added a large can of diced stewed tomatoes and it started to look more like a pasta. Plus I forgot to start the rice cooker and so it was a matter of waiting 35 minutes for rice or 10 minutes for pasta. Exactly.

I sprinkled on some grated cheese (cheese and seafood? Yes.), and a splash of cream and it turned into a rich pink sauce. I generously spiced the mix with red pepper flakes, Cajun seasoning (cayenne, black pepper, onion, garlic, chili powder, thyme, basil), Italian seasoning (more basil, more thyme, rosemary, marjoram, oregano) and salt. Added the sea food and simmered until it was rich and thick.

Ladled it on some penne pasta and The Boy dubbed it as one of his favorite dishes. I win! You can win, too!

It's no crawfish boil, but it hits the spot.

TeamT Giveaway

2011-06-06T12:42:00.001-04:00

My team, TeamT International, is hosting a giveaway where you can win the entire contents of a treasury!

All you have to do is comment (once!) on this treasury and a winner will be chosen at random on Monday, June 13th.

Cool, huh?

What are you waiting for? Go go go!

Shrimp and Scallop Pizza

2011-06-03T13:32:00.001-04:00

You already know that we have this thing for shrimp and scallop. I'm not sure what it is. I grew up as a surf and turf girl. Steak + Shrimp. Steak + Scallops. Steak + Lobster. I was strongly influenced by my dad on those dishes.

I lost the love of steak some months ago so I gave it up. Although I haven't had a large serving of beef in some time, I do indulge in beef every now and then. Like for this pizza, for instance.

Get yourself a roll-out-top-and-bake thin pizza crusts. Prebake it with a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Dice kosher salami and pan fry until crispy then drain on paper towel. Season scallop (sliced in half) and shrimp (also sliced in half) with cajun seasoning and pan sear in the same pan (this is when things start to get really tasty). Set the shrimp and scallop aside and don't you dare wash that pan yet!

It should have little bits of salami, shrimp and scallop stuck on the bottom. If the cooking gods didn't leave you any bits, you can hang your head in shame that you used a really nice nonstick pan. :(

Now for the sauce. Add oil to that same pan, then diced onion and cook until tender and golden. Scrape off those little bits off the bottom, while you're at it. Mmmm.

Add flour and cook. Add water (or broth of some sort) + soy sauce (because I'm Asian), you can use salt or seasoning salt + pepper. Simmer until thick. If you really want to indulge, Google recipes for "bechamel sauce" and you can use that instead. I have to watch my figure, so I made a very modified version.

Top your prebaked crust with the sauce, then sprinkle with your meaty toppings and broil until it smells like a party. I didn't broil mine long enough because my crust isn't quite golden brown. But I was impatient, and I wanted to eat.

Top with chopped cilantro (or basil or baby spinach) and enjoy with a glass of wine. Red or white, it doesn't matter. Not too dry, not too sweet. Ever-so-slightly chilled.

Then take a long nap.

If I really wanted to make this rich, I would place little bits of cream cheese all over the top and THEN broil. Whew, too rich! Maybe after the wedding.

He's 26.

2011-06-02T11:19:00.003-04:00

The Boy turned 26 yesterday, and me being a bad fiance, did not take pictures of the festivities. :(

I did, however, get a picture of the Tiramisu Cupcakes that I baked for him.

His four favorite desserts:
Tiramisu
Red Velvet cupcakes
Carrot Cake cupcakes
Chocolate anything

I'm not certain that the last three are his favorites (they are my favorites), but he introduced me to Tiramisu, so that is surely at the top of his list. :)

We kept things low key this year. We went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant with Adi (The Boy's brother) and Aparna (Adi's wife) and ordered our weekly regulars. We frequent this restaurant because it's super good, within walking distance from our apartment, and the owners already know our orders so it's always a good experience.

We returned to the apartment and played pool - married couple vs soon-to-be-married couple, best of three. We won, but really, The Boy won because I can barely hit the cue ball.

Then, then then!! We went to our place and opened a bottle of Argentinian Malbec and ate the Tiramisu Cupcakes that I lovingly baked from scratch, following the recipe to the 't'.

And that, my friends, concludes The Boy's birthday night. He received lots of gifts and is happy to be now in his "upper twenties". Though I'm pretty sure 26 is still considered "mid twenties".

Speaking of mid twenties, my birthday is on the 11th (I turn 25, oh no!) and I got one of my gifts early because I'm incredibly impatient and make it known.

Boy does he have good taste. I now try to work my entire wardrobe around these shoes because they are really comfortable and remind me of the beach, and summer, and vacation, which I need. Soon.

What about Hubert?

Hubert ran around the apartment dog park this morning with some new friends (one 4-month-old puppy the same size as Hubert and one grizzly-bear looking softie dog who waited until the the small dogs would pass under her legs to play). Hubie has been a lazy bum ever since. I thought you would enjoy pictures of this lazy little monster.

Pug Butt.

Book Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

2011-05-27T12:19:00.004-04:00

I wouldn't consider myself an avid reader considering this was the first book I picked up and completed since high school. Seven years ago. I completed high school with all my fine arts, psychology, English, government and history classes required for the University of Texas College of Engineering because I received credit for those classes either through AP classes or during night classes/summer classes during my high school years. I used to be an academic overachiever. After high school, notsomuch.

I used to be quite the book worm.

In high school, we were on that accelerated block schedule where we took four classes per semester (like college). Our required reading was assigned to us the summer before English class started and I would read the books during the summer on my lunch break while working at Banana Republic and go home and read. If I had English in the spring semester, I would re-read those books over Christmas break as a refresher. Looking back, I think I was a little nuts.

When I entered college, I didn't do a lot of reading. I considered myself an efficient skimmer, in that I would skim the pages of my engineering books for answers to homework. Or use the handy interwebs. Before finals, I would limit myself to two hours of studying per class the day before the final. I ended up making exactly average, maybe a few points below. At that point, I had given up on engineering and I knew I wanted to do something else with my life. I got my degree and I moved on.

I did however take other fun, easy classes in Advertising and Psychology as a GPA buffer to make up for my lack of studies in Biomedical Engineering. Those classes were way more fun, but I didn't have time to read any of the books because I was struggling to get through my core classes.

Now that I do only what I love to do and on my own time, there's no excuse to abandon all those things I used to love like reading, shopping and doing laundry each week.

I started reading again.

I am starting slow and reading only books written by funny people. They tend to be easy to read and do not require any higher brain function than following the lines.

Bonus: They make me laugh out loud and annoy The Boy when he's reading his psychological thrillers and super-cerebral philosophy books.

Oh, so here's my review:

Tina Fey is amazingly hilarious. This book made me laugh, cry and left me with the strong desire for more. I want to find a friend like Ms. Fey. I think I love her.

5 Thumbs Up.

In Summary: Austin Trip

2011-05-26T11:46:00.008-04:00

Remember that trip to Austin I was preparing to make?

Summary:
Everything was rough, but it ended just the way I would want any ~~vacation~~ business trip to end (Texmex and Tequila).

Details:
We started our trip early Friday morning (4am butt-crack of dawn kind of early) for a 6am flight to Detroit and then to Austin to arrive at 11am. There was a lot of fog in Pittsburgh and even more in Detroit. Most flights were delayed that day, but our plane was able to get through it to arrive in Detroit. That was the start of the rough trip.

Oh wait, let me back track.

Thursday. I was loading Hubert's stuff in the car and for some reason, he was extra sad to go to camp for the weekend. Just look at that face. He looks so sad. Not like his normal "I look sad but I'm really happy" face. He actually looks sad to go to camp and see all of his friends. Maybe because I was sad to leave him for 4 days. And he could tell.

After dropping off Hubert at camp, I went home (sad) and continued to prepare for our departure the next morning.

Back on track.

We arrive in Detroit and waited at the gate for our last leg to Austin. Our flight to Austin was delayed for half a hour. Half an hour later, our gate was changed and when we arrived at the new gate, we discovered that our flight to Austin was canceled.

We had three options for re-booking:
1. Detroit to Austin, 11pm arrival (12 hours after our scheduled arrival).
2. Detroit to Pittsburgh (yes, back home), to Atlanta, then to Austin for 6pm arrival.
3. Detroit to Philadelphia, to Atlanta, then to Austin for 6pm arrival.

By the time we agreed for #2, the flight was completely booked and we were left with #3 so we could still spend time with my family.

Four take-offs and landings and 12 hours of travel later, we were in Austin. Dog tired. We picked up our car rental and drove to my brother's place. My parents fed us, then we headed to our hotel to crash.

Renegade did not go so well for me this year. I won't go into all the details, but it was exactly as successful as Pecan Street Festival was for me. (Not successful)

By the end of the 2 show days, I was over $1.2K in the red (travel + lodging + car + what I didn't make up for the booth cost + Hubert's boarding cost). Our 200 lbs of merchandise and displays only shed 2 lbs, so we were in for another physically taxing trip through the airport.

I may have been on the verge of a mental break down at that point, but The Boy came to the rescue with the plan to end our trip on a positive note.

He invited my brother and our friends to Trudy's and I filled my face with Tex Mex and a Mex Mart. Then, all my troubles diffused away into my blood stream and I was happy. Really happy.

Bonus:
I recouped my losses in Austin with my online sales that weekend.

Funny how life finds a way to equilibrate.

I thanked the Etsy gods, and we were on our flight back to Pittsburgh on Monday morning. On the plane, I consumed over 500 calories in mini pretzels and Biscoff cookies (courtesy of our super-nice flight attendant). We arrived on time to Pittsburgh, picked up a very excited-to-see-us Hubert, and we all took a 5-hour nap. Then continued to sleep for an additional 10 hours.

Lessons Learned:
I lost a lot of money, may have started graying early, almost broke out in hives and consumed 3X more calories than a typical weekend. But I learned many valuable lessons along the way. Those are the lessons that make for better business decisions in the future.

Just booked our tickets to San Francisco in July, so we're excited to visit a new city! Any suggestions as to where/what to eat and visit?

Coffee Bean is Back

2011-05-25T10:19:00.000-04:00

I've received many requests for this leather to come back. Maybe because it's on my banner and not in my shop. Maybe because it's a beautiful distressed shiny brown leather.

Trust me, when I find a leather that sells out in a couple weeks, I am frantically looking to find it again. :)

And that I did.

This Mini Ruche in Coffee Bean is back! It is available in limited quantities until the leather gods help me find it again. Which may or may not happen.

Don't gamble; grab yours now if you've been wanting this.

Two have already been claimed and a handful remain!

Hubert's First Day at Camp

2011-05-13T14:08:00.002-04:00

He came into the car super excited and panting - telling me (with his eyes) about all the new friends he made and how much fun he had. I took a picture with my phone to show you his excitement.

His report card shows he was a great camper and that his new best friend is Ripley, a white Frenchie who can be seen in the pictures from yesterday.

In the car on the way home, he passes out. Snoring everso loudly.

We arrived home and he wobbled his way out of the car and plopped onto the ground in front of the elevator (we usually take the stairs, but I spared him this time around) as we wait for it to arrive. The elevator opens and he wobbles in and plops down again to cool off.

We arrive on our floor (2nd floor, it's a short ride) and he stumbles his way to his bed and attempts to play with his toy, but passes out again. This is way too cute of a moment to not capture with the nice camera.

While working, I hear water sloshing behind me, which tells me he woke up to get a drink and then I hear a plop on the ground. I turn around and see that he is on the floor, asleep. It's much cooler on the floor. I didn't feel like taking out the camera, so I snapped a photo with my phone.

He slumps back into his bed and I take out my camera. He gives me the "Mom. Please. Leave me alone." face and proceeds to sleep. That was my last picture, and I left him alone. ALL the way through today!

I am so productive now that he's here at home and in very deep twitchy dreamy sleep.

(Doggie) Day Camp

2011-05-12T10:26:00.000-04:00

I have not been productive today, guys. I dropped Hubert off at this dog camp for his "interview" this morning, which is a 3-hour process where he plays with the day camp dogs to see if he's a "good fit" for the camp in the future (i.e. he's not aggressive or territorial). Hubert. Aggressive? Pssssh.

Oh, back story.

We can't take Hubert with us to fly to Austin for Renegade, so I've been on the look out for the best care for Hubert while we're away. I looked into having a sitter come in to take care of him, so I decided to ask around my building for references. It didn't take me long to find a good solution because I live in an apartment building where there are more dogs than human residents (probably), and it was clear by the number of residents who take their dogs to this camp that this was going to be my first experience at camp. Hubert, I mean. Hubert at camp. Letting Hubert go to dog camp.

Back to the point.

Well, I dropped Hubert off this morning and I got two things done:
1. Got my oil changed
2. Filled up gas

Since then I've been staring at my computer screen looking at the "camper cams" that are set up around the facility. I can see Hubert playing with other dogs! I feel like a total stalker, but I cannot help but check out how my little pug baby is coping without me.

He's totally doing fine.

One of the employees said he was welcome to stay for the full day (6 hours) if I wanted to let him stay. "IssOKnoneed! I'll pick him up in 3 hours!" and then set my phone alarm for 3 hours from that very moment.

I may be the one with separation anxiety.

p.s. I took some screen shots of Hubert at camp. I wonder if he's looking for me. Or thinking of me. Or even remembers me...

Around the Studio

2011-05-10T18:17:00.001-04:00

A lot of work is to be done in the next two weeks preparing for Renegade Austin. I may be absent for a while...

I'm not sure it was the best idea to buy my fiance chopsticks that can also be used as drum sticks.

All for now, kids. All for now.

Oh! Also! I only have 2 of these Baby Ruche bags in Aztec left. Soooo, if you want this, get it now! They're ready to ship within 24 hours of your purchase.

Relief for Upset Stomach

2011-05-07T12:10:00.006-04:00

Me [to The Boy]: What do you think of Bubblegum for this color?
The Boy: It doesn't sound professional.
Me: It's not supposed to sound professional. It's supposed to be fun, bright, and summery!
The Boy: How about Pepto-Bismol. Or Pepto-Pink.Or just Pepto.
Me: ...
The Boy: It's better than Bubblegum. [smiling]
Me: [Eye roll followed by heavy sigh; pulls out Pantone Color Guide]

So much for trying to be more creative in the naming of the colors of my bags. I stole this color name from my Pantone Color Guide. As I always (mostly) do.

On another note, I've been without a computer this week. The power supply on my 5-year-old iMac is having issues, so I haven't been blogging much. I still don't have my computer, I'm using The Boy's laptop to blog and print shipping labels and correspond with the world. Though it's not the same, I appreciate him letting me use it. He's very particular about his electronics. As in, he doesn't allow anyone to touch his things, especially me because electronics seem to fail when I touch them. It may be the static charge in my fingertips because I'm a wizard. Or wizardress.

I also sprained my ankle last week in Zumba. I usually have lower back pains after Zumba because of all those hip thrusts, but this time, no lower back pain. Just a sprained ankle from landing incorrectly trying to show off my high kicks.

This week may have not been the best week for me as far as life goes, but I was super productive at work without a computer and having limited movement in my right ankle (fortunately only in the lateral direction, so sewing was not a problem).

I finished a lot of orders early and added some new bags to the shop (including this Wild Rose pink Mini) and a Mini in Port and a Traveler in Warm Gray Margot Bianca Batik.

See, I turned all the negative stuff into positive energy to work! Go me!

How was your week?

Fail

2011-05-02T11:57:00.004-04:00

I do not come with good news of my new Clutch design, my friends. Sadly.

This weekend, I was reminded by both my future sister-in-law (a.k.a wedding planner boss lady, Aparna) and my future husband (The Boy) that I needed to make invitations so that family in India can make travel plans to attend our wedding in October.

Oops.

This is my little timeline for the rest of the year:
May: Renegade Austin, TX
July: Renegade San Francisco, CA
Sept: Renegade Chicago, IL (hopefully)
Oct: Wedding!!
Nov: Thanksgiving in TX with parents + brother
Dec: Holidays in PA with in-laws

I'm also still keeping up with orders from the shop and finding time to feed myself...and my future husband...and my dog. And get to the gym to get in wedding shape.

Oh my god, I can't believe I'm going to be married this year. EEEEEeee!!

So, I'm spread a bit thin, but I really love operating this way because I have lots of fun and different things to prepare and dream about during the day and in my sleep.

Okay, what was my point, here?

Right. Wedding. Invitations. India relatives.

I really wanted to hand make my wedding invitations and more specifically, I wanted to stamp a cool design of mine on the cover and print the rest of the text. I really love the look of stamped art and thought I would carve out a wicked detailed mehndi-inspired design, yet keep it simple and modern in keeping with my general aesthetic.

In the drawing, it looked pretty cool, but carving out all that detail from a piece of rubber was a bit harder than I thought. It looked more like those surfer Hawaiian designs. Not exactly what I anticipated. This is not the final design for the wedding invites, but I wanted to show you how much hard work I put into it so you know I'm not a slacker.

I'll show you the final wedding invitation design when I get 'em done. Oh, and I WILL launch the new Clutch soon. But not today. But soon. I promise.

Briefcase in Mushroom

2011-04-29T14:28:00.000-04:00

This bag is a good representation of my life. Simple, functional, and in style all season long. Wink!

I really love this color. It's a warm earthy gray and so so wonderfully soft. It's squishy and distressed and can be worn all year round.

Here's the kicker: I only had enough leather for TWO Briefcases.

You can "share" this with your man, too, if that helps justify the purchase. By share, I mean you can tell him, "Hey babe, I got a bag for us to share" and he'll say, "I don't wear murses" and you can keep it for yourself, but know that he can also wear it when you're wearing your brand new Clutch from my shop.

Brand new Clutch, I said?

Why yes, I'm in the final stages of sketching the details and assessing the dimensions. More updates on Monday!

You can get your Briefcase in Mushroom in the shop now!

Holla

2011-04-26T15:02:00.004-04:00

I took these photos last night. I really love how the little bit of light reflects off the gold letters. And the orange on the afghan looks neon. Crazy, huh?

Oh, did you notice? I bought this really "holla" sign from Oh Dier. It's super awesome and The Boy loved it placed under our cardboard Bucky. I'm sure many other cool things will soon be mounted on our really empty wall, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying it as minimal as it is. Who knows, maybe it'll stay this way?

Cherry Blossoms

2011-04-25T16:21:00.002-04:00

I'm really excited for spring in Pittsburgh! And a wardrobe upgrade! :)

In general, I'm excited to live in a place with four distinct seasons. Winter was a bit of a shock for this Texas girl, but I got through it and actually enjoyed having some snow in March. Now that it's spring, cherry blossoms are blooming, trees are getting their leaves back and the temperature is rising. It was 78F today and sunny today. Reminded me of Texas. :)

The Boy and I are having a small backyard wedding with our family this fall (our favorite season) in October. I can't wait to see all the pretty colors! But first things first. Definitely lovin' the spring thus far.

The photo above is the cherry blossom tree in The Boy's parents' yard. I took it with my phone, but I'll be returning with my nice camera to get some better pictures of Pittsburgh in the spring. :)

Air Plants

2011-04-23T17:42:00.004-04:00

Air plants, air plants, air plants. Everywhere. I finally gave in and got some from toHOLD.

Assembling these little terrariums brought me back to my diorama days in elementary school. Except my mom wouldn't throw away these pretties because they would match her home decor.

I thoroughly enjoyed staging these air plants in a beachy scene to be hung under the future shelf I will have hanging in front of my sewing machine table. Now I need to find a cool shelf... and then things to place on top of the shelf. :)

How to make these?

Ingredients
6 airplants from toHOLD
6 whirly hanging candle holders from CB2
Crushed sea shells, sand or gravel
Pretty embellishments (I used sea shells)

Assemble and tie a jute string on top and hang near a big window with lots of filtered light!

These cute little fish bowl terrariums make great desk accessories if you want all the materials in one package.

Ain't She a Beaut?

2011-04-22T14:15:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure if I absolutely adore this color because the love of my life handed me a small box in a this color and asked me to marry him, or it's just a gorgeous color. What do you think?

The Mini Ruche in Blue Turquoise is now available in the shop, and of course available in limited quantities as most of my leathers are. :) The bag listed above was made with a zippered top because of a special request. I'm offering it as an upgrade now, so if you want to keep your valuables safe from baby turning your bag over in the car or sneaky hands on the subway, the option is available just for you!

Also, I MUST share that the wonderful customer who purchased the bag photographed above also bought matching rubber boots! I so want these. But I'm saving all this leather for customers and for the upcoming show if I still have some left.

See how selfless I am?

On another note, we're four weeks from Renegade Austin, and I'm wondering whether I need to close the shop for the last two weeks before to prepare, or just extend my turnaround time, or just work super-overtime. I'll may just wait it out and see how it goes.

If you love me lots, you'll place your orders within the next two weeks and not the two weeks before Renegade so I can have your item made in time to ship to you before I leave. Pretty please!

Kickstarter

2011-04-21T10:07:00.006-04:00

SketchChair

I think I found my latest shopping addiction. And I get to help fund really cool projects that need a bit of a kick start.

I was reading Top 10 Design-Related Tech Innovations on Design*Sponge and quickly became addicted to searching Kickstarter for more projects to back. Is it strange that I see this as little infomercials with opportunities to buy products when they first hit the market?

Since I'm a sucker for designer chairs (and when I get my own house, I will own-a-plenty!), I backed this project called SketchChair - an open source software that allows you to design, test and get your own chair milled and shipped to you. Not because it's an awesome software idea, but I really like that users can modify others' designs and cool collaborations are bound to happen. Plus, the GUI looks awesome. And super simple.

...And I really wanted a miniature model of one of these chairs. I mean, it's way too cute, right?

When I said I was a sucker for designer chairs, I should have clarified that I'm a sucker for 1/6th scale designer chairs. :)

Other really cool projects from the D*S post?

The Flow - A Paintbrush for Touch Screens
This would have been a great tool during my college years when I was running a graphic design business. Now I would just use this to make cool "paintings" without having to gesso a canvas when I don't feel like working on a painting anymore.

The Cosmonaut - A Wide-Grip Stylus for Touch Screens
Yet another awesome innovation for tablets. Mimics the look and feel of a dry erase marker. Talk about feeling cool during brainstorming sessions, eh?

I wish Kickstarter was available when I was in college. It would have been the perfect tool and outlet to offer my students in both of the engineering senior elective classes I co-developed with a good friend and lecturer at UT and taught in my senior year: Social Entrepreneurship & Engineering and Art & Engineering. We developed these classes so that my engineering peers could broaden their scope on what non-traditional areas an engineering degree could apply. Obviously, I did this for very personal reasons as well since at the time I was contemplating not taking one of three typical routes upon graduation (bme corporation, grad school, or medical school) and needed an outlet for exploring other options. I knew there would be others who were in the same boat.

What are some Kickstarter projects you would/have back(ed)? Or maybe want to start?

Headboard Alternative

2011-04-19T11:20:00.003-04:00

Are you renting your place? Does it make you NOT want to buy big bulky furniture because you know eventually you'll have to move it to the next rental?

I avoid buying things that I can't break down into boxes again because I don't want to have to move it again. Or will have to hire people to move it. I feel like a college student, moving from apartment to apartment every year. I'm hoping that we stay put in this apartment for at least a few lease terms for a few reasons:

1. Pet deposits are expensive.
2. My business has a lot of stuff. Heavy stuff.
3. I can't buy big awesome furniture!

Ideally, I'd love to be in a permanent residence, but that may be a few years down the road. In the meantime, I will continue to find alternatives to making "home" with what I can.

Step 1: Bed needs a headboard...

...to say the least.

It's a box spring with a mattress on top. I bought a new duvet cover that is really neutral (white with light brown foliage print) and created the illusion of a footboard by placing a dark mocha throw at the foot of the bed. Now to create the illusion of a headboard.

I thought about a few alternatives: painting on the wall, using an old door, buying an actual headboard...

Since we have no art in the apartment (mentioned yesterday), I figured I would start with that. Three paintings above the bed to add some color, art, and a "headboard". Three birds with one stone!

My initial thought was to pull the colors from the duvet cover, but that was immediately vetoed by The Boy. He suggested COLOR, preferably in the blue-green spectrum with a beachy feel. I took out the ole Pantone Color Guide and I found it (see above).

Next.

Step 2: Side tables
Step 3: Lamps

One step at a time...

Now to start painting! After I finish orders...