haberdashery

Spatial Effects

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*boy) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:09:00 +0000

Ghost Stories by Nendo at MAD

5mm circular stickers...

For the Love of Crayons

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:15:00 +0000

All crayons are hand cast by the artist, Christian Faur, creating custom colors to achieve these inconceivable gradations. Lovely.

From the artist:
My earliest memories of making art involve the use of wax crayons. I can still remember the pleasure of opening a new box of crayons: the distinct smell of the wax, the beautifully colored tips, everything still perfect and unused. Using the first crayon from a new box always gave me a slight pain. Through a novel technique that I have developed, I again find myself working with the familiar form of the crayon.

Because of the three-dimensional nature of the crayons, the individual surface images appear to change form as one moves about the gallery space. The images completely disappear when viewed from close up, allowing one to read the horizontally sequenced crayon text and to take in the beautifully colored crayon tips -- all the while being reminded of that first box of crayons.

My Husband, The Architect

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:56:00 +0000

The worlds of graphic design and architecture have so many delightful tangents that make my relationship with *boy's career — and his with mine — infinitely interesting. We speak the same language but work on completely different scales and schedules, allowing each of us a unique perspective on the other's work. Usually this dialogue consists of process issues as we each navigate the waters of making design manifest. However, this past week has been full of completions.

My projects begin, live, and end in the span of half a breath compared to *boy's work. As I assembled my portfolio last week and surveyed my completed projects from the last 2 years — over a dozen — the one project *boy has been working on since before we even met was finally drawing close to the finish line. In a way I feel like I've been on this years-long journey with him, remembering looking over his shoulder at a sketch-up model, a design in the making...

The first completed photos from the Hershey Cancer Center at Penn State:

Living in a Digital World

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*boy) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:25:00 +0000

Photos by Hubert Blanz

Where The Wild Fonts Are

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:32:00 +0000

Oh, how I love to see people leave the box behind and embrace everything that can exist beyond it's boundaries. Simple, appropriate and really, really lovely hand-drafted type in the new trailer for Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are.

I can't wait to see this. Full trailer here.

Liver Doodles

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:45:00 +0000

Many of you know that Bacon is still very much a boy — despite all our best efforts to remedy that — due to a little liver irregularity. After two solid months of blood work and three different vets' opinions it looks like everything is fine and all of this might clear up on its own with a little vitamin supplement. But for now, Bacon remains the other man in the house and this is his throne.

Maybe all that sunshine is more than his liver can handle...

Celebrating A New Beginning

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Its been a busy year so far for *boy and I — busy and stressful. I now have three jobs in full swing (the part-time day job, the escalating blog job and teaching two classes) and next week *boy's teaching begins atop a very heavy workload at the office. All this and Bacon still expects serious play time when we are home (or at least serious lap naps while we work).

It's one of those times in life that I'm sure we will remember for many years to come — newly married, working like crazy, tight budgets and watching with mouths agape at the way the world is unfolding around us. But when I woke up this morning I had a different feeling. I wasn't anxious or tense, and I didn't feel stressed or overwhelmed. As I got ready for work this morning I felt excited, almost giddy. Today is not only a new day, but a new beginning — a fresh start for each and every one of us.

There's a reason why a few million people flocked to our national mall this morning before the sun was even up and why tens of millions more around the world will be watching Washington today at noon. That reason is so much bigger than one man placing his hand on a book and repeating a handful of scripted words. That man represents an idea — a hope — that we can begin again, we can start fresh, we can come together and work for a better future.

Today is not about watching a man take an oath, its about being part of a nation focused on a single moment that none of us will ever forget. In the same way, we must all remain focused after the moment has passed...

A Practical Compliment

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:15:00 +0000

Since starting our part-time gig over at Apartment Therapy, I've really come to embrace this whole reading-posting-commenting world that is the blogosphere. I read interiors blogs and graphic blogs, food blogs and, yes — for a large portion of this year — wedding blogs. I even email the writers from time to time. I only found a few nuptial sites that I could even stomach, but A Practical Wedding quickly became my absolute favorite.

A few weeks ago, Meg posted a few pictures from our wedding and wrote some truly lovely things. You can read it here.

V.O.T.E.

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:18:00 +0000

From our morning at the polls (click to enlarge).

Also, I'm handing over the political commentary to a guy who hit the nail on the head with his Election Day Post and this little excerpt from Lincoln's first inaugural:

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Its even better in context: Sweet Juniper.

Just Another Married Couple

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:27:00 +0000

Real wedding pictures by the wonderful Francine Kontos are up at last.

Maybe these should be our Halloween costumes...

Red and Blue or Purple

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*boy) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:45:00 +0000

After looking at so many maps of the United States lately with the typical red state blue state highlights that basically divide the country into what the red candidates have come to call "real America" and the rest that question them are somehow un-American or part of "Fake America". So much of the focus of the election from both sides is on small rural towns which make up a great deal of physical space but not population. Everything looks clearly divided along state lines and each state is characterized in one way or another. Fortunately things are not so clear cut and if you add just a little more information to the typical maps maybe you can see what real America is made of. Not something that you can just cut down to a single message or soundbite. Adding information such as a more generous scale to the subtleties of voting and population density to redraw the map, maybe this is more what America really looks like:

As Barack Obama said back in 2004 and this map shows, "there's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."

I do believe we will be either voting for or against America this election, it's just a matter of if you believe in red and blue or purple.

more maps here

Non Verbal Communication

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:14:00 +0000

About 6 years ago, a graphic design professor introduced me to the work of Luba Lukova - a Bulgarian illustrator who manages to create profound and thought provoking messages almost entirely without words. The thought of graphic design not only functioning but thriving without the help of written language was an amazing concept to me, then only a year into my studies, and something I have never forgotten.

Last night *boy and I went to see Luba speak about her work. I don't know what I expected from an artist lecture by a woman who relishes in not using words but it was a wonderfully succinct experience. Although her work is often associated with politics and many pieces are highly relevant to the current political scene, she views her work as universal and human.

It was refreshing to hear someone give voice to the truth that we so often forget - especially amidst these frustrating and uncertain times when its hard to see past the end of our own noses. Although we have plenty and so many others have so little, although we have our differences in religion and government, we are all the same, no better or worse than our neighbor and we must all live on this earth together. These works are not Democratic or Republican, they are the thoughts of a person, put forth for a public and open to all interpretation.

Isn't it nice to think for yourself?

More on Luba Lukova's Social Justice series here.

Love Carrot

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:08:00 +0000

Auntie Fran the Photographer is coming down this weekend with the official pictures but I wonder if any will truly be able to rival this one. We shall see...

For now, more here.

The Countdown is On

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:46:00 +0000

Here's to dry weather and amazing color that only nature could provide.

5 days to go...

Black Magic

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:03:00 +0000

My sister has written a wonderful post over at her site about my dad in honor of what would have been his 50th birthday. Its full of great stories including a few about his notorious yet beloved car, Black Magic (approximated above).

Happy Birthday, Daddy.

Apartment Therapy Boston Launch!

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:26:00 +0000

After many months, and many, many, many posts on Apartment Therapy New York, the Boston site officially flies solo later this morning and we couldn't be more excited. Back in March, on a hunch, *boy and I decided to give this whole blogging thing a real go and submitted our first post for AT NY. A few weeks later the job was ours and we become half of the new Boston team.

Its been an interesting, sometimes stressful, but mostly rewarding endeavor and we're really looking forward to seeing our little group go solo as we try to build a Therapy community here in Boston.

You can get a sneak peek at the Boston site pre-launch here.

Enough

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:54:00 +0000

October 4 is going to be a big day for us, clearly, but November 4 will be bigger—for everyone. Wedding plans have taken a backseat lately as we have been consumed with nightly politics and, honestly, I've had enough. Enough of the crap, enough of the lies, enough of the ridiculous state of American government and media. Enough of the "reality" that these people think we're that stupid. How does it make you feel to know that the possible future President and VP think they can lie, flat out, to your face, repeatedly, on a daily basis, just make things up, fabricate their own "facts" and honestly BELIEVE you'll never know the difference. Or, even worse, if you do know the difference, that you won't care.

Wow. How did we get here?

As someone who just lost her job due to a horrific economy, I watch, mouth agape, head shaking, embarrassed and enraged. Aren't there actual issues to discuss? Real problems to solve? Tough realities to face? Oh yeah, that's what that other guy is talking about, has been talking about and will continue to talk about. This isn't a reality show or a soap opera or fodder for trash Hollywood tabloids. This is my country. And I deserve a president who recognizes that my country does not belong to him, to play with as he pleases. I deserve a president who knows it belongs to me and you and our families and our friends and that we care what he does with it. Enough is enough.

On November 4, one month after *boy and I say "I do," we will vote for the guy who's had enough and plans to make things better.

Conservative but still concerned? Read this. Then read this: Christians for Obama

A Year of Haberdashery

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:53:00 +0000

One year ago—well, one year and 8 days ago—I started this blog as a late afternoon pick-me-up surprise for *boy while at work. Since our trip to Spain where we serendipitously stumbled upon the word haberdashery on a store sign, we had joked about starting a blog, a blog to encompass all the random bits of life that we love, hate, or just observe. Around the same time we made a life wish list of sorts and stuck it on *boy's refrigerator door. Quite simply it included the following:

Get job that allows for Bacon
Get apartment that allows for Bacon
Make living from our blog

Shortly after I posted our first article, I began looking for a new job—hopefully one that would either allow me to bring (then unborn) Bacon to work OR would be close enough to home for me to visit him during the day. By year's end I not only had a new job, I had a new nephew, too. I was also teaching my first class and looking forward to the next semester. Bacon was still in the distance but I felt us getting closer, felt life moving along, swimmingly.

By the beginning of February, in addition to my new job, new nephew, and new teaching gig, I had a new fiancé and a wedding in the works. By May, a new apartment, a roommate and, at last, a tiny, white puppy promised to be ours. June saw us into a new part-time job over at another (much more profitable) blog. And by July 5, Bacon was in my lap and the little hole in our hearts was filled with puppy breath and pink, freckled paws.

The summer has been a blur of puppy training and wedding planning, AT posting and 9 to 5 work, frustration and stress but also laughter and silliness. Most of all it has been full of anticipation and realization. Anticipating our our wedding day and realizing how great we have it and how much we have to look forward to, still.

By last week we were ready to kick wedding prep into high gear but by Friday I was leaving work early with bad news. Just shy of a year after my last job search began, I was informed that I would need to find yet another job by the end of the year.

After a very downtrodden weekend of doing pretty much nothing, and against my own vow to not even think about the job situation until after the wedding, I've already come up with a plan and begun its execution. Well, at least a plan to get us through next May. Ironically enough, the plan includes me being able to spend ample time in our wonderful apartment, with Bacon. It also allows me to make at least a partial living from a blog, just not this one.

Apparently this is the upside of making a very short, very broad life wish list: not only are there many ways to achieve the same goals but, when you're not busy making lists, other fantastic life wishes come true without you even trying.

I'm writing this anniversary post late in the afternoon at work—at a job that I won't have for much longer, a job that I wasn't ready to leave yet—for *boy to know that I wouldn't have wanted to spend the last year doing anything else, with anyone else. Good or bad, I can't wait to see what the next year brings us.

Style Me Flattered

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:47:00 +0000

To say that life is busy these days would be a laughable understatement. Our little Bacon takes up nearly every waking moment at home and while he sleeps we manage to squeeze in our daily AT Boston posts (which launches officially on September 1) and plan our wedding, now less than 2 months away.

I'm trying hard to stay practical about the planning but, turns out, even a small, intimate affair comes with stress and minor chaos. So, to boost our spirits and remember out initial care-free vision for the big day, I made this little collection of images and sent it over to the *boy at work. I think its a refreshing visual reminder that all of this planning and scheduling will pay off soon and, on that October afternoon, these pictures, these ideas will come to life and we'll be able to enjoy all those decisions-made, relax and indulge in a lovely evening with friends and family.

After making it, I figured I might as well send it to the wedding blog that inspired me to do it and today she put it up on her site, Style Me Pretty. Thanks Abby!

Now everyone pray it doesn't rain...

Toxic Nudibranchs (Sea Slugs)

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*boy) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:04:00 +0000

Via National Geographic

Bacon Bits

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*boy) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:23:00 +0000

more here

At Last

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:28:00 +0000

We took an early flight to D.C. with an empty doggie bag...

To fill it up with a Bacon and a stuffed animal that smells like his mommy.

We played with him for an hour at the breeder's house and then he slept the whole way to the airport.

After a quick pit stop outside of Dulles to empty his tiny bladder, we made it through security, the weird moving airport trams and onto the plane where he slept the entire flight - popping his head out to look around only after landing in Boston.

Another pit stop outside of the airport and then into the cab. He was restless and ready to be done with the traveling so we let him stick his head out of the bag...

Then he climbed out of the bag altogether.

He's been home for a little over 24 hours now and he seems to like us almost as much as we like him.

He likes to hop around our little yard and chase ants. He likes to nibble on earlobes and lay on a lap. He loves his rope toy. We've only had 2 accidents in the house and he slept the entire night, only going out once.

His favorite thing is to nap on top of us, close to our faces. What I thought was an unbearable wait was worth every, single second to have that sweet face so close to mine. Much, much more here.

The End of Our Lives as We Know It

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:54:00 +0000

Twas the night before Bacon
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Because we don't have any creatures...yet

BACON ARRIVES TOMORROW!

At last, the wait is over. Its been 10 long weeks but we made it. We spent our Nation's birthday cleaning, organizing and finishing up all last-minute tasks PB (pre-Bacon) so that we're as prepared as possible when our little man sees his home for the first time. Everything is up off the floor and his crate and play pen are set up - toys and all - just waiting for him to settle in.

Our trip to pick him up and the journey home will be thoroughly documented. Tune in tomorrow for the pictures...

Why Am I Marrying Him?

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:07:00 +0000

Photographer Kate Hutchinson is doing a beautiful series of portraits of her fiance called "Why Am I Marrying Him?" that I find extremely compelling in their universal, everyday nature.

So compelled am I that I took a break from my silly wedding blog hopping to put together my own little series. After all, the real reason behind this shindig we're throwing is in these pictures below...

Wedding Reconnaissance

noreply@blogger.com (hbrdshry*girl) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:59:00 +0000

So tomorrow morning (at the crack of dawn) we're off to the Lone Star State to attend the wedding of my sister's best friend. Now eye-ball deep in planning our own nuptials, I'll be taking notes. Its amazing how fractal-like this whole planning thing is, with each layer of decision making ladened with yet more and more decision making.

Last weekend we (tried to) tackle the tent decisions such as: What size do we need? How many tables will it fit? What shape is it? What kind of walls will it have? Does it come with lights and heaters? Where will we put the tent? Will we have to push the fence back if it goes in location A? If so, how far? Where will we get the tent? How much will the tent cost? Will they come survey the site before installation? How will they install it?

All that and we still haven't really nailed anything down (figuratively). But through it all we actually came across some lovely pieces of tent design - this site in particular - that don't look like plastic on a pole.

Anyway, this weekend's wedding is altogether different from what we're planning - ours is outdoors at sunset in October with dinner after, this is early morning in a chapel with brunch after - but hopefully I'll be able to glean some inspiration nonetheless.