introducing the pretty bird shop

my little sister texts me the other day to tell me how much she likes some of my photos. she specifically referred to an album i call "this & that" on my fb page. so we had a lengthy text convo about art, photography, my "work", etc. it was sweet to have finally bonded on something other than memories of our childhood summers or family drama. 
this was not the first time someone showed interest in my pics, a friend asked me to show some off at a gallery exhibit he was part of about a year ago. i was shy, and completely unaware that a non-professional photographer like myself could do such a thing, i was taken aback frankly. after having more and more kind peeps from a wide spectrum of life encouraged me to give it, whatever "it" is a try i was finally down. here we go...
alas i opened pretty bird shop on etsy to show and perhaps sell some of these random photos of mine. so far, no sales just views and one hearted item!  

vogel house

we have finally moved into what we call the new old house. new because it's what you call a place when it's new to you but old because well, it's an old 1940's-50's era home. we ended up falling in love with the charm of the place and made all final decisions to move on in. january first was the day we arrived, although it's only been a little over a week, for us it already feels like we've been here much longer. i think it's a good thing, as i type this i sit under a milk glass lantern above the built-in desk typing away on our mac desktop that is so similar in color to this beauty of a fixture. i dream of the many dinners, cozy nights and bright mornings that are ahead of us. each day both el esposo and i can't wait for the sun to set as we've missed every sunrise tucked away in our dark bedroom. you see, we have this big panoramic view from our living room and dining room windows. when the skies are clear we can see the golden gate bridge, the financial district, and the sutro tower. along with the sf view, we also get some of mt. tam and nearby marin. at night we doze off as the lights from the all the cities, and traffic begin to flicker and shine. it's quite a meditative state to gaze from above, in your cozy house on top of the hill. i bet rose and louie, the previous inhabitants, felt the same.

revisiting...mon anniversaire!

it's long come and gone, but it was indeed a quiet, sunny and pleasant birthday. on december 16th i woke up and took a bike ride to berkeley where i went into guerilla cafe and had a light yet tasty birthday breakfast and coffee. continued riding through the berkeley hills, grabbed a red velvet cupcake at a nearby cupcake shop, then off to a manicure and pedicure session. arrived home to take my dog tuula for a nice long walk. finally got all gussied up in a warm sweater dress, tights and boots and went out to dinner with el esposo and brother-in-law. our final destination for the night was chez panisse, for the most decadent and beautiful birthday dinner. appetizers, main courses, wines, and desserts later we had very little energy to continue onward with the night. so we skipped the plans we had in mind beforehand and headed straight home. for once there were no crazy loud anything, no dancing, no bar hopping or night caps. tucked ourselves in and called it a night. nonetheless, a very delicious way to end the day.

relaxation. a mandatory Rx

Doctor's orders. Relax. Well, not necessarily a doctor more like a dermatologist. But either way it's what I'm supposed to be doing, just relaxing. Forget about anxiety, tension, nervousness, anything that causes you to become overwhelmingly uneasy and stressed. Not an easy task when you are about to move and have a billion life things looming over your head. But it's a strange thing when you give up all control and even under tense situations, know that you must and should let go and ease up. Never really gave it much thought until now, but indeed I am a nervous, tense, freaky worry ward. It basically comes down to chill the heck out or...have your 'certain' problem become worse or not get any better. Major gripe or is it? Perhaps this is one of those cliche "everything happens for a reason" moments, maybe just maybe something so easy as relaxing could turn into a life changing situation. Perhaps years later I will be recounting state of events in my life and the turning point will kick in right about now, right where I learn how to relax and take life with a grain of salt. So help me Zen, I'm searching for you.

my christmas list

on my third birthday. yes, santa was sort of there.

i'm getting quite tired of being such a good girl year after year and never reaping the benefits of such outstanding niceness. kinda feel like being naughty from now on. let's just say that santa is quite a bastard to me. always has been. but i do still believe in him. maybe just maybe i'll get what i want this time. if not, perhaps i will get these for myself, i suppose.

anyhow, these are the things i want...crossing my fingers and sending good thoughts to the north pole.

1. a Public bike

2. micro gem headphones

3. it takes a village SF poster

4. a red coat

5. sovereign flight cocktail hat

6. a pair of boots

7. this dress

8. a camera

9. tap dancing lessons and shoes

10. black apple paper doll book

just listing 10. the first 3 would make me really happy.

crappy day.

my little helper, miss Purl.
the first ever smallbatch freezer, it was tiny. inside a gorgeous little pet boutique called Hazel & Gertie's.

i really have no other words to describe today. no eloquent, no witty, or otherwise. just crappy. the weather was a nightmare, just truly despicable. grey, wet and ominous. our house is and will be a bit upside down for the rest of the month as we are moving and have boxes, and craigslisters coming in and out. our move in day is january 1st, what a pain. but once done and finished i'm hoping that we don't move for a while and rather stay and nest in our new but rather old 1940's granny house up the hill.

not only are we moving our living residence but also our business where we process and store all things smallbatch is moving also. moving to a bigger, more efficient facility. yes, smallbatch is a big bitch (this is an ongoing inside joke at home) as it takes up so much of our energy and pretty much has consumed our every day lives for the past 7 years. nonetheless, it's growing and moving in ways we never dreamed it would. i remember the bowl, and i remember the client list(it was tiny) and i remember the struggles of starting this little business we call smallbatch which now is growing in staff as well. the early days were challenging but also so very exciting, everytime we had a new customer, positive feedback, picking up materials, even the pain. but with growth and success comes something that i won't dare explain, because it might come out in ways that might make me seem ungrateful or disenchanted. anyhow, back to the early days of this small business, el esposo and i knew that we couldn't stop dreaming and couldn't stop providing for our customers but we weren't sure why. just a natural inclination drove us to where we are today. from curating our first logo at home to working hard for our second logo ( i walked the graphic designers dog for a year in exchange!) to delivering pet goods on foot, train, and bike. all of these were only a handful of milestones in this journey. the journey of working for oneself...around the clock. in time i'm sure our responsibilities will lessen, but in the meantime i still don't get to see el esposo who's constantly away micro managing and making sure our little company functions and provides as it should. back to packing more boxes, wish us luck world. and perhaps a little more stability.

melancholy

song list for this gloom stricken day...

mad world

naked if i want to

helpless

sweet jane

there is an end