SF Chinatown on The Bold Italic

The Bold Italic understands and knows my people.
I love the way they have been capturing San Francisco's Chinatown. From Chinatown Sartorialist exploring senior styles to a tour of the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory – these articles bring back so many memories of my youth growing up in the Bay Area and being in San Francisco with my family every weekend.

This was my Ning-Ning's (grandmother on father's side) uniform: some sort of quilted floral patchwork silk jacket or wool cardigan paired with a baseball cap / hat... usually from Snap-On because my uncle is a mechanic. My Paw-Paw (grandmother on mother's side) who is still living at 95 likes to say the more colorful the better because she wants to feel vibrant and happy... and what good is it if I can't see her. ha! I love them so.

I used to visit my Boc-Paw (great grandmother) at a senior's living center and the Lee Family Association in Chinatown. Always hanging clothes drying in an assortment of colors & prints and always a hot pot on an electric stove in her little room with piles of Chinatown papers and calendars. Chinese people love their calendars.... I don't know why.

When I was 4 or 5 years old, we went to visit Golden Gate Fortune Cookies because my Paw Paw recommended my mom take her kids to see how the magic happens. It was along an alley and rinky-dinky. I don't recall much lighting, just natural light radiating from the open doors. The ladies were so nice. They showed us their process: how the cookies came out warm and flat (! -a life-changing revelation for a preschool aged Chinese-American) and how with their swift hand movements around a metal thingie (technical term), they formed the iconic shape. What a rad thing it was to carry off a baggie filled with warm, sweet smelling FLAT fortune cookies.

Thank you. Too many memories to recount.

p.s. Special shout-out to Accidental Chinese Hipster

All images via Bold Italic.

Cosmos and Connectivity

These are articles and links that resonated with me following a late night post Daylight Savings. All these relate to each other in that they all in some way reflect our need as human beings to be connected ... to ourselves, to each other, to the earth, to the universe.

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This article by Andrew Solomon on the New Yorker  – about Adam Lanza's father reckoning with his son's actions and what led up to the Sandy Hook tragedy.

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via Upworthy: Neil deGrasse Tyson's answer to what is the most astounding fact about the universe.

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This video: First Kiss by Tatia Pilevia for WREN
later notation: As this video went viral, many felt duped that it was a piece showcasing Wren's collection and that the people were actors and models. However, the first visual is "Wren presents" - although obviously most folks aren't aware that it's a clothing line. Also, one of them is referred to as having experience with this as an actor and I feel that it's obvious that this is staged... It still doesn't take away the initial impact it had on the public. Beautiful people swooning over intimate human contact.

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This weekend's Sweet Paul Makerie in New York via Design Sponge with such creative folks as Paul Lowe of Sweet Paul magazine, Lotta Jansdotter, Erin Considine and Tamar Mogendorff.

I love this video by Creative Bug with Ali deJohn, creator of Makerie and her explanation of the intent behind Makerie and the Chautauqua Movement.

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This podcast on KQED's Forum about the high cost of living in San Francisco and how the local artists and galleries are being affected. Having had grown up and lived in the area for over half my life it's something dear to me that art stays vibrant there. 

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Lena earthing

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Lastly, these photographs via Fast Co. showing the latest work of Kim Keever, a NASA engineer turned artist.

San Francisco in February

When I grew up in the Bay Area and lived in San Francisco, I was under the assumption that Spring sprung in February. Every day was straight rain in January. Then the next month, magic happened: grass turned from brown to green on the 280, magnolias opened, leaves sprouted new growth and sunlight transformed from winter white to its pre-summer golden springy hue. My reality check came in 1999 when I moved to New York City. There, February gets to your bones with a windchill of -1˚F (sometimes less) and by March, my body is in full-blown shock. Now we're in Los Angeles, and totally down with a season-less climate.

I love San Francisco in February – for all the reasons mentioned. Last month, we took a quick trip there. The photographs here are from one of our many fun days: a pizza play date with my cousin's kids in the Sunset (check out those ocean views!), a trip to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park and then a cozy dinner at our friend's home who recently moved back to SF from Brooklyn. 

Some of what I wish I had time for but didn't:

The Possible at BAM / PFA

SFMOMA on the Go with Project Los Altos

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Please check back as I will be posting more highlights from this trip: including a colorful studio visit with the multi-talented Jen Garrido, hang time and tea in the art and loved-filled family home of Kara Engelbrecht from Mothercraft Midwifery, a couple of rad shops and more.

And many thanks for sticking around. I haven't been able to post as much lately due to my design work, the kid's kooky schedules and a couple of photography + photoshop blog classes taught by some mighty fine ladies.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time + SF Bay Area Discovery Museum

image from the Family Guy

Every Friday morning, our house wakes up in a Peanut Butter Jelly Time dance on our bed, excited for the weekend to come. Like most, at the beginning and end of the week, I tend to have a lot on my mind. Fridays, mentally wrapping up the week behind me and looking ahead to the weekend's plans. This week, my thoughts have sadly been with the people of the Philippines, in the midst of the Super Typhoon Haiyan and the shooting here at LAX.

Looking ahead to this weekend, I'm keeping it positive as we are traveling to San Francisco to celebrate my grandmother, Paw Paw's 95th birthday at a big Chinese Banquet with my extended family that we rarely get to see. And I'll spend time with my parents, including my father on Veterans Day, who served as a Marine.

image via the Bay Area Discovery Museum

I love visiting the Bay Area. One of the kids many favorite play-centric places is the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. I miss the Willow Sculpture by artist Patrick Dougherty. But his current installation, Peekaboo Palace at the Lookout Cove is no less magical. The adventures the kids create there are infinite. 

Have a lovely weekend.