for the love of the poster

I can't believe I haven't shared many posters on this blog yet! I guess at some point I got a bit over saturated and I've been seeking lovliness elsewhere for awhile. Or maybe, some of them were starting to run together and begining to look too similar. Whatever the reason, I'm over it. I was browsing though gigposters the other day and saw their "Poster of the Week."
I don't think I need to say much. The poster speaks for itself. It's by designer Ricardo Delrancho. Such nice type, such perfectly understated colors, such heinously beautiful texture...

I'm also loving this poster of his (I think Amanda will looove it!) It reminds me of a vintage magazine cover and I want it hanging in my kitchen – again with the colors!

Matt Armendarez + Martha

Ooh, can you just imagine my delight when Matt posted his spot with Martha on his blog! (We have no T.V. so in the rare instance that there is something I want to see it's difficult.)

I can't wait to make these Alfajores cookies!!!

2 months ago...

This morning I woke up to a beautifully damp-drizzly day. Much like the one we had 2 months ago today...happy 2 month anniversary sweet boy!

photos by Hillary.

Christian the Lion

Oh, oh my gosh, laughing and crying at the same time!
(I maybe a little behind the times here but it will brighten your Friday all the same...& Whitney Houston could NOT have been more appropriate!)

a pretty dress for a special day!

As mentioned previously, 1 week from today I will be in sunny San Antonio, Texas for a very important day in the lives of a very beautiful little family! I will wear this pretty dress (the fancy lace one) on request of the bride (one of my oldest, and dearest friends) and these very snazzy shoes (they are American Eagle, possibly from their winter 2007 collection?) that I found in mint condition at the Salvation Army for $6 (which I love). I know this post is a bit pre-mature but I'm getting excited because I haven't seen any of my girl friends in over 2 months and it will be a very fun-filled weekend. (ahhh, the river walk in the fall!) Besides, it's getting rather cold here in Brooklyn (I'm shivering in a scarf in my apartment) and some Texas sun would do me some good!

(p.s. Collee, God-bless-you for picking such pretty dresses that we can actually wear again (I'm already thinking holiday parties!) and not something like this...I'm just sayin'...)

*Is that model in the Nordstrom dress the same model as the one (in the adjacent photograph) that models for Free People? I'm just wondering...I spend too much time looking a pretty clothes on Free People...apparently.

images from nordstom.com & freepeople.com, respectively.

Rothko, anyone?

so, this photo I took out of my window sure reminded me of Mark Rothko. [please don't think I'm comparing a random photo of mine to the work a master painter, this was just for fun.]

Which reminds me that I have always wanted to go to the Rothko Chapel in Houston. And, as luck would have it...I'm going to Houston next week! After a few days in San Antonio...more on that later.

From the Archives // Italia Fotographia

Okay kids, this is crazy. I just remembered that in the days well before paper city was born & before I knew flickr was cool. I was studying abroad in Florence & to share my photos with people stateside I had a shutterfly account. It's still active! I haven't touched it in ages but if you would like to take a gander, be my guest.

...apparently I had a thing for yellow even then!

*please don't judge me too harshly, it was a while back & I'm not entirely sure what those albums hold.

Scarf lust!

My friend Hillary at Hillary Anne Photography just posted some great portraits on her blog. (you may remember her work from our wedding.) I'm obsessed with the scarf that Candace is wearing! I love scarfs and I've been dreaming of one with some exciting colors...I may have to go searching for one this afternoon!

Great shots Hillary, love the train cars!

*photos by Hillary at Hillary Anne Photography
*NOTE: Hillary just informed me that the scarf is Candace's Grandmother's...double jealous!

Packaging // Owl Wind Chime

I found this owl wind chime for at a thrift store over a year ago. I had to have it for the box it came in...so vintage, so colorful, & great old typefaces...three of them! (I guess the designer couldn't decide which one looked best & embraced it!) But I love all three so no complaints here!

I bought the wind chimes for J (he likes owls) but they looked more like penguins than owls. They were forgotten, hanging on the balcony at his old house during the big move. Not a real big loss, we don't have anywhere to hang them here. But I still have the box!

Inspirational Women

This post is on a rather personal note...
My Grandma, Pauline Decker, passed away in February of this year at age 87 due to Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and heart disease. She was quite the amazing woman, the mother of 13 children, she had 28 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. Grandma and Grandpa (Tony) raised their family of 13 on a farm near Dickinson, North Dakota where they lived until 1987 when they retired and moved into town.

My cousin, Melanie, is preparing to run the Nike Women’s Marathon (26.2 miles) in San Francisco on October 19th in my Grandmother's honor. Melanie's goal is to raise $5,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She ran the Rock n' Roll Marathon in San Diego in 2003 and raised $3,800. Melanie put it best when she emailed our family and said: "As I write, I realize times are tough for everyone and it is truly hard for me to ask you to consider making a donation, even to this very worthy cause. At the same time, I realize that for cancer patients and their families, times are even harder. I would like to ask for your support in raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives."

This is a very personal subject for a lot of families. My Dad has had stomach cancer twice and beat it! My cousin, Mason, was only 4 years old when they found a fast-growing tumor in his chest that would have caused him to suffocate if they had waited only a few more hours.

Aunt Peggy, who fought so galantly to survive, died in 1998 from small cell carcinoma lung cancer. Aunt Diane has been a 28 year survivor of synovial sarcoma cancer. My maternal Grandmother has undergone procedures to rid her of the same breast cancer that has taken the lives of other women in our family. If you would like to know more about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) click here. If you would like to know more about Teams in Training click here. If you would like to know more about the Nike Women’s Marathon click here. If you would like to donate to the LLS by being a sponsor for Melanie, click here, or email me at kd.mcnamara85@gmail.com and I will put you in touch with Melanie.

Did I say the run is 26.2 miles!!?! Good luck, Melanie! You can do it!

thanks Aunt Diane for the photos!

PHOTO NOTES:
top left: Pauline Kuntz
middle: Anton "Tony" Decker & Pauline (Kuntz) Decker, October 28, 1940
right: Pauline Decker (awesome horn-rimmed glasses) holding her son, Dick Decker, and her son (My Dad!) Robin Decker (standing). (1960)
bottom: Pauline Decker (2004)

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

Take a 3:33 min break this Friday to relax & watch this video. I just can't get enough of Bonnie "Prince" Billy these days – and his perfect harmonies with Dawn McCarthy. *swoon.

From the Archives // Graduation Announcements

I almost forgot about these! (even though it wasn't that long ago) They were the graduation announcements that I screen printed when I graduated from college. To save time and money (which were so both precious at the time...I guess somethings never change!) I bought a few packs of blank, multi-colored cards & mix 'n' matched the envelopes & ink colors for a little variety.

Another tale...O

So, this is actually a few weeks old but I still wanted to share. Last week I was down in the Flatiron District wandering around Madison Square Park in the post-rain loveliness. And a banner caught my eye, it was bright and stood out against the translucent grey that was the city that afternoon. My curiosity made a bee-line to said banner and I found myself standing in front of the Pentagram office. (for those of you that are less design savvy, this would be like a young architect suddenly finding herself standing at the base of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water...or something like that.)

So I see this banner & I must admit, I was a little confused at first because I did not know the story behind it...apparently, they usually have a banner with a "P" (for obvious reasons) in it's spot. Read the story for yourself.

What do you think? I think it's pretty radical/bold that they did that. Of course we are in NYC, so maybe it's not. Some people have commented that it blankets the company which has offices in Austin, Berlin, London & San Fransisco as well. Does it? If so, is that fair? Maybe it is, people are passionate about change after all and I can't blame them. Hmmm, I think this was probably Ms. Scher's goal (to drum up some conversation) don't you think?

photo via pentagram.com

A delightful tale...

I was out on my bike in search of a fabric store this afternoon. As I passed an old print shop that I had previously made a mental note of and filed under the category I-bet-that-place-is-AWESOME-on-the-inside...I noticed a table with some junk on it sitting outside the shop. A light bulb went off in my head and I turned around as quickly as I could.

Sure enough sitting in an already-scavenged box caked in old inks, grease & dust was my new treasure. The pressman said that the box was piled high this morning but some people came and bought up almost all of his old laser cut lead type and ornaments. I only had $1.00, the exact price of the 4 3/4" x 2 3/4" piece of wood-mounted history that I held in my giddy little fingers. It was fate.

I have this thing...well, a few things. I love old children's book illustrations, the really old ones that only have 1 maybe 2 colors printed with black. Usually lots of folk tales or nursery rhymes are all bundled into one big book & illustrated. &, I love letterpress, especially the vintage stuff. Don't get me wrong, the modern stuff is good too, but the old stuff is just more raw. So, please imagine the delight that was mine when I found this!

However, I'm having a hard time understanding, "Foller Master!" Unless it means "Follow the Leader" which is what the boys in the etching are doing...any ideas anyone? Please enlighten me.

*I thought I would show you my little bottle collection as well. I like to keep colored glass in the window, it's just so nice in the evening!

Artist Profile // Jonathan D. Baker

My friend Jonathan (or "Baker" to his friends) just launched his new site. He's a very talented artist and web-guru. His emphasis is in photography but going through art school with him I honestly haven't seen any medium that this guy can't work in. He's about to make the big move from Texas to the Mountainous-Wonderland of Denver, Colorado to fulfill his dream of working hard and playing harder!

Do take a look at his new site, amalgamis. And browse through his photography portfolio to see some deserted desert loveliness.

If you know anyone in the Denver area that Jonathan should know about, or if you are in need of a web-guru...drop him a line, he would be happy to hear from you!

OH! and Jonathan helped me immensely with my web site. (aka: I gave him the artwork, he advised me in the ways-of-the-web and put it together for me!)

*Thanks Baker, good luck in Denver!

photos by Jonathan D. Baker via amalgamis.

O Fall, how I do love thee!

I'm getting jittery just looking (and drooling) over these lovely fall images at Matthew Mead. It seems everyone has been feeling autumn's arrival...(even if it's just with football games, for my Texas friends!) I was at Target yesterday and it's just evil the way they have the Halloween candy displayed in giant monster-mouths! (Did I say "evil" because I meant awesome! I did resist, for the record.) It's only September people, can't we hold off on the Halloween stuff for a few more weeks!?

I'm thinking a fun, fall-inspired project is on the horizon...not sure what (I am liking the funky wall art above via Matthew Mead)...but with this much excitement I must do something!

What are you doing to celebrate the fall, even if you can't feel it yet? Are you working on any fun recipes or projects?

*I already bought a pie pumpkin for baking and cooking...I would cook with pumpkin year around if it wasn't kind of faux pas.

top image by me.
bottom image via Matthew Mead.

Mustachio!

J usually wears a beard. I like it.
Every once in awhile he gets a wild hair and shaves it down to a mustache. Usually in stages that last a few days, starting with a horribly scary trucker-handlebar-stache. (I requested that he skip that stage on this go-round.) Saturday afternoon, with one quick swipe of his switchblade he shaved the beard down to the mustachio. So here it is friends, J's new look. He can twizzle the ends into little curls. One of his students laughed so hard when J walked into the room he fell out of his desk!

The Big Apple! // techie heaven

I went here today. Not for fun, (I don't really get into stuff like that) to save a very sick MacBook. Not mine, J's. (it's easier when you're not emotionally invested to do something like this...he was a wreck last night.)

Diagnosis via the Genius Bar (really cool concept, by the way!) was the hard drive is dead & cannot be recovered. J's warranty was up 2 weeks ago.

Moral of the story: I LOVE COMPANIES THAT HONOR EXPIRED WARRANTIES! $0.00 to replace the hard drive and a chipped top case. Oh, and get AppleCare, it's probably a good investment.

*Thank you Apple!

NOTE: It took less than 24 hours to have J's MacBook 100% better and, I can pick it up anytime because they are open 24/365. that's right. crazy.

Great-grandma's Banana Bread

Finally, the long awaited banana bread recipe!
Ever feel bad tossing those over ripe bananas? Put them in the freezer until you get a chance to make this bread. Just thaw the bananas, they get really gooey but the results are worth it!

Other things to throw in just for fun...chocolate chips, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut flakes, flax seeds. It's hard to mess up so experiment at your leisure. Enjoy!

DIY // trashcan + faux bois

faux bois: french, "fake wood"
savvy?

My bathroom trashcan was charcoal-grey, metal and rock-star-fabulous. And then, there was the big move & it got crushed. Yesterday evening I was at my local TrueValue and picked up a few materials for a DIY I've been dreaming about. (it's because of this. ever since I saw it, I've wanted to play too...) As you can see, our bathroom is bright white on...bright white. So things have a tendency to look really stark in there. I needed something with a little warmth and a little texture so here's what I did...

Materials:
-1 cheap trashcan (the more simple the shape, the easier it will be to wrap)
-1 roll of wood grain contact paper (approx: $3.99)
-X-acto knife or scissors whatever you're more comfortable with
-ruler
-cutting mat (if you go the X-acto route)

Measure your can's vertical height, add one & a half inches to that number. Mine was 14" tall so I cut 15.5" strips of contact paper. You need a little extra to tuck under the bottom to keep it seamless to prevent peeling.

Make each strip somewhere between 3-6" wide...your call

I laid my strips on vertically, starting at the top so I could smooth the extra under the can easily.

Just layer the strips on, the great thing is the wood grain looks seamless no matter what you do!

*note: watch out for bubbles, you'll have to go back and smooth them out!

Out of my window last night...

This was actually very crisp and beautiful in real life last night. Like a movie poster for Batman. When I woke up at 5:30 you could still see it, but it was faint and faded quickly. (if you can't tell, it's a shot out of my window of Manhattan. There are giant beams of light shooting out of Ground Zero and reflecting on the clouds.)

*I know some photographers that will cringe and groan..."oh, whhhyy did she attempt a night shot like that from miles away and then post it!?" to them I say...sorry, but I told my mom I would.

typography.

I pass by this resturant daily and no matter what time of day or night, the colors on the building look great. (feeding my loooovvve for a curry yellow) And that typography...I just can't get enough of those letterforms...Bellissimo!

*please note: the ends of the leaves in the photo are changing colors...this was taken about 1 week ago! (...I feel scarf weather approaching!)

borninseptember.org

The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

this. is. awesome.
I think I know some September babies out there.

Respect.

J teaches high school global history in inner city Brooklyn. He got an email from a veteran teacher last night that was sent to all of the social studies teachers. He told the teachers that they needed to address the date today (J had already been working on it all evening) if they didn't, their silence would make them a "prick." I think I agree, and I think that goes for all of us.

photo from newberlin.org

HA-ha-larious!

One of my best friends just sent this over...

In case you missed it. Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational, which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are my favs:

Cashtration: n. The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

Beelzebug: (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out. [ahh! I've had problems with these lately!]

coffee: n. the person upon whom one coughs.

esplanade: v. to attempt an explanation while drunk.

oyster: n. a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

Frisbeetarianism: n. the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

*thanks Abbey, banana bread coming soon! i promise!
**photo from our wedding, by Hillary Anne Photography

Mid-morning walk lovlies...

I'm from West Texas, this translates to "no-trees"... In fact one of my favorite bands hailing from the LBK, Thrift Store Cowboys, has a song called No Trees. It also means flat, very flat...stand-on-a-tuna-can-and-see-100-miles-in-every-direction-flat. Don't get me wrong, I love West Texas, there's something about seeing the desert and windmills when I drive off of the Caprock outside of Post that get me everytime. BUT, I also love trees & water. All of this is a preamble to the lovely walk I had mid-morning to one of my favorite spots in Prospect Park. I think this weekend's rain from tropical storm Hanna may have prompted some late-summer bloomage.

*when I tell people that I go running in the park & I feel like I'm alone in the woods, even though I'm in the middle of Brooklyn they don't seem to believe me...do you believe me now?

Forgive me...

1. for my lack of posts, I'm quite busy right now but I promise some good stuff soon-ish (hmmm, great-grandma's banana bread recipe per Abbey's request...)
2. for this photograph. I don't even know what to say...we were walking in Prospect Park a week ago and...albino squirrel? I'm not even sure, but I grabbed my camera...you tell me?!?? I'm still not sure what to think...

Letterpress Loveliness // Bjørn Letterpress Studio

Love this print! It's so sculptural, definitely channelling a Gothic Cathedral.

Bjørn Letterpress Studio hails from Provo, Utah.
Print by Bryce Knudson

my sister, the Airman

I have 2 sisters, both younger than me. My youngest sister, Marissa, is a surgery-tech in the Air Force. (that's her, the blond on the right.) She's the "wild one," Kendra (pictured on the left) is "strong willed," no forgotten-middle-child-syndrome for her...but this post isn't about Kendra. (sorry hermana)

Marissa is in Iraq right now & has been since May, (yeah, she missed the wedding) she may be getting an extension though January. She's young, 5 feet tall, rides a bike to the hospital through the desert to work everyday. She runs marathons for fun and trains at the same field that Saddam Hussein's soccer team did (really crazy). Oh, and she could kick your ass. I mean, kick. your. ass. That's her in the red cap drilling into some one's finger...hmmm.

We love you, Marissa! Thank you!

Inspiration for the Weekend // Handmade Nation

really rad.

You should check out the interview with Faythe Levine (DIY, craftster extraordinaire) in the NY Times as well, it's very cool and worth the read! The documentary, Handmade Nation, debuts in 2009. Ms. Levine also has a book out, co-written with Cortney Heimerl, Handmade Nation: the rise of D.I.Y., Art, Craft & Design.

must fight the urge to bust out the sewing machine right now and do other work...pooh! But maybe I'll go to the library this afternoon and see about that book...

ps: Ms. Levine's band, Wooden Robot, did the soundtrack for the movie, pretty. freakin. rad.

Holy Heavenly // ANZAC cookies

If you haven't already noticed, I'm a pretty big fan of 101 Cookbooks. I love the recipes & the photography is killer. I have yet to make anything too complicated (sometimes the ingredients were difficult to come by in Lubbock, but I made some substitutions) and it's always worth the extra step or ingredient. She really sticks to healthy and whole foods as well which is great if you want something not-as-southern-as-your-mom-made-it & usually always vegetarian or even vegan. I made these ANZAC cookies tonight for my dinner. (yes, I said dinner.) ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, you can get the cookie-lore here for a little background info. What I'm trying to say is I highly recommend this recipe. They were filling, fantastic & I didn't feel the urge to eat the whole pan. I also didn't use the orange blossom water that she suggested, I substituted with a little vanilla.

(Don't worry Mom, I ate the orange that I used for zest with them so that's not all I had for dinner!)

note: I can't & wasn't about to compete with Heidi's incredible photographs of her cookies. (besides hers are heart-shaped & mine were blobs.) So here's a shot of our lovely Kitchen Aid mixer, (a wedding gift) in pink for the Susan G. Komen Foundation...and the great evening light in our kitchen.

Chronicle Books + Eleanor Grosh + Jason Munn

Oh, imagine my delight when I was reading grain edit this morning and not only did he do a tour at Chronicle Books in San Fran but, they [chronicle] have been collaborating with TWO of my favorite. artists. ever. (well, living artists that is.)

I was introduced to both Eleanor Grosh (pushmepullyou design) & Jason Munn (the small stakes) via gig poster art. They both have a constant flow of incredible posters while working on other projects. Grosh was the designer behind all of the awesome keds designs, she has worked with Urban Outfitters on some apartment-wares among other things.

Munn just finished a big project with InSound Records called the InSound 20. They actually had the "unveiling" here in NYC and J and I went and saw all of his screen-printed-goodness live & in person. (it was all so very nice!)

Grosh images via chroniclebooks.com
Munn images via grainedit.com

drafting table lust

Seeing this on design*sponge yesterday made me miss my wonderful drafting table, I had to leave it in Texas during the big move. We have a bar in the studio apt (which is nice) but no dining table. One day, I dream of having a dining table like one of these...


ahhh, a girl can dream, right!?

top image by jill malek via design*sponge.
middle image by Sköna hem, bottom image by Michael Del Piero, both via desire to inspire.

Baby Shower Invites // Miss Ella

I've been meaning to post these for awhile, I made them a few months ago... Now Miss Ella is almost 3 months old! I will be taking a trip down to Texas in a month to go see her (okay, & her parents) can't wait!

My main inspiration when I was working on the design were these cookies. No, really, I had recently made them and had been searching in vain for a scalloped edge cookie cutter for MONTHS. I had been wanting to use my old scalloped scissors on something but hadn't found the perfect project until Nicole's mom asked me to make these shower invites.

a note on the paper for you design-y types out there: I used a craft card stock for the backing and an ivory Wausau paper with matching 100% cotton, #10 envelopes, also in ivory.

*note: I still haven't found the scallop-edged cookie cutter, please enlighten me if you know where I can find one! oh, and the cookies are amazing.

Bklyn Bride // Bklyn Pillow

After doing our wedding and spending countless hours researching I found most of my inspiration in the blogosphere. I know some of my dearest friends are currently planning a wedding (some more publicly than others, wink, wink!) So I've mentioned and showcased a few of my wedding vendor friends and inspirations. I would like to also direct your attention to these fabulous handmade ring pillows by wedding blogger, Vane. Her blog is chock full of inspirations and great vendors if you're in NYC.

my favorite is pictured above, can you tell I'm getting psyched for fall!?

photo from Bklyn Pillow.

David Byrne // Bike Racks

Rad.
I'm pretty sure that's all I need to say.
David Byrne (Talking Heads) + Modern Art + Bikes

I saw the red guitar in Williamsburg, Bklyn last weekend when we went to see Yo La Tengo play a free show at McCarren Pool. (I know, it sucks living in NY with all these great free shows!)

Click here for the full story in the New York Times.

photos: New York City Department of Transportation