my polaroid blog

balloons still make me smile

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:37:00 +0000

so i am officially surrendering to 2009. i know it is a bit early, but i feel like i have no choice. i fought the good fight, but i think it is going to win, so instead of continuing to fight i will conserve my strength for 2010. i won't go into the ins and outs of it, but generally things have been kinda sucky and i haven't felt like myself in months. and that's sucky because i usually like myself, but this person-- me no likey AT ALL. i didn't celebrate my birthday. i didn't feel like it. so there. take that 2009. i miss my friends. "hi friends!" i miss you guys. oh, and the thing about me and being down in the dumps is i don't like being down in the dumps. i spent lots of years in them there dumps and i didn't much like it there (the food is crap and the accommodations crap, too!). then i start feeling guilty for being down in the dumps. i beat myself up for feeling sorry for myself and for not being just generally happy, because a bad year for me is still a pretty darn good year for most. so then it becomes this nasty inner dialogue myself vs. myself and as you can see if myself wins then myself loses. i think they call that a lose lose situation. for now, i will carry on. i will try not to be completely erased by this big bowl of yuck, but please, pardon me if i have been a bad blogger, bad friend, bad wife, bad sister, daughter, partner, customer, e-mailer, bill payer, call returner, polaroider . . . you get the point.

on a lighter note, balloons still make me smile.

my birthday is almost here

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:46:00 +0000

i'm scared. oh, and the flu is stalking me. go away you pesky flu, go away now!

a little birdie

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:45:00 +0000

a little birdie told me that ban.do is doing a new thing:
mondays = fundays tweet coupon. check out our twitter to find out more.
hint: it's a good one!

hope you had a nice weekend. mine was filled with things that are fried and now i can't fit into any of my pants . . . and it's kinda cold out. a tunic and a quick unbuttoning of the jeans should get me through the day.

chloe aftel

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:04:00 +0000

the amazing chloe aftel was nice enough to give me a pack of polaroid (i had run out, hence the lack of new posts). of course i feel a lot of pressure now about using it. want to make sure all the shots are beautiful. and now there is even more pressure as she has given jamie and i the distinct pleasure of becoming ban.do's new photographer. we had our first shoot last week and the outcome was amazing. see the proof here. but alas, chloe is a polaroid lover, too. the shot above is one she took on the shoot. and there are more on her site. i'm thinking i might just give her my blog, especially since she's got a sweet stash of the good stuff (i'm talking polaroid folks). stay tuned for more from chloe and me, too.

life gave me lemons . . . again!

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:22:00 +0000

the cover i shot for real simple way back when is nominated for some sort of best magazine cover. can you vote for me, please? you would only be helping yourself seeing as your vote enters you into a chance to win a $10,000 amazon gift card. that's a lot of christmas gifts. you have till the end of september. oh, and i'll be your best friend.

vote here!

ps. i forgot to mention it's in the best of house and home section.

the picture of this yellow dress

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:17:00 +0000

is featured in this really cool set from chronicle, curated by this lovely and talented lady.

what are you waiting for? go get you some.

long beach swap meet

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:45:00 +0000

dear long beach swap meet.

you are my very favorite swap meet. i love you, long beach swap meet, but i beg of you not to tell the others (pcc, rose bowl, santa monica, torrance . . .). it's just that you never disappoint. you are always there for me (at least you are on the third sunday of every month). you feed me with your soft pretzels and semi-flat pepsi and you don't rob me blind. in fact, i always find the most inspiring things at you, long beach, and they usually cost around a buck. somehow this weekend the bucks added up, but that's probably because i have a little project i'm working on. thanks for the inspiration, and the horrible sun burn.

xo
jen

figs

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 06:03:00 +0000

as it turns out, my brother has a fig tree in his back yard, and . . . it has figs on it. i know. exciting, right? i made him pull off a whole branch, cause i thought it looked so pretty. i took lots of fig pictures and now i have all of these figs. does anyone have a good fig jam recipe? is that hard to make? i feel like it should be easy. please help before they die.

making a move

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:25:00 +0000

anyone that knows me knows that the last year has been especially overwhelming for me. starting a business (we just turned 1, hooray!!), styling, shooting and blogging have been just a few things that have eaten up my time and a large sampling of my sanity. i have neglected lots of people and lots of projects, and i am riddled with guilt (jewish guilt, no less, and it's the worst). i wish i could say i am the type of person that rises to the occasion when things get overwhelming, but usually i curl up somewhere and cry (but please don't tell anyone, as i pretend to be quite strong). in an effort to reduce this sort of behavior, i am trying to streamline a bit. so i am doing something i should have done a long, long time ago. i'm bringing becoming a foodie over here. i have so neglected that sweet blog and i want that to stop. i think if i just have one blog, it will be easier and great for you, cause now i won't feel guilty about doing food posts over here. let's see how it goes.

ps. finally got to pick a whole bunch of tomatoes from gwendolyn (that's not a lady, that's my tomato plant).

in the garden

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:07:00 +0000

i spent some time in the veggie garden today.
pulling weeds.
staking tomatoes.
catching hornworms. (very satisfying)
hand pollinating cucumbers.
cutting down my amazing lettuce that just bolted. (i would insert a sad face emoticon here, but i don't believe in emoticons)
harvesting radish seeds.
and just feeling generally satisfied at my accomplishment. i am finally a green thumb.

too busy to clean

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:51:00 +0000

do you see a theme starting? gosh, i hope not. i was meaning to become less busy, but somehow that hasn't happened. we had a shoot here on tuesday, and the kitchen still pretty much looks the same. my very talented friend and stylist, emily, suggested i get an intern. not a bad idea. any takers?

too busy to blog

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:43:00 +0000

apparently, not only was i too busy to breathe, but also too busy to blog. oops. sorry. here is a beautiful zucchini leaf as a peace offering. yes, a zucchini leaf! from my garden! it's growing!!!! i am loving every minute of it. it has become part of my daily routine. wake up, check mail, check perez hilton (to get my "news"), put on sun dress and flip flops, grab garden clippers and head out back. yesterday i even hand pollinated my cucumbers (sounds so dirty and for some reason i end up singing "reproduction" from grease 2 - yikes). so far we have had one zucchini, one strawberry (yum), one persian cucumber and a bunch of different lettuces (been making salads almost every night). i have also already turned a garden misfortune into a garden fortune. early on i was very impressed at how my radishes were growing. i had never seen radish leaves that big. i must be an amazing gardener. then i thought to myself, "self, this is too good to be true." so i took myself to the computer and googled large radish leaves. not good - - bad. it was too hot for radishes (i kinda knew that, but i wanted radishes gosh darnit), so they never "took." the plant is now huge as i am letting it go to seed and will attempt to harvest the seeds and plant them later in the year. the good part is that i read you can make pesto from the leaves. you can. it's delicious. so all was not lost. ok. i have to run (i will literally get up from the computer and run) and start my busy day of not breathing. bye.

ps. if anyone knows a good veggie garden blog, please oh please let me know.

too busy to breathe

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:35:00 +0000

have you ever felt like that? sometimes i think if i just took time to breathe, i would do a lot better. it's important, ya know. to breathe. i just wanted to say hi. now i'm off to run around, take pictures and hopefully... breathe.

finally!

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:11:00 +0000

corsages and collars are here.
whew.
hooray.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
i'm tired.
the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz was me sleeping.

a succulent and a turtle

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:37:00 +0000

that's a title i never thought i'd use.

a rosy weekend

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:25:00 +0000

although most of the weekend kind of drifted by without me noticing, sunday was quite productive. we (and when i say "we" i am mainly referring to andrew and his folks) finally finished the vegetable garden. andrew was nice enough to build a shade cover for the lettuces that actually aren't supposed to be planted in summer (but i want my lettuces, daddy, and i want them NOW!). of course he suggested wire and some green plastic something. i don't think so. you see, i am very difficult. i am aware of this, so somehow i think that makes it ok. i don't want green plastic in my veggie garden, just as i didn't want wire cones for the tomatoes. i mean come on. i was able to find some great bamboo arches for the tomatoes and beans and some cute burlap (yes, burlap can be cute if i say so) for the shade cover. it all looks great. fingers crossed. i am known for killing plants, lots and lots of plants. we also planted my two david austin rose bushes. i did not know about david austin roses, my my mother in law told me they were quite famous. i liked them because they looked like peonies, and since i can't really grow peonies here, i thought this was a great second option. oh, and they smell really, really good. old fashioned rose smell. mine are a lighter version of these. right before we planted them (and again, i am not a part of "we" - - just imagine me in the background shouting out orders and belittling people when they give me a suggestion i don't like) my mother in law gave me the bad news. they would have to be cut back. all flowers off. i trust her, though. she's a real green thumb. so she trimmed and i quickly put them in a vase and took the above photo. hopefully there will be lots more rose photos to come. i checked this morning and they haven't grown at all. how long is this supposed to take?

ps. it is not all glamour. mum and i pulled weeds out of our new back yard that we (you know the drill on "we") grew from seed. wow. what a difference. it looks like a real lawn and strangely enough, i found weeding very therapudic.

busy week

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:11:00 +0000

what else is new? busy is good. rich and relaxed would be better, but we'll get there. we just put up a bunch of new styles at ban.do so check them out. great stuff for summer. i think this one is my favorite. or maybe this. collars and corsages coming soon! i'll keep you posted.

oh, i also finally got around to planting the veggie garden (with a lot of help from andrew and his folks). it is so exciting, a tiny little dream come true.

have a great weekend.

sneak peek

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:43:00 +0000

coming soon - - as in the next few days!
ban.do corsages.
they are amazing.
take that from an unbiased source.

a fine mess

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:22:00 +0000

a took this one not too long ago after being inspired by chelsea. she always has such pretty flower photos. now this part is totally cheesy, but . . . do you see the heart? i swear that wasn't on purpose.
a happy accident.
those are the best.

ps. the lovely taylor swift wearing no. 88. how cute.

how was your weekend?

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:38:00 +0000

i slept a lot. seems my body has taken charge and is now making my decisions for me. no matter how much i want to do something, if the body decides it would rather sleep . . . then, we sleep. i spent several years feeling really guilty for napping, but i am starting to get the hang of it. hooray for naps - - down with productivity. also, we are getting ready to plant the two raised garden beds that came with our house. one of the reasons i fell in love with this place and they have been horribly neglected since we moved in. andrew's parents are here and they are both green thumbs, so we have put all four of their thumbs to hard work and hope to have it all done by the end of the week. i'll keep you posted.

ps. the photos imply that i had a beach picnic. i didn't. did you?

a couple more

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:40:00 +0000

a couple more shots from veggie times.
um, how much are you looking forward to this weekend?
if there wasn't such a stigma put on drinking at 8:30 in the morning, i would splash some vodka over my morning grapefruit juice.
it's been that kind of week.
goodbye week, and good riddance.

vegetarian times

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:01:00 +0000

hi. i forgot to tell you that i did a detox story for vegetarian times. the issue is out on newsstands now. these are a couple of shots from the story. there's more. i'll show you. it was a great assignment. they gave me the story and then let me run with it. i shot over an entire weekend. i tried to do the detox (which seemed pretty cool), but as it turns out it's hard to shoot, style, detox and think all at the same time.

beach picnic

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:52:00 +0000

oy vey? where did last week go. yikes. sorry i didn't post. i think i posted in my mind, but never got to the physical part. hope you had a great week and a great weekend. i worked all weekend and back at it today, but i wanted to share with you some beach picnic polaroids. these are some outtakes from a story i shot a couple of weeks ago (food by her and styling by her). i shot a lot of digital and it looked really great (thanks to andrew). i'll share those when the article comes out.

happy monday.

april showers bring may flowers sale

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:54:00 +0000

i almost forgot to tell you. we're having a sale over at ban.do for the entire month of may. the april showers bring may flowers sale! 25% off all floral pieces (including belts and black label).
hey.
why are you still here?
get on over there and get you one!

style (e)scapes @ coco + kelly

noreply@blogger.com (jen) — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:14:00 +0000

cassandra was nice enough to ask me to kick off her style (e)scapes this week. check it out!