Dogear Press Projects: Bryan's Bunny Canvas

My adorable nephew Bryan will be turning one in just under a month, and I was lucky enough to design the invite for his first birthday party.  I’m looking forward to sharing his birthday invitation with you in the future, but in the meantime I thought I’d revisit a project that I did for his beautiful Los Angeles nursery (can't wait to see what his New Jersey room will look like).  Jess (of The Eagle’s Nest) had the wonderful idea of having 20 family members and friends each paint/design a 4x4 canvas that somehow related to the rabbit (the Chinese Zodiac sign of Bryan’s birth year).  I knew that I wanted to create something that was modern and bright, and I really loved the finished product.  I had a lot of paint left over after finishing the small canvas, so I took the opportunity to paint a primed piece of wood that made the move with us from Philly to New York.

Guest Post: [Live Here/Decorate With This] at Apartment 34

Apartment 34 was one of the first blogs I discovered a few years back, and I’ve been a fan of it since.  So when Erin of Apartment 34 requested some guest submissions for her “Live Here/Decorate With This” series, one room immediately popped into mind, and inspiration struck.  Needless to say, I was more than a teeny bit excited when I found out that Erin had chosen my submission to be featured on her blog.  Check out the rest of my décor picks here!  And you can see more of Erin’s design inspiration picks throughout the rest of this week on Apartment 34.

Image sources: room & elephant

Friends Who Photograph: Adeeb Captures Jellyfish

A major reason I started this blog was as an outlet for my interest in photography.  Although I love sharing my iPhone and digital SLR images here, I also really love discovering other people’s photography.  There are a myriad of professional photographers whose work I could look at all day, but I’m also a huge fan of the eye and talent of some of my good friends who also enjoy photography as a hobby.  To that end, I’m excited to kick off a series I’m calling “Friends Who Photograph” to share some of my friends’ photography with you!  Adeeb and I are friends from graduate school, and as you can see from the spectacular images below he has some serious talent.

June 2012: Dogear Press iPhone (VSCO Cam) photography

Dogear Press [DP] When did you get into photography?

Adeeb [A] I've liked photography for a long time, but I think I really started getting into it after I bought my first decent camera (a Lumix FZ18 superzoom) in 2007 or 2008.

[DP] What is your current camera?

[A] My camera is a Lumix G1. It was the first of the mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. I do a lot of my photography while traveling or hiking so I wanted something a little more compact than a standard DSLR. The G1 works nicely in that regard, but in retrospect I think it might have been wiser to get a regular Canon or Nikon because of the availability of a wider range of standard lenses.

[DP] Something you want us to know about these images?

[A] These pictures were taken at the Baltimore aquarium (which is a really great aquarium - the new Australian wing is really well done). Aside from the cool subject matter, one of the things I like about these pictures is that they really highlight the benefits of having a larger camera sensor and manual control over the camera settings. I had tried to take similar pictures of the jellyfish at the Baltimore aquarium with my point-and-shoot camera a few years before and they all turned out blurry. The G1 allowed me to lower the shutter speed and still let in enough light despite the dimly lit tank, which was a nice affirmation of my decision to upgrade my camera.

Thanks, Adeeb!  I'm happy to say he'll back to share more of his photography with us in the future.

Food Adventures: Perry St

Stephen and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary with an amazingly delicious dinner at Jean-Georges Voncherichten’s West Village restaurant Perry St.  The space itself is clean, modern, and understated (you can see some beautiful pictures of Perry St taken by one of my favorite photographers here).  And the food... the food was spectacular.  My iPhone photos in the relatively dim lighting of the restaurant can’t do the food justice, but here’s a documentation of (most) of our Perry St meal.  I had the “Taste of Perry St” five course tasting menu, and Stephen had their three course Restaurant Week menu, which allowed us to experience a great variety of the restaurant’s dishes.  There are still more menu items I would love to try.  The butter poached lobster in lemongrass and kaffir lime broth comes to mind... The official restaurant website is currently under construction, but go take a peek at www.perrystrestaurant.com anyway; you’ll be treated to some incredibly lovely food photography.

Snaps: Artful Flowers

A short post for a busy week.  I love the painting-like feel of these photos that I took with my iPhone.

Top: Stunning hydrangeas at Ze Café (via VSCO CAM)
Bottom: Bodega freesias in our apartment (via Instagram)

Snaps: US Open 2012

I love tennis.  We’re talking serious LOVE.  And I’m thankful that I married a man who shares my crazy passion for the sport, who aids and abets 12-hour days at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.  Needless to say, when the US Open rolls around, I’m in tennis heaven; these are two of my favorite weeks in New York City.

This year, the tennis gods gave us two glorious days at the Open.  Marin Cilic versus Kei Nishikori on the perfectly intimate Court 17.  Olympic gold-medalist Andy Murray.  An unexpected three set battle between an unseeded American women’s doubles team and the fourth-seeded Russians.  Stalwart Aussie Lleyton Hewitt versus always tough David Ferrer.  An all-Argentinian battle between Juan Martin Del Potro and Leonardo Mayer.  The singular beauty of Richard Gasquet’s one-handed backhand. World #1 Victoria Azarenka.  Oh.  And scoring two free tickets to Ashe for a night session.

As Stephen and I were finishing a late dinner on our last day at the Open, we overheard a young man’s enthusiastic, “We saw the BEST matches today.”  And we knew exactly how he felt.

A little extra - yesterday I had another visit to The Eagle's Nest where I shared some party inspiration.  You can see it here!

Snaps: Sleepy Cats

I’m in recovery mode from a long weekend filled with US Open tennis, and feeling a bit like the two cuties you see below.  I’ll be sharing my iPhone snaps of our amazing tennis weekend later this week.