it's almost 2010

and i couldn't be happier. and that's not to say that 2009 had some high points. it did, and i am grateful for them. especially this. but it had some pretty low, lows. yuckville, usa. thanks for sticking with me. as a fellow blog reader i know how discouraging (and annoying) it can be to go to a blog and see the same freakin post for weeks on end and then when a new post comes it is sooooooo depressing. i am really excited about getting back into blogging on a regular basis. still no polaroid to speak of, but i have my new friend the iphone, and another new app - shake it photo (evidence above). wishing you a very happy new year. here's to an amazing 2010 for all of us!

ps. i put a few more shake it photos here.

clearly

clearly i am taking some time off from blogging. i am out of polaroid. yuck! depressing. boo hoo. weep weep. maybe a fairy princess will give me some for christmas. fingers crossed. if not, i will be forced to use the polaroid filter in photobag on my i phone (photo example above). oh, and running a small empire takes a lot of work. jamie and i always joke about how innocent the decision was. we'll just make some headbands and sell them online so our friends can buy them. what were we thinking? who knows, but it has been amazing and stressful and creative and rewarding and exhausting. we are super excited for 2010 and i am exited personally as well. i just know it's gonna be a good year.


ps. we are offering $20 off of any ban.do line purchase until midnight. type hooray in the coupon code at checkout. oh, and we just launched our new bridal as well.

slipped my mind

whilst caught up in a big ole case of the oh-poor-mes i forgot to share some good news. we launched our new heart line. it's pretty darn cute, if i don't say so myself. hope you agree. oh, and tell all your friends. hey, tell strangers for that matter.

ps. i can't take credit for these polaroids. given props to my girl chloe.

very quietly

first. thank you so much for all of your sweet emails and comments. it's so nice to know i am not alone, especially when it often times feels like i am. apparently, lots of us have yucky stuff going on. i'm not the only one (yes, i have a touch of the "i think the world revolves around me" syndrome . . . actually it may be more than a touch)

oh, and i very quietly opened my shop today.
testing the waters.
let me know what you think.
are there any photos here that you think i need to add?

ps. a fun saturday with this little lady for her ysl project inspired me to do it.

balloons still make me smile

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

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

a little birdie

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

a succulent and a turtle

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

a rosy weekend

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

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

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

a fine mess

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

more from the weekend

more from our lovely sunday.
um, does anyone know how to time travel?
i'd like to go back.

a really nice weekend

chillin' out with good friends, my new oliver peoples shades (a gift not a purchase), red stripe, twilight and some amazing chocolate chip cookies. how was your weekend?

4 years

4 years ago today our friend bobbi took this picture of us in vegas. we had been married for about an hour.
my arms were thinner.
my waist was thinner.
our wallets were fatter.
still, i wouldn't go back. i like where i'm going. i like where we're going. it's not always easy, but i'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be. no trip to paris this year. that's ok. we took lots of pictures, and the ones andrew took where on slide film. we love slideshows. so tonight, we'll eat dinner by candlelight, drag out the slide projector and reminisce.
sounds pretty darn good to me.

half birthday and napkin sculptures.

please accept these digital photos of napkins. i took some polaroids, but my computer is insisting that there is no scanner installed. well there is. i can see it. i have followed the plug from the scanner, under the desk, over a bunch of cables (many of which belong to amplifiers and other things that make a lot of noise, hurt my ears and make me cry) and directly into the computer. but alas, i am tired, weak, so i will surrender. oh, and yesterday was my half birthday (silly, i know, but important to me cause it's like a birthday but your not getting a year older). it didn't go as planned. it was a stressful,recession fueled day. i solved it by taking myself to the movies to see this. please don't tell anyone, as i think i am too old and too cool to go to this movie - - alone. well, i did and i ate a kids pack and even laughed a little, and now i've told you. great. my cover is blown.

enjoy the napkins. a few more in this set.

spring cleaning

most of time if you call me when i am at home and ask me what i'm doing i will tell you that i am cleaning. i always seem to be cleaning (and andrew, too), but i am so messy that i can't seem to keep up with myself. this weekend andrew and i did some real spring cleaning. we took all of the pots and pans out of the cupboards. andrew cleaned the cupboards while i bossed him around. the usual. it felt good to get everything organized and finally find the lid to the stock pot. hooray! and when we finished, we rewarded ourselves with gin and tonics. now that's my kind of cleaning.

current inspiration

anyone who knows me, knows that i love sparkly things. i also like sheer things, lacy things, old things, tattered things, embroidered things . . . oh, and chocolate . . . i like chocolate a lot.

these things inspired me today, while i was supposed to be putting stuff away. i ended up taking more stuff out. that happens a lot. poor andrew.

pincushion doll party

1. lipslikeaheart, 2. dollparty, 3. dolldresses, 4. loosethread

another bit of jen history has been found. an obsession i had with pincushion dolls. these dolls were sent to storage after andrew moved in. i just didn't think it was fair to subject him to all of this femininity at once. now that he is talking about creating a wall of guitars in our living room, i think these little ladies can come out of hiding. our maybe i'll take them to our studio and make mini ban.dos for them.

ballet

file these under, "adorable things found while rummaging through boxes we got from storage."
apparently, i used to be a ballerina. oh, what i wouldn't give to have the matching tutu. it may be hard to tell my the photo, but they are teeny tiny.

ps. tutu is a funny word, isn't it?


one more thing. i'm here again if you are interested.

easter lace?

is there such a thing as easter lace?
if so . . . here! this is for you.
if not, have a happy day.

the bow collar

you probably want some words with this, but i just don't think i am up to it today. maybe you can add your own. thanks.

what did you do this weekend?

i took pictures. some polaroids (too tired to scan last night) and some digital. we are branching out at ban.do. get ready world . . . here we come!

white camelias

are in bloom.
off to do a million things at once.
see ya later.

ps. if you're in the mood for flowers, i've got more here.

cumquats

not the most creative title for a blog post, but appropriate nonetheless.
i wonder if these lovely people could make something delicious with them?

and one other thing. . . a sweet little video that janine made for the jen11 project. we had to write 5 words that described us. janine chose optimistic for me, so i better unwedge myself, right? i don't want to let her down.

where does the time go?

where the heck does the time go? i didn't post all week. i'm sorry. i had all intentions of posting and then somehow . . .pouf . . . the time was gone. that, plus the fact that i am totally wedged. do you ever get that? when you are just wedged into a weird spot in your mind. i get it every now and again, and it ain't fun. it's not the worst, it's just weird. you know you should be happy and grateful and think positive, but you feel pessimism right there standing directly behind you and in front of you, simultaneously. scary, right? oh, pessimism, leave me, please leave me. i fought long and hard to conquer you years ago and most of the time you remain my prisoner, but then once in a while - - there you are, and i'm, well, wedged. so please, folks, just bear with me. i think it's just that building a small accessories empire and starting a photography career simultaneously may be tough. not to worry, cause i just happen to be really, really tough. so i will continue, and neither will happen as quickly as i would like (due in part to the fact that i am still addicted to facebook and blogs and bret michaels rock of love). but it will happen! ahhh, thanks for listening. i think i might be un-wedging myself right now.

oh, and i totally forgot to tell you about this and this (i'm in episode one). i actually forget a lot now. i didn't used to, but now i do. love me or leave me, i guess.

thanks for sticking with me.

ps. not sure if you can see the time this posted but it is really late for me. andrew and i have switched sleep schedules ala freaky friday. he's now tired at 10 and i am wide awake at midnight. i don't like it. the whole goal was to try to go to sleep at the same time. darn. hold on, i just got tired. ok, i am going to embrace it. quickly hit publish and then run into bed and hopefully drift off into dreamland. i apologize for not proofreading this post. forgive me.

my new mug

this is by no means meant to describe me. we have a communal kitchen at the ban.do studio that we share with a bunch of guys - - which begs the question, "whose mug is this?" i'll tell you whose mug it is, it's my mug. this way, i can at least feel exceptional for 20 minutes every morning while i drink my tea. i will just look in the mirror, holding my mug and say repeatedly, "i am the exceptional woman, i am the exceptional woman."

what would your mug say?

when life gives you lemons . . .

cut'em in half, take a photo of them and have real simple put it on the cover of their magazine!

how cool is that? i am so excited! hip hip hooray for lemons.

this is a welcomed good thing after losing heidi. i just wish she would have seen it. she has been really supportive of my photography. i'm gonna go out side and hold it as high up as i can and hope that she can see it from heaven.



oh, and there's more. is it okay if i boast? it is? thanks. my new best friends (sorry old best friends, you've been replaced) also used an image of mine for the table of contents, the book mark for this issue and gave me a ten page spread. that last part i knew about. oh, and they used this polaroid of me for the contributors page.

a huge thank you to my other new best friend andrew purcell. he helped me out tremendously (he is now my second favorite andrew in the whole wide world next to this guy.)

goodbye, heidi

yesterday was one of those days that you wake up and within about 10 minutes you realize, this is just not going to be a good day. nothing big, just a lot of little things that make you want to go to bed and just miss this particular day. i usually try to fight those days in my mind. tell myself not to get drawn in. there is still a lot to be grateful for and there is always an upside to things.

unfortunately, the day won yesterday as i lost a dear friend to cancer. she gave it such a good fight and was so brave. and although i struggle with my own beliefs (does heaven really exist?) i sure hope in heidi's case it does. if there is anyone in the world that deserves a place like heaven, that's my heidi.

so today, no matter how many little inconveniences i encounter, i will find something to be grateful for, and i hope you will, too.

stuff i've got that i don't use

i have lots and lots of stuff that i don't use. mostly props from shoots, like beautiful bath salts, scrub brushes, etc. i figured i may as well take photos of them. that's kinda like using them, right?