Gift guide: Art

1. sneaker customization kit - for those that want customized shoes or love to design
2. digital time lapse camera - video making made simple and weather resistant!
3. michelle armas calendar - or a painting if someone's been extra good this year.
4. ona camera bag organizer insert - camera protection and organization in a bag you already own
5. coptic marker sketch set - refillable and with replaceable nibs
6. peas USB hub - sleek, practical, and useful
7. uten.silo - organization for offices, studios, or kitchens
8. brush vase - for flowers or paint brushes
9. ipad CF & SD card reader - makes storing photos on the go simple.
10. slice scissors - gorgeous steel scissors
11. iphone case - find something pretty, or design your own
12. pebeo porcelaine 150 - paints to decorate your own ceramics at home

creative outlet

Nearly every time I feel as if I am finished going through travel photos I see something else and feel inspired.

I love paint, watercolor, and the juxtaposition when combined with photography. Without delving too deep into art and art history (which is my background) it's the dichotomy between photographers using light to 'paint' their images and with painters creating with nature that really fascinates me. They are such different mediums, but can be united in striking ways.

There are quite a few creative projects going on for me and many more brewing... these are a small sample of some of the things I've been working on.

Art is just so therapeutic. My Mom always said people need a creative outlet and I whole heartedly agree - especially when I can combine it with my loves: art, travel, and Stefan.

Elisen Lebkuchen

Since not everyone is able to make it to Munich for the markets I translated this recipe and made a cute little card to match, so you can have some German Christmas cookies, too.

I've made these several times and Stefan claims they taste like his Oma's, which is clearly a good sign. Best of all they don't have flour or hirschornsalz (baker's ammonia) in them.

The illustrations were so much fun to draw. I'm working on a second edition of my cookbook and debating if I want to do use them as opposed to photos.

I'll post a recipe for homemade glühwein in the coming days as well... homemade is the way to go. The only trouble is it tastes better than most at the Christmas Markets, but the ambiance and warmth keeps drawing me back.

Color of 2011: Honeysuckle

What do you think of Pantone's color of 2011 - Honeysuckle?

It's certainly vivacious and bright!

It reminds me of lipstick, a sunset, my sister, and of course flowers.

Having such an energizing color will definitely help people's moods, although it's probably best in small doses for clothing.

We saw this beautiful flower somewhere along Highway One in California last Winter. I'm not sure what kind of flower it is, but the shade is very similar to Pantone's Honeysuckle.

Stereotype Maps

An interesting look at Europe can be seen through maps designed by Bulgarian designer and illustrator Yanko Tsvetkov. He's compiled some of the perceived views from various countries about themselves, their neighbors, and fellow EU members.

According to him here's:

Germany's view of Europe

... and the US's view of Europe

More countries are listed on his site, which provide lots of thought provoking topics for conversation.

You can even buy a t-shirt for the German speaking world. Nothing like being seen as the European savings bank, but that is a widely held sentiment here.

Also note the Balearic 'German' Islands (including Mallorca)... that's pretty accurate too. We even overheard a man telling a woman working at a café in Palma that spoke Spanish to him, 'No, alemán' (No, in German). Unreal.

[All images from Yanko Tsvetkov]

pretty maps

Seeing this website just made me happy...

Aaron Straup Cope created a really neat website aptly called Pretty Maps. He has one for sale on 20x200 of lovely San Francisco.

You can also make maps on the site... here is one of Munich.

Another artist that is taking to the maps is Eric Fischer. His maps designate areas of the city that are visited by tourists vs. locals by using geodata from photo sites. People taking photos of the same city over a period > than a month = locals (blue), tourists (red), and uncertain (yellow).

Here is his from New York City. The Munich map isn't as exciting. Perhaps that's due to people like me that don't have photos on flickr.

(photos courtesy of : Aaron Straup Cope + Eric Fischer)

While I'm unpacking...

Apologies for being MIA for quite some time... this apartment thing is seriously taking over my life, but the good news is we only have a few last minute things to move (like Stefan's fish tank) and then it's on to the fun of unpacking and decorating.

If that wasn't enough, we're going to be getting a new kitchen, so it looks like I'll have more reason to sample some of the restaurants in our neighborhood over the next couple weeks.

I wanted to leave you with a few beautiful travel inspired works of art made by the über talented Julene Harrison.

She painstakingly cuts her images by hand!

If an original cut work commission is out of your price realm you can purchase some of her laser cut prints on etsy! Some of my favorites are her city series, including: New York, Paris, and London.

(images: Julene Harrison)

Color of 2010: Turquoise

Did you see Pantone's new color of the year? Turquoise!


I love this color. It has such a warm feeling and makes me think of a breezy day at the beach. If only I could feel the sun on my face.

While I was home I bought the red spice grinder that perfectly matches our little red refrigerator. They have such a creative product line.

The Pantone people haven't missed a beat either, because they have an ipod touch app for their tremendous color wheel called myPANTONE. I will be snatching Stefan's and using this when it comes time for decorating our new apartment.

Max Wanger - Los Angeles

It's such a wonderful honor to be featured on 100 Layer Cake and Max Wanger's blog. Thank you Jillian + Max!

It was the perfect way to round out our trip and have some beautiful photos from such a special time in our lives.

Remember the subway dress that I fell in love with? Well, you can see it in some of the sneak peek photos.

Most of the photos were taken in Venice, California, while the roof top images were taken at the beautiful SLS hotel where we stayed during our fabulous time in Los Angeles.

Max and his lovely fiancée Margaux enjoy traveling too, so if you can't make it to LA they can always come your way. We're looking forward to crossing paths with them again - somewhere in the world!



(photos courtesy of the ultra talented Max Wanger)

Gift guide: Art

1. Photo Canvas - Have a meaningful photo put onto canvas and decorate a special room. (This is a photo from our honeymoon in the Maldives - how nice to wake up to that every day!) (my own image - simply search online or visit a photo shop in your area)

2. Jelly Lens - This helps to transform a camera phone into something better. I actually cringe when I see people use camera phones at meaningful events, but at least these help improve the quality. (image Spoon sisters / Jelly Lens)

3. Superheadz Blackbird camera - When I took photography courses in college I absolutely loved using medium format cameras. This one is beautiful and playful. (image Urban Outfitters)

4. Retro NaNa Tape from etsy - It's great to see creative types using tape more frequently... and the variety is incredible. (image etsy / RetroNaNa)

5. Yashica Portable Scanner - This is a quick and easy way to turn those old 35mm negatives into scanned copies, which make archiving a breeze. (image Yashica - currently only available in Japan)

6. photojojo shortcut mac keyboard skin - A great tool for learners and designers alike. All of the shortcuts are at your fingertips - and not to mention the bright colors make it even more fun. (image photojojo)

7. seat belt camera strap - fun colors and very sturdy. A great gift for the photographer who has everything. (image photo jojo)

8. Stencil 101 - This book is perfect for budding graffiti artists and Banksy fans. (image Ed Roth / Chronicle books)

9. Famille Summerbelle map - These scherenschnitte paper cuts are so striking. These would be an especially nice gift for someone who is fond of London or Paris. (image famille summer belle)

10. etched letters - These acid etched letters would make a great gift for a typography lover. It looks like many people agree, because there aren't too many available. (image Urban Outfitters)

11. hudson chalkboard paint - For those that want something more exciting than the standard black or green. I love the endless variety and would love to add a color splash to my kitchen. (image hudson)

12. zero per zero railway notes - Everyone loves mail - and these notes are absolutely certain to make someone smile. (image zero per zero)

Kritzelbuch

I keep seeing this book around town and it is absolutely adorable. It's the 'Kinder Künstler Kritzelbuch' (child artist scribble book) from Beltz&Geldberg.

You can see pages from the interior, which include beautiful fill in style illustrations from illustrators like one of my favorite - Philip Waechter (he did the cover).

They say things like 'Das bin ich' (This is me) and 'Und sehe ich aus, wenn ich gross bin' (This is what I look like when I grow up) with space to draw a self-portrait. There are other pages which give suggestions that allow imaginations to run wild.

Here are a few more from the publisher's website:
They say: 1. What grows here? 2. There are a lot of fish under the boat, aren't there? 3. Who was that?

(images: Beltz verlag)

light graffiti

I keep being drawn back to the beautiful images that light graffiti artists have been creating (check out some of their beautiful pieces here: 10 Light Graffiti Artists ).

Despite being able to do this with a standard flash light / pen light and a long exposure camera, a French artist named Aïssa Logerot created Halo - a spray paint light. How ingenious!

It works like traditional spray paint - you can achieve a subtle spray of light or one that is more illuminous and it must be shaken when it's running out of juice. What's even more is that the light is interchangeable and you can simply replace the nozzle for different colors.

I can't wait to see what other artists are able to do with his idea.

(images Aïssa Logerot)

SOUR '日々の音色 (Hibi no neiro)'

Mary Beth posted about this amazing video and I am just bewildered at the creativity and ingenuity behind it.

(video from Sour, via Mary Beth, via booooooom)

Oh how I can't wait to get to Japan in just a few short months on our around the world adventure. I'll update more about that soon!

the.

I've been seeing 'the.' on design sites for a while now... because of their anti-theft lunch bags, however I absolutely love their new framed objects.

Since I don't know that cleaning the vase would be so simple, I think I'd go for the book shelf. It would be so nice in a kitchen for a cookbook or in a little reading area. It's definitely a subliminal conversation starter.

I also love their walls notebook, which can inspire your inner graffiti artist. (Note the typical German Stabilo pens that we all love).

They certainly have a lot of fun design items. If only my birthday was around the corner.

(images courtesy of the.)

Tilt Shift

I'm so in love with this website that Rachel posted on her blog. It's called Tilt Shift Maker and it enables common folk like myself, that don't have a specially designed tilt shift camera to create beautiful photos that look like they are miniatures. After I spent way more time than I care to admit using the site, here are a few of my favorites...

Rome + Cairo

East Greenland

Reykjavik

The trick is to find photos where the focus is on the foreground with a large depth of field and it also helps if there is some height. I'd still like to try bokeh.

I really need to decide what kind of camera to get, which was my birthday gift way back in January. Any recommendations?

Uli's Birthday

I decided to try out my new cookie press for my brother in law's birthday. I love the personalization and it's nice being able to use one of my Mom's old recipes for a touch of familiarity.

The biggest hassle is cutting each and every one of those little letters and characters out, so that they can fit into the press. After that there's the task of washing and storing them, since they are easy to lose, but the results are totally worth it.

The blind debossing reminds me of stationery - which I love. I think they are a fun little way to make a big impact and I'm looking forward to making unique Thank You's and other fun surprises.

Waterloo, Thames, + Chinatown

On our way to the Borough Market we decided to walk along the Thames and see a few of the sites along the way. It was another drizzly day, but that didn't keep the locals or tourists from shopping and exploring the city.

We ended up at the Waterloo tube line since many of the lines were undergoing construction, however it happened to be a pleasant detour.

'The Tunnel' as it is called, is a place of authorized graffiti. I like the idea of having an evolving and ever changing canvas that people can gather at and modify.

Nearly every inch of wall is covered - some places have more interesting or sophisticated designs, while other places are simply people leaving their mark.

On the sign at the opening of the tunnel it states:

No Sexism. No racism. No Adverts.
Please take empty cans and litter home.
All painting on grey walls will be removed.
You don't have to be a gangster to paint here, so please don't behave like one.

I would have painted something myself if we had paint. I guess I'll have to buy some next time and think of something creative in the meantime.

The painters must be pretty dedicated - we saw several who brought buckets of paint and many must bring ladders to reach the heights so far up. It's very impressive. I would be intrigued to see how much it changes over the course of time.

Walking along the Thames was a big contrast from the colored area at Waterloo. It was nice to see people relaxing, especially the adorable father and son who built a little bench on the shore for a game of chess. What great memories that little guy will have from such a thoughtful Dad.

After walking through town all day we made our way to Chinatown and our appetites had finally returned from visiting the Borough Market. It was perfect timing because we saw Haozhan, a modern oriental restaurant.

I ordered wasabi prawns, because I have a not so slight wasabi obsession and then we also had the fried ice cream for dessert. The entire dinner was great, as was the day.

Date Night

I was pleasantly surprised to find two of the new Zagat 2009 books in my post box. I received them as a thank you from Zagat for completing their online survey regarding my favorite restaurants in Europe and New York City.

It looks like they are currently offering promotions for London and San Francisco, so if you sign up on their site and write a review they will send you a complementary copy.

Most of the restaurants they have listed for Munich are places we have heard of, however there are a few that are new to us.

We have a long list of places that we would like to check out so we decided to make a date night jar. Inside we've put the names of various restaurants we would like to try, which I hope will help for those indecisive evenings and will serve as a simple place to put new places we hear about so we don't forget. There are also a few surprises thrown in, old favorites, and Stefan's choice.

Here are some on our list to try - most recently visited and reviewed listed at the top:
(click the links for addresses, menus, and types of food or reviews)

ocui - review
Teatro Tapas - review
grinsekatze - review
Tassilogarten
Seven Fish
Acquarello
Essneun
Terrine
Nero Pizza
Hugo's
Broeding
G Munich
Mangostin (airport review)
blattsalate
sushiya
Schnelle Liebe
Boettner's - Pfisterstrasse 9
Punto Di Vino*
Rüen Thai *
* recommended by a kind reader - Sambasson.
Vielen Dank!!

Here are a few of our tried and true favorites (scroll down to restaurants)

If you are interested in restaurants in the area, I also suggest checking out the following links for Munich:
munichx
prinz
munich today
Guteküche
Schmap
der feinschmecker

Christmas cards

I absolutely love sending mail and my list for Christmas cards continues to grow.

For the past few years, I have utilized a service from the US post office called Premium Postcard. What I really love about this, is that you can personalize your cards, create mailing lists, and send them anywhere in the world for the low price of $1.12 each (or less if you buy them in bulk or when they have a sale).

It's also ultra convenient for sending birthday cards and scheduling mailings in advance, because they are sent from within the US, so there's not the additional transatlantic wait time if you're a tad late on remembering.

If you happen to receive this card in the mail you can act surprised! I will leave the message on the back a mystery for you.

Heirloom cookbook

While I was on the internet hiatus I was able to really work on a rather large project.

I decided to make an heirloom cookbook filled with our favorite recipes as well as family favorites from Stefan’s family and mine. I have had this in mind for some time and thankfully I had a large stock of photos that I have taken of various dishes over the years. At the last minute my Grandma gave me some of her recipes that I didn’t have photos for. I improvised by taking images of ingredients and her.

Once I was finished making the book, I decided to add photos of the people that gave me the recipe, as well as little quips about occasions when we eat the particular food or what it reminds me of. After that was completed I added a simplified family tree in the back. It’s rather amazing, but I can track some of my mother’s family back to the 1500’s!

Rather than tackling this again, because it was much more time consuming than I could have ever expected, I will continually make pages of new favorite recipes and combine them for a second book once I have enough.

My sister said the book has already arrived and she said it's absolutely beautiful. She sent me these pictures until I am able to pick it up next month. I'm so excited!