East Brother Light Station & the Marin Room

This weekend we took quick trip to stay in a light house on an island in the San Francisco Bay for the night. Did you know that there was a Bed & Breakfast in a historic light house on an island in the San Francisco Bay? Me neither!!

That is, until Nik’s uncle gave us a gift certificate to stay there as a wedding gift. Thanks Uncle Gary!!!

Staying at East Brother Light Station is perfectly choreographed. We met our fellow castaways on the dock at precisely 4 o’clock for a ten minute boat ride to the island. Hors d’oeuvres were served along with champagne in the parlor at half past 5. The dinner bell rang at half past 6, and coffee was served with dessert at 9 o’clock. In the morning, coffee and tea were available at 7 o’clock and breakfast served at 9. A brief tour of the original fog signal building was given at 10, the earth-shaking horn was blown at a quarter after, and the boat back to the main land departed at 11 o’clock. In between the milestones, we were free to wander around the half acre island, climb the spiral staircase to the light signal, browse the books in the parlor, or stare out to sea. During our nineteen hours on the island, we ate for five, slept for eight, read for two, took photos for two, and stared out to sea for three which meant that despite the lack of activity, there was no time to be bored. When it’s all said and done, we made the entire trip in less than 24 hours.

The price tag on the room is more than we would typically pay willingly, but when you consider the hors d’oeuvres and champagne, a four course dinner including wine that rivals any we’ve had in the city, and a huge breakfast….it’s not so bad.

On a side note, East Brother is conducting an inn keeper search right now and before we went, Nik and I wondered if we could do it. We don’t meet two of the critical qualifications….neither of us is a chef or has a coast guard approved boating license….but after staying on the island, we decided that we couldn’t do it anyways. Every day would be a little bit like ground hogs day, and I don’t think we would be as good at hosting ten people every day as the current inn keepers were to us. I still think we would be great inn keepers, just not at this inn!!

Nik has more photos on his blog.

Staring out to sea through the agave and past the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to San Francisco

Piecing strips together

Since I left my job in November, I have been sewing a lot, and am currently working on one of my absolute favorite projects. It will soon be a 5 foot square quilt made of 648 white cotton triangles. Each triangle was cut from the flags that hung at our wedding last June which were made by our friends and family.

The flags sat on my shelf for over six months while I struggled with the pattern. Initially, I thought of chevrons. I did a small sample, and the pieces were too small and subtle, and the proportions were off. I thought at one point I would keep the flags as their full rectangular size, but that would have been too chaotic because they ranged from 4″x4″ to 8″x10″. Finally, I cut as many 4″ squares as I possibly could without knowing where I was going. Since squares are pretty boring, I cut each of those into two triangles and started playing. I divided the pieces into off white and bright white, and noticed that the stacks were roughly equal. I paired them together by sewing a seam on the diagonal to create over three hundred dual tone squares.

Lots of little squares (more contrast shown for graphic purposes)

I quickly realized that the possibilities were endless, so I laid out a few options and waited for Nik to get home.

Nine patterns options (graphics have more contrast than the actual fabrics)

We picked the middle pattern on the bottom row, and I started piecing. You can see how the bright white/off white fabrics look in the photo below. It’s much more subtle than the graphics above, which I love.

It took a full day to make the squares, another two days to sew the squares into horizontal strips 18 at a time, and yesterday I sewed all 18 strips together to finish the quilt top and basted the top to the batting & brown backing fabric. I plan to do the quilting by hand, so that might take a while, and then I will bind it all together. Hopefully I’ll have it finished by our anniversary!!

Basting the layers together

Playing with the designs in Illustrator made me wonder what else I could do. Now I’m excited to find more fabrics I love so that I can make another 324 squares to make one of these. I especially love the one in the lower left corner.

The quilts I will make one day

Other blankets I’ve made:

Giant Granny Square

Ripple Blanket

Granny Square Blanket

Tweed & Lace

Nap Time in the fancy chair

Today I went to a movie in a fancy mall downtown, and this gentleman was sleeping right outside of the fanciest of fancy department stores. It’s just a great juxtaposition of life happening here in the big city.

Self Portrait on Day One

On November 15, I signed up to go to a conference in Salt Lake City called the Altitude Design Summit (Alt). Several of the bloggers I have been following for years were speaking, and since I like reading their work online, I figured I might enjoy hearing what they have to say in person too.

After the holidays, chatter about Alt picked up everywhere. Some bloggers were hunting for tickets and hotel rooms while others were creating ‘what to wear’ boards for every hour of the conference. I watched it all from the sidelines and gave in a little because I did stress about what I would wear for the dinner-en-blanc party. But generally, seeing everyone so worked up about what clothes and accessories were going into their suitcases concerned me. I was interested in this conference because of the content and the people, and not their outfits. I’ll be honest, I am intimidated by overly fashionable people.

Fast forward to last Wednesday when I passed through the doors of baggage claim at the Salt Lake City airport and walked to the passenger pick-up area. To my right and to my left, there were ladies in high heels looking lost. We were all searching for the airport “shuttles” which consisted of a few sedans with magnetic logos on the side, and we were all slightly guarded. We were all bloggers, and most of us were there for the first time. We didn’t quite know what our blogs were or where they were going, but we were here for the same reason…to figure that out. The few that had been there before seemed unapproachable in their confidence. We were freshman and cramped their sophomoric style.

The Grand America where the conference was held

Fifteen or twenty minutes later, I packed into a car with two other ladies and went to the main hotel to check in. I split off to rest a bit before leaving for the scheduled dinner with ten others. The evening was the perfect start to an intimidating weekend. The food was prepared by Stephanie and Romina and served in five courses. Over each course, I got to know Molly, Mindy, Taylor and Ruth (all freshmen) a little bit better. By the end, I had four names and faces that I could connect with throughout the week. The only question was would I actually recognize them given the drastic costume changes that would occur.

The following two days were a blur of high heels and red lipstick, with spots of clarity and inspiration thrown in here and there. During the first panel, one of the speakers did elude to the fact that we chose our friends by the clothes they wear, and I must say that that was not what I wanted to hear. I was there because this group of people was giving this new platform of personal expression their all, not because they all wear cute clothes.

After all of the sessions, I came to the conclusion that these bloggers have all been successful thru calculated chance. Blogging is so new that none of them expected to “go pro”, and the platform is also nimble enough that each of them made mistakes and recovered quickly. I also learned that “design bloggers” are not all “designers” in the traditional graphic, interior, industrial, fashion, or architectural sense. They simply have developed an appreciation for their own personal design whatever that may be. I am very interested in knowing what others think design blogging is. We all design our own lives to make ourselves happy, so are we all designers? Or is there a particular rigor or discipline that distinguishes a designer? I am not a design blogger, but I am a designer that blogs. Is there a difference?

Then there were three keynote talks that were all equally amazing. The first discussion between Pilar Guzman, Deborah Needleman, and Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan made me want to have coffee with each of them at least once a month. Then Ben Silberman’s discussion of what Pinterest is and will be gave me my biggest take aways of the entire weekend. First, you have to make things happen if you want them, and second, if you are in a position to expand your business, hire people that are smarter than you so that you can let go with confidence as necessary. Then the final keynote given by Gretchen Rubin was both encouraging and funny, and left everyone wanting to make changes in their daily lives to make them a little bit happier.

The remainder of the time really was a blur to me. All of the chit-chatting between sessions and at big parties was overwhelming. Since I came alone, I didn’t have anyone to serve as my social crutch, and pretty much felt like a loner. I eventually began seeing beyond the pretty faces and glitter, but by that point, I was way behind. Everyone else already had their friends, so I played the part of the wall flower, and I do not sit on the sidelines when I am confident. I must have still been intimidated. I did introduce myself to a hand full of people that I really admire, because I knew I would kick myself if I didn’t.

Then on the very last day at the very last moment….I asked a girl I had chatted briefly with if she wanted to have dinner that night. I know, I actually kind of made a friend!!! Who knew that would make things better? So my last hurrah of the whole experience was by far the best. My new friend, Meg, and I went out to dinner with her friend,  Allison, to a quiet dinner at the Copper Onion downtown. It was one of those evenings where the conversation never lulled, and we felt like old friends the entire time. It was constant and funny and inspiring and energizing and the food was delicious. I know that this is why the sophomores I met on the airport curb returned this year, but it took me, a freshman, some time.

My spot next to two friends

For more Alt recaps, go here.

I started a new photography and story telling project called 366 Objects! My plan is to photograph an object and tell its story every day of 2012 which is a leap year, hence 366. Most things I own were either given to me by people I care about, were found on fantastic adventures, were purchased to fulfill a very specific desire or need, or are simply beautiful (in my eyes at least). The stories will be the easy part, and the photography will be the hard part. 366 Objects is definitely inspired by some other great projects I have followed, including A Collection a Day by Lisa Congdon, multiple projects at 3191 Miles Apart by Stephanie & MAV, and Drawing A Day by Lauren Nassef. Click here or the 366 Objects logo above to go to the website.

Next week I will be going to the Altitude Design Summit in Salt Lake City!! It will be the first time I have ever spent multiple days with five hundred people I don’t know talking about something I am interested in. I will be surrounded by ladies & gentlemen I have admired via the internet for years, and I get to wear a vintage white sequins top from my mother-in-law’s shop to one of the big parties. I am definitely a little nervous because I am not really a design blogger….but I am a designer and a blogger, so I guess that counts. Right? I hope to do a post or two while I am there.

As I gear up for Alt, I am trying to streamline myself on the internet. I am active on several social networking sites, and you can now find me by looking for @jamiesinz on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

Finally, since I do not carry my full camera around every day, I have started taking photos with my phone. Many of these have been posted to Instagram and if you have the app, you can find me @jamiesinz. Since we cannot access Instagram directly from a computer, I am also posting them to my Tumblr blog. To see the blog, go to jamiesinz.tumblr.com or click any of the images below.

I have several more ideas about how to push my personal and professional limits, and I cannot wait for them to evolve enough for me to share those too!!