The theme for this weekend was braids. I was the only NY Breinholt who wasn’t rocking braids, and I’ll be honest, I felt a little left out. But, I was perfectly content to just hang out with those b-holts who were rocking the braids, and to snap a couple of shots of said braids. Piper was in a super smiley mood on both Saturday and Sunday, which makes the visits so much fun. Here are a couple of shoulder ride shots that Reagan snapped, of Piper making various profound gestures at the ceiling.

Another one by Reagan, of Piper finding something she sees outside very humorous.

…and just having some Mom time.

What up, interwebz? I just wanted to bring your attention to something that I thought was pretty cool. My sister who lives in Alaska is quite the seamstress. And, in light of current events is putting her skills to work for a good cause. Read her description of the project below, for the details:

I woke up this morning to a phone call from a concerned family member telling me about the tsunami warning. It quickly became clear that there was no real concern for the area where I live, but I could not get back to sleep, could not stop thinking of the people who woke up this morning to disaster. It really caused me to examine the fine line I walk between complacency, and compassion. I know that there are tragic things happening everyday everywhere in the world. There is no way for me to know about or know how to help with every one of them. But that is not an excuse to do nothing anymore. I thought of one tiny something I can do today:

My favorite fabric designer, Etsuko Furuya, happens to be Japanese. I have some small pieces of her beautiful fabric in my collection that I am going to make into zipper pouches and list in the “for Japan” section of my shop. For any of the pouches purchased from that section (or with “for Japan” in the title), I will donate 100% of the proceeds to the American Red Cross for Japan earthquake relief. If they all sell, I will make more for for the same cause until the fabric runs out…

Thank you!

Here is a link her her shop Bodhihandmade

The images below are a few of the items that she has made, which I lifted from her Etsy Page.

Happy 311 Day. Friday’s by virtue, are generally pretty good days. But, for me it has been an exceptionally good Friday (so far). I went online to pay bills and saw that our car insurance premium had mysteriously increased for the second time recently. I was a bit perturbed, so I called in and asked for an explanation. I was told that it is just a general increase for all of the policy holders in my area. I asked her if there was anything that she could do for me, since I had been with them for 8 years. “Sorry but no,” I was told. So, out of a mixture of curiosity and spite, I went to a competing company’s website and jumped through all of the hoops to request a quote. The final number was less than a quarter of what we are currently paying. I thought for sure that I must have done something wrong. So, I followed up with a phone call to the prospective new insurer’s customer service. As it turns out, the online quote was accurate, and I had indeed been screwed over by my current provider. So, in two weeks when my current policy expires, we will have an extra $350 per month to allocate in less painful ways.

After this, I was feeling kind of lucky. So, I decided to go for broke and call my credit card, to see if they would lower my interest rate. They did. Whaaaaaa? When I hung up with the credit card people, I was half tempted to call my landlord and see if he would lower our rent, hahahahah. On top of everything else, the rain has given way to sunshine and warmish temps.

Ok, so obviously everyone else’s Friday is not going nearly this well. I’m referring to the entire Pacific basin, specifically Japan. I feel super sad for those guys right now. Despite having watched “The Cove.” I strongly feel that Japanese people, generally are way to cute/nice/smart for something this crappy to happen to. I’m sure that the smart factor did play a huge role in mitigating damage, though. I remember learning about their super advanced earthquake proofing that was part of the building code over there. Things like foundations with springs in them, and furniture strapped to the wall.  Amazing people. Despite how saddening all of the news has been, I can’t help but be awed by the incredible images that have come across the net. Here are a few links:

• Boston Globe Big Picture (consistently one of my favs)
• Here are a couple of links to videos that Boingboing posted video 1 and video 2
• This one kind of sums it up, from Anota Bien.

In order to not end this post on a depressing note, here are links to some much more light-hearted items that I have liked during the week:

• Motorized off road skateboard by Fiik on Uncrate. Includes wireless hand held throttle.
• iPhone case made from stacked and cross-cut old Skate Decks, by Grove.
• Nat Geo built the house from Pixar’s “Up” and flew it using helium balloons.
• Speaking of Awesome Japanese stuff, a short beautifully shot documentary on Japan’s Keirin Racing Academy.
• A bunch of art that I shot at Scope, broken down by Nick Schonberger on Complex.
• And finally– why didn’t they have this when I was in Law School?

Apologies for the redundancy for anyone who subscribes to my G-reader shared items, or is my FB Friend. Don’t forget to try your luck, by participating in giveaway #2.

[Photo: Greta, By: Me]

Happy Friday! I decided to post the controversial second part of Reagan’s interview. In case you missed the first, it’s over here. Anyway, I thought it would be appropriate to post today, for a couple of reasons. First, it is nasty and rainy outside. So, the next best thing to actually being under a blanket sipping tea next to a fake-fireplace, is watching someone else do it. Second, we have been in a fight for a few weeks now about our impending spring vacation. It has been pretty heavy. Anyway, I finally broke down and bought the tickets yesterday. So, the fight is over. What does that have to do with the video? Well, since you asked… The second minute or so of the vid is Reagan and I arguing about Snooki. If you can’t tell from the video, it is all tongue in cheek. In reality, I don’t think that either of us really have strong feelings about the New Jersian one way or the other. Here it is–

I don’t like using camera bags that look like camera bags. I like to maintain a low profile as much as possible when lugging around camera gear. The bag that I use the most right now is a Case Logic backpack with a top access hammock. I like it because it looks like a normal backpack. In fact, I actually had a girl ask me once on the train where I got my “backpack.” The only problem is that it is a bit on the smallish side. I can fit an extra lens, a flash, some extra batteries and cards, but that is about it. So, if I’m bringing my 70-200, an extra body or a lighting setup, I usually end up having to lug it around in a tote, or something. It gets annoying. I have looked at Tamrac, Lowepro and various other larger kits. The only problem is that they all scream “here comes a guy with a bunch of camera gear.” Which is something that I would strongly prefer to avoid.

So, Imagine how delighted I was when I discovered the Burton bag pictured above, called the F-stop Pack. I saw it on Hypebeast this morning. When I clicked through to the Burton site, it said that they were sold out. I’m going to have to try to work my Burton connex to score one of these bad boys.

This week the grand ol’ prize is a t-shirt. Not just any t-shirt. It is a t-shirt with a design by the artist Wissam Shawkat. The artist it awesome. The shirt was designed in connection with Staple design. Wearing this shirt is like wearing the Mona Lisa, except tipping the charts into the “cool” spectrum rather than the wolves with moon spectrum. At least, I think so.

The contest: I received like 90 emails (4 emails and a tweet) last time telling me that my giveaway method was flawed. I guess people really wanted that turntable watch bad, or something. Anyway, this go-around the contest will be a bit more like the standard blahg giveaway crap that people are used to seeing. Happy? To win this mens size L shirt (for your husband/boyfriend), please leave a comment describing why this shirt is so much more awesome than the other t-shirts you (your husband/guy pal) have (I’m looking at you Obama). On Sunday, I will choose the comment that I like the most (or at least narrow it down to two [assuming that two or more people comment], then flip a coin). Aaaaaanndddd Go!

I’m having a tough time staying on top of things this week. Here we are a day late with LMC (and several other things). Better late than never? It’s debatable, but here goes anyway. Sam introduced me to this hip hop duo, while he was in town. We ended up listening to a lot of Chiddy Bang radio on Pandora, while we were hanging out. It is pretty good stuff. You might recognize the music behind this track as one of the most overplayed MGMT songs in existence. I have to say that I like this rendition better. Check out “The opposite of adults (KIDS).”

[photo:  garnered from G-images]

Now that I’m looking at these images all in the same post, I’m getting a kind of morbid vibe. That wasn’t my initial intention. It is just some more stuff that I shot last week, and wanted to share. All three of these works were featured in galleries exhibiting at Pulse. The painting on the top was done by Cindy Wright. I have really been enjoying the photo-realistic stuff that I have seen lately.

Below, is a mixed medium piece by Matthew Cox. It is an Xray partially stitched over with cross stitching thread. Super cool concept.

Finally, these skulls are made from pieced together glass gathered from Mexican beer bottles. The artist is Andres Basurto.

It is Tuesday, which means that Sam is headed home today. Bummer. New LMC dropping later tonight.

Yeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Firsts are always tough. Live and learn, etc… I realized that I need to make the contests a bit easier, or at least more bright line or something. Here is the thing– We had Aubrey, and we had Lauren. They both gave solid efforts. The whole thing comes down to me being a stickler (or not). Aubrey’s answer:

Kenny Scharf
Jeff Gibson
Shepard Fairey
12oz
George Condo

Pretty much spot on, except for the “12 oz.” By “12 oz” I’m sure she meant “12 ounce prophet.” The only problem is that 12 ounce prophet is not so much an artist as it is a collaborative, including various artists like Futura 2000 and IRAK. So, does that answer count? Then Lauren wrote:

Shepard Fairey
Jeff Gibson
Samuel Evensen
George Condo
Lady Gaga for Supreme – Terry Richardson photographer

Another solid answer. There was no Samuel Evanson, but she played it safe and actually rattled off 6 names, instead of the requisite 5– and ended up being 5 for 6.

I wasn’t sure of the best way to handle this situation. So I did what anyone would do, and I flipped a coin. Aubrey congratulations on the watch. I’m sure that I have your address, but send it to me again anyway, for simplicity’s sake. Lauren, valiant effort. I don’t want you to go away empty handed, so I’m sending you a tote from the NYC Pulse art show. Hit me up with your address, as well.

Get amped for giveaway #2.

We got Friday night started by taking Sam out for some Italian food before waltzing down to Korea town and firing up some Karaoke. We first went to a place on 32nd, until they kicked us out. Then we went to a place on 35th. At the second place we stayed until 4:30. Yeah, 4:30 AM. That is after last call at the bars. Apparently the place is open until 6 AM. Amazing. Above: Amanda and Reagan rocking out. Below: Sam enjoying his b-day celebration.

Before we left the house, Reagan decided that she was going to whip up a batch of her own custom girl scout style Samoas. Here she is working away in the kitchen. The cookies came out impressively well.

Saturday morning we woke up and had brunch before heading up to kick it with Piper. She was kind of grouchy when she first woke up from her nap. But, we had a very long and pleasant visit, and were able to get some smiles out of her before giving her a bath and getting her all dressed up in her PJs.

Here is a shot of Sam and myself trying to look like the Black Keys.

Then this

and this happened.

I did eventually shave of the rest of my handlebar stache. Sam looks sharp with his new haircut.

Tomorrow morning: First running club race of the season. I am in no way ready. Thank goodness that it is just a 5k.