kick off: summer start

Did you have a good unofficial-summer-kick-off weekend? Summer is my favorite season and it brings me back to fond memories in Maine (as do these images).  I have adventures ahead in the coming weeks - my little brother is graduating high school in Las Vegas, my best friend is getting married in Maui, I have a long trip to visit my father and family in Laguna Beach over 4th of July weekend and plenty of other fun weekends skirting around New England... and hoping to escape to Maine for one or two of those.  Happy summer and happy exploring to you all!

Images courtesy of Bippity Boppity Boo.

for the love of music: the story of Nashville

I am so lucky to know such talented makers.  I just saw a screening of a great film produced by friends and partners over at Make, For the Love of Music: The Story of Nashville.  It's about musicians talking about the town, the people and what it means to them. It's starting its run on the film festival circuit.  Keep an eye out for pieces of the content also on some commercials for the city of Nashville, as well as pieces from the film distributed by the artists via their networks.  It really drew me in, was shot beautifully and told a great story.  Check out the trailer and just try not to fall in love with Nashville:

on the road: Hong Kong

When I posted about Adult Spring Break in SF, I realized I never did a post about Hong Kong!  2013 started off in a blur when I departed for an around-the-world work trip that took me to LA, Hong Kong and London.  I was excited to go to two cities I love and one I had never been to - Hong Kong! And while it was a too short trip (I think we were there 3 nights and two days? I said it was a blur...), it was still fun to be somewhere new and do a little exploring.

 (view from my hotel my first night)

 (view from "The Peak" - a tram takes you up top and you can view the whole city)

 (lunch time noodles - I was in total heaven and I think this lunch for 5 people cost a cool $22)

 (street food)

 (entering Temple Street in Kowloon to visit the night market)

 (new phone covers- mine was named Molang and she was my travel companion; my friends was Ling Ling and yes, maybe there is a facebook album out there called "The Adventures of Molang and Ling Ling"...)

(now departing...)

Next stop - leaving in about three weeks to head to Las Vegas for my little brother's high school graduation, followed by my best friend's wedding in Maui!

did you enjoy your story?

A friend recently shared this video, documented by a couple traveling through Chile and I really loved it so I wanted to share. Enjoy the adventure, story & travel...

a story for tomorrow. from gnarly bay productions, Inc. on Vimeo.

on the road: san fransisco adult spring break

Every spring, I like to take a domestic trip somewhere as my own version of a spring break - who says adults can't have one, too?  I had a family reunion in the San Fransisco area Easter weekend, so thought I'd just take the whole week! 

Some friends and I spent my first weekend there camping on the Sonoma coast at a place called Salt Point.  After a hard and long Boston winter, it was great to just be OUTSIDE and have some sun.  On the way back, we also had a lovely lunch at this place that had fresh crab sandwiches and a jazz trio right on the water - it was glorious and we hung there for hours.

Back in San Fransisco, I had a slow and relaxing week full of walking, yoga, coffee, reading, museums and all around chilling.

The other cool thing I did was get my tin type portrait done at Photobooth in the Mission.  It's traditional 19th century portraits actually shot on a metal plate.  I am normally a behind-the-camera kind of girl, so I was a little nervous, but the photographer, Kari, was so sweet and great and she even let me go into the dark room with her to see the process. 

A little intense for me... but Kari said she liked it - I look skeptical of the camera, which I am.

All in all, a lovely, slow-down trip, which is just what I needed.

J.Crew on Film & Radical Media

I love championing great work from friends.  Lately, I've been producing a lot of work for one of our clients with the amazing team over at Radical Media.  There is an insane amount of talent over there and they couldn't be nicer people, too (because life is too short to work with people who just suck).

On a call today, they told me they did some videos for the new content platform for J.Crew, J.Crew on Film (#jcrewonfilm).  The films take an insightful look into the craft and work J.Crew puts into their clothes and they are so beautiful and fun.  Here are two lovelies:

Newport Folk Fest 2012 Documentary

Anything that communicates the humanity & the spirit of the human experience is worth getting into

Newport Folk Festival 2012 from SöPa productions on Vimeo.

As I count down the days until the end of winter, I can't wait for summer and the joy that is the Newport Folk Fest.