joonbeam View RSS

we love our zoo 15 Jun 2014 7:54 AM (10 years ago)

Everybody LOVES Betty! #lazoo #beastlyball pic.twitter.com/L5mjYxQ8vI
— Los Angeles Zoo (@LAZoo) June 15, 2014

Sam*E as Wall*E 3 Nov 2013 9:43 AM (11 years ago)

12.31.2012 ... calendar box 31 Dec 2012 11:10 AM (12 years ago)

12.15.12 ... mr. rogers wisdom 15 Dec 2012 8:33 AM (12 years ago)

12.1.12 ... disneyland ii 1 Dec 2012 6:52 AM (12 years ago)

11.01.12 ... scout flynn rider 1 Nov 2012 8:59 AM (12 years ago)

*** we interrupt the disneyland posts to bring you a special edition***

i love that scout is still as creative and fun loving as she has always been.

18. not a speck of bah humbug here.

oh that we all could catch a piece of that.

she started off by going so far as to have me move her long awaited hair cut up a few days. 

the plan has been that she would cut her hair once she has her official college acceptance.

so it has been on hold since january.

dedication to the craft.

she had pascal and he was her first inspiration for the flynn rider choice. having always been a phoebus fan, she has a life long history of admiring the men in disney's life.
flynn was the natural identity.

now she had the chameleon and the hair. 

how did she pull off the costume?

of course she needed the soul patch.

perfect smolder.

found the great jacket (which i modified once we were home),
boots and extra belt at a local thrift store. 

and lucky us they were 50% off yesterday!
(for example the boots and belt were a whopping $1.50 each.)
the pants and blouse we had.
the satchel is crazy fate. it's a vintage coach bag i found years ago.
we use it for our movie camera bag. i removed the black 1990s camera strap
and whipped up a more natural fit
using a perfectly suited long fabric scrap.

frying pans. who knew, right?

and she, pascal and her trusty frying pan were off to music class.
they had a wonderful time. 

it was a lovely halloween. 

how was yours? 

sweet, i hope.

***i'll be back with disneyland part ii in a day or so***

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

10.27.12 ... best week update 27 Oct 2012 2:04 PM (12 years ago)

after 326 days in california we finally fulfilled our dream of 

bringing scout to disneyland.

here she is with her first visit pin and her sparkling new annual passport.

it's beautiful and the weather was perfect, too.

 

and we were ready to roll!

See the full gallery on Posterous

ev had never been to disneyland either. 

and he'd only been to disneyworld once. 

he was pretty excited.

after walking down main street u. s. a. and enjoying the sights there 

we headed right to adventure land and ...

...the tiki bird pavilion.

it was such fun seeing this attraction again after so many years. i first visited disneyworld during its premiere year and the last time i was there was spring 1983. my one and only single day disneyland visit was in spring 1985. seeing the tiki birds through ev and scout's eyes was precious. a great start.

we had a superb day.
here's scout loving her second run on autopia - a definite favorite for her.

disneyland deserves its reputation as the happiest place one earth.

i can't believe we are a mere 40 minutes away. 

the next 12 months are going to be one of our happiest years on earth!

tomorrow i will share a little bit of our second visit. 

so stay tuned. 

and i'd love to hear your disneyland or world memories. 

hope you'll leave a comment.

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

ps: thanks to scout who took all but two of these photos.  

Posted via email from just joon

10.17.12 ... beach day 17 Oct 2012 9:59 AM (12 years ago)

a few weeks ago we finally took a drive back to santa monica. we brought along our first completed chair set to take photos for ev's new mission beach woodwork etsy shop. you can visit that HERE.  but first we walked along the beach and scout spent time feeding her beloved birds.

 they are waiting just for her.

i am always picking up little beach treasures and ev is always good enough to serve as my pack mule.

here they come to meet scout and her bread bits....

... which she saved from our wonderful-as-always lunch at rae's,one of our first and favorite california finds.  especially tony who is one reason we arrange our trek only on a day he is working.

we still find it hard to comprehend that we can visit the ocean in just 30 minutes.  we hope to drive over more often now that we are finally settling in to our new california life - which still seems surreal.  that's a good thing. 

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

10.10.12 ... icy hot bags 10 Oct 2012 5:19 PM (12 years ago)

a few months ago i designed and stitched up some handmade hot or cold bags. ev and scout surprised me with this pretty fabric well over a year ago and i finally got around to using it. doesn't it make beautiful covers?

the bags themselves are made out of muslin and filled with rice. we stick them in the freezer in summer and over the hot spot on the stove in winter. they are nice and small. we haven't had a microwave for a few years now so i chose to make them smaller than my original bags.  i lived with those things during those freezing new england winters.

we won't have that problem here. 

it just gets a bit chilly.

they'll come in handy. 

i like them because i made them with fabric from my housemates. :)

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

10.7.12 ... reel inn 7 Oct 2012 10:01 AM (12 years ago)

i was having fun with the camera while waiting for our delicious dinner. 

the reel inn is one of our favorite finds. 

it has a history with us.

we chanced upon it last year when we came on our scope-out-california trip. it was a beacon of light - seriously - the first night we arrived and drove up the coast from the long beach airport, hungry, tired and charting new destinies. and hungry. very hungry. we were surprised that we were driving along the ocean road and seeing pitch black. i said 'what is wrong with the world? where are the fish shacks?' and at that very second the reel inn sign flashed before us. it was a sign. literally. as we walked toward the door, i greeted an elderly couple who were leaving. they commented that they come here once a week. sometimes we do follow our fate rather well. now that we live here that memory holds an extra special place in our hearts.

wish it was closer to our house but then it might not be as novel so that's ok. and a 40 minute drive is sometimes welcome. 

where is your favorite out-of-the-way restaurant?

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

10.2.12 ... eco happy napkins 2 Oct 2012 9:01 PM (12 years ago)

i started making these muslin napkins with recycled fabric patches a while back. 

these photos are from a custom order.

the appliques are on both sides with the fabrics complimenting one another. 

it's a lot of fun choosing the bits and matching them up.

they are rather time consuming so i have decided that 

i may not continue to offer them, but, 

am giving it a little more of a trial run.

financially they may not have a sensible pay off but they are good for my creative soul. 

that's something. do you have conflicted feelings about your projects and ideas?

i'll be back again in a few days with either tales from the road or workshop.

thanks for stopping by. until next time. 

happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

9.30.12 ... photography fun on a night long ago 30 Sep 2012 7:42 AM (12 years ago)

i am so far behind on organizing my iphoto library and blogging that today's post is a blast from the past. i took these last fall on an evening visit to the state capitol grounds in austin. this was shortly before we moved. we loved to go walking there. scout would people watch and fill sketchbook pages. and it is just a beautiful environment for photography and your soul. we usually photo the grounds and buildings but on this night i was playing around with the low light challenges. these are two of my favorites. they both capture scout's spirit which always brings me great happiness and inspiration.

i've been pondering the differences between last year's blogging and this one. i went from one extreme - posting 365 days in a row - to another - so far this year i've accumulated a mere 18 posts. i have so many topics and photos waiting for this blog. i plan to post more often this last quarter of the year. which is why i started with this one. happiness and inspiration encourage me to keep moving forward. what are your inspirations? please leave a comment below and share your joy and triumphs over your personal challenges with my readers. have a beautiful day today. 

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

9.20.12 ... besos 20 Sep 2012 5:32 PM (12 years ago)

just some photos of my beautiful besos. 

i took these two months ago and readied them for my blog. wow. i am behind. big time. 

how was everyone's summer?

i hope you have a kitty who brings you half as much pleasure as this one brings us.

thanks for stopping by. 

until next time. 

happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

08.17.12 ... perry 17 Aug 2012 7:58 AM (12 years ago)

this is my accidental little dude, perry.

i was working on a completely different concept design, 

but i love little perry, so it all worked out just fine.

 and he is signed.

he is wise and shares his favorite quotes.

he has a heart on his bottom.

he recommends taking time out to relax.

he's scrappy. 

meaning he is made of scraps and 

is tough for his minute size, as well.

he loves to dance to his own music.

perry ... close up and personal. 

i will be making some friends for him soon. 

he looks forward to meeting them.

thanks for stopping by. until next time. 

happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

7.19.12 ... new ironing board cover & vintage Made in America overalls 19 Jul 2012 7:48 AM (12 years ago)

it will come as no surprise to you that my ironing board came from a neighbor's trash day heap. nicest ironing board i've ever had. cannot believe people put perfectly good items for the trash truck and fill up our dumps. the flip side of that is people who have absolute rotting crap stored in their garages and homes. but, onward... i think ironing board covers are designed - and i use that term so loosely - by the same people who design linoleum, wallpaper and sofa fabrics. they have a problem, but not nearly as big a problem as the industry that supports this bizarre phenomenon. but, again, i digress. long story short, i make my own covers because environment is everything and ugly is just plain unacceptable. 

i love to iron. but even if i didn't i would need to in order to sew, which i also love. and life is way too short to look at one of those vile designs every day. i had a wonderful cover i'd made out of peanuts character baseball theme fabric. that was probably six years and five moves ago so you can imagine the state it was in. it was time to say goodbye. (although i do have it in my laundry pile just in case it will clean up well enough to work as a pile of cleaning rags or something.) this one is made from a wonderful heavy cotton shower curtain - the kind you'd use with a separate liner. i found it at a thrift store. brand new. 

this one is cheery and reminds me that this is the time in our life when we live by the zoo and visit it ridiculously often. i hope it lasts a long, long time. but i have a lot more of this fabric so i think i am set for my little glimpse of eternity here on our beautiful swirling blue planet.

my first project was hemming three pairs of pants that i found, of course, at the thrift store. i was looking for overalls for my sweet cousin. i didn't find any for her - yet - but i found two pair for me. 

this pair blows me away because i had forgotten about these painter's overalls that were all the thing in the 1970/80s. this pair has never been worn and its trip to the laundromat with me was its first. i think these were 1.99 (before my 'senior' discount) and i can't wait until they wear in. 

i plan to start on that endeavor immediately.

this is another view of my new cover. and what do you think of my sewing scissors? dusty gave them to me and they are one of my favorite treasures. i love scissors and collect them. this pair is at the top of my ron swanson-ish scissor pyramid. 

i am not sure using a pair of scissors should infuse one with the level of happiness these do but i have to be honest and say if you owned a pair of these your life happiness meter would jump off the chart. just saying sometimes i have an edge over my peers. 

this is one of those times.

the other pair of overalls is seen here on top of the stack. it is also a wonderful find. it's a great cotton fabric with a favorite fine woven grid-like texture that i have only seen one other time, lightweight and soft as butter but will last me forever. it was a very lucky thrift day for me.

i wish we would find this on most of the clothing in our stores. 

but. alas. 

all the more reason this is such a superior thrift find. and why i am drawn to the thrifting addiction. could be much worse. by the way, scout and i picked up 400 pieces of litter last week. that was a great feeling of accomplishment and good deed-ism. 

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

7.10.12 ... my giraffe buddy 10 Jul 2012 7:32 PM (12 years ago)

on a recent zoo visit i was talking to our resident giraffe couple and look what transpired...

yes, that is me he is looking at....

aren't they beautiful? how can i resist talking to them?

and he came right over to visit me...

and contentedly munched as i chatted him up.

how sweet is this? i was one happy camper. so close! 

we do not have a zoom lens. he was this close.

you can see he is listening to me.

i like that he was fine with my conversation. ok, i love it. 

this is just one reason why we are addicted to our beautiful zoo.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. 

until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

06.03.12 ... farmer's market 3 Jun 2012 2:31 PM (12 years ago)

we have a new farmer's market just a hop, skip and a jump away. we discovered it last week and tried a few things and were so blown away by vegetables with 1960s taste that we anxiously awaited our return this saturday. so here is our haul. isn't it gorgeous? 

another reason to love living in california.

we have gone to farmer's markets everywhere we have lived but none have had anything that was any different or better than what we'd find in the grocery store and at triple the price. these are all comparably priced - some are less than store cost -

 and i cannot even describe to you the difference in taste. incredible. 

this makes us very happy.

 

 

See the full gallery on Posterous

the little bit of lettuce we have leftover from last week is as fresh as a daisy. 

what a great summer we have to look forward to.

have you tried the trick of rinsing your strawberries in vinegar water? it kills mold spores and does not affect the taste. you can rinse them with clear water if you want but it is not necessary. i tried it for the first time with these and they are absolutely perfect today. let me know if you do this or try it yourself.

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

4.4.12 ... handmade recycled paper art books 4 May 2012 10:23 AM (12 years ago)

i have mentioned these before, but, as a refresher, i have something i have named my good things books. they are small. in them, i have a daily entry with three good things that happened that day. it is not a diary, but more of an art happy book. i include sketches and the entries are always in different colors and styles. so each day is individual. the entries are short and sweet. some days it is hard to come up with three good things, like on the day you had to say good bye to your beloved pet. but you can always find three small acts of happiness and when you look back over these little books, you will see your life in a nutshell, but with a positive spin. it is truly something and i cannot recommend this habit too highly. the idea for these books came to me because i had saved a newspaper article from the 1980s and the gist of it was: what would you do if you could do anything you wanted if you knew you had three days to live? and then it posed the question: what are you waiting for? you should spend each day as if you only have three days to live and you will live a life better suited to you and your happiness. 

life is shorter than you think.

anyway --- i used to hunt down small, pretty journal style books with unlined paper. and these are ridiculously vanquished all of a sudden over the past few years. plus, the handful i manage to find are overpriced and made in china which defies the purpose of my books as they are good thing themed and i do not find china produced paper products in my life to be a good thing. so i started making my own. at first i made groovy covers with plain white paper (recycled, naturally) inside. but then i started mixing up the papers and adding touches from discarded library books and whatever. and when i write in them i write around the images and type. it is a lot of fun. very inspirational. and, of course, the feeling you get from creating your very own book makes it more of a good things book than it already is. here is my latest along with scout's version - a personal sketch book. i hope these will bring you some inspiration and you will join the daily good things habit along with me. 

life is hard. it helps. a lot.

my miniature abe helps prop open my book for you.

a sample page with three days of my good things.

i have a vintage map of los angeles. i found it years ago and i love it. it is tattered and worn and i sometimes use it as background in my etsy shop photos. since we are new here, i decided to make a copy of the section where we live and use it as a cover. i used my textured card stock and love the effect. by the way, whenever you see new paper in my creations - which is rare - it is because i found it in a thrift store or fine paper wholesale store in the ridiculously marked down bin because it is the last ream they have type of thing. hence, the rarity. but i do love those finds. this beautiful white paper is one of them.

sometimes i use pretty magazine clippings.

i often use discarded library book images.

scout has this thrift found music notation book with awesome quotes. i added the 'button' - an image from a french magazine i have had for over 15 years.

the last page and inside back cover.

now we start to spy scout's book.

here is her cover. 

she used a piece of artwork i had saved. she was 3 years old. inside the cover is another watercolor. she laminated these together. the pigeons are from a magazine. i clipped this years ago. she LOVES pigeons. so she had to add that. isn't this a brilliant cover design?

scout is now designing and producing one-of-a-kind art journal books based on this one. she will be offering them in her etsy shop, seventeenagain.etsy.com so be sure to throw an eye.

this is the back cover. you can see that her pages are eclectic also.

and there you have it. a little bit of life from our world to yours.

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

4.29.12 ... my tiny pencil 29 Apr 2012 7:48 AM (13 years ago)

while looking for glue sticks the other day i found all sorts of other wonderful things in my office tub. things i haven't seen in a while like this wonderful old teeny pencil that was perfectly sharpened. 

just waiting for me.

it was fun to use it. 

naturally i used it on teeny tiny paper. 

they were a goldilocks fit. 

just wanted to share these with you. 

i took them serendipitously because the camera was sitting there and so was this miniature composition notebook. not the tiny paper i was using. i guess it was tiny day in my corner of the world.

do you have favorite teeny tiny things in your house?

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

4.23.12 ... mission beach . a fresh start . 23 Apr 2012 10:37 AM (13 years ago)

we've been painting the new shop spcae in preparation for ev setting up. 

scout is documenting it in pictures. 

this is just one that i especially love. 

to see more photos and read about our journey please visit our facebook page and like it!

  https://www.facebook.com/MissionBeachWoodworks

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

4.16.12 ... easter eggs of a different sort 16 Apr 2012 5:39 PM (13 years ago)

we had a lovely time decorating these eggs last weekend. evan made the star wars themed egg designs. aren't they fabulous?

scout made a variety of designs and techniques. this tree is one of the greatest easter eggs i have ever seen. what do you think? 

it's crazy.

she also did the split sihouette egg, the one with the groovy tiny curleque lines, the watercolor scenes and the bright blue jellyfish egg! 

love them.

i think we will continue to decorate our eggs in this unique manner every year.

by the way, she also whips hers out in minutes. meanwhile, i am spending an hour doodling around with my silly simple designs.

if you blogged about your eggs please leave me a link in your comment.

 i'd love to see them.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

4.13.12 ... some fun with my chibi stamp 13 Apr 2012 8:26 PM (13 years ago)

as many of you know, scout designed and hand carved this chibi of me and i have been using it for calling cards. recently we adapted the stamp and evan designed these business size cards for me.

 we print half on white textured card stock and half on mint green. i am enjoying them. they have really streamlined my packaging task. let's just say the mailing side of my etsy business is not my forte.

it's been a while since i've blogged and i have a lot of back up creations and adventures to share. i am working on getting back into the blogging habit.

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

4.8.12 ... happy easter 8 Apr 2012 8:50 AM (13 years ago)

last night we had fun decorating eggs without any traditional food coloring.

scout set up a smorgasbord of supplies.

evan went with the typical old stand by easter egg design.

i was busy contemplating the myriad of artistic elements before me. thanks, scout!

happy easter everyone. happy spring!

thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

3.21.12 ... shrinky dinks are us 21 Mar 2012 9:23 PM (13 years ago)

i have missed blogging so i am going to start again.

 i have a plethora of photos that tell stories from the past few months of our new life here in beautiful southern california. 

in no particular order, i begin. 

scout made these chibi shrinky dinks of ev and me and i just love them. they are for our keychains. hope you enjoy seeing them. i am keeping them both since i am not quite so hard on my keys as ev. 

i know these are ephemeral, but i love seeing how long i can preserve delicate items. i have a good record so far.

 

 

See the full gallery on Posterous

i'll be back again soon. stay tuned. 

sweet dreams, everyone. thanks for stopping by. until next time. 

happiness to you. from me. with heart. 

ox joon

Posted via email from just joon

2.7.12 ... favorite cookbook filled with favorite recipes 7 Feb 2012 9:02 PM (13 years ago)

i recently reconnected with one of my best friends.  she gave me this cookbook binder  many years ago and it quickly became indispensable.  all of our found recipes are gathered here in this one giant, overstuffed hunk of happiness.  after years of mayhem between the covers, as it were, i organized my recipes by categories and replaced the worn out manila paper dividers with these fabulous and colorful plastic pockets.

i've taped little tidbits all over the inside covers but always left this salvaged piece in its prominent place...

as many of you know we recently moved out of our hotel home and into our lovely apartment.  the long wait and search were worth it.  we're slowly but surely settling in and evan built a cook book shelf for us yesterday.  so here is the story of what happened next ...

see the book.  see scout.

see the new shelf in the closet without any books.

see the first cook book placed tidily on the shelf.  and we're in business.

hi susan!  look!  do you remember this now?  

happy today and sweet dreams, everyone.  thanks for stopping by. until next time. happiness to you. from me. with heart. ox joon

Posted via email from just joon