Naked Princess Campaign

Naked Princess bridal lingerie campaign shot by Steven Lam. We had a blast working on this fabulous campaign on location at an amazing california regency style home tucked in the Hollywood Hills. Big shout outs to our fabulous team, could not have done this without you and a huge thank you to Becca and Stephen at Naked Princess for the fun gig and Jennifer Daigle for documenting the behind the scene stuff.

The Gaylord

Hi guys, we want to share a new blog by Dee over at Murphy Deesign. Dee and I wanted to document our outings titled Field Trip. On our second installment, we visited The Gaylord Apartment, once a glamorous hotel in the golden era of hollywood, now a hidden gem in Los Angeles tucked away in Korea Town. Hope you have as much fun exploring The Gaylord as we have. Thanks for letting me tag along Dee :) If you like Dee's blog, please show her some love and like her page. Click here to read more about The Gaylord.

Jessica + Jamie's Costa Rica Tropical Wedding

Spring has just arrived and we wanted to share Jessica + Jamie's gorgeous Costa Rica wedding with everyone. We had the pleasure of spending a week with everyone in the wonderful and remote surf-friendly town of Playa Grande. The weather was amazing! This place is absolutely magical and mother nature blessed this wedding with the most perfect weather and lighting allowing us to capture J+J's memorable moments. Pura Vida!

CicLAvia: 10/10/10

Hey cycling peeps of LA. Dust off your bike and come on out to ride 7.5 scenic miles on the streets of LA on Oct 10, 2010 from 10am to 3pm. The 7.5 miles route will be completely shut down for social integration and no cars will be allowed. CicLAvia will be open to all walks of life including bikes, pedestrians, strollers, skateboarders, roller skaters, dance troops, dog walkers, street artist, etc. I hope we will bump into a breakdancing battle just like the old days with the brown paper cardboard on the pavement so the dancers can perform those fancy head spin moves. This is an experimental event just like the ones that was in NYC and Columbia where for a few hours, the city has rezoned the streets for the community usage and enjoy the area without cars. Wooo hoooo!


More info:
http://www.ciclavia.org/

Honbachi - Growing Plants in Old Books

The creative media firm of Tokyo Pistol aka TP along with a local flower shop created Honbachi. Hobachi means growing plants in old books in Japanese. Exactly like the name implies, this wonderful conceptual organic juxtaposition was cleverly engineered for the "Hana to Hon" ("Flower and Book") exhibition at Saburo Miyamoto annex of the Setagaya Art Museum. This is a great idea to re-purpose those really old books that have gone through way too many uses that it can no longer be used for it's purpose. Rather than just tossing it in the recycling blue bin, the concept of Honbachi will help breathe new life and purpose into these old books by giving a new plant a place to grow. As the plant matures, the book itself starts to deteriorate giving all of it self back to the plant. what a wonderful way to witness how magnificent and precious the circle of life's energy that is being transcend from one to another right in front of your eyes. Ideal plants for the kit are simple house plants like pilea, wire vines, and kalanchoe. The process begins with finding books at old book store that are deemed unusable, the book then gets cut by hand creating a rectangular receptacle for the plant. The gutted paper is then used for wrapping the kit for shipping so nothing gets wasted in the process. Maybe one of these kit can be planted in the classic children's book titled The Giving Tree. Paying homage to the book's concept and it's deep meaning of love and life. Although the homage idea is a sweet suggestion, it might not be practical since Honbachi's success depends on thick books. We would love to see these Honbachi as a centerpiece at a green/DIY/botanical garden wedding theme. Or maybe just making your own kit to give them away as your alternative green DIY wedding favor. we are certain your guests will fancy these lovelies for months.

Unfortunately, Tokyo Pistol's Honbachi kit is only available exclusively in Japan due to it's content of live plant and soil, these kits can not be shipped internationally due to agriculture quarantine safety and hazard laws. But we hope this will help inspire the DIY in you to make your own Honbachi creation for your office and home the next time you come across a book that has past it's prime and deemed physically battered and unreadable. Give that book a second chance.

FYI - If you are planning to keep your Honbachi kit indoor, make sure to just water a few drops till the soil gets moist so the plant and the book do not get over watered leaving the book soggy. If you don't trust yourself to this duty, may we recommend using a plastic plant tray or liner on your Honbachi.

More info at tokyopistol.com/goods/honbachi.html

26th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day

Hey peeps, Saturday September 25th, 2010 is the 26th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day from 9am to noon. This is a much needed effort and we need all the help we can get. Last year, there were more than 80,000 volunteers that participated in the statewide beach clean up and helped removed 14 million pounds of trash. For 2010, CCCD is expecting to reach 100,000 helping hands. If you love the beach as much as we do and want to give back to mother nature, please come out to any california beaches and help pick up debris so we can all help heal the bay together. Think of this as a pay it forward with all of your future beach activities like riding your bike on the beach, picnics, volleyball, surfing, snorkeling, kayaking, paddle boarding, camping and just enjoying that wonderful walk on the beach.



More info at (800) COAST-4U or coast4u@coastal.ca.gov.
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd.html

http://www.healthebay.org

http://www.signuptocleanup.org

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/DocServer/icc2010report_regional_CA.pdf?docID=6001

Basico

We wanted to congratulate our Aussie mates on their launch of Basico. Basico means "Basic" in Spanish and was founded on our friends love of travel to exotic places. After visiting so many places they always brought back mementos to remind them of the beautiful sunsets and sandy beaches, but knowing that we don't all have the luxury to travel around the globe. Our mates created Basico, bringing you the global sandy beach shopping experience right to your door step. So if you have missed your chance on picking up something locally on your last exotic trip, stop by Basico and explore their offerings. For the destination bride and bridesmaid to be, this is a fantastic shop to help you spice up your wedding day outfit. Even though summer is about to turn it's season here in the states, Basico will help keep you in style and your summer memories endless.

Shop at Basicoshop.com

Eat My Blog / Summer Bake Sale

We had a blast over the weekend at the Eat My Blog / Summer Bake Sale event over in West Hollywood at Tender Greens. This is such a wonderful and generous event because all sales proceeds will benefit The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Especially in today's crummy economy, this event was sweet and welcoming for the needy. We are no baker so we brought our camera to help document the event and our sweet tooth for some tasty treats.

Please click on the link below to see more photos and read about the event from Cathy at Gastromomyblog.com's review of the day. Enjoy.

http://gastronomyblog.com

Eat My Blog

Hey peeps, if you have a few minutes to spare this Saturday June 19th, please come out to support our friend Cathy Dang of Gastronomy Blog and Laurie Moore of the blog G-ma’s Bakery pet project Eat My Blog.

Eat My Blog is a giant bake sale to help benefit The LA Regional Food Bank. If you are a foodie, this is an event not to miss. Your sweet tooth will thank you for it. So come on out to help support this much needed cause for the Los Angeles community.

More info at eatmyblogla.wordpress.com

Music For The Soul

Music plays such an important part in our lives that it would be unimaginable to live without it. When we hear a particular song, it usually brings up some special moment from our past. Music is so powerful that it can heal and touch your soul and emotions. Music can inspire change for a whole generation. In fact, Music is one of the few art form that does not require any special skill, intellect or the understanding of the inner workings of the masterpiece in order for you to appreciate it. The beauty of music is you don't need a high brow art enthusiast over intellectualizing it to death just to influence or dictate who, what and how you should listen to music. There are no wrongs or rights, we all experience and interpret music differently and that's the magic of this alluring work of art. Music can be felt directly in your heart. It can also tapped into your emotional senses evoking those warm and fuzzy feelings all over your body. Even a newborn loves music despite their lack of understanding the conceptual world that we live and play in. For the baby, there is no past or future, just the precious present momment is all that matters. With that said, we wanted to share a few tracks that we personally love and enjoy (not in any particular order). These songs would also work beautifully for a newlywed's first dance...a good chance you might just get goose bumps from listening to them or shed a few happy tears of joy. Cheers!



1. Magic by Colbie Caillat (Album version on Coco and Piano Version on Coco: Summer Sessions)

2.'Til Summer Comes Around by Keith Urban

3. Only You Can Love Me This Way by Keith Urban

4. She Thinks She Needs Me by Andy Griggs

5. I Need You (With Tim McGraw) by Faith Hill

6. You Do Something To Me by Paul Weller

7. This Is Love by Kelly Rowland

8. Love Is You by Chrisette Michele (bonus track)

9. Someone Like You by Dina Carroll

10. A Song For You by Donny Hathaway


We also wanted to share artists that help inspire us in or out of our studio.

Annie
Röyksopp
Phoenix
Electric Light Orchestra aka ELO
Michael Jackson
Beatles
John Lennon
Wax Poetic
Tracy Thorn
Roy Ayers
Kylie Minoque
Lady Gaga
Mariah Carey
MGMT
MFSB
DJ CAM
The Psychedelic Furs
Blondie
Colbie Caillat
Eagles
Marvin Gaye
Donny Hathaway
Akon
R. Kelly
Journey
Bobbi Humprey
America
Bill Wither
T-Pain
Sonic Youth
ABC
Kool & The Gang
Kaskade
Ben Watt
The English Beat
Air
Supertramp
The Clash
Dead Prez
John Coltrane
John Digweed
Jamiroquai
L.L.Cool.J
Hot Toddy
Hall and Oats
Groove Armada
Radiohead
Santigold
Pete Tong
Anything produced by Neptunes
Sade
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Michael Nyman
Steel Pulse
Weekend Players
Jazzanova

Biking Safety + Fun

May is the official Bike to Work month so we thought we would share a few nifty bicycle accessories to keep you safe on the road and having fun during your ride.

One of the most important thing when you are riding your bike with friends is not having the proper communication tools, instead we find ourselves yelling out warning and instructions like make a left at the next light, etc. Well BlueAnt has this clever device that you can finally talk to each other via bluetooth called interphone. There are two modes, you can either sync to pair your headsets so you can talk to each other while riding or when you're riding solo, you can have it synced up to your iPhone via Bluetooth as well. Although we use the interphone originally for scooting around town on our electric scooter. We repurpose the interphone system for our bicycle riding helmet and it works like a charm. The Interphone is incredibly helpful when riding in groups or in pairs. Being able to communicate with each other is vital while riding to avoid those pot holes, warning other riders of emergency stops, etc. Since the actual interphone unit is detachable, we order two extra mike boom accessory kits and rigged it up on our bike helmet in no time. Come to think of it, this would be sweet on my snowboarding helmet as well. P.S. BlueAnt also has a great little bluetooth Speakerphone device called Supertooth 3 for the car and it works seamlessly for those who wants to have the hands free driving experience without wearing a bluetooth ear or headset. The battery will last up to two weeks on standby mode and the unit will automatically sync to your bluetooth enable cell phone like the iPhone when you get in your car without even taking your iPhone out of your bag. How's that for convenience!



The other product from iHome that is a must have for all music lover is the iHome2go iPod Speaker System. This is a safe and effective way to listen to your iPod while riding your bike. The housing of the speaker is made in the shape of a water bottle and it also holds the iPod inside nicely protecting it from all the shock that you put through during your ride. Speaker is decent, good quality sounds. Best part of the iHome2go ipod speaker system is the wireless remote control that can be attached to your handle bar to control your iPod (Stop, Play, Next Track, Previous Track and volume up and down). This little guy has made our rides around town so much more enjoyable. And we always get a kick out of people staring at us wondering where the music is coming from.

Happy trails...




Blue Ant Interphone Bluetooth intercom system. New generation F4



Blue Ant Interphone Bluetooth intercom system (first generation) on a motorcycle helmet



iHome2go iPod Speaker System


Attachment on bike to hold the speaker, carrying case, wireless remote for the handle bar sitting on top of the speaker cover (protects the speaker when not in use)

Metro 2nd Annual Downtown LA Bike Ride 2010

Today was the 2nd Annual Downtown LA Bike Ride sponsored by Metro for Metro Bike Week LA. We heard about the fun 4 miles ride looping around downtown LA and thought this is gonna be so much fun being able to ride with other Angeleno cyclists. We started the day by heading out to Olvera Street in Downtown LA from Eagle Rock. Thank god Eagle Rock is a bike friendly town, because without all them lovely visibly marked reflective bike path lanes plastered all over town, us bikers would have a hard time trying to share the lane with those speedy drivers. Especially during peak traffic hours. Boy I tell ya some of these drivers are on auto pilot and totally do not have a clue about bikers they are sharing the streets with. Thank goodness team Lammie Pie had our bright flourescent riding jackets on. One hour later we arrived at the starting line and we were pleasantly surprised to see at least 75 other bikers, Metro staff and other local press and journalists joining in the fun. At 8:30 am we started off from Olvera Street / El Pueblo up to Civic Center, then through the Financial District to the Historic Core trekking down into Little Tokyo / Arts District and back to Olvera Street. The best part of the ride was having the LAPD Rampart Division bicycle police escort and stopping traffic through out the path as we tour the streets of downtown LA. We all did the 4 miles loop around Downtown LA in 30 minutes. A wee bit fast, but heck it was totally worth it. We met alot of wonderful people and also made a couple of friends along the way.

A big thank you to LAPD bicycle division, Metro and The City of LA for supporting this event. We had so much fun and will definitely be back for next year's ride. We hope everyone will catch on next year and join in for the fun festive ride. Heck maybe some one will be getting marry during the bike ride next year, we would love to shoot that wedding!

Psst, want more info on our bike accessories? Click here.

More info and blogs about today's ride:

2nd Annual Downtown LA Bike Ride 2010 route

Metro / The Source

LA Streets Blog

Photos on Flicker by photographer Rubin Carter

KTLA video news coverage