Ann in Real Life

It's an Ann-sized world after all....

At the Dan in Real Life photoshoot. One of the stylist turns out to be a buyer at a really hip boutique that many young female celebrities shop at. (ShopIntuition.com) It's actually her last week at that job because she wants to be a full time stylist. So I had to move quick, and my partner put together a great set of samples and delivered to them yesterday! So I hope to share the good news when we get in!

Then today I drove down our street and saw a man run by me...he looked just like the set designer from the "Dan" shoot. He was in front of a house having a yard sale, I walked over there later to check it out. Turns out he IS the set designer. He lives 5 houses down from me!

How weird?

Ducks and Pancakes

On Thursday we had a photoshoot for a movie called "Dan in Real Life" starring Steve Carell from one of my favorite TV show "The Office", and 2 of my favorite movies "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The 40-year-old Virgin". We had came up with a bunch of fun ideas and had 5 sets built for the shoot. One of which involved a high stack of pancakes, and another with wall paper covered with ducks flying over a pond. The shoot went really well and everyone had a great time. Steve was so friendly and easy to work with, I liked him even more now! I can't wait to start designing with those photos.

Short trip to San Francisco

One of the great things about my job is having a boss who is always encouraging us to go out and do fun things, find new inspiration. In the past I've taken time off to go with Chris to New York, San Diego to the Comic Con. And this past weekend I took a day off to go up to San Francisco. The trip was planned by my boss John, and his graphic design friends. It was to give a group of Norwegian design students a tour of some of the top graphic design agencies in SF. I took a 6 am flight from LAX (had to wake up at 4 am, ugh...but I saw the most beautiful sun rise from my seat.) It was my first time traveling alone, I was a little bit nervous, but I didn't have any trouble getting around.



I met John and his brother Jim at the hotel near 7th and Mission around 9 am. The weather was perfect for walking around the city. Our first stop was Pentagram, a design agency responsible for designing identities for Citibank, United Airline, to signage at the Toronto airport, and many more packaging, catalogs, and books. One of the partners, Kit Hinrichs, flew back from LA just to meet with us and give us the tour. We then had lunch together and got a chance to get to know the students better. I found out one of the student, Christian, knows a close Norwegian friend of ours from school! (Kevin, was in school with Chris and I, and was one of the groomsmen at our wedding.) Christian even has worked with Kevin back in Oslo! What a small world.




We went back to the hotel after lunch to take a short nap, I was so tired from being up so early. Then at 6, we headed out again. Kit, who is a collector of everything with the American flag on it (he has published a book called Long May She Wave) was very generous to invite us over to his beautifully designed home to check out his collection. And I was lucky enough to get a signed copy of the book, not only that, it was signed with John's favorite fountain pen.

The day ended with us riding in a cab driven by an old hippy lady to a mexican food restaurant decorated with Christmas decor all year long. Jim made small talk in Spanish with the people in the restaurant, and we all looked forward to getting some rest after a long day.

When I returned to my hotel room I discovered that one of the shirt I packed for the next day was missing! It was one of my favorite RubyLove longsleeve shirt. I looked everywhere for it and got very sad when I couldn't find it. I made a call to the front desk but housekeeping had already gone home. I went to bed feeling sad but thought maybe someone really liked it. I even had a dream about the shirt being returned to me. The next morning I called again and just when I was ready to leave, a heard a knock on the door. One of the manager was standing outside with my shirt in a little bag. Someone must have thought I left that behind because I checked in so early and my room was untouched except for that shirt draped over a chair. I was so happen when I got my shirt back. I dream came true!


Saturday was colder and more windy, we got some breakfast at a local diner and had a few hours before heading to the airport. John and Jim left it up to me where I wanted to go, and I ended up taking them to an arts and technology museum for kids called Zeum It was a wonderful place for kids to make their own stop motion movies, we even made a clay-mation movie we called "Mickey and Ann at the gym" It was fun to be like kids for a few hours.




The trip came to an end when we got on an earlier flight at 4pm. I had a great time doing something new on the weekend instead of watching tv or cleaning up the house. I felt good about traveling on my own and making new friends, but I am glad to be home in my pajamas again.

Neighborhood Council Meeting

Last night I attended a neighborhood council meeting to find out what's being done to stop a new development in the area about 2 blocks from our house. They plan to tear down 5 smaller apartments and build a huge 57 unit building with underground parking. This is being done all over the city and there's been zoning changes that allows more apartments and stores being built around my neighborhood. A lot of the concerns were the traffic (that is already bad), the environmental damages, the safety of the children (because there are 2 schools on that block), and changing the character of the neighborhood.

When Chris and I bought our house we really loved our quiet neighborhood in the middle of a busy city. We've gone out of our way to preserve the 20's Spanish style of our home. And we enjoy taking walks on the weekend and check out what other people are doing with their yards. It's very sad when we see ugly gray blocky apartments in the area that costs a fortune to rent. I feel bad for those people who have lived in their apartments for over 22 years being forced to leave.

From the meeting, it didn't sound like they'll be able to stop this structure from being built. However, they did put in writing to look into ways of preventing it from happening again. I think last night they had more public attend the meeting than ever, and those who spoke had some really heartfelt things to say. Hopefully at the next meeting they'll have good news.

Super Productive Weekend

This has been one of the most productive weekends I've had this year. Just non-stop getting stuff done. It was great! Here's how it all started....




Saturday
08:45 AM Chris and I went to the optometrist to pick up our new glasses in Santa Monica.
09:15 AM Had breakfast at Denny's (Eggs, sausages, pancakes, orange juice)
10:30 AM Stopped at Pearl Art supplies to pick up....art supplies.
11:10 AM Stopped at Sammy's Camera to buy a new camera lense
12:30 PM Get things ready for RubyLove photoshoot
02:30 PM Watched some tv while waiting for model to arrive
03:30 PM Chris photographed, I art directed, Italia styled, Katie modeled
05:00 PM Got ready for sushi dinner
07:00 PM Went to a panel discussion for the show "HEROES"
09:35 PM Stopped at Virgin Megastore
10:05 PM Started playing a netflix movie (it was bad.)
11:15 PM Fell asleep from movie then got up and went to bed

Sunday (Time change, spring forward)
11:00 AM Breakfast with our friend Sean and Sydney at Urth Cafe (saw Jason Statham)
12:30 PM Cleaned out closet and set aside stuff for yard sale
02:00 PM Edit photos with Italia from yesterday's shoot
03:00 PM Clean up photos and started to design the website with new shots
08:00 PM New site's been updated (super excited about the new look!)
09:00 PM I've now caught up to real time and I have to get something to eat.

Wheeeww! So please check out the RubyLove site and see the beautiful photos Chris took with his new camera. I had so much fun on our shoot. We had less than 2 hours for 5 set ups. So we walked down the street to the corner of Melrose and Crescent Heights (one block from our house) And we shot by a flower shop, the alley behind a phone company, outside of a clothing store, and our front lawn! Italia did a wonderful job styling the shoot (and made us cupcakes). And Katie who has never modeled was so easy to work with and took directions really well. Chris was so great with the little time we had and available light. And me! I designed the shirts, the website, cast the model, partnered with the stylist, and married the photographer.

Boy! I think I deserve a break right about now.

He Got Game

We had a photoshoot today our movie "The Game Plan" (Comes out in October 07, starring The Rock). My good friend Tony was the photographer, who also shot all of the RubyLove stuff me. We had to shoot 3 actors in football uniform and a dog named Tubs. The 3 guys were all way over 6 feet tall. I felt like I was standing next to a wall. But the real star was the dog. He's so cute and I think he might be more experienced than the actors, he gave us some great expressions and never complained once.

Our producer Michelled ordered these wonderful sandwiches from a place called Panera. It was so tasty! I had the Bacon Turkey Bravo with smoked turkey breast, bacon, smoked Gouda, lettuce, tomatoes and their signature dressing, on a Tomato Basil bread. Mmmmm Yum!

Cute dog, tasty sandwich, I can't ask for more.