Blogging for slackers

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I'm here to admit that I'm such a slacker when it comes to blogging. It's such a wonderful exercise and platform for me to over share my thoughts or inspiration. But damn, would I rather take a hundred mental naps lately. 

SO. I vow to do this: Blog from my phone. 

And get my trusty doggist detective, Flo Shamberley, to help out (pictured) 

That is all. Carry on.  

Oh, except this: One time I accidentally 'replied all' to one of Marissa's emails and it went to everyone in her contacts. My reply was some typical Ally drivel about being cold all the time in SF, feeling depressed, loving cookies. I think after that horror and shock, I (slowly) got accustomed to sharing everything through blogging. And I feel good about it. Because sometimes other people like to hear the real stuff, and the bad stuff. Or cookie recipes. Ok NOW carry on. 

latte and a hug?

I feel like it's been forever since I updated the blog. That's the hard part about life online...there are time stamps. You can see just how LONG I've been neglecting to post. I'd say sorry, but...you all have enough stuff to read. I barely even read headlines anymore!

So here we are. A year ago I claimed this web address and kinda sorta started out sketching and talking about my ideas. It's still building. I'm still knee deep in my struggles with wanting to do EVERYTHING and paint everything and travel everywhere and give everyone five million hugs. But we're moving ahead still, and energy is good. Momentum is better. 

I hope you're all having a wonderful, jubilant first week of fall (NOTE: only in CA is it the first week of fall, as I've worn a sweater and pants at the same time, for the first time since May) 

I've got some fun blogs and fun photoshoots coming up, so get your eyes ready for that. 

xo

ally

Alice Tang // Brooklyn, NY

Alice is an art director, designer, and creative producer living in Brooklyn, NY. I've known Alice Tang since we shared a class at UCDavis, and then we stayed in touch through Denmark, New York, and meet up every now and again. If you wanted Alice to design, program, fund, film, execute, and then throw the reception for your product / idea / movement ... she could pull it off. I need to remind her to sleep occasionally. The best part is she's one of those quietly convincing, unassuming, encouraging type of people. The type that continue to fuel their artsy friends, and somehow make a living doing adventurous things. 

Ben and I met up with Alice and her husband Gregg to share pizza and walk to the new Adam Yauch park (Ben is a Beastie Boys fan, I think he might have shed some tears when we finally reached it). Gregg is another amazing specimen, I'll profile him soon.

There's not many more magical places than DUMBO at twilight. I asked Alice some questions about her life, profession, travel, art, etc. And Ben shot some pretty things. That's what we do.  

OH, and Alice is preggers with a little baby boy, due late summer! So very exciting for all of us.  

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Ally: SO! You've been busy, I think your latest photos were from Austin, TX promoting your latest film. Can you summarize your involvement in Crystal The Film?  

Alice: Crystal (crystalthefilm.com) is a short film written and directed by our very dear, talented friend Chell Stephen (chellstephen.tumblr.com). Gregg was Cinematographer and I was Production Designer. We (along with Chell and two other friends who played major roles in making the film) have a collective together called Think/Feel (thinkfeel.tv). We do work that runs the gamut between commercial, independent and passion projects, so banding together to help Chell make Crystal was a no-brainer! Crystal just finished screening at its third film festival - premiered at SXSW, then went to Atlanta FF and Nashville FF.

Ally: Your handle is Alice Soup. Tang means soup, right? 

Alice: Yea! So, tang translates to soup in Chinese. It can also translate to sugar or a handful of other things depending on which tang it is, but my tang happens to be soup :) 'alicesoup' has been the perfect handle forever because it is always available!!

Ally: What's the one item you'll probably splurge on for your baby? 

Alice: Any item that involves transporting the baby must be a splurge, right? Well, the one thing I have my eye on for pure aesthetics (and hopefully will also prove to be practical) is a Moses Basket. With organic linens, those things don't come cheap, and considering they'll grow out of it super quick... but I haven't been super crazy about anything else so I think coveting this one thing is OK. 

Gregg has absolutely no opinion whatsoever about baby equipment, but he's very excited to scour Craigslist for good deals so I will just send him off with a list.

Ally edit -- I keep seeing Moses baskets at flea markets, I need to buy you one if you haven't bought one!  Also, Ben had no opinion about baby stuff too. :)

Ally: What do you want to finish before baby comes along? I felt like it was a sprint to finish projects before the birth.

Alice: Not feeling too stressed about getting things done... but ask me again in July! I think my main tasks are just saving money and getting educated/prepared but not being obsessive about it. Educated more in a spiritual way, I guess, so I can focus energy inward and channel my inner Ina May Gaskin! On the home front - we have to do some consolidation of our workspaces in order to make room for a "nursery." This involves merging our two very large desks into one, which will be an emotional process because our setups are very different and we don't necessarily get along when working side by side.

Do I need a wipe warmer? There's so many suburban mom luxuries that we don't know if we need or can fit in our apartment

Ally: Actually, we got one of those and it helped with the middle-of-the-night changes! But yeah, you don't need much in the first few months. I'll send you a list.

Ally: How long have you and Gregg worked together? How long have you been dating? Do you find it easy to work on projects? Do you have a certain style of roles you take that you've found works best? 

Alice: Gregg and I don't make the best creative partners so we actually don't work together that often. Sounds sad but it's true! Our skills and interests may compliment one another, but our working styles clash a lot. I am very into details, execution and follow-through while Gregg tends to be more excitable about big ideas and does things in broader strokes. But we support and respect each other SO MUCH in our respective endeavors. And since we both live freewheelin' freelance lives and work in industries that often require the other's skill set from time to time, we'll work on the same projects every now and then. The best way for us to coexist in a working environment is to agree on what parts we'll each be responsible for, then leave each other alone. I remember when we first started dating (in 2004) I used to take a lot of photos on film but would never print them because I found the process too daunting. Gregg was a ninja in the darkroom, so he would print my negatives beautifully without any effort at all. And then we'd give the photos away as gifts. That's a good example of our working style up to the present day. If we overlap any more than that, we get too much like brother/sister and then there is fighting and tears!

Ally: That should really be framed on my wall. It's really refreshing to hear that other creative couples have a hard time working together. And you're so mature about it.

Ally: You do a wide range of projects - from web - to graphics -  to film. How do you stay inspired to be creative? Is it living in New York? Or do you find inspiration online? Books? Give me your secrets. 

Alice: New York's culture and energy, its rhythm and pacing, for sure. It's like a drug and I'm totally addicted. But also taking the time to experience new perspectives when the city gets stifling or draining. Leaving for long periods of time seems to do the trick for me and then I fall in love all over again. I also love looking at beautiful things that are rich with many layers, such as flowers and textiles, learning about artists/designers who explore ideas of balance and symbiosis, and experiencing places/people that offer simple luxuries and respect local culture & community. And I do find a lot of inspiration online too by stalking ladies who fit the same characteristics or have the same interests as the above.

Ally: Do you work late nights to get all your stuff done? Or do you stick to a schedule? 

Alice: Late night for creative work. Early morning for admin work. This doesn't mesh well with a consistent schedule at all, so there are usually bouts of sleep deprivation and unproductivity in between. If I'm doing contract work onsite at an agency, then I'm pretty much on a 9-6 schedule and all work-at-home structure/discipline goes out the window.

Ally: Do you have a tribe of creative friends in New York? 

Alice: Think/Feel and the fellow creatives we have in our network! I feel we're all in the same boat in terms of trying to surf that delicate balance of having free, creative lives mixed in with adult realities, and we're constantly learning, evolving and growing, in a way where there really is no "end goal." It's so nice to have these people in my support system, and of course getting to work with them on projects from time to time.

Ally: What's the best thing you've ever done for yourself? 

Alice: Working for myself. Certainly no walk in the park and I'm still very clumsy at it, but the freedom of having been able to create my own schedule all these years has meant EVERYTHING. Even if I end up going back to full-time at some point in the future, I know having had freelanced is not something I'll ever regret.

Ally: Your wedding was really beautiful, would you ever do event design? 

Alice: Thanks! Yes! As long as the people I'm designing for come armed with rad inspiration and ideas. 

Ally: You studied Design in college and then got your Masters in Interactive Design, kinda? - did you think your career would be different? Do you think your career will change as you have kids/ get older?

Alice: I got my Masters from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at NYU. I sometimes just say Interactive Design 'cause it's easier to understand, but you could really do anything you wanted in this program that had to do with technology. At a very high level, the ethos of the program is to encourage you to be fearless and value collaboration. I don't know if I ever had a vision for my career. I've always tended do or want things in a somewhat unorthodox fashion, so my grad program was a good accompaniment to my career trial and errors, and just trusting that everything would always turn out OK. Now that I'm older and about to have a baby, the world has become so much smaller, but in quite a comforting way, actually. Similar to how I want to "focus inward" for my baby's birth, that's the thinking I find fitting to my life in general, moving forward.... practicing more mindfulness and putting focus and energy into what's immediately in front of me, as opposed to running around trying to project out all the time. And definitely doing less of that existential thinking, which can be overwhelming and sometimes even paralyzing. I think this will definitely have an effect on guiding my career in the next few years, just not sure what yet!

Ally: So much love for that. Parenthood doesn't have to be a shock if you look at it as part of your life, your fabric.

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Some photos from her gorgeous wedding, shot by Katie Ogood

Her new work! Click through for more. 

Ally: You're something of a world traveler - do you feel completely comfortable in other countries, or is it the excitement of the unknown that makes you stretch yourself to travel more? 

Alice: Don't think I ever feel completely comfortable in other countries, and that used to be what made me want to travel more. But now I'm not so much of a gypsy. Home comforts mean so much more to me now, whereas all I had in my 20s was a suitcase and my dreams. The wish-list of where I want to travel is very pared down now. I'm less about where and more about the camaraderie that is to be had at the destination, whether it be a wedding or visiting family & friends (even if those destinations are not that exotic). Or returning to places where I can continue building upon the experience of the last visit (such as Tulum or Palawan). 

Gregg doesn't feel this way though. He still loves the feeling of being a fish out of water, so I'm sure we'll keep doing a combination of traveling that's both random and deliberate.

Ally: What type of projects do you hope to work on in the future?

Alice: Very open. Anything that would charm/delight the audience or end user. Anything where I get to work with clients or partners who are able to bring a lot of inspiration and ideas to the table. I'm easily satisfied as long as it involves good company and visual candy.

Ally: Do you think you'll stay in Brooklyn forever? 

Alice: At the moment we're pretty happy being in Brooklyn and excited about raising a baby here for at least a couple years. Then again, we were just away for 3 months so I'm back on good terms with this city again, which as many fellow NY transplants know, this sentiment can deteriorate pretty quickly due to bad weather, tiny apartments or getting burnt out at work. Our priorities are definitely evolving though, and since we're very much open to new opportunities, anything could happen! Los Angeles (where we just spent the winter) is the ONLY contender as a future landing pad right now; we'd be pretty happy building a nest out there.

Ally: Make it LA!  

think/feel studio // Alice's Tumblr // Alice's new venture // more wedding photos

.................

More to come from this beautiful family...definitely check my Instagram for photos of baby love soon to come. Gosh, I really get emotional thinking about their journey, their excitement for art, New York spring and summer, Alice's shoe collection, etc.  ... I just miss them a lot. Hope you enjoyed the interview!

xo Ally

(Photos by Ben Squirrell, unless they're blurry iphone photos, then they're mine.)

baby nursery // art and interiors

SO! I've been vague about what I've been up to lately, I get really superstitious about letting cats out of bags, and also I'm rather exhausted. BUT ANYWAY I've returned to Interior Design as my day job. It's been really fun and challenging so far. I love the gal I work for, we click and she's teaching me a lot about what I've missed in the last 5 years away from Autocad and finish plans. Expect me to post more here about where and what color to paint your bathroom, and crap like that. 

Totally separate, I recently helped a beautiful new mama plan her nursery space, and I made some custom art posters for her.  LOVED doing this, this particular family is just the cutest thing ever. She had most of the pieces in the room already, so I suggested a few dream pieces, and arranged everything in a really crazy intimidating gigantic collage. She happened to pick my most favorite name for the baby! I won't post it here, because I'm going to have a baby named the same thing soon. (not very soon, like in a few years!)

Here's the collage, and the art pieces below.

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xo

ally

 

still with me?

Hi friends! I've been struggling to keep up with my new job, and a couple side projects, and so haven't been Scout Folks -ing as much as I'd like, aside from a lot of planning and scheming. 

GOOD NEWS is that we're adding new writers and a rock solid manifesto to keep ya interested. I need to be focused on adventuring and making new product (adult product too!) (and not like porn, you sickos!)

Adventuring is the why. THE WHY! We wanted to start this project to find people living the adventure... and figure out how they make it happen (and honestly, why we aren't). I made a little promise to myself that I would reserve weekends for fun family time, and try to get all the other crap done during the week nights. It's hard. It's sleepless. But as we grow this little ideal, I think everyone will be happy. 

Here are some photos from our weekend in Ojai, LA, and Long Beach. 

(more on Ojai sites in the next week - collab with Courtney too!)


musings on late nights

I'm listening to the new Michael Jackson album and really loving it. I know that sounds weird

I can explain. 

I've loved Michael Jackson since I was a kid, and in high school his music and weirdness became something that emodied, or at least eased my own awkwardness. I was an introvert. Creative. Misunderstood...There's this emotional underbelly of myself that I could never communicate. So for a while, I lived in my room, sewing and creating things and listening to Off The Wall. 

Thank heaven I went to a liberal hippie college with TONS of weird kids. Different shapes, strengths, and varying levels of weirdness.  Things are different now: strangeness is a commodity. And I am adjusted just enough to have a job and a tiny fan club (they're both asleep in the other room). 

 

(this is totally off-topic, and I should be more focused. please send me all your comments) 


xo

a

new york state of mind: our friends the travelers

Heather Struck and Alex Fischer are two of our favorite people, and they just so happen to have THE BEST apartment in New York, which they let Ben and I borrow when they're gone. Plus they always insist we drink their beer. They're the nicest people ever. We're interviewing them here to share some insight on how they survive in a crazy city, how they maintain their unusual careers, and basically hoping they'll give us their secrets to being awesome.

Pictured is our tour of the Google NY headquarters, where Alex works, which feels oddly like Disneyland with a lot more nerds. I think I might apply to clean the toilets there (there are free snacks everywhere!)

You can explore more of Heather and Alex through Heather's tumblr or her job at Reuters

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Ally:  favorite colors? 
Heather:  Probably gray and off-gray. I also like really white sheets on the bed.
Alex:  Blueeeeeee, of course. Except for blue cheese, I don't like blue cheese.

Ally:  Heather, you're a reporter, blogger and writer. Just how bad is my writing? Just kidding. But what tips do you have for bloggers or people who are just starting to write?
Heather: Read things, see things, listen to things and love everything that you love wholeheartedly. But when you begin writing as a practice, be yourself. The more of yourself that you come to know, the better you will be at folding that into a profession that pays you to write. Also, you will be inching ever closer to producing art. I think original writing that you can be proud of and that others respond to is the highest achievement you can hope for. You will never stop having role models. At some point you will even have some who are younger than you, and that is mildly annoying, but watch what they do and appreciate them for having the courage to do it.


Ally:  What do you guys like to read?
Heather:  Oh man. Well the last great novels I read were Wolf Hall and the Luminaries. Joan Didion's personal novels A Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights are wow. Short story writers like Alice Munro and Lorrie Moore and George Sanders and...there are so many. The NY Times Dining section and the New Yorker at the breakfast table. The Awl and McSweeney's Internet Tendency for funny stuff out of people's heads. I read the news all the time at work, but somehow the New York Review of Books always compels me to read 90% of the articles in every issue. There are also many food blogs that are so wonderful and really do make me more content at home with all the things I can whip up in a tiny kitchen. A Sweet Spoonful and The Wednesday Chef are two of the most meaningful to me, but there are many. 
Alex:  I'm a terrible reader ... I usually fall asleep after a few pages. That's why I've been reading "A People's History of the United States" for the last decade. The things I do manage to read are news and text books. 


Ally:  What are 3 life priorities, listed in order? Is that a scary question?
Heather:  Ahhhh. Honestly, a few years ago I had three very common priorities that seem rather shallow now. But maybe not? 1) A great love 2) A great job 3) A great apartment 
I think the truth was always something more like 1) Make a difference 2) Feel that someone else has made a difference in you 3) Go to Paris 
Alex:  Uh, that is a scary question. I like Heather's 1) Making a difference and would add 2) always being curious and learning new things and 3) Avoid going to Paris for as long as possible. 


Ally:  Give me a summary of your introduction to each other. I love this story.
Heather:  My dear roommate was moving away, so she helped to find a replacement roommate for me. That was not Alex. But it was his friend. They were both German students spending some months in New York, and they got together at my place a few times for beers or whatever. I was actually doing a good job of completely ignoring Alex's presence for a while. Then one night (Valentine's day, actually), the three of us cooked a dinner together and sat in our tiny kitchen and ate it. Alex washed the dishes afterward. I don't think I have ever really let him go since.
Alex:  I like to think that the magic trick I showed Heather the first we met helped out as well.

Ally: Heather - you've lived in New York since Grad School, right? Are you there for life?
Heather:  I probably am, in my mind. I don't know, actually. Part of me really wants to go live in Germany and soak it up. New York has always been the most obvious and ultimate answer to my questions. I am sure I would miss it a lot. 


Ally: You guys lived separately for a long time. Was moving into a small (compared to the rest of the country) apartment together instantly blissful?
Heather:  Yes!
Alex:  Yes, although I wouldn't have minded moving into a large apartment together either. <smiles>

Hamburg 2012

Hamburg 2012


Ally: You both have really cool jobs. Did it take a while to get there?
Heather:  A bit, yes. It's a lot of getting yourself out there and taking risks too. I promised myself always to make decisions with the most open mind and heart possible. That way I would never have to regret any of those decisions, just keep going ahead.
Alex:  Definitely. I had to throw overboard the plans I made a long time ago and postpone my dream of working in academia ... maybe indefinitely? 


Ally: What are your favorite places in New York? Favorite restaurant?
Heather:  The High Line! There are so many people there in nice weather, it's a mess. But I love love the combination of architecture and flora and the rough and ready city all around. Also they sell good snacks. One of our favorite restaurant's is Joe's Shanghai for dumplings.  
Alex:  I love Washington Square because it's so lively. I also love to go to Battery Park and wave to imaginary steam ships coming in. Restaurant-wise, nothing beats Joe's Pizza ... Joe seems to be a good name for a chef. 


Ally: You are world travelers. What keeps you looking for adventure?
Heather:  For me it's good old wanderlust. My Mom shares a passion with me of loving the variety and craziness and passion of the world. I love that about her too. 
Alex:  In my life, I always want to be curious and what better way to be curious than traveling to places you haven't seen before.


Ally:  Where is your next trip planned? What's your bucket list look like? Is it 1000 pages long?
Heather:  California! It's home for me and Alex's #2 favorite place. We have been trying for like 3 years to do a trip to Australia. That's at the top of the list with the U.S. national parks, Korea, Japan, and diving in the Red Sea.
Alex:  Yes, it's definitely long. Most things are just ideas in my head, but I'd add Iceland, Samoa, and Russia to the list. 


Ally:  Would you two work professionally together?
Heather:  Sure! Alex would probably fire me, or send me to work in the supply room or something after a while. But why not?
Alex:  Yeah, definitely - the working together part, not the supply room part. Although with your partner you have very different boundaries, which can be good and bad in a work environment. 

 

We love Heather and Alex, mostly because they're hilarious and so fun to be around. They inspire us to follow our dreams, travel, be honest and adventurous, and step up our coffee game. Thanks for reading, friends.