A Music Video Inspired by Jellybeans!

Kina Grannis is a singer/songwriter with a gorgeous voice. Greg Jardin is a film director who had an idea for a completely handmade and innovative music video for her song “In Your Arms”.

Inspired by jellybean art, the music video is comprised of 2,300 individual frames that were created out of 288,000 jellybeans, which were then compiled to create a stop-motion video.

It is UNBELIEVABLE!

It took over a year to shoot the entire piece and the work involved is awe-inspiring! I cannot believe the time, energy, commitment and passion involved in spending almost 2 years to create 3 minutes and 25 seconds of video.

Check out the final music video below to see the amazing end result and check out the behind-the-scenes video to learn more about the entire process – it is fascinating!

I LOVE it when people think outside the box!!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

It’s been a few weeks since my sister adopted her kitten, but the little dude finally has a name – Andy!

It came to me on Thanksgiving Day, which was lucky because everybody was teasing my sister about her kitten not having a name, ha!

Aside from having the pleasure of naming the fuzzy, I’m also excited because it honors our grandfather, whose name was Andrew.

I think it fits him perfectly…what do you think?!!

I think he looks like a lil bear in this one!

Awww this one just tugs at my heartstrings!

Another one that reminds me of Sami!

What a silly boy!

I could wake up to that face every morning…

and nap with this one every afternoon!

Purina Loves Pet Adoption!

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is watching The National Dog Show after the Macy’s Day Parade!

I love watching all of the different breeds and imagining all of my favorites running amok in my future house!

Since the dog show was presented by Purina, there were a ton of adorable pet food commercials during each break…but there was one in particular that caught my eye.

The commercial was promoting the Petcentric by Purina page on Facebook and encouraging viewers to “like” the page in return for a $1 donation to Adopt-a-Pet.com!

Well, enough said! Within a few minutes I had signed in, liked their page and then got Miguel to do the same!

I hope you will also take a few minutes to do the same and increase Purina’s donations to Adopt-a-Pet.com because every little bit helps!

I’m Thankful for Arts & Crafts

I love hosting Thanksgiving dinner because I love having people over to my apartment. I also love to clean and have a special occasion to decorate and do some arts and crafts!

I don’t normally go crazy with making centerpieces and specialized holiday decorations, but this year I wanted to do something a little special for the dining table.

After some web surfing for inspiration and a trip to Whole Foods for flowers, Michaels for votive candles and Paper Source for fabric tape, I was ready to make a custom holiday centerpiece…and I love how it came out!

Below are the super easy instructions for how I made my custom votive candles! After a first attempt with some textured ribbon that didn’t want to stick to the glass votives, I discovered such a thing as fabric tape and am in love!

And the best part? You don’t need a separate adhesive – genius!

What You Need:
X-Acto knife
Votive candles
Fabric tape (or any kind of decorative tape)

My choice of festive red stripe fabric tape came from the Paper Source

The entire crafting process consists of three steps: 1) peel the backing from the tape and lay in vertical rows along the candle

2) start the tape under the bottom of the candle for a cleaner look and 3) trim the tape with the X-Acto knife when you reach the top of the votive

And voila – you’ll be done in no time!

Candle close-up

Finished candles surrounding a beautiful bouquet from Whole Foods

In addition to crafting, I am also thankful today for my healthy and happy family, friends and sweet fuzzies.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends across blog-land! I hope your day is filled with lots of love and lots and lots of turkey!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

The leaves are off the trees, it’s getting colder every day and our neighbors across the courtyard have their Christmas lights up on their balcony.

So it is definitely starting to feel like the holiday season now…which is good, because Thanksgiving is only a few days away!

It also puts me in the cleaning mood, which is good because Miguel and I are hosting Thanksgiving dinner again this year!

Fortunately, I am off from work this week so I have plenty of time to get the apartment in order...and perhaps sneak in a few naps with my favorite cats!

Wylie

Sami

A Wedding Gift Made With Love

I’m a great gift giver with my family, but when it comes to wedding gifts I usually just get something off the registry...and I always wish I had done better!

So I decided to finally take some extra time and handcraft something for my good friend who is getting married tomorrow. He survived a bout of cancer at age 30 and his outlook on life has always been inspiring to me.

So I decided to gift him one of my Live Love Life Now paper art pieces. But to make it more unique and special to the couple, I used maps of their hometowns. I love how it came out and I hope that they love it too!

What’s the most unique wedding gift you’ve ever given?

The groom

The bride

The final product!

Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview

Last night, Miguel and I went back downtown to our new, favorite movie theater to see a special showing of the 1995 lost interview with Steve Jobs...recently discovered on VHS after 16 years!

The interview in its entirety is being aired in special screenings across the country by Landmark Theaters, but I can’t wait to get my hands on a permanent copy because it was wonderful!

Steve Jobs was charismatic, witty and visionary. It was fascinating to learn about his pioneering days with Steve Wozniak and how a tour at Xerox influenced later Apple products.

The closing question asked him what he foresaw for the future of technology (which was interesting from the perspective of knowing what actually happened during the following sixteen years) and his remarks on what the Internet would do almost gave me the chills.

Steve Jobs was a genius who truly sought to make great and innovative products for the consumer. He said that the “way that we're gonna ratchet up our species is to take the best and to spread it around to everybody so that everybody grows up with better things."

And I think we can all agree that he certainly accomplished that – with his inventions of the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad!

If you’re a fan of Apple, Steve Jobs and/or inspiring people, this is a must see!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

The ninth episode of “The Sami & Wylie Show” features a meet-and-greet between Wylie and my sister’s new kitten – Sushi!!

And it is ridiculously CUTE!

The Sami & Wylie Show: episode 9 from Jenn on Vimeo.

(featuring “A-Punk” by Vampire Weekend)

“Being Elmo” – The Sweetest Documentary You’ll Ever See

A few months ago, Miguel showed me a trailer for the documentary Being Elmo and I fell in love. Tonight, the film finally came to DC and we were among the first to see it!

It was everything I could have hoped for and more!! Well except that I wish it had been longer than its 85 minutes…because I didn’t want it to end!

The documentary chronicles the journey of Kevin Clash, the puppeteer behind Elmo, and how he never let anyone dissuade him from his dreams to work with Jim Henson.

Before Kevin, Elmo sounded like a caveman and was not a fixture on Sesame Street. But in Kevin’s hands, he became the loveable Elmo that every child in the world fell in love with. He is the voice and soul behind Elmo and they personify each other in a very magical and beautiful way.

It’s hard to describe how much this movie touched me, so go and see it for yourself…and then let me know what you think!!

P.S. Happy 11-11-11 @ 11:11pm!

Anthropologie Wish List!

Sometimes a catalog makes all the difference when you’re sorting through an otherwise boring pile of mail and bills…and today that catalog was from Anthropologie and I saved it for last!

Aside from the gorgeous model shots in Peru, my favorite thing about the catalog was checking out all the new and unique accessories.

Here are just a few of the pieces I’m going to add to my holiday wish list…and with any luck I may find one of them under the tree next month!

What’s on your holiday wish list??

One-of-a-Kind gramaphones transformed into iPod speakers!!

Whimsical leather armadillo carafes!

Adorable papier-mache Sea Story ornaments

Beautiful and colorful gloves

Gorgeous necklaces - I want them all!!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

I have awesome news for a Monday – my sister adopted a kitten!!!

And it got even better when my sister went on a business trip last Thursday and asked me to kitten-sit for the long weekend!

His foster name is Sushi and his adopted name has yet to be decided, but Miguel and I have come up with a lot of great choices…like Wilbert, Sharkey (because of the biting), Panda Bear, Salmon Roll and Bob “the cat”.

The little guy is crazy adorable and brings back so many memories of when Wylie and Sami were that tiny. They finally started warming up to him last night and I think may actually miss him tomorrow when Melissa takes him home…well maybe for 5 minutes anyway – ha! I’ll miss him and his antics a lot longer than that, but at least he’ll be just a walk away!

So without further ado, meet Sushi!!

It’s crazy how much he looks like Sami sometimes!

See what I mean?!

When kittens nap, they nap hard – too cute!

Photo Album: NYC Shopping - Part Three

Finally...here it is, a post dedicated to all the great finds from my NYC shopping trip!

Looking at all of these photos makes me want to do some more thrifting stat, ha!

a) Citra Sipper from KIOSK (when it works, it’s like drinking fresh squeezed orange juice straight from the orange!) b/c) Sweet prop from Film Biz Prop Shop d) Beautiful note cards from Papel e/f) Promotional tape measurer from my hometown found at Yesterday’s News

g/h/i) Details of a gorgeous 1933 vintage map found at the Hells Kitchen Flea Market j) Blue metal box from KIOSK k/l) Early 1900’s counter (notice lever on right side) found at the Hells Kitchen Flea Market

m/n) Vintage road map book found at the Film Biz Prop Shop and perfect for upcoming paper art! o) Pens from MUJI p/q/r) Vintage calipers, keys and miniature pulleys found at the Hells Kitchen Flea Market