I have finished the design for the wedding program! Our wedding program. The one I insisted on designing and getting printed myself.
We used the font Brioso Pro throughout the program.
Here is the PDF of the wedding program I designed for our wedding.
Today, I finished the designs for the coozies that we will give away during our wedding.
I designed them using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS4.
Here they are:
Photos taken for the blue coozie were shot by Pin Lim, from our engagement photo shoot. The background of this coozie will be blue, so the ink needs to be white, and so the white ink is black above – which means it’s kind of hard to tell what this one will look like. I’m confident it will be awesome.
One of the photos taken for the white coozie was shot by Pin Lim (see the one on the far right). The others were shot myself, holding the camera out at a decent distance. This coozie was white with blue ink, so it’s not hard to see what it will look like, since the black ink above will be blue.
UPDATE: See a photo of the finished coozie, printed by Kustom Koozies, from Pin Lim’s wedding photo shoot:
The following were rejected by our careful vetting process, usually consisting of a harsh glare given by someone toward someone when someone would suggest one of the following …
The Only One – The American Analog Set
Brandy Alexander – Feist
Can’t Afford to Do It – Odetta
Don’t Forget Me – Neko Case
I’m Your Man – Leonard Cohen
My Blue Heaven – Frank Sinatra
Help I’m Alive – Metric
You Were Made for ME – Sam Cooke
Blue Eyes – Elton John
An Acceptable Level of Ecstasy (The Wedding Song) – Lyle Lovett
Remedy – Black Crowes
The Cause of it All – Roy Orbison
I’m glad YOu’re Mine – Al green
Joan Osborne – Cathedrals
My Only Offer – Mates of State
Valerie – The zutons
Sunshine of Your Love – Ella Fitzgerald
Ace reporter Ken Fountain, a personal friend and colleague, has moved to Beaumont to continue his craft of raising hell and taking names, or – at least – taking names and dodging storms.
I first met Ken in college, when we both were sharpening our skills at The Daily Cougar. He was the ace reporter who always got it right and I was the columnist who never knew what time it was. Since then, he had a stint at many a small paper around Houston and we last worked together at the Houston Chronicle’s Neighborhood News department.
We all got together to bid him farewell recently, and I snapped a few shots of the journalistic legend. But, I was shooting into the glare of a large window behind him, so I have altered the following photos to highlight his good features.
Keep in touch, buddy.
I busted my toe and I have learned that I must always wear shoes at the beach.
Some lessons hurt more than others. Especially those involving the sudden loss of half a toe nail.
They didn’t have to amputate it, but man – what if they would have? I certainly wouldn’t be having to wear sandals to work, man.
Kim said the photo I’m adding to this post may not be suitable for all viewers, especially those who may be missing a toe. I don’t think I know anyone missing a toe, but I do know a guy who goes by Toes because on one foot, he has six.
See.
Speaking of Kim, she was part of this lovely exchange on Facebook about the toe.
I just paid a speeding ticket I got on the way back from my summer vacation in Colorado County (where? – exactly … somewhere on I-10 where it’s OK to pull over the guy who’s just trying to get out of the way of some tailgating redneck in a pickup truck). Clocked at 84 miles per hour. Speed limit: 70. I must have been in a hurry to get back to town to pick up my car, which was in the shop, just waiting me to pay a lot of money for its return.
Yeah, I was driving Kim’s car. She said, “I never drive it over 80.”
There were two of them, hiding on the blind side of the hill. It didn’t take longer than 10 minutes before I was on my way. I am thankful there were no stupid human tricks involved in the ticket issuing process. And I’m just paying the ticket – like a man – this time, for the first time ever. No wrestling with an online defensive driving course or twiddling my thumbs somewhere during class. No. Screw it.
For my next trick, I will devour a bowl of ice cream.
I’m such a scenester.
That’s the feeling I was trying to convey by attending Saturday night’s Buxton 7″ release show at Mango’s on Westheimer.
For those who may not know what Mango’s is, let’s just say it’s that bar next to Helios – the two-story which used to be called The Mausoleum – and Mango’s has it’s own sordid and at times vacant-real-estate history. Mango’s used to be called The Oven, a name that’s a little more apt for all the sweat that poured out of me in the crowded-past-capacity-bursting-at-the-seems-someone-for-the-love-of-god-call-the-freaking-fire-marshall Buxton show.
I didn’t know who the hell Buxton was before the summer started, and then one day – around June 10 to be exact – there I was, poring over my RSS feeds, minding my own business, when all of a sudden out of the blue IndieHouston.org celebrated some new compilation coming out of some local outfit called ArtStorm. The original IndieHouston.org post, which had four embedded songs included with it, has since been removed – replaced later with a post that looks identical on July 8.
The compilation was advertised as super cheap ($4), and so I went to the ArtStorm site, put it in my cart, realized I also needed to cough up shipping ($3), flinched but didn’t yield, and then more than a week later, the CD finally arrived.
Note to ArtStorm, or whoever handles your orders for you: I’m on to you. I send CDs through the mail – a lot – and one CD plus a little bit of packaging (the comp comes in a paper sleeve) costs less than $2. Hope you enjoy handling my extra $1.50, and thanks for the speedy service.
But I digress. It’s an awesome compilation, and I’m really glad ArtStorm cares enough about us Houston scenesters to enlighten us with it. “Doctor” by Buxton has to be one of the catchiest and funnest song I’ve heard all year. And I listen to a lot of songs.
The compilation got me interested in Buxton. So, I checked out their gig (though a mistake for listening to music, I couldn’t really hear what the hell anybody was saying in that place! See my comments on this review here). While waiting for them to come on, I heard Wild Moccasins (read more and download three tracks here and one more track here), and they were freaking awesome. After listening to the aforementioned tracks I downloaded after the show, their lyrics ain’t bad, either. Couldn’t really hear them at the show, though. Maybe I’m old.
But the show allowed me to walk away with Buxton’s new 7″ – including “Feathers” and “Flint” (including a download URL so I can snag the tunes without dusting off a record player that, uh, I actually don’t own) – and I agree with those calling for “Feathers” to be song of the year. Also snagged their 2008 release A Family Light and it’s very impressive. Compared to the new 7″, though, it’s like Summerteeth meets A Ghost is Born. Look at me. Fitting in so well with this whole scene thing.
But we’ll never return to Mango’s for a big show. Maybe lunch. Or a drink. But never something as big as Buxton.