windows y sidewalks

Neiman Marcus store with cool window paper/patterns on Geary street. In the two seconds it took me to capture this, a young tourist teenager went around me in order to not get in the way :)
I was going to wait for Muni but instead did a nice walk around downtown on a Sunday afternoon. Was not too crazy.



Sidewalk colorful sightings in Laurel Heights.


Adams point en Oakland.


Bart window. I was sitting near two young men, one had a beat up skate and the other was halfway holding his bike and eating a snack. His bike had a large basket and his super size messenger bag was 3x bigger than his slim body.

Each time Bart emerges in the East Bay from the long mystery pitch black bay tunnel of anxiety, I look down and nod to the one intersection I fell flat on my face SO hard while riding my friend Yaeger's bike over a decade ago in west Oakland, luckily no semi trucks were around those big empty boulevards… I wrecked his front wheel. I didn't have a cell phone. I walked from there to Broadway and stopped at a gas station to eat a donut and a warm gatorade. The gal working there had really long neon green nails. It was one long Saturday morning.


National anthem. Tuesday, July 8th at the Coliseum.


Deli board on Folsom. Great sandos.


burger for KT. beer para mi.
Bistro SF has two 21st amendment beers on draft, and Anchor Steam. Nice!


Familia Sunday lunch, pizza time in San Anselmo.


Saturday lunch y walk around Lake Merrit/Grand with Muffin y Qeli.


Roam burgers back in June. Great burgers for meat lovers and veggies alike, beer. Big open windows. Usually crowded, but not too bad.


Window pixels at Howard and Moss. I really like looking at those windows.
This is a previous shot from 2012 (foto of a foto) on film, tmax 100:


All images, except this b+w above, taken with mi device phone, called Nexus 5.
OK that is all, hope your Tuesday is going well.
xxomeli

Sunday.

Summer time. The alert sign reads HEAVY FOG… :)


Approx. 15 miles north from the Golden Gate bridge is Pizzalina in San Anselmo, delicious.


Coffee pit stop at mi favorite Peet's of the north w/ its majestic Michael Schwab posters.

Sunday was a day for pizza, coffee and baseball watching. The A's swept the Toronto Blue Jays and it was a sunny day in Marin.
The Peet's in the picture above y below, is one of my favorite of their new-ish locations because of its poster art. In addition to the two included in the phone fotos, there is a landscape-poster of that glorious sipping coffee time, and a vertical one of a cup with a imperfect swirly milk on top, just beautiful - with the words cappuccino.
It has not felt right to take a picture of the other two (which aren't as big) as there always seems to be people enjoying their coffee/devices/chatter next to them.

From a previous time.

Speaking of Schwab, he is an iconic designer based in Marin. He has designed great logos, posters for national parks, companies, events. If you are unfamiliar with him, you can browse his portfolio pieces here.
Anyway, I also wanted to share his latest design seen in posters and banners around the Fillmore district and Pacific Heights. The annual Jazz festival happened this weekend:

Not taken today Sunday, but a few days ago.

Fillmore street has a nice blog, and they recently featured the making-of the 2014 Fillmore Jazz poster interview with Schwab. I learned that he is designing the upcoming Santa Clara Superbowl logo (new 49ers is approx. 40mi south from SF), which comes as no surprise. If you follow baseball, you may remember he designed the 2007 All-Star identity.
If you like me, are a poster fan, designer or just curious, here is the article:
The New Fillmore: At the top of his game

OK, I already can't stop thinking about tomorrow's coffee.
Mondays after a 3-day weekend are just not the greatest things … blah blah blah :)
That is all for now.
xxomeli

three quick fotos

Three day weekends are the bestest of best.


Thursday: Improptu pre-4th of July beer time y fútbol chatter with mi amiga KT :) at the our favorite Pacific Heights spot, SF Bistro.


Friday: Civic center station. Béisbol Bart bound – Los Oakland A's win to the Toronto Blue Jays in extra innings :)


Saturday: Californian legend Greg Lemond + Oakley ad at the Powell street Bart station.

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And still not over. Have a great Sunday all.
xxomeli

Palo Alto.

Hola.
Last week I attended a design/creativity weeknight lecture in downtown Palo Alto.



Walking from the Caltrain Station to one of the Palantir buildings where the lecture was taking place, was a great dose of people watching. And people watching. I saw a couple of these c-racks (above) which always remind me of the first time I came across a possible prototype (display?) in 2008 in that same corner.
Don't let the capture fool you. Not sure how I managed to take the photo with no people or cars. It was crazy crowded that evening.

I love window reflections, and look at these post-it notes!
They are the analog photoshop collages from the indoor to the out.


Here is the description of the event:

“A Crash Course on Creativity Creativity often feels like a mystery. Whether we are struggling to generate fresh ideas or staring at problems with no solutions in sight, the spark of creative genius often seems out of reach. In this talk Tina Seelig reveals a set of tools and conditions that we each control our Innovation Engine - that allows us to increase our own creativity and that of our teams and organizations. She shows that just as the scientific method demystifies the process of discovery, there is a formal process for unlocking the pathway to invention.” –via eventbrite for reference only.

Having worked at one of the top ten fortune500 company, an under-10 employees startup, and everywhere in between over the last decade, I'm always quite eager to check out new company spaces, their vibe, what they provide in the restrooms (airbnb HQ), lecture halls, peek into equipment at their AV theaters (worked at one! fave jobs ever) available for free or low-cost lectures and open to the public – and of course the people speaking, or presenting!

Catching Tina Seelig's lecture was a treat! She is very kind, funny and engaging.
Very refreshing for Silicon Valley :)
Not sure the video of this particular night talk has been uploaded, so if you are interested to hear her talks, search for her in youtube for past lectures.
This one is great: The 6 Characteristics of Truly Creative People

This is me taking notes.
I've always sketched, however 2014 has been a year I have found myself drawing as constantly as I did during my undergrad years.
I showed Dr. Seelig my sketch and asked her if she'd be kind to sign it, and she did. She loved it.
How cool is that?!


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Red bikes outside.

Red bike inside the patagucci store.

I head to downtown Palo Alto about a handful of times a year, but prefer the California old downtown to University avenue.
If you are thinking it is because of pizza, you are correct.
The guys from Pasta? opened Terún a couple of years ago. I recommend it for a nice dinner with friends, or a date. Try their limoncello. Now I want a negroni.



Speaking of food, I recently picked up tamales from a youth camp fundraiser, which were SO kindly delivered by bike from San José by our very own local celebrity worldwide famous superblogger Richard of cyclelicious.

Tamalicious.

Most of recent Palo Alto moments are from dinner with good peninsula friends Diana, and also Eric from time to time.

October last year.

That is all I got for you on Palo Alto, for now.
Have a nice day.

xxomeli

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Past Palo Alto posts here.