Temporal, Temporary, & Fleeting

“Ignoring your passion is slow suicide.  Never ignore what your heart pumps for.  Mold your career around your lifestyle, not your lifestyle around your career.”  -Kevin Claiborne.

Annie Saunders is, at this point in my life, the oldest friend that I've kept in touch with.  We actually see each other fairly often, given our busy schedules. Which can sometimes be tough because she travels all over the world in an effort to continue her passion producing live performance art.

Annie and I met in junior high school just outside of Oakland in Northern California.  I'd moved to the suburbs with my family when I was going into fourth grade and by that point many of the cliques and friendships had already been formed and I was established as an outsider.  In seventh grade Annie showed up to school in all her dramatic outsider glory and somehow we became good friends. Shortly after we started high school  our paths went separate ways, and yet somehow they continued to come back together over the years.

Annie can create something where there was nothing before.  She can take a look at an old warehouse in downtown Los Angeles and see the perfect setting for "a site specific, immersive, experimental" Tennesse Williams mash up theater creation known as "The Day Shall Declare It".  She will fly off to perform underwater in huge tanks that resemble fishbowls in a show called "Holoscenes" which is a public art installation with performers.  Or spend a month in London working with choreographers for a show shes creating. Or. Or. Or. You get it, shes busy.  She's one of those people that operate on a level of creativity that's a little bit different than our own, and that's something we should absolutely celebrate.

As much as we stress over our lives, I see Annie as having an understanding of what kind of work/art truly fulfills her and that's exciting to see.  I've never heard "I hate this part of the process" out of her.  She knows what it takes to make something truly magical, and however frustrating I'm sure the process is.  She makes sure to keep it well hidden and out of sight with the hopes that people will get lost in the moment with her.  If she does "The Day Shall Declare It" again, and it's near you, and you miss it?  You're a damn fool.

“To play a wrong note is insignificant; To play without passion is inexcusable.” ― Ludwig Van Beethoven

Brought Back To Life

“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”  -St. Francis of Assisi

Mikey Ambrose is one of those frustratingly talented people.  I’ve been watching him play music, be in bands and play drums for over a decade now and every time I see him play he blows my mind again.   I am always floored by what this guy can do with two sticks and a couple of feet.  

Then came the day I figured out that Mikey had moved on to different things.  I remember the first time I saw one of his furniture pieces and I thought to myself. “Mikey? Ambrose? Woodworking? Someone explain to me.”  

Our mutual friend Kyle bought a beautiful side table piece and we chatted about how cool it is to watch someone like Mikey make a move from one skill or interest to a completely different one and then be awesome enough to make a living doing so.  

He’s created a business that allows him to get whatever he wants out of life.  He wants to play drums? He does.  He wants to hike and find wood?  He does.  He wants to take a month off and go to England?  He does. He isn’t a laborer or a craftsman.  He is most certainly an artist.

“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing, that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
― Dale Carnegie

Music: Hey Marseilles “Cannonballs”

Moments

“All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.” -Susan Sontag

This is Nate Skinner.  He spends 8 hours a day in a lab as a bio-chemist. He fills every other available moment of his life exploring, framing and photographing the world around him.

Watching this film, we can’t help but get a little bit choked up because we know how dedicated and talented Nate is at his craft - and at this point we want it as badly as he does.  His passion is inspiring and contagious. His photographs are many. His longing for something more is relate-able and his urge to become the best possible version of himself is something all of us should strive for.

For more of Nate Skinners work follow him here: Flickr  and here Tumblr

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”  -Barack Obama

Cookie Goddess

“A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand” - author unknown

Something about the simple gesture of baking can say a lot about how much someone cares for you. Even if you don’t care for sweets, there is something to be said for a handcrafted gift who’s sole purpose is to make you smile.

Each scoop perfectly measured, every turn of a whisk, every grain of salt, every minute spent in the oven, all measured in anticipation of your enjoyment.

Whether baking for an open house in her professional world, encouraging the team of boys she water polo coaches, celebrating birthdays or occasions, Amy shares her love in cookies, and as two folks that love Amy in return, we are not complaining.

Run The Show

“I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water.” - Ray Charles

This is Aaron O'neil. He’s an insanely nice guy and he’s an insanely talented drummer. Come to think of it, he comes from a family of insanely nice and talented musicians. He’s grown up with music and we’ve pretty much watched him grow up. From the start, his talent for drumming and his passion for music has always impressed us and has continued to inspire us over the years.

Aaron currently lives in Washington, plays in at least 3 bands and spends most of the year on tour.

Aud Mod

“You’re only as good as your last haircut.” -Fran Lebowitz

This is Audrey Watson. She’ll talk your ear off, she’ll laugh your face off, she’ll dance your pants off and she’ll have more energy and enthusiasm than you can ever imagine.

That’s pretty much her philosophy on life. And she applies it to everything she does.

This is what she’s doing now. This is what she wants to do for the future. This is where she has found her place, and we think it’s perfect for her.

Catching Up

“Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain.”   - Leon Trotsky

This is Connor Spencer and this is a bit about his story.

It’s about passion, and strength, and energy.  It’s about heartache and loneliness.  It’s about power and precision.  It’s about a team sport that’s also about the lone rider.  It’s about dedication to a craft that is so close it can be tasted.  It’s about repetition and routine.  It’s about doing something with so much of your metal and physical strength behind it, that you don’t know how to do anything else.

It’s about Connor, but mostly it’s about riding.

A sport for casuals, a sport for professionals.  A sport for the dedicated.

Connor currently lives in San Francisco.  He rides for the Metro Mint team.

“If you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on.” - Lance Armstrong

90 Feet of Perfection

“The ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection"  - Red Smith (American sportswriter)

This is Duane Harris and this is a bit of his story.

It’s about American history, family history and sports history. It’s about brotherhood and memories.
It’s about heroes and storytellers and that unexplainable magic that happens in the grass and the dirt.

It’s about Duane, but mostly it’s about baseball.

A game that to some, is larger than life.

Duane currently lives in San Francisco. He is the man behind the blog 90feetofperfection and is a member of the Mission Baseball Club.

"People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball.  I’ll tell you what I do.  I stare out the window and wait for spring.” - Rogers Hornsby