Happy Halloween!

We interrupt your regular programming...

To wish each and everyone a Happy Halloween Weekend!

Be safe!

And remember, there is such a thing as too much candy.  Even for chocoholics!

Have a great weekend! 
Luv,
Lease





http://www.beinglease.com/

11 truck logos

Taking our cue from my super talented sister-in-law Claire, we took pictures of different truck logos during a recent road trip.

A truck without a container just doesn't look quite right. 

Here are some of the logos we encountered.  Some quite common, some we saw for the first time.

What does evergreen deliver?

 

First time I've heard of this company.

 

This epitomized our trips of late.  Mostly, SF to LA and back.  Maybe we should just hitch a ride with this truck?

 

This reminds me of Die Hard.  Wonder why?  "Yipee- ka-ya-yay,  (bleep)."  John McClane.  Is it really the best way to do business?

 

These soft sided trucks scared me the most.  What if they hit a pothole and their load falls to the side?  Like the side where our car is?  Let's ask McClane on the best way to approach this.

 

I always thought Sunnyside made orange juice only?  Oh, right - that's Sunny Delight.

CA to NV to NJ?  That's quite a commute.

For some reason, JACMAR doesn't quite sound right for a food distribution company.

 

Ooooh, papercraft.  The scrapbooker in me wanted to follow this truck to its destination.

 

Of course, Fedex. 

 

And then we saw this train.  And then thought, what if we feature 11 trains next time?

We don't have a vehicle fast enough though.

 

Luv,
Lease

vintage

Just wanted to share a few more projects I worked on this weekend.

I would like to pass these pictures off as having been taken sometime in the early 1900s.

Yeah, early 1900s?

1908?

Ok, 1901?  The year my grandfather was born.

Not necessarily true.  The date these pictures were taken, I mean.  Lolo was born in 1901.  That part is true.

These were actually taken a few years into the current century, and made to look old through layering and actions in Adobe Photoshop.  Here are the originals.

I also like the rounded corners - which I also learned to do over the weekend using the "Create Clipping Mark" tab also on Photoshop.

 

I love the look of these pictures and had soooo much fun creating the "vintage" effects. 

I now look forward to Friday nights, and the possibility of posting my work the following week.  I tell ya, I think I'm in the wrong profession. I'm enjoying these projects way too much!

Luv,
Lease

fleet week

Every so often, we venture out into civilization to watch Fleet Week.  I would say that in the last decade, we've watched it at least every other year.  At one time we were even on Alcatraz island, when the show started.

This year we braved the crowds, and the lunacy of finding parking in San Francisco.  All to watch 5 fighter planes zigzag across the sky in death defying stunts.

As we found our spot on Crissy field, I took 360 degree pictures from our picnic blanket.

90 degrees to our right...

 

First, there were these "starters"

 

Setting the crowd up for the main show...

 

I liked this one.  Mellow.  No thunderous zooming sound upon its approach...

 

And, then the blue diamond planes were off...Of course, I meant the Blue Angels...

 

Just like a tennis match, our heads bobbed from left to right.  Up and down.

 

Around tall buildings...

 

Across the field...

 

And then, without warning, they were gone.  We thought we arrived 30 minutes too late.

We found out later that the rest of the show was canceled due to the thick fog.

We lingered a bit, and let the kids run around.  We called it a day and began the 4,000 mile journey back to our car.

We crossed these streets in one way or another....

 

When we got to our car, we saw this!

And prayed that this was not ours.

 

The fleet week that wasn't.

Luv,
Lease


http://www.beinglease.com/

Kara's Cupcakes

Part of my duty as a public servant is to survey different cupcakes and report back to you on my findings.

I am pleased that we found another cupcake 'artist' -  Kara's cupcakes!!!

The packaging is fun and colorful (paper bags).

Don't let the simple pink box detract from its contents.   Everything is well coordinated - from the bags, to the boxes, to their menus.  And, on the day of our visit, even the cupcake frosting blended with the overall look of the store.

Nothing in life will prepare you for these cupcakes.

 

Hubby's brother's wife bought a sampling of every available cupcake.

We all got a taste of each one.

We each had our own favorite.

My favorite? Unfortunately,  I ate it up before I could take a picture.  It was the chocolate buttercream on chocolate cupcake with salt granules.  Yes, salt!  Added an unexpected 'punch' to the chocolate.

Oh, yeah, baby!

h&g: stamp it up!

Another interesting phase of our backyard project.

We set up the molds, put in bedrock and rebar.  Then, we poured concrete and smoothed it out.

About an hour to an hour and a half and 3 seconds after the concrete slushie was poured into the patio molds, tamped down, and smoothed over, we were ready to stamp it out.

We chose to add a releasing agent which added a second color (medium gray) to highlight and give effect to the texture of the stamp (ashlar slate).



So, one person dusted a thin layer of the releasing agent onto the slightly hardened cement, and another person started stamping on the diagonal.




We repeated the process until the entire patio area was dusted and stamped.


This is what the texture looks like. The cement has not fully hardened at this point. And, it is still covered in the releasing agent (powder).



We have to wait at least 48 hours before we can do anything else.  We also needed to wait at least 4 weeks before we could seal the concrete.




So, we wait.

till the next step of this process...follow our semi-DIY backyard landscaping project!

Lease