jon & melissa's wedding

We met Andy from studio563 at Jon & Melissa's wedding. He and his team took some fabulous shots at the wedding and captured some great moments... including some of hauteChocolate on the place settings! Check out his blog and view the slideshow!

We'd like to thank him for mentioning us several times, and we hope you'll take a look at his work... Jon & Liss's engagement shots looked like so much fun! 

your wish has been granted

There are only 14 days until Christmas! HauteChocolate bars are perfect for anyone on your list, and if you're giving someone a gift card, including it with a hauteChocolate bar is way sweeter than just giving it with a card! Gift card-sized envelopes are complimentary when you purchase any bar, and if you place a custom order, we can make an envelope to match any bar!

Shop our huge variety of hauteChocolate bars at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar

Dec. 3 - Dec. 24

Sun-Thurs • 10am-10pm

Fri-Sat • 10am-Midnight

Here's a map (click to enlarge):

Our booth is stocked and we're taking custom orders!!

art+chitecture

Because my real job is the art director of Texas Architect magazine, I get to see a lot of really amazing homes and structures. I had the opportunity to tour the Klein residence on Lake Austin a few weeks ago. Their home was designed by Mark DuBois (Ohlahausen DuBois Architects, NYC) to mimic the feel of a Japanese fishing village on stilts and islets, and was anything but ordinary. I was struck by the playfulness of their artistic choices.  Here are a few shots I took of their home and art:

screened entrance and living area

front entrance (photo by Filo Castore)

Chair sculptures were seen throughout the residence. This one is submerged in the water outside of the front door and was a nice, sunny nap spot for a tiny turtle. You can barely see him on the edge of the seat.

Bridges connect different areas of the home. 

pathway along the channel to the Lake Austin

Another chair sculpture amongst actual loungers in the yard. 

chain cobweb

This backlit illustration of a rejected Marilyn Monroe negative was my favorite.

Used tea bags surround a tiny LCD screen.

sculptures down the wall in the hallway

Hand-cut mirror mosaics surround the dining area and reflect a distorted outdoors.

tiny twigs installed around a large split river rock on the living room wall

I have no idea what this sculpture was made of or what it represents.

chair split between the window

rear entrance (photo by Filo Castore)

master bedroom

Pretty Walls, Empty Wallet (E.A.S.T.)

This Sunday, Julie, Jason, my brother Jared and his friends Gabe and Britney and I all headed over to the East Austin Studio Tour (after brunch at Elsi’s) to check out as much local art + artists as we could fit into the afternoon. Our first stop was Pump Project, so we could say hi to Matt and check out the other thirty or so studio spaces and artists that are there. It’s a really laid-back place with diverse mediums represented—paintings, sculptures, glasswork, ceramics, drawings, and photography. Jared’s friend Britney bought the Green-eyed girl print by Baxter Orr, Matt’s new studio mate. Matt bought the same print for me, which I'm really excited about!

Then we stopped at Blue Genie to check out what kind of crazy sculptures they would have lying about (jackalopes, giant sushi, and gnomes a plenty if you’re curious) and pick up some flyers to hand out for the upcoming bazaar. Julie & Jason bought a print called Splashdown by Ryan Day and I picked up a few funny magnets by Rory Skagen. I was also super excited to see a gigantic replica of an Aggie ring in the process of being made. It was big enough to walk through! I’m so used to being surrounded by Longhorn stuff all the time; the giant Aggie ring was a happy surprise.

Our last stop was Obsolete, Inc., where we all totally scored on fantastic flatstock prints. Julie bought six, I bought five, and Jared, Gabe, and Britney all bought one each (showing much restraint). Now we need to go frame shopping in a major way...once our wallets recover from all of our E.A.S.T. purchases!

Three Things I Love Right Now

Aqua + Red

I’m moving in a month and have decided to paint my kitchen aqua, rather than the apple green that I had in my previous kitchen. I already have a cute red vintage metal cabinet, and I’m going to get red dining chairs to go with my black table. Now every time I see red and aqua, I’m drawn to it…I think it’s a great holiday combo as well.

Primpcess Eye Makeup Kit by Benefit

I bought this all-in-one eye makeup kit during a serious Sephora shopping spree about a month ago. It contains (are you ready?): mascara, three powder eyeshadows (including one that can double as a liner), a cream shadow, concealer, eye brightener, two brushes, and my favorite Bad Gal mascara. All for $34, which I felt was a great deal! I’ve used it every day since. A great gift idea for the super girly girl in your life (that is, after you've already given her a hauteChocolate bar!).

Pumpkin Bagels from Einstein Bros. Bagels

There’s an Einstein Bros. on the way to work, and when I don’t have time to eat breakfast at home, I’m always tempted to stop in for a bagel and a Diet Coke. Lately I’ve been getting the pumpkin bagel with low fat plain cream cheese. Puts me in the holiday mood!

Express Yourself

Rachel and I have been BFFs since we were 8-years old. I think that one of the main reasons we've been friends for nearly two decades is our common interest in creativity. For as long as I can remember, every time we've gotten together we've made some kind of craft—from clothespin people as kids, mock fashion magazines as pre-teens, and glass magnets in our college years, to refurbishing furniture finds and starting our business, hauteChocolate, as "adults." 

Growing up in Kerrville, Rachel and I were neighbors all through elementary school. When she moved across town to "the country" we vowed that we'd someday be neighbors again. Since graduating high-school, we've each lived in several different cities across the US. Although we had always imagined being college roommates, it wasn't in the cards when we chose two different universities nearly 10-hours from each other. I thought she may move to NYC after she graduated and come live with me in the Big Apple, but again our lives took different turns when she was offered a job in San Antonio. When Rachel called me up two summers ago and said she was taking a job in Austin, I couldn't have been happier. I had been living here for about three years and couldn't wait for my BFF to be back in my life on the regular. After a year and a half of commuting back and forth to each other's houses for girls nights (she lived north when I lived downtown, and then I lived north while she lived downtown), we are finally going to be neighbors again! Starting next month, she and Matt will be renting a house just a few blocks from Jason and I. Since we're all grown up and living with our men, we may never have the chance to be roommates, but I'm glad our vow to be neighbors has finally come to fruition! 

This weekend, thanks to my fabulous boyfriend Jason, I'll be going to Houston and fullfilling a lifelong wish by seeing Madonna in concert. I have fond memories of Rachel and I as 9-year-olds, making up gymnastic routines to Madonna's True Blue album in my backyard. As every child of the 80's knows, Madonna was an original and a huge burst of creativity and energy in the pop-culture scene. She continues to reinvent herself and is always a huge source of inspiration for me in my creative work as a designer. I can't wait to hear her live and just watch a really great show!

I'm also thinking of going to the Nutcracker Market while I'm in Houston this weekend. It's supposed to be a huge shopping fair in Reliant Stadium with hundreds of vendors. I hadn't heard about until Jason's mom mentioned it to us yesterday. Has anyone been before?

And because I can't resist, here's a quick shot of one of the new holiday hauteChocolate bars. Rachel and I worked on Saturday while the boys watched football, and we made a few Holiday and wedding marketing samples to mail out last night. 

Thanks for Your Service...

In honor of Veteran’s Day, I’m promoting my very favorite artist—my boyfriend, Matt Wester! After September 11, Matt joined the National Guard, and he ended up serving a year in Iraq in 2005 as a photojournalist. He documented missions, both military and humanitarian, and his photographs are truly amazing. They are inspiring, distressing, hopeful, informative, both beautiful and dreadful in a way that only war photos can be.

When he returned to the US, Matt began transforming some of the most evocative images from his time in Iraq into bright, dramatic acrylic paintings. He had his debut show in May, much of which can be seen in the KLRU Docubloggers video below, which profiles the studio where Matt paints, Pump Project Art Complex.

Thank you to all the brave men and women in the military who have served and are serving our country!