Lena! (rhymes with hennah)

What an ethereal, powerful, sweet evening of celebrating @delriophotography new work (get your own copy of her librito via the link in her bio). I’m excited to share these gorgeous photos by @angelajazmin.studio . María brought us all together for an emotional evening of reflection and beauty. Thanks again for trusting me to execute and design the bites and atmosphere. Eric and I had the most fun; we sweat, we cried, we laughed, we made 100 conchas and 100 marbled tostadas in a heatwave and we deliriously loved every moment of it. Thanks for inviting us to be a part of your magic.

A little #bts of styling and producing our wedding earlier this year! It was quirky, loving, flawed, rainy, tender, raw and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. We had SO much fun and learned a ton. Partially catering our own wedding almost 500 miles away was a hilarious challenge we took on. It included making a pit stop in LA during rush hour to pick up the cake, and driving down to the desert with a confused little dog in our laps, trying to make sure all the food stayed a safe temperature for 9+ hours. I’ll just say we really found out why they call it the Honda “Fit” and damn @county.line.harvest little gems are HARDY AS HELL. We had so much help from our friends and family, they were amazing and key components of making the day possible! Our vendors were also INCREDIBLE. I know don’t make things easy, but I sure keep it interesting! Thanks everyone! I’d do it all over again with you in a heartbeat. Photographer + Super 8 Film: @angelajazmin.studio Day-Of-Coordinator: @1staceyjones Reception Venue: @masomenosbar Cake: @cakequeenla Dress: @kamperett Aprons: @kateaustindesigns

What an absolute JOY to be part of this team! It was so meaningful to help create these images with these amazing women for one of my favorite musicians and hometown hero (and apparently schoolmate over many years, sota + bv: represent 🙌🏼 ) @ladona415 ! Photo: @delriophotography Hair: @_beautynative Makeup: @muajanet Clothing: @kamperett Set Design: @lena.doing.things Backdrops: @cosita.creative

“Good morning, welcome to paradise!” A passing hiker called out to us in the middle of our 10 mile journey. We woke up at 5:30 to hike through caves, up to cliffs, through waterfalls, and alongside creeks. Blossoms that smell like masa, meadows that smell like mint. Birds birds birds. I filled my cup with SKY. #35mm snaps from my first visit to one of my favorite places on Mars. Turns out there is life there.

✨ BENITO BOWL SQUARES FUNDRAISER FOR CENTRO LEGAL DE LA RAZA ✨ 100 squares = 100 chances $10 per square 3 winners!! 💘DM me to buy your squares💘 Inspired by classic Super Bowl squares but BETTER. Each square is randomly assigned a Bad Bunny song. Buy your square/s and if the song assigned to your square/s is 1-the opener 2-the 3rd song played 3-the closing song you get a prize!! (Deets on prizes to follow; everything from gift certificates to fresh conchas to custom stationary—eeeyyy wepa!). All proceeds go to @centro_legaldelaraza . I do not represent them in any official capacity, but they’re an Oakland-based org near and dear to my heart that I’ve volunteered with before. They provide free or low-cost legal aid in the Bay Area for low-income residents, focusing on housing, employment, and immigration, with bilingual services primarily in English or Spanish. ☎️ Tell all your homies! (but seriously, please share, even a simple repost is amazing, I’m excited to share our money and energy with this dope organization, let’s sell 100 squares!). ✈️ (I will ship nationally, so you can buy a square from anywhere in the country) Ojalá que los míos nunca se muden. We do it for love.

At last month’s Show & Tell, local artist @lena.doing.things , shared this thoughtful and imaginative zine that honors family archive as creative practice. Kirstyn Jesica Magdalena Martinez-Miller was born in Mexico City and raised in the Bay Area, where she continues to live and work. Family sits at the center of her practice. Early ruptures in her own family life, and being largely raised by nonbiological kin, inform her ongoing exploration of kinship, belonging, and care. READ MORE ABOUT THIS ZINE AND LENA’S WORK ON THE BLOG 🦋

I have the softest spot in my heart for cemeteries and roadside memorials. I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about what I’d like to happen after I die. Roadside altar is high on the list. (There’s also a version with an elaborate Catholic-tinged party where an electric pink prickly pear granita plays a key role in a communion-inspired ritual as mariachis play in the background, but that seems harder to get people to agree to, so we’ll see 😂). #35mm

Soñamos con los angelitos en Granada. I could not get enough of this building and felt acutely aware of the many lifetimes that have been lived in these spaces. I woke up frequently in the night, and I felt that *I* was the ghost. I’d quietly pad around to grab a glass of water or use the restroom and think about how brief all of this is. Life. I found an enormous sense of relief and freedom imagining I was a ghost. Free to be silent, centered, connected deeply to all the lives before and after mine. I would fall back to sleep quickly, comforted by this fantasy. I felt the scale of a lifetime very differently in Andalucía. It was one of the greatest, subtlest gifts about our time there. I brought that perception home with me or at least it lingers for now. #35mm

The Selena documentary (mixed feelings though I had about it) unlocked epiphanies about music for me. It got me thinking about the people who love Selena and her music. All the voices that sang her songs and in what spaces. At bodas, in the fields, in dish pits, at house parties, in the astrodome, in spaces on both sides of the border and beyond, at quinces, at my wedding years after her death. We continue to sing her songs, new voices joining the chorus every day! It struck me that a song sang is time travel. Connecting us to those who traced its words before, those who sing it simultaneously in different places, and those who will sing it after us. A song lives as long as we remember it. The people who sang that song echoing through the years with it. When we sing, we’re all together holding the same note for one moment communing across space and time. And that image thrills and holds me. Memento Mori Photography: @dianewithonen Props & Studio: @jennyirenedesigns @tangerinepropshop Florals: moi

Memento Mori, a wild, fun project conceived and executed by Diane. I feel deeply fortunate that she trusted me to hop in on florals of this scale without having seen much evidence that I could do it. The caliber of the team was ✨and I am still thrilled that I got to work alongside these fierce humans. This is one I’ll be thinking about for a while. Photography: @dianewithonen Wardrobe: @_labyrinth_ Props & Studio: @jennyirenedesigns @tangerinepropshop Hair: @ajlashmett Makeup: @audralangley.hmua Florals: yours truly

Memento Mori, a project inspired by Victorian era death portraits, conceptualized by Diane. This team was wildly talented, kind, and generous. Aside from the fact that this undertaking aligned deeply with my own personal interests (multifaceted explorations of death) and former projects, it was just a joy to collaborate with such fun, surprising, sweet people. I feel deep gratitude and awe towards everyone involved. ♥️ Photography: @dianewithonen Wardrobe: @_labyrinth_ Props & Studio: @jennyirenedesigns @tangerinepropshop Makeup: @muajanet Florals: me

The house my Mamá Lichita re-designed in la ciudad de México, the house they brought me home to when I was born. It’s been white, peptopink, creamsicle orange. It’s been on my mind. #35mm