California Girl!

Welcome to my blog!

First of all, what the heck is Swing 'n' Cocoa? Swing dancing and chocolate are two things in life that can pretty much always make me happy, no matter what mood I'm in. I've was a passionate lindy hopper for nearly 10 years, and well, chocolate is just really freaking tasty (I'm actually eating a chocolate brownie as I write this).

SO, a little about me:
I grew up in Albuquerque (balloon fiesta and green chili, holla!), went to school in Texas and landed out here in the Bay Area to take a job at Pixar! My speciality is shading/texturing, which is putting colors and materials on 3D computer models (in a nutshell). Check out my Demo Reel if you want to see some of my work. After two years there, I got a job at Dreamworks. Shortly thereafter, I decided to pursue my passion and try my hand at Interior Design. That was an invaluable learning experience for me, both professionally and personally. I was eventually lured back into computer graphics by Electronic Arts, which has been a fantastic experience.

Yeah ANYWAY. This is me.

In January 2013, Boyfriend Boyfiancé and I bought our very first house in the Peninsula area. We absolutely love it in all of it's outdated glory and have been updating it bit-by-bit since we moved in. People keep asking me how we like owning versus renting, and I have to say that for do-it-yourselfers like us, we wouldn't go back. Yes, when appliances break and things leak, we have to fix it ourselves, but the fact that we can change literally anything in the house that we so desire is very satisfying.

Much to the chagrin of Boyfriend Boyfiancé, my dogs and probably my neighbors, I always seem to have some sort of project going on around the home, be it painting things, refinishing furniture, building furniture or trying not to kill my plants (I think I may be getting over the black-thumb thing). Speaking of my dog, here she is:

TEAKO!!

Adorable, right? She's a hyperactive schnoodle named Teako who is best known for her kleenex-shredding and sock-filching abilities. And she's not the only one. In April 2012, we adopted a second pooch who couldn't be more perfect. Coco came to us at around 3 years old and loves to snuggle and high-five you. Coco spends most of her day acting like she's seeing you for the first time (again) and being really excited about it.

COCO!!

Since we moved to a whole new city, Boyfriend Boyfiancé and I have a rule that we must try a new place to eat every week. We've been surprisingly good about this so far! I love to cook and we are both foodies, so it's definitely an enjoyable way to explore the area. Some of our favorites so far are Summer Summer Thai, Indus Village, Bette's Diner, Simply Greek, Haven, Ippuku, Burma Superstar, Suppenkuche, The Ramen Shop, Yank Sing, and I could go on.

Boyfriend and I. Obligatory GGB picture.

This is Boyfiancé, by the way. He can sometimes be coerced into helping me with my shenanigans.

On this blog you mostly find my projects, tutorials, failings, and the occasional dog or food-related post.

Something I feel oddly passionate about is that I do not like art, but rather GOOD DESIGN. By art, I'm referring to piles of straws, dandruff in a jar, or whatever else passes for "modern" art these days. Design, on the other hand, must serve a function, first and foremost. Good design looks sexy while serving that function! I like and appreciate good design in any aspect of life. It's an obsession.

That being said, I try my best to incorporate good design into my decorating choices and I can't wait to share those choices with you!