Blubolt’s new office

Posted on 13 September 2011 in Design | View Comments

25 Queen Square Bath 600x395 Blubolts new office

Blubolt has moved to 25 Queen Square! It’s just around the corner from our previous office, but it is quite a bit larger so we have lots of room to expand, as we have been doing at an alarming rate!

Check it out, I’ve got the best desk:

DSC03136 399x600 Blubolts new office

Check out my view of the park! I sometimes stare out here and imagine what life would have been like in the 1800s when 25 Queen Square was brand new and residential. I picture myself in one of those big dresses, going out for my three turns around the park with a handsome Mr. Darcy on my arm. I love daydreaming about the 1800s…

DSC03145 399x600 Blubolts new office

Anyways, back to reality. On the other side of the room sit Daniel, Max, Krzych and Trevor.

DSC03144 600x399 Blubolts new office

Here’s a panorama of the front-facing windows, including a very shy  or scared Trevor. You can also see that we’ve hung the auction painting (it’s a Dominic Hills) on the wall near my desk.

DSC03142 600x157 Blubolts new office

Spinning 180 degrees, we’ve got Saud and Deividas separated by a small partition. Off to the right is our tea station, currently stocked with seriously amazing teapigs tea [new website coming soon!].

DSC03137 600x399 Blubolts new office

Further back, we have Duncan and Craig.

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Vito and Alan also work back here.

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Behind them is the small meeting room, which I didn’t really photograph as we had some clients working with us the day I took these photos and I wasn’t sure how they’d feel about being paparazzi’d.

From the small meeting room, looking towards the front windows, you can see how long this space is. Craig sometimes even has to use a loud speaker to get Max’s attention!

DSC03140 600x399 Blubolts new office

Despite the continuous stream of ambulances and car horns, we’re loving this office. It’s so nice to have room to stretch our legs – literally! We’ve even got another large meeting room and smaller storage room on the 2nd floor which aren’t photographed yet as they’re in need of a paint job.

pink office 600x450 Blubolts new office

As much as I loved my pink office, it’s just so nice to be part of the office banter again.

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From Sketchpad to Photoshop

Posted on 8 September 2011 in Design | View Comments

I’m really lazy. I don’t like getting up from my desk, waiting for the scanner / printer to warm up, making sure I have the right drivers, trying to get my bloody drawing to scan, etc. I have developed my own 21st century method of scanning and it works quite well! Here’s what I do:

1. Take a photo of my sketchbook

step 1 take photo of sketchbook 600x398 From Sketchpad to Photoshop

2. Email photo to myself

step 2 email self 1 200x300 From Sketchpad to Photoshop

step 2 email self 2 200x300 From Sketchpad to Photoshop

step 2 email self 3 200x300 From Sketchpad to Photoshop

3. Open in Photoshop

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4. Crop & Fix

Screen Shot 2011 09 08 at 19.39.55 462x600 From Sketchpad to Photoshop Quickly, I crop out the other crap. Then I desaturate the image (CMD + SHIFT + U) and manually correct the levels (CMD + L). You’ll see that the levels look like something like this before: Screen Shot 2011 09 08 at 10.09.16 From Sketchpad to Photoshop Ideally, the whites need to be white and the blacks black. Afterwards, my levels looked like this: Screen Shot 2011 09 08 at 10.09.34 From Sketchpad to Photoshop I’ve never really thought about how I do this step, but I guess I drag the dark slider to the right of its mountain and the light slider to the left of its mountain, then play around with the midlevels until it looks right to me. IMG 2192b From Sketchpad to Photoshop These four steps are quick as anything for me and beats mucking about with a scanner, in my opinion.

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My 10 mile walk

Posted on 27 August 2011 in Fitness | View Comments

A few weekends ago, I started walking along the canal. At first it was just an excuse to do something other than watch telly on a weekend afternoon. I just walked and thought about things; it was quite nice.

Screen Shot 2011 08 26 at 23.08.47 600x446 My 10 mile walk

After I walked 10km from Bradford-on-Avon to Avoncliff and back on a whim (okay, okay, I got lost trying to get to Freshford), I realized walking was quite fun and discovered that I didn’t want to stop there.

Screen Shot 2011 08 26 at 23.06.55 444x600 My 10 mile walk

Unfortunately, a thunderstorm was brewing, so I cut that walk short and vowed to try it again the next weekend.

Screen Shot 2011 08 26 at 23.07.09 600x445 My 10 mile walk

August 14th: the next weekend had arrived, and this time I had RunKeeper on my side. Let me just say that I’m obsessed with this app, k. The lady announces my stats every 5 minutes and, as Chris pointed out, she kind of sounds like Amy Farrah Fowler.

Screen Shot 2011 08 26 at 22.58.08 600x405 My 10 mile walk

Here’s the map of my Aug 14 walk from Bradford-on-Avon to Bath along the canal. You wouldn’t believe that such a scenic walk is literally the walk from my house to my work, but it is, and it is even more gorgeous than my photos depict.

This is the view from Bradford-on-Avon (why would anyone leave?!):

bradford on avon 398x600 My 10 mile walk

It’s gorgeous, right?! Just past Avoncliff, I found myself on the same path as the week previous. The bit between Avoncliff and Limpley Stoke is absolutely my favourite. It’s so calm and secluded that I always manage to get some good thinking in.

near freshford 600x395 My 10 mile walk

I soon arrived at Limpley Stoke, specifically on top of the Dundas Aqueduct. I’ve seen the Avoncliff Aqueduct many times, but this one takes the cake.

dundas aquaeduct limpley stoke 600x253 My 10 mile walk

Carrying on towards Bath, I started to feel so privileged to live in such a beautiful area. I actually had to resist the urge to take photos of every barge I saw.

Here’s the view en route to Claverton.

looking towards claverton 398x600 My 10 mile walk

It was around this point that I realized it was going to take me another 1.5 hours to get to Bath. When that settled in, my hunger became more and more irritating. My water bottle was almost done and my stomach began to growl. What would I do?!?

Oh right, wild blackberries! I seriously filled up on fresh, ripe blackberries and simultaneously wished I had brought a container to collect some in!

blackberries 397x600 My 10 mile walk

I swear, I actually got a few funny looks for stopping to eat these blackberries. What the heck!

I marched on and finally hit the 2 hour mark where I allowed myself a short sit-down and facebook status update. I had entered a quiet part of the canal that was just on the edge of Bath. There were a lot of farms nearby and I witnessed a bull sharing the river with ducks:

bull and ducks 600x399 My 10 mile walk

It was so nice here; the sun was getting lower in the sky and making pretty shapes with the landscaping.

sitting spot 397x600 My 10 mile walk

It was almost hard to force myself to continue! I pressed on and, before I knew it, I was in Batheaston! It was just as gorgeous as one would expect.

batheaston 600x437 My 10 mile walk

batheaston2 600x271 My 10 mile walk

As nice as Batheaston was, I was getting impatient. I had been walking for what seemed like FOREVER and I just wanted to be done with it all. Half an hour more and this view made it all worth my while, though.

bath 600x295 My 10 mile walk

As I was so close to my destination at that point, I realized that I had a very short while to up my average speed. I basically speed-walked the rest of the way and couldn’t be bothered to take photos – sorry!

Anyways, I made it: all 196 minutes of it and I enjoyed every second. It’s a lovely walk; I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a nice, long afternoon walk!

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Bath’s latest celebrity couple…

Posted on 15 August 2011 in Personal | View Comments

Chris and myself, of course! Here we are in a recent issue of Bath Life Magazine:

chris and amy bath life magazine 600x450 Baths latest celebrity couple...

We were featured next to a photo of John Cleese!

The Bath Galleries Group Charity Auction was held at The Octagon Chapel, one of my favourite, albeit slightly neglected, buildings in Bath.

the octagon chapel bath 600x398 Baths latest celebrity couple...

It’s a huge, gorgeous 18th century building somehow hidden away in the centre of the city. Jane Austen apparently used to frequent the Octagon Chapel as it was (and in a way still is) a place to see and be seen. Despite its age and apparent neglect, The Octagon still manages to seduce you.

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Here I am at the auction. John Cleese is one of those blurry blobs behind me, I swear.

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The auction began after a bit of mingling and a few nibbles, c/o the Jamie Oliver restaurant. John Cleese did his bit by reading out the raffle winners and somehow made it effortlessly hilarious at the same time.

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Following the raffle, auctioneer Richard Madley (the professional auctioneer, not the guy from Richard and Judy) took the stage and the real auction began.

It was my very first auction, so I didn’t realize it was as exciting as it was! Chris caught the bug, too, and started eyeing up a painting…

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In a spur-of-the-moment decision, Chris asked me to bid on a painting for him. Wow, what an adrenaline rush! Seriously. Next thing I knew, Richard Madley was like “SOLD!”

richard madley charity auction bath 399x600 Baths latest celebrity couple...

Jemma, my friend from bo.lee gallery deserves some credit here. She did a ton of work to organise the auction on behalf of the Bath Galleries Group!

Chris’s purchase was a large Dominic Hills oil painting titled Bear. Naked lady alert!

painting 600x397 Baths latest celebrity couple...

After the auction ended, we headed to Opium (cocktail bar) and I snapped a few shots of the Pulteney Bridge that I can’t help but share. Bath is so pretty!

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I am saving my pennies for the next auction!

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Sunshine in England?!

Posted on 5 July 2011 in Personal | View Comments

Having not made a peep in over a month, I thought I would do a quick photo life update. The weather has been pretty decent lately and us Bathonians (or as some like to say, Bathers) have been soaking up the sun as often as possible, frequenting patios for lunch…

red having lunch 600x448 Sunshine in England?!

Red having lunch at Hall & Woodhouse

…and hitting up Victoria Park for a silly game of catch or frisbee.

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Elliott in Victoria Park by the Royal Crescent, Bath

Even Gravy has been enjoying the warm weather as well. He now only comes home once a week, at most. It’s almost enough to make me wish for winter!

gravy peering out 600x446 Sunshine in England?!

One of the best things about this wave of warmer weather is the length of the day. I love having a morning cup of tea while sitting on the doorstep, looking out at the view and anticipating the warmth of the forthcoming afternoon. I love being able to have barbecues on the patio without racing to scarf down our dinner before the sun sets.

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I also love and eagerly anticipate our regular Sunday breakfasts at Wild Café, Bath. Seriously, this place does the best eggs benedict that I have ever tasted. It’s never been short of amazing. Poaching eggs is apparently all about the vinegar.

wild cafe bath eggs benedict 444x600 Sunshine in England?!

Just looking at that photo made me hungry.

Oh yes, and we had another visitor! Laura came to visit a few weeks ago and we had fun showing her around and laughing at our mutually favourite YouTube videos. Laura was the one who showed me grape lady falls, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Among other things, we took her to Burford and dragged her around the massive garden centre there.

laura and preserves 600x266 Sunshine in England?!

We also went bowling and afterwards I experienced my first plank.

planking 600x448 Sunshine in England?!

One night we went for a few drinks and stumbled upon some dudes breathing fire outside of Opium cocktail bar. Oh, the things you see in Bath.

fire breathing men 446x600 Sunshine in England?!

After Laura left for France, I attended a bo.lee gallery art exhibition at The Octagon, Bath. The work was truly stunning and the venue is probably one of the most under-appreciated in Bath. The Octagon is absolutely gorgeous! I’m attending a charity art auction there tomorrow night which will be hosted by John Cleese! What to wear…

jemma exhibition 448x600 Sunshine in England?!

We also got to meet the two little kittens that Paul and Daria are raising (they’re looking for good homes, btw).

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One of them is a black smoke, which we were hoping for with Pipsqueak’s litter; Chris has always wanted another black cat.

chris with black smoke kitten 600x398 Sunshine in England?!

They were soooo cute!

amy with black smoke kitten 600x398 Sunshine in England?!

This past weekend, I played in a softball tournament in Bristol. Miraculously, the weather was perfect both days! I somehow managed a homerun, too – my first!

IMG 9422 447x600 Sunshine in England?!

I got a new lens for my camera, as well. It’s a Sony DT 50mm AF f/1.8 SAM. I also got an E to A mount adapter so that it would work with my Nex-5. I’m in love with it already!

Screen shot 2011 07 05 at 13.28.33 Sunshine in England?!

Check out the quality this thing produces!

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I should mention that Trevor brought his cat, George, in to work yesterday. He was meant to be catching a big rat that escaped from the cellar, but instead he meowed a lot and peed on Chris’s lunch! LOL. He was cute nonetheless, though.

bottle 50mm lens 600x397 Sunshine in England?!

The lens is amazing; I am a huge fan of the massive blur and sharpness that you get all within one photo. Once I get the AF working, it’s going to be portrait time once again for the cats! </crazycatlady>

I suppose that brings us up to date. Graham has requested I post more recipes and I’ve got a butter tart recipe from my Aunt Lynn to try out, so that might be up next…

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