As we are in preparation for moving into our 4th office space in 4 years I had to go through and sort out what to keep and what to throw away/donate. In the process I found my old college notes books with these words written on almost every note book. “Trust the process not the product”. I guess even at an early age I was obsessed with how things are made.

This weekend was Super Saturday and Superbowl Sunday; americas most proudest achievment. Bigger than the light bulb and the telephone combined the Superbowl chalenges you into eating Dorritos and staying up on the latest Kim Kardashian/ Reggie Bush gossip. Yet i don’t feel a connection to the superbowl and all the ridicoulous american regalia that goes along with it. My favorite part is the opening ceremony…when they have soliders from afganastan watching it at 3am, saluting to the star spangled banner (via satellite). That’s what the super bowl is all about right? AMERICA HELL YEA!!!

Show the common patriot that people are dying in Afghanistan, so we can defend our freedom, our right to watch the Superbowl, our right to stuff our faces with con queso and diet beer, our right to write never ending sentences?

I digress.

So my weekend was great, always good to see long time friends.

Ever since I started at Levi’s I have been completely obsessed with making my own pair of denim from scratch…and i mean scratch. I will first start by making my own loom.

Step 1. build the loom.

Here are some blue prints from the turn of the century.

Here’s a video of what this loom looks like when its all built.

I estimate building the loom will take 60 hours, weaving 2 yards another 20 hours, pants pattern another 3 hours, cut&sew another 8 hours, and finishing touches another 2 hours.

So, i guess i talked myself out of it. Where am i gonna get this kind of time??

Its funny how there is a such a big misconception about EVERYTHING.  I mean everything. From apartment hunting to lets say fashion.

Lets start with apartments for one.

You know how you go on craigslist.org and get all excited because they have a bad ass 1 bedroom apartment for $1,000 in the middle of Grant and Bush, and you get there to only find that they are renting out extra rooms at the chinatown senior citizen center. Or… you may stumble upon a penthouse suite next to the ballpark for a really good price, only show up to an empty roof with a tent on it.

Now to fashion.

Ever go into stores like H&M or Forever 21 to be amazed by the low prices and “one wash till retirement quality”. Okay we have something in common then. That’s exactly how I see these stores as well. Recently i have seen them in a second light. The kind of light that i reserve for meter maids, power trippers, faschists and shady wannabe garmento’s. This light is now on Forever 21 due to them knocking us off 4 times in one year. It seems that HomeRoom isn’t the only independent brand getting knocked off by Forever 21, take notice wings and horns, nom de guerre, and now opening ceramony.

Now I need to find some time to take this clowns to court.

The first 3 times I was flattered. Now its just disrespectful.

I bought a pair of  1951 French military pants in the middle of nowhere. Its obviously really unique. The wool on these pants is the heaviest wool that i have felt, and the craftsmanship is second to non.  Its never been worn or washed. Its amazing how something that 60 years old is in superb shape.

Looks like it was an infantry pant.

My New Years resolution this year was simple. It was to allocate more time to discovery. I’ve been making due on it. So far this month i’ve spent time discovering American history and buying it. I also feel that maybe I shouldn’t tell you exactly where i’ve been…Just in case want to return to these shops and pick up more of these discoveries. So, here is a treasure map of my path where u will find some of the goodies that I have found.

treasure map hint* Levi Strauss lived here, it was called “blood and guts town”, then “hangtown”.

Today I bought some goods from the early 1900’s to the 50’s.  When I walked into a vintage military store these aluminum , naval ship cafeteria food trays, stood out to me immediately. There they were in a stack of 10. I wanted to buy all of them to furnish my future dining room. I envisioned guests coming over for summer BBQ and us eating 6 course square meals in these trays…

…from the 50’s (USN= United States Navy)

1951 to be exact. I’m a sucker for nostalgic things.

military issued wool blend socks anyone?

These coins caught my eye and imagination too. I instantly thought about what kind of people held this currency. It was a different era, people didn’t have cars, or television in 1901. They had harder lives and different values. An interesting time i can imagine.

After some technical difficulties we got LunchBreak up and going. What is it about?

LunchBreak is about the people in HomeRoom and what we do outside of office hours. Some of us are in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan right now doing some New Year traveling.

What happened to Alval eats blog?

I stopped eating…

Things go up and things go down, while many of our hated fashion trends comeback around. EXCEPT ONE!

Denim; the only trend to never go up or down, the only fashion trend to stay at an even keel and be relevant in our society for over 100 years. From the working man, to the James Deans of the world, to the everyday man, to hip hop and back, every culture has embraced a 5 pocket denim pant as their go to choice.

I can write a book on why, so i’ll i just break it down.

Its the most durable non synthetic fabric and it only gets better with age. People from many different perspectives appreciate it for so many reasons. The denim heads appreciate the rich history of production techniques, everlasting quality and the fact that this country wasn’t built by men in suits. To the average Joe who doesn’t know about any other form of pants, do to society being so absorbed by the snowball that denim has seen for 100+ years. I have to say this snowball has turned into the abominable snowman, because what i saw recently left me with mixed feelings.

Really?… a pair of poorly rinsed selvage jeans?  It defeats the entire reason of why retro selvage has an appeal. To top it off…”LOOK INSTANT COOL!”

I took a little time off from blogging to get my feet planted securely on a new project that i am embarking on with Levi’s.

Think Different!

I get very few vacations where I can put the emails aside and turn my phone off. This is definitely one of them. House on the lake, a snowboard, a lift ticket and some good people. Happy Twenty-Ten!

The next two photos weren’t photoshopped. I’m starting to get into photography a little more.

Sorry for the lack of updates. The blog has been down for some maintenance work. Now everything is fixed and we will start posting everyday again.

I was in Sacramento/ Roseville over the holiday weekend. It was my first time experiencing this ghostly restaurant that i always see on TV but, never in person; Red Robin. Its like a unicorn. Now if i can find a Sonic Burger too. Then i won’t think they’re making commercials for places that don’t exist.

And here’s one for kicks

Also the next day in SF I caught up with my Bud Jess aka Yosh aka (fatlace/wtforks/adventures of yoshi) We met 4 years ago and 3 years ago she moved to NYC (that was sad). I do believe that  Yoshi is one of the few people that knows me well. Even when we don’t talk for a year, we can pick up right where we left off. People like her are hard to come by. We will be seeing each other more often in the coming months.

Did i mention shes great at creating new style. This girl has no limits!