Party Time with Poketo

Last month when I stopped by the new Poketo store, Angie and Ted invited me to their friends & family grand opening party. And last night was the night. So many great people were there. Before even stepping into the store, Kev and I ran into our friend Adam who's working on some great projects over at Cartoon Network (but he can't tell us about them yet). Then we went inside and ran into our good friend Andy/Busc who we haven't seen in ages. We had a chance to catch up and talked about his new job over at 72andSunny.

I felt like everywhere I turned I was running into someone I know. I was pleasantly surprised to run into my internet gal pal Francesca Ramos who's currently working on her BFA in Graphic Design at CalArts. It just so happens that her friend Lily is currently interning for Poketo. Two months ago, they both drove all the way out to Long Beach to see my senior show so I was happy to see them again. When I finally regrouped with Kev, I found him talking to Patrick Hruby and we hung out with him most of the time.

They had this one really great red balloon in the middle of the room that was the most perfectly round balloon I've ever seen in my life.

I didn't expect them to be serving up as much alcohol as they did…they were serving up some delicious Hudson Whiskey and Art in the Age spirits.

Of course, what would be a Poketo party without the guys of Handsome Coffee Roasters. But we were pretty bummed that we got there a little late and missed out of some delicious pie from The Pie Hole.

And at some point in the night, I ended up double-fisting a latte and boxed water. No shame…no shame at all.

I had my hands full most of the time so I didn't get to take that many photos, but it definitely felt great to be in good company. It hit me right when Kozyndan walked in that although I'm at a transitional period in my career, I know I'm heading in a good direction. I became interested in Poketo and Kozyndan's work around the same time during my freshmen year of college (2004 – 2005) and they really inspired me to do the work that I do. I never thought I'd ever be at a party for Poketo with Kozyndan.

Somehow while I was there I missed a few of my favorite peeps from the interwebs/blog/instagram world. Specifically: Dabito, Satsuki Shibuya, and Sonja Rasula. I didn't know they were there until I saw their tweets and instagrams after the fact. Other notable peeps who were there: GARY BASEMAN, John Pham, Bobby & Kyle from The Fox is Black and LA, I'm Yours, Bri from DesignLoveFest, Kate Miss…the list is ridiculous.

On the way out, Angie gave me this wonderful parting gift from the Poketo x Target collaboration Part Two/2012 that's due in stores soon. Angie and Ted really are some of the nicest and coolest people I know and I'm so happy for them that their dream of having a brick-and-mortar store finally came true!