Monthly Archives: March 2012
A Confession
I spent forever putting together a post about a craft project that I recently completed…only to have the draft go missing on WordPress! Boo! I promise that I will re-write it very soon…instead I am going to confess something to you.
I kind of have a little problem. A lot of women have it….a lot of the men that I know have it as well. I don’t know how it got so out of control, but every once in a while when I take a step back and look at my life…I realize that reality is not matching up with what I think.
I wish I could say this is all of them, but this doesn't capture the two pairs of work shoes I currently have in rotation, about four pairs of boots, another pair of sneakers, a pair of heels from Cole Haan and several pairs that are "on loan" to my mom...
As you can see, my problem is about shoes. And having too many of them!! I have tons of friends who consider themselves “collectors” and I don’t think I am a part of that group. So I don’t even have a reason for owning this many pairs of shoes, other than that I am wayyyyy too much of a consumer and mildly materialistic. Sometimes I think about all the other things I could have done with the money I spend on shoes…but it usually doesn’t stop me from buying a new pair.
Sometimes I am embarrassed to realize that I am probably not all that good at living frugally. I mean really, who needs all these shoes? You can only wear one pair at a time!! Once upon a time in Italy, I managed to live with just a couple of pairs of shoes. I may have lusted over shoes in the window of Bata every.single.day that I was there, but I was able to live a full and happy existence nonetheless.
I have had a few crazy foot injuries (nothing serious per se, just very chronic problems) and when it comes to cushy shoes, I tricked myself into believing that a new pair of shoes with springy cushioning is a lot less expensive than a visit to a podiatrist and then an orthopedic surgeon (oh wait…that is a fact that I experienced firsthand) and that the “right” shoes will save a lot of pain and injury. But knowing the practical side to buying practical shoes doesn’t negate the part of me that likes pretty things…in my head it does, but in practice it (obviously) doesn’t.
And I don’t even wear heels (well 99% of the time). Imagine how many closet doors I would need to store them if I did!
Okay well now you know about my not-so-secret shoe problem. I think I need to talk myself into getting rid of a lot of my shoes (hello why do I need old worn-out runners? I DON’T.) and instituting a one-for-one rule: if i buy a new pair of shoes I get rid of an old pair. This seems fairly impossible though so I may need to re-think this.
On another note, can you believe that it is already THE END OF MARCH!!?! I have some BIG things planned for April, so have a great weekend and rest up for an epic month!
Weatherpalooza
The weather is schizophrenic here. Sun one day, wind the next. I never know how to dress! Eh, it’s okay. Sometimes my mood is like that too!
I'm pretty glad I'm inside the train instead of on the street right about now.
This weather means that I’m going to try out this little craft project, even though I should be doing laundry or updating my bookkeeping records or filing my income taxes. Or adding to my inventory of merchandise that will be sold in my Etsy shop!!
True story: I got this mug in a white elephant gift exchange two years ago.
It also means that tea time is all the time. And that you have to drink the tea quickly or it will get cold =(
I bought some Good Earth brand Super Green Tea at the supermarket the other day because I decided that I should be getting more antioxidants, nutrients, and calm into my life. I didn’t realize it had citrus in it as well….not really my favorite, but I’ll have to try it out again with water that is hotter next time and see if that makes a difference. (I’m not sure how leaving the tea to steep for 10 minutes instead of 5 made the water cold…) If all else fails I’ve got a stockpile of Bigelow’s green tea.
Anyways…
maybe tomorrow I can share what crafty mess I got myself into while it was raining!
What I Wore: Casual Dinner
Jacket: f21 | Scarf: Zara | Crewneck top: Nike | Jeans: AE | Shoes: Nike SB | Purse: Kate Spade | Silver Bracelet: Wyoming Creative | Beaded Bracelet: Gifted from a friend.
I went to dinner with a friend, and I decided to “dress up” and “not wear sweatpants”. Go me! The secret to dressing up? SCARVES. I have so many scarves and I have to stop myself from buying more on the daily. I picked this one up at Zara for half off a few months ago. I love that the stripes are a dark blue-y grey, but the center is a cream color. I can wear it with greys or with browns or with yellow-y neutrals and pull either look off! (I should use better words to describe colors…forrealios. I still want to know how one gets a gig naming paint colors, because that seems AWESOME.)
But no seriously.
I was wearing sweatpants before I went to dinner last night, and I was sooooo tempted to just stay in them. I finally decided that I should have some standards and threw on the jeans, ha ha.
I had a fantastic time at dinner catching up with a friend from college. She gave me some great advice on how to deal with some of the obstacles that I am facing in my life, and I’m told that this little venture of mine inspires her as well. Insane. We finished off the evening with some boba, which I had been craving for a week now. Yays all around!
Link Up: Hair Products!
Oh hey so…I’m doing a little link up with Leonora at Yellow Heart Art because she is full of awesome and I’ve enjoyed reading all her stuff about hair. This week’s theme is hair PRODUCTS.
So, I should start with this: I’m terrible at doing my own hair, but I get away with it because I have fabulous tresses. I don’t mean to sound super full of myself, but ever since I was a little girl I’ve been told I have great hair so I just assume I do…haha! One of my mom’s sisters still tells me I have fab hair (which is hard to pull off, considering my supercool sister is attending the Paul Mitchell school and always has the best hair ever).
My hair after my last dye job. It's like three inches longer now.
So yeah my hair…it’s dark brown and super straight. I have a TON of hair and it is pretty fine. I get the fine-ness from my mama and the amount of hair from my father. It fades into a caramel color if I’m in the sun (like when I played on the golf team in high school — free highlights and checking out boys in polos all day, THAT was the life) but I generally like to die it a shade darker since my eyebrows are black. ((If you were wondering what I looked like back in the golf team days, you’ll have to wonder some more. I can’t find any photos in my apartment.))
I had my sister put a purple streak in my hair (the technical term is “peekaboo”) but that faded out and now it’s just a bleached streak. It looks kinda cool though, if you can forget that it’s totally growing out because my sister did this in November. I am contemplating the “ombre” look but I’ll probably chicken out. And…wow I didn’t know I could talk on and on about my hair like that.
Okay so now you get my hair type and all that. The reason why I say I’m terrible at my hair is because 9 times out of 10, I won’t style it. Sure I’ll comb it, but that is about it. It takes too long to blow dry (30 minutes!). It takes even longer to curl. So unless a random ponytail is really in, I don’t do a lot in terms of styling my hair. (The fact that I don’t blow dry it helps keep it healthier longer, which means I can also go longer between trims. Laziness pays off, people.)
On the rare occasion that I DO blow dry my hair, this is what I use:
Dove Volumizing Mousse! Yeah!
I just started using it a month ago, but I love that it pretty much does what it is supposed to. It helps give my hair some “bounce” so that it isn’t STICK STRAIGHT at the ends. And it makes all the time/effort I spend on blow drying last an extra day, cause usually I can wake up the next day and have great hair (all it needs is a little dry shampoo. Dry shampoo is basically baby powder or corn starch but it does its job so well!)
Surely you aren’t surprised that it’s a drugstore brand. I’m not shelling out $15 for something I rarely use…teehee. But while we are on the subject of rare things, I’ve decided that my hair needs to be cut. So I’ll probably make an appointment in a month. Exciting!
Wanna get in on all this hair-centric link-y goodness? Yeah!
Check it out here:
What I Wore / What I Ate
I’ve decided to start sharing some things I’m interested in…fashion and eating (haha!). I haven’t always been a fashionista but I have to wear a uniform to work so I only have two days a week where I can wear what I want. I pretty much only wear what I like instead of blah basics like I used to. Of course, what I like changes every day. The eating part is pretty self explanatory. The Bay Area is full of amazing restaurants!
WHAT I WORE
I’ve come to the conclusion that I need a tripod for my Sony point and shoot camera so that I can do the occasional fashion post. I actually decided that I wanted to take some photos of myself (not a mood that strikes often) and was kind of disappointed with the results. But I’m gonna share it anyways!
I think the real problem is I don't have enough space in my apartment to take a full-body shot.
[Striped cardigan: Target. Floral print dress: Gifted from sister. Skinny jeans (not pictured): AE. Shoes (not pictured): Anne Klein.] I could use some accessories, no? I was having a pretty rad hair day with my bun and all, but you can’t really tell.
I went to lunch with a friend and decided to mix it up…prints WITH stripes. In San Francisco, anything goes on a Sunday. Or any other day, for that matter. I thought the yellow reflected my good spirits and the dress gave me lots of room to get down to business and grub. Teehee.
WHAT I ATE
We ended up at Blue (in the Castro) because we wanted some macaroni and cheese, and we didn’t want to go very far for it. I don’t have much to say about food, I don’t think my palate is all that refined but both dishes were definitely a winner for the both of us. The calamari was an appetizer…way too much for just two people if we planning to eat our own entrees as well. And the mac n cheese was smaller than I remember it, but DELICIOUS. Small portions are good since I am not supposed to be eating cheese in the first place!
Calamari with a sweet chili sauce and a shoyu pepper sauce.
Macaroni and cheese with bacon (of course)!
I Lizzed.
On Saturday I went to a Warriors vs Kings game at Oracle Arena with some of my friends. It was a pretty heated game in that we were pretty evenly divided between Warriors fans and Kings fans. And the game was pretty close at the end there. Warriors won, so the home crowd was pretty excited!
I got to bring out all my blue and gold attire, including these babies.
But overall the game was kind of a snoozer. It’s not because I don’t like basketball. It’s probably my favorite professional sport. I’m just not interested in watching teams work to score a basket against a shoddy defense, only to turn around and give another one away to the other team. What’s the point in that?!
However, this isn’t to say that the entire experience was boring! First off, there was beer involved. It gave me an opportunity to stop drinking wine for a while, ha ha! Then there was a guy who won $10,o00 for making a shot from half court between quarters. This was SUPER exciting and I think everyone cheered harder for that than the actual game. And a guy proposed to his girlfriend on the jumbotron, so that was pretty sweet.
But I think the highlight of the game was the halftime show:
No, wait…this is a clip from 30 Rock. My bad. (In case you didn’t know, Liz Lemon is my hero and I am obsessed with 30 Rock. I’m into a lot of TV shows but nothing beats a good Liz moment.)
Oh hey, I found the halftime photo that I took:
What's this? Like a hundred JAZZERCISE instructors?
I nearly died on the spot because I was laughing so hard. A whole bunch of jazzercise instructors did like a 20 minute routine during halftime. Just imagine all those middle-aged women – this even was probably the highlight of their month! This is quite possibly EVEN BETTER than 30 Rock because I saw it in REAL LIFE. And then I got to shout “I’m lizzing!”
Of course, none of the silly boys I went with had any idea why I was possibly dying/spazzing like I usually do. They were just wondering when the Warriors Girls were gonna do their number.
The Warriors game was totally worth the money!
Fabulous Friends
I’ve had a lot going on in my life lately…but my friends are always there for me in the most amazing ways.
Like my college roommate, who sent me this card, even though it was HER birthday this week and I’m supposed to be showering her with love, and not the other way around.
Yup, this is one of those posts where I tell you how many fantastic people I know.
This is why I love paper goods! I had already chatted with her and emailed her like five times this week. But it wasn’t until I got this in the mail that I remembered:
I’m loved by some of the most amazing people
and
This too shall pass
and
There is so much to celebrate in my life.
So with that, I am going to tell you about some of the people that have helped propel me and my little blog and (eventually) my little shop along:
Misono is a very talented web and graphic designer who has been running the cutest blog, Blooming By The Bay, with her husband Dan. I met Dan and Misono through an organization that I am involved in called Nakayoshi. They are one of the only married couples I know, and they make marriage seem totally great. They also have the cutest little girl and I get to read about her on their blog all the time!
Dan, Misono, and their little bundle of joy Mio.
Misono has recently quit her job and is going to go freelance in something spectacular sometime soon. She has been supportive of my Etsy dreams since the beginning and was so quick to offer me some advice when it came to my website branding. I was at a point where I really needed some eyes other than my own on things, but I didn’t want to expose myself to people telling me what they “think” I should be doing with my time and effort.
She also offered up any help I might need with WordPress, but luckily I have more than one web guru in my life. I know she does this kind of thing for a living and I would have felt uncomfortable asking for free work. (She needs to keep her daughter in cute clothes!!)
Adrian is a photographer but he also dabbles in web design. He runs a photo blog called Bonafide Photography. He talked me into using the WordPress platform (well actually he told me “it’s better” and I did my own research to find out why), and then took my drawings and lists and brought them to life. He put up with all my “why doesn’t it work the way I think it should” complaints and let me do everything I wanted to do — namely, make all my own graphics.
Adrian's "serious" self-portrait.
I’ve picked up so much knowledge about the WordPress platform and maybe someday I’ll actually make my own themes and CSS codes. I seriously had no clue what CSS was or that it even interacted with HTML until I started this blog. In the mean time it is great to know that I have people I can reach out and ask questions to.
Hat: castoff from my sister, Tee: f21
Adrian also shot a series of photographs intended for my web presence and branding. I have only used a few photos and should probably just share the rest of them soon. He sent a set of prints to my mom and she’s been going around showing everyone. I got to play stylist while he shot everything (this involved a lot of “gimmee! I wanna see the preview!) and I think we made a pretty good team!
Brian is one of my best friends from college. He is very artistic and works as a web graphics designer in SoCal. Over the years we have developed a great friendship as well as a supportive relationship as it relates to creative endeavors. We have bounced ideas off of each other, motivated each other, and watched countless youtube videos to waste time. (Sometimes you just gotta let those strokes of genius come to you rather than seek them out. And what better way to keep your mind open to that lightning bolt than by watching dumb videos?) (Our favorite video subjects are: Maury Povich, Paula Deen, Maru, Adventure Time, and most viral videos out there.)
This was the least wacky photo we took the last time I visited him in LA. I had to sort through like 500 pictures to find this one.
Since graduating I’ve come to find that creative juices don’t always flow between two people. Not everyone will balance your blind spots and support your strengths. And not everyone is up at 3am to make you think it’s a great time to start a project because you spent two hours earlier watching Adventure Time online. I really miss hanging out and working side by side with him.
Whenever I need a dose of cute cat in my life, Brian always lets me use Kitty on the blog.
Brian’s family also has a cat. Her name is Kitty, and she has her own blog. Kitty is fat. Maybe even obese. But Brian loves that kitty like no other. Unless facetime-ing with your cat is considered normal.
The last person I am gonna talk about today is my mother. She’s pretty much the best ever and has managed to let me grow up into an independent being while maintaining a codependent relationship with her. I realized this the other day when I went to the doctor’s office. My doc has got to be beyond annoyed with my mom. “Well I had (insert medical malady here) and my mom said it’s probably (insert probable medical term here).” Then I remember that my mom isn’t a doctor and that I went to the real doctor to get her highly educated opinion. Way to undermine the doctor, Katie.
Mama and myself in Firenze, April 2008.
Anyways. Like I was saying. She let me leave home for college when I was 17, leave college for Europe when I was 20, and stay in San Francisco when I was 22 and didn’t have the means to support myself. She taught me that there is more to life than dishes and laundry (sometimes this causes her shame because I’m not very tidy) and she has always believed in what I would become, far before I ever did.
When I decided to start a business, I was really nervous about telling people. I didn’t know how they would react — and I have definitely gotten my fair share of “are you kidding? you have no clue how to run a business!” reactions — and for a few minutes I wanted to wait to tell my mom until after I had started it so I could just say “look at what I did!”.
Except, that didn’t work out because I talk to my mom wayyyyy too often. So then I was like, “okay, how do I explain to my mom about how Etsy works?” but when it came time to tell her, she already knew what Etsy was. You’ve gotta love it. The woman couldn’t figure out how to call me from her iPhone, but she is an Etsy fan. And as you can already guess, she was totally on board with the whole idea. She even came up with more reasons why I should do it. (I think she has secretly been daydreaming about her own handmade business for a while.)
So umm yeah my mom is my best friend. Kinda dorky, but I couldn’t care less!
I have so many other wonderful supporters in my life, and I will try to tell you more about them later. I’m also constantly surprised and amazed when I find out who has popped on over to my blog — from other bloggers that I’ve admired to old friends I don’t see anymore to complete strangers — and I want to thank each of you for deciding that your time and interest is worthy of my little slice of the web!
Italopop Party
For the first time in a while, I had a “real” Friday. You know. The kind where you have the next two days off of work. But you also have to get through the workday before you can bask in the sunshine at the park. And since I’m kind of nearing the end of my sanity (all that vitamin business + allergy headache + the usual craziness) all I could think about was getting home and making an honest effort at adding to my wine bottle collection.
Does this "decor" scream "Katie has a sophisticated palette" or "she should really remember to put things in the recycling"?
I have three more walls to fill up with wine bottles. I hope to complete this challenge one day. Feel free to invite yourself over for a glass of wine whenever you want.
At any rate, the weekend is getting started off on the right track:
It's been a while since I had a Chanti, but you can't go wrong with a $5 DOCG riserva. I love Italian wines. And Trader Joe's.
I decided this was going to be a wine weekend because I’ve been thinking about Italy off and on all week. I also found myself speaking in Italian throughout the day (note to self: don’t try to have conversations with others while doing this; nobody understands you and I doubt they are as entertained as you are.) so I also threw on my AS ROMA tee shirt and headed on over to youtube to get the Italopop party started.
One doesn’t have to actually know Italian to participate in this. Hit me up if you want some suggestions. Maybe I’ll make you a playlist, but only if you promise to listen to the entire thing.
Lorenzo Cherubini aka Jovanotti is one of my favorite Italian artists. He’s also super popular in Italia. And he’s been making music for decades now. A lot of his work has an infectious beat and he’s gone through a lot of phases as an artist…but he’s never lost his positive vibe.
I once had the opportunity to see him perform at Stern Grove in San Francisco (as a part of a FREE concert series) and it was absolutely amazing to get to see him live. I spilled half a bottle of lambrusco all over my friend’s blanket, so the entire event was pretty much awesome.
This video is from 1992. I love it. He’s kind of rapping. And look at what he is sporting. UCSB basketball and Nikes?! With the snap back on backwards? Who does he think he is, the Italian Will Smith? Oh, and can we talk about the BLUE BASKETBALL? No? Okay…
Let’s just bounce around and make cakes appear in our fridges. I mean all a gal really needs is a bottle of wine and a cake in her fridge to be happy, yeah?
And on that note, I wish everyone a very happy weekend!
School vs Life
I spent 16 years in the public school system, and I was really good at it. Well I wasn’t great at coloring in the lines or getting to my first class on time. But I generally rocked it and did well enough to become my high school class valedictorian. Then I went on to graduate from a high-ranked university. But after finishing school I’ve found out that school is not quite like “real life”:
- In school, you work for grades. In the real world, you work for money. (What you do and why you do it might be different, but you are usually “paid” in those two currencies.)
- In school, waking at 11am is totally normal. After college, waking up at 5:45am somehow becomes the norm.
- In school, if you didn’t have any D’s…this was a great thing. In your blood, if you don’t have any vitamin D…this is not a good thing.
Necklace via Precious Pastimes on Etsy
And guess what? I don’t have any D’s! So basically, I’m turning into a vampire. And I don’t even like those Twilight movies.
Earlier in the week I went to the doctor and she ordered some blood tests to make sure I’m in tip-top shape. All of my results came back fine, except for Vitamin D. I’m deficient in it. The doc is putting me on what I can only imagine to be giant vitamin pills that I will have to choke down. This seems less than ideal, but ultimately do-able.
Some of the symptoms/complications of vitamin D deficiency include: chronic fatigue, weakness, muscle cramps, bone pain, bone fractures, osteoporosis, depression, low immunity, and mood swings. I definitely exhibit some of those symptoms.
Ironically, I was raving about how sunshine puts me in an amazingly good mood a few weeks ago. I was pretty sure this was all in my head, but I guess it isn’t…because the most effective way to get your vitamin D is through exposure to sunlight. A lot of foods are also fortified with vitamin D, but I guess my fortified soymilk is not enough.
So again, I repeat, I’m turning into a vampire!
I am sure a lot of this contributes to my current lifestyle. I get up and go to work before the sun comes up and after work I go straight home. Then I usually am cleaning, working on Paper Gatti things, or just relaxing until the sun goes down. All of which happens indoors.
Oh, and working an overnight shift is really common in my line of work. (It’s also a bad habit I picked up in architecture school — I would often times spend days working on projects nonstop.) I usually sleep during the day when I work the overnight hours. No wonder I’m a vampire.
I am thankful that this is a problem that is easily solved. There are so many other health complications that are not easy to fix, if indeed they have a cure at all. So in that respect, I feel pretty lucky. I really hope that an extra dose of some D is all that I need, because I have been incredibly tired all of the time lately. It has been absolutely no bueno!!
On the up side, salmon and tuna are good sources of vitamin D, so I am treating myself out to sushi soon. (I’m at the point where diet and sun alone won’t fix me, but that is irrelevant to my stomach.) Yays!
Status Update
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been making some tweaks when it comes to Paper Gatti on the internet. I adjusted some things on the blog, including:
- Wider main column/smaller sidebar
- Redid “follow me” area
- Made a signature for each post!
- Modified the “follow me” sidebar
- Added a tag cloud
I hope you like the changes! My main goal is to make everything easier to read and to follow.
I also have a FACEBOOK PAGE now! If you are on Facebook, please please “like” it! You’ll get updated whenever I have a new blog post or important store information, so I encourage you to head on over and hit “like”!
You can also follow me:
- using Bloglovin‘
- from your your favorite RSS reader
- or if you really wanna know what I’m thinking all the time, follow me on Twitter.
If you want to get notifications only about my Etsy shop, head on over to the SHOP section and sign up for my newsletter!
