Song of the Week: "The Kids Were Wrong"- Memoryhouse

I've been listening to a lot of Memoryhouse lately, especially their latest album The Slideshow Effect. There's something very soothing about Denise Nouvion's voice…it's kinda a mix between Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura and Verity Susman of Electrelane. I've been thinking a lot about my career path and just doing the things that I want (and like) to do. I recently completed some freelance work that's allowing me to continue to be self-employed. It was a great experience, but it was even more proof that a day job just isn't for me.

Yesterday, I met up with the ever-lovely Satsuki Shibuya over tea to talk about life and work. We talked about just following our dreams and keep working hard towards it. We also shared what we love most about not having day jobs and what we love about being able to run our own show. She recently started a consultancy service called DREAMCOÖP to help creatives find balance between work & life and just follow their dreams. And I can definitely say, Satsuki is one of the best people to talk to when you're in a rut. Everything about her is very soothing and comforting.

It's been almost a year since I graduated from college and for once, in a long time, I'm starting to feel like myself again. And I feel like I'm getting a lot closer to the life & career I've always wanted.

Late Night Sketch Session: 02.15.13

I did a bit of sketching to try to loosen up and get myself back into the groove. Above are some random things and a girl from The Sartorialist who looks kinda like Margot Tenenbaum.

The Weekly Wind Down: 02.10.13

Stracciatella from Pazzo Gelato

I just finished a little over a week's worth of freelancing for Knock Knock. And now I'm trying to decide what to do with myself. I'm probably going to go back to concentrating on the store and working on new products. Speaking of which, I've opened up a new store! And I'm offering 15% Off all orders from now til the end of the month with code: HELLONEWSHOP. My Etsy shop will continue to stay open. I'm going through a process of restructuring my brands and deciding which products will go where. But what this really means is: there's officially a Becausemaybe shop.

What I learned this week is that just because I haven't been able to land a salary job, that doesn't mean that I'm not talented. I just need to find a good fit. I still prefer the "freelance/self-employed" life over the "day job" life. Although I like driving, I don't like having to drive in over an hour's worth of traffic to get to work and then also taking just as long to get home afterwards. All I could think of this past week is how much I haven't been able to concentrate on my shop. I noticed that when I have time to tend to it, sales just somehow come in. I'm still going to keep doing the job hunt, but I'm not going to desperately apply to random jobs that I don't think I'll even like.

I have a few projects I've been thinking about…mostly zines. I'll finally get a chance to photograph the new notebooks this week and add them to the shop soon. Here they are (shot under bad lighting) before they got their rounded corners. So keep an eye out for that this week!

Other things (and thoughts) that are going on right now are debates about the difference between the Quiet Tiger blog and this blog. I do feel that a lot of the content here tends to be more personal. I'm trying to decide if there's a big enough difference between the two for them to live as two separate blogs or if they should just be consolidated into one blog. That's something I'm going to be tinkering with this week and you'll hear all about it next week. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Favorite New Everyday Earrings

For Christmas, Kevin's sister got me an Etsy Gift Card. I was super excited to get my shopping on and rushed to my computer to look through all my favorites and try decide what I wanted to buy. Just my luck, most of my favorite items are from Canadian sellers…which for those of you who don't know, you can only use Etsy Gift Cards in shops that have direct checkout activated and direct checkout is currently only available to US sellers. So I couldn't use it on A LOT of the stuff I wanted. But then I remembered that I needed new everyday earrings and I've been in love with Upper Metal Class since I saw her stuff at last summer's Renegade LA. And the last time I was at Myrtle, Whitney started carrying them but didn't have any of the earring sets I was interested in. So I looked through her online shop to see if there was something I wanted AND her shop accepts Etsy Gift Cards.

So I picked out these lovely mini triangle earrings in silver! I've been wearing them for about 2 weeks now and I absolutely love them! And I love that they're made locally in Echo Park! Be sure to check out the Upper Metal Class shop if you love minimalist metal jewelry.

Mini Basic Triangle Earrings from Upper Metal Class

Song of the Week: "Dance Floor" – Apples in Stereo

We all know the best part of all this is Elijah Wood.

Weekly Want: Kyyote Abstraction Necklace #2

I know it's been awhile, but the Weekly Want is back! I tried on this necklace the last time I visited Myrtle and I've been thinking about it ever since. It's fun yet delicate & light, and it has all the things I love: colorblocks & geometric shapes! I love how it feels as light as a feather when wearing it. But my favorite thing is the amount of time and care that went into making this beauty. I'm definitely going back for this once I have a day job again.

Available from Kyyote for $88

Absence

I'm so sorry, I've been away from the blog for quite some time. After returning from Renegade SF, I was totally exhausted and went into holiday mode. With the start of the new year, I've been spending a lot of time meditating and searching for a new job. The shop has been doing well (although January has been a REALLY slow month), but I can't quite do it full-time yet. I gave myself 3 months to just focus on the shop for a bit, and now it's time to get back on the day job train. Hopefully, I can one day work from home permanently. Soon, this blog is going to be getting a bit of a makeover for the new year. I've already given my portfolio site a makeover, so it's this blog's turn! Stay tuned for what more is to come in 2013! I just want to thank everyone who's been following along on this journey and thanks so much for your support!

The Final Days of Knits

Last month, I announced that I will be discontinuing knitwear from my shop. I've been considering this for quite sometime and decided that 2013 was going to be the year. It was a very hard decision to make since it's what I opened my shop with in 2006. I still love to knit, but knitting as a business made me really hate it. And I don't want to hate it. Over the years, it has become a real problem of limited space because I have to keep a lot of yarn stocked that I don't really have the room for. I don't have the luxury of having a separate studio space yet, so during the busy season (winter) I usually end up with half of my yarn stash in my car. And in all honesty, I hardly sell any knits through my Etsy shop throughout the year but at shows (like Renegade Craft and Unique LA) I sell out of almost everything. What I was getting out of it was not equaling the amount of time I was putting into it. Whenever I have to spend long hours on production, I keep thinking about how I would rather be doing something else. I will still make stuff for friends by request, but at this time I'm not sure if I'll try to pursue it again in the future.

For years, I've been wanting to make more year-round products but wasn't really sure what I wanted to make. With the recent success of the "Real Jobs" button series, I got the confidence boost I needed to pursue paper goods and other products that combine my graphic design background with my love for making things. 2013 is going to be an exciting and scary year for the shop as I take it in a new direction and dive head first into the unknown.

So if there's something you've had your eye on for a while, head over to the shop. There's a 13% Off Sale going on til tomorrow with code: HELLO2013.

Thank you so much to all my friends (old & new) for all the love & support through the years. I couldn't have done it without you!

 

What I Learned in 2012

2012 has been a year full of life lessons, some more obvious than others. Since graduating back in May, I've learned a lot of things that I wished I had learned years ago. But some of these things are things I learned years ago, but never listened.

Here's a list of the things I learned (in no particular order):

Invest in good clothes – How many times have you spent $20 on something from H&M or Forever 21 and you've maybe only worn/washed it like two times before it started falling apart? Or maybe you just wore it once and you were over it and you realize you never really needed it in the first place. Or (if you're like me) some of that stuff is still sitting in your closet with the tags still on. There's a reason why it's called "fast fashion"…it's not meant to last. That's essentially 90% of my wardrobe from my college years. And most of that stuff has been donated or sold on eBay. It's ok to spend $300 on a good quality (in my case, Hetterson) sweater if you plan on wearing it to death. There's no point in treating expensive clothes like they're precious because then they will never be worth what you spent on them. Good clothes are meant to be worn over and over again. If it's made well from high quality materials, then it should last you for years to come and over time it will be worth all the money you spent on it.

It's OK to change your mind – What you want to do at 26 might not be the same thing you wanted to do at 21…and that's OK! Sometimes what you want to do at 26 happens to be the same thing you've always wanted to do at 17…and that's OK too! Invest time in the things you want to do instead of trying to force yourself to do something you feel obligated to because you feel like you've already invested a lot of time in it. You grow up and life is constantly changing. It's OK for your mind to change with it.

Don't do the kind of work you don't want to get hired to do – This is an obvious one, but it's very easy to be tempted by money and do work you really hate for it. And at the end of it all, you'll have some money to pay the bills for the month but absolutely nothing for your portfolio. People hire you based on the kind of work they see in your portfolio. So if you don't want to do a certain kind of work for a living, don't have it in your portfolio.

Say "No." to clients more often – When you're hired by a client to be the graphic designer on a project, it's not an open invitation for them to ask you to figure out their entire business for them. If they can't tell you in their own words what their business is about, it's a red flag to walk away from the project.

Be Yourself – Totally cliché, but true. You're not doing yourself any favors by trying to be someone you're not. And being yourself is more fun anyways…trying to be someone else is way too stressful.

Support the people who support you – It's a great way to say thank you to the people who gave you a chance when no one else would. And it's a great way to build close-knit communities.

Bake more often – It's fun & delicious!

What I Bought Today: 12.29.12

For Christmas, my lovely boyfriend got me a gift certificate to one of my favorite stores: Myrtle. I stopped by today, after Whitney (the owner) had just returned from visiting her family in the midwest. She was having a 20% Off New Year's Sale which made me want to shop my heart out! After trying on several tops and dresses, this is what I left with.

Eve Gravel dress and a Scout & Catalogue Constellation Clutch (which I've been wanting for a very long time).

If you're in the LA area, you should definitely stop by Myrtle. It's one of the best women's boutiques around.