Come On, Get Happy

A couple of days ago, I checked out Stefan Sagmeister's new show appropriately titled The Happy Show. 

The show is currently up at MOCA's Pacific Design Center until June 9th, 2013.

This show (oddly enough) came around at just the right time in my life. Earlier in the day, I had lunch with my friend Michelle Romo (of CROWDED TEETH) and we were talking about our career choices. What we have in common is that we both want the same end goal: To work for ourselves & build something for ourselves. It all comes down to happiness and what makes us happy is doing the work we want to do.

OMG Ina Grau!

Two days ago, Minneapolis-based shoemakers Ina Grau officially launched their website & online store. I've been obsessed with their shoes since Whitney from Myrtle introduced me to them. I've been patiently waiting for this day to happen and it finally has! Their shoes are limited edition and made by hand in the USA & Columbia. Take a look at their small but gorgeous collection!

Moxpox (these are my favorite!)

Jean

Gomez

*photos from Ina Grau

Naoshi DIY Sunae Kit

Today, I stopped by Q Pop to check out the Human Flower show since I missed the opening yesterday night. The show featured work from Naoshi, APAK, Minifanfan, (three artists who I totally love!) and a few others. While I was there, I picked up one of Naoshi's Sunae (Japanese sand painting) kits. I first saw these Sunae kits in San Francisco at New People, but wasn't interested in any of the available images. Q Pop had this ‘Bear Office Worker’ kit and I had to get him. He just looks so smug like he's too cool to be working in an office.

Note: The Challenge level of this is 2/3 stars

Each kit comes with instructions, a sheet of newsprint paper to use as a work surface (folded with the instructions), pre-cut artboard with an adhesive surface when the top layer is peeled off, 3 colored sands, a toothpick, and a ribbon twist-tie (I still don't get why this was included).

This kit makes it pretty easy to make your own Sunae. I would say the most difficult part is peeling off the top layer with the toothpick to expose the adhesive. The artboard looks like it was cut with a laser cutter and in some areas, it didn't seem like the top layer was cut all the way through. So in the detailed areas (mostly around the glasses) it was difficult trying to peel only the area that needed to be exposed for that color.

And in about 30 minutes, I had my very own Sunae.

This was a fun little activity to do on a Sunday afternoon. I'm thinking of going back and picking up a couple of kits for my nieces, because I know for a fact that they can't get stuff like this where they live. Not to mention, these are totally cute!

Current Tunes: "Out of My League" – Fitz and The Tantrums

I have never been a fan of Fitz and The Tantrums, but their latest single "Out of My League" is too catchy to pass up. I think it also helps that when I first heard this, it didn't sound like them. To me, this track kinda sounds like a mix between The Bravery, The Killers, and maybe The Rosebuds? In some ways, it reminds me of David Bowie's "Modern Love"…if it was slower.

This week has been pretty busy. Early in the week, I got a wholesale order from Rare Device in San Francisco. I'm so happy and excited that they want to carry my journals in store. So I had to quickly make a batch of 25 journals, each made by hand. Hopefully, this is a good beginning to a future list of great stockists. Then yesterday I got a call from a new client who was referred to me by my friend Leanna, so now I have that project on my plate as well. But luckily, the order for Rare Device is being shipped tomorrow. 

This track has been the perfect track to leave playing in the background. It's catchy and upbeat enough to keep me going, but repetitive enough that I can ignore it. It's easily one of the least memorable songs I've ever heard in my life. Honestly, once it stops playing I can't even remember what it sounds like. A that's a weird phenomenon that's never really happened with any other song for me.

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