we’re marriage’d!

May 23rd in Tiburon, California. I loved my dress, the speeches, the blue skies, even all the late nights leading up to the day spent working on every detail—but the best part was marrying my bestie with our closest friends and family by our sides.

really cute snail mail and other stuff

I’ve been kind of busy lately. (Actually, it rained today, so I literally just laid around in bed scanning the IMDB pages of Saved by the Bell* actors). But really, I’ve been working three jobs. Three! And to think, in my dreams I work for zero and I’m retired, sipping on rum and cokes, watching reruns of Sex and the City while in my bed surrounded by my collection of MNZ Roberta heels in every color. I was almost living the dream (minus the shoes) and I had to go and ruin it.

volunteering and elsewhere

untitled by Lois Ann Barnett

Since August, I’ve been volunteering at the NIAD Art Center in Richmond. Richmond isn’t exactly close (actually, it’s not close at all) and I’m terrible with commuting anywhere that isn’t within 5-minute walking distance of my apartment (going outside the apartment is sometimes a big feat in itself—#embarrassing). So why have I been volunteering?

an interview with illustrator kt smail

I recently interviewed one of my favorite illustrators ever—the illustrator of everything from fashion editorial to (s)Mythology, an extraordinary painter of flora, and the master of bespoke stationery, KT Smail. KT is a Scottish illustrator, designer, and painter based in Brooklyn, NY, whose work has been featured on DesignLoveFest (which is where I first saw KT’s work—a super cute watermelon painting that I used as my iPhone background) and Refinery29. Her illustrations are just dreamy and her bespoke wedding stationery is probably the best I’ve ever seen (see her full line of work at whatKTdoes). In this interview, KT talks about her illustrations, making mistakes, finding success in the creative industry, and her dream project.

wedding dresses for the fashion-loving bride

From the top left: Random inspo pic, Erdem SS15, Katie Shillingford’s Gareth Pugh wedding dress, Alexander McQueen SS15, Valentino SS15, Valentino SS13 Couture

I have been living and breathing in Pinterest ever since wedding planning began (I know, Pinterest is mostly made for DIY mommies, BUT with lots – LOTS – of digging there’s some really good wedding stuff on there!). Likewise, I’ve been disturbing Andrew’s sleep with the light of my iPad screen practically every night at 3 a.m. (sorry!).

box cut

The Whitepepper dress, ASOS wedges, Fjällräven backpack

to read and to watch

I was in LA so I haven’t been able to post these past few days (I was busy eating, spa-ing, discussing online dating profiles, spotting celebrities, learning that Nicole Richie is THE tiniest woman in the world, not sleeping, and eating some more). It was the birthday of my dear friend Chynna who was celebrating for an entire weekend with an infinite amount of food (this girl had a sushi buffet lunch and fancy Napa Rose dinner, plus she had two birthday cakes from Portos and a pre-birthday chocolate cake). Chynna’s an overindulgent wine and dine whore and it’s why I love her.

I thought I’d share some of my favorite reads and videos from the Interwebs last week. I found all of these articles and videos to be actually interesting (read: something worth giving your attention to for longer than a minute). If you’re anything like me, I think you might get something out of them, too.

a haiku book review: it by alexa chung

I was having a particularly bad day when I bought It by Alexa Chung: I mistimed my TB test so I had to pay another $20 to get a second needle in my arm, I busted my ass over a poorly paid gig on a pretty damn hot day in the Tenderloin (just being there makes any person feel extra grimey and sweaty), and USPS may have lost my package. The day was getting more annoying as it went on and it’d only been a couple hours. So I went to Anthropologie downtown unenthused to shop for the thing that USPS probably lost, and I found It instead.

who I am & why I’m here

I’ve been blogging since foreverago when Geocities and Homestead were all the rage, and before IM-ing in AOL became ancient history. I discovered that not only do I like to write, but I enjoyed putting my thoughts up online (doing weird stuff in the code to make text fly and gifs dance around became more fun than playing with my lego set, a pretty big change for my 11-year-old self). Since my early blogging days, I’ve made a lot of blogs – a lot – all that I’ve closed down because of 1. embarrassment and 2. more embarrassment, but I still look back on fondly as a record of my past self.

So, who am I and why am I here?

a speech for artists

How is it that a graduating class gets to hear this amazing commencement speech by author Neil Gaiman, and I can’t even remember who the hell spoke at my graduation? Gaiman’s speech is so inspirational, especially for artists where rules of success are never clear or set in stone. Thanks The Daily Post for sharing this.