Law of Attraction

Big Questions.

2012-05-17T09:58:00.001-07:00

How does one find life's purpose? No really, I want to know. I want the knowledge not just for myself, but for other people that are in my life. How are some people so clear about what they are doing and some just get blown along life's path doing what they can or just simply surviving?

Do the people that seem to be so happy doing what they do not have very high expectations? Are they willing to settle? Risk vs reward? There must be some kind of mathematical equation in there. I feel like I have some idea, but it's all a bit fuzzy. Anyone have any knowledge they would like to lay on me, because I'm game.

image via: time magazine

Spring | Summer Wardrobe.

2012-05-07T13:31:00.003-07:00

I haven't really been shopping in awhile. Mostly because I've been hating on my body, working at home (aka living in yoga pants), and every time I go to the mall I feel dirty. If I had the ducats I would shop at amazing vintage shops and Tucci. In this moment this is not the case, so I have been looking at some nice stuff that will refresh my wardrobe and last awhile. Here's some of the things I've come up with. Are you all retooling your wardrobes too?

images via: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Gluten Free Drop Biscuit Sandwiches.

2012-04-26T10:42:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to post about these little biscuit sandwiches that I make Josh for lunch almost everyday. They change in flavor profile depending on the meat I use or the fermented veggies that go on it, but one constant is the drop biscuit recipe that I adapted from Roost.

I love these biscuits they are good with savory style snacks and sweet. To assemble a Josh style treat, start with yogurt cream cheese (recipe below), mustard, meat (optional of course), fermented veggies of your choosing and chow down.

I sometimes mix up the almond flour to have about 1 cup of natural almond flour and 1.5 cups of blanched, but it's up to you. I buy my blanched almond flour from Honeyville. It's so much cheaper and it's a good product.

Stirring My Mind and Warming My Heart.

2012-04-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

I had to share this video of the home artist Doug Aitken has built himself in Venice, Calif. I don't think I have been so moved by a space in some time. I want to be in that home. I love the wood table. It's like a home David Byrne would have built. Plus, I love that the Times called it Acid Modernism.

Right now I'm also being inspired by:

Geometric shapes, especially these earrings.
Wide open spaces. Josh and I just got back from the desert. I love the desert so much.
Patti Smith. Big surprise, but she is so sweet and tender in recount of her life with Robert Mapplethorpe I can't help but to fall in love with her in a different way. She won my heart as a teenager when MTV went to interview her and her house was a mess and she was so authentic I could barely stand it. Plus all her talk of the early days of being broke in NY and the descriptions of young women in Victorian era dresses makes me fall in love with this number even more.

image via: new york times.

DIY Spray and Solid Deodorant.

2012-03-18T16:46:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to post about my two favorite homemade deodorants for awhile now, but for some reason it always gets put on the back burner. Do you do that with some posts?

I met up with Shelly in the Balboa last week so that she could give me a warhol magnet that's just like the warhol I posted on my Steal Like and Artist post. How cool is that? We hung out and walked around the park with her adorable boys. I stopped by her blog when I got home and saw that she had just posted about making her own deodorant and told her I make a similar one. So here it goes.

The first type I make is a spray version. I loved the BBC series Grow Your Own Drugs with Ethnobotanist James Wong. In the first season he had an episode about trees where he goes out and scrapes pine trees for sap and makes a pine deodorant. I don't have many pines around, nor did I have the patience for his recipe, but I do have a boat load of essential oils around so I adapted.

DIY SPRAY DEODORANT

(1) 2oz. glass spray bottle (you can purchase at whole foods or recycle something you already have)

3 T of liquid base (purified water, floral water or green tea)

½ t of alcohol (everclear, vodka or witch hazel)

30 drops of a single scent or combination of tea tree, cypress, clary sage, pine, sage, lemongrass, juniper

20 drops of a single scent or combination of lavender, lemon, rosemary, grapefruit, lime, orange, geranium

Directions: Measure and pour ingredients into measuring cup. Pour into bottle and screw on spray top. Activate sprayer. Gently shake the bottle before each use. Do a 24-hour test on a small patch of skin before using. Shake well and spritz 2-3 times every morning to underarms, feet, etc.

Storage: Keeps for up to 1 year in a cool, dry place.

This is my sister's favorite. She comes over and has me fill up her bottle. I never make it the same way twice. Although I do like some Pine with Juniper and Lime. It's like a Gin and Tonic under your arms. It think hydrosols, floral water and green tea work best because of their antibacterial properties, but water can be just fine too.

DIY MOSTLY SOLID DEODORANT

1/4 cup baking soda (make sure to buy aluminium free baking soda)

1/4 cup arrowroot powder
4 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
30 drops of lemongrass, lime, lemon or grapefruit essential oil
a jar with a tight seal. I like the jar I used above.

Directions: Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add coconut oil in gradually intill you like the consistency. Then stir in essential oils of your choice. To apply, grab a bit with your finger, hold it against your skin for a couple seconds so it melts a little, then rub around.

Storage: Store in a closed container at room temp. (if the deodorant gets too soft, try refrigerating it for a bit to firm it up).

Tell me what mixtures you come up with. I feel like I could have written a lot more, because I love essential oils so much.

* I'm very serious about my deodorant as the top photo suggests.

Turmeric Elixir.

2012-03-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

I posted this picture on Instagram a couple of days ago and people really seemed to want to know how to make it and how it was served. I love it. It's like a spicy lemonade and turmeric is very anti inflammatory. So it's a win win.

If you want a education on just how good turmeric can be for you, check this article out. My grandmother takes it to keep her arthritis in check. I find that it really helps if I'm having an allergy attack. I would love to know if any of you use turmeric or have any concoctions that you like to mix up.

I would love to try this with fresh turmeric root, but I haven't seen it around yet. You can serve this drink hot or cold. Sometimes I will put a little mint in it. Also the ratios aren't set in stone, so have some fun with it.

Linen Duvet.

2012-03-14T11:26:00.003-07:00

I've been wanting to buy/make a linen duvet for quite awhile now. I'm sure I've told you how much I love linen. I'm kind of obsessed with it. Not as much as I used to be (see photos of me living in Santa Cruz draped in linen everything), but still I like to have it in my life wherever possible.

I've been saving that top left picture since the Summer of 2008 thinking that I would make a throw like that, but I never got it together. I have since thought better of it because Josh and I like our super light down comforter in the summer and I have since become enamored with the striped blanket seen above. Plus Morgan has been torturing me with her beautiful duvet and kilim pillows.

Now the plan consists of me purchasing the striped tapestry from Urban Outfitters and sewing a light linen on the backside to create my own cost effective fabulous linen/striped duvet cover.

What do you think?

images via: toast, toast 2008 house & home catalog, the brick house, urban outfitters

Steal Like An Artist.

2012-03-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

Oh my my computer is working hard right now. It's spinning and vibrating up a storm. I'm finally running TimeMachine. I keep my external hard drive unplugged because of this very thing, but it has to be done some time.

Anyway between beach ball spinning I wanted to tell you all about an new book that I bought a couple of weeks ago called, Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. I have read it 3 times since I got it in the mail and I think it might be the best purchase I've made in a long time.

Austin reaffirms everything I have believed to be true about being creative that I think some people don't like to admit, everything is a remix. In the spirit of the reMix I'm going to do some posts on some of the ideas this book sparks.

Austin discusses that there is not good or bad, just worth stealing not worth stealing. I have had collage books and files of things I ripped out of magazines, taken pictures of, old candy wrappers, packaging, scraps of paper, feathers, rocks, dirt, a new piece of earth that a friend's dad gave me from the bottom of the ocean, vintage magazines, old brochures, letterhead, old business cards, greeting cards, books, erasers, fruit stickers, omg stickers (!), pressed flowers and plants in books, museum brochures, letters, old forms... I could fill up this page with all the things that I have wanted to keep close in my mind because I either wanted to create them later or I just need to have them close. I'm constantly using, sorting, collecting, getting rid of, organizing all this stuff.

I have had a inspiration file on my computer for as long as I've had the hard drive space to have one. I started this blog as a way to catalog some of my loves and desires. Now there's Pinterest and Tumblr. You see the point. All things, images, words worth stealing.

Some maybe uncomfortable with the term stealing, but I think it's worth embracing. There is a difference between good stealing and bad stealing I think I will address that in a later post. For now I take comfort in the fact that there's nothing new under the sun. One thing leads someone to another and so on.

"What is originality? Undetected plagiarism." - William Ralph Inge

Even in nature nothing comes from nothing. It's all about evolution baby.

image via: here (i'm going to own this bright cow someday. mark my words;)

Kaufmann Mercantile.

2012-03-06T10:11:00.003-08:00

I have a soft spot for general stores. I grew up with them and I even owned one for a time. Kaufmann Mercantile has me looking for reasons to bring things home.

TOX: I have been wanting to make my own bitters, but this citrus set looks pretty darn good. I think it would pair perfectly with this Grapefruit Margarita. You could try the lime or the cardamom.

DETOX: Another wishlist item has been a hatchet. I've been looking for the perfect one so that I can be like the Peace Pie folks at the farmer's market all week long.

PROTECT: Waxed canvas is one of my all time favorite materials. I saw this tutorial not that long ago and I have been wanting to try my hand at it ever since. Bag, Otter Wax.

Movin' on up.

2012-02-24T08:35:00.001-08:00

After 19 years of sleeping in the same bed Josh and I have done another upgrade. We have been meaning to buy a new mattress for... I don't know... at least a year. It was so funny how excited we got once we bought it and knew it was coming our way. After one night's sleep on it I can tell you it's going to be very good to us. Here's a little history of our sleeping situation.

We were completely broke when we got married. We were both students and from families that had no money. My grandparents had gifted us some money for a couch, so while we were waiting to go make our first furniture purchase we slept on the floor on top of a small pile of blankets. When we found and bought our futon we were in heaven. We didn't even have pillows. I remember mornings when Josh would wake up at 5:00 am to catch the bus to go to work before class and I was just waiting to snatch the 10x10 decorator pillow my Aunt Bonnie gave us as a wedding gift. Every other week or so we would have to beat the crap out of that futon to make it fluff back up.

We bought a condo after that first year and I found an old double iron bed in the PennySaver. It had the original boxspring on it which consisted of wire woven into rectangles. It was a taco. Josh and I would roll into the middle right on top of each other. We were young and that's the only reason I think we survived that. I quickly figured out the I could have the bottom fabricated at a machine shop so that I could build a wood base on the boxspring. I did that and we bought a refurbished mattress from Deseret Industries Thrift. We were in heaven.

That bed lasted for years until Josh and I had both had enough of a full size bed and we had moved into a house that had enough room for a Queen. We decided to purchase a Sealy from Costco. Josh had to work and couldn't go down with me (we lived in Murphys, CA at the time and Costco is an hour and half away). It was Summer which meant it was over 100 degrees and being that I'm the 'I can do it myself' sort I drove the truck down to Stockton. For sure someone would help me load it.

I bought the bed and asked the clerk if someone would assist me in getting in the back of my truck. I was told that do to liability reasons they couldn't. I asked a couple of people out in the parking lot. No one would help. I guess it wasn't white girl day in Stockton. I had full grown men walk by as I used a pully system to load a queen mattress on my truck by myself. Unloading went much easier and we were once again in heaven.

That bed lasted 12 years and that bring us to our current bed that was delivered and couldn't have been easier to obtain. Life just gets better.

image above: from an old domino (pictured because I have wanted to make those window coverings for my bedroom ever since I first saw this).

Color.

2012-02-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

I have never played with fimo clay before, but I have to say I had the best time. I needed to clean up my house on Friday afternoon instead I started rolling balls of clay and poking them with bamboo skewers. I felt like a little kid with all their crayons laid out infront of them. The potential was infinite.

It's the little things folks. Now when I look at my necklaces I created I get that same fun feeling. So worth the effort. What's making you brim with happiness this week?

The road is calling.

2012-02-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

I need a little trip. I ran across this small hotel complex while surfing around the internet. Doesn't that look wonderful? It's really close to us too. I've always wanted to explore Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico. I've driven by the exit off hwy 1 for it quite a few times. Always making promises to go back. This little boutique hotel gives me one more reason to visit.

Check out the architecture firm that designed it, Gracia Studio.

images via: gracia studio

2012-02-17T09:32:00.000-08:00

Will you please allow me to brag? I want to brag about my sister, Caley. She pulled off the most amazing Art Night last night. She is always impressing the hell out of me with her students. She is giving them the most amazing rigorous art education.

Preschoolers doing Warhol. Preschool through middle school learning about and executing Pop Art that goes from Roy Lichtenstein to Robert Indiana. Large scale 3-D sculpture. Come on.

The parent volunteers were amazing too. There was such an energy blanketing the whole night. Tickets were bought to silk screen their school uniform t-shirts, paint murals with a great San Diego artist, Michael Amorillo, families Warholing themselves at computer stations, and button making with found art.

I hope that school knows what they have. She is the only Art teacher to a full house. Caley writes her own curriculum and she doesn't pull any punches. No macaroni and glue here folks.

I can't wait to see what she does next.

2012-02-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

I love Liberty of London. I pine for their prints all the time. Some of this seasons are just so perfect. I would love to have them in silk crepe to make some summer tanks ala Tucker.

It always surprises me how much the feeling of a pattern can change just by switching up the colorway. I know it shouldn't, but it always does.

images via (top left to bottom right): jcrew, liberty, liberty

2012-02-14T10:12:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wake up half awake and have to write or draw? It happens to me a few times a year. A couple weeks back it came with such force and I went and pulled out my spiral bound notebook and wrote down:

Stop talking yourself out of your dreams. You are blessed beyond your fondest dreams. Follow your instincts and move out of your own way and all is coming.

Then I promptly lost it in my notebook until today. I must of needed to hear it again.

I keep having "Do your practice and all is coming" (Sri. K. Pattahi Jois) running through my head. I don't think this idea only applies to yoga. I think it applies to anything we feel passionate enough about that we want to master it. It takes practice and focus.

I know I have that in me, but it seems like sometimes the only thing I've mastered is avoidance. A good skill if you need it, but not exactly what I want to practice on a daily basis.

I get caught up everyday in the things that I think I should be doing. You know I should be getting x amount of vegetables, meditation, exercise, drawing time, work, jewelry made, web sites finished, house cleaned, those 3 businesses that you have been meaning to start....the list goes on and on. I go between being kind to myself when I don't live up to these expectations to running myself into the ground. I can only do what I can to live in the moment and go back to kindness, so this is what my strength in practice will be, I'm going to love myself a bit more each day.

image via: Sergey Shapiro

2012-02-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

In an effort to make better salads I have been adding them to my weekly menus. This last week looked like this:

❶ Shaved Cauliflower Salad (bon appétit)
❷ Roasted Carrot Avocado Salad (jamie oliver)
❸ Crispy Brussel Sprouts (what katie ate)*
❹ Iceberg Wedges with Creamy Blue Cheese (bon appétit)
❺ Fennel Avocado & Clementine (bon appétit)
❻ Shaved Carrot & Cilantro (tangy, tart, hot and sweet)

I didn't like the Jamie Oliver salad because once again (I've had this experience before) the cooking instructions fell short. The recipe suggests parboiling your carrots for 10 min before roasting. I did it for 5 and it was too much. I would make this again, but my own way because the flavors were there. All the rest I was a big fan of and I will make them again.

*Even Josh loved the brussel sprouts and that is saying something because he is not a fan of them.

Desert Solitaire.

2012-02-09T07:48:00.000-08:00

A Desert Life from Austin Siadak on Vimeo.

I really enjoyed this look into a life that is nothing like mine, yet breath takingly beautiful. Austin Siadak has a glimpse of Tuolumne Meadows too, which makes me a little home sick. Although I usually stay on the low lands;)

Underwear, not just for under your clothes anymore.

2012-02-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

Speaking of the Law of Attraction... I swear I attract the weirdness to me. It must be that I find it wildly entertaining or people are just crazy. Either way it makes me laugh.

I started going back to doing yoga regularly this week. I decided to try Core Power Yoga because it's in North Park now, which is super close and they give you a free week to try it out.

Yesterday I arrive and sign in as a man walks out of the studio I'm about to walk into in bright orange underwear very close to the photo above. I try not to raise an eyebrow, but I see the instructor's eyes widen, so I know I'm not the only one questioning. I can see how he might think it's appropriate to wear underwear because a lot of men wear those short bike shorts (when I tell Josh this he asked if there was a fly in the underwear and when I say yes he says "if there's a chance for his dick to fall out, there should be no question." true enough).

I go in and set up my mat and who walks in to occupy the mat right next to me. That's right orange underwear guy. It must of been his first time doing yoga. He started doing push ups next to me and talking to himself. Not out of the ordinary for North Park, but definitely strange for yoga. He didn't make it through the series. He left out of exhaustion before class was over, which made me feel good because he was pretty buff.

Entertainment around every corner.

Chia Fresca.

2012-01-30T09:55:00.001-08:00

This drink is so easy to make I don't think it requires a recipe card;) I love chia drinks they are super yummy and healthy. Right now Meyer Lemons are in season and the weather is warm, so it's my go to refreshment/health drink.

According to nutritional information on my seeds 1 heaping tablespoon provides 2.7 grams of protein, 5 grams of fat (57% of which is alpha-linolenic acid), 5 grams of fiber, plus a ton of essential minerals.

I first heard about chia from my Mom and then read more about them in the book Born to Run. After reading Born to Run I went out and bought my first pound of chia and started experimenting. I love to make hibiscus lime coolers in the summer and put a couple tablespoons in almond flour drop biscuits. I also like to make a night time snack out of them that I call pudding, but it's really not.

Chia Fresca
makes about 5 cups

3 meyer lemons (you can use any juice)
4 cups of water
¼ cup of honey or sweetener of choice
¼ chia seeds

Mix the lemon, water, and sugar together. Whisk chia seeds and refrigerate for 30 min, until chilled. Stir before serving, then serve over ice.

Chia Fresca
makes one serving

juice from half to whole a meyer lemon
12 oz of water
1 TB of chia seeds
sweeten to taste. I use 6 drops of stevia, but you can use honey or sugar.

Blend together lemon juice, water, sweetener. Stir seeds into water and let soak for a couple of minutes. Stir again. Pour over ice.

I buy my chia seeds from Amazon.

Update.

2012-01-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

Planning, gathering, preparing, eating, cleaning up it's a never ending cycle around here. I have hit a rut or two in meal planning and prep over the last month. I have been resisting making menus and grocery shopping like nobody's business.

I think partly because I miss bread so much. I can't express how much I would love to have a slice of pizza or a beer. Even though it hasn't been that hard (I don't know if that makes sense). I think when you are determined to help a loved one get or remain healthy it's hard and not that hard at the same time.

Josh has had a couple of migraines since we started on GAPS, but they have been short or easily treated with a prescription strength Aleeve and/or celery juice. When those migraines have come about Josh gets very upset and sometimes wants to throw in the towel. Who can blame him? I completely understand what it feels like to be betrayed by your body.
I was reading Jora's plan and the comments and I ran across a comment by Kim. She suggested that Jora watch this Ted talk. I really enjoyed it and it gave me some inspiration. It's funny how simple ideas that you already know presented in a new way can give you wind in your sails.

Dr. Terry Wahls suggests a diet that consists of 3 cups of green vegetables (which we do), 3 cups of sulfer vegetables (brassica family), 3 cups of color (berries, carrots, peppers, red cabbage), wild and grass feed meat and wild oily fish, and organ meat once a week. That breakdown gives me some goals. Hopefully my green juice counts towards some of that 9 cups of veg a day. I don't know if my jaw can take all that chewing.

I have been craving a great salad prep book. You know a book with all those lovely salads that you eat when you go out. With super yummy, creative vinaigrettes and a variety of vegetables. I haven't found one so I'm thinking that I will do a new/old salad 3x a week and post it. That way I know what has worked and what hasn't and I have a place to go for inspiration when all is lost.
I would love for you all to share any of your favorites in posts or emails. I think it's going to lead to a plate full of goodness.

image via: Shaved Cauliflower and Radicchio Salad

SOPA/PIPA are not dead.

2012-01-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hi all. I wanted to let you know that Law of Attraction will be joining internet heavy weights like Wikipedia, Reddit and BoingBoing, as well as many other sites, in tomorrow’s SOPA Strike. I will be blacked out, and therefore inaccessible, between the hours of 8AM and 8PM EST. If don't know about these two pieces of pending legislation, please take some time to educate yourself on the subject. The video below is a great introduction to what they encompass and how we—as creative people who use the internet—will be impacted if they pass. If you want to take action, take a minute to write to your local Congressperson and get your voice heard. If you would like to join the black out on your blog you can get the necessary code from right here.

*update* I've been having a tough time getting the code to work correctly with Blogger. If I figure it out I will share the info here. If not I will have to be happy with a nice 24 hour media fast.

Popout

Moonrise Kingdom

2012-01-13T09:01:00.000-08:00

I love Wes Anderson. I have loved him since the first time I saw Bottle Rocket. I watch at least one of his movies every time I catch a cold or I need to feel better in anyway. He has created a style worth loving. Plus his view on people is similar to how I see and love people.

The children in his films are the way I wish life was when I was a child. I had fantasies of forts, running away, tree houses, adventure, trains, going abroad. The quick punctuated way people talk in his films is how my memories are. The actors he works with are some of my all time favorites. I'm so excited for this next installment and the fact that it was filmed in Newport, RI is even better (some of my favorite characters are from or live in Newport).

2012-01-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

Come on you know you love hand clapping, whistling, and snapping as much as you did when you were a little kid. Nothing will make me like a song more than a some part of the human body making the music with instrumentation (other than the actually singing).

Brett and I while working together at Conover found that we both loved some good clapping. On Thursday I invited him to play some musical ping pong with me and we came up with this list. Some funny, new, and old.

image via: Life (thank you grooviest cult ever)

I'll tumblr for ya.

2012-01-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

That's right. I'm currently collecting more images on Tumblr. Come by and say 'Hi.' I love visual stuffs.

* you can also click on the icon on the right.

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

I had such a nice break. It was so great spending time with Josh. It's hard to go back to our normal routine. Yesterday morning was a rude awaking. I knew it would be.

We have some nice memories from this holiday season. First I covered the house in glitter, which isn't completely gone. I created some things and Josh and I walked everyday. We drove to walk and we just enjoyed the neighborhood. I had fun with family and internet friends. I'm super grateful for the amazing weather. It made it feel like a real vacation.