Why should Nicholas Kirkwood have all the fun?

He is, of course, wildly inventive and his shoes for the Rodarte collection featuring the famous candle drip heels only affirm his genius for creating desire in a 5 inch heel.  Since my shoe art class,  I have been obsessed with the idea of designing shoes that can convey not only me – but can also confer power and magnetism.  Shoes that elevate you off the earth can also bring you closer to the stars.

I ask you, why walk when you can move heaven and earth?  How can you change the world unless you change your perspective?  Elevate your worldview in a stacked heel.  Reward those second looks with a painted sole.  Stride rhymes with pride, move accordingly.

Mustard suede with a stitched heel and blue sole

Once I realized I could make my own fabulous shoes, there was no going back.  I cannot trust my stature to the store bought.  I feel strangely connected with Q from the James Bond movies, you know, the white haired genius who creates all of those cool spy gadgets for 007.  I design shoes to serve uniquely different moments and purposes.

So, these shoes I am designing in my head are designed for specific Wow! moments such as:

• Sitting as a panelist in front of a group of people, painted soles visible.
• Striding into a stunning arts event.  Add drink, mingle.
• Lobbying.  Actually walking through lobbies en route to meetings in government buildings where the dictatorship of nondescript greys, blues and other nicht so fabelhaft colors reigns.
• Setting off that little black dress that Every Woman in New York  owns and wears.

Are you passionate about what you do?

Walk this way.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

We lived on Beach 129th Street upstairs from Sophie and her family before we bought our house on Beach 124th Street.

Our kids grew up with her kids.  The Laczynski kids and the Krakauer kids.  Somehow we were all family, all Polish – even me, and all Rockaway through and through.  Although we don’t live on there anymore, we are still part of the annual block party in August.

Beach 124th Street

Anyone who is anyone on Beach 124th Street will be parked on the beach under their own personalized beach umbrella.  I can catch up with everyone on the block, have pizza delivered from the boardwalk and feed all the kids, and even leave all my stuff and walk home to start dinner.

I have lived in this beach community for over twenty years and to some locals I will always be “the new girl”.  But I too, have sand in my shoes all year round and share a fierce pride in wearing my flip flops way into December to show how beach proud I am.

This is a small town in the sense that friends and neighbors don’t move away.  Seth’s family and our neighbor Mrs. Murray, the crossing guard, have known each other for close to four generations.  My kids have friends they have known since they were 18 months old.

I feel grounded here with a sense of place and identity.  One generation ago, my parents left that sense behind them when they stepped foot into this country and slowly recreated a life for themselves and for us, their children.  Perhaps the pragmatic approach to living should be the acceptance of place as something you create for yourself no matter where you are.  Place then becomes internal.  It can be projected outwardly with your personal energy which inevitably influences your immediate environment.   I am very aware of what I bring to the everydayness of my Rockaway life and consider it a privilege as well as a responsibility to honor my place here.

So, every morning that I drag myself out of bed to run on the beach I think to myself,  “You are in your beautiful space.  Enjoy the sunrise you are so fortunate to see.”

Where do you belong?  Where is your beautiful space?

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

Now exactly what is that supposed mean when we are talking about artful living, the goal of the next step of the Twelve Step Plan for Restless Creatives?

How do you live artfully?  If your brain is artful, does that make your body artful too?  What does that look like?

So glad you are asking such fei cheong (Cantonese for extremely) fabelhaft (German for fabulous) questions.  There is absolutely an art to living well and the key to that is creating a healthy lifestyle mindset.  Without the right attitude and behavior, diet and exercise are a dreary duo to live with.  If you feel like you’re running on empty energywise and inspirationwise, here are some simple ways to follow:

8 Live artfully

- the next step in the plan.

Drink water in style

Toast your day with a glass of water in the morning.  Continue throughout the day to prevent dehydration which causes fatigue.  I like to drink water in a fancy glass with ice and a slice of lemon.  It creates the illusion that I am having a cocktail and it fools my system into thinking it is full.

Imbibe an infusion

Fancy schmancy way to say “drink tea”.  However, it is a well known fact that chamomile will soothe you, jasmine increases beta waves, which make you more awake and alert and peppermint will aid in digestion.  There are many herbal teas with a multitude of benefits.    Enjoy a cup after a meal and before going to sleep.

Embrace exercise

Burn calories!  Daily exercise, whether you are running 5 miles a day like yours truly,  taking the stairs whenever you can or walking, increases your muscle tone, diminishes your appetite and brings a tremendous sense of accomplishment.  You try getting out of bed at some unGodly hour to be out running by 5:00 am and see if you don’t feel like you’ve done something.  Trust me, your body will love you for it.

Listen to your food

Stick to foods that are good for you, eat reasonable portions, finish eating dinner early.  Balance your food intake so that your body does not have to work so hard to break it down especially later in the day.  If you feel your creative energy ebbing away, especially between three and five when most people feel a need for a doughnut and coffee, go for popcorn or a piece of fruit.  Remember what they say about databases is true for diets;  garbage in, garbage out.

OK, all of you Restless Creatives who are jumping on board, here are the steps you missed:

1 Get over yourself

2 Get off the grid

3 Get local

4 Bring on color

5 Avoid vampires

6 Read like a writer

7 Stop the frenzy

And for the rest of you, just remember, today is the first day of the rest of your body.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

These last few summer days are kite-tailing into September with cool backhanded breezes and I am tangled in my lists of summer reading, new marinades to concoct, my next knitting project.  Letting me loose in the garment district with time on my hands can only mean more stuff, less closet space for Seth, and even more designs for artful living.  But as I headed home, I began feeling that there is so much more on my list that I haven’t done.

Did I have a full summer experience? When am I going to take surfing lessons? There’s still so much sunblock!

What about you? Are you angsting over your late summer goals? I hope it isn’t just me.

I wrote a post a while ago about doing less with more, something I believe in deeply. You can check out my video on the art of doing less, too. While this may seem at odds with me frantically waving a fistful of lists, it really isn’t. Doing less of what is not important and doing only what is always results in a short list. Now if you do things in a way that yields double results, you really win! Here are a few examples from my not so short list:

Lose weight, gain closet space.
Clean closets, gain space.
Write 2 posts instead of one.
Say no, hear yes.
Hear no, see opportunity.
Accept the invite, write the thank you.
Write when you’re up, rote when you’re down.

Adapt excellent design, become adept.

Speaking of getting things done, here is Gideon Shalwick in a video about productivity that I like very much for his way of simplifying priorities for multiple projects without freaking out about having the perfect shiny tools to do so.

I read a great opening line for a recipe remake by Amanda Hesser.  Can’t remember what the recipe was for but here’s what she wrote, more or less:

“Trends arise not from inspiration but from indignation.”

For me, the following adaption really nails it:

“Artful living arises not from inspiration but from indignation”

Is that great or what?  I find myself in a state of indignation most of the time, when it comes to well thought out life design.

Are you indignant, inspired?  If so, I am asking for your suggestions to add to my short list.  Do you have a creative way to live artfully?

Please let me know!

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

I squish your head I squish your head

In the current reincarnation of my life, I am surrounded by boys.

Seth, my husband, Remy and Sky, my sons, their friends, and all the contractors and repair guys that come to fix everything that my boys try their hand at doing.  Just because Jesus was a carpenter doesn’t mean that all Jewish guys can build stuff.  Especially in my family.  Me, I can run a nonprofit.  Running pipe and wire is not in my skill set.  Most of the time, I am odd man out.

One day last summer, on an island near Seattle, there was a sound that instantly transformed me for one glorious moment into one of the boys.

It was a soft, crackly sound followed by a delighted giggle.  You hear it when a basketful of peanuts is being passed around the table and the shells are tossed on the sawdust floors of a barbeque shack known for its ribs, rowdy music and down home decor.

“You mean, I can just throw the shells on the floor?”  Sky asked excitedly, his arm ready to sweep the pile of peanut shells on to the floor.  Remy and I ate our way through the basket of peanuts laughing as we flung fistfuls of shells at our feet.  Seth caught all of the action on his Flip video.  ”This place is great!”

Was it the museums, the cultural events, the marketplace that my boys remember about Seattle? Not really.  Was it the fun we had spitting shells on the floor.  Absolutely.  We still talk about the ferry ride over to this island barbeque place with its unique menu and peanut shell policy.   For me, it was a precious point in our trip where we were all just boys, me too!  having a great time with each other.

As we were driving Remy out to Stonybrook, I thought about a day this summer that we were all together again, travelling around Queens, and I wondered if they remembered that day.  We settled into a local restaurant Remy and I discovered earlier this summer and ordered lunch.  Suddenly, all of us – Seth, Sky, Remy and I were laughing again as we ordered all kinds of combinations of bread, cheese and pasta.  Everything a lactose intolerant Asian like me should not be eating but hey, the foccacia was fabulous!  So good we ordered two.

Now I don’t pretend to understand how the universe of boys works, what makes them think one thing is stupid and another thing is legit, primo, fly, ill, wavy or crunk (Impressed?  I just learned that stuff means “cool”).

Note to self:  If you even think you know what is cool, they will cut you down to size and squish your head.

the boys – Sky, Remy & Seth

When such a moment arrives in your life, enjoy it.  I am forever grateful they let me in their world as one of the boys once in a while so we can share a few laughs and a lot of carbs together.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

]]> http://hoongyee.com/2010/08/29/how-to-be-one-of-the-boys/feed/ 0 http://hoongyee.com/2010/08/26/my-american-name/ http://hoongyee.com/2010/08/26/my-american-name/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:45:08 +0000 hoongyee http://hoongyee.com/?p=2419 Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer & Hoong Wei Lee Speicher

The only little girl I knew who had a name as odd as mine was my sister, Hoong Wei Lee.

Believe you me there were not too many other kids in P.S. 179, the Lewis Carroll School in Fresh Meadows, Queens with names that barely fit on the attendance cards, those long dry, skinny boxed things where a name like Lori (there were two in my class) or Fern would sit prettily like a blue curl.

The article in the New York Times today noted that the practice of adopting names that sounded more American to “speed assimilation, avoid detection, deter discrimination” has almost disappeared.  Ethnic identity has acquired cachet, a potential asset and cultivated pride within the cultural community.

I doubt any of this crossed my parents’ minds the day they found themselves wandering the streets of Flushing looking for a fortune teller.

“You are the Number One Daughter and you are the Number One Son of your families.  That is very very lucky.”  the fortune teller looked at my mother and father and smiled,  “Your firstborn child in America will be a healthy baby boy.”

My mother and father gasped with joy.

The fortune teller looked closely at my mother’s palm and said,  “How interesting!  This baby will be born on your birthday, under the sign of the ram and in the year of the ram.  A double good fortune!”

At this point, I am sure my mother was eager to start knitting blue baby things,  my father’s mind engineering a red egg party to celebrate.  But wait, the fortune teller was busting to share another fax from the future.

“This baby who is twice blessed to be your Number One Son born in America and on your birthday,”  he waited for his words to fall upon their ears,  ” – is destined to do great and wonderful things.  Choose his name wisely.”

Several months later, sometime in the evening on her birthday, my mother told my father,  “It’s time.”   Minutes past midnight, I was born.  A girl, arriving late, and named forever after some famous dead warlord general.

Change my name and mainstream?  Become more American?  What is more American than that?

OK, I admit there were many times I wished for a name like Suzy Wong, something short and somewhat familiar to people instead of trying to explain how I got my name.  Things did not get easier for me when I married Seth and became Mrs. Krakauer.

“Mrs. Krakauer?  You’re not Mrs. Krakauer, you’re just trying to cut the line.”  Little old ladies waiting for the butcher to slice their brisket in Rockaway would glare at me.  I may not have looked like Mildred, my Jewish mother-in-law but brisket or no brisket, I was  Mrs. Krakauer.

I think names are magical and powerful.

They are spells that evoke a sensory image of a person that begins once you say their name.  Or, in subtle ways, they can challenge you to fulfill the destiny of that name.  I struggled with my name and my desire to mainstream and become like the rest of the kids I grew up with.  In doing so I believe I weakened the power of my name by not honoring it, whispering it and hoping I would not have to repeat and spell it for someone.  Not so anymore when I see names like YoYo Ma, Rene Zellweger and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Did any of them think about changing their name?  I don’t think so.

I love my big, long twist turn blink name. It is exuberant. Unapologetic. Hintfully mysterious. Hard to ignore. Unmistakeable. Me.

Now, can I really live up to the fortune teller’s prophecy?  Outside of the studded armor and great riding boots which I would love to stomp around in, I am not sure how to live like a warlord general but I try everyday to live up to the story of my name and who I am.

Mrs. Krakauer.

What comes to mind when you see that name?  Of course, I think of Mrs. Irvin Krakauer (Seth’s mother, Mildred) and I think of Mrs. Samuel Krakauer (Seth’s grandmother, Anna).

Now I am Mrs. Krakauer, too (married to Seth, a nice Jewish boy from Rockaway).  But you can call me Hoong Yee.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

The next time someone tells you they are expecting a baby, here’s something fabulous for you to knit that will keep little feet warm.  These baby booties are done in a simple garter stitch with a ribbed cuff to keep the booties on snugly.  Snugly?  Is that a word?  You know what I mean.

The best part about this project is that it has been designed for all of you busy people who would love to make beautiful handmade gifts quickly and easily.   And the funny thing about  these booties is that once you know how to make them, suddenly everyone is having babies!

Tip: I like knitting on circular needles because I usually find myself knitting while I’m waiting for a meeting, sitting on a plane or taking a break between doing everything else I’m supposed to be doing. You can tie up the needles quickly and never drop a stitch. If you are planning to knit on a plane make sure your needles don’t set off the metal detectors. Indulge yourself and get yourself some bamboo or polished wooden needles.

Can’t wait to get started?    There are baby feet to be bootied.  Grab those knitting needles and get going!

Here’s the pattern in a power point presentation.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

We are at the midpoint of the Twelve Step Plan for Restless Creatives.

Are you feeling the breeze?  Is it working for you?

Maybe what we all need is a fresh perspective on things.  Some way to shake us out of the relentless mishegas (Yiddish for craziness) we call life.  Besides being better for your skin, letting go and devoting three minutes to focusing upon something beautiful and powerful, like a midsummer sunrise, will also center you, get your energy and endorphins flowing.  Hey listen, how could you not want to do that?

It will stop the frenzy which is the next step in the plan.  Perhaps this step should have been the first one.  But if you are as distracted and overcaffeinated as I am, you will probably skip around doing these steps which I have included for you here:

1 Get over yourself

2 Get off the grid

3 Get local

4 Bring on color

5 Avoid vampires

6 Read like a writer

Go ahead.  All of you schwer arbeiters (Yiddish for hard working people like you).  Take three minutes to turn inwardly, flick the chattering demons off your shoulder, and embrace the joy of a simple and beautiful image.  This step is for you.

7 Stop the frenzy

So you need an image, maybe?  Here’s a silver sunrise on Rockaway Beach from my inner gallery.

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

in Breezy Point with Joanne, Peggy, Jerry, Robin & Hoong Yee

When I was a kid growing up in Queens, my sister and I rode our bikes everywhere.  For hours.   We would have a couple of dollars in our pocket for a Carvel ice cream cone, maybe a slice at Superman pizza on Bell Boulevard and we would be out the whole day until the time when squares of light would fill the houses and moms would lean out calling their kids in for dinner.  Entire endless summer days we spent riding, talking about everything and nothing, cruising wordlessly down wide avenues.

One of my favorite bike rides is through Breezy Point, at the tip of the Rockaway Peninsula.  Seth and I like doing this ride in the late afternoon so that we are riding on the dune paths close to sunset.  Of course, we always stop at the Sugar Bowl.  You can’t help it because everyone spills out onto the beach and bikepath.  But you can always stop for a cold drink and continue riding.

Last week, our friends Jerry and Robin took us on a ride through Long Beach.  So this week, we took them on our Breezy Point ride and stopped by to see our friends Joanne and Peggy who invited us into their lovely home right on the beach.  They are true beach people – Joanne says she can shake sand out of her winterboots!

Thank you both for your gracious hospitality and greatly appreciated Diet Cokes!

Note:  Seth and I ride beach cruisers – big bikes with one gear and a back pedal break.  Oh, and one of our bikes is painted silver with yellow polka dots and has a basket.  Jerry has a fancier bike with 21 gears and I suppose that does make the ride easier.  It is about 13 miles from our house on Beach 124th Street to the tip of Breezy so the total trip is 26 miles.

Seth and his yellow polka dot bicycle with basket

If you are coming in from Manhattan, you can take your bikes on the ferry from downtown Manhattan to the pier at Riis Park and ride straight into Breezy Point by turning right, or you can head towards Fort Tilden and Hero Road which runs along the fishing beaches into Riis Park.  Pick up the boardwalk at Beach 126th Street and ride down to Rockaway Taco for a fabulous lunch at Beach 96th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard.  We made a barbeque at home with all kinds of greens I picked from my garden this morning and listened to some fabulous music Jerry, the playlist maestro, brought along.

This is a jewel of a ride, what I call a Moveable Feast and one you should definitely treat yourself and your bicycle buddies to!

Get more Wow!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee

– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day

– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested

– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)

– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.

Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?

Every August into September is a cliffhanger for me.  A series of moments filled with emotions chased by fear, hope, sometimes tears.

Every year since 2007, I brace myself for a series of tests beginning with ultrasounds, mammograms, visits to my breast surgeon and uncologist and pray for everything to be normal.

I know this was my sister’s life as she battled lung cancer.  I also know that breast cancer is the most pervasive killer cancer after lung cancer.  Knowing all this I am grateful for every day and yet I know there have been many days I have lost sight of the preciousness of life.  Deep down I wonder why I always need such soul piercing wake up calls to get my perspective back.

Monday afternoon I am going in for a bilateral biopsy to remove nodules, very small.

Am I thankful?  Yes.  Am I fearful?  Yes, at times, terrified.  There are no words to describe the way I feel moving through this process other than – momentously.  Life is a string of moments I am living vividly to the point of exhaustion,  immersing myself in the depths of every detail, every sensation.

A simple breakfast is a feast.  A walk on the beach, a breathtaking journey.  Each breath, a flock of seagulls.  Oscar Wilde captures this phenomenon beautifully:

One can live for years sometimes without living at all, and then all life comes crowding into one single hour.

For all of you who may face similar challenges,

I think of you with great compassion,

I wish you grace,

I pray for love to comfort you,

In this and every moment.

Hoong Yee

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