AN EXCERPT (VOL. 1)


I’m watching Top Chef Seattle right now and a few thoughts come to mind.

I LOVE THIS SHOW.  This is my favorite cooking competition show. Actually out of all the different types of competition shows - I love food because I feel like that was my world.  You know what, it was my world for such a long time. 10 years in the food industry. Catering, baking, restaurants. I love food. I love that it makes people happy. And I love that it’s an art. It seriously takes talent to create good food.

THE PEOPLE HERE ARE GREAT. Shows like these help me recognize the names and faces of the leaders of the industry. And then the contestants are great too - either hilarious or entertaining or filled with drama. 

Fabio is hilarious (he walks his pet turtle!!). Shout out to Dale - filipinos represent! And I definitely had a mad crush on Season 2’s winner - Ilan Hall (pictured above).

Watching tonight’s marathon of Seattle episodes makes me think that 1) Seattle is BOMB. and 2) an old post I wrote about the show’s host, Padma Lakshmi. So I pulled it out for you b/c it’s a good post.  

I wrote this on April 25, 2011. Here you go:

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okay, so #1 - my seven inch scar

lemme explain.  i love to watch Top Chef.  and one night it inspired this blog entry:

last night i was watching Top Chef and saw Padma’s scar on her arm.  it’s a 7 inch scar that’s very visible on her right arm.  and so i decided to google it.

i pulled up an article written in 2001 about her journey and her scar.  to me, it’s symbolic.  This past year left a huge gashing scar on my heart, on my life.  and like her, i was ashamed.  i tried to cover it up.  she could’ve done great things, been a successful model.  but instead she’s covering it up and ashamed and did small time modeling.  

in college people would comment “what a shame … she could’ve been a great model” and she herself felt ashamed.  she continued to model, book a few shoots.  but everything she did involved long-sleeve shirts.  caked makeup to cover up the scar.

then she was discovered by a huge time fashion designer.  he wanted to cast her because of her scar.  he wanted to show case her because she is a beauty.  this was a beauty mark.  she was of course surprised … but then new jobs were booked.  she became an IT GIRL.

she’s famous now.  and hosting Top Chef.  wearing sleeveless dresses, hiding nothing.  

and i read this article.  this scar is a mark of how the doctor saved and salvaged her right arm.  it was shattered but with surgery and therapy she was restored.  why hide that?  because of this scar she still has a fully useful arm.  

i cried reading this article.  because her arm is like my heart.  that accident and that scar is like my devastation brought on by this last year.  

i’m just going to have to let God do His work, do some surgery and fix this.  take the time to get some therapy.  and then let the road be laid out before me.  blessing begat blessing.  opportunity begat opportunity.

soon enough i’ll be hosting my own Top Chef and wearing sleeveless dresses of my own.  figuratively speaking.

i’m going to wear my scar where people can see it.  so they can ask and that i can testify about how good and merciful God is.

amen and amen.

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anyways.  this is my seven inch scar.  and i’ve been ashamed of it and tried to cover it up, but i’m not going to hide it anymore.  God is gracious on my life.

Ok that’s all. BOOM. 

Top Chef. 


5 Things Tuesday

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2013. We made it. Survived the Mayan Apocalypse and all. Congrats.

How was your New Years festivities?  I didn’t do much yesterday. Did a family shoot (in downtown Tacoma … what a beautiful location!). And today I spent the day making Gyoza (Chinese Pot Stickers) from scratch with my family. But I’ll save the details with for the first of my 5TT post below.

GYOZA DAY - So in my family, we don’t really do much for Christmas. I don’t know what happened but sometime over the years we consolidated Christmas and New Years into a single holiday called Gyoza Day. And to us, it’s the most favoritest family tradition. It’s one of those no-exceptions holidays. I missed it one year for a wedding and was like “never again!”

Anyways. So we’ve been doing this every New Years Day ever since I was a little girl. And my step-father and aunts have been doing it since they were kids. It’s a full family assembly line of prepping, rolling, filling, and boiling the dumplings. And then we eat, eat, eat!

I know y’all are jealous. You should be. It was delicious. Anyways, happy New Year!

LES MIS - So earlier this week I watched Les Miserables and I may have sung throughout most of it. And even though it is amazing (Anne Hathaway was sooo good and that girl who played Eponine was incredible!) - I still think the stage production was better on a different level. There’s just something about watching a Broadway show on stage.

Seriously - listen to her. It’s amazing.

(I do have to admit that I first heard this song when Joey sang it on Dawson’s Creek. This is where I get my cultural insight. TV. Ha!)

GREAT GATSBY - While watching Les Mis, we got to preview the new trailer for The Great Gatsby and dude, it looks so amazing. Full of wonderment and beautiful costumes and most likely amazing acting and photography (it’s a Baz Luhrman film).

I’m kind of excited about this movie but I feel like I have to have a literature refresher. I read this book in like junior high or something and I don’t remember it at all. A lit refresher and a Red Curtain marathon (Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, and that dancing movie … although I didn’t really like the dancing one).

OMG I just realized that Isla Fisher is in this movie. She is one of my favorites (shout out to Hot Rod - fav movie ever).

SEAHAWKS ADVANCE!!  - Yep. It’s nice being home when we’re winning. Say what?! Yes. Go HAWKS.  I know what I’m doing on January 6th. Game day.



I’m Feeling Artsy Fartsy Lately

Hello. I’ve been feeling very artsy fartsy lately.  It could be because of Micheala Prince’s amazing handiwork featured here (Mike is playing the role of “man observing fine art”). 

Or it could just be because I’ve been visiting Art Shows Lately (here Lauren is playing the role of “woman observing fine art”).

Or it could be because I just discovered The MakeShift and it makes me want to craft. I’ve only seen 3 episodes so far, but it’s great. 

Or it might be because of all the blank wall space I see and how I want to fill it in with art and fanciful prints.  Everything looks great in a frame, btw.  I’m going to rock the frames.

Whelp. I need to do something about all this. Creative outlets are a good thing. I’m feeling this to be one of my New Years Resolutions.  One non-photography related project per month.  That’s the plan. LET’S DO THIS.

Ok bye.


2012: FAV POSTS OF THE YEAR

Hello Friends. Last year I wrote about my FAV POSTS IN 2011 so I thought I’d revisit that thought for this year.

First, I’d like to kick it off with this video. Dude. So much happened in 2012. SO MUCH. I started to list them, but really just watch the video. It does so much more justice to what I can say about the year.

Seriously watching videos like this makes me realize how big our world is and how much more I need to pay attention to it all. This is one of my New Years Resolutions for 2013.

Anyways - Back on track. Favorite posts of 2012. I literally took the time last night to pick out my favs and dude - there are so many!!

THE HANDSOME SERIES - SAM PALLADIO

Dude. I kind of failed on the “for the love of …” series and only revived “the handsome series” once this year. MY BAD. But really, those come by inspiration only. And this guy, Sam Palladio, from ABC’s “Nashville” is amazingly hot. So yeah. I like this post a lot. It makes the list.

MONDAY MUSIC SHARE

Dude. Some of my MMS’s were sooo great. While I was picking them out, I literally was like “I have to listen to this right now! I love this song!!”

To make things easier, I only included Dog is Dead’s “Talk through the night” here but linked my favorite music posts below. That way you can read about why I picked out those videos or more about the artists.

MACLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS / ZOOEY & M. WARD / ANCHOR & BRAILLE / OSCAR ISAAC & KATE MARA / DOG IS DEAD / OF MONSTERS AND MEN

CREATIVE INSPIRATION

I’m constantly inspired by so much around me. The people in my life, the blogs that I read, the craft fairs that I go to. As a creative, it’s important to consistently be out and about taking in as much as you can to keep your perspective fresh. Otherwise you’ll grow stale in what you do.

And so, whenever I stumble upon a new photographer or great video of some sort, or new stationary line - I shared it with y’all. This video is by a guy I met at a Creative LA meeting. He’s so talented! It’s so simple but the photography direction is beautiful. And it features the music of Monsters & Men. Love it.

But also check out the other posts below. They’re my absolute favorite creative inspiration posts of the year.

MADEWELL FALL 2012 WALK IN LOVE PHOTO SHOOT / EMPTY ROOMS UNCONVENTIONAL BANNERS / SUE BRYCE VIDEO JEFF HARRIS VIDEO

RANDOM

Sometimes I just post about completely random things. From TV shows that I watch to celebrity sightings, from city crushes to artsy fartsy thoughts.

Yep. I’m a pretty random girl. Best to just share my thoughts with y’all. And tag them with photos of pretty office spaces and/or coffee. Because that pretty much describes me. Ha!

Here is the EF London video from the “Live the Language” Campaign. Which is one of my FAVORITE videos. I seriously could watch all of them over and over again. In many different languages. And just sigh at the beauty of this world, all the different cultures, and the people in it. Oh. Love it.

EF LONDON / ARTSY FARTSY QUILL & FOX

5 THINGS TUESDAY

You guys have no idea how hard it is to come up with 5 things each week. Sometimes my life is jam-packed and sometimes it’s super boring. Sometimes I’m up with the trends and such, and sometimes I’ve got nothing to share.

But I’ve tried hard to keep it going. And if I forget, y’all remind me! So yes. Going back throughout the 5TT posts is a great way to reflect on the year. And keeping it fresh was a challenge. I tried to have different themes. But one of my favorites is the HIMYM one.

SO GREAT. I would so marry Ted Mosby.

Here are some of my favs. I love these posts in particular because: the best E-Card you’ll ever get, Help Portrait/Disneyland combo was like the best weekend ever, seeing Adam Scott in person was unreal, can’t go wrong with line dancing, landing my first commercial gig, random post cards to friends, the legacy that is Kristin Wiig, amazing weekend at Catalyst, best response ever about Back to the Future, followed by 1/3 of Hello Giggles, many many laughs with John Malaney.

CHRISTMAS THEMED 5TT / HELP PORTRAIT & DISNEYLAND / ADAM SCOTT SIGHTING / HIMYM 5TT / LINE DANCING GOODNESS / FIRST COMMERCIAL GIG / QUILL & FOX POSTCARDS / KRISTIN WIIG’S FAREWELL / CATALYST WEEKEND / BACK TO THE FUTURE / MOLLS FROM HELLO GIGGLES / JOHN MULANEY’S NEW IN TOWN

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