K.I.D. Collective

Category: glimpse

3 years

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

I always rolled my eyes when adults said “time flies”. It took me 32 years to understand this saying and man, were they right. What seems like just yesterday but was actually three years ago today Jevan and I were married in Crested Butte, Colorado. All of our closest friends and family were there despite the blizzard like conditions. It was a wedding suited perfectly to us; simple, casual and perfectly cozy. A foot of new snow for our post wedding day on the mountain didn’t hurt either. I designed and made my wedding gown, a simple silk charmeuse number of the most perfect silvery color. The rest of the wedding party wore black and there were pops of magenta and turquoise with a few peacock feathers for added drama.

We were married here and stayed the entire weekend at the CB Retreat with friends and family. A few hours before the wedding, the snow let up and the sun came out, it couldn’t have been a more perfect mountain setting. That day was such a blur of emotions, I’m so happy to have had the weekend to celebrate with friends and family. And, I look forward to not only the next 3 years but what the next 30 will bring. Happy Anniversary my love.

photos: 1. the K.I.D Collective 2. Suzanne Shaff Photography

Tags: family
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in like a lion

Monday, March 1st, 2010

My great friend Gina had a little boy, Josef Edmund, in the wee hours of the night. Mom and baby are doing well. I seriously can’t wait to meet him. In the mean time, take a look at this amazing crib his dad, a furniture designer, is finishing up for little Jo. I’m trying to talk him into making these for everyone. You would buy one, right?

Tags: family, furniture, Interiors
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onnie is 90

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

I’m back in Tennessee again and school is canceled because of a slight dusting of snow. This makes me giggle a little because of the lack of snow on the ground but with the anticipation of more to come. That’s good ole’ Tennessee for you. In all honesty, I did love those impromptu snow days. They usually didn’t involve sledding or snowball fights like most snow days, because of lack of snow remember, but instead involved my brother and me sitting at the kitchen counter making something with my mom. Usually chocolate chip cookies but sometimes crafty type things too.

Part of the reason I’m back to the South is to celebrate Onnie’s 90th birthday. Onnie is my grandmother on my mom’s side and she’s been known as Onnie for as long as I can remember. That’s her in the photo above with my grandfather. The photo was taken some time in the 40’s.

She’s an incredibly strong, independent woman and has been a role model to me my entire life. At 90, she’s still taking complete care of herself, including drives to her exercise classes and to see friends. She still has her garden, although only a quarter the size these days. Her home grown tomatoes are the reason I can’t eat a tomato from the grocery store this time of year. I wait for the real deal. She’s also the one who taught me pickles don’t have to come from the grocery store, you can make your own. And every single birthday until I was officially an adult, Onnie made me a homemade birthday cake. Whatever shape, theme or flavor I wanted. And she didn’t just do this for me, she did it for everyone.

To celebrate, we are having an intimate family dinner of 20ish with some of her favorites; meatloaf, mac and cheese, green beans and apple pie. She said, if she makes it to 95 she’ll have a big party but there’s no point in making a big to-do about 90.

That’s Onnie and me on my 1st birthday. I’m trying my first ever birthday cake, made by Onnie of course. I can’t say I loved it. Thank goodness she didn’t seem to mind.

Tags: family
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happy early valentine’s day

Friday, February 12th, 2010

While I’m not a big proponent of the Hallmark Valentines Day I do get excited about a special day dedicated to romance. We could all benefit from additional romance in our lives.

This year I’m heading home to spend Valentines Day with some of my best friends, there’s a baby shower happening, and my grandmother is turning 90. I couldn’t really miss that, now could I? Since I won’t be spending Valentines Day with my man, I am going to send him on a little scavenger hunt to find his card (we’re not doing gifts this year) and I’m going to do it via this blog. Hope you don’t mind.

In the mean time, Winston will do just about anything for a snuggle, you know, in case you were wondering. Happy Hearts Day. I hope you get to spend it with those you love. Have a wonderful weekend!

Tags: winston
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new year, new you?

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

fred butler 2010 glasses

Reinventing myself at this point is pretty much out of the question. Plus, I’m not so bad off that I need a complete overhaul. Just a few tweaks and some goals should do the trick. Last January I posted about the Anti Resolution. Which pretty much got me no where with goals. So I’m doing it. I’m giving you my resolutions, in hopes that you will hold me somewhat accountable. I would do the same for you. At least I can come back to this post and remember that I claimed at one point to want to be a better version of me. No harm in that. Right?

Don’t skim. I have this horrible habit of skimming over things. Like directions, books, emails, spreadsheets, recipes, blog posts that need to be proofed before posted. I need to take more time. Not to rush and READ THE WORDS. Not just the big ones but ALL of them.

Learn something new. Whether it’s a backside 180 (I’m working on it people), a second language, or grow my own veggies from seeds, I need a good challenge and these would probably have me excited, frustrated and definitely challenged. All part of learning something new.

green dress and red tights

Wear less black. I love black. Not only does it make me look slimmer but it also gives me that moody, brooding, designer type edge. It’s perfect for client meetings because I want clients to focus on my ideas not what I’m wearing. This year, I want to break out of my mold and add pieces that have more pattern, color and texture in my wardrobe and that also feel as sophisticated and understated as their black counter part.

Don’t take things so seriously. See issues above. Thank goodness I have Jevan to help me with this one. He was class clown in high school. Just one of the many reason I married him. Maybe with a little more color in my life, I’ll loosen up a bit!

Call my grandmother’s more often. They will both be 90 this year and have learned and lived through so much. Living 1200 miles away from the majority of my family makes it more difficult to see each other on a regular basis. I want to develop a better relationship with them before I don’t have the option.

delancey - seattle

Reinstate date night and supper club. Jevan and I get so busy with work, hanging out with friends, or just regular life, we forget to take time to enjoy dinner just the two of us. Especially at a proper table, coffee table doesn’t count here, without a TV, the day’s mail, twitter, facebook, or my newest distraction, Words with Friends involved. And, we’ve been talking about supper club for months. You know who you are. Let’s do this.

Make more stuff. And start crossing the things already on the list off said list. This means the lamp, the gloves, the motorcycle jacket I began 2 years ago, the cassoulet, the chocolate chesnut mousse cake I have taped to my inspiration board. Yes, I consider chocolate inspiring.

Officially set up my business. License, tax stuff, resale id, everything.

More focus on this blog. I’m the first to admit, I’m all over the board when it comes to posts I write. I want to focus on more creativity and inspiration, the things that keep you coming back here. Is there anything you would like to see more of in 2010 on this blog?

Photos: 1. Fred Butler, 2. Deviant Art, 3. Orangette

Tags: inspiration
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scenes from christmas

Monday, January 11th, 2010

Hi, remember me? I’m a little behind schedule when it comes to posting these days. I have so much to share but haven’t made the time to put together some posts. Here are a few photos from my grandmother’s farm. We took a walk around the property after a very filling Christmas Eve meal. This used to be a full working farm complete with hen house, smoke house, pig house, 2 barns, a pond with ducks, and even a little koi pond. We were reminiscing about time spent there while on the walk. It truly impressed me at how sustainable my great grand parents and grandparents were. They grew and raised just about everything they needed for food. My grandmother will be 90 this year and leases out the property to other farmers because it’s a little much for her at this point.

The hen house.

One of the two barns. My grandmother also used to raise goats.

Opa’s smoke house and a perfectly shaped silver maple. Opa, my great grandfather, used to smoke the most incredible sausage from this little house.

A little pop of red on an otherwise gray day.

Photos: all photos taken by Jevan

Tags: family
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i’m home

Monday, December 21st, 2009

For the first time in two years I’m home to Tennessee. It seems like it’s been forever. So many things have changed and yet everything is still very much the same. Here are some photos I came across yesterday of the farm. They are old. Maybe I’ll have some time this week to put together some more current ones too. For now, I’ll start at the beginning.

Tags: family
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the world effect – a day in the life 05

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Beau and Meggan of the World Effect aren’t new to this blog. I’ve posted about them here, here and even here. Meggan and I’ve known one another for 13 years and were immediate friends when we met. She’s like the sister I never had. Over the years we’ve argued, bickered and had more fun than two friends should be allowed. So when it came time for another ‘day in the life’ series, I felt like Meg and Beau would be the perfect finale to wrap up the year AND decade.

While this post won’t give you links to eat, drink or shop, what I hope it will do is encourage you to get out there and explore or even take a few photos. You never know, you might have that budding photographer within you. Meg and Beau started traveling back in April and haven’t been back to the United States since. Each day is different because they rarely stay in a location longer than a week, sometimes just a day. During their year long expedition they have encountered some incredible things all cataloged on their travel blog, the World Effect. Most recently they posted about Mount Everest but they also have posts on their 2 week ride along the Trans Mongolian, the Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda and Machu Picchu to name some of my favorites. They are due back to Colorado this Spring, if they don’t change their minds to stay longer. If you have a second, drop by their blog, check out their photos and wish them a Merry Christmas. Thanks you two for sharing your day and Happy Holidays!

7:45 AM
Beau: Beep…Beep…Sweet, my Ecuadorian watch still works. I think I will keep my eyes closed for a little bit longer.

8:00 AM
Beau: Well Meggan isn’t moving. I guess I have to get up first. Shower time.
Meggan: Beau’s up. I have 15 more minutes to sleep.

8:20 AM
Beau: I need to do wash. I guess I will wear what doesn’t smell. Meggan is still in bed. Typical.
Meggan: I have to get up. Beau is pacing. What country are we in anyways? Asian decor? Huh? Oh Thailand!

8:25 AM Beau: Coffee… I need coffee. I boil the water and then boil it again. Just in case. Instant coffee, what swill. I guess it will have to work. I power up the laptop and search for directions to the Vietnam Embassy.

8:50 AM
Beau: Are you ready yet Meggan? Ready now? Ok, ready? Why are you just standing there staring at your bag?
Meggan: I hate my clothes! Maybe if I stare at my bag long enough an outfit will pop out at me. I wish I had my cute little black dress from Anthropology with me. Why didn’t I pack that? Ok I have to pick something. What doesn’t smell?

9:20 AM
Meggan: Ready to leave. Beau found a great website with directions describing every step you need to take, including pictures of signage and landmarks to look for on your way there. I love the world wide web! Off to the skytrain.

10:00 AM
Meggan: We found the embassy and it was relatively easy with the great directions. Beau and I fill out our required documents and wait in line. After standing in line for 20 minutes we find out we need more money. Off to find a 7-11. They always have ATMs and they seem to be located a block and half away in every direction here in Thailand.

10:35 AM
Beau: After waiting in line again we pay for our visas and intrust them with our passports. The clerk gives us a piece of paper and says “you come back monday”. Ok.

12:00 PM
Meggan: Exploring the streets has made us hungry. We head to a recommendation from my mom, Cabbages and Condoms. The restaurant is decorated with mannequins covered in condoms and slogans for safe sex. After our phad thai, they give us two condoms. It beats after dinner mints I guess. This is a restaurant with a mission. The restaurant’s proceeds go to a population and community development program that helps educate on safe sex, AIDs awareness, and birth control.

1:30 PM
Meggan: On the way back to the hotel, we stop at the third 7-11 we passed. We load up on water. I also grab some thai design magazines. Yes, I won’t be able to read them but there are several great furniture and interior mood shots.

1:45 PM
Beau: Time for me to shut down the grid. I plug in our power strip and start charging our video camera battery, DSLR camera batteries, and both our laptops… the hotel lights dimmed and flickered. I am send off a few emails to set up meetings with artisans. Then I continue with my editing of the trans-mongolian video, downloading photos and writing a post.
Meggan: Work time! I start downloading my photos and write a post. I sneak a look at facebook and my favorite design blogs every once in a while. Then I move onto sketching some concepts.

7:00 PM
We can’t ignore our bellies any longer. So we head to the Suan Lum Night Market for dinner. We jump on two trains to get to the market and exit the train station right at the entrance of the market. We begin to wandering through the maze of battery operated flashing t-shirts, globe shaped christmas lights, jewelry and fake purses and are surprised to find some cute shops. There are several individually owned stalls with fashion boutique concepts and artisan furniture. We were happy to see some stalls with personality and unique identities.

8:30 PM
Meggan: After being distracted by all the shopping, we make our way to the food section of the market. Actually I should say beer garden with open food stalls. There are too many options, we ended up picking the busiest stall. Busiest always means freshest. Beau got squid and chili curry and I got fried prawns. After eating we decided it would be nice to relax, thai market style.

9:15 PM
Meggan: Beau and I indulged with a neck, shoulder and back massage for $8/hr. Heaven! Then we decided to be daring and throw away our concerns for hygiene. We went to Dr. Fish to have little fish nibble at our feet. I wish I could explain what it felt like. All I can say is that it felt weird and I had a strange fear that i might accidentally crush one of the fish. No fish were injured in this activity.

10:30 PM
Fully relaxed we hopped back on the trains and headed home (the hotel).

11:30ish PM
We fall asleep watching a bootlegged copy of Che we bought in Kathmandu for a $1.

2:00 AM
Meggan: What country are we in?

Tags: inspiration
Posted in glimpse, travel | 2 Comments »

a charlie brown tree

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Vince Guaraldi : Linus and Lucy. Have a listen. It’s not the holidays until I hear this album.

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Hi there, how was your weekend? Are you feeling the holiday spirit yet? I’m excited to tell you, we got a tree! It’s a Charlie Brown style Christmas tree. Yes, you remember the one. It’s tall, it’s skinny and hardly has any branches and I love it. Actually, it has just enough branches for our small ornament collection but the heavier ones require very strategic placement. Add one curious black and white hound into the mix and said ornament strategy is upped a notch.

This year, good friends Hannah, Ian and Hannah’s family invited us up to their family cabin to search for the perfect Charlie Brown. The thought of spending a Saturday afternoon trudging around in the snow to pick out a tree, drinking hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps, tracking Malakai’s yeti and hanging with friends was too good to pass up.

[from left to right, top to bottom]. Malakai introducing us to Fort Buckskin; view of the teepee (I can’t wait to come back in the summer to spend the night here); who needs directions when you can tack your own name to a tree; Hannah looking cute.

The property is about an 1 1/2 hour drive into the mountains and completely worth every minute in the car. Especially if you are the passenger and have zero navigation duties. Once navigation duties are waved this means nap time is acceptable. And, I, of course, couldn’t miss a few minutes to snooze. As for the property, I thought I would save the best for last. Not only is there a simple little cabin complete with wood burning stove and loft, there’s also a teepee, a hand carved cowboy and enough trees we didn’t see another person the entire afternoon.

[from left to right]. Hand carved cowboy. Painting from 1942 hanging in the cabin. Does it remind you of the Challenge Butter label?

Jevan doing his best lumberjack impersonation.

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celeste prevost – a day in the life 04

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

I’ve never actually met Celeste but I feel like we know one another pretty well. It’s funny how the Internet works. Celeste is the one who is completely responsible for the way this blog looks, from each and every icon to the layout, she created it all. Last spring I began looking for a graphic designer to help me develop a graphic identity for this blog and my interior design business. I had no idea where to begin or how to mesh the two but knew it was time to get rid of the standard blogger header I was using for the previous 5 months. After a little research I came across Celeste and her icon love. I’ve always had a thing for pattern and love all her previous icons. And, as it happens she loves creating icons so it became a natural fit.

Celeste won’t tell you but she has a stellar body of work ranging from familiar names like Nordstrom BP and Denver Water to smaller brands such as Thymes and the Shoppe. What she will do is listen to exactly what you’re trying accomplish and put it on paper, or rather the computer. It was completely wonderful to work with her in developing my blog’s identity and I felt she would be an inspiring addition to A Day in the Life. Check out her portfolio at Design is Fine when you get a second. And her day below.

CELESTE PREVOST
Graphic Designer, Minneapolis, MN

7:05 AM Wake up shower, clean the body, get dressed.

8:00 AM Cereal. Peanut Butter Bumpers today, ha! Such a kiddie meal for breakfast.

8:45 AM Gather my things and walk the 4 blocks to work into Uptown, Minneapolis. LOVE the weather, it’s been perfect for the last couple weeks.

8:58 AM Arrive at the office, start NPR and begin to prepare for a couple meetings with Thymes in the next hour.

9:57 AM Catalog redesign review and new product line launch meeting today at Thymes. Critique, share thoughts, get feedback… and repeat.

12:30 PM Back at the office and hungry. Walk over to Lucia’s to pick up lunch. Today: black bean chili with habanero sour cream and a chocolate chip cookie! The menu changes weekly but black bean chili is under the ‘things we always have’ category.

1:37 PM After lunch, a coworker and I meet with a printer to get details on printing limitations for a set of hoodies we plan to print for the holidays. Of course, after talking we’re going to have to rethink some things…

2:00 PM Back at the office. Work, work, work.

4:55 PM Walk home… in the dark. Nice and breezy outside, a perfect fall night.

6:22 PM Dinner with the dude and a quick trip to the mall to pick up his repaired computer.

8:00 PM Home Time! Eat some frozen yogurt. Watch some movies. Cruise the Internet and catch up on freelance projects…

11:20 PM Goodnight.

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