It's Me, KP

A List of Thirty: Things I Will Do in Year 30 Revisited

When I was laying in bed at 3 am on Saturday night comtemplating life and thinking that I had a little too much wine to drink, I decided to pull up my list of thirty things to do in my 30th year.  It's been a while since I even looked at the list.  I still have a little over a quarter left to cross things off but I have to say I've made some progress.  And now, an update:

1. Eat Chinese food in Flushing
Not yet but I did date a guy who was an expert on Flushing and gave me his top secret must hit list.  Soon.
2. Visit four countries I've never been to
Ireland, Panama, Costa Rica, Japan, Hong Kong, China (layover), and more to come very soon.
3. Make something that I'm scared of actually happen
I quit my job at Studio Calico.  I was scared.  I started my own brand.  I was petrified.
4. Buy a coffee maker
Hey Santa...
5. Throw a party
I threw a small book party last week and am hosting an upcoming Christmas bash this weekend.  Woot.
6. Stay out all night dancing
Much to my chagrin, it is hard to convince my friends to go dancing.
7. Revamp my blog
Done.
8. Be open to love
This one found me in a way that I never would have expected.
9. Buy baby gifts for all the important new babies in my life
Major fail.  There were so many cute babies that came into the world in 2012.  Can still make it work.
10. Speak up
I would say that this has been a success.  Somewhat.  Feeling anger helps, btw.
11. Go to Carnegie Hall
Fail.
12. Visit three new NYC museums
This one will get accomplished.
13. Take a cooking class
Counting the little meatball + pizza making experience Amanda and I had with Donatella Arpaia.
14. Go to Austin
This one sadly, might not be in the cards.
15. Unpack every single box in my apartment
Didn't happen and it's almost time for me to box everything up for another move.
16. Run a 5K
Fail.
17. Be more grateful
I'm glad I put this one on the list, it's definitely something I've strived for this year.
18. Create five mini albums
Done and done - check out the ones in my book!
19. Print more photos
Working on it, need to do more.
20. Make three photo books
This one will also get done, as soon as I have the time.
21. Try four new recipes
What the what was I thinking?
22. Go to Govenor's Island
Picnic this summer with Amanda.  Holla.
23. Ride the Roosevelt Island tram
Not yet.
24. Read five non-fiction books
Heat, The Geography of Bliss, $100 Startup...  need more.
25. See four plays
Venus in Fur, The Best Man, Sleep No More (not sure this counts), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof next week.
26. Attend a food festival
The Great Googa Mooga Disaster of 2012
27. Become more familiar with InDesign
Negative.
28. Buy a film camera
Bought a new Instax Mini and I'm counting that.
29. Spend more time doing nothing (and be ok with it)
Oh hell yes.  This fall I got more sleep than Punxsatawney Phil.
30. Do things that make me happy - just do them and not think
Yes and no.  I do a lot of implusive things.  I buy a lot of implusive plane tickets.  But I also overthink and overanalyze so many pieces of life.  I need to be better a this.

Not too bad my friends.  Not too bad.

Hey Santa!

Thursday night Amanda and I made our annual trip to see Santa.  The REAL Santa.  I repeated my request from last year and once again asked for a puppy dog.  One of these years, it's going to happen.  I'm not giving up hope yet.

Cocoa Daisy winner is posted below - thank you all for entering and for liking me on Facebook!

One More Time, With Feeling

Amy has been wonderful about sending me emails using the Timehop app from days one year or two years ago that we were together or having one of our good chats.  It's been fun to get a little reminder of where I was 365 days ago.  I was thinking about this as I was riding the train to the airport in Tokyo.  I probably have these same thoughts every year as we get close to turning the page on the calendar, but this year was especially significant in so many ways.  I thought about how life has taken me taken me so far in one year.  I have learned a lot.  I have risked a lot.  I have gained a lot.  I have traveled further and more than ever.

I thought about how I am grateful.  Extremely grateful for all the opportunities that I have.  As a typical Aries I like the possibilities of newness and change.  I am grateful for fresh adventures and beginnings.  I am grateful for the people who support me when I say I want to fly.  I am grateful for every realtionship, big or small, that brings me somewhere new.  Grateful for continuing to grow in ways I never realized I wanted - and needed - to.

I thought about how I am grateful for those things in my life that will always remain the same.  The things that ground me.  I am grateful for friends who have known me for years - some for most of my life - and that those friendships will always be there no matter what.  I am grateful for the warmth and coziness that comes from spending time with these friends.  I am grateful that we grow up but some things that we share will forever be hilarious, the inside jokes will never get old.  Grateful for the things I can always count on as the years go by.

I am grateful for all that I have.  And all that is to come in the next 365 days.

A List of Gratitude

Life unexpectedly handed me lemons this past October and as I am still pulling them out of the barrel deeper than my body, I continue to try to squeeze the hell out of them for some lemonade.  Because what I have discovered is that the only way to get through it is to pull out the sugar.  I learned to look for the good things in life.  Find the happiness, find the life lessons, savor them.  And so, while I pour myself a glass of lemonade, I want to share a tiny list of things I am oh so very grateful for this holiday.

1. The opportunities to travel around the globe sharing something that I love
2. Shake Shack and the delicious cheeseburgers located 2 blocks away
3. My community of friends in New York City, especially for wanting to see me and being willing to plan around my crazy travel schedule
4. My family, who loves me no matter what
5. Instagram and the ability to share happenings in life with people I care about around the world 
6. Having two cities that make me feel like I am at home - NYC and Chicago
7. Heidi Crowl and Catherine Tachdjian who have literally + figuratively continued to support me the 2nd half of this year (even when I forget to reply to their emails!)
8. Amanda, my partner in crime and maker of my life's Google docs
9. My health and the good health of people I love the most
10.  Every single customer who buy my products and the kind words and support they have given me

I am grateful for what I have and what I've learned.  And if that isn't a good enough reason to celebrate by stuffing myself silly, then well, I just don't know what is.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Laying Over

In a serious of unfortunate travel incidents and just plain bad luck, my trip out and back to Saskatoon this weekend left me sitting in the airport for much much much longer than I anticipated.  I love to travel, I love it more than anything in the world.  But I also hate to wait.  

This year has been a lesson in patience.  I continue to be reminded of that... and I think someone up there thinks I haven't quite learned my lesson yet.

Big Screen Fall Favorites

I've had way too much couch time lately and am slowly on the mend.  While I've been hiding out in my cave, I've been enjoying some of my favorite DVDs that I seem to watch every fall.  

You've Got Mail: I've gone on and on and on about how much I love this movie, but in my mind it is the quintessential fall movie for me.  I live in the neighborhood from the film and yes, it is exactly that charming and beautiful this time of year.  Joe Fox's line about a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils - who doesn't think of that each time fall comes around?

Gilmore Girls Season 1: I don't like to play favorites but this is my favorite season of my favorite series from my favorite actress.  Ha.  There are only a couple episodes that take place in the fall but every year when summer starts to end, I always want to put in these DVDs and light a pumpkin candle.  It's like comfort food to me, that world of Stars Hollow.  And Max Medina.  Maaaaax Medina.  I just love that.

The American President:  I have loved everything Aaron Sorkin that I've ever laid eyes on (Sports Night anyone?) but this is probably his true masterpiece in my mind.  I've watched this movie way more than it's cool to admit but I like everything about it... Michael J. Fox, Martin Sheen quoting Hamlet, her blue dress, the Virgina ham.  As we get closer to November, I want to turn off the political commentary on tv and just watch this movie on repeat.

Which tv shows or movies do you like to watch every fall?  Tell me what's your entertainment comfort food. 

Happenings

There are a lot of happy things happening over here.  Work has kept me busy buzzing around my hive and thinking, planning, designing, ordering, packing like a crazy person.  When I decided to quit Studio Calico I had a lot of ideas on what my next steps would be and it feels good to finally start seeing some of those ideas come together.  There's a lot in store that I've put together on my own that I'll be sharing soon.  I hope you'll stay tuned.

I've also always been the type of person who gets scared and anxious to make things happen.  Do you know what I mean?  The idea of a big dream actually coming true can overwhelm me, makes me panic, and think "ahhh no eeek too much this is crazy" and I want to back away slowly until I can safely turn around and run like Usain Bolt the other way to where I'm safe and comfortable.  I do it in work, I do it in relationships,  I do it all those heart thumping areas of life.  It's a challenge for me to take steps forward.  But I'm learning as I do this that 1) I can do it and 2) things can be pretty good when I do.  Baby steps, my friends.  Baby steps to finding a new place of comfort in making things happen.

My friend Jamaica tweeted this quote the other day and it's a little mantra I've adapted lately.  So true, so true.

Storytellers

I have to admit that I'm breathing a little easier today.  In between travels the past month, I was quite the hermit at home and glued to my desk to finish up projects for my upcoming Signature Series book.  Everything has been shipped now to the photographer and it was a great feeling to get it sent in.  The book will be out in mid-November and you can pre-order it right here.

I am very excited to start seeing it all come together.  It really was a labor of love.  This such a huge honor for me and I really worried about making sure I delivered.  I did not want to disappoint anyone.  I put a lot of thought into the different chapters, debated about which products to use, and revised my list of layouts over and over.

The thing I stressed the most about was which photos to use... which stories did I want to tell?  I want the book to represent me.  Thirty years old, unmarried, no kids.  Cherishes her friends more than words and loves her family.  Likes trends, girlie embellishments, and bright colors.  Seeks adventure and wants all the good times she can squeeze out of life.  How do I share that in my book?

I looked through so many photos and they all represent their own special time in my life.  I have this desire to document everything.  I want to give all those memories - the good and the bad that were just as important - their rightful place in my personal history books.  But how can we do that?  How do begin to even get it all recorded?

I would love to hear your thoughts on what stories you chose to document and any ways you've gone about scrapbooking, journaling, or Project Life-ing.

Saying Goodbye to Studio Calico

Well, the time has come to share some big changes happening around here.  A short while ago I gave my notice at Studio Calico and July will be my last month with them.  My roles of product designer + education coordinator have begun being transitioned to other talented team members and September is the last kit that I've designed stamps for.  I also decided not to renew my design team contract, so this month's gallery with the August kit will be my last as well.  For the next year I will be doing the Tips + Tricks post quarterly on the SC blog, starting in October.  I'll still be manning the Studio Calico booth at CHA next week in Chicago and looking forward to it.

These were obviously not easy decisions for me to make but as time continues to pass, it's something that I am 100% confident in.  There are other opportunities that have come along and I'm looking forward to pursuing them.  I'm excited about what's ahead in a way that I don't think I've ever been before.  Lots of good and happy things in my back pocket.  I have a sneaky suspicion everything ahead is going to be awesome.

All Adventurous Women Do

If I really wanted to entertain you, I'd tell you stories of a single girl's dating life in New York City.  The tales I could tell would give JK Rowling a run for her money.  It is not easy dating in this city.  But it does provide you with endless entertainment.  I watch what I divulge on this blog for a myriad of reasons, and besides these are stories best told over ice cream or Parm ice cream cake (both of which happened on Sunday) with your girlfriends. 

However I will share that after numerous conversations lately I've now dubbed this The Summer of the Single Ladies.  2012 will be the summer my single girls take over the city.  There's something in the air.  We are ready to stop being serious and have some fun.  Take a bite out of the Big Apple, if you will.  I see a lot of ice cream and tales of first dates in our future.  I can't wait.

I think about all my dating experience... and let's face it - failed attempts at relationships - and I just have to laugh.  I made a lot of mistakes.  Overlooked a lot of red, even yellow, flags.  Have hit below the bottom rung on the insecurity ladder.  And man, I've done some dumb things.  Even as recently as this past weekend.  But as Amanda asked me on Saturday, would I change it?  No way in hell.  I have a lot of great stories.  A flight to Boston for Opening Day in Fenway Park, late nights laughing in diners down on the Lower East Side, an epic first date that started with a 15 course dinner.  All of that goes into the books.

There's the line from one of my favorite episodes of Girls - "all adventurous women do."  It's used in great context in the show and I've stolen it to help justify my own crazy experiences.  Has a pocketful of mistakes, has broken hearts, takes cabs all the way out to Brooklyn at 1 a.m., kisses on a street corner in Chelsea for twenty minutes on a first date?  All adventurous women do.

For more on a single girl's life in NYC, and one who lets you in on more secrets than I do, I highly recommend reading Meg's blog here.