Racing & Birthdays!

Posted on | Thursday, January 19, 2012 | 3 Comments

Our family has a lot of birthdays in January! Mine, my dad's and my sister's husband, Sean. This past weekend, we had our birthday dinner at Claim Jumper in Clackamas, OR and ate TONS of good food and had a great time:

After dinner, we went to Sykart in Tigard, OR for some awesome kart racing!

Signing in and getting ready. Matt and I got memberships. Yes!

Getting pumped up for the race! The karts at sykart can go over 40mph, all indoors!

Getting on the helmet liner. So stylish!

Race results. I won!! Out of 10 racers in that race. :) Beat the 9hp faster kart with my 6hp. Matt got the best lap time in the next race and I got 2nd.
Kart racing is my new latest obsession. It's soooooo fun. Everyone should try it!
Thanks to my sis for the photos!

The more time that goes by...

Posted on | Wednesday, January 11, 2012 | 2 Comments

The simpler I want things to look.
We're in the middle of a home remodel. When finished, we should have a brand new kitchen with a new walk-in pantry, new master bedroom (taking our home from a 2 bedroom to a 3 bedroom) and new bathroom (our home has only 1 right now). It's very exciting! When we purchased our home in 2008, I hated, absolutely hated our kitchen and bathroom. We have a 1930s home with lots of charm - moldings, built-ins, etc. Not a cookie cutter at all. I love this about the house, but the outdated kitchen/bath are the only downsides. We decided when we purchased the home that we would remodel these the first chance we got. We live in the historic Fairmount Hills neighborhood in Salem, OR, which is so great, but I think our home is the last one to get remodeled!

We scrimped and saved for over 3 years and now we're in the middle of it. Matt completely gutted the kitchen and has put in new floor boards and dry wall. We're getting there!

Here are some pinterest finds that I found very inspiring. I think less is definitely more. As I get older, I find that I want less fussy designs. As clean and simple as possible while still feeling cozy and like a home.

Love the glass front doors here. pinterest

Love the white tile back splash and dark counter tops.

Really like this concept for the pantry door.

Love this simple bathroom with wall mounted sink, white tiles, clean lined toilet.

The hubby demolishing our kitchen.

I think if I could make our entire house white, black and shades of grey, I'd be super happy. :) Maybe not with our current house, but someday, when we're out in the country on a farm. For now, making our current home more "us" is a good goal. I'll post more photos later!

Holidays 2011!

Posted on | Tuesday, December 27, 2011 | 7 Comments

With the family!

One of my bundled up holiday outfits.

With my sis

Mom & Dad being silly with their grandson.

Family Roots :: Happy Holidays!

Posted on | Thursday, December 22, 2011 | 3 Comments

Definitely looking forward to the holidays this weekend! We'll be spending time with Matt's immediate family and my family this year. We feel so lucky to live relatively close to all our immediate family so we can spend all the special holidays together. I was looking through some OLD photos and found a few I thought I'd share with the rest of you. :)

A little family history...
My parents immigrated to Portland, OR in the 1970s from South Korea. Prior to moving to the states, my dad was an army ranger & trainer and then worked on building a construction business in Korea. When he moved to Oregon, he basically had to start over from nothing since at the time, the Korean government wouldn't allow people to take more than a very small amount of money out of the country. He held many odd ball jobs (strawberry picking for one) and eventually settled into the manufacturing industry as a CNC programmer. My mom worked for many years in technology manufacturing/assembly.
My sister and I grew up in Portland and then Milwaukie (SE Portland). My parents still live in the same house we grew up in so it's fun to go back there during the holidays.

It's also funny how Portland has become the trendy/artsy/hipster city over the last few years. Quite a bit has changed! I remember my grandmother living literally across the river from the downtown and when she babysat my sister and I, she'd take us to Pioneer Courthouse Square and neighboring parks. It was always such an adventure! Good times. Any other people who grew up in Portland finding it funny (not necessarily in a bad way) how all of a sudden, it's such a "cool" place to be? :P I feel like, "Hey! We knew it was cool a long time ago." I even met my husband for the first time in Portland. It's really a great place.
While growing up in the Pacific Northwest, we had many family excursions across the state. I think we've camped and had a picnic at nearly every single state park in the state.

I especially LOVED going to the beach - Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park (think Goonies and Kindergarten Cop).

Long story short, family time is the best. I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend no matter where you will be spending it!!

With my sista.

R.I.P.

Posted on | Thursday, December 8, 2011 | 7 Comments

So sad, but my parents dog passed away this morning. They think she may have had a brain tumor and then suffered a stroke. Poor pup. May she rest in peace.

The Thankful Sale is on - now through 11/27

Posted on | Wednesday, November 23, 2011 | No Comments

As a special "thank you" during this holiday week, we're offering 25-35% off select styles on twigsandhoney.com ! We figured that so many of you will probably be spending lots of time with family and friends and might want to get an early start on those shopping deals. :)

When it's cold outside...

Posted on | Friday, November 18, 2011 | 2 Comments

I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall and I hope that everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving next week! I've been busy, busy as usual, but have actually been trying to take it a little bit easier the last couple weeks. I realized that since about January, I've been working in complete overdrive.

I know many hardworking, amazingly talented women that have such similar stories - work, work, work! I think it's so hard to find balance when you run your own business and when it starts to take off, it's difficult to budget time for yourself and family. This year, Twigs & Honey production tripled from the previous year and the growth has been exciting! I am so very grateful for all the Twigs & Honey customers, fans, and supporters. I'm also so grateful to my family, contract workers, and patient husband.

In the midst of everything, I started to forget to take care of myself and developed some chronic health annoyances. My sister asked me today, what I've been up to and I said - taking things more slowly to recharge. :) I'm still working until about 8-8:30 at night everyday, but I'm taking more breaks during the day and trying to actively stay calm and peaceful throughout the day. Typically, I'm running around from sun up until long after sundown, but I'm trying to be a bit more "still" for lack of a better word. I just found out this week that I have scoliosis (whatta?!), which had been causing some debilitating back pain (like, going to throw-up because the pain was so bad). So I've started physical therapy and exercises to help and it got me to thinking that I really need to take care of myself a bit more than I have been. I ignored the pain for almost a year and half because I thought I was "too busy". Isn't that so ridiculous? I was also really inspired and motivated after reading Jena's posts on her blog, Modish.

Am I rambling? So sorry! I guess what I'm trying to say is that things are busier than ever, but if it seems quiet around here, it's just that I'm taking a slight breather for myself so that I'm ready for an amazing 2012. Oh~ the exciting things I want to share with everyone!! I cannot wait!

Overall, if you're in a similar situation, be sure to nurture yourself! Also, in case I don't post on my blog in the next week, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and thank YOU!!!!!

New custom work

Posted on | Tuesday, November 1, 2011 | 4 Comments

A couple extra special, one of kind pieces I finished today. :)

These are super pretty on... ethereal, goddess like. :)

Crabbing and new friends

1 Comment

This summer, Matt and I got to hang out with some new friends, James and Danielle, who I first met in San Diego last year. They were coming from Kentucky for a wedding in Washington. We had a great time exploring the area. We went on the Underground Tour in Seattle and did some crabbing:

Matt and I have been crabbing together since the first few months of dating, so it was definitely fun to show James and Danielle how it's done (their first time crabbing!). By the way, that was THE biggest red rock crab I've ever seen. :) Also, I find it funny that Matt & James were essentially wearing the same outfit. haha! We hope to see our new friends more in the future - perhaps in Kentucky next time. ;)

At the Pumpkin Patch

Posted on | Monday, October 24, 2011 | 1 Comment

This is the 10th year in a row that Matt and I have picked pumpkins together! Where did the time go? You can view some previous years HERE, HERE and HERE. It's kind of fun watching my hair go from long to short to longer again. ;)
Pumpkin picking sure has changed over the last few years. We've picked in 2 states and multiple cities and it's starting to feel like a real amusement park nowadays. Does anyone else agree? Not that it's a bad thing, but at the local farm we go to in the valley, Heiser Farms, they not only have the pumpkins and corn maize, but the pumpkin rockets, tanks, firetruck, helicopter, petting zoo, train rides, hay maize and lots more. It was pretty loud, but hey - we ate lots of yummy food and found our perfect pumpkins. :)

The sea of pumpkins.

This one might be a winner

Found mine!

Matt found his!

Nothing beats a good old fashioned hayride into the sunset...

Happy pumpkin picking and Happy Halloween, everyone!

My NEW bike!

Posted on | Thursday, October 20, 2011 | 3 Comments

Isn't she cute? A little retro but totally functional. In a pure moment of spontaneity, Matt and I stopped into a bike shop in downtown Salem, OR recently and I saw this bike, test rode it and loved it. I've taken it for a spin around the neighborhood and to the local large park for miles. Indy (our husky) loves to run alongside. She'll pull me for a few miles. I'll try to get action photos soon - at least that's what Matt said he'd do. :) You can check it out on the Trek site HERE. It's made from Eco-friendly materials. I'm going to add a rack and basket. Sooo fun!

Random...

Posted on | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 | 3 Comments

We had unseasonably nice weather today and it reminded me of France...

Need a nice vacay soon! :)

Autumn is definitely in the air

Posted on | Thursday, October 13, 2011 | 7 Comments

It's been wet and rainy all this week. Autumn has hit Oregon big time! I got a bad case of food poisoning this week and then a multi-day migraine so I'm just getting back to all my messages and emails and blogging and such. :)

I do look forward to picking pumpkins soon. I have a BIG long project due at the beginning of November so I'll be hunkering down a bit more than usual - so I suppose the rainy weather forcing me indoors works well.

Someone awesomely decided to copy my branding of pink ribbon/flags I had everywhere so I decided to spruce mine up a bit. I found this vintage mint velvet ribbon in France over a year ago and am so happy to use it. Actually, I used most of it already on custom orders, but kept a strip of it for myself just so I could fawn over its softness and color. Love it so much. You'll probably see more of it in the coming weeks. I think it's a nice change from the pink and ushers in autumn and winter in a subtle and not so typical orange/red/yellow kind of way. Happy autumn everyone!

Update: [blanked out] within a day of this post changed all their [blanked out] to a [blanked out] and then replaced with a bent ribbon like I did above. Ribbons are not original but when you are in the same exact industry and you keep [blanked out] - I think that's wrong. Hilariously, they don't seem to understand that when ridiculous amounts of emulation occur, I move away from what was copied because of them. I change for a reason - proactive. They blindly change for no apparent reason except to continually follow - reactive. When they follow in that way, it's almost like they are agreeing that they were being ridiculous, siding with me without even realizing. Too funny and creepy at the same time!

Update to update: Some behaviors make me feel uncomfortable and uneasy. Creepy behavior is just plain creepy. Like visiting someone’s blog over 70 times a day.

Perfection.

Posted on | Thursday, October 6, 2011 | 20 Comments

A taste of what is to come...

Photo credits: Elizabeth Messina
Headpiece: Twigs & Honey
Hair/Makeup: Madeline Roosevelt

The Luminous Portrait

Posted on | Wednesday, October 5, 2011 | 2 Comments

Excited to share Elizabeth Messina's new book that will be coming out next year. You can pre-order through amazon HERE. Also authoring the book, Jacqueline Tobin, with foreword by Ulrica Wihlborg. That's my birdcage veil on the cover. :) :) :)
Thank you, Elizabeth!

Hello! And more... ;)

Posted on | Tuesday, October 4, 2011 | 3 Comments

I hope everyone had an amazing summer. I would have blogged more but summer is definitely the most busy time of the year. Usually, things start winding down a bit and I'm able to do some R&D during the fall/winter, but this year is particularly special as I have some completely new projects I've undertaken that I am very excited to share with everyone when they are ready.

Flowers from our summer garden.

In the midst of all sorts of projects, it came to light that several online stores have plagiarized my original text. I've also spoken with other creatives and designers who are experiencing the same thing. SO, I just thought I'd bring light to the topic - not just for me - but for others. Just want to point this out once, and hopefully never again. Not to sound too negative about anything, but it is definitely a huge pet peeve of mine when I've taken time to thoughtfully write something - anything - and someone else copies and pastes it into their own website. All the text on my websites are my original writings. I literally studied for years on how to write well from taking college courses to writing my own MA thesis with several professors as my mentors and editors. I only say this because writing is something you learn and develop. I don't always try to write as if it were going to be published, and I goof around at times with tweets and facebook posts, but when it comes to my business, I'm very serious about how I portray the business through writing. I've seen my self-written bio/profile copied word for word and I've seen countless instances of my business story, information and policies copied. Some people change one word here and there, but it's still a bit of a shame.

I know that there are many people who write for a living. I don't, but it doesn't mean that it's nothing for me to throw up some text on my website. For instance, my online policies were written and revised after a culmination of experiences over the last few years. Many times when I'm asked a new question or I have an issue, I'll adapt my policies to cater to my own experiences as they relate to the structure of my business and to accomodate my customers. It's really funny when someone just copies huge passages from my original writings and drops into their website - as if their experiences are exactly like mine.

It feels even more disrespectful, when designers in exactly the same industry copy my original text. You can grab some text from my policies, drop into a search engine and see for yourself. Examples (one of these things is not like the other): here, here, and here.

Sorry to go on and on about it, but it's annoying. I just wanted to say something so that anyone that might be doing it might read this and think twice. I had it really drilled into me when writing my thesis that you must credit your sources - you can literally get into some trouble if you don't. So for those copying my text, please don't. At the very least, link back to my site and give credit where credit is due. If you're having trouble writing, seek help or at least get in touch with me prior to copying and maybe we can work something out. Think about it this way. If you worked somewhere and put your hours in and then, when it came time to pick up your paycheck, someone else had already picked it up (i.e. benefited from your hard work and claimed it was their own) - wouldn't that suck?

Note: Might not keep this post up forever. Some links above I'm assuming (hoping) will change. Just having one of those moments... you know?