Rules to Live By, #1

It looks like I’m holding up things on this end while Becky works on figuring out Life After Graduation. Don’t worry, I have a few things on my mind to write about here, but first is something I just thought of right this second:

A quick series of rules to live by, which I’m collecting from experience and song lyrics. (Are song lyrics the modern answer to poetry? Poetry’s descendant? I wonder.)

My first rule is this:

1. Always keep blank note cards for emergencies.

Emergencies include thank-you notes for unexpected gifts (as most are), letters of condolence, and other times when you realize someone you know would appreciate a note. Why run to the store to grab a Hallmark card when you have something right at home?

Birthday and holiday cards do NOT constitute emergencies, and I personally enjoy making those myself. But you can definitely plan ahead in advance for those and don’t need to keep them on hand. When you realize someone you know could use cheering up, though, it’s best to have all the materials already at hand so you don’t procrastinate. Also the best way to write thank-you notes.

“But Stephanie,” you exclaim, “you expect us to actually send people real MAIL? You know it’s easier to just get online and send an e-card!”

Is it really? But think of it this way: How do you feel to get unexpected mail from a friend? Elated, right? It totally makes your day better. And you can keep that letter or card out and smile briefly whenever you pass by it for as long as you need to. It’s there, in the background, not something you have to think about, giving you the kind of comfort an e-card can’t.

So go ahead. Buy a pack of blank note cards, just in case.

(Sadly, it is the recent death of a penpal’s grandfather that prompted this post—I was trying to figure out what I could do for her, when I realized I have blank note cards left over from an impulse purchase years ago on which I could write a condolence note, something she could touch that might help comfort her. Now I’ll be stepping off Emily Post’s soapbox and read a bit of For the Love of Letters.)

At the end we’ll all sing!

I’ve been keeping a secret from you guys. But now the time is right to unveil it. In the spirit of airing Becky’s dirty laundry, this one’s a doozy.

On this day, 25 July, one day before my half-birthday, over two decades ago, Becky was born.

So, I’ll start, you guys finish: Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday…

Happy birthday, Becky!!!!!

Renegade fun

As I wrote earlier, the Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco occurred this past weekend, and a friend and I took the ferry over to have a day filled with excitement and fun. And spending. Because I can’t go to a craft fair (with stationery and earrings) and not spend. (Time to go on a spending freeze for me!)

As we finally made our way to the Festival Pavilion in Fort Mason. Why does it seem like owls are now associated with crafts? Getting generic, there. Reminds me of something I read recently. I’m still determined to be impressed.

HA! Of course one of the first booths Sara and I find contains yarn.

Preeeetty yarn. Shiiiiiny sock yarn. And I somehow managed to not let it come home with me (I really have no space for any more yarn!).

There were also T-shirts

and journals.

As we were leaving Port of Oakland my friend commented that she always saw the Star Wars shooting machines in the crane things on the docks. My mom has said the same thing every time she passes by them. And now the similarity is on a T-shirt — because in fact it’s not a similarity but deliberate: George Lucas based the ATAT walkers on these crane things. I like that it’s getting out there though.

In all, though, I wasn’t particularly impressed with Renegade. It was nice to see all these things that I’ve looked at on Etsy, but every stall was jewelry, greeting cards, or t-shirts and prints. Nothing really blew me away, and a lot of things made me think “I could make that myself.” And the greeting cards were just expensive. Not to say I regret going, but I wouldn’t want to spend money just to get inside the fair. It’s just not impressive enough to spend money to get in and then spend more money inside. The way it was worked out well for it.

And on the way back I took pictures of fog covering the Golden Gate:

Home again (and How to Travel)

Guys, San Francisco was great. It was a vacation and then some, but I didn’t feel burned out too badly afterward. I am a firm believer that doing the things you want to do is one of the biggest components of living well. After all, if you don’t indulge sometimes you’re just hating your life. I had been planning to go to Montreal, Quebec for a long time, but I found no one that would go with me (and really– Montreal is someplace that you should take a friend!). And then, after a visit from Matt of the Scribble Society, I realized I should go visit him in Mountain View. Or San Francisco. But wait! Stephanie is there too!

I dragged along Chris (who sometimes commented here) and away we went. Interestingly enough, we ended up meeting up with Matt, Stephanie, Sara of the Scribble Society, Chris’ sister, Chris’ roommate, and some other old friends. It was a great time! We didn’t do so much that it was crazy, but we DID do some touristy stuff like the Golden Gate Bridge and Haight-Ashbury. Definitely worth the trip.

I know not all of you guys are interested in traveling, but it can be extremely rewarding and relaxing. Here’s some advice I have:

1. Expedia/Travelocity: Seriously. We ended up cutting an AMAZING deal with the hotel and airfare. I’m serious. It was ridiculously cheap when it was all said and done. I had to browse Expedia and Travelocity for only an hour before I found a truly amazing deal. We were right smack in the middle of downtown San Francisco, within a couple blocks from the Museum of Modern Art, Union Square, and Chinatown, and with the money we saved we were able to frequent many a nice restaurant!
2. Take a friend: Traveling by yourself can be very rewarding. You can choose when you want to go out, where you go, when to stay in, and so on. It’s very liberating and relaxing, just getting away from everything. But even I agree that taking a friend can be EVEN better. We were able to split the cost of the hotel room and save a ton of money individually!
3. Don’t get burned out by doing too many things: One way that we relaxed was spending time in Yerba Buena Gardens. Over the entire vacation we clocked at least 8 hours in the park, just lounging, eating, talking, and people watching. It was the best way to spend a vacation in between the activities we did and the people we saw.

I encourage each and every one of you to travel. It is genuinely worth it. Even if you end up doing a short road trip to a nearby town for the weekend, it’s worth the hotel cost to spend some time somewhere new. It’s relaxing and refreshing.

Also, meeting Stephanie, Matt, and Sara was totally rad! Now Stephanie and I can actually say we’re friends instead of just being blogging partners.

A groggy, not-quite-comprehensible post

Now that I’m here to air the dirty laundry… (You know, working on making Becky regret that she had this idea. ) Did you all know that Becky has multiple talents? For example, once she taught herself bookmaking. Another time I told her I wanted to try making lotion in the ever-elusive ’someday’, and instead she took it up.

And that’s how I became the proud owner of a thick, creamy moisturizing lotion that doesn’t irritate my extra-sensitive skin, as well as a little notebook which I’ll use for notes about the vegetable garden. The poor garden probably needs watering after all the heat we’ve had—nothing like Austin, Texas, but definitely enough to fry my brain at the very least. I think I can read seven new books in the space of a few days. Someone, I need someone to fix my ambitions.

The pen? That, I believe, is a Lamy Safari fountain pen (certain about the Lamy, not entirely certain about the Safari). It is my new favorite pen in the whole wide world. I never want to use another pen. Although I could be persuaded to try to replace the nib on it to something a little finer.

If you wanted an introduction to me, folks, that was pretty much it. I like pens and paper and handmade things. The vegetable garden and I plan on being really close this summer, so I’ll share posts about food in the future, I’m sure. Now I think I have to go water myself and the plants. Put some brain power in me. And then go back to reading. ‘Til next time! On Saturday I’ll go to Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco, and I’ll bring back a full report. Auf Wiedersehen.

Hello, World

We are sitting in Bread and Cocoa in San Francisco on the corner of Sutter and Kearny right now (in case anyone wants to join us). The world is at our fingertips now that we have Internet (it took an hour and a half to find this place). There really needs to be more cafes in San Francisco with Internet seeing as how sitting in a cafe and talking with a friend is one of the most important parts of living well. Also, isn’t San Francisco supposed to be super connected and technologically advanced?

So we’ve been walking all over San Francisco, which has been fun but the weather is variable. It’s a lot like Austin but bigger and colder. Stephanie likes Vienna better because she is un-American (sad but true – who wants to join me and move to Berlin or Vienna?). We’re trying to figure out what to write but we’re totally out of ideas because the weather is beautiful and we’re itching to go to Japantown and buy some stationery (Stephanie is going to write about letters soon).

As a short introduction, this blog is going to be about living cozily. We will write about (and take pictures of) things like gardens, the environment, cafes, letters, tea, painting, and creativity. And then we’ll see where we go from there but I think it’s going to be an exciting trip.

The end (or rather, the beginning).

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