Though our Seattle trip this week was a tad on the stressful side, I feel refreshed and re-energized to get things done and even managed to catch up a bit on the internet yesterday, so here’s a little Friday Bits! Thank you so much for the comments about the new shop and necklaces, it means so much. See you Sunday? It’s a big update so if you forget and think you’ve missed out, chances are you haven’t, so check back.

1. MCMC Love perfume + an Odette arrow ring for $99 = an awesome combination and deal.
2. This is kind of random, but recently I purchased a pair of Madewell widelegger jeans on sale in their Glendale store for $20 (originally $130!). They are so ridiculously comfortable and are the perfect wide leg/flare. I had them hemmed for $9, so all together a sweet deal. They’re also on sale on their website for a bit more (still a good deal) so I thought I’d pass this gem of knowledge on. Two things I love about them are that they are a bit snug in the thighs for a more flattering fit, and the denim is super soft and light, so they don’t feel really heavy to walk in.
3. The LA Food Swap sounds so genius. I’ve been intrigued since Natalie mentioned it before the holidays. You bring your homemade, homegrown, and foraged creations and swap them with other local people. Thinking about doing it with some friends though I have no idea what I should swap! I do make a mean hummus…
4. A lot of people asked me if I’d share where we went when we were in Seattle for recommendations, but I have to admit that whenever we go the goal is not to explore new things as it’s always a family trip, and this one was even more so because it was such a short trip. I didn’t even get to see any of my friends besides Andrea. But! I did go to Local 360 for the first time and it was fantastic. Delicious comfort food in a cozy rustic setting with big wooden booths, homemade cola and dim lighting – I was really impressed and would recommend it. The mac and cheese! Dang.

Have a great weekend!

The next shop update will be this Sunday, January 29th at 10am PST/1pm EST. Not only will there be brand new necklaces – including the clay beaded necklaces and a newly redesigned brass drops – but the shop is completely redesigned! I’ve been slowly working on this for ages and am launching this just in the nick of time before January comes to a close. The new shop is easier to navigate with larger photos and includes a slideshow with a lookbook. Plus, I finally redesigned my packaging as I thought it was high time.

Let’s talk about the new brass drops, as it’s my #1 best seller and I don’t want anyone to be worried about the change. The necklace has a new chain that’s now solid brass rather than plated steel, so the finish will last longer. I also hand oxidize each chain to get it to that perfect antique-like color that isn’t too shiny, but the more delicate chain does lend to a bit more of a classier look to the necklace. It’s still a perfect everyday necklace, but I think it dresses up a bit more than before. For the first time in years I’m raising the price just a little bit because the cost of the new materials is higher and takes much more time to create.

The ceramic woven necklaces now use the same chain as the new brass drops, and I shorted the chain just a bit* so that it hits on the breast plate a bit higher to show the colors off better. I’m experimenting with a few of them using brass beads as well and being a bit more dainty. (* The exception is H & I, which are leftover from the last update before I shut the shop down, fyi.)

Lastly, I’m retiring my signature classic woven necklace. It was what started it all, but interest in the other necklaces is higher these days and I’m ready to move on. If enough people are bummed out about this I’ll reconsider, but for now this feels right.

I hope you guys like the new shop – please let me know if you run into any issues! I’ll send out a reminder about Sunday’s update to my newsletter subscribers tomorrow.

Hello! Andrea here. I’m excited to contribute to weekly goods today while Kate is in Seattle. Lucky for me, I got to hang with her and Will yesterday!

1. To get me through this gray winter: a bright red Clare Vivier Clutch. – 2.  An updated houndstooth scarf for the perfect touch of pattern – 3. Is it too early to be thinking about sandals? – 4. Insanely Detailed typographic paintings of  MAPS by Paula Scher. – 5. A lovely but functional salt and pepper cellar; I dig those tiny spoons.

I recently had the pleasure of doing a little photo shoot for the wonderful new Echo Park boutique, Myrtle. The owner, Whitney, has an amazing eye and put together some great looks for the shoot that we shot in the store with two lovely models, Lauren and Taylor. The bright LA sunlight threatened to ruin a good time (constant slapstick-like running around to avoid the sunbeams and dark shadows) but we totally made it work thanks to great team work. If you live in LA or will be here in the future, definitely stop by the shop – Whitney has curated an amazing selection in a wide range of prices. Not just clothing and accessories, either! Cute books, soap, stationery and other fun things – all made by talented ladies.

Credits
Photography: Kate Miss
Styling/direction: Whitney Bickers
Models: Lauren Rothery & Taylor Curtin
Designers (top to bottom, left to right) all styles sold at Myrtle:
Blouse by Gretchen Jones, skirt by Shabd | Tank by This Shirt Helps, Skirt by Gretchen Jones
Dress by Filly
Dresses by Alexandra Grecco | Dresses by Study New York
Dress by Filly, locket by Bonbi Forest | Blouse & skirt by Kelly Bergin

Please feel free to re-post any of these photos without asking permission as long as you include proper credit! That means you too, Tumblrs and Pinterest-ers! Credit, credit, credit.

Hi all, Jessica here! Kate was kind enough to invite me on board to contribute some bits from my weekend while she’s away enjoying a real winter outside of sunny Los Angeles. I was a little nervous about having enough interesting things to share with you, but this weekend ended up being pretty action-packed (and particularly art-filled). It started off with a memorable breakfast at Square One that I didn’t capture, but Kate did (see + drool over the previously posted banana french toast), followed by an evening out and an opportunity to get some use out of this vibrant red dress I recently thrifted. Saturday was spent perusing the Art Los Angeles Contemporary show at the Barker Hanger and a trip to a moped shop, the latter of which was surprisingly more fun than I would’ve imagined. Sunday began by purchasing one too many artisanal goods at an underground pop-up market in Venice (read: jalapeño jam, tandoori marinated olives + homemade lemon curd), followed a trip downtown to the LA Art Show and ended with a delightfully slow pre-fixe dinner at Church & State. All-in-all, a lot of fun despite a lot of running around. But sometimes weekends are for adventures, wouldn’t you say?

Earlier this week I thought, “It’s a crazy week, but I can handle blogging as well! No big deal!” And then Wednesday rolled around and I thought, “Who am I kidding? I’ll have to skip Weekly Goods! But I’ll have time to read blogs tomorrow so I can do Friday Bits, no big deal!” And then today rolled around and I was like, “OK, screw it. When my favorite bloggers don’t post for a few days I don’t even notice and I find apologies for absences more annoying than absences.” But this isn’t an apology, I just wanted to make you jealous of the french toast* I rewarded myself with after a batshit week and also say au revoir (excuse my French, it’s the toast talking) as we head to Seattle tomorrow for a few days. I have some sweet guest bloggers for two of those days so that I don’t feel compelled to write an obnoxious apology post next week. This trip is exciting/weird/nervous-making as Will’s dad is flying out to meet us and finally meet my family. We decided that after nearly five years of dating perhaps it was time. No big deal. My family won’t embarrass me at all just as Will’s dad won’t embarrass him. Right, Bill?

It’s quite possible that I owe you an email, and for that I will actually apologize for, but I need a week off big time. TGIF, y’all! Have a great weekend.

*Square One, the only good thing – and I mean good – about the crappy five-block radius around my apartment. Thank you Jessica and Lisa for rescuing me from my apartment!

Weekly Goods is so not happening this week as I have bigger fish to fry, but Weekly Music I can handle. I love this beautiful song “Weights” from Nat Baldwin (of Dirty Projectors). The video, just released yesterday, is pretty awesome. From Western Vinyl:

The video follows a horse that holds an estate sale to offload the belongings of his best friend, Nat Baldwin, who he believes to be deceased. As he looks wistfully upon Nat’s possessions, he is plunged into memories of their life together. Shot on digital video and Super 8, “Weights” sets Nat’s music to a poignant tale of interspecies friendship.

Mostly a working weekend as we’re going to Seattle next weekend and I have to cram in my to-do list in before then. Freelancing doesn’t mean you get to take a vacation whenever you want to without pulling some serious extra weight to make that happen! But, there were tiki drinks and Mexican food with Lisa and a matinee at the Vista (so beautiful) to see The Artist (really great, give that dog an Oscar!). Also, not sure if you knew this but I’m officially 50% cat lady, 50% plant lady these days, so Wendy and the plants fight for Bits attention. They are all my babies. Sometimes Will catches me squatting down by the plants, inspecting them with a q-tip, and just laughs at me.

It’s been such a crazy week with work stuff that this is a slim Friday Bits, but first Will and I wanted to thank you all for the comments on his post! You guys are amazing. We’re excited to get back to our lives.

Some internet goodness this week:

1. Rachel’s homemade habanero tequila given out at Christmas gifts, complete with a custom bottle label. Her homemaking/hostess/craft skills and attention to awesome detail astounds me sometimes. Damn, girl.

2. I don’t care if it’s going to be blogged about so many times this week you claw your eyes out or the fact that maybe it’s a little played out to be obsessed with Wes Anderson these days, his films fill me top to bottom with happiness and light (and a little darkness, but the good kind) and his new film Moonrise Kingdom looks absolutely terrific.

3. I think birds are beautiful, but have never been one to want to own one, but Anja’s ridiculously adorable and beautiful parrotlet is killing me. What a sweet little face!

4. Dream: learning about food and photography in a class with Nikole in Italy at Squam. “we’ll be adventuring around the nearby town and countryside and stopping in at markets and bakeries along the way. and then coming back to the villa and baking/cooking with what we find. plus, we’ll be styling and photographing it too!” Yep.

Alright, have a great weekend!

I thought we’d go with a theme with today’s posts, OK?

A while back I mentioned on twitter that I was going to be an expert care package giver going forward due to all of the amazing care packages that we were sent to us over the course of Will’s treatment. A few people asked that I share some ideas in the form of a blog post, and I attempted to start one over a month ago. It grew completely out of hand and had no structure, I felt like I could go on and on for ages. Then over the weekend I realized that Weekly Goods was the perfect place for this – a themed goods post on the subject of care packages (more themed Weekly Goods posts will definitely be coming in the future). Limiting it to five categories was tough, but this is just a basic guide. Also, because I’m feeling self conscious and some readers really keep me on my toes about stuff like this, 1. We weren’t given all of these things, I added to the categories, this is not a bragging list. And 2. I can’t stress enough that this is not meant to make anyone feel guilty for not sending us a care package. Any support – phone calls and emails and the like are just as good. This is purely a guide about care packages as I was so inspired by them. Alright, onwards!

1. LOCAL STUFF: If you’re sending a care package to someone who is not in your city, it’s fun to send them things from where you are that they can’t get, or at least are not readily available. It doesn’t have to be food, but this is a typical local-type thing that was a reoccurring theme in our care packages.
Early Bird Granola (Brooklyn), whimsy&spice hazelnut whiskey cookies (Brooklyn), MarketSpice tea (Seattle – tea is always great for people feeling under the weather, too! If you could also send a teapot, that would be awesome as well), Te Aro Burnout Coffee Beans (Toronto)

2. SWEETS: If you’re sending something to a cancer patient, check to make sure they’re eating sugar as it’s a common healing diet to refrain from it, but the cancer center is filled with jars of candy and mints because they help with nausea, and if you’re sending a care package to someone who just needs cheering up, sweets never hurt. Plus finding fun candy is, well, fun!
Jila round mints, Vosges Black Salt Caramel Chocolate bar, papabubble mixed hard candies, Fruit Flavoured Gums (some of these fall under the category of local as well! Hard to categorize.)

3. TREAT YO SELF: Ok, not yourself, but someone else. But you get it. Nice things to treat someone to as just because feeling crummy is all the more reason that you need wonderful smelling body or shaving soap, hand cream or fragrance. Will joked about the soap in his post earlier, but we really have been loving all of it! We never spring for the good stuff on our own.
The Soap & Paper Factory Verbena Hand Cream, Saipua Soap, Sea Salt Soap (great for shaving, super awesome package design), OLO Valens fragrance

4. HANDMADE: Dessert! A mix CD! Art! Jewelry! Put your possible creative talent to use, it’s so sweet to get something handmade. Amazing mix CDs got me through the last few months. If you live near someone, make them dinner and drop it by (don’t invite yourself over to make something unless you’re totally sure they’re ok with that, personally our apartment was quarantined for 3 months.) This isn’t exactly handmade, but one of the best things ever is that our friends who live down the street from us went to Whole Foods and bought us a week’s worth of groceries, delivered to our doorstep. I cried at the sight of it all it was so perfect.

5. BOOKS: You don’t even need to buy new books, my grandma sent us a huge box of her old books, which was so sweet. Anyone under the weather – either in a hospital or not – probably has a lot of time on their hands in bed and books come to the rescue. A magazine subscription would be great, too. Also, I didn’t want to make this category too expansive but all forms of entertainment are great – games and movies and such.
The Marriage Plot (my favorite book this year), Fashion Cats, 3191 Quarterly, 1Q84 (Will’s favorite book this year)

I could go into intense detail on other ways to support people when they need it outside of physical care packages, but that isn’t the point of this post and it would make this so long your eyes would roll back into your head.

Now go forth and make someone’s day who needs it!