quick word cheating: thanks Alexis + Ashlae for 2 of these

Over the summer I noticed a lot of bloggers posting photos with few to no words while they took it a little easier online (both taking part and not taking park in August Break). I thought it was a rather lovely break – just some simple photos of their lives and that’s it. But I noticed a funny thing in the comments section: people can’t handle you posting photos with no explanation, especially if that’s not your usual way of doing things on your blog. People want answers. We want recipes, locations, directions, brands, names, details. We want that Pinterest-like click through to where we can buy the same pants and dishes and so on. And it’s not particularly a bad thing. We hold bloggers to a certain standard of crediting others’ work they blog about, and we’re no different about crediting the portions of their own lives they blog about. It’s why I started captioning Bits Of My Weekend at the bottom of the photos – people are so inquisitive it seemed like a good move to just give you all the details up front. I find myself commenting now and then asking those same type of questions – where did you get that poster? Who made your shoes? But Sandra said it best recently: “The internet is so full of information that I happily share pictures with as little text information as possible, hoping to inspire you instead of informing you.” Well said. I love it, I do.

So with that really inspiring me, everything going on in my life making me rather sluggish to dig up things to post about, and being incredibly busy right now, I’m taking a break from words for the rest of the month on this blog. Sometimes I daydream about being one of those more mysterious bloggers who you don’t know much about but they post really inspiring things. But the truth is that I’m not that chatty in real life so I get it all out here. But I need a little break. So, for the next two weeks, no words beyond post titles. Luckily I just got a great roll of film developed (if I do say so myself) so I have some photos to share, plus some music here and there.

So here we go. Shhhh.

*I thought it only fitting to counter a post with so many words with a photo of absolutely nothing.

thriving plants | dining | jazzed up kitchen nook | new plant hangout area | Scoops | garage sale drawings | a clear view

First and foremost, good news came our way Friday afternoon: Will was approved for Medi-Cal! It didn’t come without frustration as we found out his caseworker sat on the paperwork for a week that we overnighted to her and she forgot about, so we both wanted to hug her and throw her down a flight of stairs (kidding! sort of!), but the important thing is YAY! Then there was some epic fundraiser printing and shipping, a gathering of friends for the first time in our apartment that involved delicious drinks and the most massive Sunday hangover I’ve had in ages, a walk to Scoops for said hangover (disappointing, Pazzo Gelato is still my fave), and some plant re-potting (I think I’m more of a plant lady than a cat lady lately). A great weekend indeed.

Just a small Friday Bits today as this fundraiser is keeping me quite busy this week. Sending out the second batch today, a third tomorrow, and hopefully the rest of the paper (back ordered, my luck) comes early next week and I can ship the rest! Nothing feels more satisfying than taking a giant stack of packages to the post office, I tell you.

1. These Forget Me Not Scarves are so great.
2. Have you ever wondered what an Ira Glass sex tape would be like? (don’t worry, there’s no NSFW imagery)
3. Somehow I missed back in August that Mondo Boys have a new amazing Weird Summer mix, Desert Island. It’s been the most perfect soundtrack to this little heatwave we’re having.
4. A beautiful handmade porcelain bangle by Erin Lightfoot. via Danica

Have a wonderful weekend, friends. I’m looking forward to cooler temps (cooler = perhaps dipping below 80 a little? ugh) and drinks with friends.

Wendy, on bird watching duty this morning

As of right now, I will not be re-stocking any more prints in our fundraiser print shop. And tomorrow evening I will be taking any leftover prints down. Why, you ask? Because we’ve done what I didn’t think was possible so quickly: we’ve just about reached our goal. Will can pay those bills and his ridiculous credit card debt from medical expenses. It’s tricky because bills could still come our way here and there, and Will is still out of a job til the end of the year while I support both of us. But the fundraiser became so gigantic that it’s become too much to keep up with and we’re back on our feet to a place that doesn’t feel so scary anymore and that we feel we can handle financially, so we’ve decided it’s a good time to stop it after one very incredible week.

I also have to point out that there were a lot of amazing people who donated money without any incentive of a print, including a group of wonderful people who know who they are that brought us a check on Saturday that we’re eternally grateful for. These donations and the shop sales have brought a wave of joy into our lives: we’ve cried, we’ve jumped up and down, our mouths have hung open staring at my Paypal account.

Thank you for your support. Thank you for making a difference in our lives during a time when we thought our future was ruined. The battle hasn’t even really begun yet as Will starts chemo next week (I’ll spare you all the hospital/insurance details until I know them exactly in another post soon) but it’s so much less terrifying knowing that we don’t have giant bills looming over our heads and that we are not alone. We are not alone one bit.

Love,
Kate + Will

I know this isn’t new news to many of you, but if you haven’t purchased the new Feist album, Metals, do yourself a favor and do just that, asap. I can say with confidence that I think it’s better than The Reminder. Maybe I’m bias because my heart associates The Reminder with a bad breakup for me, but I think Metals has a little more edge, a little more tooth. It’s less airy. I think “How Come You Never Go There” is my favorite track, the harmony on the “whoa whoa” part is just stellar, but “A Commotion” is a close second because the drum beat pumps me up, big time. And “Caught A Long Wind” is just gorgeous, the perfect song to listen to at night with a glass of wine.

Team Feist has a serious lock down on Youtube uploads, but you can hear snippets of the album here or stream four tracks here.

ps. thank you for the birthday wishes! It was a good one.

pumpkin pancakes | box life | homemade hummus | hanging out at Malibu Creek state park | a healthy dinner
(click on photos for more info like ingredients and such!)

I just finished up a roll of film I’ve been shooting for the past week, so I didn’t take a ton of photos until Sunday afternoon when we met up with Jennifer and her husband at Malibu Creek state park for a picnic, which was so beautiful and peaceful. Other weekend fun included lots of cooking and LOTS of fundraiser work. We’re still in awe about the fundraiser and I just can’t believe how many people are helping us out right now. I feel like I’ve run out of ways to say thank you.

Today is my 28th birthday. We had a fun trip to the desert planned but as soon as we found out about Will’s diagnosis, I cancelled it and we decided that we should celebrate both of our birthdays (Will’s is next month) after he is better and we can take a real vacation to celebrate birthdays and being healthy. Will was supposed to start chemo today but we are still sitting around waiting for insurance news and what the heck the plan is, so we’ll probably get to go out for a nice dinner, courtesy of birthday money (thanks, Grandma!) and finish the night off by having a heart attack while watching the Breaking Bad finale.

In happier news, did you know that Ebay has an awesome blog? They do, it’s true. And today I’m featured on it with an interview I did recently. Please check it out! The article makes me acutely aware of how awkward my last name is. Haaaa.

I’m taking a break from Friday Bits today because I have bigger fish to fry and this fundraiser is consuming my life right now. It’s been such a wild success and has grown more than we ever, ever thought it would already. I’ve already had to order more supplies and ran out of those supplies before even having them in my hands and had to order more. Watching the orders come in and see familiar blogger names and old friends makes our hearts swell more than you can even imagine. My gut reaction is astonishment, but I wholeheartedly believe in the power of the internet, and combined with the compassion of friends, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised.

I’ve been getting similar emails since the fundraiser started saying that someone wants to help, but can’t, but will buy something the minute they have the money. I hope that none of you feel obligated or are spending your last dime on this as that defeats the purpose of this fundraiser and makes me feel a bit crummy. Just your words of support and love mean more than any print purchase could.

A lot of you have asked if I will be selling jewelry for this fundraiser, and that’s a tricky thing. See, I depend on jewelry sales to live off of. It’s my business and I need to have shop updates every month now to survive as a freelancer. All of the proceeds from the print sales are a totally separate thing that will go straight to Will’s medical bills. So I can’t donate any of my jewelry funds to Will’s bills right now, but when I do have shop updates (hopefully the next one in a couple weeks), you’re supporting us anyway as my income will be supporting both of us in the coming months during Will’s chemo treatment.

Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who has purchased something, tweeted, re-posted and shared on facebook this fundraiser. We’re in a daze of amazement and there aren’t enough words in the world to say thank you. I asked Will if he would do a guest post here soon because I feel like all of this has been from my perspective, and I think that will be really good to hear from the person this is effecting most.

ps. if you have ordered a print, it’s going to take me a bit longer than I thought to get these out, so I apologize if it takes me a week or so to do so! I have more supplies coming and hope it’s not too long of a wait. I would rather keep the shop open and back-order prints then close it til I catch up.