The next For Me, For You jewelry shop update will be this Sunday, April 1st at 10am PST. A full preview of everything that will be available will be in the shop this coming Friday. Sign up for the newsletter for a reminder on Friday.

Through a series of hilarious and disappointing attempts to film Will’s next project on a rocky beach in Malibu, Saturday morning Will and I and two friends found ourselves in a magical forest off the Pacific Coast Highway in a torrential downpour. It wasn’t our first choice, but the beaches were all closed and we had to make due, yet it turned out perfect. A trickling creek and lush green trees as bright as could be. I loved it for reminding me of home (I can hardly remember a childhood camping trip sans a rainy creek) and for not making Will have a complete heart attack that we drove all the way out there at 7am to have our plans ruined. I’m not sure exactly where we were because I kid you not it was like an I Love Lucy episode of failed turns finding somewhere to just stop and film anything, but I believe we were in Corral Canyon Park. I rigged up a hilarious looking umbrella and waterproof backpack contraption to shoot these photos. Slightly stupid of me and my new camera, but how could I not? Someday I’ll show you photos of what Will was filming.

So if you saw me on Saturday and thought I was a bit tipsy that evening, nope, not the case. Just pushing the limits of sleep and stress! That’s how we do.

A look at some things that will be available at Cosmic Sands this Saturday: Four amazing zines from Will – highlights include a project he’s been working on for years taking photos of posters of women in store windows that have faded to blue in the sunshine and a pretty amazing homage to Wu-Tang, which I think is the most beautiful of the four. I made a special space/beach composite print just for the show and three limited edition space-themed clay necklaces. The zines will range from $5-10, the prints $10, and the necklaces a special show price of $40. Everything will only be sold at the show and is in very limited quantities. Will also has some larger original pieces that I couldn’t photograph and we’re hoping to have DVDs of the film as well.

This is a one-night only event and there will be no gallery hours, but I will be taking tons of photos! We hope to see you there – rain or shine, it’s on.

To interrupt my film photo sharing – I traded/upgraded from my Canon T2i to a 60D as I’ve been really frustrated with my camera on photo shoots lately and feel like I’ve outgrown it. The 60D is definitely a more pro camera (I pine for a 5D, but that’s just not a sensible purchase for me right now!) and even though I’m trying to shoot more film, I’ve had fun shooting a bit with it lately, especially with how expensive of a habit shooting film is and how long I have to wait to get things developed – sadly I can’t always shoot film. I’m shooting a couple weddings this summer that I can’t wait to really put this in action for.

I had to share this last not so interesting photo of my sauerkraut (with brats, natch) in action from the class I took with Jessica! It’s SO good and I basically have enough to last me a year, ha. The pickles are hanging out in the background, too, which are also excellent and going fast.

All photos were taken with a 50mm lens

Confession: I’ve been kind of down lately. Nothing serious, nor is there anything specifically bumming me out, but rather a combination of stupid little things getting to me. I used to be well versed in feeling sorry for myself and one of my markers of success in maturity over the years is my ability to address those feelings head on and not let them wreck me. But sometimes it’s hard because feeling sorry for yourself is so easy. It’s easy to stay in your pajamas all day, it’s easy to ignore your email inbox, it’s easy to crawl back in bed and procrastinate. So yesterday, towards the end of the day, I decided it was time to end this week of blahs. And even though this is a particularly tricky case of ‘em, I have to grab hold of the things I can control in life, and well, control them.

(And I’d like to take a moment here to make sure I’m clear that I’m talking about being in a bad mood, not clinically depressed, which is so very different and you shouldn’t try to just “snap out of it” in that case – asking for help is courageous and admirable.)

Some little things helping me. I’m not dependent on “stuff” helping me feel better, but sometimes little “stuff” does indeed help. Pictured above, a plant I bought myself after a frustrating afternoon. $10 happiness and now our bedroom has a bit of life (why should the living room have all the fun?) note – the lovely calendar is an old Astrology Calendar from Prismatic that is too pretty to toss even though 2011 is long gone.

My Halona glass piece arrived and it’s even more beautiful in person. It casts beautiful rainbows around the room at certain points in the day and makes me smile every time I spot them. Occasionally retail therapy, especially when supporting an artist like this, is a-ok.

Going for a walk, headphones on, pensive music on. For some reason I forgot how much I need to go take a walk every day and my walks have almost stopped happening until I remembered again this week. It’s terribly cliché and makes me feel as if I’m in a Wes Anderson movie, but These Days is my favorite “go for a walk and be alone with my thoughts” song. One of my favorite mixes for chill moods is Miss Moss’s Ships In The Night mix – I still listen to it all the time! Funny since she made it almost exactly a year ago. Is March a pensive month?

Amazing happy-making package from JetPens. When Brad emailed me to see if he could send me some pens, I jumped up and down as I am a Jet Pens groupie or whatever that makes me. Obsessed. My old coworker got me into the site and we’d would order from them all the time, on a quest for the finest tipped pen possible (annoying everyone we wrote a note to) and it has been too long since I bought anything from them. I’m particularly into the Kuretake Zig Cartoonist Mangaka 01 pen. I nearly forgot how pens are one of the keys to my happiness. I know, I’m a simple girl.

Other things: two unexpected hand written thank you notes, warm enough weather to have the windows wide open, dropping off two rolls of film to be developed (something to look forward to), Will’s beard being back in action, brats with my homemade sauerkraut that’s finally ready, Tuesday work days with Lisa and Jessica at my apartment.

There are still necklaces in the shop, ready to be loved, so I thought I’d take some better photos of them as I know it can be hard to visualize what they look like on. A few of them even got a price drop, how about them apples? Click the photos to be taken to the necklace page in the shop!

Side note: the shirt in the photos was a little DIY – I’m kind of obsessed with taking shirts that get weird stains on them and spraying bleach cleaner all over them for a space-like effect. Just spray, wait a minute or two (less time for synthetics, like no time at all or it will eat holes in it!), rinse with a bit of soap, dry.

Do you remember ages and ages ago when we filmed a space man short on the beach? Well, the time has come for the world to see it, and we’d love if you would join us at Elephant in LA to watch it, hang out, plus have the opportunity to get your paws on some very limited edition and specially priced space-themed necklaces and prints of mine, plus some amazing zines that Will has been working on for a while now. I’d like to think of it as our official “welcome back to the real world” night, honestly, and we can’t wait to celebrate. Even if you’re a total stranger and have never said hello and want to come, we’d love to meet you. Elephant has a very cool backyard so I’m confident that it will be a great night of friends and art.

Formal details:

Please join us on March 17^th for a showing of William Steinman’s new short video work, Cosmic Sands. This science fiction film is about a lowly space pirate and his ultimate encounter with a vegetable antihero.

There will also be three never before released zines available by William Steinman, a limited edition run of space inspired necklaces and prints by Kate Miss, plus food and beverages and much more!

Written & Directed by William Steinman
Starring Jarrett Scherff
Produced by Kate Miss
Director of Photography Riel Roch Dector

Elephant
3325 division St.
los angeles, ca 90065
March 17th, 7-10pm

Special thanks to Bianca for helping make this happen.

Boy have I been cooking lately. Between our overflowing CSA box and us trying to cut down on eating things that come out of a box at home in an effort to be healthier to get Will back to normal, I have been making so many meals at home and getting creative. My latest love is cauliflower. Historically it has not been my favorite as my only memory of eating cauliflower as a kid was smeared in melted cheese (the only way my family seems to eat vegetables). But these days I love it roasted with a bit of curry powder, blended in a soup, and as of late, mashed. So here are two of my favorite recipes. I only have a photo of the soup as I was too busy stuffing the mashed stuff in my face to take a photo. But it looks mostly like mashed potatoes but less thick. I imagine that if you have kids it might be an excellent way to get them to eat a vegetable that’s healthier than a potato.

Cauliflower and Leek Soup

1 head of cauliflower, chopped
1/2 cup leeks, chopped
1/2 an onion, chopped (any kind works, I used red above which is why that soup looks a bit darker)
a chunk of fennel, chopped (about a 2″ piece) – this is optional, I only use it when I have it on hand
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 cups of stock
1-2 tbsp fresh parsley
2 tbsp ghee, butter, or whatever cooking fat you like to use
2 strips of thick bacon – optional

Melt cooking fat in a large soup pot, add onions, garlic and fennel. Cook until soft, add leeks and cauliflower, stir. Cook for five minutes – the looks should soften up and the cauliflower will have some color to it. Add stock, stir and bring to a boil. Keep at a medium boil until you can press the back of a spoon against a piece of cauliflower and it gives pretty easily. Stir in the parsley and let the soup cool. While it’s cooling, cook your bacon strips if you’ve using it. I like them left a little fattier for this. When they’re done, chop them into small pieces and set aside. Blend the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender. Add bacon and stir.

Mashed Cauliflower
This is pretty simple and the ingredient amounts depends on how much you want to make. Chop the cauliflower and boil or steam it until it’s tender and you can easily push a fork through it. Drain the water and add either ghee, butter, or olive oil. I like to add a bit of minced garlic, sea salt and pepper. The best way to make these is to use an immersion blender, but you could use a regular blender as well. Blend until smooth. Fresh parsley is a great addition if you have it. If you eat meat, this goes really beautifully with pork chops.

A few people have asked me recently on twitter/instagram what ghee is and where they can get it. You can read all the details here and you can buy it at health food stores, or make it at home yourself. Personally I just buy a big thing of it at Whole Foods because it’s not that expensive. I’m crazy about it, as is Heidi Swanson, if you need a better endorsement.

I’ve been getting crafty on a budget lately with some DIYs.

Vintage spoons + paint + leather ties = simple, easy art above my sink.

An old shirt from H&M made new again with fabric dye. The mottled look comes from the fabric not being 100% cotton and the dye not taking to it completely, no fancy moves made to achieve it.

Flea market side dressers (there’s another one on the other side of the bed) sanded, stained and handles replaced (they’re a nice brass but the light was so awful they’re looking silver here). Because y’all are predictable with your questions, the lamp is from West Elm and the bedding is DwellStudio.

A preview of Sunday’s shop update is available now in the shop!

While I’m super excited for the new clay necklaces, I’m particularly jazzed about some of the new ceramic woven necklaces that use these cool jasper beads I got my paws on. Speckled goodness, I tell ya. Also, I made tons of brass drops this time, so never fear if you can’t get to your computer right away Sunday morning.

Also, For Me, For You is Big Cartel’s featured store today, so check out the interview they did with me on their blog! I’m such a huge Big Cartel fan, so I was pretty excited to be asked.

Have a great weekend, everyone!