Tastemaker (& Booty Shaker) Faith Blakeney

Happy Friday night, friends! Whether you’re at home on the couch cozy-style kickin’ it (like me) or out-on-the-town shakin’ it, don’t miss the chance to wake up tomorrow morning to a treasure trove of goodies while you sip your morning coffee. Yep, tomorrow my BFF and HUSTLE FILE #63 Faith Blakeney curates a limited-time sale of her select finds on One Kings Lane. Check the details below and hop on over to Call Me Faith Design Studio, too. She’s got mad style y’all. So, don’t miss this.

Brava, Faith! And shout out to Faith’s sis (also my BFF) Justina Blakeney for letting me swipe this image from her blog. It’s a family affair!

Wishing you a beautiful weekend filled with beautiful things.
Much love,
S

HUSTLE FILE #92: Gia Bahm

NAME: Gia Bahm

OCCUPATION: Designer/Creator of Unearthen

LOCATION: Los Angeles

WHAT’S YOUR HUSTLE: Maker of keepsakes

WHAT DOES YOUR HUSTLE MEAN TO YOU: I get to work with my hands.

IF YOU COULD HAVE ONLY THREE TOOLS FOR YOUR HUSTLE, WHAT WOULD THEY BE: Brains, imagination and bravery.

A WORD OF ADVICE TO WANNABE HUSTLERS IN YOUR FIELD: Pay attention to what inspires you and see what it leads to.

unearthen.com

on instagram @unearthen_jewelry

Torrential & Tropical in Taipei

Whoooo!!! We made it to Taipei, Taiwan. We arrived to a tropical and humid night, scooters buzzing up and down the city streets. Instead of stinky tofu at the night markets though (a real delicacy that stinks up the whole street), we opted for chips and salsa and boba iced tea.



Today we woke to torrential rains worthy of typhoons and tsunamis! So we got rain ponchos and headed back to the chips and salsa spot for more yummies! Yep, Mexican food and margaritas in Taipei, baby! So funny.

And guess who the one in the light blue poncho is? None other than theeee Sarah B, my bestie and old roomie from LA who’s been living in Southeast Asia for a year and is now teaching English and yoga here in Taiwan. She even has a resident card! So rad.


I was so happy to see her, we just had to celebrate with margaritas and nachos!

Then, our posse headed back out into the rain to play in our ponchos some more…

Yeah, one big happy bunch, tripping out in Taipei!

Now all we need are scooters to get around in our new Mexican-Taiwanese biker gang. And Sarah B already has a scooter. She got hers a month ago. She’s so cool.

Signing off from Scooterlandia (where the food’s so strange, we’re sticking to Mexican),
s

Lost in Fascination (with Beer Posters)

Some of my favorite graphics I’ve spotted popping in and out of hidden, hole-in-the-wall Japanese restaurants over the last week are all of the beer posters. Here’s a collection of a few favorites…





Even if you don’t drink, there are tons of alcohol-free flavors and brands to chose from! So, yeah, cheers to that!

Signing off with love from Tokyo,
s

Lost in Fascination (with Stationery)

Ahhh Tokyo… the land of hot sake and lots of way-too-cute stationary! As a writer, I get most excited about shopping around and seeing all of the cool notebooks, pens, stationery, stickers and paper goods. From overly ornate to simple, sleek and modern, Tokyo has it all. Tokyu Hands, iSetan and Muji have been a few of my favorite spots to indulge in everything a writer dreams of…








Okay, now it’s time to write in all these notebooks I got!
Signing off with love from Tokyo,
s

Lost in Fascination (with Our Engagement!!!)

Okay, internet friends, far and wide!!! I’ve got some BIG NEWS for you!!!

The dude I’ve been very in love with and very obsessed with since the day we met and he asked me for my phone number almost seven years ago (the one-and-only Mr. Randy Randall) asked me to… (drumroll, please)… asked ME to MARRY HIM yesterday!!! Yes!!! We were at Tokyo Disneyland and it was ridiculous and magical and mind-blowing and pretty much the coolest thing!!! The ring is so sweet and since I can’t stop looking at, I thought I’d share some of my fave photos of us (and the ring, of course) at Tokyo Disneyland. It was a serious photo shoot all day, but here are few silly ones!

My ring with french fries!

My ring with a churro!

My ring about to ride Peter Pan’s Flight!

My ring with Randy and some Japanese girls with Minnie ears!

My ring with the salad we had for lunch!

My ring close up!

My ring from the top of the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse!

And the grand finale, us in front of the castle at night where it all happened earlier that day! Whooooooo!!! Stoked!

Hope you enjoyed sharing in our magical day. And remember..
When you wish upon a star, Makes no difference who you are, Anything your heart desires, Will come to you.

If your heart is in your dream, No request is too extreme, When you wish upon a star, As dreamers do.

Fate is kind, She brings to those who love, The sweet fulfillment of, Their secret longing.

Like a bolt out of the blue, Fate steps in and sees you through, When you wish upon a star, Your dreams come true.

Lost in Fascination (with Cherry Blossoms)

Whoooooo!!! Greetings from springtime in Tokyo, where everything is pink! Well, maybe not everything… but ’tis the season when all the cherry blossoms are in bloom and it’s kind of rainy and windy so the blossoms are blowing everywhere like snowflakes in the air and on the ground. Such a trip!

On Sunday, we caught one of the last official days of “hanami” parties in Harajuku’s Yoyogi Park where thousands of people were out picnic-ing under the blossoms! So fun.

And all you do is cruise around the park with friends…

And take pretty pictures…

And then go look for more place to see the blossoms, like at Kitanomaru Park next to the Imperial Palace grounds in the middle of the city…



And then, you go look for even more places to see blossoms, like at the Hanazono-Jinja, a Shinto shrine in the Shinjuku neighborhood.



Yeah, cherry blossom season is pretty cool! Pretty, pretty springtime to all.
Signing off, so zen-ed out,
s