Hi!
xxx,
Katalina
Post CommentTechnology
(image via Fashion Gone Rogue)
It’s true. I care about the environment and climate change, so much so that I have dedicated my career to it. While the blogging world can sometimes seem very materialistic and just another outlet that is feeding into a consumer mentality, I think it is also important to recognize that every blogger has multidimensional interests that you might not fully get to see through their blog. I know that I struggle with this. I love to feature pretty things and pretty outfits, but how do I balance that with the true concern I have for the future of the world? I also like to keep my posts pretty up beat and positive, so how do I do that with a topic that is often doom and gloom?
If you think I am now going to answer those questions, I am sorry to disappoint, but I can’t. I don’t have the answers and I am trying to figure out a healthy balance myself. I know that I am trying to do my small part to make the world a better place, but I also recognize that I am just one person. Maybe I could be doing more? Actually, I know I could be doing more, and I am trying to.
Here are some of the ways I am trying to strike that balance in the blog and in my personal life:
1) Thrifting: I am a huge believer in recycled clothing and refurbished furniture. You can find incredible and unique pieces at often wallet friendly prices and you are not feeding into the horrible sweatshop system that you often hear about. I am definitely not sweatshop free by any means. I am far from that, but I am trying to be more supportive of systems that respect its workers and the environment around them. Some of my favorite stores in the city are Treasury and Goodwood for reused and stylish goods. I also love the girls of Ginger Root who take thrifted pieces and put their own stylish spin on it.
2) Buy local: Sam and I are huge supporters of Arganica. I talked about Arganica in this post, but all the food comes from local farms and vendors and is delivered straight to your door (do not think CSA). We are not only cutting down on our carbon footprint with our food miles, but we are supporting the local economy.
3) Beauty Regime: I love MAC. Love, love, love, love. Not only is their makeup great, but did you know if you return six of your old make up containers (foundations, powders, mascara, lipstick, etc) they will give you a MAC lipstick of your choice…free! It is called their Back To MAC Program. I can fully support any company that is incentivizing recycling of their packaging!
Like I said, I am trying to do my part, but I know I could do better. Writing this post made me realize that in my style boards I could be featuring a lot more fair trade and beautifully thrifted and curated items, that come from companies who are trying to do more than just make profit and satisfy the bottom line. I can feature more companies that truly believe in a better world and making a positive impact. It may take more time and effort, but it is definitely possible. So dear friends, expect to see more men shoes from here and clothing items from here.
In the mean time check out other bloggers who are dishing their confessions today over at Apollinas, High Fashion 4 Less, and Rosa Loves DC.
xxx,
Katalina
*Blogger Confessions is a new series that a few bloggers in the DC area have decided to participate in. It hopes to capture the multifacted lives that many bloggers live in, but sometimes is not highlighted in our blogs. In short we are trying to go beyond the pretty pink shoes and share a side of us that you often don’t see, and we do not want to start a whole new blog to share!
Post CommentLike many followers of TheYouFinder, I am a member of Facebook. My news feed has been blowing up all day with people mentioning the acronyms SOPA and PIPA. No, these are not a Salvadoran soup of the day or a famous sister-in-law. They are the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act (SOPA originates in the House, PIPA in the Senate). They are bills with the stated purpose of protecting intellectual property online. In reality, the bills could muzzle freedom of speech with little cause or oversight and change the nature of the world wide webz. TheYouFinder opposes SOPA and PIPA and hopes you do as well.
The noble purpose of protecting original content is an important one. Artists and innovators are often robbed of royalties and profits because of rogue websites, often based overseas and outside the jurisdiction of US courts. Companies and individuals whose work is stolen should be able to have some sort of legal recourse. Dammit, this is America! If we can’t help people make money, what kind of country is this?
Unfortunately, the lead sponsor of SOPA (HR 3261), Rep. Lamar Smith, took this good idea and made it draconian and constitutionally suspect. Instead of providing checks and balances, any individual or group can claim that a site is directing users to a site providing pirated material. Without providing proof of injury or any other type of evidence that would hold up in court, the government can direct service providers to cut off service, or even have a search engine like Google remove a site from its search results. Remember, all these supposed remedies take place before anything is proven in court.
This legislative battle has put two California dominated industries, technology companies and music and movie studios, on different sides of the battle. On the tech side, big websites launched a protest on January 18th to try to call awareness to these bills. Google put a symbolic black box over its doodle, Wikipedia blocked all access for a 24-hour period and other sites came up with creative ways to show their opposition. On the media side, the US Chamber of Commerce, backed by other industry groups, has poured on the condescension for what they say is the equivalent of whining kids. Former Sen. Chris Dodd, now the head of the MPAA, said on MSNBC, “I’ve got young children, and when they get upset, they scream or they hold their breath. And this is sort of what this amounts [to].”
Luckily, the tech awareness campaign seems to be paying off and the fear-mongering of supporters is failing. Politicians from both parties that had said they were apt to support it have started to pull their support. Leading Tea Party supporter Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and left-leaning Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey both declared their opposition on January 18th. Both right leaning bloggers, like Red State’s Erick Erickson, and left-wing net roots, like Markos Moulitsas, oppose the bills, creating momentum from both the right and left. Much praise should be laid at the feet of Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who has been leading opposition to the bill for the last several months. Wyden plans to filibuster the vote on PIPA in the Senate when the chamber holds its vote on January 24th.
We hope he succeeds. The Internet is a vibrant, dynamic forum for the exchange of ideas. The huge productivity boom the economy enjoyed in the last couple decades is a direct result of this freedom of expression and information sharing. Pressure must be put on politicians to vote against SOPA and PIPA and stop the possibility of censorship on the web.
Click here to sign a petition against the bills and click here to see about individual members of the House and Senate. Make your voice heard and Say NO to SOPA and PIPA!
Love,
James
To learn more about TYF contributor James click here.
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(via Los Angeles Times)
Famous people having babies always makes for big news. Really famous people having really famous babies makes for really big news. When Beyoncé Knowles showed her baby bump sired by Jay-Z (nee Sean Carter) at the MTV VMAs back in September, it was the biggest news of the show. This week’s announcement of the birth of said child, Blue Ivy Carter, was heralded as the coming of pop culture royalty. (Blue-Siri rivalry, anyone?)
First, Jay made a song for little Blue. Isn’t that precious?
And yes, everyone, that song is on the Billboard charts.
As for news surrounding the birth, it seems other patients at New York’s Lenox Hill hospital complained that they were treated inhumanely to make adjustments for Jay and Beyoncé’s privacy. The chutzpah of someone complaining about not being treated as well as the king and queen of hip hop is staggering, but considering we are talking about New York City, I can’t say I’m surprised. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Investment Banker making a couple mil a year: NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU. Go back to the Upper East Side and STFU.
That’s the surface tabloid fodder. Underneath the story, one can’t help but wonder about a person important in Jay’s life: Kanye West. Y’all know Watch the Throne, one of the hottest albums of 2011, a collaboration between Ye and Jay. I was lucky enough to see the tour at the Verizon Center in DC, and I couldn’t help but be struck by the admiration Kanye has for Jay. As true Louis Vuitton Don fans know, the last song on College Dropout features Kanye telling the listener that Jay started his career. We are talking about some serious history here.
(via Colonial Goods)
So what does Kanye think about all this baby mama drama? Blue will undoubtedly think of Kanye as an uncle, so he is gaining a new celebrity relative. He must know, however, that his best buddy and collaborator is now a serious family man. No more super late studio sessions, twitter battles or fishtailing in modified Bentleys. His best buddy got wifed and kidded up. What’s an extremely rich and talented person to do?
We got our answer last week. In a stunning series of tweets, Kanye announced a new omni-media company called DONDA (after his late mother). In essence, Mr. West proposed to hire hundreds of creative and technical experts tasked with simplifying design and making the attractive affordable. Sounds much like the website I am writing for, doesn’t it?
Will it succeed? It is too early to tell now, but I will never EVER say Kanye West can’t do something. He’s got the dough and he’s got the talent, but time will tell if he can put it together. I will point the readers to another recent story about Kanye’s ex-GF, model and Smirnoff Whip Cream Vodka spokeslady Amber Rose. She said in an interview on MTV, through tears, that Kanye’s fans had insulted her and thrown things at her in public because of their breakup and her subsequent relationship with Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa. It seems that Kanye inspires great passion and loyalty among his followers, much like the late, great Steve Jobs.
Let’s be clear: I am not saying Kanye will be able to do anything close to what Jobs did in his life. But if I believed someone could do something close, I would pick Kanye (or possibly Pharrell). I mean, who else could get called a jackass by the president on TV and go on to make two of the best albums of the last two years?
That’s called staying power, my friends. Long live Kanye West and Blue Ivy Carter.
Yours Forever,
James
To learn more about TYF contributor James click here.
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Greetings from the INCREDIBLE Tulum, Mexico! As a heads up, posts may be infrequent this week since most of us are on vacation and taking time to rest up for what is to be a very very busy and eventful year. That being said, I know that this is an important week of reflection for a lot of us, as we begin to think through our New Years resolutions, so this week I would like to provide some links to sources that you may find useful as you begin to hash out what you would like to accomplish in 2012.
Though 2011 has been pretty darn incredible, I am still excited to think through and write out what I hope to accomplish professionally, academically, personally, and with the blog this next year. Being a full time professional, part time student, avid blogger, and full time wife/daughter/sister/friend I have a lot that I hope to achieve. Some of my goals are more tangible then others and some are just about being more thoughtful in my daily actions. For example, professionally I want to read certain books on successful and inspiring leadership as I push forward with my career. Personally, I know that sometimes I have this habit of trying to articulate thoughts that are going through my head at 100 mph. What happens is that a lot of jumbled thoughts come out at once and I am not as clear as I would hope to be, and in turn I can get frustrated pretty easily. So one of my personal goals this year is to slow down and to better express myself despite the speed of my brain waves. Pretty simple, and I am not sure if I can really track this, but nonetheless it is something I hope I am better at in 2012.
One tool that I am pretty excited to try out as I move forward with all these goals is an app for the Ipad called UNSTUCK.
This video and the name says it all, but in short it is an app that helps you critically work through life decisions or problems that you are confronting by walking you through a series of questions which ends in a diagnosis and a list full of suggestions to help you move forward.
The team behind this, SYPartners, has worked with Starbucks, IBM, Facebook, Target, Ann Inc., GE, and lots of other iconic companies during serious times of transformation.
Seems pretty cool huh?
I would love it if you all shared some of your New Years resolutions with me and any tips on what you might be using or doing to help you accomplish your goals!
xxx,
Katalina
To learn more about Katalina click here.
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(image via Erstwhile Jewelry Co.)
It is the eve before Christmas eve and we wanted to leave you with some fun and informative links to carry you out through the holidays.
If you are gearing up for your review at work check out this article for some helpful tips on how to prepare.
This is pretty much the cutest video of a four year old with some shenanigans up her sleeve.
Free music from Lykke Li, The Lost Sessions!
Have you re-read Shel Silverstein poems as an adult? It is like reading a whole new poem. Blue has a whole new meaning in the poem Masks.
Cookie butter from Trader Joe’s might be the best invention EVER.
The perfect black boots.
Love,
The TYF Crew
Post CommentMy first post for this blog was as a guest almost a year ago. Kata asked me to write a gift guide for women on Valentine’s Day that didn’t know what to buy for a man they had been dating for a short period of time. Since I excel at dating women for a short period of time, the post came naturally to me. I avoided naming specific gifts and instead focused on two overarching principles: Show him you know what he likes and don’t scare him away. A V-Day gift is special because it is supposed to be romantic. Christmas, on the other hand, is all about pure American materialism. Thus, I am going to throw out some small, medium and big ticket items that have struck my fancy this winter and a link where they can be bought. To the gifts!
Stocking Stuffers
Staying Fresh Aid – Gentlemen like to remain neat and clean, especially on their cuffs and collars. Leave it to the English to invent a classy alternative to the Tide pen. The Laundress Wash and Stain bars are easy to use for spot cleaning and can be used on trips for quick stain removal. ($6)
Hood Coloring Book – Sometimes you want to see what Slick Rick would look like with a robin’s egg blue eye patch. Sometimes you want to memorialize Big L, 2Pac or Biggie Smalls. And sometimes you want to make up a crazy plaid to put on Andre 3000′s lapels. This cheap and awesome coloring book by Aye Jay is a must for that special hip hop lover in your life. ($9)
Rugged Booze Transporter – Don’t listen to your dirtbag little cousin: No one wants to carry around or drink booze out of a ziplock bag. I don’t care if you can put in between your cheeks when going through security and drink for cheap at the Lady Antebellum concert. This flask by Stanley is high quality stainless steel that looks awesome and carries just enough booze (8 oz.) to make sure you don’t lose your buzz or your cool. ($20)
Mid-Range Gifts
Proper Dress Shirts – As documented exquisitely by TheYouFinder’s Katalina, there is a conspicuous need for many gentlemen to wear appropriately fitting shirts for work and play. The average American man is fat, so men’s shirts are generally made for fat men. As a non-fat man, I settle for “fitted” and “slim cut” dress shirts often, but there is nothing like a personally tailored shirt. Hugh and Crye make excellent shirts and they are of a reasonable price. Spend a little extra to make him look like a million (or at least a thousand) bucks. ($85-$115)
Woody Apple Products – My coworker Kaitlin was sooooooooo excited when the iPhone 4S came out she had already purchased the carrying case. Her’s is a cute Kate Spade polka dotted affair, and it is appropriate for a lady. A gentleman, on the other hand, needs to project rugged individualism and a sense of style. These wooden iPhone, iPad and MacBook cases by Root Cases have clean lines, different wood grains and a look you don’t find on many city dwellers. ($59-$99)
Animal-Based Wall Hangings – Often, home decor that is a throwback to an earlier era makes a room look more homey and fun. In my bedroom, I have my hats hanging on a clothesline with clothespins. You know, a little tenement-housing-in-the-lower-east-side-turn-of-the-century thing. These antlers from antler & co. come with supplies to mount them on drywall: Hang ties, necklaces, lightweight hoodies, whatever seems right. Nothing like a little Americana to make a room pop. ($50-$130)
Fancy Pants Big Ass Presents
Big Old Box Sets – Television is generally a world of talent competitions featuring untalented people, reality shows featuring unreal people and sports. However, there are some excellent shows no longer on the air that can take up months of cold winter evenings snuggled up with a significant other or, if you want, a full-size body pillow. We have all had times, like James Franco, when we’ve been there, so no judgments. The Sopranos and The Wire are two of the best dramas to ever grace the boob tube and would be a great gift for any story lover. For the more adventurous, Lost is an excellent show that will keep you saying “WHAT THE F–K?!?!!?” for the entirety of the series. If you’re going to watch TV, do it without ads and don’t wait for next week. ($100-$200)
Unique Globe – A map is a great cultured conversation piece and people love to have them around. The ubiquity of Ork posters in the homes of young urbanites is testament to cartographical interest. This globe by Michele Varian has the outlines of the continents painted on matte metal and it can be drawn on with chalk. Thus, one can shape their world to their own geopolitical fancy, reality be damned. I would make Canada part of America (it’s our hat, after all) and reincorporate the village from where my great-grandparents were forced into Armenia proper. Take that, Turkish nationalists! ($450)
Ultimate Old Fashioned Accessory - I have a soft spot for classic cocktails, especially the old fashioned, the quintessential gentleman’s beverage. At some upscale speakeasies, the bartenders extract well-formed pieces of ice from giants blocks so they melt slowly in the cocktail for the ideal drinking experience. The folks at Drinksology have cut out the middleman with their Ice Ball Maker. This machine creates a perfect sphere of ice to fit inside an old fashioned glass. They even have a video of it in action! Yes, it’s messy, wasteful, decadent and cumbersome. But if you’re rich, who gives a s–t? (£595)
So there you have it, a few gift ideas from your old pal James. There are so many more things out there to show you care so don’t feel hemmed in by lists or society’s standards. Be creative, be thoughtful and have fun! It’s the American pastime, after all.
James
To learn more about James click here!
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(image by Ernesto Bazan)
It’s FRIDAY! As always here are a few links from around the web to peruse during your down time.
A new and RAD lifestyle magazine, Citizen New York, featuring all the hustlers out there (and their culture and success). This bad boy is only available as a download on your iPad.
Pretty, pretty, braid.
How to lose $2362 (Canon 5D Mark II) in 20 seconds. This literally hurts just watching it.
How do you define family? We could all learn a lot from Zach Wahls.
Epic Map: Pizza vs. Gun vs. Strippers.
And get ready. Next week we are coming out with some sexy gift guides. Super sexy.
Love,
The TYF Crew
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(image by Kamala Kannan via National Geographic)
Some sweet derby kicks.
Apollina baked a GORGEOUS cake for Glitter Guide and Golden Mini Pumpkin Pies for Coco + Kelley!
This should be mandatory at every dinner with friends and family.
Woah, trippy.
Super cute idea for anyone pregnant out there.
Haha, how many of you have come home to this guilty face?
Yesssss…. the cutest shell in the world is back!
Love,
TYF Crew
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The passing of Steve Jobs last night marked the far-too-early departure of a technology pioneer. Jobs founded Apple in a garage and grew the company to be one of the most valuable and recognizable in the world. I won’t belabor over the details of his life, but here are five attributes that Jobs personified:
Innovative – Did you have an MP3 player before the iPod came out? I thought not. Jobs created a market that by making digital music players easy to use. He killed big box music stores by making the Apple Store the best place to buy music. And most recently, the iPhone has made it social suicide to not have a smart phone. I know this personally: I get so much crap for having a flip phone that even my mom questioned my tech chops. If she asks me for an iPad for Christmas this year, I will politely decline and then ask her for one. I need my dancehall horn and drum machine apps!
Design-oriented – While personal computing had been a growth industry throughout the 80s and 90s, Jobs saw a window for a computer that was user-friendly and fun. I remember seeing iMacs in my elementary school computer lab and being shocked by the vibrant colors. The PC towers looked boring and passe in comparison. When I got a new computer after mine was rudely stolen from my house in college, there was no debate – I was getting a MacBook. One thing we all know about Apple products is that they are PRETTY – MacBooks and iPods of all stripes make people take a second look.
Powerful – While perhaps lacking the technical power of the latest souped up PC, Apple products always seem to do what you want them to do. I still see people in coffee shops with a crappy-looking MacBook from their freshman year in college that they bought eight years ago. What do people use to edit video and music? Those huge G5 towers that can seemingly turn cell phone video into works of art. The power and simplicity is due to the simple design, lack of third party add-ons, and uniformity of the product. By my quick (read: uninformed) estimation, PCs are approximately eighty times more likely to contract viruses. iPhones break because people drop them into toilets or break the smooth touchscreen, not because of hardware malfunction.
Personable – The first computer I played a game on was an Macintosh II. The game was called Reading Rabbit and it was easy to play and I got so excited when the sound of the II booted up. The iPods that incorporate the smooth-functioning touch screen made every tech company want to emulate that because people inherently understood how to use it and loved being able to flick through their playlists. The personality of the Apple brand has created a brand loyalty unlike anything in the modern world, except for possibly cigarette smokers. Everyone knows an Apple freak that reads Mac blogs five times a day and buys every day. Someone like this.
Cool – Young people use Apple products. Young users beget ever more young users. Those iPad ads love to show kids doing math problems and playing angry birds. It’s like Ronald McDonald but with less hypertension and diabetes. People want the newest Apple product because it will make people look at them, make people want to know what they are thinking. The ephemeral characteristic of “cool” is hard to define. It is amazing that a rail-thin nerd in a black turtleneck could create coolness seemingly out of thin air, but that was Jobs’s best attribute: he made trend-setters want Apple products.
I am not a tech wonk but I know enough about our modern world to know that Jobs was a titanic force for change and modernity. He was also an inspiration to millions. I will leave you with a quote and video from his famous Stanford commencement speech from 2005. It’s required watching for anyone that has faced doubt and insecurity in life. RIP Steve Jobs.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
James
To learn more about James click here.
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