The weekend before last I had a very, very last minute photoshoot for a girl who I did her pregnancy pictures! She literally texted me at about 9:00 on a Friday night and early the next morning we were shooting. Her pregnancy shoot was actually my very first photoshoot! It's kind of cool to be a part of recording many stages of someone's life! I wish I had had a little bit more time to plan it but it turned out well. I was excited to finally check out a particular garden in my town that is gorgeous. I'm also doing her party invitations too! Happy 1st birthday to little Carmella!

 Also this week I have a pretty huge surprise to share. =) I know the anticipation is just killing you. *sarcasm haha

Happy Monday all! Kat

I'm a huge reader when I have the time. And even when I don't have the time I will put everything else off and make time to get lost in a good book. Most summers we spend a lot of time at the library. Unfortunately this is the first year that I've had a 9-5 kind of job so unless we go Saturday afternoons, we don't go at all.

Enter my fantastic Kindle Fire. Since I acquired this baby I've used it like crazy. Because let's face it, who wants to (get out of their PJs/Shower/Get Decent) go find a book store and hunt down what you are looking for when you can have it NOW. I do love going to book stores, don't get me wrong. I love the peace and quiet and the idea of stumbling upon an incredible book. But with an almost 6 year old it just doesn't happen that often anymore.

Here's what I've been reading and loving lately:





I own hardback copies of over half of these books. But I love them so much that I also wanted a kindle version so that I could easily have access to them whenever I need some blog inspiration or freelance ideas/motivation.

1. Creative Inc

This book is all about pushing you to do what you love and how to grow your business. With a degree in the advertising field I can easily say that this teaches you a lot about how to market yourself and succeed. I get so excited reading and RE-reading these books when I'm starting a new project or in a creative slump.

2. How To Blog For Profit Without Selling Your Soul

If you are a blogger, and chances are that you ARE, this blog is golden. I bought it a few weeks ago when I began thinking about monetizing my blog. It helps you define the line of making a profit from your blog without turning into a complete sell out or losing what makes your blog so special. If you are thinking about selling ads or monetizing your blog or you already do this is a very good read.

3. My So Called Freelance Life

Another book that has been a big influence and guide in the past few years of my freelance journey. With everything from how to quit your day job and market yourself to dealing with finances and bad clients, this book gives you the down and dirty and all of the good of being a freelancer. This has also been a huge help with my blog.

4 & 5. Grow Your Handmade Business & The Handmade Marketplace

If you sell crafts or own your own business online or in retail you NEED to read both of these books by Kari Chapin. Both of these books are basically my business/creative bibles. I've read them both cover to cover several times and am constantly referring back to them for adverting ideas. I can really relate to the authors point of view and I enjoy her writing style. She seems like someone I could easily be friends with. I love her so much I joined her mailing and have taken a few of her courses/workshops.

6. The Anti 9 To 5 Guide 

This book played a HUGE part in my planning and preparation to starting my own business. Before I took the leap to quitting my last job this book and I were BFFs. It's full of all kinds of great advice to help you plan financially and sell yourself as a business. The author's idea is to help you "escape the cube" or job that you hate and follow your dreams, but being smart while you do it.

7, 8 & 9. The Marie Antoinette Series by Juliet Grey

Oh my goodness. I'm a sucker for anything that is a period piece or historical fiction. This book fills all of those places for me and then some. I've always loved Marie Antoinette and been interested in her life. These books show the side of France & Austria that we wouldn't have imagined. Her INCREDIBLE attention to detail and descriptive writing literally sucks you in. I'm on the second book currently and will be really sad when I finish the series. If you love historical drama this is a must read.

10. The Fault In Our Stars

Last but not least. I haven't started reading this YET but I did go see the movie last week. And yes I cried like every other person with a Y chromosome. It was GOOD. So I'm going to take a crack at reading the book because, of course, books are always better than the movies.


What are you reading?! I'm always looking for new reads!

This past weekend was quite eventful! Saturday morning I had a very last minute morning photoshoot with a little cutie that I can't wait to share. While we were waiting for the cute clients to get there my son (aka my enthusiastic new assistant! haha) and I decided to experiment with bubbles and pictures. It was pretty fun.



Later on that evening I went to the Pegasus Music Festival at Nokie Theater in Grand Prairie, TX with my friend Jenn. There were a lot of great bands playing as well as a beer garden.  I met a lot of cool folks as well. I was most excited to see the Cold War Kids and Brand New though! The Cold War Kids were awesome!  It was a lot of fun. I was definitely disappointed for Brand New though. I've waited 10 years to see them and they didn't play any of their older songs. I was so sad. 15 year old emo me was very very disappointed. It was a great show nonetheless.

Sunday was mostly spent with family and lazy movie watching. Conrad watched Milo & Otis for the first time and was so into to. He nearly cried when the cat started drifting down the river and was so happy when Milo & Otis were reunited he was jumping up and down. What a great movie.

How was your weekend?

Kat

 P.S. Do you love Toms shoes as much as I do? They have a great promo going on now for summer!
 $5 off any $25 TOMS branded purchase with code SUMMER15 at checkout! Valid 5/1-8/31.

No lie, I sat down and read through Bethany's ENTIRE blog, Love Grows Design yesterday.  This may or may not have started at work *cough* but I was so overwhelmed and inspired by every single thing she posted about blogging, working as a freelance designer, personal struggles and creativity. I had to share.

 It's so wonderful to come across blogs that remind you that not only are you NOT alone in this crazy freelance design world, but also to help encourage you, inspire you and help you to think outside of the box with your business and yourself. I love coming across bloggers who I feel like we've been friends for years even though I've never actually met them. I cannot stress it enough, check out her blog!


In particular, she wrote a post inspired by another blogger and this tweet by Kara Haupt:  

What would 16 year old me think about me today.  I felt very motivated to let that stew in my noggin for a while.  And I came to this conclusion.

16 year old me was a day dreaming punk rocker who spent the majority of her time doodling in art class, at theatre rehearsals or playing drums in the band she was in. She planned to attend art school at a liberal school in a liberal city and make lots of liberal friends. She was creative and had dreams of traveling the world with her also punk rocker boyfriend and doing the starving artist/designer thing. I wanted to change the world through my art. I've always known that I wanted to be a designer.

What would that girl say about me? I never planned to work in an office all day or get married young and have a child and then get divorced all before my 25th birthday. That's for sure. But I think she would be very proud of where I am today. She'd say that I've worked hard and pushed myself to be different. She'd be very impressed with how business savvy I am and how I can tackle a client meeting without even having a panic attack. She'd probably yell at me for not traveling more though. And also for eating so many Hershey's Hugs. She'd definitely tell me to have more fun and spend less time worrying about the little things.

Sometimes you really just need to cut yourself a break and give yourself credit for how great you really are and for what you've accomplished. Because we are all pretty awesome in our own way. We should never forget that. My life didn't go how I thought it would, but there truly is a reason for everything. All the decisions, mistakes and events that occurred led me to exactly where I need to be. With a wonderful man, with a pretty cool kid that I adore and creating my dream business. 16 year old "US" obviously had a lot of growing up and real world experiencing to do, but her dreams and passions were very real.

So… what would your 16 year old self say about you today? Please share your thoughts!



Kat

 So... I've mentioned in the past that I play soccer or football, depending on where you're from. I probably haven't mentioned though how obsessed we actually are at my house. So of course now that it's FIFA World Cup time we are extra excited.  I'm not going for any team in particular ( even though I'm a die hard Spain fan) but I do have a little wager with my boyfriend that Germany will win. We'll see. So far, it's already been very unpredictable. If there's anything that I've learned about the world in the past, it's that ANYTHING can happen.

So when I came across these awesome team shirts and tanks from Forever 21 I was very stoked.  The actual jerseys are always so expensive, not to mention baggy and unflattering. These are a good alternative way to show your team spirit. Who are you rooting for?

Kat

Happy Friday! I'm a busy little bee today and this weekend but in the back of my mind I'm dreaming of summer adventures, mountains, deserts and the beach.

Also, I'm offering free shipping on orders over $20 in my vintage etsy shop! Use code "shipme14" . 


Happy weekend!

Kat

I'm on a mission for some pretty, original prints to fill my house. So naturally I started adventuring through my favorite stores and Etsy. I couldn't think of a better way to support my fellow creatives and etsyites. Here are a few of my favorites I've come across. Check out their shops and show them some love!

I'm definitely no interior designer, but I think when you start picking out art and decor that it is important to choose things that speak to you and your home personally and stay away from the trendiness. You want things that you can grow with, even if you don't plan on keeping them around forever.  When it comes to decor I lean towards pretty textures, patterns and the industrial/vintage look. I'm a big fan of crazy color combos also.  My boyfriend is very traditional. While our personal tastes are complete opposites, he usually goes with what I like once he sees how something looks in a room. If we are looking at it in the store or online he completely hates everything I like haha.

When I started looking for art to hang I knew immediately that a cool movie poster was a must have. We are HUUUUUUUUGE movie watchers (especially foreign films or movies in Spanish since that is my boyfriend's first language) at my house, so I wanted to find one that was something we both love but that was really cool visually. I'm considering this one for The Science of Sleep (if you've never seen it, watch it!) or these Wes Anderson inspired prints. What do you think?

I don't get to travel as much as I'd like, but I've known for a while that I wanted a map of a cool place. After returning from my trip to New Orleans last month, I knew that I wanted a map of the city somewhere in my house. These map prints from Jazzberryblue are super cool maps of the city. I may have to snag one of Dallas too from Art House Graffiti!

I'm completely in love with these typographical quote prints by Hey There.  Especially after seeing these Jane Austen, Princess Bride and adventure quotes. They may have been made just for me. And you can't go wrong with a witty conversation starter. I've been looking for something fun and food related for my kitchen. This Thyme To Turnip The Beet print from Happy Letter Shop nailed it on the head I think.

What do you look for in art and prints?

After randomly watching a "globe of death" demo at a local motorsports shop, we wound up getting free tickets to check out the Night Of The Freaks show by the X-Metal Riders in Greenville, Texas. It was particularly cool because one of the riders, Bryan McCarthy, was a pro sponsored by Metal Mulisha.  It was the first time Conrad and I had gone to anything like this. (Conrad had been to the drag races 2 years ago and cried the whole time because of the noise. ) We ended up meeting with one of Conrad's friends from school and we had a blast.

Of course I'm always excited for an opportunity for Conrad to get excited and for me to get to take photos. Taking photos at night is always super tricky. I've still got a lot of work to do when it comes to learning how to shoot photos at night.  It was exciting to meet all the riders and see their bikes up close.  If you ever get a chance to see these guys please do! They are great! Not to mention they are all super nice guys.

Show them some love on Facebook!  or check out when their next show is!


Kat