Reframing a "Mundane Chore" as an Adventure: Visiting a New Grocery Store

March 23, 2025

A couple weeks ago, I stopped by this new Korean supermarket called Kasia on my way home from the shibori food scrap dye workshop I attended. I had seen a post about it on Instagram, and saw that it was only 15 minutes away from where the workshop was being held - so decided to check it out afterwards.

It was huge, and I think I spent over an hour (probably closer to an hour and a half) exploring everything. Right when you walk in, you get to see how they grow their own hydroponic lettuce - which I thought was so cool because I don’t think I’ve ever seen another grocery store do this. They also sell locally grown mushrooms, and I was impressed with how well they labeled their vegan options. Sometimes the experience of being in an unfamiliar grocery store can be overwhelming - so I really appreciated the bright green “vegan” labels they implemented. I feel like most specialty markets don’t do this. I scored a bottle of (vegan) oyster sauce, which I was very excited about!

Creating In Community

March 16, 2025

The last couple weekends have had my creative spirit feeling so completely warm and fuzzy - especially after such a long / cold winter! I can feel myself… defrosting? Don’t get me wrong - winter “hibernation” fosters the creative process too (in a different way).. but there is something about springtime - the warmer weather, the additional sunlight… it feels like an awakening of sorts.

Last Sunday, I ventured down to a sweet little boutique called Wull & Oak in Hopewell (NJ) and learned how to shibori dye with food scraps in a workshop taught by Earthencolor.

New to the Shop: Vintage!

August 1, 2020

My etsy shop has been on the back burner for the last year or so, but I’m finally going to be breathing some new life into it in the coming weeks / months. I started the shop in 2016, and over the last few years it has evolved quite a bit. I started off making motivational t-shirts and pins before diving into my beach plastic line of greeting cards (and t-shirts) - and now, I’m introducing a new venture: vintage!

Kindness Rocks

April 22, 2020

Hi, and happy Earth Day! It’s been a full year since I last wrote in this space. I’ve recently had the urge to start blogging again, but after “falling off the wagon” with it for so long - I haven’t really known quite how to pick it back up again.

A lot has happened in the last year, but I don’t want that to be the focus of this post. In short, I had my first mental breakdown last summer (that involved weeks of panic attacks, hospitalizations, medications, therapy..) and has been followed by months of PTSD / flashbacks / self doubt, etc. To say I felt like I had hit the ultimate rock bottom would be an understatement. Some day, maybe I’ll write more in depth about it all - but for now I’ll leave it at that.

For me, it has been really weird to still be in the process of healing from “fresh” personal trauma while also being faced with the new (global scale) trauma of a pandemic. I’ve just been taking it day by day - and leaning into living slow — and lots of art making.

Today’s post is about the kindness rocks project / movement - which just felt right as a returning blog post topic - all things considered. You can read more about the project on their website if you’ve never heard about it before.

Their mission:

ONE MESSAGE
AT JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT
CAN CHANGE SOMEONE'S ENTIRE DAY, OUTLOOK, LIFE

Beach Plastic Valentine Greeting Cards

February 8, 2019

Happy Friday! Just wanted to drop in quickly today to write an *official post* about the next installment of beach plastic greeting cards that I launched last Friday: Valentine’s Day cards! There’s 8 cards in the series - all hearts comprised of different selections of litter I’ve collected over the last few months. It was a little bit of a different process creating these than the Christmas cards because these required me to sort the trash by color and fit them into a uniform shape. It was kinda like trying to puzzle fit pieces together that didn’t necessarily go together, but overall I’m really happy with how they turned out and generally excited about how this greeting card line as a whole is growing!

2018 In Review / Happy 2019!

December 28, 2018

I can’t believe that this is my FOURTH year writing one of these! And I also can’t believe that 2018 is coming to a close… what a freakin’ roller coaster it was. I started the year off strong - felt really confident for a couple months (wrote a 26 page outline for a book I started to write.. reconnected with some old friends), and then lost steam (again). I went on my first creative retreat (in Montana) and it was really expensive (lol). For the months following that, I questioned whether it was “worth it” and tried to digest all of the feedback I had received on my work. Going into it - I think I was already searching for “what was next” in my life / career. I felt like I had hit a wall again - really uncertain just about everything.. I took a leap of faith by applying to the retreat, and when I got accepted - I jumped into it hoping it would give me fresh insight and some direction… but I think I left feeling unsure what to make of it all (although it was a beautiful place to visit).

I spent the second third of this year in pretty much complete (self inflicted) isolation. May thru August, I didn’t hang out with a single person outside of my immediate family. The immediate family I DID see or spend time around - I felt completely withdrawn from. I dreaded being around people of any kind, and was shutting out even my closest friends. I was falling asleep on the couch watching TV shows I didn’t even really like, and generally speaking… lost my desire to get out of bed in the morning. Creatively, I felt really depleted - the desire and motivation just wasn’t there. I spent a lot of time walking miles and miles of beaches by myself (moody, I know 😂). It was a rough few months where I felt really far from being my best self, to say the least…

The final third of this year has been a surprisingly reinvigorating few months. I feel like I’ve found the basis for the thesis project that I wish I had 4.5-5 years ago - the basis for a LIFE’S work (which is a REALLY bold thing to say, I realize) - but I really do feel that way. I started collecting beach trash at the end of August (after walking miles of coastline in the summer… it became impossible to continue to ignore). This then led to organizing / cohosting my first group beach clean up and the launch of some new products for my Etsy shop (beach plastic holiday greeting cards)! I haven’t felt this excited, passionate, and deeply ROOTED about anything I’ve made in well… maybe ever. In 2019, I plan to continue to grow the greeting card line, cohost more beach clean ups, and continue the important conversation about sustainability through my creative work. It’s gonna be a good year - I can feel it! But first, here’s a little recap of 2018:

beach_plastic_greeting_cards_christmas_variety_rudolph_snowman_tree_snowflake_1.jpg

Beach Plastic Holiday Greeting Cards

December 5, 2018

If you’ve been following along the last few months - you know that I have been actively picking up litter off of beaches in NJ and NYC. It’s been a combo of solo efforts as well as duo / group efforts. I have primarily focused on Coney Island (where I co-hosted a group clean up with my friend Fiona in October), but have also picked up trash by myself at Sandy Hook, Wildwood, Rockaway Beach, Long Island, and even an old landfill. It’s been fascinating.. as well as heartbreaking... to see the differences (and also the similarities) in what I’ve picked up at each location.

While I’m fairly new to the active litter picking community, I have always had a deep love for the outdoors. I grew up with a backyard that connected to the woods, and spent a lot of time out there. Every summer, I looked forward to going down to the “Jersey Shore” lol. Over the years, the beach has become a meditative happy place for me. A non-negotiable form of self care. This summer, I spent a lot of time walking beaches alone trying to sort through some personal demons (a lot of self doubt)… and one day in late August at Coney Island I decided to consciously switch modes from my typical beach combing (for sea glass, shells, etc) to pick up trash. It was a really eye opening experience - that made me question not only my own negative impact on the planet but the impact we collectively as the human race make.

Pizza Grease Stained Notes From Milton Glaser

January 20, 2018

This week, I've been cleaning out both my physical space(s) and my digital space(s). It is quite a task, but one that needs to be done to make room for the new. In one box, I came across a little coverless notebook I scrawled some notes on from a Milton Glaser talk I attended in 2013. At the time, I was in the midst of my senior year at design school. Fall semester was winding down, and finals were looming or already in progress. I dragged my sleep deprived exhausted ass out to Manhattan (from Brooklyn) because I wasn't gonna miss this talk for the world (even though all I could think about was my next nap and the golden beacon that was *wInTeR bReAk*).

Now if you have no idea who Milton Glaser is... welp, IDK what to tell you. LOL. He is a graphic design legend... and that is an understatement. You probably are familiar with the "I Love New York" logo. He made that. As well as a LOT of other iconic stuff. I'm not going to give you the long list - but feel free to check his site out for yourself. Anyways, I got a slice of pizza after the talk and thought it'd be a GREAT idea to put that bagged pizza vertical in my backpack... and the grease dripped all over my notes. I was devastated... but clearly still held onto the notebook because one does not throw out notes from a Milton Glaser talk! I'm surprised it's actually still holding up and that there's no mold?? But thought it might be useful (for myself) and maybe for others as well - if I gave the notes a new life. I read through what I could - and it almost reads like poetry. Here are some of my favorite notations:

Refinery29's #29Rooms NYFW Installation 2016

September 23, 2016

A couple weekend's back, I got to experience this year's version of Refinery29's ultimate fashion / technology funhouse: 29Rooms. This is the second year that they've done it, and I'm sure it will continue to be an annual thing. I remember being completely blown away last year, and this year was equally as fulfilling. The visual stimulation of texture and color and overall interactive experience is just a real treat, and I'm already wondering what they will do next year!

The Armory Show 2016

March 4, 2016

Last night, I got to attend this year's Armory Show for the #ArtsyArmoryMeet! If you're not familiar with the Armory Show, you can read up a bit on the history HERE.

This actually wasn't my first Armory Show - I went to one a couple years back while I was still in school. I took a 6 week course that focused entirely on the show and it's history - and ever since then, I anticipate it's return every year. Essentially, it's a giant smorgasbord of both contemporary and modern art. There's a LOT to see (drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, interactive installations, motion, etc) - every artist / art lover's dream, basically. If you decide to go, I recommend going early so that you allow yourself enough time to explore! I was there for an hour and a half yesterday, and definitely didn't get around to everything. I'm actually planning to go back again tomorrow to try to see some of what I missed, haha