love, fear and pain.

"People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they’re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you’re letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain."

I actually didn't write that, and I wish I could credit the author but I'm not sure who did write it.  I wanted to post it because I think it spoke so strongly to me.  This past year was testing one on my emotions.  My heart experienced only as I know to be some of the highest of highs and lowest of lows, aka falling in love and getting through heartbreak.  It was a relationship that took only a few weeks to build, a few months to enjoy, one day to become destroyed, and half a year to get over.  Pain wasn't a foreign subject to me, I've dealt with heart ache and break before.  This was just somehow different because it felt like a path a chose, rather than it being the cards I was dealt.  I wish I could have read this when I was trying to swim through the thick of the heartache, hating the pain, never wanting to love again.  Fortunately time heals all, and you're usually left with a new perspective.  I think it important not to fear pain (emotional and physical), that fear will only hold you back, become your crutch and who really wants that anyway.  Save this and give it a read whenever you're going through something painful that only feels like a tunnel of darkness.  There's always light at the end, a new sun always rises.

Pay It Forward..with your vote!

Hi there! How's your 2013 going so far?  One thing I decided I HAVE to do in 2013 is travel to Europe.  It's one thing I've been wanting to do for years, but year after year I put off because of work, money, and all those other little things in life that just seem to cut in line before my dream of traveling the world.  Maybe you can relate?  Not this year though, I put my foot down so the career, money, everything that kept me from going have to take the backseat at least for a bit.  I figured if I move out of my place in Los Angeles, sell some of my stuff (I also plan to move to New York this year) and store my car with some of my things at my parents house then I could manage to backpack through Europe for a month or so.  So that became the plan, the big plan for 2013.  

Rigggght until I heard about My Destination's Biggest Baddest Bucket List Competion where the winner will get to travel the world for six whole months! The opportunity to travel the world is one of my wildest dreams and deepest of desires in life.  So I decided to up the ante on my travel plans, the new goal being to enter the travel competition and well, win! Yeah, I know the concept of winning this is probably beyond ambitious, but then again ambitious is my middle name, well right after Nicole (my real middle name).  I'm not sure how its going to happen, but I'm trying to be optimistic.  So far I have 40 votes thats only like 2421 votes shy of being in the lead.  So my 31 followers, if you're reading this its your time to shine.  Yes, I need YOUR help and your magic social media skills :) In order to increase my votes I need people to share my video on facebook, Tweet it, Google +1 it, Stumble it, and Pin it to Pinterest.  Each click counts as a new vote! And you can do it at http://www.mydestination.com/users/natashanicole/bbb#tab 

I'm going to need to reach people way outside of my network and hopefully convince them share it with their network.  Reaching this insane goal starts with you. You are the first tier in expanding my reach.  Its simple to do, but that may not be a good enough reason for you to help me, I know.  I'm hoping that you'll do it out of the kindness of your heart, maybe you just believe in paying forward.. I can promise if you pay it forward to my by voting and encouraging your friends to do the same that I make the extra effort to support those working hard spread the word about their cause (be it about a blog, business, opportunity, whatever it may be) I want to help others, travel, inspire those around me and make a positive impact in the world.  If you have any advice for me I'd love to hear it :) Thanks for reading and for being a friend. You can watch the video I made below and CLICK HERE TO SHARE/VOTE YAY!

“The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.”

- Eleanor Roosevelt

[xo] the garage gypsy

I need your help & your vote!!

Hey guys! So I spent the last four days awkwardly talking into my iPad in public places, filming myself run around like a dork, jumping of bridges, and editing through footage of Los Angeles to make my travel video for mydestinations' biggest baddest bucket list competition. Now I need YOUR HELP! All you have to do is click the badge above, scroll down to my video and click "SHARE" "TWEET" "g+1" "STUMBLE" "PIN IT" to VOTE. It's YOUR VOTE that can send me around the world, I'm going to need a lot of votes to win this (3000+) so I can't do it without YOU!!!! You can't over share, over tweet, in fact I dare to see who can publicize my video the most ;)

Your help means the world to me, if I win I promise to make the coolest travel videos and take you the wildest places in the world! Thank you! 

Have a wonderful day! 

[xo] the garage gypsy

collared.

This past christmas, when I travelled back home, I embarked on a little fashion accessory project.. involving men's dress shirt collars.  It's super simple, but here's how.

dooo it yourself!!

pesto.

Not only is this an elegant video, but nothing gets me like fresh basil, so of course I have a soft spot for homemade pesto.  Watch & enjoy :)

Classic Pesto from Kinfolk on Vimeo.

resolutions.

find the ideal house in silver lake.
move! on the 8th.
order new sewing machine.
sew sheer capes.
buy a bicycle.
get a record player.
exercise daily. in progress!
save $1000 for europe in jan/feb/march.
buy a juicer.
participate in a 5k.
sign up for tough mudder & run 4 your life.
get a feature.
join the costumers union.
cast a collection of rings.
travel europe for at least a month.
work lots!! in progress :)

new year.

It's kind of sad to see 2011 go, it was a wonderful year.  Old friendships grew stronger, new relationships blossomed, but mostly I was introduced to and led down a new career path that will forever change my life.  As a result to 2011, I'm able to start 2012 with both feet on the ground, with foreseeable, exciting goals for myself, along with a sense of comfort and confidence in who I am and where I am going.  Sometimes you're in the backseat, sometimes you're riding shotgun, and sometimes you're in the driver's seat.  They're are all good places to be, you need them all to gain perspective, the key is to not remain in one seat for to long - otherwise you might lose touch with all that you once knew.   I don't mean to get all philosophical here, but I think it's interesting.  You can't appreciate being in the driver's seat if you didn't spend your share of time in the backseat first.  I don't think you can reach your full potential without transitioning from all three either.

Aside from all of that goodness, here's a little video I created on my iPhone from my New Years Night spent with my friends in Los Angeles.  Gotta love the capabilities of an iPhone :)  It was a fun night, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to missing my three best friends, unfortunately we all reside in completely different states these days.  Miss you guys XOXO