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

presents.

I hope everyone had a happy Christmas Day with either your friends or family! I was lucky enough to finally catch a flight out of LA and make it into Chicago in the wee early hour Christmas day! After finally making it home from the airport via my brother and his two buddies, I pulled out my presents & got to wrapping them. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out where my mom stashed the wrapping paper so I decided to draw wrapping paper on the plain boxes and gift bags. Half the fun in Christmas (in my opinion) is funny, festive presents. I always sneak the funny in when it comes to my little brother's presents (for example: giving him used iTunes giftcards, cheesy cards, wrapped boxes with no present inside, and socks {cool socks}..etc) :D

:::::SLIDESHOW:::::

more photos after the break!!

in the moment.

Do you take the time to appreciate all the little moments in life?  There is poetry in a moment.  A feeling.  This video I just discovered does a pretty incredible job of capturing that.  If you tend to get caught up in the busy hustle and bustle of city living, don't forget to step back once and a while and enjoy the moment be it good or bad.  It's not a waste of your time I promise :)

xo.

production.

For the last few months I've been whisked away on various productions (from short films, music videos to commercials, and shorts for Funny Or Die).  I only started styling in February of this year, and prior to that the idea of being a wardrobe stylist was simply a far off idea of "oh yeah, that'd be fun.. but I wouldn't even know where to begin" career.  I've always been very keen on knowing exactly what I want and figuring out what I have to do to get it.  And in a general sense it has seemed to work if I've wanted it bad enough.  This is probably on account that I'm somewhat stubborn, determined to do only what I want, and mostly because I know things won't come to me, so I'm not afraid to go after them myself.  

Only thing is, I never really considered being a wardrobe stylist.  I assume because I never really understood what it meant to be one, or that such job existed.  I'm not really sure to be honest.  No one's really given me any good advice on what I could do with my life - creatively speaking.  I've been drawn to film and making movies since I was eleven, when I first discovered my parents old-school video camera.  It makes me laugh thinking about how I saved almost two years worth of birthday and christmas money to buy my first Panasonic camcorder when I was in seventh grade. Or how I used to love browsing through the career book at the library in middle school and then reading about being a "producer" or "director" -not that I plan on being either of those professionally but I think it's interesting how much you figure out so early on.  

Now on the other hand, I grew up dressing dolls, and learning how to stitch and operate a sewing machine at a very young age.  My grandparents came to the US in the 50's, they weren't very wealthy so back in their day you mended your socks, and if you couldn't afford a particular outfit, you got fabric, created a pattern and made it yourself.  That was of life and attitude was passed down to me.  I don't know if thats a European thing in general, or just being old-fashioned.  Anyway, I guess my point there is that it's just in my blood to stitch, be creative, and make things.  In high school I developed my love for fashion.  I was definitely one of the few, due growing up in the mid-west surrounded by cornfields where most of my classmates were content in wearing a t-shirt and jeans or a sweatshirt and jeans.

Why I never considered combining my two passions together (even through film school) is beyond me, but it doesn't matter because I've figured it out and I'm doing it now.  AND I love it more than anything in the whole world :D the end.  <-- I didn't mean to write that much, I only wanted to have an opening sentence to all the pictures I'm posting for the short film I styled on back in Oct and one of the music videos I produced and styled in early Nov.  Sometimes when I start typing, I just get off on all these little tangents. Anyway..

Halloween2012

Halloween2012, a set on Flickr.

writer's block.

So looking back at my more recent posts, I've realized I've been writing significantly less and cheating by filling the voids with photos and videos.  Which on one hand, I prefer simply because its easier and I am just an extremely visual person, but on the other hand I feel that I'm also losing my opportunity to connect with you as my reader.  Although I will give you a valid excuse, claiming my hectic lifestyle and never ending list of things to do as the villain; I do believe that if I was more diligent I would be able to make the time to write.  Discipline and diligence; I'm working on it.  :)  In the meantime, if you haven't read my past posts (the ones from, like back in the day), you should, I mean if you want that is.  And here's a little video I wasted time making as an excuse to get away from making jewelry for an hour.  Yes, another video..

[xx] Natasha

Total Getaway.

Exactly a week ago to the hour, I was packing my bag and running off to borrow a tent for a little weekend camping trip with my friends (& best travel companions) Monica and Vanessa!!  It was only a 30-hr vacation, but I have to say it was the best 30-hr escape I've had in a lonng time! Since we got back both Vanessa and I edited together our own J.T. road trip video, compiling our own video footage and photos.  It's pretty cool watching both to see the different footage!! So watch, enjoy, and then make a trip to Joshua Tree yourself :))

The Lorax from GoldenGirl Olive on Vimeo.  V is for Olive Blog

Clearly, we had a particular soundtrack to this road trip because Vanessa and I did NOT conspire to both use songs from Foster the People.  But I will take credit for introducing them to my latest obsession!!

One of the main purposes of this trip was to visit this place called the Integratron that Vanessa had seen featured in a documentary.  Built back over a magnetic field back in the 40's, this acoustically perfect building was scientifically designed to heal and nurture the body through sound.  Our curiosity was sparked and the little hippies inside us were psyched to explore what they refer to as a "sound bath."  I am a skeptic of many kinds, but the Integratron was super rad and after a 30-min sound bath and baby nap my friends and I emerged from the dome feeling renewed inside and out!  Anyway, I highly recommend you check it out if you haven't heard about it.

Hope you have WONDERFUL weekend!!

See MORE Photos AFTER the jump!!

come out & play!

SPACE 15 TWENTY

Tim Burton Exhibit Oozes Inspiration.

Yesterday my friends ((Jen & Gilbert)) and I took a field trip to the Tim Burton exhibition at LACMA.  The exhibit is a retrospective of Burton's work, starting with his early work as teenager growing up in Burbank, spanning through his years at Disney, and up until now.  The exhibit was a creative collection of both his professional and personal works including: sketches, storybook mock ups, paintings, sculptures, stop motion films, short films, movie props, and a unique black light installation.  I mostly enjoyed his older personal sketches.  He really is a genius the way he combines these eerie sketched characters with undertones of humor.  I have to admit that prior to this I was never a huge Tim Burton fan.  I always enjoyed his work, but after seeing his exhibition I have developed a whole new enthusiastic passion for his vision and series of work.

Coincidentally, Aug 25th also happened to be Tim Burton's birthday, in which case everyone visiting the exhibit had the opportunity to wish him happy birthday on a dry erase board via photograph.

More pictures AFTER the break!!!

Shoe Makeover :: Studs & Stripes

BEFORE

AFTER

So if a leather shoe becomes dirty, you have three options 1) clean it or get it cleaned 2) have it re-dyed or 3) make it more awesome.  I went with option numero tres.  I was so pleased with the outcome, I had to share it with you guys :)

The Process:

[1] take original shoe, and sketch up an idea

Behind the process and MORE pictures after the break!!

San Francisco, you steal my heart away.

A little photo montage to take you though my road trip to San Francisco!! Regardless of it ups and downs it was a fun trip.  And like always, a little part of my heart feels as though it was left behind in this amazing city.  Sit back, relax, LA--> SF here we come! Hope you enjoy..

I don't know that I suggest my driving style, it doesn't appear to be the safest..  :) 

Pit stop..

I'm not all that into tourist havens like Carmel.. So I made my rounds then waited at the car.