I thought I would dedicate today’s post to people or things that I’m grateful for. It’s easy to get lost in our thoughts, dwell on things we wish for or dream about places we wish we could be. It takes a little more effort to stop what we’re doing and remember all the great things around us. Here’s my list.
God – God works in mysterious ways. I’m a Christian, and though my faith has sometimes wavered, I know in my heart that he is real. He has blessed me beyond belief and I feel as though he’s constantly guiding me with his gentle hand.
Sam – I’ve known my husband since 14 (and I’m now 40, so that’s 26 years!) and we’ve been together since we were just freshmen in college. Yes, we’ve broken up a few times in between and we’ve had our tough times but we’ve stuck together. He’s my best friend, the greatest father to our children and just an unbelievable human being. Sam has shown me what unconditional love really means. I couldn’t love him more.
My sister, Carol – My other best friend. She’s that person you call when life breaks down. She calms you down, picks you back up and glues your pieces together. She’s also unbelievably hilarious, she tells you like it is.
My sister, Grace – I know she always has my back. I can always feel her love.
My mother and father-law – They are like my own parents, they support my dreams. My father-in-law achieved the American dream, he’s an entrepreneur at heart, and I respect him tremendously.
Parker, my first son – Parker is a gift from heaven. I don’t deserve to have a son like him. When he tells me he loves me, my heart melts. He’s just so pure and sweet, he makes me believe that there is good in this world.
Logan, my second son – Logan has recently warmed up to me, for the first almost three years of his life he was attached to Sam. When he finally came around, and we developed our own bond, I realized how selective he is with his love. When he gives it, he gives it with his whole heart.
Kat – Kat is one my closest friends. She’s unbelievably brave and she emits this positive energy. Whenever we’re both going through a life change, we keep each other motivated. It’s impossible to find such a sweet spirit like hers.
Quick list of the other things I am grateful for:
Starbucks’ drinks
Apple for creating such beautifully designed phones (Steve Jobs, you were brilliant but you were nuts (I read the book))
Nature, in particular Santa Rosa Plateau and rainbows
Gittindown – my close group of friends
My high school friends
Friends who are like my family and family who are like my friends – Burt, Sonny, Kevin, Danny, Arlene
My dogs, Fozzie and Charlie
My new LA friends
Art
Architecture
Design
Photography
(This is an ongoing list)
So, last evening, I was all pumped up to go to Vegas to attend the MAGIC fashion trade show. Then, we had a last minute family emergency come up and I had to stick around. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed but I did some more research and found out that the LA Textile show is happening next week in downtown Los Angeles. It starts Monday! I’m going as press on behalf of My Modern Met.
Excited to share with you this good news! I’ll still be in tomorrow but I will be off this blog Monday through Wednesday.
The dream is still alive! Not only do I hope to bring to the readers of My Modern Met the latest trends in the fashion world, I hope I will be able to make the right connections to make that perfect one “thing.” (Yes, I’m still leaving you in suspense.) This photo represents the fact that sometimes, you really do have to bend over backwards.
Photo: Steven Pan
I got my hair dyed pink Friday but it didn’t come out completely as planned. (Hence no Instagram pic.) It’s more like a sunset – my roots came out pink but the rest of my hair is a dirty blonde. I have to go back on Friday to get the whole head done. (Just wanted to give you an update on the hair.)
Last week, I got excited because, while I was in the shower, I decided that I finally found my true career path. It’s ben over a year since I left My Modern Met, and since then I thought I wanted to be a photographer. Rodney Smith, Tim Walker, Max Wanger, these were my inspirations.
I went home and started tearing pages out of magazines. I went on Pinterest and started pinning like mad. I want to be a designer, I decided. A fashion designer, perhaps or just a curator of products, like clothes, art, and fashion. Sammy knew something was up and voiced his concern. I said I was fine. But then something snapped. On Saturday, we went to Disneyland and I felt so paranoid that we only made it to the LEGO store, we had to turn back.
I’ve spent the last few days holed up in my house, too scared to even visit Target. When I finally did, I saw messages on people’s clothing. On a pair of leggings it read,”Be strong.” My mother-in-law came into my office this morning and said those exact same words.
I hope I am coming back to reality. That the increase in medication has brought me back down to earth. I have a psych appointment tomorrow.
In the meantime, I’ve decided to post on “trends” or art and design that moves me. I’m going to move away from photography and focus more on design. I came across these sayings by Nick Miller via Urbanic, who’s producing an exclusive collection of cards and prints with him. These spoke to me.
Tomorrow, I’ll be spending the morning doing something drastic to my hair! I’m changing it from the galaxy-style color to metallic rose. “Metallic, what?,” you may be asking. It’s not straight out pink (though bubblegum pink would be pretty cool), rather, it’s pink with a metallic shine. It’s almost a blend between pink and purple. I hope my colorist can pull it off. Wish me luck!
I won’t be around to give you our usual Friday Links of the Week post but I’ll try to keep you up to date on the hair situation via Instagram. Have a splendid weekend and do something daring too, would ya? 🙂
I’m not ashamed to tell people that I have bipolar disorder. It started about two and a half years ago and I’ve relapsed into full blown mania twice. It’s hard to explain what mania feels like. For me, it’s like someone has taken over my mind, I’m battling these inner demons that won’t let up. My mind is going a million miles a minute and I don’t trust a single soul.
I found these quotes and illustrations on Healthy Place that give you a peek inside the mind of a mentally ill person. I like how some of them show the positive side.
Banksy’s Twitter fan account recently put up this image with the caption “a very important reminder”. I’m not sure if it’s an actual Banksy piece, but it does look like something he’d do. In any case, it’s a good message.
Here’s something similar that I liked.
Saturday was a historic day. I wasn’t able to attend a Women’s March because I had to attend to Parker’s future school situation but I saw all the action through the news and social media. It made me so proud to be a woman and it gave me hope that we all can come together to fight for what we believe in.
On CNN, I heard America Ferrera’s speech to the Washington DC crowd. It was powerful.
“We march today for the moral core of this nation, against which our new president is waging a war. Our dignity, our character, our rights have all been under attack, and a platform of hate and division assumed power yesterday. But the president is not America. … We are America, and we are here to stay.”
A few pictures that stayed with me was the one above taken by Eric Garcetti of the massive LA crowd (750,000 strong!) and of the one photographer Sam Horine took of the rally in New York City at 42nd Street. There are more people than the eye can see!
And the signs! They were so creative. Here were a few of my favorites.
via Heavy
Finally, here’s an article in the New Yorker about the march and my favorite paragraph from it.
“The radical possibility of the Women’s March, the hope that hasn’t been squashed, is a broad alignment of straight, middle-class white women with all the people who were glad to stand beside them and march: the black and queer and disabled women, the minimum-wage workers and undocumented immigrants, all the people whose rights to self-determination are constantly under threat. The crowds on Saturday were so enormous, so radiant with love and dissent, that this larger coming together seemed possible. As Trump’s Administration proves itself unkind to all but the wealthy, perhaps there is a coalition ready to speak their hearts, to listen, to welcome anyone in.”
For the past six years, my brother-in-law, Burt, has arranged a trip to Lake Arrowhead to celebrate my sister, Carol’s, birthday. Sam and I missed the last two years because he or the boys were sick. It became a running joke that we were bound not to attend. This year, luckily, we all had a clean bill of health.
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to start shooting again. On Creative Live, I’ve been watching the videos for Family Photography: Photojournalism in the Home. Teacher and photographer Kirsten Lewis combines photojournalism with family photography, taking clever, sentimental or interesting shots that are not posed, they’re authentic. This weekend, I tried my hand at this type of photography but I got a lot of my family members posing for me.
In any case, it was good to take pictures again. I need to keep working on light, moment and composition.
Above: Logan laughs wildly while Parker plays with the snow in the background.
My nephews making snow angels near our cabin.
My brother-in-law, Burt, making a funny face.
I like how in this picture, it looks like Riverton wants to eat his snowball.
My nephew, Grayson, working hard on making his mini-snowman.
My nephew, Evan, climbing up the hill covered with snow. (He fell a few times.)
Evan found a cool sheet of ice with two holes in it.
Parker tore down Grayson’s snowman before Grayson had a chance to show his mom. He was in tears. Here’s my sister trying to console him.
Whenever a camera is pointed at him, Riverton makes this adorable scrunchie face. What a cutie pie!
Happy Birthday, Carol!
Ah, another year. Time to set some resolutions, right? Today, I thought I would write down some things I’d like to work on this year, both personally and professionally. It’s always nice to see your goals in writing so that you can reflect on them every so often. This year, I’d like to concentrate on being a good spouse, parent and photographer. So here goes:
1. Be more kind and attentive to my husband: With all the craziness that comes with having kids, it’s easy to forget how good of a spouse you have. This year I’m going to think about how I can make Sam happy. This means just making his life easier. When he’s stressed out with the kids, to give him a break. When he’s busy with work, to take care of the family.
2. To not scream or yell at the kids: Recently, during a fight between Parker and Logan, Parker attacked Logan’s face. I went completely ballistic, yelling at Parker for hurting his brother. I don’t want my child to live in fear. I wish I had given myself a few minutes to compose myself before I talked to Parker.
3. To take photographs every day: This one’s hard, especially because by the time I get home it’s too dark to take photographs outside. Even if it’s just on my iPhone, I want to capture more shots.
4. To photograph outside my comfort zone: I want to push myself to take photographs, not just of my sons, but of still life or landscapes. I want to find the genre that most interests me, one that I can imagine myself pursuing in the long run.
5. To watch videos on how to improve my photography skills a few times a week: Since (re-)discovering CreativeLive, I’m really enjoying learning more about photography. This year, I’d like to take what I’ve learned and apply it to my photography.
6. To find some one-on-one time with each kid: I think it’s because we all now sleep in the same room, but Logan has finally warmed up to me. (Yay!) This year, I’d like to spend some alone time with each kid. I think it’ll help strengthen my bond with each of them.
7. To take more trips: It’s easy to stay in but there’s something refreshing about exploring a new place. This year, I’d like to take some trips as just a couple or as a family. I think Logan’s now at that age where we can just pack up and go. (Hooray!)
8. To get more proficient at Photoshop: I taught myself Lightroom but Photoshop is its own beast. This year, I’d like to get really good at making/manipulating images in Photoshop.
9. To cook more for the kids: I’m lucky because I have a nanny who cooks, but it also makes me rely on her to come up with our family’s meals. I want to find more healthy dishes to feed to my kids.
10. To find the time to reconnect with friends: I’ve read that one of the biggest things that causes people to be happy is their relationships with other people. This year, I’m going to call my friends more, meet them up for lunch or dinner or just send a simple text or email.
What are some of your New Year’s resolutions?
Hello, I’m Alice Yoo! I’m founder and CEO of Skylar Yoo, a company dedicated to inspiring and empowering women to be bold. We sell apparel, art prints and accessories to the modern feminist.
In my former life, I was editor-in-chief of the art and culture blog My Modern Met, which I founded back in 2007. I curated and wrote about art, design and photography for more than seven years. (In fact, I published over 7,000 articles which were seen by millions of people worldwide.) I’m also co-author of a book called For Love: 25 Heartwarming Celebrations of Humanity, which is on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
I live in southern California along with my husband and my two toddler boys.
This blog is about what I love, the tough experiences that I’ve learned from, and my journey as a second time entrepreneur. Right now, I’m in the midst of a 365 day challenge, to read one book a day. If you share my passions or want to learn some cool new facts, come along for the ride. I hope to inspire, educate and entertain you!
