cait +tiff


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T / HBD-CAIT!

Where’d our blog go?

Three words.  We’ve been busy.  And we miss this little place on the web that we hatched more than five years ago.

So I couldn’t think of a better way to wake this little sleeping bub than to tell you that it’s Cait’s birthday and that she is simply the best.

Last year I had a bunch of words for her.  This year I’m going to try to just have one.  Sharp.  It’s the best way to describe her and exactly what I thought about when we were fatefully sat across from each other at a very special person’s birthday six years ago (we wouldn’t exist without her!).

Her wit: razor SHARP.  That wardrobe: equally SHARP.  Business savvy? More than that. SHARP.  Her words – have you read this blog?

I also like to think she’s sharpened my wardrobe more than a little bit.

I got to see this beautiful birthday girl in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago and she her edge is even mightier. Girl will never go dull.  I snapped this photo of her in the thick of it.  Building her biz and just glowing while doing it all.  It’s candid, honest and I think it just captures everything I dig about her.

The thing is, Cait is more than sharp.  She’s also the best friend a girl could ask for.  Loyal to a fault, and the best ear you could ever find this side of the moon.  It’s going to be nearly 2 years since we got separated by an ocean, but I know she’s always there.  We’re both building businesses now.  Going through all the motions. Separately. But together.

Oh crap. I just found another word for her.  Taste.  Girl’s got a ton of it.  For people (she’s surrounded by a gaggle of gorgeous souls), food (she knows exactly where I want to and should eat in every place she’s planted her feet), and those clothes! (if I could tell you about her upcoming line, I would, but as of now, my lips are sealed).  This taste is refined. It’s completely accessible and it is inclusive.

So basically.  I failed in trying to write a birthday ode to Cait around just one word.  It’s impossible. Cait is amazing.  She’s not just one thing.  

And it’s her birthday today, so you must give her the biggest squeeze if you can, since I can’t.  My arms don’t span 13,191km apparently.

HBD blog wife!!!!!

 

 


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T / wide open spaces

You saw Cait’s post last week, right?  We’re currently in our new beginnings.  And it can be hard to talk about.  Scary even.  I have no problem with the hustle.  I can talk for hours about what I want to do, what I plan to do.  The mission, the vision.  All of it.  Talking about how I feel about it?  A completely different mess.  My brain has a lot of stuff in it right now too. And sometimes it’s just easier to show you instead.

Over the past few weeks, my new business partner and I have visited the site of our new project more than a dozen times.  We bring our cameras every time.  I’ve learned to shoot my feelings there (that’s an entirely different post).  But more importantly, it’s a space that I’m more than excited about.  I’ve never been more inspired than before by a blank canvas that I know will mean so much to a large number of people.  The visionary behind this whole kingdom is our pal Corbett.  You might have met him before.  And to have such a small space within it is such a privilege.  All 175.2 square meters of it.

I’m more than bursting like Violet Beauregard.  But like I said.  I don’t quite have the words for it right now.  Terrified and Jesse Spano-levels of excitement are happening simultaneously.

So here’s a sneak peak, and some clues all about it.

All photos by Tiffany Tsang.  Please request permission for use.  Cait+Tiff are not liable for sudden purchases of garment factories to be repurposed into little kingdoms of creativity.


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C/ Small Beginnings

pace creative

Hi there. So Tiff and I had a conversation a few weeks ago about ways we want to change the blog, really get back to it this year, and make it an online space that is more representative of where we are in our lives. We talked about aesthetic changes, posting schedule and how we are going to really dive into the whole “new year, new you” thing. She did a great job, posted something cool on schedule, and I sort of didn’t. Not sort of, I just didn’t.

I’m not technically too busy, but my brain has been in other places for the past few months. There are some things happening, and I figure now is as good a time as ever to talk about it. (This is sounding very dramatic, everything is fine.)

I have started a company. It’s called Decker, it’s a clothing line for women, with an emphasis on sustainable materials, ethical production, and making ladies feel damn sexy. I am in the beginning bits right now, but I am working with a factory in LA to make the patterns, the samples and, eventually, the whole line. The fabrics are coming from all over. It’s a process that I am learning a lot from, and I have a notebook with me constantly so I don’t forget everything. It’s exciting, and mostly fun, but there are a lot of days when I need to sit on the porch and Claire Danes cry.

I get nervous about sharing this stuff, because I am impatient with my own progress, and if you are into curated content that might be useful for your daily life, probably just read Tiff’s stuff. I will be writing a lot about the process, about all the weirdness and insecurities that come along with starting a company alone (lucky you), and probably about self care a LOT. I am still in classes to learn how to be less of an asshole to myself, so I will throw in some “how to pretend you are chill” things along the way.

If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask. I am not sharing the designs yet, I don’t have a website, I need to figure out 39,283,935 more things, so I might not have the answer to your questions, but go ahead and ask.

Hope you are having a great week, stay tuned for oversharing.

xx cait

Header image by Pace Creative, via DesignLoveFest


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T / happy monday / get lit

Oh my gosh.  Are we back?  Yes we’re back. Cait and I are still so very much here.  We both have big projects going and we can’t wait to tell you all the things about them.  It’s just that things got a little busy in 2017.  We started posting less frequently.  And that slowed to a stand still by the holidays.  But we missed our blog baby.  So here we are.  It’s 2018 and we’ll be posting more regularly. We’ll just be taking a day or two off during the week.  And seriously – please watch this space. Because things are slowly getting revealed.

One of my favourite mantras comes from writer and blog buddy Katie.  I go to her when things start to involve a lot of sighing.  It’s like I forget to breathe and it all comes out in one massively dramatic exhale.  But then you go and find the light, choose it and everything is okay again.  And no, you haven’t died, FYI.  I know you were thinking that.

Speaking of light.  I started playing around with it a lot in 2017.  And apparently I like me some solar flare.  And by like, I mean I actively go searching for it.  And where better to find it than across the west coast.  I talk about light being romantic.  It is and I fall in love each time I meet a new version of it.  I’ve even have feelings for that stupid hot noon time near the equator light where you have to go all f/22 on.  But while I travelled up California from Joshua Tree, through Oregon and Washington state, I got the full whammy of light.  I fell head over heels.  And it doesn’t have to come from the sun.

There’s just something magical about it. The way it peaks through leaves or over mountains.  How it illuminates the scorched earth of national park fires to reveal both gloom yet growth.  You get the idea that this is how fairy tales get created where darkness and lightness meet for a battle.

So I thought I’d share some of these shots today.  Happy 2018.

 

All photographs by Tiffany Tsang. Please request permission to use.  Cait+Tiff are not liable for injuries incurred from staring at the sun.


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T / happy new year / tiff’s top tunes 2017

Photo Credit: Eric Cahan.

Hi guys hi.  This year was a doozy right?  If I said 2016 was weird then 2017 was way weirder.  I fell off the music wagon. I failed in my personal goal of becoming the Rob Gordon of mp3s.  In a nutshell: the patriarchy is still not yet smashed.  Reading the news kinda sucked 99% of the time.  Have you ever angry-run?  Basically, a ton of feelings happened.  There as a deep dive in terms of inspo.  But I’ve got to check my privilege here: I realized I had a solid community of innovators, entrepreneurs, leaders and all-powerful wonderful people both near and far.  Cait is in Cali and things are brewing hard for 2018.  The work has continued to flow.  I had over 100 photoshoots this year!  The quality of my photos and my confidence are going up all the time.   I’m still challenging myself.  I might have convinced myself that it is totally possible for a East Coast girl like me to move to California.  My soul might actually feel comfortable in the Pacific North West.  I also discovered that colouring and puzzles are great alternatives to substances that aren’t too good for my liver.

Cut to the chase Tiff.

Basically I woke up this morning.  It was 2018.  The mistake I made this year was that I didn’t listen to enough music.  I had neglected in favour of this, this and this. And I’m completely bent on correcting for that in 2018.  So this list isn’t quite exhaustive.  I might be a little ashamed about it.  There’s a ton of go-girl music, which I am not ashamed about.

And all my favourite covers and remixes from this year here! And lists for 2016, 2015, 2014!


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C/ Acts of Matter

unnamed

Hi, this is the first installment of “the things you can donate a little bit of money to, but it will go a long way.” It’s not an especially catchy tag line, but these organizations are worth a look.

The first one I love is Acts of Matter. This dance company, founded by my dear friend and true badass, Rebecca Lemme, is all about dealing with social issues through dance and expression. She has run the company for a few years, and has put together some of the most beautiful, heart breaking, and emotional work I have ever seen.

Her words are as powerful as her work:

“Founded in 2014, Acts of Matter is a project-based performance group with a mission of revealing and reveling in our greater humanity through investment in process and collaboration. The work of the company is grounded in an unfettered willingness to attempt something while accepting the possibility of its failure. This physical exertion—this act of trying—is the core of humanity in the work. As a choreographer, Artistic Director Rebecca Lemme is inspired by the ability of movement to move people—to stir in them something innately human: the need to find connection. Acts of Matter hinges on the belief that as a society we are defined by what unites us—by what makes us similar, not what makes us different. Drawn from immensely personal inspiration, the work creates a window in which others can see their own experience reflected. It suggests that at the core of every private struggle or individual joy is something universal.”

Watching her work has gotten me excited about dance again, something that I have truly missed. If you are into arts, know how much funding they are losing every year, and want to help out a company that does seriously wonderful work, please consider donating to the Kickstarter. It closes in a few days, so get on it. Also, the video on the fundraising page is the prettiest.

Happy Caring-about-other-people Tuesday!

xx cait


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T / happy monday / tiny little stories

I guess it’s come to this.  Our attention spans are so small now that everything has to be digested to the most intense of brevity.

Or.  You could so it another way.  Short form storytelling can be just as beautiful and perhaps a bit more urgent.  Which is why I dig these One Minute Wonders by the talented peeps at Present Plus.  Each one is about a creator.  Their work.  All compressed into one minute of often gorgeous video.

I picked this one, out of the 48 stories they’ve got online, because sustainable fashion has become more of a topic on my mind lately.  I also like me some alpaca wool.

One Minute Wonder 20 – Kiyoshi Inoue from Present Plus on Vimeo.


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C/ It Doesn’t Have to be Tuesday for You to Give a Shit

give a shit

Good morning. Hey, hi. It’s been a little while. I have taken a break from the blog because everything I was writing was angry, frustrated, and had a distinct “burn it all to the ground” vibe. My brain has been toggling between deep sadness over the constant news of sexual predators EVERYWHERE, disgust with our predator-president (Presitor? Predident?), and building a business. It’s a tornado of angry colors swatches inside my brain.

Anyway, I am not talking about that garbage, I am surprisingly optimistic today, probably because I haven’t read the news yet, and I want to share a few things.

Giving Tuesday was this week, which is a real thing where people donate to a cause they care about or throw $30 at something a friend from high school posted on Facebook. A lot of very deserving organizations push for fundraising this time of year, but it feels SUPER overwhelming to receive all those emails asking for money when you are trying to figure out how the hell you are going to afford buying presents for the holidays.

My long-winded solution is this special little secret: IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE TUESDAY FOR YOU TO GIVE A SHIT. Sorry for yelling, but this is how I feel about it. The thought of caring about the less fortunate one day a year is pretty gross to me, so this week I am sharing information on a few organizations that I know very closely that I know need support. I trust the people in charge, know about the tight budgets they work on, and know where the money goes. If you have any questions about them, let me know and I will find the answer for you.

More soon.

caitsig

 


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T / mental space mix

Photo Credit: Olympic Peninsula by Tiffany Tsang

It’s been a minute, right?  So we took a good long break.  I was on the road (a big long one called the US101) and there’s just so much brewing right now on all our sides. I know that my mental space has been filled up.  It’s also way cluttered in the way a an A&E Hoarder is, without the random dead bodies hidden it the corner but still the feeling that it’s all gonna spill at any moment. So I’ve had to limit things. And one of the first things to go was music.  Super sad face.  But that’s what breaks are for, right?

My resolution coming back was to make time for it.  (I’m a big fan of this app, by the way).  Telling my brain: it’s time for pure, unadulterated MUSIC.  And that’s how this new playlist was borne.  Until a bad case of the jetlag hit and I became of puddle of displaced equilibrium.  So I’m sharing it now.   I hope you’re making time for the things that matter to you.  And if you aren’t, you really should.

Anyways, there’s a lot of good new stuff in here that’s from all over the place.  Yaeji is a hip new artist that splits her time between Seoul and New York.  Siobhan Sainte hails from New Zealand. And there’s all the fabulous artists I’ve loved for ages that are now releasing new and remixed beats.  Charlotte Gainsbourg and Tame Impala – big hearts out to you.  Basically, this mix is getting me through my to-do list.  It’s a big mix for the long list.