cait +tiff

Category Archives: thefeels


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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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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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C / A Year

ne and yen

Photo by Tiffany Tsang

It’s been a year and some change since I left Cambodia. I had a thousand reasons to leave, and I am so glad I did, but when September 3rd passed last week, I felt sad. Like a weird kind of empty sad, that caught me by surprise. I didn’t really get it, I had made those choices for myself, I had pushed hard in the right direction, and threw myself willingly into the relative free-fall of the last year. I am happier than I have been in a very long time, and yet, there was sadness?

With the help of an ugly cry and a very understanding set of ears to listen to me work through it, I realized that change, no matter what size or direction, is an adjustment. My life looks completely different now than it did a year ago, and I wouldn’t have ever imagined the amount of luck, love, and understanding that has come my way in the last year. But there is still something that feels like a mourning, for the past life, and a community that I miss dearly.

I am under the impression that change is a good thing, which I realize isn’t a particularly unique point of view. But because it leads itself so well to cliche, I often forget the gravity of change, and how long it takes my brain to catch up with my body. This time last year I was bouncing from couch to couch across the US, and I would’t be in my now-house for another 3 months. Change is weird and awkward and painful, but always, always important.

It’s nearly impossible for me avoid dipping into some version of self-help prose after a year of meditation, therapy, yoga, Brene Brown, and green juice, so I won’t even try. My impatience with the impact of change is the only thing about it that doesn’t surprise me. In true form, I just want to get through it and get on with things, but I am doing my best to quiet that spazzy voice just a little bit, and let those feelings come and go.

Overshare complete.

caitsig


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T / a little activism

I think the best forms of activism are the most subversive ones.  They require a little creativity an maybe a paintbrush.  They’re the ones that happen overnight or under your feet, and when they get released, it roars louder than the tweet that got the ball rolling in the first place.  And aren’t big wide walls just asking for it in the first place?  So when I was in San Francisco this past spring, my partner really wanted to check out Clarion Alley in the Mission District.  It’s a community in a city where the voice of increasing social inequality and the fight against gentrification and the whitewashing of neighbourhoods is really taking hold.  Where better to smack some sense into your compadres than on their commute?  I’m always so incredibly impressed by the people who can synthesize their feelings into beautiful acts of activism.  And social media these days means that these messages can get spread far and wide.  Just look at all of the responses to the tragedy of DACA just hours after its announcement.

What a week it’s been, right?  The world is on it’s toes and the anxiety and anger are bubbling towards something.  Good I hope.  So I thought I’d share some snaps I took of Clarion Alley today.  And I hope the dreamers, the creators and those most seriously affected by this week’s everything get a wall of their own.

All photos by Tiffany Tsang. Please request permission for use.  Cait+Tiff are not liable for paint stains on your new jeans.


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C / Update on the Reboot

debbie

Photo by Irving Penn

Hi. So last week, I boldly declared that I was going to fill my brain with all the inspiration I could manage, and be a changed person by Friday. The thing is, when you are filling your body with pizza and cocktails, it’s sort of hard to feed your brain online classes and meaningful literature.

The actual update on what I said I was going to do:

  • Take online class. I did not take an online class. I did look at them, and consider it, but then I went to happy hour.
  • Read a whole book. There was no way this was ever going to happen, I don’t know why I set myself up for failure, I never even looked into what book to read.
  • Starting Yoga again. I DID THIS. It’s the hot kind, and I sweat so much that a woman stopped me in the street after class to make sure I was ok.
  • Go to a museum. I did this too! Actually, I did it twice, so I think I get double points and one of the trips to a museum counts as taking a class.

According to my math, that is 3/4-ish, so I feel pretty good about my inspiration week. And, AND, I am filling this week with even more artsy shit that makes me want to create again. I do want to get back in to making things, my hands are getting restless. I saw the Irving Penn exhibit at The Met yesterday and I just filled with energy, in a way that I haven’t experienced in a while. I am not a photographer, but Penn has done some of the most incredible work I have seen, and it’s impossible for me to look away from it. So I bought the $70 coffee table book, which weighs 1400 lbs and is going to be an awesome carryon.

So I did some of my self-imposed homework, but the thing that I found most inspiring this week, was having conversations with people I love about the work I am doing right now. I have a lovely job and work for a friend, but my brain has started to wander.

I applied for a job a few weeks ago that I was SO EXCITED about. It seemed like the perfect fit, and I took a lot of care with my application and cover letter, and I made my friends read my CV and sex it up for me. I felt so good about sending it all in, and I was confident that I would be a great fit for the job.

I haven’t heard anything back, and it’s been two weeks, so that ship has probably sailed. Which is fine, ship sail all the damn time, that is what they are supposed to do. But as I have been talking through all of these things with people this week, it has become pretty clear that I need to get back to making things. It’s where my brain goes back to before I go to sleep, and it is what my brain has filled with while I am walking around New York.

So, I am getting back into it. I even got a new notebook and fancy new pencils this weekend, and you know I can’t waste back-to-school supplies.

Have a lovely Tuesday.

caitsig

 

 


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C / I’m a Wombat

wombat

Guys, this is really exciting. I am in New York right now and I have amazing news…I am a wombat! Isn’t that great? Let me explain.

I met up with my cousin yesterday, one of my favorite people in the world, and he told me about Primal Zodiac signs. (If you think astrology stuff is garbage, stop reading. I don’t know if it is or not, and I don’t even know if it’s my business, but I think it’s interesting.) Your Primal Zodiac is a combination of Western Zodiac and Eastern Zodiac signs, so in my case, I am Taurus, and I was born in the Year of the Boar.

In Primal Zodiac math, that makes me a WOMBAT. I love wombats.

Now, I am not going to make you read my wombat zodiac, but I definitely thought about it. According to the internet, which never lies, I am

  • Strong, determined, sensitive, and stubborn. (check)
  • Can be a reclusive weirdo until the wombat feels comfortable with her people.
  • Once the wombat is comfortable, wombat will not stop talking. To everyone.
  • Smarter, stronger, and more agile that people think
  • Also, and this is a direct quote “This sign can be painfully over-indulgent and procrastinating to the point that others wonder how it is they get by day to day.” (um, check)
  • When the wombat does stop watching Netflix, the wombat cannot be stopped.
  • Wombats like cosy, familiar places, and like nice things (check)
  • Wombats like wine, and “they do like to indulge in worldly pleasures a bit too much.” (This is kind of a judgy website, jeez.)
  • Hosting parties is their wombat jam, and they don’t really like the club. Wombats don’t like crowds.

I won’t go into the love stuff too much but a few important things:

  • Wombats are great friends, love giving advice and like small groups
  • Wombats are cautious, but when they commit, they commit.
  • SUPER SNUGGLY
  • Should trust be betrayed “expect to see the rare but legendary rage from this quiet but powerful sign.” Wombat Khaleesi up in here.

 

Lastly, career things, which I really like reading about right now.

  • Even though they can be shy, wombats put on a good show, and love storytelling
  • Wombats love creative self-expression and the arts (check)
  • Wombats are LAZY (check) and need inspiration and drive of they will just eat ice cream off their bellies all day and watch Brooklyn 99 in their underwear (I’m paraphrasing.)

 

I know how silly it is that I just wrote out my zodiac stuff on this blog, I know that. But I have never read anything that sounded more like my best friend describing me. I am making Tiff do this too, and I want you guys to look and see if your description works for you, too. Do it here, click. Do it, and tell me what you think.

Your favorite wombat.

caitsig


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C/ Big Business

big business.jpg

This post is late, and it’s not even my day, but here I am, two cocktails in with three hours of sleep in not-my-apartment in New York, typing away. What could go wrong?

Honestly nothing, stop reading if you think I am going to tipsy-manifesto all over this blog, I do that in text messages, like I normal person. I am here to talk about one of the most important things in life, Bette Midler. Yeah, Bette Midler.

I watched Big Business over the weekend, and am deeply ashamed that it was my first viewing. However, I was thrilled that I got to watch it with the badass ladies of Boxcar Muse, and eat pizza off of my tummy while yelling “werk” at the screen. This movie is amazing, and 1988 was a SOLID year for fashion. I am a little disappointed my 5 year old self didn’t get more matchy suit skirt things. The thing that struck me the most, was how awesome it was to watch Lily Tomlin and Bette of my Dreams play two characters each, be hilarious and smart and diverse in all of them, and that the movie had nothing to do with  romantic relationship. Yes, there are love interests, but they are honestly in the movie as side pieces.

Watch this movie, and then write me and tell me what your favorite hat of Bette’s is, because I CAN’T DECIDE WHAT MY FAVORITE IS.

caitsig


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T / departures (other people’s)

Artwork Credit: J. Emslie

Yay we’re back!  Life is pathetic fallacy right now.  Because in addition to the monsoon come the summer time goodbyes in this city and all the related feels.  The last of which happened to me last week.  Which is probably why I got zapped of all inspiration for a little bit.  So I had to write this small meditation to get it over with.  Obviously. 

This life is goodbyes.  Or as I would prefer to refer to them, “see you soons.”  Over the past few weeks, I’ve said these words to not just one but three sets of friends.  Important friends.  The kind of friends that are like the super comfortable favourite pillows on your bed.  Sorry, was that a creepy way of describing friendship?

At the same time, I’m still on the heels of coming back from California, where I saw more than a few sets of friends that I allegedly said goodbye to over the past few years.   And guess what?  It was like we were picking up from where we left off.  Except maybe we had some more money this time around (yeeeah 30s).  I should also mention that I’m not the best at keeping in touch.  Years of poor connectivity and dropped Skype calls have more or less killed my enthusiasm for overseas phone calls.  However, I am amenable to a long form email.  And I hear that the Internet of things works a heck of ton better now.

The other fun thing about this nomadic community we’re a part of is the awkward friendship starter.  I love Kate’s words on the topic.  Because isn’t that what summer is all about?  All these new people landing?  And everyone else you sort of know, have seen around, would like to get to know better?  Looking back on some of my closest friendships I’ve made since leaving Canada, they’ve always been in the most inopportune of places.  Being drenched in a monsoon in an outdoor group work out.  In a deep dark club because we’re both Asian and should be friends.  The infamous roll of Hello Kitty duct tape and the ensuing noodles!  And sweating together.  Always sweating together.  There’s nothing more bonding than that.

And the goodbyes won’t stop.  Ever.  I’m already preparing the the spate of them that will happen in 2018.  And I’ll depart this gorgeous piece of land at some point too.  So I was trying to find something to capture that. But let’s face it, everything would be drag.  So let’s watch these pretty pictures instead.  Because it’s not goodbye.  It just means the next time I see you, it’ll be a different way of coffee (which will probably cost way more than $2.50), bread instead of noodles, and taxis instead of tuk tuks.  Let’s celebrate that.

Paris – NewYork from MRfrukta on Vimeo.