kat’s eye view

Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage. ~ Catherine Douzel

A year or so ago, we went to visit some friends in N.C., and discovered water from the heavens, aka Sweet Tea and got hooked on it immediately. Every restaurant and fast food chain out there has it on their menu and when we returned home, we thought we could find it. To our dismay, we could not find it ANYWHERE, and then McDonald’s started serving it, and life was good again. The only problem is that McDonald’s sweet tea is never consistent and… it’s McDonald’s. I end up ordering fries, chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers etc. (bad kat)

Whenever I see a problem, the easiest solution is to fix it. So, I made it myself! (Why didn’t I think of this earlier?)

Sharing is caring, so I included this simple recipe below.

Sweet Tea Makes Life Better

(ingredients for 1 gallon, if you want more/less, do the math)

4 Black Tea bags (quart sized)
2 cups Sugar
1/8 tsp. Baking Soda (optional)
1 gallon Water
Ice**

1. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil, then add the sugar. Stir to dissolve.
2. Take the pot off heat, and add the tea bags. Then add baking soda to cut the bitterness of the tea. Stir.
3. Let the tea steep for about 15~25 min.
4. Pour into a gallon pitcher, and add water.
5. Refrigerate
6. And the most important step of all: Add ice, and drink.

** Sweet tea ice cubes, fill ice trays with sweet tea, so the tea doesn’t get watered down when the ice melts **

My roommate recently scored a goodie bag on her bday which included the color “Lost Without My GPS“, it’s the second one from the left. After seeing it on her fingers and her toes, I decided I needed to go test drive this color myself. And guess what? I’m TOTALLY LOVING IT, the only thing I don’t like about it is the name. It’s a little offensive. It suggests that women have no sense of direction, and would not know where they were unless they had their navigation system. OR women that wear this color have a head filled with air, and don’t know where there are going without their GPS. I just hate what it implies about women, but either way, LOVE the color, HATE the name.

I’ve always loved nail polish. It’s one of those things.. like shoes or bags, it doesn’t change or look different even though you’ve gained a couple pounds. Where as, my clothes don’t look the same on me after a couple dates to the bakery. I am no expert, well, not like other nail polish lovers such as http://polishaddict.com.  BTW, I’d totally click that link for all your nail color questions. She’s pretty awesome.

I’m forever buying nail polish to look for new shades or brands to fall in love with. So far, my favorites are as follows:

Ballerina, Chanel: The one on the left. When I’m not experimenting with a new color this will be on my nails. It’s like rice for my nails, a staple.

Goes on smooth and dries quickly. Even color that can be worn with just a single coat. But I like to double, even triple the coat to bring out the whiteness in the pink. Good on fingers, I’ve never put it on my toes.

Cyber, MAC: I stinking heart this color. It looks darker than it is, but after about 3 coats, it’s true color emerges. It’s a mix between purple and maroon. It has a lot of red tones.

It’s pretty thin, and the color isn’t as dense as I would like it to be, but it’s still pretty amazing. I love it on my toes with a little rhinestone flower in the corner.

Chinatown, NARS: Another color that I absolutely ABHOR the name of. Just because it’s a red-tone, does it need to be associated with China? Anyways, enough of my PC-ness.

This color is a perfect dark-red color for my skin tone. NARS actually makes pretty good nail polish, but at $16 a pop, they better! The color is rich, smooth and goes on evenly. Great for fingers & toes!

Wicked, Essie (#249): I was a little unsure about this color because it seemed similar to the NARS one, but it’s actually quite different. This one is a little bit darker, and gives off more of a black tone than red. Since black has been ‘in’ this past winter, I’ve rocked it on my fingers, although it’s still a little too dark for me.

Essie is known for their fun nail polish names that are irrelevant to the description of the color itself. Inexpensive, dependable nail polish brand.

Goth, Orly: Since we’re on a dark polish run, I decided to include a black. It’s really hard to find a good black polish, but this one has been one of my favorites. It has some glitter in it that isn’t too noticeable but adds that something extra, like fun, in the color. Did I mention how the glitter isn’t like high school glitter style, it’s more adult.

It’s not thin and see-through like other blacks I’ve purchased. I like Orly brand nail polishes overall, they’re professional quality, a friend who used to work at a nail salon pointed me to the brand. It’s a strong nail polish that doesn’t chip as easily as others. A little on the pricey side, but if you’re serious about your nail polish, it’s worth it.

Orly French Manicure Collection:

Since we’re talking about Orly, I decided to mention what I use when I have time to spend on my nails. I use Orly, Bare-Rose, and the White Tips. When I have all day, I’ll throw in a pinkish beige for the middle part, but it looks fine without it.

Start with your base coat, move on to the White Tip, use a brush and dip it in acetone to clean up the line. Then fill in with the Bare-Rose. Top coat, and Voila~ pretty pretty fingers & toes.

Swisa Nail Buffer: The most important part of polishing ones nails is buffing/filing. I originally used a brand called “Egyptian Goddess” that was this 3 sided block, but I think Swisa sued them for stealing their patented item. Anyways, it’s pretty great because there’s a nail buffer, filer, and a nail smoother/shiner on one block! I think Bath and Body Works also makes one similar to this.

On The Prowl, MAC - Hello Kitty - I’ve been DYING to try this color. It’s been sold out since it came out, and I hear nothing but great things about it. It’s a gray color and has a substantial amount of white in it. I want, I want…

IF YOU GET OUR PAWS ON THIS, SEND IT MY WAY. Thanks =)

Happy Painting!

BTW: I want this one. CHOEBAMA!

David Choe is an artist that currently resides in San Francisco, you might have seen his work out and about. I’ve seen the huge whale he spray painted on the wall along the 110 fwy in LA, but I could be delusional and saw things that I didn’t actually see.

He uses different mediums for his art, such as oils, water colors, acrylics, blood, urine, coffee, soy sauce, as well as being the craziest graffiti artist I know.

Here is some of his work:

You might have seen some of his stuff in the video game Need For Speed 2. If you go to a certain level, you can unlock his car. A robot drawing turned into shirt was sold at Giant Robot, as well as his books and etc.

(I have this shirt somewhere)

He’s also painted a room in Hotel des Arts in San Francisco. I would love to be elevated and just stare at the walls. I think that would be a very good day. A couple of other artists that have contributed to this art inspired hotel are, Shepard Fairy & Tricia Choi, Punkadelik, and Chor Boogie & Maya Hayuk, go to the website to see the complete list of artists and rooms.

(David Choe’s room #304)

This is a total “I heart David Choe” blog, yea yea, but he’s a mutha-fucking badass and I <3 him for that. He’s the bad boy that I would never bring home to momma, but love to bring home for the night. I have a thing for guys that are good with their hands. *wink wink*

So my little cousin and his little friends have ventured out and started printing t-shirts. They’re out and available for sale. This is also the same little cousin that painted me some custom designed Vans not too long ago.

“these are my magic shoes”

Without further ado, here are the shirts:

I’m really proud of my little cousin & support him to the fullest degree. I’ll be sporting one next time you see me! If you are interested, or know anyone that would, leave me a comment, or you can click HERE and order one yourself.

i’m still browsing themes. go look at ‘about me’ while you’re waiting.