Fashion Slow Lane!

  They say that there is value in pain. In suffering. That without suffering you do not grow and earn the character that you need in life. I wonder though, how many character-building lessons do I need, do we need? Do I need more character at this point in my life? I thought I already had enough. I feel like there is enough character in myself for now. I might be wrong.  Here is a photo to go with this blog post. It means nothing, but it is nice. Sometimes nice is enough for me.

Fashion Slow Lane in the Middle East I just got back from a crazy trip to Israel and Palestinian territories. I went there on behalf of Two Neighbors to check our fashion production and meet with the team in Israel as well as in the village in the West Bank (Palestine area). It was a really good meeting with our embroidery ladies in the West Bank, as a designer myself I was able to give them design direction on new designs for 2019. Our Palestinian Co-Manager was there to interpret between Arabic and English for me. Me with some of our Palestinian team members in the village.  We did a side trip through the Palestinian city of Hebron and that is where I saw the camel meat shop. The camel head was quite shocking, I am not sure why they wanted to hang the camel head in front of the shop, maybe so that people would know it was a fresh cut! Ewww Camel head in Hebron, Palestine  In the West Bank, we stopped to use a gas station toilet which was located near a J...

I woke up a bit late this morning and noticed my voice mail was full. The first voice mail was from my husband. He said something like he got a call from the IRS this morning and he did not want to be arrested in 24 hours. I was like, What? Then my bullshit meter went off. First of all, I am in the middle of an IRS audit for 2015. I have been to their office and I have all the paperwork. Second of all, no one gets arrested for owing a few thousand dollars in back taxes. 25% of Americans would be in jail. Everyone knows debtors prison does not exist. To make a long story short, I called him back and said it was a scam. He was still worried so I did a quick google search on IRS scams and sent him the links. I lived alone in Thailand and have traveled all over South East Asia by myself for months and months at a time. I have a bullshit meter that is like 10 miles long or even 5,000 miles. Maybe some people are born with a bullshit meter and some aren't. Your bullshit meter i...

I found this quote online the other day. I borrowed it because I thought it was so good. It is true that some things only happen once. I feel that as I am getting older I am not having as much fun because I am tied down to a mortgage and have a kid to raise. It was much different 20 years ago when I would buy a plane ticket and fly to Europe or Asia for a month or so. I don't like to sit in front of the TV like most Americans do in the evening. I still like to travel but I can't go as much because of the school schedule and work. What do you do to make your life more interesting? I guess I could try stand up paddle boarding but that is just a one time event. I had two Chinese exchange students living here this summer. They were only here for six week so each week they would either go to the zoo, try surfing, go shopping, etc. They did not waste a moment of time, they squeezed as many events as they could into their short summer trip here. I remember feeling that way wh...

I recently spent 4 days in the desert.  It was about 115 degrees Fahrenheit.  On the way to Palm Springs, we stopped at Borrego Springs.  Every restaurant and hotel were closed except for one restaurant. It gets so hot that there is no one is there except for a few year round retirees that probably cannot afford to go anywhere else. We stopped to look at the sculptures in the desert. They were amazing. Just to get out of the car to get up close to the structures was like stepping into an oven.  I could only bear the heat for about 2-3 minutes to get a few shots. It was definitely great to get out of town. I work from my home office/design studio now in San Diego most of the time and it was amazing to be able to drive just 2 hours away and it was like stepping onto another planet. Borrego Me on safari in the Borrego desert Dragon  I would not want to meet him in the dark The desert is too hot for me. I cannot tolerate the heat. In Palm Sprin...

My Experience as a Solo Female Wanderer  January 2017 update:  Recent political chatter about rape culture, women's rights, misogyny, and other cultural issues reminded me of this article I wrote about 3 years ago.  I decided to repost it as maybe my timing of writing it 3 years ago was not as timely as it is today.   Originally published on January 2014. (Disclaimer:  Graphic language.  These are my personal experiences and opinions and do not reflect the experiences of anyone else) The recent news of the gang rapes of female tourists and local women in India is appalling.  Today this was a strong headline in the New York Times:     NEW DELHI — A young woman in West Bengal was gang-raped this week on the order of a village council, to punish her for planning to marry a man from outside the village, according to Indian police .   Click here to read the entire article in the New York Times . This news reminded me of my e...

In the past few months a lot of people have asked me about my personal experiences with AirBNB. I have used AirBNB in Los Angeles and Seattle to date.  As a single white female  I am pretty careful about what types of bookings I make in Los Angeles. As most people know, Los Angeles is a huge sprawling city with lots of great neighborhoods and many pockets of seedy neighborhoods that are part of the landscape of a crazy urban wasteland. I normally look for listings that have a separate entrance or studio on the property.  I do not book listings where it is a private room inside the home of a stranger.   I am no longer a college student and do not feel comfortable just crashing in a bedroom in a random  house.   I have to have my own entrance and bathroom.   I am not an expert on Los Angeles but I do try to find locations that are safe. The first place I booked was a studio attached to a house in Mt. Washington.  The listing said it was in a ...

La Jolla Sunset 2015 When I first started looking at apartments in San Diego in 2013  I was excited about the move from rainy Seattle to San Diego.   I looked at over 20 apartments and applied to like 10 of them.  All of the applications were turned down. I felt hopeless.  No one wanted us.  No one wanted to rent to a family with terrible credit, two small dogs and a kid.  It did not matter than I had a copy of my husbands new salary as proof of income and that it was well above the national average.  Our credit sucked. I was almost in tears when I realized I had been in San Diego for a week and a half and had still not found a place to live.  My kid was 3 states away with my parents, my dogs were at some random dog hotel in Seattle, my husband had already been gone a month working in downtown San Diego fullime while living out of a seedy hotel in Mira Mesa.   I was paying $1800 a month a rental in downtown Seattle.   I had ...

After a crazy hectic trip to smoggy Tianjin/Beijing, China I was thrilled to arrive in Bangkok.   Thailand has always been my second home.   Today we went to Wat Po (Famous Reclining Buddha) and Wat Arun.   We are staying at the Sala Rattanakosin which is a small boutique hotel on the river with amazing views of Wat Arun.   Tonight we had dinner with my friend, Joe Cummings   www.joecummings.com  a well known American expat in the music/author sphere who now resides full time in Bangkok.  He took us to a local Thai restaurant and the waiter asked if we were movie stars.  Funny!  Now I have to tackle my jetlag! My family in Bangkok with Wat Arun in the background Wat Po, Bangkok, Thailand Ciao for now.. XO, TS

Thai baby & Pug.  Perfect. SEVEN years ago I went to Thailand to adopt my daughter from an orphanage in Bangkok.   In less than two weeks from today we fly back to Bangkok to show our daughter the country of her birth.   I am excited to show her the different parts of Thailand that I have loved over the years.   I love Thailand and now that I am better off than your average backpacker, on this trip I have booked "better" hotels. (When I used to travel to Asia I stayed in $20 a night cheap hotels)  However,  I really want to show my daughter what its like to live in the average village of Thailand. We currently live in La Jolla, CA which has some of the highest costs of living in the United States and the highest home prices nation wide.  We can't afford to buy the houses here that average about two million dollars so we rent a nice apartment.   My daughter is not spoiled, but by default she has every creature comfort of...

In one of my graduate courses we have a case study on Chad.  Its a little complicated and beyond the scope of my blog so I wont get into detail here.   I have never been to Africa but as part of the studies I have to learn a lot about Chad and Africa.   Its so easy as a middle class American living in a very affluent area to forget about how most of the people in the world live.  I have travelled to many third world countries where people don't have electricity and get their water out of wells in the ground, some of which include Laos, The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, etc.   Its easy to forget in your dad to day life about how it really is to survive for most people on the planet.   That is where the quote comes from "first world problems."  Take for example, my iPhone. Its my second iPhone in 4 years.  Lately it erased all of my contacts and phone numbers...annoying, yes.  Life-altering...not really.   Is this a first world problem?...

As a younger woman, a lot of people don't teach you to listen to your inner voice.  You have to listen to yourself and trust yourself first. For my life I have learned to listen to myself and to my inner voice.  A few weeks ago, a mutual acquaintance was telling me she was going from Los Angeles to Montana by herself to take some classes...and she mentioned it was the first time that she was going to go somewhere by herself, completely alone and meeting no one she knew..and she is 51 years old.   You know what I told her?  I told her it would be good for her.  I also told her I started going and doing things by myself when I was quite young.   To list a few. 1.  At age 18 I moved to Savannah GA to be a nanny and live and go to college.  I knew no one but the family I was living with. 2.  At age 21 I went to Thailand to be an exchange student.  I did not know anyone. 3.  At age 22 I went to Phuket, Thailand to work at a 5 sta...

I have met some amazing entrepreneurs in North San Diego county, two best friends named Allie and Lori.  They have recently launched a great online boutique with unique one of a kind fashion accessories from different parts of the world.   From vintage English button necklaces to handmade jewelry from Belize...they have someone for everyone.  Check out their shop at www.allielorcollections.com

Have you ever been to the Great Wall of China?  I have been to China a few times to visit factories for footwear and handbags, but I have never been there as a tourist.  I have been to Hong Kong several times but I have never really been there as a tourist.  When you are a tourist you see interesting places, like the Great Wall of China.  When you are in a city or country for business, you just go from office to office to factory.  All the meals are with vendors and factory suppliers, you never really see anything cool.  The last time I went to Hong Kong I just met with suppliers the whole week, the high light of my trip was a massage at the top of the hotel in the spa.  It cost like $200 and was the best massage I have ever had.  The hotel still sends me coupons for the spa via email..even though I will probably never stay there again..it was some hotel in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. I was thinking about travel today when I was sitting in the Seattle ...

I realize that stress ages a lot of us beyond our years...what is the key to managing stress? It seems like life is either crazy insane busy or dull.  It is hard to find that middle ground.  It would be ideal to just work part time to make ends meet and the rest of the time enjoy your hobbies, travel or exercise, but in the USA today, it seems like the only way to make ends meet is for everyone to work full time.  (unless you are born with a silver spoon-I was born with a plastic spoon) What do you do to handle stress?  I try to exercise at the gym in my apartment, but I don't always make it, and in the nicer months I like to run outside.   That is what I miss about living in California is that I could exercise outside all year round.  In Seattle, its limited. Love this photo of my daughter enjoying a stress-free summer afternoon in Seattle a few years ago.   This was taken when I was launching my handbag business..I was working from home while tak...