Life

MORNINGS WITH THE LISENBES ///

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1 // up to no good... while we were sleeping...every morning it's something different.
2 // Jacob brought me and Boomy coffee in bed.
3 // Boomy insisted to help with emails.
4 // Jacob headed out early to catch his flight.
5 // figuring out what to wear from my new goodies from Madewell & Lululemon.
6 // new fan of BROWzings  and long time lover of Bronzer.
7 // helping me pick out some tunes... every song on this album is good.
8 // Finally shipping a Bueno Bueno package out to our pal Natalie from TOPKNOT GOODS!
9 // Headed to Black Hole for some iced coffee.

This week we have a tiny little guest staying at our house, his name is Boomer. Man is he a cute spunky lil creature. I really can't take how cute he is. Bootsie is still trying to figure him out. I have learned that cats are easy and dogs are a lot of work... especially with Jacob being gone.

STASH CO | Buffalo Spring



Find a job. After college you're suppose to find a job. And it better be a good one with good people, because they will become your family.

After college, I started on a long (for my parents sake I'll say very long) journey to finding a job. Along the way I was an intern, a receptionist, an intern at fossil, an intern at St8mnt, a freelancer, broke and jobless, an everything woman, a salon coordinator, a set designer, and my favorite (i HATED this job), a sales associate at Anthropologie where I had to not only ask to pee, but then be escorted to the loo. While about three years of craziness and real life education was taking place I started reflecting on what I was doing with my time. Since I don't believe in doing anything less than 100%, every minute spent somewhere was a strong investment. I started asking myself, what do I really want to do? What is important to me? I came up with two things, well, three.

1. I want to create. No matter what I'm making, designing, doing, I want to create.
2. Character. To be surrounded with folks that I respect, love and have good character.
3. Never cease seeking inspiration.

With all of these things combined, I started a project, The Pinpoint Method and I met Cheryl, a bag builder from Houston, Texas working out of a century old mattress factory in Sealy, Texas. She was the first of a trial set of five interviews I did. She was amazing. From the first phone conversation, I felt like I knew her. Over the course of about a year, I continued on the Pinpoint Method interviews / working at a salon and anthropologie, and she went on building bags, and creating a business that I would soon become a part of.

Last October, Cheryl and I met in a parking lot in Houston. I was heading out of town the next day and the camera I was using for TPM became unavailable last minute and I was almost screwed. Cheryl and her husband/partner, Paul, offered one of their personal cameras for the trip, so we met in parking lot while she was delivering a bag. We started talking about life, work, goals, one thing led to another and she kind of offered me a job. I went out of town for TPM, came back, met Cheryl for lunch and my life changed. I found myself at the factory immediately, everyday, all day. I couldn't get enough. I came to work charged with energy, passion, and excited to be a part of something to honest and unique. I finally put into words (for those of you who know me, words are not my game) and told Cheryl what it was to have Stash. It was like speaking a language my whole life and getting by with only gestures because no one knew the language. This whole time, I  haven't been able to communicate or truly know my own potential until meeting everyone at this place. These folks spoke my language. I not only found my job (angels sing and my parents praise Jesus), I found my tribe.

This video is a true representation of what Cheryl and Paul have built at Stash. When I was asked to take on this video organization and propose a story board, a mantra that Cheryl blogged on the Stash site came to mind. I took this Mantra and and ran...

"We must savor the moment we are in.
-The laughter-
-The camaraderie-
Like sunlight on an evening cloud bank it will never 
reflect precisely these patterns and colors ever again."
- Stash

I have found my tribe and I appreciate every moment we work toward something larger, together. Every milestone we hit is a victory. Every laugh, every cry, every bag (haha. I laugh, but I'm serious), is truly appreciated because we know, that exact moment, that exact achievement will never happen exactly like that ever again.

Thank you to all of our friends for being a part of Buffalo Spring. Thank you Micah Bickham for capturing the magic. Thank you Wandering Bufaleros for providing the soundtrack. Thank you Stash for creating this place and this opportunity for us to be a part of something magical.

To check out our new, beautiful Stash site, click here

XO,
K

SHOEBOX STORIES: 25 yr old him, 25 yr old me

I'm not sure when I came to be the owner of this photo or when, but at some point in time this photo of my Pops sitting in his old truck made its' way out of the ol shoebox and into my possession.

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This photo lives on the top ledge of my sewing table. The other night my pops caught a glimpse of it  and said 'Holy crap, is that my old truck?' Apparently, he'd never even seen this photo. I guess it was just one of those photos that my mom snapped, developed and put in a shoebox for all these years. Again, I have no idea how this photo made its way to me, but here it is.  My Pops told me this was the truck he owned when he was twenty-five and it was his first and only new vehicle that he's ever owned to this day. Over and over he repeated 'Oh man, I loved that truck...' I was just born, Brandi was six, and my parents were moving us to Colorado from Houston, Texas. Everyone kept telling my pops that the truck was an awful vehicle for colorado and all the snow. So after hearing that from enough folks he let fear take over and he sold his love for a 'dang family van'. haha. While he was holding this photo in his hand shaking his head and laughing he said he even bought the rims separate and took it in to be 'pimped out'. You see all those pin stripes? Yep, my Pops took the truck to an old shop, down the road from where he grew, up in Sharpstown to a cross eyed fella named Milburn. Pops watched Milburn do most of the stripe work free hand.

It was weird watching my Pops react to a photo of his life that he had never seen and re live and tell the story as if it just happened. I have a terrible memory and I don't think of myself as a good story teller, but I hope one day I can offer little family history stories here and there to my kids one day (you know, if that ever happens). It was also weird to think, my pops was 25, married with two kids and moving a family to another state. I'm 25 with half of my life in a single bedroom, the other half in storage, in love, a passion for design and travel, and living completely different. I can't even imagine making choices like giving up a vehicle that I love for the safety of my family. I mean, of course I would do that, but to think of making those kinds of choices and sacrifices at this point in my life is foreign.

While pursuing dreams, it's easy to get tunnel vision and make decisions only for yourself, so hearing little stories like this help keep me grounded and to remember to make good decision and to keep in mind the ones I love. I admire my Pops and when he tells me stories of his life, that grows. I want to be that person for my kids too. I admire 25 year old him. I hope they'll admire 25 year old me.


Thank you for all the comments, I've loved reading them! Paul asked what my Pops drives now... well after a long list of used cars (most without ac) he's still putting miles on a '97 GMC Sierra pickup. Boy, is that thing a site. It's been hit by un insured Houstonians a few times and the passenger door doesn't open from the inside, so Pops has to open the door for who ever rides with him. I love it. I think my pops will ride it out until it's completely dead, then who knows what's next.