Pick your own necklace GIVEAWAY!

I never do giveaways unless it's something I truly adore.  Remember how I went on about how much I love the etsy shop justbedesigns on Friday?  Wellllllll, the sweet owner and jewelry artist, Bianca, has offered up a necklace, ring, or pair of earrings (of your choice!) to one Bicoastally reader.  How lucky are you??  Since I can't win my own giveaway (damn!), I already ordered this necklace for myself. :)

Here are some things you'll be able to choose from should you be the lucky winner:

I carry your heart golden necklace

Anais Nin Poetic Sparkler ring

(I want this one reeeeeal bad)

Pearly Pie Vintage Reworked Ring

Frida Kahlo Artistically Charmed earrings

Pride and Prejudice you must allow me beaded necklace

Check out Bianca's shop here to see all the other gorgeous (and literary inspired!) pieces!

Ways to enter:

1. Follow Bicoastally through Google Friend Connect ↑

2. Visit justbedesigns and tell me which item you'd choose if you won

3. Favorite ("heart") justbedesigns on etsy

4. Tweet about this giveaway; my twitter handle is @clairekiefer

5. Blog about this giveaway and/or put the below button on your blog!

(link to this giveaway post, please)

That's a total of five potential entries.  Please leave a separate comment for each entry so I can find the winner more easily. :)  

Good luck, and happy Monday!

Back in Love

It's Friday and I'm happy again!  So glad to report that I don't have to share a "not in love" list today.  It's been gorgeous this week in San Francisco, it's the end of the week, and I'm a joyful girl.

play along with Summer B

1. Etsy seller justbedesigns

I carry your heart with me small necklace

Hope is the thing with feathers necklace

Anne Sexton Poetic Charm Bracelet

Anais Nin Poetic Ring

There are many ways to my heart; two of them are poetry and jewelry.  How 'bout this stellar combination of the two?  I found the e.e. cummings necklace first (swoon!) and then came upon these other gorgeous pieces.  And it doesn't stop there--this seller has jewelry depicting Jane Austen, Alice in Wonderland, Edith Piaf, etc.  So pretty.

2. BBQ season in California

My girl Anna has a new boo and we get to meet him and give our seal of approval on Sunday!  Can't wait to peep this guy (he lives in Baltimore and flew into town last night).  

from

Bring on the soy dogs & veggies.  You gotta admit, vegetables on the grill are a pretty sight.  Even if you prefer medium rare hamburgers (barf).  You know, the last time I had a hamburger was in the 7th grade. I remember sitting at my parents' dining room table, eating a hamburger, and throwing up after.  And that was the end of a (meat-eating) era.  In any case, since I can't be with my mama on Mother's Day, I can't wait to spend Sunday the second best way: grilling, sipping, and laughing with friends.  Cheers to new love!

3. The Prison University Project at San Quentin

Here's the link.  They are amazing.  I want them to hire me. That is all.

(and if you were wondering, I am still head over heels for this dress). 

Happy weekend everyone!  Hope it's as sunny wherever you are as it is here.

Snobbery

I try REALLY hard not to be a grammar snob.  I totally appreciate colloquial English, and think that proper grammatical structure has virtually no place in spoken language (or, as I've often demonstrated, my blog.  ha!).

But I can't help it.  Drives me batty when I see people putting apostrophes where they don't belong (like in random plural words).  Ex:

"Hello from the Anderson's!"

"Check out these shirt's!"

Anyway, one too many mutterings about how this nonsense makes me want to pull my hair out, and I get an email from my dear friend Brady yesterday saying, "Saw this and immediately thought of you."  He was referring to this letterpress card from Etsy seller shopsaplingpress.  Check out the hilarity:

letterpress card

I'd buy a whole box full if I didn't think I'd alienate all the recipients.  :)

Friday I'm in Love . . . sorta

1. Azim Khamisa
I'm teaching about forgiveness and restorative justice in class right now, and Azim Khamisa embodies the principles of empathy and forgiveness.  His 20 year old son, Tariq, a pizza delivery guy, was shot and killed by an angry 14 year old when he was held up for the pizza.  Instead of seeking revenge, Azim Khamisa has established the Tariq Khamisa Foundation, the philosophy of which is that there are "victims at both ends of the gun."  He works closely with the grandfather of his son's killer, traveling around speaking to young people about violence prevention and forgiveness.  If you have the chance to see the short film "From Murder to Forgiveness," do it.

from

One of my heroes, that man.  But what I'm not in love with?  The fact that I can't attend this conference.  

2. Earth Day

Everything in my sister's etsy shop, Very Fine House, is now HALF OFF with the code . . . HALFOFF. ;)

from

3. Ruffly Swimsuits

These and pretty much all others from Anthropologie.  Gotta hop on the Shred bandwagon before I start trying on swimsuits, though, geez.  And speaking of swimsuits, would you check out this wackness from Urban Outfitters?  WTF?  

Okay, I'm off to finish the school day and then jet off to find a delicious bottle of red wine to bring to my friends' house for dinner tonight.  Ah, adult beverages and conversation.  You heal me.

**Link up with Summer and tell us what you're loving this Friday:

You Know You Want It.

Many of you know about my sister's lovely shop, Very Fine House:

She collects & sells all kinds of vintage housewares (at really affordable prices).  Because she and my brother-in-law are in the process of moving (they're buying their first home!), she's trying to get rid of her inventory so that she can start anew after the move (in the interest of moving as little as possible).  


Therefore, she is offering readers of Bicoastally 20% anything in her shop!  Check out some of the items she has for sale:

mounted six-point antlers

century old music book (117 years old!)

large blue letter B

bird glass set

vintage stationery set

vintage red suitcases

M cookie jar

Click on her shop link to check out all the other things she has for sale.  Everything is 20% off!  Just use the code BICOASTALLY at checkout. :)

Happy Thursday!  We're almost there!

Catching my Eye(s) of Late

When I have something BIG looming over my head, I become the most easily distracted person in the world.  Suddenly, idiotic tv shows become appealing (ha, what am I talking about, "suddenly"), tasks around the house present themselves, and I even remember that I'm past due for an oil change (um, and my student loans).  It's remarkable.  And although I turned in my mammoth manuscript on Monday, here are some things that are (still) keeping me distracted lately:

from

WTF.  Do y'all know that my girl is gonna be FIVE next month?  And she's suckin' on a paci?  What's up with infantilizing kindergartners?  I wonder if she'll need her pacifier during her first book report.  Or before prom, just to calm her down.  Or to ease her pre-wedding jitters.  Gosh.

1. Tiny bow gold filled wire wrap ring

2. Bright blue Fleur de lis flour sack towel

3. fight the good fight print

4. There is no prison here original art

As I mentioned, I'm participating in the lovely Jessie's etsy swap!  I'm excited to be paired with the sweet Meredith from Thank You Ma'am.  And while I should be focusing on her favorite etsy pics, I can't but gaze at my own faves . . . four of which are these. :)  What are your favorite etsy finds these days?

My dear friends, the B's, are on an adoption quest, as you may well know.  And Summer's sweet friend KLaw has created this print to raise money for the (very costly) adoption.  Click here to buy the print and support the B's!

from/from

This really happened: On Monday night, as I was driving the short distance from the H-Unit to the East Gate of San Quentin (pictured above) after my (spectacular) poetry class, I almost ran over a deer.  That's right: a darlin' lil Bambi was prancing around the grounds of one of the most famous prisons in America.  I guess God likes to be funny sometimes?  While I appreciated the cosmic irony of this bizarre occurrence, I also thanked my lucky stars that I didn't run over the dang thing.  Not only cause hitting a deer would be emotionally traumatic, but . . . can you imagine a worse place to be stranded with a totaled car?

Annnnnnnnd my Micaela is having a giveaway!  Click here to win this sweet (and special) "Micaela" headband, created by the lovely & talented Gracienne. 

So, was this post long enough to make up for my absence the past two days?  Ha.  Hope you made it through! ;)

Festive.

Today I am sporting my red Miu Miu slingbacks*:

and this little headband in my hair:

from Gracie Bella Butterfly

toting these for my lil' monster-students:

and with copies of this poem to share with them:

First Poem for You**

            Kim Addonizio

I like to touch your tattoos in complete

darkness, where I can't see them.  I'm sure of

where they are, know by heart the neat

lines of lightning pulsing just above

your nipple, can find, as if by instinct, the blue

swirls of water on your shoulder where a serpent

twists, facing a dragon.  When I pull you

to me, taking you until we're spent

and quiet on the sheets, I love to kiss

the pictures in your skin.  They'll last until

you're seared to ashes; whatever persists

or turns to pain between us, they will still

be there.  Such permanence is terrifying.

So I touch them in the dark; but touch them, trying.

***

Seriously: what's not to love about Valentine's Day?  However, my Valentine's Day promises to be quite untraditional, as instead of savoring a romantic dinner tonight, I will be teaching love poems at San Quentin State Prison.  What a hilarious place to spend the day of love!  It will certainly remind me that there are far worse positions to be in than dateless. ;)

What are y'all up to today??

*Let it be known that I will not be wearing said Miu Miu slingbacks to the prison tonight.
**Did you notice it's a perfect Shakespearean sonnet?

Call me crazy . . .

but somehow, I really do love Valentine's Day.

I've rarely been coupled on Valentine's Day.  I have an uncanny ability to end up in the midst of a break-up, or arrive at some sort of ending, right before February 14th (this year being no exception).  And yet, I can't help it--I still love the holiday.

Maybe it's that I love love, maybe it's that I love chocolate, maybe it's how cute conversation hearts look in Spanish:

llame me?  cuuuuuute.

My girlfriends and I have had an all girls Valentine's Day sleepover at my house the past five years, even those years we've been in relationships.  The V-Day sleepover always involves mac & cheese, pink lollipops, Valentini cocktails, funfetti cupcakes, nail polish, copious amounts of Sex and the City, and silky jammies.

doing my nails at V-Day sleepover 2006

I think this was 2008--we even had heart-shaped ravioli!

part of last year's spread

It's totally a controversial holiday.  Some people love getting super mushy with their lover, some couples think it's cheesy and commercial, some single people get bitter & boycott, and some single people--like me--embrace it as a day that celebrates LOVE!

Occasionally a little bit of self-pity begins to sink in, but then I remember how amazing my girlfriends are and how much fun the V-Day sleepover is every year.  And it's kind of cute that my coffee table is turning into a Valentine factory:

Plus, I bought this from Gracie's etsy shop last night:

What do you think of Valentine's Day?

And Speaking of Giveaways . . .

This is my sister, Kate:

(from brother-in-law's photo blog)

She just opened an Etsy shop called Very Fine House, where she is selling vintage housewares like this:

vintage bird glass set

and this:

working normende condor transistor radio

and this:

blue grey letter A

and this:

vintage stationery set

So go check out her shop!  Her prices are great and her taste is impeccable.  And guess what?  My dearest Micaela is hosting a giveaway of two coveted items from my sister's shop!  Head over to Micaela's blog to see what Kate is giving away and to  enter! I love this partnership of two ladies I love. ♥

Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the darling giveaway (courtesy of Robyn!) last week!  I'm so grateful to Robyn for generously offering up her goods, and to all of you readers who "liked" or "hearted" her shop.  I'm all about promoting creative, independent business owners.  And the winner . . .

write em out . . . 

mix em up . . . 

and draw!

Congrats to Shelly of Green Chic!  Email me your address and choice of print at kieferclaire@gmail.com, and I'll forward your info right onto Robyn!  ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I wish everyone could have won, but I encourage you to visit Robyn's Etsy shop and check out all her incredible stationery, art, and jewelry.  I seriously love everything she makes (I've already ordered from her, and you better believe I'll continue to!), and can personally attest to her quality and timeliness.  If you buy something from her shop, tell her I sent you and let me know you did!

XOXO and happy Monday!

Sweet Sweet Giveaway!

Recently, I was lucky enough to stumble upon Chicago artist Robyn (robayre) on Etsy.  I was looking for cute stationery, and voila--she had exactly what I wanted!  Look what I bought:

bunting stationery set with handmade envies

I emailed Robyn to ask her to do something custom, and she couldn't have been sweeter.  She made my listing (perfectly!) right away and shipped it out in the blink of an eye.  She even included a lovely little letter and some extras in my package!  We began emailing back and forth, and--you guessed it--Robyn has offered to give away two of her amazing products to one of you readers!  Here's what's up for grabs:

1. One bunting stationery set with handmade envies

(20 pieces of stationery, 10 envies, 10 address labels)

2. One of her gorgeous reproduction prints!  Here are my two favorites:

Wing and a Prayer

You Are My Favorite

but you can choose from several others here!

Aren't those things lovely?  I can tell you first-hand how awesome her stationery is.  It's the perfect size, colorful, and the envelopes are beautiful.  My favorite one is made out of a music sheet print. ♥

So you can win both the bunting stationery and a lovely print by leaving a comment below!  Here's the deal:

1. for one entry, be a follower of Bicoastally

2. for a second entry, "like" Robyn's shop on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/robayredotcom?ref=ts

(just let me know that you did--if the clicky link doesn't work, copy and paste the http!)

3. for a third entry, blog/tweet/etc. about this giveaway

(let's promote Robyn's shop!)

I will draw a name the old-fashioned way and announce the winner next Monday, 9/27.  So hop to!  XOXO.