Wine & Love!

I'm not one for excessive linkups but this one was too hard to pass up.  I spotted it today on my friend Meredith's blog, Thank You Ma'am (do you read her blog?  If not, you should hop on over there and follow her.  We were paired as swap partners and now her blog is one of my favorites.  She's finishing law school and getting married all in the next four months, and she's a southern girl, too!).  So link up with Nora if you want to play along and tell us what has you reachin' for the wine bottle & what you're loving!

from / I really want a set of the glasses on the right--pretty!

What's Got Me Reachin' for the Bottle:

*The punk kid who said "that's hella gay" in my 2nd period class and then when I reprimanded him, replied "you're hella f---ed up."  Level 3 referral before I'm done with coffee = no good.

*Final exams for seniors next week.  I haven't written my finals.  That's all.

*Needing a job and a roommate by July 1st.  Just a lil too much pressure for this girl.  Ohhhhh Saturn Returns, you're killin' me.  

*My apartment looks like it has been ransacked by burglars (incidentally, "burglar" is one of the funniest words in the English language).

*Jillian Michaels and Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred.  And every time she says "Don't phone it in."

*My mama's turning 50 in a couple weeks and she lives all the way across the country.  Would that I had the time (off) and money to go home to Georgia and celebrate with her!

from Philip Hazard

What I'm Loving:

*Balboa's graduation is May 26th.  The freedom of summer is a'callin.

*Summer, my cousin Jennifer, Micaela, Marianne, and Jessie are all coming to visit in the next month and a half!

*I recently got a necklace in the mail from a Love & Victory giveaway that I won on Cup of Jo!  Can you believe I won a Cup of Jo giveaway??  It's basically impossible!  This is the necklace:

(it's the LOVE one.  Thank you Love & Victory and Joanna!)

*Speaking of giveaways, I am loving Bianca of justbedesigns and the giveaway she is sponsoring on my blog!  If you haven't entered yet, please do so here.  The choices are incredible!

*The show Parenthood.  I'm totally hooked.  Have any of you seen it?

Let me know if you link up so I can check out your post.  In any case, I hope your "loving" list is longer than your "reaching for the wine bottle" list!  Happy almost-Friday. :)

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!

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! ;)

A few things to know:

1. I'd been whining about my very amateur blog look for a while, and how I had no idea how to go about changing it, when suddenly . . .

ERIN ELDER TO THE RESCUE!

If you don't know Erin (and her adorable blog, dailee tidbits), you should!  She is an incredibly talented graphic designer/photographer/makeup artist, and damn does she know how to spice up a blog's image!  Seriously, it went down something like this:

Claire: Erin, I want three columns and a sea green glitter background, please.

Erin: I got you covered.

And she did the rest!  I'm amazed that she knows so much about layout, font, design, which-images-work-well-where, etc.  She made my blog look exactly as I'd envisioned and for that, I am forever grateful!  Thank you so much, sweet Erin!  I am pretty smitten with my blog now. :)

♥ ♥ ♥

2. I love my friend Jessie and I love Etsy and if you feel the same way, then you should sign up for her amazing swap!

You have until next Monday (March 7th, aka Micaela and Marianne's birthday!) to enter.  Jessie will pair you with a partner, and you'll exchange some info: what you're into, which Etsy shops are your favorite, etc . . . and then you'll surprise each other with a handmade gift from Etsy.  Sign up and maybe be my partner! :)  I can't wait to see what everyone picked out . . .

♥ ♥ ♥

3. You should really know about this giveaway because it's pretty spectacular.  Visit Sarah at sadie designs and enter for a chance to win this beauty:

Gorgeous, right?  If you win, I will be both happy for you and jealous of you, ha!

Hope you're all having a great Tuesday--I'm about to pour a cup of dark, strong coffee, and then mine will become exponentially better. :)

A bag full of treasures (for you!)

Micaela is one of my favorite people and she is having a giveaway of her favorite things!


Isn't that a sweet idea?  And let me tell you--it's not one to be missed.  A serious Monday pick-me-up (God knows I could use one).  Wanna know what she's offering?

↑  All of those lovely things (UO blank polaroid, rose magnet, bow earrings, Falsies mascara, Milano cookies, collectable coffee mug, mixed tape of Micaela's favorite songs, and The Time Traveler's Wife)

tucked into this adorable tote:

Go enter to win here, and add her sweet little giveaway button to your blog for an extra chance!

But before you do that, tell me this:  If you had a giveaway of your favorite things, what would it include?  I think mine would consist of:


*a 1/2 pound of Blue Bottle coffee
*a Pilot pen
*OPI for Sephora Only Gold for Me topcoat nail polish
*some big, dangly earrings
*a book of poems (maybe Li-Young Lee's The City in Which I Love You)


Tell me about yours!


p.s.--I just discovered another lovely giveaway at Blue Eyed Freckle!  Enter here to win these beauties:

She's always got tons of adorable crafts, tutorials, etc. on her blog, so hurry on over!

Friday I'm in Love!

Summergirl

1.  These giveaways:

**Meghan (whom I adore and whose blog I always look forward to reading) at The Perfect Compilation Tape is giving away your choice of Rhianne's prints!

**Neely at A Complete Waste of Makeup is giving away a $50 gift certificate to your choice: Target, Starbucks, Sephora, Anthropologie, Lululemon, or Banana Republic.  WHAT?!  Go enter!

2. Lunch with my dearie former student & her babykid:

3. One of my besties had her baby!!!  
Perhaps you know who I'm referring to. :)  I'll give you more deets as soon as she gives me the okay, but let's just say I can't wait to meet my lil nephew!

4. Scoutmob

If you live in San Francisco, Atlanta, or New York City and you don't have Scoutmob, get with the program.  Every other day or so you get a 50% off coupon (on your phone) to a restaurant/store/etc. around town.  Last Friday night I had dinner with some of my faves at Andalu for half off (three of us had dinner & a pitcher of sangria for $30-something!).  Sweeeeeeet.  

Not loving:

Sammi, go home already!  Last night was such a tease!

Happy Friday!

Yay Creuset!

So, I don't necessarily win a lot of giveaways, but the ones I do win sure are awesome.  The first one I ever won (way before I had a blog) was an adorable, small, framed print from my "real life" friend Christina at Down & Out Chic (it hangs in my bathroom now!).  Many months later came a beautiful handmade copper necklace that says "I change the world" from the lovely Jeanette at Everton Terrace.  A few months after that, I scored big with a Hana flat iron from Erika at Cafe Fashionista (how excited was I for that?).

And guess what I won just after Christmas?  A 6 qt. Le Creuset stock pot from Aimee at Chic & Cheap Living!  I have been so incredibly obsessed with all things Le Creuset lately that I've been stalking Amazon, Williams Sonoma, etc. for reasonable deals.  So you can only imagine my delight when she emailed me saying I'd won her giveaway and that I got to pick a color for the stock pot.

It just came in the mail and has me grinning from ear to ear:

I chose "Dijon"

and how cute does it look on my stove??

I made my delicious vegetable minestrone last night, and I think it even tastes better thanks to my happy new Le Creuset stock pot!  Thank you so much, Aimee!

And now I'm off to do something grungy like go to a thrift store or drink a cheap beer, cause the past 24 hours have been a little too bougie for me:  I cooked in a Le Creuset pot, went to a Dailey Method workout, and bought 2 pairs of (sale) lululemon pants.  Yikes!

p.s. Dailey Method is HARD!  Serious strength workout.  Try it!

p.p.s. GEAUX SAINTS!  WHO DAT!

A Cute Baby, Poems, and a Giveaway!

Thanks everyone for humoring my over-eager "guest blogger" yesterday (I found him working suspiciously quietly on my computer, asked what he was up to, and he said "Oh, just writing an email" . . . twenty minutes later, 90% of his self-declared "Guest Post" was written--HA).  He loved the attention, and maybe he'll be back early next week since I will be in Guatemala!  


Yesterday after work I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to hang out with the Freitags, and I know sometimes I tend to go overboard with the baby pics . . . but can you believe this sweet face?

Jude:  The Good Egg

Goodness that is one sweet baby boy.  And speaking of good things, my oldest friend Lesley (she was at the hospital waiting for me to be born--she was only 6 months old and knew we'd be best friends since our mamas were!) is hosting a special Christmas giveaway from my sister's vintage etsy shop!  Click here to enter, and grab the button on my right sidebar if you're so inclined.  This is what's up for grabs:

very fine house

Today is my Cobra day and my poem is due in a few short hours.  I always have the most trouble writing when I'm responding to one of my own assignments (we take turns giving assignments, then have dinner & mini poetry workshops every other week or so).  This time, it's write a poem that addresses your greatest fear.  Pretty terrifying, huh?  I have a few fears and phobias to work with, ha, so I'm not sure which one I'm gonna tackle yet.  Maybe developing paranoid schizophrenia or some sort of psychosis . . . that scares the living daylights out of me.  I'm shuddering just thinking about all my greatest fears . . . 

What would you write about?

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.

Night and Day

It's such a trip teaching wild teenagers who've had people in their lives locked up--many of whom have learning and/or emotional disabilities, anger issues, serious ADHD, bad impulse control, etc., who often don't have stable housing, healthy food, or any sort of consistency in their lives . . and then babysitting after school for little infants and toddlers who are the healthiest, most loved, well-cared for kids on the planet. Guess it speaks to the greater chasm in our society between the lucky and the unlucky, those who have and those who don't. Gotta say, I'm pretty glad that I have both in my life. Here they are, my little paradoxes:

My cousin Adam was in town early this week for business (ohhhhh how I wish I was "in town" in cool cities "for business," hahaha). He was staying around Fisherman's Wharf, and my friend Josh Klipp happened to be performing a jazz set nearby at Enrico's in North Beach, so I swung by and picked up Adam on Tuesday night, and we sat at Enrico's, semi-outdoors, and listened to Josh croon while eating yummy Italian food and sipping cocktails (well, *I* was sipping cocktails). Josh is a great singer, dancer, and def knows how to work a stage! Check out his sometimes jazzy, sometimes R&B-ish music. Did I mention he's a lawyer by day? I love seeing my talented friends perform. And, I love seeing my talented STUDENTS perform. Which they're doing tonight, at CIIS in San Francisco, at 6:30 pm! They really are so brave, getting on stage and reading their stories about the saddest parts of their lives. I'm kind of in awe of them right now (wait--maybe I should save that for tomorrow--don't wanna jinx it).

Here's a photo of Josh at Enrico's that doesn't do him or the place justice:

So excited for the weekend, y'all! After my kiddos' big event tonight, I plan to do a whole lotta nail-painting, tv-watching, sun-basking, day-dozing, lazing about tomorrow!

Wish my little rascals luck tonight!

Also:

1. Check out Summer's delicious giveaway (sweet yellow handmade rose earrings? what's more perfect for this time of year??)!

2. Then, check out sweet Micaela's delicious giveaway (J.Crew necklace & floral pouch!)--soooo pretty! Plus, her blog is one of my faves and she's my new favorite email friend.

XOXO

Prom Pics

Prom night was decidedly just as much of a blast for the teacher "chaperones" as it was for the kiddos. But before I get into the night's shenanigans, check out this little gem I found:

me & my high school boyfriend at junior prom 1998!

Amazing, right? Oh, the simple days. Of being 16 and having a boyfriend who lived in a week-by-week motel and had a baby with his ex-girlfriend, who turned out to be a professional escort. (All of that is true).

Fast-forward 12 years to last night's prom at San Francisco City Hall. Gorgeous! My peeps and I gathered at Monica and Mike's for pre-prom pizza and cocktails before cabbing it down to City Hall to join the festivities. Here are some pics--please excuse the dark grainy-ness of the iphone photos:

the venue

my favorite prom shot!

me with my sweet, handsome student JD

the M twinnies looking lovely

my 5th period student LG and his lady B

me with G & D--I love these two!

Gaela with her little bff, SM

I couldn't have been happier to see JH and JD come to prom together!

at a bar after prom--note the dollar bill in Cheryl's dress

We had so much fun (maybe a little too much fun), and I am sure as hell paying for it today. I've spent most of this gorgeous, sunny Sunday fighting my massive hangover in bed and/or on my couch (with a small break to get veggie Chinese and ice cream with Meagan). So much for my plans to go to the farmers' market and hike! Sometimes you just gotta surrender to the slumber.

In other news: the biggest thank you I can shout to Erika at Cafe Fashionista for hosting the most amazing giveaway ever! Guess what I won? A freaking awesome new flat iron. I couldn't be more psyched. Go check out Erika's fantastic blog for all kinds of fashion and humor and girly goodness. I love it!