I updated my EDC recently and I’m finally really happy with my lot. One of my goals was to minimalize. While I generally have a few extra items that aren’t pictured here, this really is an accurate representation of what I have in my bag at all times. (Now, if I could accomplish this in other aspects of my life, that would be great. )
Here’s what I have now:
Leatherman carabiner accessory (I love this thing and use the bottle opener all the time.)
Fiat 500 Sport key
Swiss Army knife (I used to have these as a kid and was feeling nostalgic. I still use my Leatherman micra sometimes, too.)
4GB key USB
Eos chapstick ball
Spyderco Tenacious
Lockpicks
Reporter’s notebook (I get these free from work since I go through them like crazy. I love them.)
Moleskine cahier (I got a pack of 3 and these are great little notebooks. I’ve been using them as my personal journals.)
Gel pens
Timex Weekender
HTC EVO phone
Timberland wallet
I feel like I’ve finally accomplished a streamlined EDC with sturdy, neutral gear and a few fun, colorful accessories. I especially love my new Timex which I’ve worn pretty much non-stop since I’ve gotten it.
Once again, I’ve been needing to re-evaluate my EDC gear. Lately, my bag has been a disaster, and have discovered a need for particular items. Using everyday-carry.com and the Reddit EDC forums for inspiration, here are some items on my wishlist.
1. Moleskine Notebook. I’ve always loved how versatile, iconic and minimal Moleskine notebooks are. I always have a reporter’s notepad in my bag for work, but in an effort to rekindle my love for personal journaling, I really need a good quality but small book to keep with me at all times.
2. Gal Spanish Lip Balm. Currently I have a lip balm tin in my bag that I love, but the label wore off and I don’t remember where it was from because my grandmother gave it to me. I like having a tin rather than a tube of lip balm because I can use the tins once they’re empty. Also, I think this tin is really pretty and provides a pop of color in my otherwise uniform EDC.
3. Kaufmann Mercantile EDC Tool Kit. I really like this little tool kit because it means I don’t need to carry these items separately. Plus the titanium finish is a nice touch. I just really love titanium.
4. Pilot Choose Gel Ink Pen. These kinds of pens used to be really popular when I was a kid (is that weird?) and I’ve always liked them because they write well, they feel nice and they look pretty.
5. Super Talent 16 GB USB Drive. For a while I’ve wanted an external hard drive so that I have my work and school files with me on all times, but I think a flash drive is much easier to transport and just as effective. I like how small this one is because I could keep it on my keychain.
6. Vintage Revival Crossbody. I’ve been in need of a good, sturdy but small bag for a while. I love Fossil bags for their quality and their style (although they are often far out of my price range). I did find one at Marshall’s last week with a huge discount… buuut I didn’t buy it because I was getting Christmas presents for my family. Sigh.
7. Fossil Georgia Leather Watch. Since I have a smartphone, I use it to check the time, but I think there’s something classy and timeless (no pun intended) about wearing a watch. I love this watch from Fossil (can you tell I love that brand?) because it’s a little rugged but it’s very easy to dress up or dress down.
Hey, guess what? I made my first knife this weekend! I posted about the process at Wildflower Magazine for my Girlhacker column, but I wanted to share photos here, too.
Knifemaking is a fascinating, but difficult, process. Now that I’ve made one, I’m excited and inspired to make more, but I have a lot of practicing to do!
I haven’t decided what I’m naming this one yet. I’ve been envisioning a collection based on fantasy archetypes. This one feels like a ranger’s knife–at least, that was kind of what I was thinking about when I made it.
I know I tend to snark about fashion a lot. I only dislike fashion when it promotes cultural appropriation or negative attitudes about class status or body image. That said, I think having a personal style is important for everyone. Lately, I’ve been making more of an effort to develop my own style. Ultimately, I’m incredibly inspired by clothes in fantasy and science fiction–outfits worn to participate in rituals or battles. In that sense, my clothes are like my armor. I love clothes that are practical, uniform but organic, with feminine touches. Honestly, my style icons are Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica and Alice from Resident Evil. Basically, anything that will look good accompanied by a weapon like a sword, knife, bow or gun is what I like.
I also really like war paint, but, you know, there’s a time and a place for that, unfortunately.
Some trends I’m enjoying lately are cool headwear (circlets, chains, scarves), nature-inspired imagery like antlers or skulls, astrological and astronomical symbols, boots, patterned tights, beaten metal, and buckles. The fall season makes me feel like a hippie. I like having items that I can wear every day that go with everything. So I was pretty much gushing while looking at the new lookbook by the Bohemian Collective.
Click image to view lookbook:
I love that it has a mix of funky and tailored clothing, and also evokes a sense of wanderlust. It feels very Western, too. Hey, Burning Man takes place close to where I live, so I’d like to think I understand bohemian style pretty well by now. And I was born in Berkeley, so there you go.
I love the photography and outfits in this lookbook, and it’s been a big inspiration for parts of my in-progress NaNoWriMo project. Check out more at the Bohemian Collective website.
In the past few years, I’ve made it a point to develop new skills outside of my element. When I graduated from college, I didn’t want to just be a bookworm like I’ve been my whole life. My favorite stories are fantasy or sci-fi, which means that the characters often possess knowledge on cool subjects or excel at particular activities. Becoming a part of the hacker/maker movement, including joining my local hackerspace, was huge in allowing me to explore new hobbies. Here are some I want to improve or develop.
Lockpicking
I’m a decent lockpicker, and I was actually supposed to work in the Lockpicking Village at this year’s DEFCON, a famous hacker convention in Las Vegas, but I was unable to go this year. (I’ll for sure be there next year, so if you go, you should come say hi!) I really want to excel at all forms of lockpicking so I can participate in more competitions. Lockpicking is an awesome skill for several reasons: it makes me more aware about the weaknesses of locks I depend on; it helps me develop good puzzle solving skills, while simultaneously improving my dexterity; and, um, it makes me kind of cool to carry around lockpicks or whip out a shim in no time. No? It doesn’t? Oh well. A girl can dream.
Blacksmithing
I have this not-so-secret dream to live in a little cottage in a mountain town like Truckee or Tahoe and work as a blacksmith. I think it would be awesome to have a hands-on trade, and I would love to design my own armor and weaponry to wear to Renaissance faires or, you know, to work (well, maybe not). When we buy our own house, hopefully in the near future, I want to set up my own blacksmith station. In the meantime, even though we have a garage, I can’t really set up an entire forge. For now, I’m going to start making my own knives, which is somewhat simpler process.
Homebrewing
Fall beers are the best, in my humble opinion. I feel like the best artisan brews are released this time of year. And yeah, okay, I’m just a sucker for pumpkin beer. It goes so well with my favorite fall foods, like stew or pies. Mmmm. I’ve been wanting to try some unconventional beer flavors, and I’d love to make other types of alcohol like mead. It’d be fun to make a brand and get custom bottles made. I love beer and trying different kinds of beer. My local hackerspace has homebrewing workshops, and we’re also going to set up a simple shop in our garage.
Clothesmaking
I’ve long dreamt of making my own clothes. I’m not much of a fan of shopping, unless it involves buying shoes like boots or accessories like funky jewelry or scarves. I wear pretty simple clothes–tunics and skirts, mostly–so it would be great to have a vision for something and make it myself instead of spending time and money hunting around for the perfect item. I can also make cool costumes or cosplay getups. I know how to sew by hand–I used to make clothes for my American Girl dolls–but I never learned how to use a sewing machine!
What other cool skills should I add to the list? Growing herbs, practicing throwing knives and archery, and fishing are also on the list, but some of that might wait until the spring.
Fall is, without a doubt, my favorite season of the year. Part of this is because my birthday happens in the fall, so the season always holds a bit of magic and anticipation. I love that the weather is finally cooler, and I enjoy the sites and smells that accompany the fall holidays. It always seems to be my busiest time of year, but it’s usually the happiest, too. This is the first weekend in weeks where I’ve been finally able to relax and enjoy it!
From top:
Flowers from my boyfriend.
Pumpkin on our kitchen table.
Halloween nails–with a little kitty decal on my ring finger.
Preparing veggies for one of my favorite fall meals–stew.
My amazing new boots from Target. I’ve been looking for some furry boots for a long time so I can match my Oblivion character’s fur armor. Or the Forsworn in Skyrim.
A lantern hanging in our bedroom.
More fun footwear–owl socks from my mom (worn with my favorite pajamas in the world).
I’m spending the rest of my evening playing the new Skyrim DLC, Hearthfire! Have a great weekend.
I’m now a Fiat owner! Fiat 500 Sport, to be specific.
I decided the other day, after drooling over the Abarth with one of my recent posts, and after thinking long and hard about my Beetle, that it would be smarter to just invest in a new car rather than trying to fix my current one. I was pretty set on getting a Fiat ever since I saw one a while ago that was parked in my old apartment complex. So I went down to the dealership today and got one, and I’m pretty over the moon about it.
Pretty cute, right? Andrew and I were thinking up names for it, and I wanted to go with something Italian. But since it’s blue, we’re calling it the TARDIS (and since it’s bigger on the inside!). I’m trying to think of an Italian equivalent? TARDISIO?
I got the Sport model–yeah I’m fancy!–and I’m thinking about getting a racing stripe put on it. What do you think?
Now I can be like Carly Rae Jepson in her new music video with Owl City. Which is, you know, what I aspire for.
I have a thing for B-rated sci-fi movies. I would say most of my favorite movies fall into this category. Anything stylistic with a cool story and some badass females usually catches my interest. Push came out in 2009 to pretty low reviews by critics, which is no surprise since critics and I rarely seem to agree on movies. But the positive user reviews on IMDB assured me that this movie was worth a shot. And of course I watched it and it’s totally awesome.
Basically, the film is about a group of people with cool powers, all who are trying to evade the Division–a controlling government agency that uses these people and tries to weaponize them. There are different powers–people can be Movers, which is essentially like having telekinesis. Others are Pushers, who can push new thoughts into peoples’ minds. There are also Bleeders who can make people bleed out, and Sniffers who can smell things to trace a person’s actions. Etc. etc. This film has been compared a lot to X-Men and Heroes but I think that’s just because those things were relevant at the time. I don’t really find it very similar other than that basic concept of superhumans. Push is set in Hong Kong which makes it feel very cyberpunk, although there aren’t a ton of cyberpunk elements besides that.
I really loved the cinematography of this movie, and I was also pleasantly surprised by how clever the story was. I was expecting a fun action film but it had a unique story. Plus, Camille Belle and Dakota Fanning are both pretty awesome.
If you like a good, cool-looking sci-fi film, I suggest checking it out!
I’ve been having car trouble lately, so I’ve started looking into getting a new one in the next year or so. While I’d love another Volkswagen, since they are my favorite, I’m kind of interested in trying something new. I love anything small and Euro with some great design details. Good gas mileage and good handling are also a must. Given that, I’m pretty much in love with the Fiat 500 Abarth. It’s compact, sleek, sporty and modern–and not too expensive, either. Reno is getting a Fiat dealership soon so I’m hoping to go test drive one.
Somehow this car has a way of looking really cute and also pretty badass.
I’ve got automobiles on the brain since I’m going to a car show tomorrow with my brother and boyfriend. Andrew has worked on classic cars since he was a little kid, and has several of his cars entered into the show tomorrow. One of his cars just got second place at Hot August Nights in Reno which is a pretty big deal! I’ll take some photos tomorrow at the show.
I’ve been training for my first ever 5K in September–Color Me Rad–which is pretty out of character for me since I hate running. I kind of figured it’s something I should try sometime in my life, and I thought it would be fun to actually invest in some workout gear and try out some new technology. Plus, doesn’t this look fun?
For the next few days, I’ll post some of what I’ve found, starting today with arguably the most important running gear–shoes.
I don’t really have a good reason for liking Nike, but I do (even though I know they have a record of having some sketchy labor practices, which from what I could tell has been somewhat worked out… I hope). I went on their website to browse for shoes and they had a custom shoe builder. I’m a sucker for these kinds of features on websites (I could spend all day designing cars on car websites). When looking for a running shoe, I had a few requirements:
1. Good support for flat feet
I have the flattest feet ever. Every part of them touches the ground when I walk. I was not blessed with an arch. Doing ballet sucked. Running puts a lot of stress on my feet but I can’t wear normal arched athletic shoes because my feet will hurt for days–and not that good, strengthening ache, but a serious pain. I like to avoid that when possible.
2. Durable
If I plan to train and then run a race in them, they needed to last longer than the cheap pairs I had been buying from Target for the past few years.
3. Stylish
I figure if I’m going to invest in good athletic shoes, they should probably be cute enough to wear to work or out and about. My last workout shoes were pretty funky looking (in a bad way), and I like my gear to be multifunctional.
I also really wanted shoes that look like Faith’s from Mirror’s Edge. It’s my favorite video game which happens to be about running. The shoes I designed are loosely inspired by that. I actually really want a whole running outfit based on hers in the game since it’s pretty badass.
(There are actual running shoes that are much closer to what she wears in the game, meant for freerunners or parkour enthusiasts. I wanted pretty normal shoes so I stuck with my choice.)
I used the Nike Free Run iD Running Shoe creator to make my shoes. I picked the Free 5.0 for both the upper and midsole. I also added the word “Runner” in bright green (Runners are the group of messengers in Mirror’s Edge) for a bit of geeky inspiration.
The verdict:
I love these shoes. I want to wear them all the time. I never realized how helpful having a great pair of athletic shoes can be. That’s no surprise for experienced runners but it’s something I never really thought much about until recently. I like how light they are and how cool they keep my feet while working out. I can feel my soles strengthening quite a bit–they ache a little after running, which I think is inevitable, but they feel like they are toughening up. I like how much give the midsoles provide–when I land, it’s much more of an ease into the ground, springing me into the next step, rather than just letting my feet stomp. Plus, they are made with durable materials and withstand dirt/water/grass well, so that’s nice.
The design has some nice detail, but these shoes feel great and have helped make running an activity I actually look forward to now. Investing in good, customized gear really does go a long way.
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