Best Student Designed Bags

Best Student Designed Bags, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

Students produce the most wonderful designs. So fresh, so energetic,
so free. This designer was a finalist. We're making our eat through
the other categories! People are here from all over the world. There
is a shoe designer whose shoes is in a stamp in Finland.

Designer Minna Parikka at Independent Designer Awards

Designer Minna Parikka at Independent Designer Awards, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

Minna Parikka is wearing her own purse, and yes, her own shoes! I
wonder who will win tonight. This purse is in the running. These
awards are the brainchild of Emily Blumenthal of Yasmena!

I Made a Good 'un - Burger Delish

I Made a Good 'un - Burger Delish, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

I've been watching David make the perfect burger. Seems to be in the
freshness, how long you pack it for, when you salt it, etc. I was
pretty hungry after leaving my shared work space In Good Company, and
it's right next to The Shake Shack. Well, even though it's like
50degrees so far this summer, the line was still long. I bought a Kit
Kat and navigated the subways home. I almost ordered a burger from our
new deli thing which really specializes in gyros, but then I
remembered the frozen pound of meat in the freezer. I got out the
Wedding Grill Thing and got to burger flipping. I'll take a side of
mushrooms on that chedder burger.

Oh, please ignore that sad tea kettle in the back. I melted it and
need to get another. :)

Latest Katie James Pixelated Web Projects - Food, Jewelry, Bridal

So you know I go disappearing sometimes. Well, sometimes many projects are spinning at once. So, this is where I've been, with the Katie James Pixelated team, building and designing custom designed blogs, special tweaks to websites, and whole redesigns. We're currently working on a couple more, to be unveiled soon...

Alisa Benay's Blog, Couture Corset Wedding Gown Designer



Alisa's couture line of corset wedding gowns is quickly growing in popularity, and she needed her blog to keep the pace and reflect well of the brand. We custom designed her blog, using the WordPress platform.
www.alisabenay.com/blog


The Purcell Sisters

The Purcell Sisters, if you haven't met them, are some of the funniest, well manicured southern belles living in Manhattan. They wrote a book, Cocktail Parties Straight Up! to help everyone throw an amazing party. Thankfully, they have brought their delicious recipes to the Internet. We redesigned their website to be way more user friendly (their former website was all in images) and easy to navigate. If you go to this website, you will leave hungry. Very hungry.
www.purcellsisters.com


Gemma Redux :: Press, Lookbook and Announcement Box
Press page: (updates like adding products)


Announcement Box: (can be turned on or off in seconds)


Rachel Dooley, designer and founder of Gemma Redux, is on fire. She is getting press from major outlets, and her fans are loving it. We worked with the ZenCart platform to make this press easy to update, and connect to the jewelry.
www.gemmaredux.com

For more information on other websites, see www.katie-james.com/classes

My Brother's Birthday - Burger King Crown

My Brother's Birthday - Burger King Crown, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

It's double Gemini over here, and my brother even married another
Gemini! I married a Pisces. His wife Lily, founder of the dance troupe
Skove Works, organized this almost surprise birthday for his 30th
until he somehow found out about it. Lots of their friends were there,
including Alia of OMG Kitty (seriously, google that blog right now)
and the night was topped of with delicious carrot cake from Whole
Foods! Doesn't his crown look like the kind from Burger King happy
meals?

He remembered!

He remembered!, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

At noonish, and decided to wait until he could tell me in person...at
8pm... :)

What do you do when Husband forgets your Birthday?

It's a giant mystery, really. Today is June 5th. The day of my birthday. And I don't care what anybody says, everyone is Queen for the Day on their birthdays. Even if it rains, is terrible, what. And today was a great day actually, despite the rain and despite my very hard attempts at leaving this computer to go treat myself to a tour of the Met (didn't happen). But then Mugi Pottery needed an email sent out and pictures posted pronto because their Associates Show is tonight, Sabina kicked some serious entrepreneur butt for Collective-E on BetterTV (click the Start Your Own Business part), and birthday wishes galore in Facebook.

So. This morning my husband, who gets up every morning at 5:30am to get to work on Step Up 3, decided not to wake me, and to let me sleep. On my birthday. He normally wakes me up to say goodbye. I guess I was radiating Sleeping Beauty Queen - Do Not Disturb.

I gave him plenty of hints. I said that my brother's birthday was Sunday, and isn't it fun that he is here and we can see him. I invited David to have drinks with friends of mine, but didn't say why. Just that we were meeting. Last night, he got in after a boys night at a steak house, and was so excited about the left over steak he brought home, and how I could eat it for breakfast. He then turned on the TV to catch the Obama speech. Oddly, on CNN, there were tons of birthday commercials. Not sure why, but it was odd. Then, and by this time David had passed out sort of, Charlie Rose was wishing happy birthday to someone. The coincidences.

So back to this morning of no birthday wish. We even spoke on the phone, he asked me what was on the docket. I told him that I was taking myself to the Met. Kind of abnormal for me. During the work day. But nothing. No recollection. He did mention that he thought he had one more thing to tell me, but no, nothing. Later in the day, his Dad called. That's an occasion that does not happen often, and I was glad to hear from him. No mention of birthday, but that's totally normal - he's a dad, and dad's sometimes just don't know these things. Like husbands, I guess, don't know these things.

So, I'm not yet in the camp that says: "You must remind your husband of these things." I'm just not there yet. Someday maybe. For his own children, yes, I would remind him. For his family, yes, I would make sure he called. But for me, no. It's just me and my little party!

Identity Crisis Solved! Who IS FashionMista?

You don't know this, but I've been having an identity crisis with FashionMista because I created the name on a whim one day while working. Sometimes words just pop into my mind and I don't know why, but I like them and keep them. So, the name FashionMista was born.

But I've been trying to figure out what Mista meant, and why I did it. Originally, a friend of mine had created a blog called New York City Mouse. My other friend had a similar mouse-like name for her online identity, so in my mind, to hang with them in mouse-land, Mista meant mouse, but in German (my version of German anyway). Well, years later, I looked it up, and it turns out I made that up and was totally wrong. Hehe.

Long time followers of this blog may also remember that sometimes I try to do redesigns of the blog, since it is a template after all, and I am a website designer/developer, so wouldn't it be fitting if my own blog was custom designed? But then I design it in circles and can never follow what I'm doing. Why? Because there has been no identity.

THEN, for the past few years, I've wanted to graduate this blog into a blog shop - yeah that's right, where you buy from this blog because I do love featuring other designers. Haven't done it for a while because all of that type of energy goes to promoting people on Collective-E in new and exciting ways, but I'm getting back to my roots over here to drum it up again. So I've been trying to pin down the name - do I keep it? What would it change to? What the heck does Mista mean?

Google searches tell me that "fashionmista" is now associated with a male fashionista. And I'm not a boy, so I wonder if this giant sign that says "Male Fashionista" for all of this girly stuff is a bad thing? But I loved nicknaming people So and So Mista, and I just love the word Mista.

Then yesterday, I was having a co-birthday lunch with my best girl Dental Mista from Chicago, and we were down in Soho having lunch in an Italian restaurant on Thomson Street, and voila! Right there on the menu in the Insalata section was: "Insalata Mista".

Rejoice! When I went to Italy my Junior year of college, Insalata Mista was what I always ordered to follow every pasta meal! So it means "mixed salad", (and wikipedia backs me up here, and even Google is going there) and Mista, I guess, would mean "mixed".

So...FashionMista basically means "Mixed Fashion", which I kind of like! This blog has always been about curious forms of art and design, among other things like beauty and personal. A big mix.

Question is: Should I keep it on, even though it has been meaning Male Fashionista, or should I delve into an old pen name that my College of Charleston Mistas will remember: Dear Trudy, which was my love advice column. I can see how a shopping blog could work under a title of Dear Trudy and I could make it J Peterman like...thoughts??? Or I could make Dear Trudy a series on it with special worldy finds, kind of like Conversations with Emerging Designers was a series. Hmm. Please comment! I really need your help on this one!

The Gazpacho Shake Recipe

The Gazpacho Shake Recipe, originally uploaded by KT Flicker.

I think every summer I pull out the gazpacho fixings, but really, it's
for any time. Here is a great, mini-version of the gazpacho that is
great brain food at any time of the day - breakfast, lunch, fresh
snack...

Use the Rocket Blender. We got it for our wedding. AmAzing.

Slice half a carrot. Put it in the blender cup.
Slice a quarter green pepper. Put it in the blender cup.
Slice a quarter cucumber. Put it... Right.
Slice half or quarter tomatto. Put it in the blender cup.
Opptional: put some fresh spinach in there for extra brain power for
women.
Cut a lemon in half and squeeze it into the cup. If you have one of
those lemon or orange squeezers, use that. Lemons are also good for
your skin and ph balance if you've had too much coffee.
Dash some salt on the top.
Pour about a teaspoon of olive oil. Good for your shiny hair.
Drizzle a bit of white wine vinigar or white wine vinigar in top. If
you like it really tart, than use more. I just use a little to accent
the flavor (too much of it makes me flushed in the face).
Screw the top on of your Rocket Blender.
Blend that sucker. Shake it up and down a few times to help the
carrots get blended.
Let it blend for about 2 minutes.
Put it into a pretty juice glass, and you've got a gazpacho shake that
you can drink!

I Just Wrote in a Journal

And what's even more shocking, is that when I went to get to this blog, I typed in www.facebook.com. Ahhh! And I really don't even spend that much time in there. I just go to play Farm Town anymore and harvest my crops and make fake money at market when I sell my crops. And say hi to people every now and then. And see what they're doing quick. And click that I 'like' what they just said. And maybe comment. Stop.

When I got the hankering to write in the journal, actually write with a pen with ink, I lamented the fact that I didn't have one. I mean, I actually do have one, and it's a nice leather bound journal I bought on sale at my favorite neighborhood art supply store on Columbia's campus, but I use it as a master todo list system. And then I remembered, the read leather bound journal tucked away on my bookshelf with my special books from authors like Isabelle Allende and the first Harry Potter book I ever bought (the mass market edition). The last entry was a dream and it was from 2007.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, when most of what you do is type, I think the brain begins to be...very front. You're looking at pixels, that are glowing, your mind is traveling in a million places at once because you get so many ideas at once, and you know how to execute them, but then you have to eat lunch or walk your dog or answer an email quick or look at something else or go to your online banking to make sure everything is ok....and so on.

The point is...I'm not sure what my point is anymore because I've gotten distracted by my burger from the Abby Pub which is slowly going cold, and the digital glow in a dark living room may be sapping my brain. And if I'm all about getting back to my roots, I may not want to be sapped. I guess the point is: I wrote in a journal, with a pen that has ink. When I started the blog, I feared that I would stop writing, like, physically not typing. And I like typing, a lot. Don't get me wrong. But something is going on with all of this digital twitter status email pinging everything, that I just wanted paper inside of leather that goes nowhere. Yes, spoken by a girl who is about to trademark the words Socialness and Tweetworking and is about to "twurl this" blog post. :)