Snapped some pictures of these canvas photo prints outside a few weeks ago, just before I parted with them — donated the large 20×30″ Matafao canvas as one of the raffle prizes at the Pacific Roots Open Mic Showcase, and sold the four 12×12″ canvases at the art corner. Other than getting a canvas print made for my best friend, these were my first canvas photo prints made available to the public. I’m still buzzed about selling all these canvas pieces, and to get so much support from everyone has me stoked. Thank you guys. I actually kinda feel validated about my work now lol. I can’t believe some of you actually want to buy from me. So so so cool of you. Thank you. Now I’m itching to get new canvas prints made!
Just wanted to leave the photos on here for documentation. Can’t wait to stumble on this again in the future and remember all the good things.
Hello hello! I know it’s been a hot little minute… Social media has been on the backburner for me the last couple of months. Plus, I watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix (I highly recommend), and since then, my online presence has been more intentional — I disabled most of my social media notifications — rather than the mindless scrolling. So lots more reading, home improvement projects, and time spent in the present.
Even though I haven’t really been taking any photos this month, I’ve been wanting to get on here to share some memories from the last few months. I have a trove of Manu’a photo journals I want to archive (soon I promise!). A friend actually suggested I write up a post, kind of like a guide to Manu’a, so I just might do that — at a later time.
Something exciting though… for the last two weeks, I’ve been busy working on another part of my website: setting up an online shop for my stickers!
I MADE STICKERS!
If you follow me on instagram, you’ll know I illustrated a set of stickers and started selling them at the Pacific Roots Open Mic Showcase, along with a few select canvas photo prints. It was really exciting getting an opportunity to showcase my work for the first time (huge thanks to the PROM team for making it happen) and seeing all the other talented artists doing their thing.
Each sticker has its own unique story so if you’re interested, check them out on my online shop!
AVAILABLE ON MY ONLINE SHOP
Yup, you read that right — I did the thing! It’s taken me a couple of weeks to get all the settings, payment options, shipping details, and page designs all figured out, but my online shop situation is finally all sorted, and I’ll be soon be announcing that it’s “officially” live.
Over the last few weeks since the PROM showcase, a lot of people both on and off-island have been asking how they can buy stickers, and so since then, I’ve been learning more about how to run a small online store, how to fulfill orders, ship them, and even test out a “cash on delivery” payment option. I’m learning a lot, but most of all I’m super super stoked about all the interest and the nice things friends and strangers have said about it. I’ve wanted to open up an online shop for agessss so this is a bit of a dream come true, even if it’s just stickers for now. I’m still learning as I go, and if anyone has any tips or suggestions for me, I’d love to learn how to improve.
We could hear our neighbors’ kids playing igave’a (hide and seek) in the dark, giggling and scurrying around the property under the starlit sky. The moon was bright and I looked beyond the lagoon towards the flatlands of Tafuna, electric lights on, busy and unaware of our tranquil brown-out.
10.13.2020 — My darling fiance made a delicious dinner of chicken dumplings and green salad with avocado and peppers. The power went out around 7pm, and we didn’t know how long it would be out for, but he got the tealights out, our battery-powered fans normally reserved for cyclone season, and streamed “Community” using his cellular data hotspotted on his fully charged laptop.
Luckily the water was still working, so I washed the dishes and Ian gently touched my back with his fingertips, something I normally do for him when he’s doing the dishes. His finger has an infection on it, so I’ve been on dish duty and it’s not so bad with stars on my back. We sat back in bed, brushed our teeth, and chatted for a bit before slipping into a humid-hot restless sleep.
Well HELLO to anyone visiting my corner of the interwebs!
It’s been a hot hot minute since I’ve gotten a chance to catch up with you online and share some of my recent photos. Time often seems to escape me, as per usual.
I’m up late again, listening to lofi love jams, sipping on an old pasta jar filled with good ol’ delicious water, and simply cruising the internet. I don’t want to think too hard about what to post because I’ve been doing that every day this week and look how that turned out — I ended up never posting anything because it feels like too much of a time commitment to get all my photos organized and uploaded, and a thoughtful post written out. I do have a ton of wonderful photo journals I want to share from my recent trip to Ofu, Manu’a though, so do look out for those to come!
I looked over at my traveler’s notebook journal laying open with a spread full of various to-do lists for the upcoming days. I try not to think about the growing list and take another sip of water. I’m actually in between editing photos of some photo canvases I had printed and hope to sell at the Pacific Roots Open Mic Showcase event this weekend, and toggling way too many Chrome tabs for wedding planning inspo…
Yup, it’s that season again. Time for me to start thinking about what the heck is going on with our betrothals. As bummed as I was that we had to postpone our wedding, I like that I have another opportunity to get excited about my wedding, albeit with caveats to accommodate the uncertainty of basically the entire world right now. It’s a crazy time we live in… strike that, it’s a dicey time we live in! Sorry about that; I’m trying to cut the word “crazy” from my language when referring to situations or current events by using language that is more accurately descriptive of what I’m referring to and does not refer to a deranged mental state, given the mental health crisis we are facing around the world and even in American Samoa. Anyway, I digress.
Something new and exciting that I do want to mention briefly here is that I got my illustrated stickers in the mail! Many many thanks to Polly for forwarding the package to me since the price of shipping directly from the manufacturer to American Samoa was exorbitant. I haven’t taken any photos or really done anything with the stickers yet except label them. I have that feeling like when you get a brand new notebook and you’re too intimidated by the blank page, and you want to keep it new but you want to use it… y’know what I’m saying? Maybe not, but it’s an exciting feeling and I am going to try to break the pack in by sticking some on my new reusable water bottle or on my phone. I want to sell them here on my website too, so gotta take photos of them soon and hope to open up shop like I’ve been dreaming of for quite a while.
Well clearly, it’s late here. I find myself getting more and more tangential as I type on in the wee hours of the night.
If you’re still reading, wow, thank you for being here. Feel free to visit more often, or send me a quick note in the comments because I would honestly love that so much. Blogging is so different than other social media platforms like facebook, instagram, or twitter. I love getting on here and just feeling at home on my own website, just minding my own business… but it’s also nice to get some interaction once in a while. Again, more blah blah blah from me… thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful day wherever you are.
Also, no photo journal here (I’m unfortunately past my capacity right now), but here are a few photos I snapped a couple months ago at Fagatele Bay while I was filming for our Get Into Your Sanctuary video campaign. Enjoy.
“hug hug, kiss kiss, hug hug, big kiss, little hug, kiss kiss, little kiss”
