Kat Kuan

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Outfit to Transition into Fall

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As the Summer winds down and we fall into Fall, it’s time to bring out the sweaters and booties! I wore this casual and comfortable outfit to the mall on a weekend. And nothing like McDonald’s to bring a beaming smile to my face!

Here’s a rundown of the details of this outfit:

  • Sweater from BCBG. I think I got this from the outlet last year.
  • White t-shirt. I got this from a small clothing store in downtown San Carlos awhile back. The brand is some asian label I don’t even know how to read, but any white t-shirt could work.
  • Gold Necklace from BaubleBar. Well it’s not real gold, but you get the idea.
  • Denim shorts from Aritzia. I like the raw hem detail and the pockets that peek out from under the shorts. They make my legs look even longer, ha!
  • Paul Green booties from Nordstrom. They’re comfortable and breathable. Even with the heel, I can walk in these for awhile!

What are you excited to wear for Fall?

Create Social Media Graphics with Canva

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The best tool I’ve discovered for creating social media graphics is Canva.

There’s no need to use Photoshop or other complicated tools.

It’s also FREE!

Canva has tons of templates and layouts that look fantastic and professional.

You just drag/drop your own photos, enter in your own text, and suddenly you have a magical and beautiful social media graphic – without any graphic design experience!

Major props to those who have graphic design experience, I don’t know how you make such beautiful things. The rest of us have to resort to finding tools like this to help us get by!

HOW TO USE CANVA

When you open Canva, you can create a new design.

Depending on what your use case is, you can pick if you’re creating an Instagram post, a Facebook ad, a LinkedIn cover photo, blog header image, infographic, flyer, or a multitude of other options.

It’ll lay out a canvas for you at the appropriate dimensions – so helpful because the variation of image dimensions for each social media platform drives me nuts.

CREATE A NEW DESIGN

I clicked on “Instagram post” so here’s a blank square canvas for me to work with. I can choose from various Canva layouts. There’s a lot of great options for free, while some options cost money.

Once you select a layout, it gets added to your canvas. Then you can start editing the text, photos, and drag/drop to move elements around – change the color / font / etc…

You can upload your own images and drag them onto the canvas. Below is a history of images I’ve uploaded for my past graphics.

You can also search for photos or illustrations that Canva provides. Some are free and some are paid.

Once you finish your design, you can download it in the format you want and use it wherever you need.

ALL YOUR DESIGNS

Canva also keeps a collection of all your past designs. That’s handy when I want to use a similar format / font from something I created before. Make a copy of a design and then edit from there.

EXAMPLE

This is a recent graphic I created for a YouTube video thumbnail.

Side note: I like how preparing my own graphic for the thumbnail makes the video look a lot better (top two video thumbnails), as compared to a random still frame taken from the YouTube video (rest of thumbnails). youtube kat kuan

To promote the video on my Instagram page, I couldn’t use the above thumbnail because some of the text would get cut off. Hence I copied all the elements over and created a new square Instagram graphic. Download the image and then post it!

By now, you’re probably getting the idea that there’s many use cases for these graphics. If you’re building your own brand, it’s important to have strong visuals. I’m still working on making a cohesive visual brand for myself, but Canva is allowing me to experiment with different styles in an easy way.

For more examples of what I’ve created with Canva, check out my Instagram @kat.kuan.

PREMIUM VERSION

There’s also a paid premium version, which I haven’t tried yet. If you work on a team, then multiple users can collaborate together. You can setup a brand color scheme, logos, fonts, etc.. so that these preset defaults are easily accessible when you’re creating your graphics.

Overall, I highly recommend this tool for beginners. It makes you feel powerful *arm flex* and capable of doing graphic design!

Now go make your social media accounts pretty with Canva!

OTHER TUTORIALS

Apple Hill Farms: Fresh Apples, Donuts, Cider, Pies, Caramel Apples, and More

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APPLE HILL

Visiting apple farms is a fun fall activity with friends or family!

Over Labor Day weekend, I visited Apple Hill for the first time and I highly recommend the experience. Apple Hill represents over 50 local farms – many of them are apple farms, but they also grow other fruits and veggies, Christmas trees, and flowers. Some are wineries as well. It’s also really crowded before Halloween because people are picking up pumpkins.

Visiting Apple Hill is a half-day to full-day activity. While you don’t pick your own apples, the main attraction is to see the farms and try all the delicious apple-themed food!

Apple Hill is located in Placerville, CA – about an hour away from Sacramento.

high hill ranch apple hill

apple hill farms

MAP OF FARMS

It’s nearly impossible to visit all the farms, so pick the top ones that you want to go to. Here’s the map. Some farms may not be on the map though. Depending on the crowds, there may be a lot of traffic or it may be hard to find parking. When we went on Monday morning (Labor Day), there wasn’t many crowds at all, so we luckily got to visit a bunch of farms.

apple hill map

FARMS WE VISITED

Here are the places we stopped at. I went with family who were familiar with the farms and the specialties at each farm.

High Hill Ranch

high hill ranchhigh hill ranchhigh hill ranch food

Mill View Ranch

mill view ranch

Sample ciders at Boa Vista

APPLE TREATS

I had no idea there were so many types of baked goods and things you could make with apples. There was apple cider and apple sauce of course. But there was also: apple butter, apple brownies, apple chips, carmellows, empanadas, fritters, cider donuts, apple donut ice cream sandwich, caramel apples, apple wine, cream cheese apple pie, and many other types of apple pies.

Caramel Apples at Abel’s Apple Acres

Bakery at High Hill Ranch

apple pastry apple hill

Apple Butter at High Hill Ranch (Available at other farms too)

apple butter apple hill

Carmellows at High Hill Ranch (caramel wrapped around marshmallow)

carmello

Some farms also had a frozen food section where they had frozen pies or frozen apple turnovers or pastries that you could take home and bake. Ahh I wish I could have bought those, but I didn’t have a cooler to store them in. 🙁

Frozen treats at Abel’s Apple Acres

WHAT WE TRIED

The good thing about going in a group is that you can split some of these pastries. I definitely had too much sugar by the end of the morning. LoL

Cider donut at High Hill Ranch

apple cider donut

Apple empanada at Abel’s Apple Acres

apple empanada

Apple fritter at Boa Vista

apple fritter

Apple Dream Salad at Larsen’s Bake Shop

apple salad

Cider donuts and hot apple cider at Mill View Ranch

apple cider donuts

Apple pie at Delfino Farms – it’s a monster!

delfino farms apple piedelfino farms apple pie

FRESH APPLES

You can also get fresh apples at these farms of course. Apples are great to bring home and share with people, whereas the pastries are hard to take home. We got the apples from the Larsen Apple Barn, where they have a cool conveyer belt and someone checking the apples. On the side of the barn, they also have bags of different types of apples you can buy. Crispy, crunchy, fresh apples at Larsen Apple Barn – YUM!

larsen apple farm

WHEN TO GO

You’ll have to check out the website to figure out when the farms are open, but it’s not open year-round. I think it’s mostly open from Labor Day weekend to Christmas Eve each year. Depending on the month you go in, different apple varieties will be in harvest as well. You can check the Harvest Calendar for your favorite type of apple.

Have fun exploring the apple farms!!

You may also want to check out:
Magical Bridge Playground
Interactive Sushi Experience
Meatball Mondays at Bucca di Beppo
What a Toddler Taught Me About Business

Rebbl: A Drink to Fight Human Trafficking

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Something you may have seen at the grocery stores (like Sprouts and Whole Foods) is a brand of drinks called Rebbl.

rebbl drinks whole foods

I first learned about it about 2 years ago, when I first found out that there was human trafficking in the Bay Area. Yes I know, I was naïve because human trafficking (modern day slavery – forced labor, sexual exploitation, etc…) can happen anywhere. Even in the places we think we know so well. Even under our noses.

I started digging into it more and found this group called the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition that educates people and organizations on the issues and ways to fight trafficking in the San Francisco Bay Area.

bay area anti-trafficking coalitionSomehow after watching some videos on the BAATC website, I stumbled on this below talk by David Batstone. He was a venture capitalist, who discovered that his favorite SF restaurant was the center of a human trafficking ring that brought hundreds of teens from Bangalore into the restaurant for forced labor, and then onto other terrible situations. He started fundraising and started a nonprofit called Not For Sale to initially build a village in Thailand for young kids who had been rescued from trafficking.

He was persistent in deepening his understanding about the cycle of slavery. He kept wanting to go “upstream” to figure out the roots of slavery. He was able to fundraise money to support these children once they were freed from slavery, but he calls it “pulling bodies out of the water” in the sense that it was already after the trauma has happened. He wanted to come up with something more sustainable than a charity where he had to ask people for money over and over. He called it “opening his heart, but shutting off his brain.” He wanted to start using his brain to think about how he could come up with a sustainable business model to fight trafficking.

Hence he gathered a bunch of bright business leaders to come up with a business plan that would empower tribes in the Amazon rainforest. The goal was to create money and jobs for people in these areas, where there were rich natural resources but a lack of economic opportunities.

Rebbl was born. The business creates drinks with ingredients from places like the Amazon rainforest by engaging the local community and supply chain, connecting them to distributors abroad, and finally to the end consumers, including the Bay Area. I’ve tried a couple of their drinks like the Maca Mocha and Chocolate flavors and they’re pretty good!! It’s a great alternative to try at least once instead of a iced coffee drink from Starbucks. 😉

rebbl drinks trafficking rebbl drinks proceeds not for sale

They’re committed to creating a ethical business that has a strong bottom line and a strong positive impact on each person it touches along the product lifecycle. Learn more about Rebbl in the below video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKxbwkghJD4

The Not For Sale organization has gone on to work on projects in other parts of the world to create self-sustaining businesses that empower the survivors of trafficking. It’s a fascinating idea on how we can fight trafficking by creating new economies and jobs for those who need it most.

Here are links to the organizations I mentioned: Rebbl, Not for Sale, BAATC.

Do you know any social impact organizations with for-profit models to sustain themselves?

Decluttering

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I have been on a rampage of decluttering. I have a lot of stuff. And I don’t really have a cleaning routine, so it just piles up, until I get so frustrated with staring at something on the floor or in the middle of the walkway that I finally decide to do something about it.

I had an ant problem a few months ago and had to clear everything out in the kitchen into the bedrooms and it made me literally see all the stuff I have. My boyfriend says that I don’t have a lot of things, so I guess this is subjective, but in my mind, it feels like I have way too much stuff. Because I feel like I only use a fraction of it. And I realized that this stuff I don’t use is actually weighing me down. It’s taking up space, I often have to look at it every day, and I feel guilty about throwing it away.

But not anymore! I’m either donating or throwing stuff away, and I’m not feeling guilty about it. I donate anything that is in good condition and usable by others. I throw away things like makeup from 10 years ago, worn-out shoes that I’ll never wear again, or empty product boxes that have been sitting in my closet.

Some things I’m donating:

  • Couch covers. I had them when I first got my beige couches to protect them, but they’re ill-fitting and make it look like these couches are covered for painting the room or something. I made the bold move of taking off the covers and using the couches as-is and for the most part, they’ve stayed clean-ish. Probably because I don’t have kids lol. I also use the trick of turning over the pillow and hiding the stain underneath. 😉
  • Books. I seem to have an endless amount of books, so as I find them, I’m donating most of them.
  • DVDS. I used to love reality TV and especially The Newlyweds with Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. But they’ve been divorced for ages AND remarried AND with kids. So maybe it’s time for ME to move on as well, LoL. I’m getting rid of most of my DVDs (because that stuff is becoming ancient like VHS tapes), except for a few select favorites.

the newlyweds dvd

  • Old t-shirts. Some of these are from college (Society of Women Engineers club) or from events or from past jobs. Do donation places even accept shirts with random logos on them?
  • Certain things that people gave me. Okay, this is a hard one, but sometimes people give you stuff because they think you may need it or may like it. But because someone else gives it to you, it isn’t something necessarily you would buy yourself. Sometimes it’s extremely useful and you use it every day. Sometimes it just sits and collect dust, along with your guilt for not using it. Express appreciation for those items and the person who was so thoughtful to give it to you. Then it’s time to let go of the guilt and let go of the items.
  • Carnival game stuffed animals. There was great memories from going to the Alameda County Fair from a couple years ago with my friends. I was so excited when my boyfriend won this giraffe and a little turtle for me, but I guess my excitement wears off. Sorry babe, lol! And these things just sit around and collect dust. I think someone else would get more joy from it. But I still have the pictures and memories to cherish!

alameda county fair

  • Bike helmet from Google. At one point, Google gave out bike helmets for everyone at work, to encourage more biking to work, but I lived 45 minutes away by car, so there was no way I could bike (given my biking skills). Hence I never used it, and it’s still in the same plastic wrap it came in. Donating this.

google bike helmet

  • More stuffed animals. These are two little Victoria Secret dogs that I got from a workshop in college (over 10 years ago!), and I’ve put it on display for a long time, but I think it’s time to let these things go and find a new home. They still have their tags on them. -_-

victoria secret dogs

  • Supplies I bought for my storytime events that I don’t need. I bought decorative items for my storytime events but I never used them, so instead of hanging onto them and waiting to use them one day, I’m going to let them go. I couldn’t return them to the store anymore. Trust me, I tried.rainbow banner
  • Nightlights. I used to be afraid of the dark LOL. Not anymore, thankfully!
  • Old bedsheets. I switched from a full size mattress to a queen size mattress, so I don’t need the old bedsheets anymore. And even a bedskirt. Good bye.

I also need to figure out a place to recycle old electronics. I have an old router that I need to get rid of.

OBSERVATIONS

*Deep breath* Whew. That makes me feel so much better. Even writing it out makes me feel like I’m releasing it from my life. I think it’s easy to forget how many things we own – especially when they’re tucked away in drawers or closets.

One pattern I realized is that I get tired of decorative items, so maybe clear counters and spaces would be better for me.

I also realized that my preferences have changed. I used to love love love stuffed animals (well into adulthood haha) and especially winning them at carnivals. But now I don’t feel the need to have all of these in my possession.

I’m realizing that it’s necessary to let go of the past of who we were and what we liked, to make space for our present selves and allow for growth.

A CLEAR HEAD

My goal is that by clearing my physical space and creating order, I can have a clearer mental state. Because every time I see or walk past clutter, it makes me feel heavy or burdened knowing that I need to take care of that pile at some point. But clearing that surface makes me feel lighter. Also it’s nice to see the counter or the floor of a closet or an empty shelf.

Anyways, I still have a lot of decluttering to do, but that’s my progress so far! What do you need to get rid of?

August Favorites

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These are my favorites for the month of August 2018!

1. Priority Pass – Get access to select airport lounges.

2. Cardholder from Ann Taylor – They don’t have it anymore but you can just search for “cardholder” online (i.e. Macys).

3. Diorskin Forever Perfect Foundation – I got the shade 25 Soft Beige.

4. Ardell Deluxe Pack Lashes – You can choose from different lash styles. Also available at CVS, other drug stores and beauty supply stores.

5. Self Journal – See my unboxing video here or podcast episode on it.

6. The Alchemist – A powerful story about self-discovery from Paulo Coelho. It’s an international bestseller and was on the NY Times bestseller list for 358 weeks.

7. Luluemon Speed Up Tight Full-On Luxtreme tights – Comes with the side pockets and the back pocket. Free hemming in store. Shout-out to Ali for the recommendation!

Thanks for reading/watching!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I enjoy these items regardless and want to share them with you!

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

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Source: Netflix

There’s been lots of excitement in the Asian American community (and beyond) about the movie Crazy Rich Asians, which has topped the box office for the 3rd weekend in a row! However, another recent movie release that didn’t receive as much fanfare, was the Netflix movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, adapted from Jenny Han’s novel. Hence, I’m going to talk a little about it now!

MOVIE SYNOPSIS

First off, I really enjoyed this movie. It was a charming romantic comedy.

The movie centers on the story of Lara Jean, a shy Asian American high school junior who is finding her way through life and school. She’s never had a boyfriend, but has a secret crush on her sister’s boyfriend. Yikes! Instead of sharing her feelings with her crushes throughout her life, she wrote these mushy gushy love letters to them that she’d secretly hide in a box in her closet.

When the love letters accidentally get sent out to the respective guys, all chaos ensues. This poor girl (who tried to be an invisible wallflower) gets thrust into the spotlight to deal with what she’s written about in these letters and her current feelings for these boys. You’ll have to watch to see what happens, but I wanted to make a couple of points.

REPRESENTATION MATTERS

This movie stars an Asian American lead and portrays an uncommon narrative for an Asian American female on the big screen (oftentimes Hollywood will cast the Asian girl as the supporting best friend or some other secondary role). This movie shows a more complex character, which I appreciate because #RepresentationMatters. I do feel like the tides are changing and the stories of women and of different ethnic backgrounds are slowly making their way onto the screen.

I believe seeing ourselves reflected in the stories on screen makes us feel less alone in the world, that what we’re feeling is normal.

Now this movie didn’t really highlight the Asian culture in the movie (as compared to Crazy Rich Asians), but I think the sentiment is there.

It makes me feel proud to see a fellow Asian American in a lead in a movie. It makes me feel like, hey, our stories and feelings are important enough to be captured for the screen. Important enough for other people to take time to watch this story and be entertained by it in their free time.

I think by just taking up space – whether in-person or on the TV screen, it implies that we matter.

There’s still a long ways to go though – i.e. needing to represent Asians with darker skin tones on screen as well, and representing more Asian male characters as love interests. Part of the reason for the lack of representation in these two areas may have been the way the story was written (the male character love interests had American sounding last names). And I’m also speculating that the production company may have wanted to play it safe with characters that followed the formula of typical romantic comedies in America. They know it sells well, so they go with it. Perhaps if the cast too diverse, they feared that the mainstream audience may not want to watch the movie.

Sigh. It’s hard though, I don’t know when movies on the big screen will reflect the diversity in real life. But I’m just glad to be able to witness progress in my lifetime and hope that we’re moving in the right direction. One step at a time.

PORTRAYING THE STRUGGLES OF ADOLESCENCE

Speaking of growing up, I also really enjoyed how the various struggles of adolescence were woven in to create a more complex storyline. Being bullied at school or having an enemy, not having many friends, dealing with peer pressure or rumors, sorting out feelings about crushes, challenges with family dynamics at home, etc… These are the real things that teens struggle with, and I spent a lot of energy and time spinning my wheels over these things. I think the movie did a great job developing the conflict that Lara Jean felt with herself and with others around here as she tried to figure out what she wanted.

(On the topic of adolescence, I’ve been meaning to watch another newly released movie Eighth Grade about an introverted thirteen-year-old girl named Kayla who is trying to survive 8th grade.)

RELATING TO THE MAIN CHARACTER

Anyhow back to the original movie I was talking about, there was something about Lara Jean’s shy and reserved demeanor that made me relate to her a lot. For example, growing up, I would be too scared to approach or make a move on my crush, haha! >.< I just lacked the confidence to do so, and so I just admired my crush from afar and maybe we’d have a chance encounter where we’d exchange a few brief words. LoL so funny to think back on. Sigh awkward times growing up.

Here’s a different perspective on dating from another emerging Asian American voice – Awkwafina, who stars in Crazy Rich Asians. This feels like a refreshingly honest perspective, and it’s pretty entertaining.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and excited about what it means for representation in the entertainment industry. If you’re interested in checking this movie out, you can find it on Netflix. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

The Self Journal

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I’ve been on the hunt for a better way to manage my time and priorities and goals.

Hence, I ordered the Self Journal from Amazon in the color Charcoal. It is a daily planner for 90 days, and includes places for you to track your weekly progress towards your overarching goal. I just started using it, but it seems very well thought-out in terms of the structure and seems like it aligns well with the psychology behind what we need to achieve our goals. It’s created by the company Best Self Co.

To see more of what’s included, here’s an unboxing video that I posted on my YouTube channel:

If you decide to try out The Self Journal too, let me know what your experiences are with it!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I purchased this journal on my own and am hopeful about it!