"Let's Catch Up"

The Weekly Read #15, "Let's Catch Up"

In the craters of the moon lie crystals and gems hardened by the lack of gravity and close proximity of the sun.  Above the Pacific Ocean is a full Boeing 737 MAX8 plane flying roughly 35,000 feet above sea level towards Hawaii.  Of the roughly 168 people onboard, I sit here writing this on my laptop.

This is my first time off the United States mainland. A few weeks ago I booked a flight for Southwest Airlines to see my friend Jozette in Oahu.  During the period when I booked the flight that I am currently sitting on, many parts were moving in all areas of my life.  Those moving parts are what today’s newsletter is about.

I can’t tell you the exact date I booked my trip due to lack of WiFi on my plane (I am too stingy to spend $8 for the plane’s connection), but I can tell you what I remember about that period, as best as my memory will serve.

Ready for an adventure, I was in the kitchen when I texted Jozette: inquiring to stay with her for a few days and run around the islands together.  To my splendid surprise, she was up for it.  I knew the weeks leading up to the flight would be filled to the brim with work and whimsy.  

I had just signed up for the Silverlake Flea Market and was scheduled to vend there on the 10th of November.  I also had solidified in my mind, heart, brain, butt, body, and soul that I would be releasing the second collection of Read a Book on the 11th of that very same November. 

Many hours of preparation was necessary for these upcoming two days.  My plans for the flea market were to sell the new collection and some vintage clothes my Aunt Jana had given me on my last trip to Kansas.  However, I did not have any clothes for this new collection yet.  In fact, I didn’t have any ready designs.  

I did have an upcoming EP of 7 songs that I wrote, produced, mixed, and mastered releasing that was still on the top of my mind and to-do list.  Thankfully, in recent months, I have had the lesson and reminder that the only way to get things done will always be one thing at a time. 

So, I focused in and started knocking out the little details.  Proudly finishing the EP and releasing it, I moved onto my responsibilities for Read a Book.  I started designing everyday, messing with typography, effects, shapes, and other tools I found interesting.  I watched videos on YouTube about design concepts and worked out at the gym to let my mind digest the new information.  Things were cooking.

As I dialed in my taste and style of visual design, I exported mock-ups of possible pieces for Chapter Two.  With the blessing and gift of time, I continued about my days and let the images marinate inside a folder on my laptop’s desktop titled, “read.winter24”. 

The folder grew more and more each day, and it seemed every time I added a new mock-up, the one from the day before no longer qualified.  My vision was tightening.

At the same time, days flew by as new adventures arose.  Exciting modeling and acting jobs reached my inbox that I did not want to pass on. My schedule filled up and I simultaneously felt myself craving more social interactions.  Life was getting jam-packed in the best way. 

Eager for the flea market, I spent a healthy portion of my personal funds stocking up on supplies.  At times, I worried that I made a mistake and got too trigger happy with my spending, but overall I knew it was an investment in the brand that I wanted to make. 

I spent a few days screen printing close to a hundred of our best sellers from Chapter One + tote bags, heat pressing, and then sewing the tags on each piece in preparation.

Still, I had to finish the new collection.  Deadlines were approaching.  I emphasized to myself the need to relax. 

Stress and anxiety are no strangers to my mind, heart, brain, butt, body, and soul. But I have found that Dr. Stress and Lord Anxiety don’t help me much in the process of getting things done.  They are more or less unnecessary in most of the situations I find myself in.

So, I kept taking steps to finish the journey. I deleted half of the designs I made and sent in my favorites to the shop to be printed.  I said goodbye to a majority of the screens from Chapter One as I cleaned the paint and tape off each to reuse for the new designs.  I took those into our shop and a few days later I had the fresh, sexy new screens in my Subaru.

After printing and some on-the-spot-designing, I finalized the true samples for the collection.  I took note and pulled the trigger on stocking up on supplies for these pieces, too.  Another healthy investment.  

I picked up the blanks and spent the next few days preparing the new pieces for the quickly arriving flea market.

Feeling good about the actual pieces being finished and ready to go, I began to chisel out the back end.  I did quality control and took inventory of every piece. I mentally decided the layout of the booth and prices for the clothes. 

Jack, Colton, and I left for Silverlake around 7 in the morning. They ran to the studio to pick up hangers, clothings racks, and a mirror and I made a bee-line for the flea.  I set up and they met me right in time to get everything set up.

The day flew by.  All sorts of lovely and kind people came by the booth to say hello and purchase! Some familiar faces came by and some new faces that felt that my face was familiar came by too. I loved it.

We will most certainly be doing more flea markets around Los Angeles in the near future, so if you are in the area: come through!  I think I’ll be stocked up for quite a while.  If you are not in the Los Angeles area, we do plan on eventually doing pop-ups in some of the other major cities. 

If you have read this far, thank you. I hope you found the stories to be enjoyable.  I missed writing these.  

In other news, I have some exciting ideas in the works involving this brand that I plan on beginning next week.  We finished the first book for our book club and are getting ready to decide the second book soon.  If you’d like to join the club, we’d love to have you.  I’ll attach the discord link at the bottom of this email. 

I hope you have been well.  I appreciate you being here.  This brand and the community we are building is so special to me. So, please reach out, I love to talk. 

Read a Book