Reframing a "Mundane Chore" as an Adventure: Visiting a New Grocery Store

March 23, 2025

A couple weeks ago, I stopped by this new Korean supermarket called Kasia on my way home from the shibori food scrap dye workshop I attended. I had seen a post about it on Instagram, and saw that it was only 15 minutes away from where the workshop was being held - so decided to check it out afterwards.

It was huge, and I think I spent over an hour (probably closer to an hour and a half) exploring everything. Right when you walk in, you get to see how they grow their own hydroponic lettuce - which I thought was so cool because I don’t think I’ve ever seen another grocery store do this. They also sell locally grown mushrooms, and I was impressed with how well they labeled their vegan options. Sometimes the experience of being in an unfamiliar grocery store can be overwhelming - so I really appreciated the bright green “vegan” labels they implemented. I feel like most specialty markets don’t do this. I scored a bottle of (vegan) oyster sauce, which I was very excited about!

Creating In Community

March 16, 2025

The last couple weekends have had my creative spirit feeling so completely warm and fuzzy - especially after such a long / cold winter! I can feel myself… defrosting? Don’t get me wrong - winter “hibernation” fosters the creative process too (in a different way).. but there is something about springtime - the warmer weather, the additional sunlight… it feels like an awakening of sorts.

Last Sunday, I ventured down to a sweet little boutique called Wull & Oak in Hopewell (NJ) and learned how to shibori dye with food scraps in a workshop taught by Earthencolor.

A Sunny Sunday for the Soul in NYC

March 2, 2025

Lately, I’ve been quietly reviving a regular blogging / writing ritual over on Substack. I feel like I’m finally finding my stride again, and want to bring some of that writing back over here, too. I’ve made a bit of Sunday ritual out of it - where I write the post the morning / day of (while listening to a cozy jazz playlist on Spotify). While the goal is to write every Sunday - sometimes my schedule doesn’t allow for it, and I’m giving myself grace on those days. Last Sunday, for example, I skipped writing because I was in the city.

Anyways, today’s post is all about the fun that was had on that day! It’s probably one of my favorite days in a long time, coming off of a very long and cold winter. If you’ve been following along over on Instagram this week, none of this is new - but it’s everything in one place. 🙂

Christmas Cookies 2024

December 28, 2024

The year is winding down, and Christmas is officially over - but I wanted to write a post linking all the cookies I baked for the 2024 holiday season. Maybe bookmark it for ideas for next year? I actually wrote a similar post many years ago (2017) - I can’t believe that was seven years ago. But anyways, I hope you are all soaking up the joys of the season! One of my biggest joys is baking Christmas cookies, and it has become an annual tradition at this point. I don’t feel like it’s officially Christmas until every pyrex is being used to store cookie dough or cookies. 😉

5 Life Lessons From The Garden

September 15, 2024

Nothing blooms all year long. No season lasts forever.

Having a garden will really make you so acutely aware of the seasons. It’ll teach you to savor and appreciate things when they are in season - knowing that they won’t be at their peak forever. It’s always sad to harvest the last of something for the year - pulling the last cucumber off the vine or watching the last petals from your sunflowers fall - the knowing that you’ll have to wait an entire year before you can grow and harvest those again. But when that time comes around again? It’s that much sweeter - and it’s something to look forward to. If you have a bad growing season (or season in life) - it’s okay - it’ll come to an end eventually and you can try again (or grow something else entirely) next season.

Pet Portraits!

March 15, 2024

I’m excited to introduce my latest self-initiated creative project: custom painted pet portraits! The last time I felt this invigorated about launching a new thing of mine was probably when I launched my beach plastic greeting cards.. so it has been awhile. Years, as a matter of fact. It feels good to feel like I’m finally finding that good creative energy again. I’ve missed it.

3 Sustainable Christmas Crafts

December 10, 2021

It’s been awhile (over a year!) since I’ve last written in this space - but I wanted to pop in quickly with a few Christmas crafts that I’ve been working on this year. I love the holiday season for so many reasons - but one of my favorite reasons is the desire to craft ALL THE THINGS. Sometimes it feels impossible to make time to craft everything that you want to during the “busiest time of year,” but last weekend I set aside some time to play and just make some things for fun - and I’m SO glad I did! These 3 crafts are super easy, and the best part is you can use ordinary things you already have around your house without going out to buy (or order) any new supplies. 🙌🏼

New to the Shop: Vintage!

August 1, 2020

My etsy shop has been on the back burner for the last year or so, but I’m finally going to be breathing some new life into it in the coming weeks / months. I started the shop in 2016, and over the last few years it has evolved quite a bit. I started off making motivational t-shirts and pins before diving into my beach plastic line of greeting cards (and t-shirts) - and now, I’m introducing a new venture: vintage!

Kindness Rocks

April 22, 2020

Hi, and happy Earth Day! It’s been a full year since I last wrote in this space. I’ve recently had the urge to start blogging again, but after “falling off the wagon” with it for so long - I haven’t really known quite how to pick it back up again.

A lot has happened in the last year, but I don’t want that to be the focus of this post. In short, I had my first mental breakdown last summer (that involved weeks of panic attacks, hospitalizations, medications, therapy..) and has been followed by months of PTSD / flashbacks / self doubt, etc. To say I felt like I had hit the ultimate rock bottom would be an understatement. Some day, maybe I’ll write more in depth about it all - but for now I’ll leave it at that.

For me, it has been really weird to still be in the process of healing from “fresh” personal trauma while also being faced with the new (global scale) trauma of a pandemic. I’ve just been taking it day by day - and leaning into living slow — and lots of art making.

Today’s post is about the kindness rocks project / movement - which just felt right as a returning blog post topic - all thing’s considered. You can read more about the project on their website if you’ve never heard about it before.

Their mission:

ONE MESSAGE
AT JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT
CAN CHANGE SOMEONE'S ENTIRE DAY, OUTLOOK, LIFE

amy_chen_design_sandy_hook_beach_clean_plastic_special_finds.jpg

Sandy Hook Beach Clean Up

April 16, 2019

It’s been a little while since I’ve popped in here to write anything. March was a whirlwind, and somehow we are already midway through April - how did that happen?! On Saturday I attended the biggest beach clean up (that I’ve ever participated in) at Sandy Hook — one of my favorite NJ shore points. The “Beach Sweeps” event was hosted by Clean Ocean Action and was held at over 60 different locations that day. At Sandy Hook alone, there were approximately 600 volunteers! 😱It was insane, and incredibly inspiring to be a part of.