2023 notable feeling spaces

better late than never <3

HEY FRIENDS!!

I’m back, saying hi and ready to share some reflections! I hope your 2024 is off to a sweet start, we’re out of Mercury Retrograde so that’s a small blessing. I know I’m late to the game, but I wanted to share some of my favorite moments of 2023! All chosen through a lens of what made me FEEL the most enlivened/awake/sensorial!

feeling spaces of 2023 (in no particular order):

finally reading Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Reservation Dogs season 3

Fellow Travelers on Showtime

Zoe reading outloud to me before we fall asleep (yes, a one-directional practice)

Holding up LET GAZA LIVE signs over the 10 freeway at rush hour and connecting with people through their windshields, very emotional and the middle fingers were greatly outnumbered by honks of support.

Getting to go to Coachella for $0.0000 thanks to Emilia/Pony Sweat and running around from Rosalia to Christine and the Queens to Bjork to Charlie XCX to Boy Genius…very surreal and a big upgrade from when I last went to Coachella as an 18 year old in 2009 with Eli and we had to hitchhike with a stranger man back to LA after camping in 90 degree heat for 3 days in a row and subsisting exclusively off the Coolhaus ice cream sandwich stand.

Witnessing my friend Herbie get top surgery while also being a co-parent to 3 children, and taking photos of him at home a few days before surgery (upon reflection: topless photo shoots with queer friends was a theme of 2023, into it)!

Witnessing my friend since we were 14 Anna be pregnant and birth a gorgeous tiny baby named Seymour out of her body!

Walking through New York City with Zoe in late November, seeing so much good art, feeling perfectly cold and alive and free.

Co-hosting Queer Mall Albuquerque in early April with two internet-friends turned real-life friends, Lukaza & El, and having so many beautiful conversations with elder queers and feeling like the whole town really showed up for our event!! and hugging several customers who i’d mailed pieces to but not met before! and doing an epic multi-day roadtrip to NM and back with my mom and dad with so many beautiful sunsets & open skies!

Witnessing Noah’s brick + mortar worker-owned sandwich shop & bakery in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn (Sea & Soil) — seeing him make decades-long dreams come to reality, being a part of that community for one beautiful evening at our pizza & clothes pop-up in September, overflowing with awe & pride for him & Gaby & their delicious, powerful project.

Every time I put on Hoka Bondi sneakers and feel cushy and powerful and grandpa and I can’t believe I used to think Blundstones were comfortable/supportive-enough every day shoes.

Finding $800 worth of bougie Bala workout equipment at Out of the Closet for $75 that Emilia could use for her exercise class (and the most satisfying pink pill-shaped hand weights for meeee).

Getting to hug my epic 90-year-old grandma Lolo for one beautiful afternoon in Concord, Massachusetts & wandering through antique shops and cemeteries together.

Playing soccer at a park in South Pasadena with 6 year old Jideora and Zoe, tapping into my inner child and shuttling across time and smelling the grass of summer soccer camps at University of Portland and all the badass collegiate women soccer players I idolized who seemed extremely OLD and now i’m almost a decade older than they were and still playing soccer…awesome!!!

All of the many many many hours of dancing & sweating I did at Pony Sweat, consistently choking up during the song Just Another Day by Oingo Bingo on the October mixtape and going nuts for 8 minutes at the last song, Flutes by Hot Chip, moving through the weight of entire families being killed, immense suffering, unfathomable degrees of injustice — similarly, grateful to Dyke Soccer for the much needed opportunity to get off the computer/doomscroll and run around, be in our bodies & in community together.

Escaping to Sparrows Lodge in Palm Springs for two, one-night trips to the desert for maximum restoration, deep sleep, s’mores, pool/hot tub time (very expensive full price but keep an eye out for random sales/mid-week discounts, and WAY way way nicer & quieter than the Ace).

The elation of Heath Ceramics $5 discount mixed tile boxes at their LA store.

The relief of getting banned from TikTok so that I can no longer angst about being perceived on TikTok.

Witnessing and participating in Zoe making not one but two stunning shows of art, being with each other through the exhaustion and anticipation and disappointment, the hundreds of pep talks and “keep going!” we gave each other on drives home from the studio at midnight, seeing their brilliant and determination and passion.

Selling bootleg Yabba Dabba Dyke shirts at Thick Thrift in LA and having someone tell me that she bought the original shirt in 1993 at the March on Washington but was too closeted and shy to wear it in public, now she said she’d feel comfortable wearing it and was at the event with her partner who bought a classifieds shirt <3

Getting to see Emma working at one of the best restaurants in Portland (Nostrana with this gorgeous garden across the street), eating their food — one of my favorite experiences is witnessing my closest friends in their POWER, knowing all it took to get there, seeing them in an environment that’s distinct from casual chats & hangs. Especially cool when you’ve known each other since middle school!!!

Taking Rachel and Will’s baby, Esme, to the beach for the first time in her one-year-old life, each of us taking turns facilitating dipping her tiny toes into the Pacific Ocean

B visiting us in July and being a tourist in our own city taking them to the special places we’d gotten out of the habit of going — karaoke at Honey’s, bball at WNBGAY, tacos at Guisados — laughing at poorly-written queer books, taking them to find the good deals at Crossroads, sharing morning coffee together, more aforementioned semi-nude photoshoots lol!!!

Walking feet on the ground of the 110 freeway at Arroyo Fest, noticing sights and smells that I’ve driven past literally thousands of times over the past decade.

All of the emotions of cleaning and moving studios which is ultimately always a terrible experience but my dad came down for the week and having him there for every inevitable saga (it doesn’t fit through the doorway! driving a uhaul down the 10 freeway! we have to hire Lugg people so Mike doesn’t throw his back out!) made it literally SPECIAL in my mind instead of simply a huge, expensive, demoralizing pain — thanks, dad!

All of the cool secondhand pieces (vintage Le Klint & Noguchi pendants! a much-needed laptop! a blue ceramic sink! a lavender ceramic sink! a fruit picker! a corten steel planter! a king-size weighted comforter! ) I acquired from Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and Buy Nothing and OfferUp and never got scammed, thank you Secondhand Gods.

The existence of City Plants LA which is a very spotty website but ultimately did hand deliver four beautiful perfect FREE new plants without ever sending me a single confirmation email! that and the public library would have to be my favorite personal use of tax dollars!!

Going to the EVERYBODY gym takeover of the Occidental College pool every Sunday over the summer and being surrounded by gorgeous queers and bodies and the perfect temperature of the saltwater pool and sunshine, truly a highlight

In my mind it was a hard, somewhat disappointing year but when I type all this out — there was so much beauty and resilience and connection! Thank you to everyone who made it so! I’m starting the new year feeling restless, curious, open, eager, calling in new experiences and opportunities. Craving more stability, more space, more collaborations. Grateful for the journey.

My website has many comfy cuties on it, if you’re in the market…don’t hesitate to reach out with questions! Also happy to help facilitate LA drop-offs if you’d like to try on items in the comfort of your own home. I’m around, but my next in-person events won’t be until February. Thank you!

I LOVE YOU!

xoxo

Isabel