Things I’m Afraid To Tell You.

posted on 05.3.2012 | 19 comments

Today I learned about a small movement swirling around the blogosphere that has come to be known as Things I’m Afraid To Tell You. I first read about it over at Creature Comforts, where, in a beautiful, courageous post, Ez revealed the fears and struggles she faces in her life that she has never allowed to creep into her online image. Then I read many of the posts by other brave bloggers (partial list at the end of this post) and was doubly inspired to write my own.

There is actually one particular thing that I’ve been too afraid to tell you all for a long time. I’ve even written posts about it before, only to delete them immediately. Today I am going to tell you something that feels very personal but that I’ve decided shouldn’t be personal because millions of Americans have the same problem and if we don’t talk about it, I fear that nothing will be done.

I am not eligible for health insurance in the state of California.

I am in my twenties. I have a very healthy diet. I exercise three to four times a week for at least an hour at a time. I do not smoke and I barely ever drink. I have never been hospitalized or had any surgeries. But, I ~~suffer from~~ have a non-life-threatening disease. I can’t bring myself to say the word “suffer” because it does not make me suffer anymore. This disease is completely controlled by one pill every day, each of which has a wholesale value of about 36¢.

It doesn’t matter what disease I have – that is not the point – because in the state of California, having one of at least 28 “illnesses” (which I put in scare quotes since one of them is pregnancy) is cause for automatic decline. These conditions range from cancer to sleep apnea to any mental illness for which the patient has received more than 6 months of continuous treatment. (Read the whole list here.) This applies to every health insurance company in California – no exceptions.

When I turned 26 and was no longer eligible to be on my parents’ health insurance policy, I was forced to face my fears and apply for insurance here in California. Because I am a freelancer and am therefore not eligible for a group plan through any job, I had to look for an individual plan. I expected head butting and high premiums but I did not expect to be turned away by every company. Even if I were rich and could afford to pay any amount under the sun, no California insurance company would cover me. There are no loopholes and no exceptions for special cases.

Today I pay $732 per month for a COBRA plan through the state of Maine, which is not the best plan I could find for myself…it is the only plan. And that is before any doctor visit copays or payment of my (extremely high) deductible. If I should get sick, need new glasses, or have to visit the dentist, I would have to pay more (since it also doesn’t include vision or dental). On top of that, COBRA is only an 18-month “solution” and very soon I will no longer be eligible even for this policy. Given the recent Supreme Court sessions about Obama Care, my hopes for a solution in 2014 are very low, and even if Obama Care is implemented, there will be a period of time before its implementation and after I’m kicked off COBRA where I will have to find a new plan.

Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, State Representatives Mike Feuer and Fran Pavley: I hope you’re reading this.

_____________

Other participating bloggers (list via Creature Comforts):

Design for Mankind | Little Brown Pen | Beautiful Hello | Curating Style | Sweet Fine Day | The Jealous Curator | Happy Days | Sage & Berries | Really Handmade | Peck Life | Satsuma Press | Rena Tom | For the Easily Distracted | The Hemborg Wife | Vitamini Handmade |Courtney Khail Stationery and Design | Meg in Progress | Dando Photography Blog | Widdershins22 | Alison Citron | Pink Moon Daily | Just Pretty Things | From China Village |Tea with Me | The Darling Ewe | Not Your Average Ordinary | The Electric Typewriter |Elleby Design | Parsimonia {Secondhand With Style}

Category: ramblings

Once Wed: A Sage & Lavender Wedding

posted on 03.29.2012 | no comments

{ Photography by Elisa B Photography | Calligraphy by Plurabelle |
Floral design by Toast | Full credits here }

Loving this feature in Once Wed! Sage and lavender are two of my favorite herbs and colors, so you can imagine how wonderful these pictures make me feel. And that vintage wood table in the top photo? Wow. I call it styling perfection.…

Category: calligraphy, wedding

Recent Work: An Alabama Birthday

posted on 03.25.2012 | 6 comments

{ Photography & Calligraphy by Plurabelle Calligraphy }

Sometimes projects come along that I find so enjoyable to do that I don’t want them to end. This was one of them. It was a small order of only about 40 envelopes for a big birthday bash in Alabama. My lovely client tasked me with creating envelope layouts that were both more masculine (since the party was for her husband) and more fun (since it was a birthday party) than traditional calligraphy envelopes. I made a few samples and we settled on one that combined lowercase script splashed across the paper at a diagonal, with a block of small caps print. The #10 envelopes are a mouth-watering shade of red (French Paper Co.‘s “wild cherry” to be exact), which, if you ask me, is utterly unbeatable when paired with white ink.

Category: calligraphy

Color Inspiration: Cacti

posted on 03.19.2012 | no comments

One thing about California that was very new to me when I moved here from the East coast was the abundance of cacti and other succulent plants. I’m absolutely in love with them! This weekend I snapped these photos of cacti along my street and the more I look at them, the more inspired I am by their beautiful, vibrant colors.

{ Photography & Color Palette Design by Plurabelle Calligraphy }

Category: color inspiration

Country Living Magazine, April 2012

posted on 03.17.2012 | no comments

Country Living Magazine included my ex libris rubber stamp in its April “Fresh Picks” section. I’m so flattered! The issue is on news stands now, and you can purchase a custom calligraphed ex libris stamp of your own right here.

Category: calligraphy, press, rubber stamp

Recent Work: Jacey & Grant

posted on 03.16.2012 | no comments

{ Photography by Lauren Ross, Event Styling by Beth Helmstetter, Calligraphy by Plurabelle }

I was so excited to see this awesome wedding featured on Style Me Pretty last week. I started working with Beth Helmstetter on Jacey & Grant’s wedding last July, when I calligraphed addresses onto the cardboard boxes used for their invitations. Their wedding was held at my absolute favorite Los Angeles venue – the Smog Shoppe – which Beth decorated in an eco-friendly, vintage, Southern theme. I just love the use of mix-and-matched patterns and colors!

See more photos of Jacey & Grant’s day here.

Category: calligraphy, wedding

Saturday & Springtime

posted on 03.3.2012 | 1 comment

The courtyard of my building has a number of tall potted plants, all with thin, delicate branches. Yesterday morning my eye was caught by a dark, golf-ball-sized spot high in the limbs of one of them. On further inspection, I realized that it was a hummingbird sitting peacefully atop her nest. No sooner did I walk up close than she flitted away, exposing the remarkably small cradle of woven, compacted twigs, moss, and leaves. I know better than to touch or disturb a bird’s nest, but I was so curious to see the eggs. Well, thank goodness for iPhones and tall friends! My friend reached up and snapped a quick aerial photo and we discovered, to my immense joy, that not only were there eggs (each no larger than a jelly bean), but the nest was insulated with the most beautiful combination of feathers and cottony fluff. (Further research revealed that my new friend is an Anna’s Hummingbird and that the nest is in fact “built of very small twigs, lichen and other mosses, and often lined with downy feathers or animal hair. The nest materials are bound together with spider silk or other sticky materials.”) Just then, mother bird returned with a piece of cotton in her beak and shooed us away. Every time that I’ve passed by since, I have seen her sitting there warming those two eggs. I’m looking forward to watching this little story unfold and maybe – hopefully – seeing the little chicks someday soon.

Category: color inspiration

En café

posted on 03.2.2012 | 2 comments

{ Photo & Calligraphy by Plurabelle Calligraphy }

Every day I feel so grateful and lucky that I’m able to make a living doing something that I love. With a mountain of work on my desk and the inevitable hand cramps from doing calligraphy for hours on end, I sometimes lose sight of how fortunate I truly am. The best way to remind myself is to take some time each day to play around and do a personal project. Last night, while sipping on my usual cup of evening coffee, I actually dipped my pen into my espresso cup instead of my pot of black iron gaul ink. In the words of my art school typography professor, it was a very “happy accident”. It sparked about half an hour of playing around with coffee calligraphy on a variety of surfaces, and I must say that I love the antiqued look of it! I want to try tea and pomegranate juice next.…

Category: calligraphy, food, vintage

Book Feature: I Heart Stationery

posted on 03.2.2012 | no comments

Yay! I’ve been so excited to announce that Plurabelle Calligraphy has been featured in the February 2012 release from Universe Publishing, I Heart Stationery: Fresh Inspirations for Handcrafted Cards, Note Cards, Journals, & Other Paper Goods. The book is an overview of the hottest trends in all things stationery that are sprouting up around the globe. Author Charlotte Rivers contacted me back in December 2010 with this book idea and asked me to submit samples of my calligraphed rubber stamp designs. Well, I’ve been waiting these 15 months to see the final product and I am beyond thrilled! More than anything, I feel so honored to be featured alongside such amazing stationery designers, illustrators, typographers and calligraphers from around the world. Many of the names in the book are ones I already knew and whose work I already admired, but I’ve also been turned on to dozens of new designers with mouth-wateringly beautiful portfolios. If you’re a fan of paper goods and beautiful hard-cover coffee table books, I highly recommend you invest in a copy today.

All the rubber stamp designs featured in my section of the book can be purchased through my Etsy shop.

Category: calligraphy, press, rubber stamp

we may race & we may run…

posted on 03.1.2012 | 1 comment

{ Photograph courtesy my client, Heather W. }

Whenever I am asked to design a tattoo, I feel so honored. It’s incredibly flattering that someone else would want me to play a role in designing something that will be immortalized on their body. While I always work hard to make a design that reflects my clients’ desires, it’s also important for me to create a design that respects the story behind the tattoo. When my old high school friend, Heather W., contacted me to design a 3-line, 21-word, 10x5-inch tattoo for her back, I felt a lot of pressure to make something absolutely perfect. The quote was long and tattoos have restrictions that other calligraphy projects don’t, like needing more space between the letters and not making hairlines too thin or complex. Something so large and so personal called for a lot of thought and layout planning. Ultimately, Heather and I are both really happy with the outcome.

Heather explained the story of her tattoo thus:

“[The quote] is from the David Gray song The Other Side. I’ve always loved the message of it. It reminds me to be aware of my actions and words every moment because they cannot be changed. It also reminds me not to dwell on regret because I can’t change the past. I ultimately decided to get the tattoo after a very close friend was killed in the fall.”