Greetings from Hollywood!

I'm currently in sunny California (on spotty wi-fi) for the TCM Film Festival! I'll be trying to do some posts while I'm here, but for now if you want to see some peeks at my trip I've been posting on both of my instagram accounts, @kategabrielle and @kategabrielle_nofilter

ALSO! If I'm on vacation that can only mean one thing -- time for a postcard promotion! While I'm away, you can take 15% off any order of $10+ *and* receive a hand-written postcard from me, postmarked from Hollywood! Just use coupon code SILVERSCREEN at checkout. More details at my store, shopkategabrielle.com.

TSA approved - my tips for airplane attire

My GOD this month has been insane! I can't believe I only managed to get in one other post so far. And things are not slowing down anytime soon. On Tuesday I'm off to Hollywood for my second TCM Film Festival! I'm doing a lot of flying this year so I decided to get my ducks in a row right now and come up with a foolproof airline outfit. And then I thought I'd share my tips with you, too!



- Jersey jumpsuits are your friend. There are so many great jumpsuits available right now, it's just a matter of finding one that's flattering and comfy at the same time. Mine is from Modcloth, and it has a tapered leg, fitted waist and wrapped bodice design that gives the appearance of a tailored outfit with the comfort of a freaking ONESIE. 

There are two things that make jumpsuits my #1 choice for flying -- if it's fitted, the chances of getting a pat-down are reduced considerably. Every time I've flown the difference between an unwelcome crotch grab and walking away scot-free rests solely on whether or not I've worn a dress/skirt/long sweater or fitted pants. This might not bother everyone but I have personal space issues and pat-downs are kind of traumatic for me.

Secondly, when you're sitting in one seat for hours upon hours you want to be really comfy. If you want to wear pj's, go for it! More power to you. I'm not a pajamas-in-public person, though, so this is the closest I can get. With a jumpsuit there's no pulling your pants up and pulling your shirt down to reposition. And if you get a jersey one without any unnecessary buttons and zippers, going to the bathroom is easy peasy. (haha, easy pee-sy. I'm so sorry.) Just make sure you take the outfit on a test run before you fly. Be positive that it's super comfy and easily bathroom accessible!

- Slip-on shoes that cover your whole foot. Again, this might just be a *me* thing but I hate the idea of walking barefoot through security. You will have to remove your shoes, so be prepared for that ahead of time. Lace-up shoes are harder to slip on and off quickly. Flats can't really be worn with socks so you'll either be barefoot or stocking-footed (?) I prefer to have socks on, so my favorite shoes for travel are zip-on ankle boots. They cover your whole foot so you can wear socks, they're comfy for walking around the airport, and they still look stylish.

- Bring a giant cozy sweater and wear your coat. Even if I'm not chilly at the airport, when I'm boarding my plane I put on my coat and a big cozy sweater. That way you don't have to take up valuable real estate in your luggage with bulky outerwear. I'm going to sunny CA for this trip so I'll just be bringing a light jean jacket and a sweater for the plane, but when I'm going someplace colder I'll honestly wear my giant winter coat AND a sweater. If I can save space in my luggage I don't care how I look walking down the aisle of the plane ;D

- Bring a giant purse. I normally do carry-on luggage only so I'll usually tuck my normal purse into a giant purse and then fill it up with anything else I'd need at my disposal on the plane -- a travel blanket, my laptop, my kindle, books, chargers, snacks (favorites for travel include fruit leather and salted almonds), dvds, camera, headphones, etc. Most airlines let you have one carry-on piece of luggage and one additional bag, so this way I'm not trying to figure out how to get a laptop bag, camera bag, purse and carry-on onto the plane. I put my camera & laptop in silicon cases inside of my larger purse rather than carrying them in their own separate bags.

- Possibly TMI but I'm going for it. Wear a sleep bra and comfortable panties. I'm serious. Boob shape is not the top priority when you're crammed into a tiny seat for six hours, TRUST ME. This one is my favorite. You get support, but it feels like you're wearing nothing. I'm a 32DDD and I got the size medium & it fits great. And seriously, unless you're planning on joining the mile high club there is no reason not to put on a pair of granny panties for the flight. Nobody can see them (except I guess the TSA agent that's watching the monitor when you go through the full-body scanner. But we don't want to give them a good show anyway, right?) and you can always change as soon as you get to your hotel.



And that's about it! I hope this helps somebody -- I haven't flown *too* much so far, only about sixteen times I think, but it took me all that time to finally figure out what works. SO much trial and error (and pat-downs, ughhhhh)

I'm going to try to blog every night while I'm at the festival next week, and I'm also going to do a decent amount of updates on my no-filter instagram. See you from Hollywood! :)

jumpsuit - modcloth | boots - f21 I think? | bag - f21
jacket - asos | purple rug - amazon

DIY (ish) record storage unit

If you're a very observant person you might have noticed that all of the records on my bookshelf magically disappeared about a month or so ago. I didn't get rid of them, I just decided to make a much more intuitive record storage unit. And it's located right next to my record player, which means I actually listen to and switch records way more often than I did when my records were all jam-packed into my bookcase.



I hesitate to even call this a DIY because honestly all I did was stack two pieces of furniture on top of each other. The bottom shelf is an old Expedit from IKEA with some table legs from Lowes attached to the bottom. The top piece is a modular storage piece from Amazon. After I painted the edges (I taped off a 2" border on the modular storage to match the width of the Expedit frame, and I used the color Poppy Petal from Valspar.) I added this self-adhesive towel bar on the front to create a little display spot for whichever record I'm currently listening to. (Or in this case, the cover that I think is really pretty and put on display whenever I'm not actually playing anything.)



I also bought LP dividers so I could sort my records by genre or person (although the only person whose presence in my collection is so enormous that they warrant their own divider is Frank Sinatra.) On the bottom shelf I have the records that I don't listen to as often, and then on top are my most-played albums.



Think about it -- when you go to a record store, the albums are always displayed in a way that makes it easy to browse. They're facing forward so you can thumb through them, not crammed into bookcases where their little tiny spines make it almost impossible to figure out which record is which. Especially when you collect older records where the spine has seen better days, finding an album based on the side text is virtually impossible.

I've been listening to my records so much more often since I switched over to this way of storing them. It's so easy to flip through and find what you're looking for, or browse until something just strikes your fancy. And the little ledge in the front means I don't have to worry about where to keep my cover while the record is playing. I have a few collectible albums that my dad handed down to me and I've always felt so anxious just laying the cover on a table or resting it on the floor while I'm playing the LP! EEEK! Now I don't have to worry about that anymore :)

I know IKEA doesn't make Expedit anymore (and I'm not sure if its replacement, Kallax, has the same outside dimensions? Or does it even have a 2 cubby option?) but if you could find a similar base this really is a fantastic (and super easy!!) project. As long as the base unit is slightly deeper than the one on top it should work. Or if the ledge isn't that important to you, you can just stack two modular units on top of each other.

Happy listening! :)