Category: home decor

bath essentials

if you know me personally or have been following along for a bit, you know i love baths. i use them as a space to relax, clear my mind and just be. i definitely view a long bath as a form of self care. if i have a restless night of sleep, i will often take a bath to recalibrate and be more centered before starting my work day.

there are many components to the perfect bath but the item that has transformed my time in the tub is this bamboo bathtub caddy.

my friend carolynn got it for my birthday and it is such a game changer. there is space for absolutely everything. i am usually one of those people struggling to figure out where to sit my wine glass, my ipad or macbook, different bath bombs, soaps or scrubs i am using, whatever book i’ve been reading, a candle and anything else you can think of without getting something wet that isn’t waterproof or accidentally knocking something over. hint: that something has been my wine glass on more than one occasion. *face palm*

i think it will be hard for me to take another bath if i don’t have this caddy as part of it. so if you’re at home due to covid-19 and looking for ways to up your self care game, this caddy is available on amazon prime.

thank you so much, lynnie!

what things make your bath experience better?

xoxo,

k. tap

one year anniversary

for those of you who grew up listening to r&b, just know that i have been singing “anniversary” every single day for the last week.

 

one year.  today marks one year of blogging on keepupwithktap.com, getting to know more about so many of you and getting to know one hell of a lot about myself.  it has been lesson after lesson about vulnerability, letting go of being a perfectionist and realizing that authenticity is definitely underrated.

 

i had planned on reviewing my analytics to find out which posts you all liked most but luckily, top nine did that for me.  two things stood out to me:

  1. you are unafraid to dive deep with me
  2. i need to show more of my face on the gram since you all seem to like those photos

 

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for those of you who have not been reading since the beginning, i have linked the top nine posts below:

1. a much needed psa

2. bikinis for big girls

3. 29 and fine

4. family does not mean

5. people in therapy

6. pale pink + polka dots

7. #100

8. graduation (started from the bottom, now we’re here)

9. veuve polo classic – east coast edition

 

to say i am grateful to each of you who has read along in the last year would be a gross understatement. i am so excited for year two together. as we enter 2020, a new decade and my 30th year on this earth, i will continue to talk about some topics you can’t get enough of (psych, relationships and self-improvement). i will cover some new topics you’ve requested (like dating, narcissism, wedding season and more things fashion oriented).

 

i cannot wait to connect with you all on instagram live tonight at 8pm pst.

 

sending you all so much love and here’s to the next year together. 😘

 

xoxo,

k. tap

yes to yeti!

a few weeks ago, i was lucky enough to get 72 hours of quality time with one of my favorite humans.  sarah, or lil’ spoon as i call her, literally never arrives anywhere empty handed.  so when she handed me this beautiful card and oddly wrapped gift, i was not surprised, just intrigued.  that is when the game changed.

 

she gave me the rambler 10oz wine tumbler by yeti.

 

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all of the things i had ever seen or heard about yeti have been all about the outdoors.  i have a lot of friends who love camping and hiking and they all seem to have yeti gear.  i would not say i dislike camping but i am never going to be the one to organize a trip.  i definitely am not a hiker.  and when it comes to the outdoors, i pretty much only enjoy being outside if i am right next to a body of water unless you count bottomless mimosas on an outdoor patio for brunch or wine tasting on the terrace of domaine carneros in napa.  this wine tumbler is great for both indoor and outdoor living.

 

i first tried it with a glass of red wine.  i find that whether i use a wine glass with a stem or one without, my red wine does not ever seem to remain the right temperature.  it ends up totally compromising the taste of the wine.  even after a full hour, my wine was the exact same temperature as when i poured it.  as for whites, rosés and sparkling options, it tastes just as cold and crisp 40 minutes later as it did the second i poured it.

 

the tumblers come in over a dozen colors.  they are made with stainless steel.  hot drinks stay hot and cold drinks stay cold.  for those of you who hate dishes, they are dishwasher safe. if 10oz. is not enough for you, there are 16 and 20 ounce options.  there are also a variety of lids and straws that are available for purchase.  i will definitely be purchasing more of these, especially before summer.  instead of bringing glass poolside, i will bring my yeti instead.

 

whether you want these for a night spent in your living room or your next camping expedition, the answer is simple – always say yes to yeti!

 

enjoy your saturday. 🙂

 

xoxo,

k. tap

 

 

 

fall favorites

even though i have only ever lived in california and grew up in la, i have always been a fan of true seasons. sometimes, it seems like summer never ends here. so you can imagine how happy i was this week when the weather shifted from blistering hot days to just enough overcast to make me not blast my a/c and even snuggle up with my favorite throw blanket.

here are two of the things i’ve missed most…

is it really fall if i am not enjoying red wine and lighting an obscene number of candles throughout my place?

i just don’t enjoy red wine as much during the warmer months so when nocking point sent this amazing malbec as part of my quarterly subscription, i couldn’t wait to try it. and after the long work week i’ve had, there is something so soothing about scent of lavender and vanilla. my friend hayley told me about this insane sale bath and body works was having last month on candles and i ordered a variety of scents. this lavender vanilla one has been my favorite by far.

with the weather cooling down, i will definitely be posting more about wardrobe since this is a season i actually like to dress for.

what are some of your fall favorites?

enjoy your weekend!

xoxo,

k. tap

buttermilk biscuits + beautiful platters

when i think of sundays, i think of eating good food in even better company.  today, i got to enjoy both.  i have been in washington since thursday and got to spend some quality time with one of my closest friends from high school (and her adorable family) and now, i am helping my roommate from freshman year settle into her new apartment.  talk about coming full circle!  anyway, this morning, after i spent some time organizing her closet (first by item, then by color and within that, by sleeve-length), i was served the most delicious buttermilk biscuits on the most beautiful platter.

 

marilena bought the mix from trader joe’s and made them with oat milk.  i was shocked because they tasted homemade and i had no idea oat milk was used until well after they were consumed.

 

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a recommendation she had to get the perfect shape and density is to use your favorite coffee mug to cut out the biscuits once your dough is rolled out.

 

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she served the biscuits with butter, juicy nectarines, plump cherries and blackberry rhubarb jam.  the fruit and jam were from the local farmer’s market.  the nectarines were just as flavor-packed as the jam and so i split the biscuit in two and ate one side with a little butter and 1/8 of a nectarine before eating the other side with a bit of butter and jam.  hours later, the biscuits were still moist when i circled back and had another for a snack.

 

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as amazing as the buttermilk biscuits were, part of what pulled me in was the beautiful platter they were served on.  whenever i visit marilena, we eat something off of this platter.  yesterday, it was a charcuterie spread.  for breakfast today, it was the buttermilk biscuit platter and for dinner tonight, it was a spinach and chive pasta with sautéed fingerling potatoes and onions tossed with pesto and topped with smoked salmon.  the platter can be used for pretty much anything under the sun and is perfect when serving groups.

 

i tend to gravitate towards longer or more rectangular platters.  i have included three of my favorites that are available at anthropologie, target and amazon below.

 

caskata peony tray – anthropologie 

plates mosaic design – threshold – target 

french bull rectangular platter – amazon

 

which platter is your favorite?  have you tried these trader joe’s biscuits?  if so, what is your favorite thing to add to them?

 

xoxo,

k. tap