💡 Branded.

⚡️ Awesome.

📦 Delivered.

Founded as Swatch Color in 2014 (in California)...grace is excited to bring her expertise and passion to her North Carolina print shop, ink.

From custom promotional products, apparel, corporate branding and marketing, weddings, handmade party invitations & decor, to event marketing...ink brings the "WOW!" like none other. ink caters to all of your branding, marketing, apparel, and printing needs.

www.ink.work

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You can learn more about our farm at www.gracefarmsnc.com

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The beginning of 2020 jumped off to a crazy start.

Completely unexpected, an opportunity arose to potentially purchase the most breathtaking land in our favorite corner of the earth…Cane Creek Valley.

The first two years we lived in North Carolina, we lived in a cozy mountain home tucked high up in the mountains while I renovated it. We always knew this would be a temporary home that I converted into a luxury vacation rental…but were never quite sure how long “temporary” meant for us.

Coming from a sprawling 4,000+ sq. ft. home in California that I used approximately half of for my work studio, the 65% space reduction to a ~1,400 sq. ft. work in progress was an adjustment. Within the first few months of moving to NC (and paying over $500 monthly for 4 crammed full storage units for all of my inventory & equipment)…I decided to rent a 1,500 sq. ft. warehouse approximately 20 minutes from our home.

I was constantly on the lookout for the perfect piece of land to build my permanent shop/warehouse for my businesses. Of course I also daydreamed that it would be large enough to also reserve a spot for our future forever home (and possibly a barn + some other wishful things if it’s not too much to ask ;). But my primary focus was a small piece of land at least ample enough to build my shop. Heading toward my 3rd year into a commercial lease that automatically increases 4% per year…I’d constantly be SCOURING for any scrap of suitable land for sale…and crunching numbers to see if it would work.

Well after roughly 2 years of that…about a mile down the road from our current home (a constant ongoing renovation project in itself), this gorgeous site for sale by owner came available. I love FSBO properties because with my background in real estate, I prefer to keep agents out of transactions and buy/sell direct.

In late January, I called the seller to find out a bit about this property. It was a long shot in that it was a bit too good to be true in terms of location and acreage. But just like that…less than 48 hours later we were approved for the loan and my offer to purchase was accepted.

It was a miracle, and the beginnings of my wildest fantasies coming true. However, it wasn’t without a crazy amount of work (and a number of bureaucratic obstacles to overcome).

On this beautiful land, there was a very small, run-down house on the property that needed a ridiculous amount of work. It was actually not livable in the condition it was in, and also did not have a water source and a questionable septic tank situation…thus the really, really, really great price. I wasn’t deterred in the slightest. I worked myself senseless making this deal go through.

It was an unbelievable journey with a hell of a lot of hoops to jump through. At SEVERAL points when I was knee deep in crazy mix of it all, it looked like the deal was surely dead. In fact, at one point when a gentleman from my lender’s compliance team called to deliver some bad news that this loan was going to die on an insane technicality…I pushed back HARD and said “NO! This is NOT dead, and here is what is going to happen next.”

One thing you should know about me is that I’m relentless, persuasive, persistent as all hell, and I will drown you in so much documentation that eventually it’s just simpler and easier to give me what I want. ;)

After some hard fought battles (and the scare of things possibly not settling because after ALL of my battles and just weeks from closing…COVID-19 hits the world), I came out triumphant. My heart was over the moon! At the end of March 2020, we FINALLY closed on the property. This will be the source of my lifetime’s worth of projects to come.

Pulling off this purchase the accomplishment of my lifetime. Now getting everything whipped into shape will be my most ambitious project yet. I needed to quickly transform this abandoned house into our new home in a matter of months. Thankfully, that’s right up my alley.

This creek-lined stunning 6-acre spot lies in the heart of Cane Creek Valley (my favorite place on earth)…minutes from Asheville. I’ve got big plans for this small farm in the works. ❤️

There’s much to do before we can get our little farm up and running, but I couldn’t be more excited to begin this journey.

I’ve started with baby goats, which are just a shot of pure joy to you soul. Next up, an assortment of adorable baby chicks who will grow into beautiful, rainbow colored egg layers will be arriving soon.

Next will be a couple of miniature dwarf donkeys. Then as time goes on, I plan on adding some ducks and quail too. (There may or may not also be some serious talk of a baby bison ;)

Eventually, we’re going to add alpacas into the mix.

We’ll have fruit trees, berry bushes, flowers upon flowers, and an assortment of vegetables to boot. My wildest fantasies involve a greenhouse on stilts out there on that flood plain...where I’ll nurture more succulents than one could imagine. Hey, a girl can dream.

But first, I had to tackle the challenges at hand: a 58 yr old fixer upper that is very small, VERY abandoned, and has been all but left for dead. The plan: renovating / repairing / adding onto that home, drilling a well, repairing (or replacing the septic system), and getting everything up to livable standards so our little family could make this our home.

You can learn all about grace farms at www.gracefarmsnc.com

With my formal background in Print Production, Graphic Design, and Web Design, design is something I partake in every day.

The reason I initially pursued both Graphic & Web Design (respectively), merely came out of necessity. When I started designing and printing handmade books (and later starting and building businesses), I could not stand waiting around idly waiting for something to come together. When I needed to design something, I wanted to quickly complete the task and do it myself.

First, I amateurishly delved into Graphic Design on my own…spending hours in Microsoft Publisher back in the day. Then through the guidance of one of my favorite professors of all time (the incredibly talented Julie Leonard), I accepted her nudge to “take some graphic design classes” so I could learn how to do things the correct way. And for that, I’m forever grateful.

In a world that is now filled with wonderfully adaptive apps and robust tools for people to quickly and easily wield these skills on their own…I have scaled back the custom graphic & web design projects for new clients. However, I’m always working on something creative.

In addition to Graphic Design & Web Design…I’m kind of a nut for making costumes. Yes…”dress up for Halloween” kind of costumes. It sort of started at this ad agency where I used to work (where I met my husband). We’d have these department-themed Halloweens every year. The contests and competitions were insane there…and let’s just say I REALLY got into it.

After we got married (and as our family grew), the whole family-themed Halloween costumes became more and more epic every year. We had all of these fun annual Halloween parties to go to, so I’d always be tinkering and and throwing together some handmade costumes.

I wouldn’t call myself a Costume Designer by any stretch of the imagination…but I've been teaching myself how to sew throughout the years. It seems that each and every year, the family Halloween costumes get more and more ridiculous. Like seriously…I spend WAY too much time on them, but I just can’t help myself. When you have little people (and a very cool husband) who play along…why not?

So…even though I’ll continue this annual tradition as long as long as my family will tolerate my ridiculousness, despite frequent requests I don’t take on other costume design or sewing projects. As you can imagine, I’ve got quite the full plate…so I am not taking on any new design projects (of any sort) at this time.

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grace homes is an Interior Design and Home Renovation/Remodeling company which specializes in transforming spaces into beautiful dwellings you yearn for.

In addition to these services, grace market is the retail component where grace sells some of her favorite lovely things.

Aside residential renovation and remodeling, grace adds her design style with Commercial Interior Design. Most recently, grace has been an integral part of transforming an empty 12,000 sq. ft. warehouse space into the new home of 12 Bones and 12 Bones Brewing in Arden, NC.

She was able to bring her industrial + vintage style to create a comfortable, rustic space that is amazing to relax, hang out, and have a great time with friends. It’s a labor of love and evolving work in progress as she continues to add beautiful accents and unique elements to this space in her execution of the joint vision of her and the 12 Bones team.

grace is currently in the middle of her first FULL residential renovation as well as embarking on a complete head to toe renovation of a new property and converting it into a small farm. The first is a beautiful and luxurious getaway tucked up in the mountains in the process of being converted into a luxury vacation rental, and the other is a sprawling 6 acres just down the road.

Both properties lie in the heart of Cane Creek Valley. It’s a gorgeous, secluded slice of heaven that feels miles from civilization, but is actually just minutes from Asheville.

www.gracehomes.us

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How It All Began

In late 2017, my husband and I finally decided to make a life-altering decision to leave our fast-paced life in Los Angeles to lay down our family roots in rural North Carolina. It was a dream long in the works that had been brewing for five years.

When we found ourselves in the position of needing to buy and house in North Carolina, sell our house in California, and manage an extremely expensive move that would take our crazy family of nine (plus my print shop) 2,300 miles across the country...there was a tad bit of planning involved.

I took this colossal, complicated situation and turned it into an experiment of sorts. I decided to tackle it head on, just as I would any other business process: identify and breakdown all the logistics required to get the project completed, then maximize efficiency to check off each task.

Long story short (and months of working ourselves past the point of exhaustion)...we realized that we had a knack for this arena. We were able to partially bankroll our insane cross-country move as well as some of the initial renovations for our new fixer upper with all of the diligent work we pulled off selling our California home ourselves. It was a bit daunting making that leap by wracking up all of the debt of the move and home renovations on credit cards with the faith that we could pull it off...but in the end it was a huge payoff.

I'm in the process of getting licensed in North Carolina so we can jump into real estate investment in this gorgeous new state we call home. As it stands, Asheville has experienced ridiculously explosive growth for well over a decade. We're far too late to the AVL flipping scene...however, (per usual) I've got my sights set on the inconspicuous. I love off-the-beaten-path gems that I can envision a transformative number on. I'm not looking to make this my full-time gig where I'm churning out properties left and right...but over the years, you just might see a few homes pop up that I work my magic on.

Currently working on Renovations #1 and #2. Since we're very much living in or first renovation and preparing to move into the second (while fixing it up both)…and I've also got my full-time ventures, I have quite a bit on my plate at the moment.

I'm just an Iowa girl (born & raised)…with a California spirit; now carving out our slice of heaven in North Carolina.

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hawkeye grace is my “everything” blog + social media presence that serves as a catch-all of my ongoing crazy adventures.

It was formerly a simple recipe & family blog (California Hawkeye) that I started way back when I had taking up cooking quite a bit. 

It's currently undergoing a major face-lift, expansion, and attempted recovery of posts which were lost/unrecoverable by my hosting company (long story)...so in the meantime, just follow me on social media.

Yes, I'm certifiable.

Yes, I'm scattered.

I'm just a batshit crazy lukewarm mess.

I can't make up my damn mind on what I want to do with my life, so instead I dabble in everything. And my poor husband puts up with all of it. ‘hawkeye grace’ kind of / sort of documents my misguided adventures along the way.

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gk, Inc. is a Business Consultancy where I provide a wide range of logistics and operations services to small to medium size businesses.

I’m a fixer…and gk, Inc. fixes business problems.

Just think of me as Ray Donovan, but tackling much more boring issues such as…

· POS Implementation + Management

· Credit card processing rate negotiation (to save you money)

· Bulk ordering, storage/warehouse, management, and delivery of operational supplies to substantially reduce annual costs

· Management + response to customer inquiries, complaints, and online orders

…and other annoying nuisances of that nature.

I eliminate as much of the extra noise that comes with running a business as possible. That way, business owners can divert their precious time to matters much more pressing than those annoying nuisances.

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I'm not your typical "Business Consultant". All you need to know is that I'm the crazy girl who gets $#*% done.

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I'm an extremely versatile blend of multimedia production artist, spreadsheet lovin' data nerd, and creative marketing pro. I have over 18 years of experience in print production, marketing, commercial logistics, and management.

In 2012, I became a work-at-home mom. My side hustle consisted of graphic + web design, business + marketing consultant, and bookkeeper for a handful of businesses. The demand for my services became so great that in 2014, I launched my own company.

With skills and technical experience ranging from the digital side in graphic + web design to the very tactile arts of digital + offset print, screen printing, letterpress, bookbinding and papermaking...I have a voracious appetite for picking up new skills for all things creative within the artistic landscape.

My professional career ranges in a multitude of accomplishments. I've overseen several new store launches for a retail print chain as well as the grand opening of a massive Las Vegas graphics production hub for a multi-national corporation. I've designed & produced projects for the most prolific casinos (all Caesars/Harrah's properties, Hard Rock, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Bally's, and many more). 

Hand-in-hand with those brands, I've created projects for the biggest names in the Food & Beverage industry (Diageo, Bacardi, Constellation Brands, Pernod Ricard, and more). These days, you'll find me working around the clock with clients...from tech companies to institutional beer & BBQ, there aren't enough hours in the day to tame me.

Logistics & organization are my specialties, attention to detail is my obsession, and creativity is what drives me. I have no shortage of motivation when it comes to forging new ways to expand my technical & creative skill sets.

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Among so many other things, gk, Inc. provides a variety of logistics consulting services to clients which includes (but is not limited to):

· E-Commerce Store Development

· E-Commerce Order Fulfillment

· Graphic & Web Design

· Video Production

· Social Media Marketing & Management

· Business Formation Services: Incorporation / EIN / Business License(s)

· Custom Website / Domain / Email Set-up & Launch

· Customer Service Management

· Promotional Marketing, Products, and Apparel

· Retail & Merchandise Management

· Bookkeeping Services / Daily Operations

· CC Processing Rate Review & Negotiation

· POS System Review & Implementation

· Business Operations Efficiency Assessment

· Payroll Management & State Withholding Registration

· Time Clock & Employee Management

Currently, I'm honored and proud to be working with 12 Bones Smokehouse and 12 Bones Brewing in Asheville, NC. Well, I moved 2,300 miles to help take 12 Bones Smokehouse (a local institution) to the next level (talk about dedication! ;) I also assisted with the buildout and complete launch of 12 Bones Brewing.

As such, I am not taking on any new business consulting clients at this time.

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grace market is my retail shop where I sell lovely things.

{ Coming Soon }

www.grace.market

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Once upon a time…I used to sing, play instruments, and write music.

I started playing piano around the age of five. I remember composing music and entering competitions as a kid, and being awarded those congratulatory blue ribbons that they gave out to nearly anyone who mustered up enough courage to try. I never really pursued much beyond school shows or regional performances…I always considered it a bit of a pipe dream.

Then I started college as a Vocal Performance major at the University of Iowa School of Music (which is an outstanding program). I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to pursue music professionally, but I felt compelled to explore. However, I quickly learned that my comprehensive interest (in all there was to learn about the world) couldn’t tolerate such a narrow-focused curriculum.

The UI Music Program is INTENSE. It’s all music all the time. My curious mind had a voracious appetite for an all-encompassing liberal arts diet. So…I switched out of the music program to satisfy so many of those curiosities. While I don’t regret it, I sometimes miss having music as this all-consuming part of my life. It’s this odd combination of overwhelming, addictive, and the most alive you’ve ever felt.

I went along through life (as we all do) plugging away at a professional career, keeping music as a back-burner hobby. While I absolutely adored my job and had built an intensely fulfilling career I was passionate about…a part of me was left yearning. Mix in an insanely rough few years of life + a horrible breakup, and…well, ladies and gents, you’ve now got yourself a catharsis.

After shaking off the filth and stench of a bad run of luck, I got back into music. I started teaching myself how to play the guitar. It totally consumed me. I bought a $30 student guitar on eBay…then proceeded to spend 6-10 hours per day tinkering around. The moment I woke up in the morning, my hands would be all over it. The moment I got home from work every day, I’d stroll through these incessant, never-ending rabbit holes of music, tabs, chords, and YouTube videos of techniques. I couldn’t get enough. There is just something about music and heartbreak that goes together…and spending so much time teaching myself a new language from the ground up was extremely therapeutic for me.

This newfound passion for guitar and my rediscovery of music eventually led to what I call “my summer to remember”. You can read more about it here…but essentially, I abruptly decided to throw away the comfort of success and career to selfishly indulge in my creative side. I quit my job, spent every penny I had moving into a breathtaking downtown Los Angeles studio to become “an artist”. I know…how cliché.

In general, I’m a little bit obsessed with progress and even more obsessed with documentation. So along the journey, it was only natural that I made these extremely clumsy, ridiculously rudimentary videos to document my progress of teaching myself how to play guitar. They are funny for me to watch how awkward it was. Yet also nostalgic to remember how passionate I was about music…and inspiring to see the development of skill.

I remember elementary school when it came time to write down what you wanted to be when you grow up. I laugh to myself now whenever I recall…since I’d always jot down “aspiring singer / actress”.

Back then, I never knew what the word “aspiring” meant...it was just something I had always heard.

Well, now I've grown up…and among many other things, I guess I'm still aspiring.

To make an already long story not as long…I’ve been working on an intrinsically unique eclectic cover album on and off for about a decade…each cover with my own spin, of course. I have over a dozen half written compositions, audio clips of voice and piano harmonies of favorite songs I’ve re-worked into a different style.

There are a handful of originals sprinkled in. But, like so many things in my life, it’s all in a jumbled state of non-completion. There isn't a day that goes by without my scribbling down some random notes to myself potential new songs I'm dying to take a stab at...when I have time. I’m constantly jotting down lyrics, voice memo recording notes for harmonies, and thinking about how to reinvent music I love.

While I don’t have enough hours these days to spend much time on this passion…I reserve moments almost every single day to think about how I’d love to return to it.

Someday.

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Once upon a time, I loved (and totally embarrassed myself) doing stand up comedy in LA. There was once this summer that will forever be my summer to remember. Below I delve into what led to that summer…and although it doesn’t feel all that comical…it led to me jumping into stand-up comedy.

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In 2009, I made a huge decision. I voluntarily surrendered the crazy-awesome job of my dreams.

It was the middle of the recession – a time when you were lucky to have ANY job, let alone one as amazing as this. However, I had been processing some tough issues in my personal life for a while, and it was time to be a little indulgent.

Among so many truly unpleasant things I survived spanning a couple short years, among the worst was losing someone of great importance. My sister Christine, who was one of the most influential people in shaping me, took her own life. My boyfriend at the time was with me when I found her body, and my grief style of choice was to stoically hold it all together for my family, take care of everything that needed to be handled, and then flee to something…anything, far far away.

Not long after her death, I coped the best way I knew how at the time. I fled. I dropped everything to take a job in Vegas (never having even stepped foot in the city). I was launching a Signs & Graphics retail production hub for a large, multinational corporation. I drowned and distracted my grief in work…and I did such a great job that I nearly worked myself to death.

Things fell apart with the seeming love of my life, the man with whom I thought I’d spend all my years. (That is its own long, convoluted story). But in summary, life had reached far beyond my acceptable limit of shit-dealing.

Death, bankruptcy, breakup, and a nasty bacterial infection hit me hard, and then I brushed it all behind me. I picked up the broken pieces and came out stronger than ever. I decided it was time to pursue many absurd passions I had put on hold far too long. I was tired of working my ass off focusing on a career while just trying to squeeze passions in on the side.

I chucked my delightfully successful career out the window to plant some seeds in chasing these silly dreams of mine. I moved to the most breathtaking studio space Koreatown Los Angeles. I spent literally every single penny I had (and THEN some) to take a huge risk. What’s more, I spent way more than a few pennies borrowed from friends and family who believed in me.

This small-town Iowa girl proceeded to experience the most thrilling, crazy, unpredictable and invigorating summer of her life. I moved to LA to become a writer, do stand-up, write and perform music, go on adventures, and make an ass of myself trying my hand at the things I loved while living life with zero boundaries.

Experiencing wildly entertaining (many unbelievable) trials and tribulations…it was (without a doubt) the greatest decision of my life. It was the best summer I had ever known, and it will forever be my summer to remember. I’m sure it will someday be the stories to my kids… “That summer Mom did a bunch of crazy shit.”

Every single hour of all my days and nights were filled with insane freelance projects. I did stand-up and sketch comedy, worked on documentaries, blogged, performed at open mics, wrote, wrote, and wrote some more. I did things like impromptu waitressing a high-profile party in a castle in Beverly Hills, crazy video diaries of my experiences, modeling, personal hostessing, wrote & composed music, and so much more.

Somewhere along the way I accidentally became a top finalist for the reality series “Big Brother” and met some really cool (and really crazy) people too. I pranced around every inch of Los Angeles like a mad-woman. Not even I knew where the next project or gig would take me.

Alas…less than half a year of delightful bliss later, rent, responsibility, and “real” life beckoned. I couldn’t bear the guilt of owing friends & family money, and I had bills to pay. And so, my professional career resumed while I continued passion projects on the side. *sad trombone*

My life only skyrocketed from there…as life has this karmic way of re-balancing. I met my too-good-to-be-true husband at the ad agency where I resumed my career. I couldn’t have even imagined the success we’d have (both personally and professionally)…and I feel as though I’ve hit the jackpot of life.

While traditional stand-up comedy is the last thing I have time in my life for, I try to inject my brand of humor into everyday life. Much like music, I still jot down jokes, lines, and anecdotes I fantasize about performing someday if/when I ever sum up the courage to hit up an open mic. I'm constantly jotting down new material (mostly these days the hilarious mental commentary that I have with myself about the joys and frustrations of parenthood and relationships). This may or may not ever see the light of day.

I still dream about doing stand up one day...but let's be realistic. Instead I settle for sarcastic quips on social media regarding the craziness that is my life.

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There are so many other passion projects that I've got warming on back burners...but there are only so many hours in the day, and so thin I can stretch.

The biggest dream / fantasy I have is to complete an autobiographical graphic novel series, illustrating my too-crazy-to-be-real life.

Both of my parents' lives from their childhoods in North and South Korea to their immigrant stories to America (and beyond) are unbelievably epic, worthy of their tales to be told. Then compound their seven children's lives and stir that altogether in a pot. Sprinkle in a splash or two of trauma, and you've got yourself something special. I feel like I've lived 10 lifetimes over...and being the chronic documenter my father shaped me to be, it would be a dream come true to complete this project at some point within my lifetime. If you're trying to picture what this would entail...just envision Art Spiegelman's Maus hooking up with Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis to have a Korean-American baby...but if it were written by Chris Ware. Yeah, basically that.

My sister and I are also passionately obsessed with kitties (like, it’s unhealthy how much). So we dream about someday starting a kitten rescue. You know…with all this extra time we have on our hands.

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