my dad's baby. she has trouble sleeping on this chair because her fur is so soft and fluffy it makes her slide back. everytime i visit her, i think about sneaking off with her in my bag.

oh my goodness! oh my goodness! i was just thinking about what i'd like to make during this nice, long holiday weekend and somehow came across this site. (most likely from a link of another crafting site, but once i get clicking, i tend to forget how i got there...but anyway.) There are so many adorable things to look at there! I especially LOVE the fabric and the craft books that everyone seems to be talking about lately. soooo incredibly cute!

i have to admit, though, these kitties are twins to my kitties that i made at christmas. who knew!? and here i thought i was being so creative. haha





i've been thinking about making a larger version of my little kittie above...wouldn't it be cute to make a bag lined with the fabric above with a kittie inside? :)

on a crafting note, here's the baby blanket i'm working on...it's starting to get big. whahoo!!! :)

(and now for our regularly scheduled programming:)

things to do in l.a.

when people come and visit i'm always a bit stuck of what to do so i thought i'd start compiling a few ideas here and there as i come across them. if you have ideas of your own, feel free to add them! :)

neon lights tour
i was listening to npr this morning and they spotlighted a tour in l.a. that spotlights the city's neon lights. who knew that l.a. was the first city to have neon sparkling (or glaring, depending on your view) on the front of shops. go here to listen to the story on npr. i can't say that i've ever even considered something like this but suddenly, i want to go on one of those saturday night tours...

the getty
this almost seems like a cop-out to add to my list since i always take (or drag, haha) people to the getty. the architecture is stunning and peaceful, on a clear day (we do have them, i promise) you can see the santa monica harbor, and right now, you can see several pieces by rembrandt that are breathtaking. packing a picnic to eat on the grass by the garden makes it the perfect day.

diddy riese cookies
oh my goodness. if you're in westwood (near ucla, and actually near the getty too), you have GOT to go here. you pick out two freshly baked cookies (10 varities, i believe) and choose from 12 or so flavors of icecream for your own perfect icecream sandwich. AND it costs $1.00. the only sadness is parking is hard to find but you can always have your friend circle while you get icecream sandwiches for both of you. :) it really is worth it. here's the address: 926 Broxton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024-2802. (phone:(310) 208-0448) Num, num. I had two chocolate-chocolate chip cookies with mint and chip icecream and it changed my life.

(mickey's covered in petals!)

today we went over to disneyland for the afternoon. it was such a glorious breezy and sunny day it was almost surreal. we realized that we had been at disneyland through all the seasons. in the cold rain (without a jacket and soaking wet), all bundled up with ten layers on (okay, so we're cold-blooded), in the scorching summer heat where you feel like you're going to pass out the air is so thick and hot, and on lovely spring and early summer days. ahh, disneyland...its the happiest place on earth.

but the reason i wanted to write about our disneyland day was because we met the sweetest little girl on california soarin'. we've been on that ride 800 times and love to hear everyone oohing and ahhing as we "fly" over various places in california but today was the best experience ever because i sat next to laura who was probably 4 and who had never been on this ride. after we put our seatbelts on, she immediately showed me her necklace (which was beautiful) and told me she was excited about the ride. and oh my goodness, through the whole thing she was waving and squealing and wow, it was so much fun! talk about completely living in the moment. it was the best thing ever. i love that ride! ;)

what a nice day. my sister and i decided we'd go down to san diego today. we live only a couple of hours away and are usually deterred by the traffic to go down there but we pretended we were on vacation so it made it better. we bought treats for our road trip and determined to have a nice view as we drove, headed towards the 5. i guess you have to live in l.a. to know that at all costs you try to avoid the 5 (i think one would normally call this "interstate 5" but in ca, we tend to just throw a "the" infront of the number...don't know why except the freeways here each have their own personalities. :)) Anyway, we usually try to avoid the 5 because the traffic is horrendous but it is a more scenic route to san diego so we braved it. our bravery started to wear thin after rolling down the freeway for, hmmm, 2 or so hours and getting NOWHERE, but finally...finally we made it to la jolla and stopped. we used to go to this beach when we were little and it was the beach my parents went to the day before i was born (::sigh::) so i like to think of it as a homecoming. haha things have changed from the childhood days because it was pretty packed BUT we did have a wonderful lunch at this teeny restaurant (whose name i can't remember...bad, jennie)...my sis had a chicken sandwich with fruit chutney on fresh bread and i had a salmon salad on the yummiest butter lettuce in the world. i guess we're grownup now if we're eating things like this instead of at taco bell all the time...

i think the highlight...wait, i KNOW the highlight of the day was later in the afternoon when we mosied down to san diego and el cajon (where my early years were spent.) i don't think many people would purposely go over to el cajon (which means, "the box" and feels like it on hot summer days) but my friends, you must go there because that is where the yogurt mill is located. (i even got you directions!) i would highly recommend buying the child-size yogurt with one topping because it is over a pint of yogurt with a cup of topping layered throughout. it's so good you could eat the whole thing (like i did) but its definitely big enough to share. oh my goodness, though, it was soooo yummy!!!! :) :) i wish it was closer. i would go every day.

maybe its a good thing it isn't closer.

wow, i haven't talked about crafty things i've been making for a while. but that is kind of because i have been a bit of a rut. i want to make things, i just don't have a lot of time to make things. of course, when i have kids someday (or IF i have kids someday, i should say), i'll think i had all the time in the world. but i digress. today i came home and tried to make a bag that my little mochi had on her site. it ended up being more of a pocket so i obviously did something wrong. i'm a bit out of practice on the sewing machine so i'm trying to be patient with myself. the thing is, i'm the type that buys a kit to do something (or gets it in her head to do something) and wants instant success. maybe this is why my disaster earlier this year with the monster baby blanket was so sad. speaking of which, though, i started a new baby blanket and it is soooo cute! my sister keeps on eyeing it and petting it. maybe i'll make her a baby blanket next. haha actually, that's not a bad idea...she'd like that. i was thinking that it would be really cool to make baby hats and embroidered onesies and knitted blankets for the local crisis pregnancy center...it'd be especially fun to get a group of people together to make a bunch of stuff for them! hmmm....

(my inspiration board makes me happy...i LOVE the cloud stamps!)

i'm telling you, all these crafting blogs are so inspirational. :) the only problem is they make it incredibly difficult to be at work writing up proposal requests for contractors. all i can think about is how i really want to make a little bag for someone and go over to the fabric store and, and...

yesterday i sent an email off to a friend of mine who had asked me what i received for my birthday as to give him some ideas. and, oh my goodness, it was so funny because my list to him (which i was completely SO EXCITED about, mind you) was mainly crafty and artsy stuff. i guess you have to be into this in order to understand the joy of receiving yarn. :)

so, anyway, i've been inspired to go over to the thrift store(s) sometime this weekend/week by my little mochi. it's funny because back in the day, we had to buy clothes for high school from the thrift shops. ironically, this came in vogue just as we (my sisters and i) were graduating so all the kids were wearing their thrifted stuff with pride instead of their matching guess outfits. :) i think (the other reason why i've kind of avoided thrifting is) i also suffer from a disease relating to the design and display of items in shops; meaning, if things are tossed in heaps or resemble rows of things to toss (like in one's garage), i find it difficult to get past that. my mom is the queen of going through any store and finding something that is marked down already and has an additional 40% off tag AND then, finding some use for this newly aquired item. i'm amazed at this. still, i will go to the thrift shops and see what they hold for me. haha maybe i'll find some fabric for that cool bag...:)

**update (6/28/05)** well, i did make it over to a thrift store or two this weekend and i found a little skirt that really wanted to be a bag so i bought it. $2.99! what a great price! :) so, slowly but surely...

all i can say is the king tut exhibit was awesome.

in honor of all the wonderful sage and flowers that i saw at home a couple of weeks ago, i've decided to fix up our porch and make it less stark and more homey. these are my first babies! (i also couldn't resist buying some pots of herbs. they smell sooo delicious! one is basil and i'm dying to buy some mozarella and tomatoes and a nice crusty roll...oh yum!)

"digital" (for illustration friday)

this is the first thing that popped into my mind when i thought of the word, digital. in 7th grade i took a computer class that taught us on old apple computers (which of course, were new and stylin' then) how to write simple programs in basic. it was a really strange thing to teach 7th graders and i remember thinking it was awfully difficult to write these little programs that would spout out "i love cats" and illustrations like the one above. some of the more technically inclined kids would make robots that resembled an ornate crosstitch sampler but i stuck to cats and bunnies. nowadays kids get to play video games that help them learn and stuff in computer class. it's so not fair. :)

one of the guys at the office just got back from columbia today and he gave me the cutest little clay bus like the ones that drive around in the country down there. it is loaded with stuff on the top and there are even tiny clay people inside. i'll have to take a picture of it and post it. it's so cute!

okay, back to work i go...

p.s. i LOVE these illustrations of "digital"...this one is so incredibly true as to how we get all tied up (and tied down) by our need for stuff and this one is just plain awesome. :) (its probably a good thing that i'm really busy right now at work or i'd be visiting all of these illustrations. must...stop!!!)

i want to make this so badly it hurts.

another book my mom found at the library (and this is at an elementary school, mind you) was one about quilt-making. i could do without the quilted vests and skirts but oh my goodness, the pillows and bedspreads?!? i especially love the old-fashioned crazy quilts with the beautiful stitches and bits of velvet in nice, warm colors...now i not only need a scanner, i need a sewing machine. :) hehe

(the above picture is from the book, "Machine Made Patchworks", and is not from the book my mom gave me. but it is cute none-the-less!)

well, german class is over as of last night. this is probably a good thing since i was starting to relapse and forget basic grammar in order to make room for big grown-up grammar like the subjunctive. but it was also sad. i was going to leave right after the final but then i couldn't do it and stayed to watch 'goodbye, lenin'. i realized this morning as i was gathering all my stuff that i take to work (water bottle, lunch, purse, backpack full of books and german homework) that i could leave the backpack at home for the first time since september. what am i going to do now during lunchtime?! the thought was too overwhelming so i brought my textbook for old times' sake. wow, that's really pathetic. ah well.

the good thing about german class being over is now i will have more time to make things! :) this is a good thing since, let's see, i have six birthdays, father's day, and my parents' 32nd anniversary (whoohoo!) to do something for in the next 2 weeks. it's true.

next week my parents are coming to town which is so exciting. they've never seen our apartment and i suddenly want to buy a ton of plants for the porch and make curtains for the kitchen and bathroom. haha we're going to take them to the getty and to see king tut. i'm so excited!

(i don't know what i love more: the spool that is a side table or the chairs made out of cut up sponges!)

when i was at home last weekend, my mom pulled out a stack of discarded books from the library to give to me. i love old library books so much; they remind me of summertime when we would go to the library as kids and get piles of books. for me, it was usually books by lois lenski, the black stallion series, books on taking care of a pet (i wanted a cat or gerbil sooooo bad), and always, always a book on crafts. i didn't need to go to summer camp. i was the art camp. haha (just ask my sisters who were instructed in everything from making a bookmark to summer scrapbooking (a must!) Anyway, all that to say, mom found this particular book that i know i used to check out (over and over again) at the hemet public library. (remember the days when you wrote your name on the card?) it was a book about making mini dollhouse rooms by using a shoebox as the room and assorted things like bits of lace for curtains and stacked matchboxes for furniture. people. this book used to make me go crazy. i would spend hours making these things. i can't believe i now own the book. just looking through it makes me start wondering if i have any old shoeboxes in my closet. watch out, now i'm going to have to make dioramas for birthday presents. (just kidding)

in other news, here are some of my favorite creative websites at the moment:my little mochi, super eggplant, wee wonderfuls, and tania.

they're wonderful! time to go make stuff...oh wait, i'm at work.

i especially love my little mochi's monkey cupcakes!!! soooo cute!!!!

being home means going to the arboretium and seeing fields of wild flowers. it means stopping and smelling the roses and dipping your toes in the creek...



it means long walks and collecting rocks and going out to the old graveyards and wondering how people made it out in the mountains back then.



it means going back to the little town where we used to live and seeing where the fire swept through last year. the old mason hall is gone, the post office is still there. it also means seeing that the new resident of our house painted it yellow! we stood on the hill and shook our heads.

my sis got these gorgeous flowers from work...oh my goodness, they're so beautiful!

(my parent's cats love lettuce. they mew for it and perch themselves on the bar stools to eat it. it is absolutely hilarious.)

what an incredible weekend at home! ran on the river trail and across the sundial bridge, ate lots of delicious food prepared by my mom who is a teacher by day and secretly a chef by night, sketched flowers in the garden, washed a car with my dad, drove to the mountains, visited a train museum...you know, the usual. haha seriously, though, it was so incredibly relaxing and wonderful. i think that 3 day weekends should be an institution.