umbrella girl.

Feeling very bloggy in the past few days. Kind of like an end of the day, Doogie Howser-thing. This image didn't make it into the Freestyle Decoration book...and there are a couple other pages that didn't make it that I'll post soon. :-)

new, new, new!

"If you're stuck in the past, you can't think about the future clearly"

out and about...

presents!

I sometimes get lazy on wrapping presents properly. But when it's done well it's just as gratifying as the gift itself. My brother made all this funny homemade wrapping paper. He wrapped things as a camera, chocolate and drew all over the other packages. It made the presents that much more spectacular.

2009.

2009, here I come!!!

merry christmas thoughts....fresh start

I know resolutions are usually saved for New Year's but I'd thought I'd be a go-getter and get a head start.

The most important one for me this year is to think positively. I'm going to put aside the negative and stop counting all the ways people have slighted me or hurt me. I'm going to stop keeping track of all the bad and move forward. It's been a confusing and heavy year but I can't endlessly cry about spilt milk.

I moved back to L.A. from Japan about a year ago and was going through a difficult time. It made things awkward and me particularly vulnerable. I did not expect things to go back to the way they were but I did not expect nothing to be where I had left it. Truth be told I did see the signs of things unravelling. I changed a lot, a lot of the people I loved changed. But I can't really blame people for the changes that life, careers, love, success and failure brings. I can't ask people to stop in time and wait for me. No more pause button: I have to press play.

So now after weathering this difficult year I feel like I'm in a healthier place to really start fresh. The past is the past. Things have changed and as awkward and painful it has been at times, that's life. For whatever reason friendships change and bones break but I think I've mourned enough. I'll always cherish the good times but I'm ready to enjoy the now and find the new memories that await me.

bows on my head

I wore this outfit to stop by a friend's birthday. I always wrangle my friend, Sharice, into these pictures. She has by now realized that it is easier to acquiesce than to resist. Also looking at this picture I realize my shoes don't go with the outfit as well as I thought.

endorphin

This clip really cracks me up. I love unintentional slapstick humor(watch the guy in the blue t-shirt). (You have to watch it straight through til the end.)

Mya Stark!

Issue 4 of Sadie magazine is out. I interviewed and illustrated the illustrious editor-in-chief of Mean Magazine, Mya Stark. Check it out here.

jenny mortsell!!

I love Jenny Mortsell and her hyper-real pencil drawings.

rococo rendevous

Jessica and I always seem to be heading off to something at Royal T in some kind of fancy gear: I end up in dresses involving lace and she usually has lace on her head. Last week we were there for another gothic lolita event...we were faux-lita spies observing the ruffle mania around us. It was interesting to say the least and we got some free professional pictures out of it. :-)

sunday best: hats!

I've rediscovered hats. I'd forgotten how useful they are for days when you don't want to do your hair. I mean it only takes ten minutes to do my hair but sometimes I'd rather drink my coffee than curl my follicles. I also put my hair up into severe ballerina buns when I'm running late but sometimes the outfit calls for something softer like....knit hats! So good! Anyways, I'm happy to have hats back in my life.

**thanks, maeko!

cute cut.

(src: Kimura Kaela's blog)
On a completely different note someday I would like to try this style. I think I'm going to wait until I'm a mom a'la Katie Holmes. :-)

consumed by my consumerism.

"Consumerism is the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possession".
(src: Wikipedia)

Allen Kanner and Mary Gomes write in The All-Consuming Self: "The purchase of a new product, especially a 'big ticket' item such as a car or computer, typically produces an immediate surge of pleasure and achievement and often confers status and recognition upon the owner. Yet as the novelty wears off, the emptiness threatens to return. The standard consumer solution is to focus on the next promising purchase."

Ultimately, it goes beyond pleasure or status; acquiring stuff becomes an unquenchable demand. Paul Wachtel writes in The Poverty of Affluence: "Having more and newer things each year has become not just something we want but something we need. The idea of more, ever-increasing wealth, has become the center of our identity and our security, and we are caught up by it as the addict is by his drugs." (src: David Suzuki)


(Lily Allen, The Fear)

Who's Britney's new stylist?

Wow, Britney is looking really great these days. Her hair mojo is back and her stylist is doing a great job, I mean, I think that's a Rodarte dress on the cover....

We went to Korean BBQ!

You can get cute gifts on her etsy site.

ash!

(image: COACD)
Ash is so cute! Sorry, Luke!