something other than law

for miss lauren...

2009-07-28T22:42:00.001-07:00

Look what came in the mail! It's seems like a very large envelope from Boxcar Press!!! Let's open it!
I'll unwrap it carefully...
WHY IT'S MY LETTERPRESS PLATE FOR MY WEDDING INVITATIONS (which you lovingly designed for me)!!!
Here's a close-up! It's absolutely perfect, thank you so much! Now on to building the press...

[For my long neglected blog-o-sphere friends, hello! Unfortunately, the day after my last post I started one of those real grown up job which hardly affords me time to read blogs, much less write my own. However, in that period of time, I did become engaged to sweet Mr. Blog, who surprised me with a trip to Napa and proposed on the balcony of The French Laundry. Us newly engaged:
A blurry picture of the ring:
A much better picture of the ring - I love how the diamond floats in the setting: Now on to more lawyering and wedding planning! Cheers!]

Today is my last day at work

2009-02-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

I will miss:

the anonymous person who brings in Bath & Body Works products
Tuesday lunches from the LA Mag best noodle places to eat list
3:00 pm Coffeebean runs
teatime
being able to park near the building
the gym downstairs (which I never use)
the amazing legal team
the amazing staff

Thanks for a good run!

Upcoming plans:
A navy reunion
An Oregon reunion
An early Valentine's Day celebration
THE disco party of the year
... and my new job, starting Tuesday.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sucker eating

2009-02-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

I hate getting up early in the mornings.
I'm not that fond of waiting in lines.
I don't particularly like Denny's.
I don't like pancakes.
But I am a complete sucker for free food.
So, yesterday, I woke up at 7:30 in the morning to stand in line for my free Grand Slam at Denny's before work.
It was still totally worth it.

Moo

2009-01-26T12:26:00.001-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

Ringing it in, NYC style

2009-01-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

Some of these people we know; a lot of them, we don't. Happy 2009, everyone!

That really cool thing I did...

2008-12-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Last week, I went to a neighborhood tree lighting. There were carolers and cookies and cocoa and local choirs sang and the high school marching band performed... it was very, very sweet.

I know this probably doesn't sound like a super cool thing, but in Los Angeles, it's hard to find a neighborhood with that sense of community and it was really nice being a part of it.

Okay, who am I kidding?! As cool as the community at Atwater Village is, the COOLEST part of that ceremony (and of my whole entire week) was that I got to meet CATHIE & STEVE from CREATIVE JUICE! (I'm using a lot of caps right now because just thinking about it excites me!).

Meeting them was such a great experience! They are just so nice and sweet and friendly; just like they are on the show!

[and in case you don't know what I'm talking about - Creative Juice is a fantastic show on DIY Network featuring crafts, art, recipes and other generally fun lifestyle tips. It's like Martha Stewart, but more hip: it's the Urban Outfitters to her J. Crew. I love, love Creative Juice!!]

Here is Cathie, Santa and myself (Cathie and her sister were Santa's helpers for the evening):

A picture of the three of us (you like how I say that like we're friends? =P):And here's an extra picture of Steve and me (because as cute as he is on TV, he's even cuter in person, lemmetellya!). He's officially dethroned Ty Pennington on my list of favorite TV crafty men (yes, I have a list... don't you?).
Seriously, highlight of my week!

But coming in at a close second: last week, I was also sworn in to the State Bar of California - yay, me!

Me love COOKIE!

2008-12-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

My contribution to Scrappy Jessi's 2nd Annual Cookie Swap are delicious, ooey, gooey, chocolatey, minty cookies that are perfect with a tall glass of milk. I unfortunately do not have any pictures of these cookies, but they look just like these cookies from Silvia's Sweet Delights (so I'm borrowing the pictures for drool-inducing purposes)!

Now, without further ado, the recipe for my SUPER EASY chocolate peppermint cookies (I know, I know... they don't even have a real name...):

1 box of Devil's food cake mix (I know, a mix is cheating, but I'm not using it to make cake, so it's not really cheating)

2 eggs

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1 tsp. of peppermint extract (adjust to taste)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough. Roll dough into balls about 1 inch across (you can adjust the size depending on how big you want your cookie). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly with your thumb. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes (I prefer 10 minutes because the cookies are still soft in the the middle). Cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

[note] This is a modified version of a cookie recipe that my friend Pam taught me ages and ages ago back in my Oregon days (her version wasn't chocolate or pepperminty). You can use any cake mix, any flavoring, and any mix-ins with this recipe. My other favorites are spice cookies (from a spice cake mix), lemon cookies (yellow cake mix + lemon extract) and s'mores (devil's food cake mix with mini marshmallows rolled in the middle; the whiteness of the marshmallow shows through cracks in the chocolate and creates a cool looking effect).

Mexico: the highlights

2008-12-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

[Secrets Maroma Resort]

The resort is beautiful! When you arrive, you're greeted with a wet towel, glass of Champagne and a warm "Welcome Home!" (I wish my home looked like this!) (Also, there's no way our pictures will be as good as the professional ones, so you can check out their website here.)

[The staff]

The staff work so hard to ensure that every single guest has an amazing time. Not only was the service always with a smile but they really took time to learn our names and make us feel at home. Thank you Oscar, Lucia, Johnny and everyone else at Maroma!

[Swim up pool]

The back door to our room opened to our own swim up pool. We never actually used this because we were too busy running around to different restaurants the whole time, but it was really beautiful and kind of cool to have.

[Dinner x 2 x 4 nights]

Because food is included with the room (yay for all-inclusive destinations), the resort really could have just served us canned ravioli on a paper plate - but they didn't. There are seven restaurants at the resort along with daily BBQs at the beach, a poolside grill and 24 hour room service. A lot of time and effort was put in the decor and ambiance of each restaurant and into the preparation and presentation of the meals. Since we were only there for 4 days, I forced Mr. Blog to eat two dinners every night so we could sample all the food! Mm mm.

[Breakfast buffet]

Note the staffed omelet, waffle and crepe bars. Also pictured: juice (with 10 different freshly squeezed beverages) and Serrano jamon and smoked salmon bars. Not pictured: mimosa and bloody Mary bars. It was ridiculously good.

[Tea]

Every afternoon there was formal tea service in the Rendez-Vous bar (which was a perfect snack between lunch and dinner #1). They also served this amazing Mexican coffee cocktail flambe (yes that was a very long name I just made up) which is made by pouring various liquors between two ladles over an open flame so that your drink is burning as it's served to you. It takes about 10 minutes to make each one and just watching the ladies work made me sweat. Those coffee ladies work hard!

[Mr. Blog playing on three winning volleyball teams]

The resort schedules games and activities all day long, so Mr. Blog was able to work off those extra dinners I made him eat. I cheered him on from the sidelines where I sipped my pina colada.

[Cocktails x ∞]

Like the food, unlimited cocktails were included in the package. Fun-ness ensued.

[Mr. Blog dancing]

That's my baby!

and the best part of our trip

[a little us time]

Thank you Mr. Blog, for celebrating my bar passage with me; thank you for knowing back in June that I would pass and booking this trip; thank you for believing in me, supporting me and loving me, always.

Tagged at home

2008-12-03T10:49:00.000-08:00

Well, well... I was welcomed home from the Mayan Riviera (pictures coming soon) by a little tag from Miss Saucy of Bloggedy Blog Blog (who just celebrated 500 posts! Congratulations!).

So... having been tagged, here are a few random things about moi:

Un: I eat. A lot. I eat more than Mr. Blog.

Deux: I collect pigs (banks, stuffed, toys, books, anything...) because they're my Chinese zodiac sign. They've taken over the apartment (sorry, Mr. Blog).

Trois: When I was three I could speak three languages: Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese and a third Chinese dialect. I've forgotten two of them and learned only English in the mean time; I'm pretty sure this means I digress with age.

Quatre: I won a medal for being good at math. I use to wear it around the house. I'm cool like that.

Cinq: I love instant ramen noodles and I am very, very particular about how it's prepared (boil two cups of water with the broth mix; boil noodles in that mixture for 2 minutres 45 seconds with the lid off so some of the water evaporates; drain noodles by tilting pot over sink so that most of the broth is gone but there's still a little in the bottom; put half the noodles in a bowl; cover with slice of processed swiss or pepper jack cheese; pour rest of noodles and hint of broth on top; stir and enjoy).

Six: I can watch episodes of Friends and Daria over and over again... for pretty much eternity... and not get sick of them. I love those shows.

Sept: When I'm concentrating really hard on a task, I stick my tongue out... just a little, to one side... It amuses Mr. Blog.

Et voila!

The ever talented Miss Saucy also nominated me for this little gem, which I happily accept.

And in the spirit of the Superior Scribbler, I'm passing this award on to 5 very talented and inspirational bloggers I admire (also, you 5 have been tagged for the random fun above!):
Lauren
Jessi
Elise
Rachael
Kelly
[applicable rules: (1) Link back to me for nominating you. (2) Nominate five other bloggers and link to them on your blog. (3) Post these rules.]

We're off to Mexico

2008-11-26T22:22:00.000-08:00

Be back in December!

[photo]

Have a happy and delicious Thanksgiving everyone!

(and if you're not roasting your own turkey, here's a fun alternative - found via SwissMiss)

You know it's the holidays when...

2008-11-26T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hunky Santa comes to town (or the local mall)...

[photo]

[from his bio:
"He is the son of ol' St. Nick. He is personable, friendly, gregarious, funny, approachable, warm, articulate, confident, unpretentious, easy-going, fit, handsome and has a smile that can light up a room"]

So hilarious and kind of ridiculous; but, to be fair, if Hunky Santa is up your alley, you can visit him Friday, Saturday & Sunday nights at the Beverly Center.

(also to be fair, that is a picture of Hunky Santa 2006, trainer Greg from Bravo's Workout; this year's Hunky Santa is Eli Wilhide of Tony Robbins fame.)

Stickerpalooza

2008-11-25T21:50:00.000-08:00

Look what finally came from Amazon (it took over a week even though the warehouse is about 40 minutes from my apartment): My sticker maker refill! The best part is... it FITS! As it turns out, the Create-a-Sticker is the same machine as my Magic Sticker Maker! (Xyron would have made my life a lot easier if it didn't change the names of its products!) I have plenty of shows on TiVo so it's sticker assembly time tonight! (One of which is Heroes; is anyone still watching it? I'm trying but the constant time jumping is really confusing me!)

In other news, Mr. Blog won this pie in a raffle at work today. Mmm, my hero.

Last Minute Thanksgiving: An illustrated story

2008-11-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

Mr. Blog & I won't be in the country for Thanksgiving, but he still wanted a little turkey and stuffing (and cranberry and beans and yams and potatoes... etc. etc.) so we decided to have a small dinner this weekend for the two of us (the inner-hostess in me wanted to have a big celebration, but when we came up with this idea last week I was still convinced I didn't pass the bar so I just assumed I wouldn't want to see people this weekend).

I went to the store to buy a turkey breast and thigh, which together cost $12. The whole turkey in the next freezer was only $11. So, I bought the whole turkey (of course).

In light of the fact that: 1) there was no way we could eat a whole turkey; 2) it's very hard to cooked that many side dishes for two people; 3) I did pass the bar and was up for being social, we decided on Friday to host a (very last minute) Thanksgiving on Sunday.

We made all the food; our friends brought all the wine and it was a fantastic evening.

A crudite tower (and its friend beer):Boys watching football and a lovely lady smiling for the camera:
The Turkey:
Friends (and fellow bar-passers - congrats!):
Mr. Blog working hard and me enjoying myself:Eating:
Our table: And, in case you're wondering, the dishes are: (clockwise from the big turkey platter)
1) Roasted, brined turkey with grilled baby eggplant and persimmons (on a bed of spinach)
2) Cranberry orange sauce
3) Stuffing (from the box!)
4) Mixed green salad with apples, gorgonzola and spiced walnuts (with orange dressing)
5) Mr. Blog's special whipped yams topped with mini marshmallows
6) Corn pudding
7) Green bean casserole
8) More stuffing
9) Scalloped potatoes with Gruyere
Not pictured (where the empty potholders are): gravy & spicy collard greens

Mr. Blog also made a beautiful pumpkin pie from scratch (with bourbon whipped cream!) but we promptly ate that up without photographing it.

Thank you, dear friends for sharing the night with us and a big, big thank you to Mr. Blog for being my co-chef.

Oh, as I'm writing this entry: turkey & fixin's to my left; gravy & cranberry to my right. Mmm.

Friday: Before, during and after

2008-11-22T11:53:00.000-08:00

Before 6:00: Nervousness maximus (cartoon by Gary Larson)I've known that bar results are released Friday, Nov. 21 at 6:00 since before I took the bar, but even with that type of notice there was no way I could prepare for the feelings I would experience that day. All last week I hardly slept, and would drink gallons of coffee to function during the day (it was not a pretty sight).

My friends realized I was going insane, and this arrived for me Friday morning.It was a sweet, sweet package from sweet, sweet Lolo. Just to remind me I'm Wonder Woman!THANK YOU! THANK YOU! It was the perfect break from what I had been doing (rocking back and forth in front of my computer, giggling nervously and constantly refreshing the results page just in case a glitch caused the list to be published before 6:00).

During 6:00 - 6:30: Logging on, gasping, re-reading, confirming, jumping, crying, hugging, calling, mom screaming, texting friends, waiting, cheering - exhausting.

After 6:30: Brainlessly amused (cartoon by Gary Larson)
I'd expended most of my energy for the day rocking back and forth and jumping up and down, so I was pretty tired by the time the celebration phase rolled around. Also, I'm way too old to go out and down an endless stream of cocktails (but props to all my friends who did!).

So, Mr. Blog took me Le Petit Bistro. They have *amazing* pate (smooth, rich and very flavorful) if anyone is interested! Mmm mm! Mr. Blog had their endive salad which he thoroughly enjoyed. I started with the roasted beet salad with baked goat cheese - it was melt in your mouth. *drool*
This is my seafood stew which had a delicious creamy, saffron broth that was perfectly spiced (some places really overdo the saffron which irks me). Mr. Blog & his crispy duck (with a hint of orange) over wild rice. Mmm.Mr. Blog surprised me with Champagne and chocolate souffle.
Then we visited some good friends, sipped more champagne and called it a night.

um, I passed the bar.

2008-11-21T18:48:00.000-08:00

Wreath Prototype #2

2008-11-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

Same materials + a lot more time =

I like it. I'm going to make more.

=)

The power of paper

2008-11-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

This is the first holiday season that I haven't been a student which means that instead of dealing with finals around this time of year, I have time to decorate! With this Christmas being the first anniversary of the first Christmas Mr. Blog & I spent together, I decided to go with a paper theme.

File folder + paper plate + cheap scratch paper

Add scissors + tapeEquals Wreath Prototype #1I feel... okay... about this project. I like the fullness and dimensions of the wreath and the mix of holly leaves & pine, but my brain is really hating the look of the scratch paper. Even though I know in the real version of this wreath I'll use a richer, dark green paper for the holly leaves, I'm visually distracted by the pastel so it's throwing off my judgment.

I think I may sit on this one for a while.

Product placement

2008-11-19T10:20:00.000-08:00

Last night I came home from work to discover there was no parking on my street because this was happening on my block: If you can't tell from my superb photography skills, there were at least 10 trailers parked in front of (next to, around the corner from...) that house and it was all lit up and surrounded by cameras.

I deduced that it was a filming of some sort. I saw a production assistant rushing by clutching 4 very large, very full bags from Target. I asked him what they're filming.

"Oh, a commercial for Wal-Mart."

Going Green

2008-11-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

This is Mr. Personality. (Sorta... The Mr.Personality that we know and love is actually midnight blue, but I didn't have any pictures of him on my computer... this photo is from here)

Mr. Personality been with our family for several years now and we adore him. He's strong and fast and goes vroom, vroom. Sadly, he's returning home to the dealership in a few months, so yesterday Mr. Blog & I went out to find a replacement personality.

We're adopting her.

(yes, that's actually her!)

She's sweet and cute and her little hybrid engine purrs like a kitten. I luhve her. We're picking her up in a month. =)

Christmas Card Prototypes

2008-11-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

[spoiler alert for those who care what kind of card I'm sending them this Christmas!]

I came up with this card last night:
The outside (it's very boring, but wait for it...)
The inside for text (yes, yes, still boring... keep waiting...)
It comes with these extras (do you see where I'm going with this?)...
to make this!
It's a gingerbread house in card form all ready to be decorated! I may tweak the shape little more (but I'm pretty limited since I want the whole card to fit in the standard envelop that the "roof" part came in) and look for a more gingerbread-y colored card stock, but otherwise I'm quite happy with the outcome!

I also spent today designing these cute candy decals (which is kind of a pain to do on Publisher and Paint; I think I need to invest in Illustrator!) to run through my Xyron so there will be a sheet of stickers that comes with each card for the recipient to use to decorate the house!

I plan on making a big batch of these, so watch your mailboxes friends; one of these is coming soon!

Surreal

2008-11-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

Last night Mr. Blog and I went to two house parties...
in separate parts of town...
with unique ambiances...
and different crowds...

but both with valet parking.
When did that become the norm in home entertaining?

In other odd news, I just order $100 worth of confetti and Iowa defeated Penn State.

Bittersweet

2008-11-05T11:16:00.001-08:00

One big step forward for America [photo]. I am proud.
One big step backward for California [photo]. I am ashamed.
I cried mixed tears.

I voted

2008-11-04T11:51:00.000-08:00

It took two and a half hours...but Mr. Blog and I participated in the great democratic process we call voting.

I celebrated with these adorable cupcakes at work.

Homecoming 2008

2008-11-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

Dear University of Southern California,

Thank you for seven wonderful years of education, friendship and football. It is with great honor that I come home.

Love,
me

PS - Other thanks goes to:

The ladies of Alpha Phi for an extreme case of revertigo
The University of Washington for not scoring once
The weather system for warning us there would be 20% chance of rain but not specifying that it would be pouring during the homecoming rally
The people who come up with the football schedule for scheduling this game on the day after Halloween and thereby only allowing me and Mr. Blog 5 hours of sleep
Texas Tech for beating UT in a heart-pounding game, even if it meant leap frogging USC in the BCS rankings (and a very special congratulations to my favorite Red Raider, Kristi)

A West Hollywood Halloween

2008-11-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

If you're not familiar with the Parade in West Hollywood for Halloween, every year the city of West Hollywood closes down Santa Monica Boulevard on the 31st to let people walks up and down the street to admire each other's costumes. Imagine a normal parade... with thousands of people... in really fabulous costumes... at night... all drunk... It is not a G-rated event - I've gone for the last few years and I always see at least 7 uncovered male organs and 3 people passed out in gutters.

Mr. Blog dressed up as a Scotsman this year. To fit in with the West Hollywood crowd, I crafted a fantastic male member (made of nude boxers, quilt batting and yarn) for him to wear under his kilt. I'm actually quite proud of this project because it's probably the best thing I've ever made; actual (very drunk) gay men thought it was the real deal! I'm not including any pictures because they are all hilariously inappropriate and I don't want to offend anyone (even if no skin is actually showing).

My friends before going out. Our amazing host threw this party despite suffering trauma from being robbed at gunpoint the night before. Big hugs for bravery!
Four of us went out together and true to my past WeHo experience, we all lost each other. Oh well; here are some strangers we meet on the street (they were all very friendly)!

Mr. Blog and a twin he found.
My whole costume (minus the hat); I'm at a Korean restaurant because I was hungry from all the walking. We showed up at 3:45 am and the place was PACKED! There was a 25 minute wait for take out! Mr. Blog and I finally got to bed around 6 am. Hah.

That other ABA

2008-10-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight, the Asian Business Association (not the dredded American Bar Association) held its annual banquet honoring business leaders in the Asian business community. We were in attendance to support Mr. Blog's colleges who were recieving an award!
I'll spare you the details, suffice it to say it was a typical (meaning "dry") business award banquet, but... a brilliant member of the planning committee booked KABA Modern to perform (I was surprised because if I had to find entertainment for 300 middle aged Asian business people I probably would not have booked a street dancing crew)! I LOVE KABA MODERN! *LOVE* They are amazing live too; they did their gunshot and Michael Jackson routines! (I made Mr. Blog sneak up next to the stage to take pictures)
(For you non-MTV junkies, KABA Modern placed second on the first season of America's Best Dance Crew; this is a clip from the show - dancing starts about 1 minute in)

Oh and check out what Toyota (the evening's sponsor) provided for us:
Portable chopsticks! Now I'm ready to eat anywhere! All in all, a good night! Congratulations Mr. Blog and Company!

Conversations

2008-10-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

or "Why I love Mr. Blog: Part 1 of many"
#1: Last night, on our sofa, with Mr. Blog:
This is fresh off yesterday's post about never finishing anything...

Me: I'm thinking about making a Halloween costume.
Mr. Blog: Why?
Me: To save money. I swear I'll finish this one...
Mr. Blog: What are you going to make?
Me: A detective outfit like the one we found online.
Mr. Blog: How much is it online?
Me: $20
Mr. Blog: Um...
Mr. Blog: [type, type, type] It's been ordered. Go finish your other projects so we can hang out.

#2: This morning, in my office with the Oriental Trading customer service rep.
I checked my order status and discover that our costumes will arrive on November 3rd, despite a guarantee (included below to prove I'm right) that it would arrive by Halloween...

Me: Hello, I ordered a costume from your website and my confirmation says it be here November 3rd.
Rep: Yes.
Me: Your company's e-mail said it was guaranteed to arrive by Halloween if I ordered by the 26th.
Rep: We never making shipping guarantees.
Me: [staring at the message from Oriental Trading] Do you have e-mail? I can forward you the message.
Rep: No.
Me: Well it says that if I order by the 26th, my costume will be here by Halloween.
Rep: Yes, if you chose express shipping. Would you like to upgrade for 4oo million dollars?
Me: No! [continues to rant about the various guarantees in the email]
Rep: So, do you want to upgrade shipping?
Me: NO!!!

#3: Later this morning, in my office via e-mail with Mr. Blog

Me: [whine, whine, whine] ... November... guarantee... meanies... [whine, whine]
Mr. Blog: I'll call them.

[5 minutes later]

Mr. Blog: The costumes will be here Monday.

*amazing*

Works in progress

2008-10-21T16:40:00.001-07:00

A knitted flower, destined to be one of several on a branch inspired scarf. This is supposed to be a Christmas present, but I've hit a snag with this project because I can't decide how the branch scarf part should look. Also, I can't remember how I made this flower because I didn't write my stitch counts down. Oops.

DIY articles from Teen Vogue waiting to be part of a mini-book of inspiration.

I know I'm too old to subscribe to any magazines with the word "teen" in the title, but Teen Vogue warrants an exception (even if they did employ Lauren Conrad as an intern; seriously, why is that girl famous?!) - it's just as fashionable as big Vogue but offers more affordable options. And the DIY articles are fab. Designers I love - Alex Wang, Erin Featherston, the team from Marchesa - create simple DIY projects to enhance any wardrobe. I clip them every month and now I have almost three years of ideas cluttering up my desk. It needs to be in a book ASAP.

Sketches in preparation for a Hollywood themed centerpiece. Another Christmas project (for the holiday party I'm planning), but this one I'm actually making progress on. Samples have been ordered and I have more meetings next week. Yay!

I'm off to finish one of these projects, hopefully.

Or, I'll start on a Halloween costume... =P

Last political jab...

2008-10-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

I swear...

From last night's Family Guy (photo via NY Post):Thank goodness Fox News is balanced out by Fox cartoons.

Watch the clip here.

Watch the full episode here (pay attention around 18:50).

I make.

2008-10-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

I made a card for this week's 2 Sketches 4 You challenge, based on Kazan's Sketch 11. I really like the different elements of this design - the borders and the circle and the little frill next to it! The placement is great too!

Here's my card with a sweet little piglet on it:
It's completely cardstock and construction paper. This card wasn't so much about supplies, but "technique" (that's in quotations because I didn't do anything complex or special). I stamped the hills with two different 4-leaf clovers and I think it's adorable (even though you can't really see it!). The pig, barn, fence, sun and white frame are all pieced together with individual pieces of cardstock that I cut (of my own design).
Here's a close up of the pig: she's 14 pieces of paper glued together - boy, I am so glad I have a circle cutter!
On an unrelated note, I also made this lasagna...and this caprese salad.Mr. Blog added a bottle of petite sirah and some tiramisu and we had a lovely little meal. Mm mm.

Thank you for looking!

Swoon

2008-10-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm having a good day.

A very good day.

Because this came for me in the mail:

I was gushing over this adorable "Are we there yet?" card made by sweet Miss Lauren and she generously offered to send it to me (and OMG, it's even cuter in person! Lauren is ridiculous - go to her blog right now and check out all her beautiful cards!!); and she sent me a whole package of goodies! How lucky am I?! I'm beyond thrilled! Thank you so so so much, Lauren!
I'm off to be creative right now!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Sewing!

2008-10-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

Remember back in the day when I went to the Emmys?

Yeah, that's all... I just wanted to throw it out there again.

No, I'm kidding; it's actually relevant! So remember when I blogged about it and had a challenge for my sweet readers to identify the celebrities I saw? And then I mailed out prizes? Well, all my packages have safely reached their destinations (one set lives with Saucy and Loopy now!), so I thought I'd post the project here.

I made monogrammed shoebags in this cute pink and green fabric that I'm obsessed with.
They are lined, scented and have seperate compartments for each shoe. They were a blast to make!I have some extra fabric, so I can wipe up a few more of these babies if anyone would like to buy one or just swap. Lemme know, we can work something out!

Project Beer

2008-10-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Following the success of Project Cheese, Mr. Blog and I bring you Project Beer (warning, picture heavy post!).

A little back story: Once upon a time, around December 2007, Mr. Blog received the Mr. Beer Premium Edition Beer Kit (it's the really big box under the tree).

Step 1: Studying the instructions. I didn't want a repeat of Step 4.5 from Project Cheese. We also watched Alton Brown's Good Eats beer episode for extra information.

Step 2: Cleaning everything! The instructions included a number of ominous warnings about bacteria making the beer taste like farts, so we took great care in the sanitation process. The kit comes with a special sanitizer for the keg, the measuring cups and the utensils, but Mr. Blog and I took the extra pre-caution of sanitizing ourselves as well.

Here are our supplies ready to go!Step 3: Cooking the booster. The booklet in the kit said that "booster" is designed to enhance the flavor of the beer. I had never heard of "booster" and Alton Brown didn't mention it so I assumed it was a secret Mr. Beer product.
Turns out, it's just dehydrated corn syrup solids so we were just making a big pot of corn syrup.
Step 4: Adding the mix. This is where Mr. Beer hides the real beer ingredients like hops and other grains.
As you can see, we're making West Coast Pale Ale. Step 5: Putting it all together. Look at Mr. Blog's fine pouring form! I give it a 9.8.Here, he's stirring in the yeast.
Alton Brown suggested that we use bottled water and who are we to disagree?
Mr. Blog and his baby beer! Step 6: Fermentation. The young beer has to ferment for 7 - 10 days to let the yeast convert the sugars into alcohol. Mr. Blog wrapped our baby up to protect it from harm and...

... kept the room at exactly 72 degrees.Step 6.5: Tasting the young beer. What? We couldn't help it!

It was pretty good considering it was warm and un-carbonated.

Step 7: Bottling and carbonation. Mr. Beer carbonates its beer in the bottle (by adding sugar to each bottle for a second fermentation). Again, we start by sanitizing everything.

... adding sugar... ... filling the bottles...Fermentation, round 2. We somehow ended up with more beer than would fit in the bottles that came with the kit, hence the bottle that doesn't belong.
Step 8: Aging. Who knew beer had to age? And that it's done in the fridge (we gave up food for a while so there would be room for the bottles in there)?
Step 9: Enjoying! Here's Mr. Blog taking our finished product out.
... opening...
... pouring...
... admiring... (these pilsner glasses were also part of Mr. Blog's Christmas present from that year... I etched a whole set and they spell out his name; yay me!)
... drinking...
*YUM* I really like how the beer turned out. It's light and crisp and really refreshing. Mr. Blog and I definitely plan on giving Mr. Beer another go (but this time being creative with the mix) before trying grains, hops and yeast on their own.

This batch made two gallons of beer so we have plenty; come by and have some!

Score!

2008-10-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

I missed the last Caardvarks challenge, but I got my act together for this one!

Caardvarks Challenge #35: Score! challenged us to make a card using a creative scoring technique. The prize is a mini-Scor-It Board!! This thing creates the perfect fold everytime and the scoring tool is attached to the board so I can't ever lose it! I so need one!!

My card is to celebrate the engagement of a good friend of mine. For my special "scoring" technique, I decided to make an endless wedding knot from a long strip of cardstock. There was a lot (lot) of measuring and angular scoring and a little weaving involved. This is actually my second knot because I mis-scored the first knot! I really could have used that Scor-It Board (*hint*hint* Caardvarks team!).

The front:

Close up: Thanks for looking!

I will be busy for the next 30 minutes...

2008-10-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

making these.

I will be busy for the rest of the day playing with them. =)

Late to the party...

2008-10-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

So, I'm totally ashamed to admit this, but I FINALLY got on board with this blogline business. Up until yesterday, I was still reading blogs one by one from my bookmarks!! I never knew if one was updated or not! Sometimes, I would skip a bookmark and miss something! Oy, I was running such an inefficient organization; my business professors would be mortified (you know, if they were aware of my problem and if they remotely cared). But that's all in the past; I have my bloglines! (And I even got one of those cute 'subscribe to me' buttons for this page! woot!)

In other news, I re-read the High/Low article from Elle (mentioned in this post) and guess who was one of the contributing writers? Joanna Goddard!! I was so excited because I have been following her blog (manually) for a long time and it's just cool that I'm seeing her work "in real life." Yay!

Now, as a fitting end to a post about being late, if I don't leave the house now I will be late to the No On Prop 8 headquarters where I'm volunteering for the day. If you're in California and believe in this cause, please please come out and help!

(Oh, while I'm on politics, this site is hilarious; I know that this is too late for the VP debate, but let's be honest, these boards are worthy of any occasion where Sarah Palin thinks it would be a good idea to open her month!)

Okay, leaving for real! Have a good week!

A High-Low Weekend

2008-10-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

A recent article in Elle magazine, "The High Low Show," (by Stephen Milliot; available online here) observes how society lived through middlebrow, branded brow, something called "no-brow" and (for now) has settled into a seamless blend of couture and mass production. Milliot writes of the Américaine actuelle: "You watch John Adams and American Idol. You eat lunch at Chipotle and dinner at the French Laundry. You lap up the tabloids’ coverage of Britney’s breakdown but are now rooting for her psychoanalytic recovery." I'm thrilled with the article. For me, somewhere between being foreign and American, living in a trailer park and Hancock Park, earning a free Subway sandwich and a juris doctorate, I've become a frequent attendee of The High Low Show (aside from dining at the French Laundry, I do all that Milliot mentions; and the moment Thomas Keller has an opening for me, I'll be in Yountville) and I love it. Like that pinch of salt in brownie batter, the high and low complement each other and create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. My life would be wholly incomplete without one or the other.

Fortunately for me, Mr. Blog is the same way and here is a summary of our perfect high-low weekend:

We spent two days at a relaxing spa in Palm Springs for a belated celebration of Mr. Blog's birthday (which is officially in September). We selfishly turned off our phones, sipped cocktails by the pool and just enjoyed each other's company. It was lovely.

On our way home, we stopped by Desert Hills to indulge our shopping needs (and by "our" I mean "mine"). As you know from my last post, I'm in dire need of appropriate work attire at a reasonable price, so (logically) I went to Diane von Furstenberg where I purchased this dress.

I know, I know... I've no need or closet space for it, but it was too beautiful to pass up. And... [wait for it, wait for it] I got it for $115... $115!!! Down from $575!!! YEAH!!! I'm still excited about that! And I love, love, love it! It's so luxurious! See details of the dress here (where you can still buy it for way more than what I paid for it!! Muahahahahaha).

To cap off our opulent, indulgent weekend, we had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. We were given paper bibs and plastic tools, our napkins came on a roll and our dinner was served in a bucket. It was the epitome of chain kitsch (to an extent that you cannot find in Los Angeles; you actually have to leave the city for this kind of fare). I had so much fun slouching in my booth and getting my hands dirty and am regretting not taking pictures of proper Mr. Blog doing the same.

And thus ended our weekend; from designer to diner, I would not have it any other way.

"Problems"

2008-10-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

[note: before I start ranting about the silly, inane inconveniences in my life, I'd like to point out that I do appreciate the fact that I have it pretty good: I have amazing people in my life, I'm in good health, I don't have any money so I didn't lose as much with the current economy crisis, etc., so thank you, world, for that. =)]

Problem: I've been a student for the last 20 years.
Problem: I've been wearing the same size clothes since high school.
Problem: I am a packrat.

You know happens when you're a penniless, stunted, student-packrat? You accumulate a lot (a lot) of clothes that begin with word "tee" or "sweat." And you know what types of "tees" and "sweats" are allowed at my office? No types.

Thus, I'm stuck with the proverbial problem of having a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. [insert more whining here]

Because I can't buying any clothes (see "student debt" and "failing economy"), I'm doing the next best thing: Polyvore.com. This site is so addictive (this is worse than facebook; are any of you on it? add me!); I LOVE IT! You scour the internet for all your favorite items of clothing (or any image), add them to your stash, and put them together in glamorous magazine-style layouts. It's like having a big closet! (except that I don't own any of the clothes in it... so they just stare me in the face every time I log in... mocking me... wait, why do I like this site again?)

So, I dream (click on each set for details).

Out of my league ($13,800)

Working Goal ($2090, but I can save myself $1200 by dropping the shoes and the enamel bracelet)

Settling ($77 without the pants; but, I already own those so I'm allowed to use them in this outfit)

A series of unrelated sentences (and the pictures that love them)

2008-09-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

On Friday, sweet Mr. Blog felt so bad about my long day in downtown LA, that he took me out for a romantic dinner that evening; how lovely.

On Saturday, we went to a Tiki party where our 57 year old host wore a coconut bra and grass skirt (no photos are available); he (yes "he") also served all the freshly grilled lobster tail I could eat. On Sunday, Britney #2 came to visit and we had our hearts broken by this beautiful coat that we can't afford; I eased the pain with the free Champagne they were serving at the store. My prizes from my first blog game are ready to mail.Have a good week friends!

The good, the bad and some uglies

2008-09-26T16:58:00.001-07:00

The good: My Beavers won! (picture of Jacquizz Rodgers from oregonlive.com)

The bad: My Trojans lost! (picture of Jacquizz Rodgers from oregonlive.com)

The uglies:

1) My Snapfish.com order arrived (which was for all my pictures from 2007 in collage form) and it was completely wrong. The collages they mailed me included pictures in incorrect orientations (vertical ones were printed horizontally, etc) and they were not the specific layouts I ordered.

Boy, I got UGLY (don't worry, it was in the privacy of my own home and no one got hurt =P). I was so annoyed because it took me forever to create the 45 collages I ordered (Snapfish's software does not allow for specific placement of each photo in the collage so you have to select all the photos you want included and the system randomly generates a collage for you; if you're unhappy with the size/layout you must deselect all the photos and reselect them in a different order and click generate again... it's very time consuming when you have a specific layout in your head that you're trying to create).

I channeled my anger into an eloquent, slightly lengthy complaint to customer service detailing my specific problem with the order only to find out that the customer complaint form only takes 240 characters (my complaint was 3500+). My only choices on the form were to ask for a refund or a reprint; GRRR! I didn't want either! I wanted the collages I ordered, in the correct layout with the correct photo orientation! I grudgingly filled out the form, thanking goodness that I had this blog as a forum to complain on (sorry readers!)!!

Luckily, I called them today and talked to the nicest man in India who patiently listened to me rant on and on about how I carefully created each collage, and I was worried that if I had to re-order it would take forever and they might still mess up my order and blah blah blah. I found out that the Snapfish collage software had a bug in it. The nice man refunded my money, gave me free shipping and promised to e-mail me when the bug was fixed so that I could order my prints again. Yay.

2) I spent all day alone, in downtown LA waiting for the nice people at Audi to service Mr. Blog's car. Ugh-liness.

Luckily, the nice people at Audi drove me to the old alma mater where I went to visit the bookstore. They were having a huge sale: Free People tops (25% off), True Religion and 7 jeans (50% off), Ella Moss and C&C dresses (75% off). Oh it took all my strength not to buy anything (I just can't; my closet is ridiculous). By the way, if it seems weird to anyone that the local collage bookstore sells all these items, well... it kind of is... but then again, it's so characteristic of USC and I love it.

But I did invest in these:
Magnetic Poetry Stamp Kits!! They are brilliant! They're just like the Magnetic Poetry kits for your fridge, except that you stick these magnets to a base and they become stamps!! Each kit has over 80 words, a big metal base and a large inkpad! And the whole thing fits in a cute metal box. I am totally in love! I bought three sets (Date & Seasons, Holiday & Events and Vacation & Travel)!!
And they were half off! Hooray for the USC Bookstore.

I'm off to play with them while I watch the debate. Woot.

GAME DAY!

2008-09-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight, 6 p.m., ESPN.
I'll be busy for the next seven hours mentally preparing for the epic showdown. See you tomorrow.

Laura's Sketch #9

2008-09-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'm trying my hand at another card challenge! This one was based off Laura's sketch (#9!) from the ever creative 2 Sketches 4 You!

I was inspired by a chat I had with a few co-workers about the upcoming Presidential election (VOTE!) and by those old Verizon commercials ("can you hear me now?" seemed strangely appropriate for this card and those swirls in Laura's sketch were a bit like signal bars on a cell phone).

Here's my card (apologies for the sub-par photography; this is from my phone):This card is 4"x5", with the front a bit smaller so that the stars punched on the back show when the card is closed. The big man is an enlarged version of the little men on the background. He's made of a red transparent overlay I had laying around. The phrases are printed from Microsoft Word and all the patterned papers are from the 2008 Scrapbook Page-a-Day calendar.

Here is another shot of the front:

And a close up of the side:

Thanks for looking!

Down to business

2008-09-23T15:32:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again to start planning for Britney #2's birthday party (to be held in February). It's not too early to start; this is our Oscar night (see last post) and much thought will be invested in our outfits (certainly more than I spent dressing for the Emmys).

Thus, I initate Phase I: Inspiration

The Pantsuit

The Mini Dress

The Mod Dress

The Roller Girl

The Hair

The Shoes

I'm hating the pants, loving the mini's, wanting fierce hair and needing glittery shoes.

Your thoughts?

an ode to britney #2

2008-09-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Britney #2,

Before we start planning for disco extravaganza 2009, let's pay tribute to a few of our amazing costumed galas of yore: [cue sappy music]

The Girls Next Door
American Gladiators
Pirates
My Super Sweet 16
Beerfest

Love,
Britney #4

PS - Remember that year we didn't have a theme and how it led to all sorts of projectile fun?

What I did this weekend...

2008-09-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday 22:30: Pick up Emmy tickets at Katana from Mr. Blog's fabulous friend

Katana has delicious cocktails, beautiful food and boasts a healthy mix of models not eating and the men who love them. It just reminds me that I'm not built for Los Angeles.

But then again, I bought new jeans for the night, so maybe I am...

Sunday 8:00: Stir in bed when Mr. Blog gets up to do work

Sunday 10:30: Stir in bed when Mr. Blog kisses me good bye before he goes off to his radio show

I know, I'm with a radio star. And he's pretty enough for TV. *gush*

Sunday 12:00: Finally wake up and get ready.

Sunday 14:30: Leave for the Emmys

Sunday 14:45: Stop for fancy pre-Emmy lunch

As we were driving to the show we realized that we were both late and hungry, so we stopped at a fine dining establishment where I'm sure all the stars eat before a major award show.

On a separate note, those new grill chicken tortilla rolls are delicious and easy to eat in a moving car while wearing couture.

Sunday 15:00: Arrive on the red carpet!

Adrian Grenier said hi to Mr. Blog on our way in! *swoon*

Sunday 16:00: Arrive inside the Nokia Theatre...

Just in time for the bars to close.

Sunday 17:00: Showtime!

We didn't sit in the same zip code as the actual stage, so all my pictures are a little blurry, but if you can guess who these stars are, I'll send you a prize! (seriously, leave me a comment!)

Sunday 20:15: Dinner at e3rd Steakhouse

This is a picture of the Alba-cado; it's an "apple” of seaweed, seasoned fresh Albacore Tuna wrapped in avocado, lightly drizzled with house Oonagi Sauce. It was so beautiful. Dinner was also beautiful (and delicious) but I was too busy eating to take pictures.

Sunday 22:00: Drinks at the Biltmore

Sunday 23:45: Watch all the Emmy Red Carpet footage to see if we were on TV

Because let's be honest, being on TV is where the real bragging rights are =P

Thank you for a wonderful weekend, Mr. Blog!

Current...

2008-09-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

Obsessions:

1. Leanne Marshall's collection for fashion week: I'm loving how she makes harsh geometric shapes look soft and feminine. Also loving the fact that she's from Portland!

(see the entire collection via NYMag.com where these pictures came from)

2. Weekend Designer: I realize this blog has been around for a while, but I just found it yesterday, okay? =P Seriously though, this man breaks down the most beautiful designer couture into the easiest steps for the home sewer! I want to make all of these:

(follow along at the wkdesign blog)

3. Snapfish collage prints: We've all seen the collage posters that most online photo services offer, but Snapfish offers the same collage in a mini 4"x6" print (which is the perfect mini-book size). I putting most of my 2007 photo library into these collage prints and making a mini-book for my coffee table (don't worry, I didn't abandon traditional scrapbooking; all the major vacations are still on 12"x12"). All the collages above are examples! Make your own here.

Anticipations:
[Sunday] The Emmys: I'm going. What should I wear?!

(all dresses from shopbop.com)

(also all dresses I can't afford; these are for drooling purposes only)

[Thursday] Oregon State football: I mean Trojan football... whatever, it's my two favorite teams battling on the field. We all remember what happened 2 years ago...

Melancholy:
A favorite professor has passed away. My thoughts are with his family.

Project Cheese

2008-09-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

What is this, you're asking? Two posts in one day?! I'm sure you are shocked (and by "you," I mean Mr. Blog, because honey, I know you're the only person who reads this and I love you for it). However, this is a long overdue post for a good friend of mine (hi, Stacie) about a little project I did this summer.

A little back story: Stacie and I had glamorous dreams of pimping a Peep, a la Pimp that Snack (we were especially inspired by these) but various other summer activities got in the way (for a quick summary, see my last post). So because I didn't have any afternoons free to make giant marshmallows with Stacie, I apparently thought it would be a better, quicker idea to make cheese (later, I found out that making cheese takes about a month, but I'd already committed by then).

Step 1: Research. I know nothing about cheesemaking (that statement is still true, even after this little "adventure"). However, this man seems to know a lot about cheesemaking, so I decided to trust him and follow his recipes (which, incidentally are also the recipes published in the rennent box).

Step 2: Gathering the ingredients. Milk, cream and yogurt were rather easy to come by, but buying rennet was a nightmare. Have you ever tried to buy rennent in Los Angeles? I live pretty much in the middle of the city where there are no farms, no farm animals and certainly no people remotely interested in anything related to farms or farm animals. I went to three different stores, made a fool of myself miming to several sales associates who spoke no English and continued acting like a fool explaining what rennent was to the three associates who did speak perfect English. Poor Mr. Blog patiently drove me to each store and help as much he could (thank you, honey!). In the end, all the "rustic" and "ethnic" grocery stores failed me and I found rennet at the fancy Pavillions across the street from my apartment. Boy, was Mr. Blog amused!

Step 3: Skipping a few steps. Dr. Fankhauser's website suggested a number of activities one should master before actually attempting to make hard cheese (such as making yogurt, cream cheese, etc.) but I thought to myself, "how hard can making cheese really be?" and ignored all the pre-requisites.

Step 4: Starting aka "I should have learned how to make yogurt"! Here are all my ingredients assembled and ready to go (cream is not really an ingredient, but I didn't have any whole milk so I made my own... that's the same thing, right?). The first step is to inoculate the milk by putting yogurt culture into it and letting it grow until the milk has enough acid in it to react with the rennet. This is the same step one masters in yogurt making. I did not master this step and the results are documented below.

Step 4.5: Starting over. Somewhere in the inoculation process I failed miserably by either putting in too much yogurt or overheating the mixture or something so my milk was over acidified and thus useless. Useless milk looks like this.

I re-did it.

Step 5: Rennent. This step was pretty uneventful. The rennet caused the milk to solidify to the point where I achieved a clean break.

Step 6: Cooking the curds. These taste surprisingly good!

Steps 7 - ??: I forgot to take pictures of this part because I was so excited that I didn't screw up but I pretty much finished cooking the curds, salted them to preserve the cheese, put them in the mold and pressed the cheese.

Here's the mold I used (this is post cheese making):

Here's the cheese after a day in the press, before refrigeration. Cute, isn't it? Here's the cheese after a week (with rind). I was suppose to wax it but I didn't have any, so I just wrapped it in plastic and let it ripen in fridge.

Then I went on vacation and came back and my cheese was ready. It had hardened into a lovely Parmesan-y type product (likely because I didn't wax it to keep the moisture in). It is a very nutty cheese, with a nice rich flavor because I put in the extra cream. It actually turned out much better than I expected and I'm happy with it.

There's still some cheese waiting for you in the fridge, Stace, if you're interested!

and I'm back...

2008-09-16T22:18:00.001-07:00

So it's been about half a year since my last post, but I swear I've been busy since March! In the last six months I've graduated from here, spent two months here, took this during this, and went here for this (how much fun is that clicking... hmm?). As some documentation, here is me and Mr. Blog getting ready to cheer on team USA during the first day of women's gymnastics at National Indoor Stadium:

And here is me with Nastia Luikin at the airport! (note that I look horrendous after my 12 hour flight whereas she is still cute as can be)

=) Yay for summer!

Now, on to bigger and more important things, the real reason I'm back (aside from having much more time on my hands and missing this journal) is... CAARDVARKS! After ages of lurking on a number of creative blogs online, I'm finally taking the plunge and joining in the fun.

Caardvark's 32nd challenge is themed "Working for a living" and asked us to "create a new card using office supplies, a career theme, work-related elements, whatever speaks to you."

Here is my card which both uses office supplies and is themed to my career (just guess what it is...). I'm rather proud of it because everything single thing on this card came from my office. Seriously, EVERYTHING, including that scrap of patterned paper which is from my Scrapbook Page-a-Day calendar. The rest of it is a loving collage made of a file folder (which I cut down to 4"x6" and recreated the tab), a P-Touch label, legal pads, paper clips, envelops, and various print-out courtesy of the office copier (using clipart from here, here and Microsoft Word).

Note: My price of $178 is clearly a joke, as you will never find an attorney that cheap. =)

Enjoy!

2008 catch up

2008-01-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

I'm only 8 days into '08 and I already feel behind. but now that I'm firmly past finals and not yet in class I have some time to catch up. So in that interest, I will be condensing two months worth of blogging content into one photo-fantastic entry. Enjoy.It's the back to school party bus run by Ms. Elbinger, Ms. Yin and Gym Coach Mathai.

Happy Birthday Mr. Blog!

Thanksgiving and my smorgasbord of appetizers. Mr. Blog and I did themed trays: Americas (mini-burgers and tamales, pigs in a blanket, chips with chipotle chicken salad, crudite and queso!!!) and Europe (tea sandwiches, antipasto)

Next holiday! For Christmas, Mr. Blog got me this Koala Cabinet (watch the videos)!!! It is AMAZING and is custom fit to my machine, which he got me for my birthday! Here's our first tree!and our second holiday party

and lastly, NYE in NYC! I was so lucky to be able to celebrate with some of my favorite people from all periods of my life: high school, college, & grad school! Yay me!

Happy New Year, Mr. Blog!

Here's to a happy & healthy 2008!

Oh, I almost forgot... this being a craftblog after all, I made my New Years dress. No pattern, just inspiration... it's backless! Woot.

Halloween Decorating, Pt. II

2007-11-02T14:10:00.001-07:00

Mr. Blog's office!!! We turned the legal department into a haunted law firm (and even though we didn't win, we had a lot of fun doing it)!

The office complete with my Mr. Blog as a dead lawyer... how charming!

The haunted chandelier made from an umbrella (instructions at bhg.com).

Brains and eyeballs and law books... guess which scares me more?

Thank you, Mr. Blog for letting me take over your office!

Halloween Decorating Part I

2007-10-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, this was technically my second Halloween decorating project, but I forgot to take pictures of the first (Mr. Blog let me decorate his office), so that will be posted later (under Part II).

As I mentioned before, Mr. Blog and I hosted a little pre-party before the big law school Halloween celebration. Everything turned out just swell except, sadly, my attempt at making mini caramel apples turned into a big, creamy mess because the apple juices mixed with the caramel and prevented solidification. We ended up just dipping the apples in the resulting caramel sauce and then gorging on the other goodies.

All the party people!

Mr. Blog and his bunny!

Crafting in theory

2007-10-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend in San Francisco with Mr. Blog and re-connected with several good friends from high school (although I did not connect with my camera and thus the pictureless entry).

The best part of the weekend was definitely the food. Thanks to Mr. Blog's mobile Zagat Guide and my good friend Katie, we feasted like kings at several places that I now HIGHLY recommend:
Hog Island Oyster Company (we went twice in one weekend)
Rambla's Tapas (try both the paellas)
Cav Wine Bar & Kitchen (EVERYTHING is good here!)

I also spent the weekend thinking about all the crafts I could make for the holidays, if I had the time. I'm going to attempt to clear out my schedule to prepare something fun for a little Halloween get together Mr. Blog and I are hosting on Thursday. I'm hoping to make theses. Oh and also make a costume... hrm...

Back in Lala land

2007-10-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

Sigh. It's Monday morning and I'm back at work. Yay.

I meant to post this Saturday but I forgot: GO BEAVERS!!! (Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle)

The best day...

2007-10-13T21:31:00.001-07:00

The Mermaid and I were productive today.

We spent the morning running around town looking for gingerbread mix and Halloween costumes. The former was non-existent (and thus became replaced with spiced cake mix) but inspiration for the latter was found in the parking lot at JoAnn.

After parking and before entering, we prepped ourselves for the daunting challenge of spending less than 3 hours at JoAnn (my parents had lunch waiting) by picking through the weekly flier. As we flipped through the pages, what did we see? A little girl in a mermaid costume smiling back at me (well "us" but "me" rhymes)! Says Lauren, "I could be a mermaid." Says Yin, "We could make that!" Done and done!

Walking into the store, the first bolt of fabric we saw was a blue, shimmery fish scale cloth perfect for a mermaid tail. It was like a sign from above! We were off. Our one hitch was being too poor to buy the actual pattern, so we bought a $1.99 skirt pattern and improvised. I thing our version turned out better. It has a purse in the tail fin. Yeah, THAT'S right. We should be pattern designers.

In other news, I made a sweatsuit with an aeroplane on it. Woot! This was my first attempt at making something with sleeves without using a pattern. I think it turned out just fine!
When I get home I will embroider some quirky French saying under the little plane, like "J'adore voyager." (Mr. Blog bought me a fantastic embroidery machine for my birthday!)

Mkay, time to ice spiced cookies!

Detour

2007-10-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

Days 2 and 3 were spent equally with my Internet Law book and the dentist. There's nothing like the Commerce Clause and a filling to take my mind off crafting...

But, my crafting twin arrived tonight so I have hope for tomorrow!

Day One

2007-10-10T21:42:00.001-07:00

Somewhere between family dinners and annual physicals, the sewing has begun! It felt great to brush off the trusty Singer and bring down the shears and pins.

I started with one of the new patterns I bought from Joann (McCall's 5516). Ahh... there's nothing like a fresh. new pattern, crisp and compressed. I love that feeling of unfolding the tissue expecially knowing that I will never again get it back into the envelope. What is the secret with that one?

I also started with some of Mr. Blog's old curtains (this project is saturated with The Sound of Music charm).

And here are the after shots:

Getting there...

2007-10-09T17:49:00.000-07:00

So the regularly posting plan fell through, but there's nothing like a break from school to catch up on crafty goodness. I spent hours at JoAnn yesterday and am full loaded with supplies!

But first things first: I brought Mr. Blog home to meet the parents and we had a lovely weekend both in the country and the city. I was incredibly nervous about this trip but I think it went quite well!

We caught the "Legally Blonde" mantinee with my crafty twin (who just may start a blog of her own soon! Fingers-crossed!). I just love that movie and the Broadway adaptation was phenomenal. Whenever I feel that law school was the wrong choice for me, Legally Blonde always gives me more hope... is that sad?

In any case, Mr. Blog is flying home and Ms. Legally Blonde doesn't come visit until Friday, so, now that the excitement's died down, I can begin my serious sewing. Watch out world...

Summer goals

2007-08-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

After years of silenting admiring and obsessing over the plethora of beautiful craftblogs online, I convinced myself I should start one of my own. Unfortunately, this goal became lost among the many items on my summer to-do list. Now, true to my procrastinating form, I've waited until my last real lazy summer day to cross this off.

Here goes nothing...