happy holidays!

i hope everyone is having a spectacular holiday season! christmas time is over, but don't worry because there's still new years to look forward to.

here's a look at some of my favorite presents i received this year and pretty much all of them are from my sister and her family. they know me so well.

a beautiful vintage purse from time echo vintage on etsy.

vintage recycled necklace from noble town vintage on etsy.

lord of the rings plushes from think geek. i got frodo and gandalf; they're so cute! i'm a big lord of the rings geek.

kevin got me some great stuff too. i have heart shaped measuring cups at home so he gave me a few things to complete the set.

heart shaped whisk from fred flare.

and heart shaped measuring spoons from amazon.

it was a great christmas!

merry christmas eve!

i'm finally home in hawaii for christmas! it feels so good to be home and with my family, it's just the heat i can't take. it's so humid. but nevertheless, being near my niece, emily jay, is worth the sweat.

let's start off our christmas celebration with one of the best things i've ever seen.

while waiting for my flight at the airport on tuesday, i heard music coming from down the way. it started getting closer and everyone realized that it was a one man band going up and down the gates playing christmas music.

it was the cutest thing ever. he even had strings connecting his feet and the bass drum mallets, so he had to walk to the beat of the song.

yay for christmas!

Crafts: Dexter ATC

after a short little hiatus from atc making, i dove back in with a dexter atc swap on swap-bot.

if you're not familiar with what an artist trading card or "atc" is, go ahead and click here to find out more!

here's my dexter atc:

i tried to go for a splotchy blood look and it came out eerily real. i promise it's red ink!

if you haven't seen dexter yet, go out and watch it NOW!

i hope zelda and link get married one day.

i have a very special place in my heart for legend of zelda games. they are my ultimate favorite video games EVER. love the characters, love the game-play, love the traditions and call-backs that each game has.

i brought my gamecube up to seattle with me and have the collector's edition of "the legend of zelda: ocarina of time"

and "the legend of zelda: majora's mask".

so guess what i've been playing! i managed to finish ocarina of time and now i'm working on majora's mask.

i hear the latter is one of the hardest zelda games ever and it is definitely proving to be a challenge. wish me luck!

happy belated thanksgiving!

hope everyone had an awesome stuff-your-face thanksgiving. i know i did.

kevin and i spent our turkey day with our friends jenine and tommy and jenine's mom and brother. our part of the cooking consisted of glazed ham, broccoli and cauliflower salad, mashed potatoes and a white cake with strawberries.

tah-dah!

isn't it lovely? you can try the recipe here.

jenine and tommy made the turkey, stuffing, veggies and peanut butter pie. everything was oh-so good!

i just had to take a picture; it looked so good.

i was so thankful that i got a chance to talk to my family that night on the phone. it made me a little sad to know that everyone was together and i couldn't be there, but i'll see them all soon for christmas.

update: snow is evil

the snow storm last monday really threw the city of seattle for a loop. there were cars sliding everywhere!

here's a snapshot of some cars piled up on our street. i didn't see it happen, but i assume they slid down the hill and bumped into each other. it was so bad that they just left it there for the past few days and blocked off our road.

it even made the cover of the seattle times on their website. i was like, "our street is famous!"

we had a hard time getting our car into our parking stall because of the ice, so kevin and i had to hammer at the ice and shovel it away.

it was FREEZING on tuesday and wednesday. plus we don't turn the heater on in our apartment a whole lot because we want to save on electricity. i'm starting to reexamine that decision.

i wore two scarves inside the apartment, (leopard AND zebra print) that's how cold it was!

thankfully the snow is starting to melt, so the roads are a lot safer. phew!

first snow

today was the first snow of 2010 here in seattle! it's almost 8:00 pm and it's still going. this is actually only the 4th time i've seen snow and now i have to learn how to live with it. our apartment is on the top of a hill, so kevin and i have been watching people struggle up and down in their cars. kind of scary.

this is right outside of our apartment.

SO, i decided i really need to get a more snow worthy coat. all the coats i have are wooly, so they kind of absorb the water.

i decided to get this one:

not only is it adorable, but it's water proof and lined with sherpa wool. i ordered it online and i can't wait for it to get here!

remembering aaliyah

i've been WAY into looking up old music videos, as you can see from my last few posts. it's nice to have that nostalgic feeling. it's so amazing to me how music can make you feel 15 years old again.

i have been looking for this particular aaliyah video for FOREVER and i couldn't remember what it was called. all i remembered was that it had flamenco dancing at the end. but i found it!

she was so beautiful and such a great dancer.

and of course there's this one:

it's really amazing how everything timbaland touches turns to gold.

90's music video flashback

here are some of my favorite music videos from the 90's.

i remember seeing these guys as musical guests on "all that". do you guys remember that show!?!

anyway, here's "candy rain":

now, i distinctly and vividly recall sitting on the floor in my living room with our tape deck in front of me, listening to the cassette of "crossroads" by bone thugs n harmony trying to memorize all the rapping. i think i was eleven. man, i guess i was super gangsta back then.

i still think this is an awesome video.

80's binge

i've been in this 80's music mood lately and decided to look up some music videos. i don't listen to a whole lot of 80's music, but thanks to my sister, joanne, i've been exposed to some of the good stuff.

i really love this song. although it's not the original (it was originally done by simon and garfunkel), i really enjoy this version.

there aren't too many girl bands out there that play their own instruments anymore. i can only think of sleater-kinney and the donnas.

and of course, i had to watch some cyndi lauper videos. love her style! and what an AMAZING vocal range.

i think i'll post some of my favorite 90's tunes next time.

Crafts: A Couple New ATCs

here are a couple of atcs i've made in the past few days. i had to make kind of a lot, but these are two i'm super proud of.

find out more about atcs here.

this one is a kawaii themed atc:

and this one is a ghost adventures atc. that's right, someone hosted a ghost adventures atc swap and i was so happy!

Places: Kona Kitchen

kevin and i were starving after our target visit in northgate, so he suggested we get take out from kona kitchen, a great hawaiian plate lunch restaurant here in seattle.

[image source: google images]

kona kitchen was opened by yuji okumoto, who you may remember from karate kid 2 as daniel-san's nemesis:

[image source: google images]

we saw him there too! he was just hanging out in the restaurant with his family.

the food was pretty good. kevin and i shared a loco moco and tonkatsu. on the menu they also have kalua pig, portuguese sausage breakfasts, and hamburger steak. now i know where to go when i'm feeling homesick for some local food.

dance dance nerdolution.

i'll admit it right here and now: I LOVE DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION.

that's right, i said it.

i haven't played it in years (i could play some songs on difficult, thank you very much), but i'll always have a place in my heart for its catchy dance songs. after hearing one of my old favorites in genki sushi the other day i had to look up some of my long lost loves.

here are a couple:

call me a nerd, but i like it.

cutie shoes!

i've said time and time again that yo gabba gabba is the best kids show around and they still haven't let me down. i went on their website recently to look up some clips of their super music friends show (i wanted to see the jimmy eat world clip) and they had an ad for these awesome yo gabba gabba toddler vans slip ons!

most people who know me know that i worked at vans shoes for almost 6 years, so i have a special loyalty to vans. they are just too cute!

they would be perfect for my niece, emily jay.

here are a couple of pictures from her yo gabba gabba 2nd birthday party:

love her and love those shoes!

Places B & O Expresso

a few of our friends are in town and we're all having fun showing them around. on friday night we went to eat dinner and afterward we all had dessert at b & o expresso in capitol hill. they serve all kinds of food, but we specifically go there for their awesome desserts and coffee. there's also a bar on the side.

[image source: google]

the inside is intimate with a touch of vintage flare.

[image source: google]

kevin and i had the lemon chiffon cake and the chocolate mousse cake with coffee. so delicious!

Music: Broken Social Scene

one great thing about living in seattle is that there are tons of bands that come to have concerts. last week friday kevin and i went to see broken social scene at paramount theater. kev and i just love them, so we had to go. plus the sea and cake opened for them and kevin likes them a lot too. it was double good times for him.

paramount theater is so beautiful! that was my first time there.

the sea and cake

broken social scene playing "7/4 (shoreline)"

it's been a while.

wowsers. it's been about a month since my last post.

i was back home in hawaii practically all september, so i took a little break from the blog. but at the urging of my awesome friend, denise, i'm back in the saddle again.

since i was still in seattle at the beginning of september and kevin was in hawaii we didn't get to spend my birthday together, which was on september 3rd. it was sad, but the fact that he bought me an awesome present made it okay.

presenting my brand new digital camera!

this is the samsung TL110. my previous camera was very, VERY old with 4.1 megapixels. little did i know that nowadays digital cameras have no less than 10 megapixels. this new one has 14.2 mp. in the words of kevin, "you poor girl."

i love it! here a a couple of pictures i took to test it out:

flowers at pike's market

kevin at pike's

hooray for clearer pictures!

busy, busy!

wow! it's been a while since i've made a post. it's been busy and crazy lately; that's my only excuse.

kevin had a family emergency last month, so he's been back home since then, which means i was in seattle by myself for a few weeks. then my mom and aunty came to visit, so i was with them 24/7, showing them around and shopping, shopping, shopping. i decided to come back home with them so i could be with my family and kevin in hawaii.

i'm still here in hawaii and will be until the end of the month. then kevin and i will be heading back to seattle. so much travelling!

but i had a super good time with my mom and aunty jan. here are some pictures from their trip.

here's my mom (right) and my aunty jan (left) at our apartment.

outside of the crabpot

the crabpot's alaskan seafeast. amazing.

so much fun and so tiring! can't wait for more family to visit.

happy birthday joanne!

i know the date says september 1, but i wrote this very late on august 31. and august 31 is my sister, joanne's, birthday! happy yakudoshi year, jo! thankfully her birthday party is going to be later in september, so i'll be able to make it back home.

this picture was taken in san francisco in 2007. it's an oldie, but it's one of my favorites.

and speaking of people back home, my mom and aunty arrive for a visit on thursday. so excited!

the beatles atc swap

yet ANOTHER atc swap completed. i have a lot of time on my hands, so i've been making atcs like crazy! this one was for a beatles atc and it just so happened that the person i had to send mine to was my sister, joanne. check out the atc she made here.

here's the atc i made for her:

i based this one off their abbey road album. the lyric is one of my favorites from that album, "and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

here's the beatles atc my partner sent me:

she used yellow submarine style fabric.

yay! i love the beatles so much!

Music: James Germain and the grey gray days

last night we went to see our friend derrick's band, james germain and the grey gray days, play at their cd release show at the can can in pike's market. it's a great little venue and all the performers did excellent.

there's derrick going at it at the drums. he's so talented! i haven't seen him play in years, so i was happy to see him in his element and doing what he does best.

congratulations on the ep release!!

power

i love you, kanye west. here's his epic "power" video.

so good.

owl atc

i joined an owl atc swap a while back and it's finally done.

here's my owl atc:

i used a computer image, cardstock, japanese masking tape and sequin embellishments.

here's the card my partner sent me:

skull atc

finally finished up the swap for some skull atcs. i had 2 partners and had to create 2 atcs for each of them.

here's the four that i made:

whenever i do anything with skulls i usually use day of the dead skulls because i think they're beautiful and fantastic.

and here's the four i received from my two partners:

yay for skulls!

super duper spider killer

kevin recently went back home to hawaii, so i'm going to be living here in the apartment by myself for a while. this means that i have to take care of all the spider killing myself.

spiders aren't really a problem in hawaii. once in a while you run across the occasional daddy-long-legs, but that's usually when you're rummaging through a corner of the garage that seldom sees any action. so imagine my horror when kevin informed me that spiders usually come out when it gets a bit warmer. come out and apparently flock to our apartment to surprise me in the shower or descend from a silky thread only to dangle in front of the television while i'm watching.

i swear, in the past 5 days since kevin's been gone i've killed 6 spiders. and they're spiders i've never seen before, which makes it worse.

here's my weapon of choice:

a broom with duct tape at the top. it's the perfect weapon. not only is it great for long distance, but you don't even have to be accurate. as long as the tape touches anywhere on the spider, it's a goner.

now i am extremely cautious when walking around the house. with every step i take i examine my surroundings.

it's difficult living in fear.

defeat!

alright, so today i am hereby declaring defeat by the 30 day song challenge. :(

i just couldn't keep up.

but i would still like to do some of them, particularly the ones i already know the answer to.

this one was for day 23: a song you want played at your wedding.

i'm excited to dance to this. my ultimate love song.

bestie in seattle!

my best friend, christine, is a flight attendant for hawaiian airlines and stopped over in seattle for a day. it was so good to see her and i got to spend the whole day exploring with her.

here she is at pike place market.

and here i am at the pike pub where we had lunch.

we shopped a little at southcenter mall and ate at the olive garden by her hotel. good times!

home visit

i got back from another home visit about 2 weeks ago and it was great! i got to play with my niece, emily jay, and spend time with friends and family.

here's emily playing dress up:

and i got to go to the beach with my buddies, kammy and sarah, and eat at kua'aina burger. so good!

it was a little gloomy out, but i still got a tan!!