Top 5 Tuesday

Hello Everyone! I hope you are having an amazing week. I know that sometimes it can be hard to get through the week because of this strange, extended Winter. Just do your best, stay warm, and keep dreaming.

Here is the best of the week!

Last week Twitter celebrated its fifth birthday! I joined Twitter early on before anyone knew what it was. Actually.... I still don't know what its for but I'm happy I joined.  I have been able to connect with people I haven't heard from in a long time and even made some new friends along the way. Its pretty neat the way you guys have been sharing interesting links and slices of your life. You never ceased to entertain me. I hope I've done the same. I feel like its a party every day on Twitter. Thanks Twitter! Thanks everyone!

Top 5 Tuesday: Video Games

I love video games but I have to admit, I am not very good at them. I guess I can be classified as a casual gamer. Lucky for me that hand-held games and cellphone apps continue to grow in popularity. This means that there are a lot of quick-play games to choose from for someone who can't stand to devote a hundred hours on an impossible RPG. Instead, I like to collect and play puzzle, strategy, and simulation games. Here are my picks for Top 5 Tuesday.

I recently acquired Magical Drop III from WiiWare. I definitely have no regrets. I've been a fan of Magical Drop for a long time. I've played the first of the series in the arcade and own the Gameboy Advanced version.


I can't believe that this equipment is more than a decade old!

Top 5 Tuesday: Dance in Your Underwear When No One is Looking

Hello Blog dears! My life has turned upside-down this past month! While I'm not quite ready to share the life-changing events, I will tell you that things have been amazing so far! I can confidently say that I am quite happy! I'm celebrating by sharing some things that I've been into lately:




1. Cookie Cutters! I want to get into making cute food and bento boxes. Cookie cutters are an easy way to transform normal food into fun food. You can use them for more than just cookies. I never thought to use them for other things like sandwiches, vegetables, fruit and cheese. I got interested in cute food when a few friends and I wandered around Brooklyn and found Whisk. Its a quirky shop that had lots of cooking gadgets. My friend Sarah G bought an adorable acorn cookie cutter. After our little field trip, I couldn't get cookie cutters out of my brain. I started researching and found a site called The Cookie Cutter Shop which sells hundreds of cookie cutter shapes!  I really like the safari animals collection (mostly for the giraffe!). If you decide to collect cookie cutters, don't forget to take proper care of them too. I found a helpful site that has cleaning and storage tips.

2. The IT Crowd is a British television show that was introduced to me by my very good pal seekatiedraw. To be honest, I don't think I know anyone else who loves to laugh more than her. I knew that this show was going to be good, really good! And by golly it exceeded my expectations! This show is about a bunch of nerds that work for a gigantic corporation. The corporation is so huge, that they were kind of forgotten about so office shenanigans ensue including the fact that they transformed their office into a dorm room.

The IT Crowed is comedy in its purest form: slapstick comedy, site gags, and nonsensical banter! I thought that it was starting to become a lost art! Its really difficult to find a modern television show that doesn't have pop culture references. The IT Crowd doesn't rely on current events to make it funny. With the addition of a very charming cast, this show is an absolute winner that I hope will become one of your favorites :) I know its mine! This show is so funny you might wet your pants haha! You've been warned!

3. Canimals! I think these critters are new because I haven't found them anywhere! I was wandering around a Korean market and they had tons of these adorable stuffed animals with dumb facial expressions! I have no idea where they are from, what they are for, or what it means, but I do know that I like what I see! And I hope you like them too. I found a cartoon of them invading a school.




The characters are so ridiculous! I love the little pug and the siamese cat!

4. One of my favorite places to get music is The Free Music Archive which I mentioned in a previous blog post. It deserves another mention because today I found the most amazing album! Its called Voy a Explotar. The best part is that the entire album is free to download! I'll put the link here. Its a soundtrack to a soon-to-be-released film. I have no idea what kind of film this is because I found the soundtrack first. I may have to seek out the movie because all of the tracks are amazing! The tracks jump from different genres including indie, dance, techno, rock, and some experimental tracks. This is a bit of an over-share, but I was dancing by myself in my underwear to some of the tracks. And I suggest you do it too. Its really fun! haha!

5. An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory is what I am currently reading. I've been really interested in sketchbooks, concepts, and the artists' process after completing The Sketchbook Project. This is exactly what the book is about! Its a huge book that consists of scans of artists' sketchbooks. They range from casual doodlers to professionals illustrators. It includes one of my art heroes James Jean!

Its a fascinating, voyeuristic view into an artist's mind. As the pages unfold, you get a glimpse of how they think and what inspires them. In addition, they share intimate thoughts of their struggles with art and that they too feel intimidated by a blank page. Its pretty deep stuff! It definitely recommend it if you're an artist or writer. I promise that you'll learn something valuable :)

That's all I have for now. I do have lots of things to blog about and I do hope I find the time to be able to share more cool stuff :)

Have a great week everyone!

Top 5 Tuesday

Today I realized I was sending a lot of links on Twitter... so it was probably better to blog about them instead. Hello Top 5 Tuesday!

1. To start the first week of the new year, its a good idea to keep your computer in tip top shape whether its backing up files, deleting programs you don't need, or in my case, clear up some memory. If you're a Mac user like me, I found a really good article for 11 simple ways to keep your Mac running smoothly. I used six out all of them and improved my computer's performance by so much. Some of the major culprits were keeping too much clutter on the desktop, too many icons on the menu bar, too many shortcuts on my web browsers, and too many widgets on the dashboard. After all of that [and more] I increased my computer's memory by 96%! I knew my computer was running slower than usual, but I had no idea it was by that much! I'll make it a point to check on my computer every couple of months now.

Top 5 Tuesday

Hi Everyone! I have been so busy that I barely have time to keep up with my blog! I miss it! There are so many awesome things that have been happening and more to come! I just finished a craft show last weekend and I'm already preparing for the next one in less than two weeks! I have a few things that I've been itching to share, so Top 5 Tuesday is a little late this week.



1. Sing-a-ma-jigs. There are very few things on our planet that are both horrible and wonderful at the same time. I have discovered one of them and this is a true story. I was watching this YouTube video:


John from vlogbrothers wants to be in his brother's band but he can't play any instruments so he was "learning how to play the Sing-a-ma-jig" to "become a Sing-a-ma-jig player". HILARIOUS! The dolls have the ability to harmonize perfectly which is cool, but the creepy factor is that they can move their mouths! I kind of want to buy one [or four] but they scare me! The next best thing is to play with the virtual dolls online! I hereby allow you to button-smash your keyboard!

Top 5 Tuesday: Happiness in Small Places

Hi Everyone! Its Tuesday again and I'm excited to share some little pieces of happiness for Top 5 Tuesday. Well... at least these make me happy so I'm hoping that they'll make you happy too. :)



Last week I mentioned that I wanted to purchase some lipstick. I had my eyes on the Kat Von D Painted Love lipstick set. After seeing the set in person, I changed my mind. I liked the colors, but the texture of the lipsticks were too creamy for me. So instead I ended up buying a Mac Viva Glam lipstick. The amazing thing about the Mac Viva Glam series is that "every cent raised through the purchase of VIVA GLAM goes to the M·A·C AIDS Fund to support the fight against HIV/AIDS" as stated by the website. Whoa! I can look pretty and donate to charity! That's a win/win situation! While I would have loved to purchase the limited edition Cyndi Lauper or Lady Gaga lipstick... I think its more important to find a lipstick shade that suites me best. So I got the one pictured above on the right. Its a neutral shade that goes well with most of my make-up looks. I can go with dramatic smokey eyes or casual neutrals with this lipstick shade. I have to wear the make-up, the make-up should never wear me. ha!

Top 5 Tuesday

Ladies and Gents! Tuesday is upon us once again and that means its time for a Top 5 Tuesday! This week I am sharing totally random slices of my life that I hope you'll enjoy :)

Top 5 Tuesday: Netflix Picks

Hello Everybody! Its been a little while since the last Top 5 Tuesday! I'll try my best to keep up with my Top 5 picks [of any topic] each week. My brother recently got us Netflix and oh boy, my life has changed! When I sew, I like to have movies in the background to keep me company. Before Netflix, I would rotate the same 4 dvds. If you're curious to know, they are Mean Girls, Ratatouille, The Terminal, and Angelic Layer the complete collection. I think I have seen all twenty-six episodes of Angelic Layer repeated about 5-6 times and the other movies... um... probably close to 20 times! Why do I do this? Well... aside from being my favorites, repeating movies while I work triggers my brain and puts me into an unstoppable working zone! I feel like my body goes into automatic pilot and I'm able to sew faster and faster! Its the science of repetition. SCIENCE!

Although I adore my movies, it sure is refreshing to see something new when sewing duties aren't so demanding. These are what I picked out!




1. Dead Like Me: If you're into Halloween and the Day of the Dead, you can relive the spooky days with this amazing comedy drama! Its a re-imagining of the Grim Reaper folklore. What if Grim Reapers lived and walked among us and had to get regular jobs? Think about it as Office Space meets Zombieland. What I love about this series is all of the colorful characters and how each of them has a different perspective when it comes to dealing with death. I know it sounds grim (haha! no pun intended), but as a whole this short-lived series is thought-provoking, heartfelt, hilarious and at times, a tear-jerker!

Dead Like Me has one of the coolest opening themes I've ever seen! And hey! I spotted a French Bulldog <3


If you're looking for something off-beat and original, look no further! Also, the music in this series is really good!

Top 5 Tuesday: The Planet We Live In

1. The Dark Age is how I would describe this past week. I actually wasn't sure if I would be able to deliver a Top 5 Tuesday this week because I was without the luxuries of the Modern Age. On April 1st, the Universe played a cruel April Fool's Day joke on me. Some ancient pipe exploded in my town and we were without clean drinking water for two days. I had to boil gallons of water all day to drink, wash my veggies, and for brushing my teeth. It put a lot of things into perspective. We take a lot of things for granted... like clean drinking water. I was without it for only two days, but the majority of the world doesn't have it so easy. Not having water was bad, but later in the day, I lost electricity too! And then the power outage burned out my router and I didn't have internet either! Here I am almost a week later. The water is pure, the lights are on, and the internet is back just in time for Top 5 Tuesday. In the time of my Dark Age, I found ways to entertain myself. I cooked some really great meals, read books for leisure, and hung out with some friends. It was liberating to be "unplugged". I'm thankful for having my things back and just a little more thoughtful for the things that I am lucky to have.



2. Life on Discovery Channel. If you have cable television what are you waiting for? Watch this show! Its breathtakingly amazing! I am a huge fan of Animal Planet's presentation of Planet Earth and was overjoyed that Discovery Channel is now offering a sister series. You'll be able to experience a new world from your living room! From the aliens of the deep sea, to action-packed adventures of predators chasing their prey, to the drama unleashing as the prey are running from predators! Or maybe you'd rather experience the miracle of birth or a tropical rainforest in bloom. I know for sure you'll learn something new. Even Neil Patrick Harris approves of this show. And who is to question NPH?



3. Pomegranates are my new favorite fruit. They are out of season right now, but I am still able to enjoy it in liquid form. If you've never seen a pomegranate, they sort of look like leathery apples with a flower blossom attached to it. Its really weird I know! But when you open it, its even more strange. Inside are hundreds of seeds that look like jewels. They're incased with a delicate, yet tough skin that contains very sweet, yet tart juice. Not only are they tasty, but quite good for you too. Pomegranates are a bit of challenge to eat, and plus the juice can stain your clothes. So please don't wear your favorite outfit if you're going to eat one of these.



4. Exquisite Corpse exhibition at the Robeson Gallery. Yesterday I took a day trip to my Alma Mater to see a fun show. If you're not familiar with the exquisite corpse, its a game that has been played by artists for possibly more than a hundred years. Its still quite popular today. There aren't a lot of rules. Typically, you start with one big piece of paper, then you fold it into three sections. The first artist draws the head, then folds the paper to pass it along to a second artist, who will draw the torso without looking at what the first artist created. Then it is passed to third artist, who is blind to what the previous artists have created, finishes the drawing by including the legs. Its a really fun collaboration that you should try :)



5. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World is the book I am currently reading. The name says it all! After vacationing in Curacao I've been bitten by the wanderlust bug. I really wish I could travel more, but for now I'll settle for reading about such places. I really can't compete with the low rate of "free" when there are so many wonderful books like this at my local library. I'm not even done reading this book and I highly recommend it! The author is witty and sarcastic, and his experiences in other countries don't leave you feeling excluded in those "you had to be there moments". The author, Eric Weiner is the real deal. He tells it as it is and you'll totally feel like you're roaming the Himalayas and the deserts of Dubai.

That was my week! I hope this week brings us all lots of sunshine :)

Top 5 Tuesday: Things to do in a tropical island

I spent last week in the beautiful island of Curaçao. Where is Curaçao? Its an island in the southern portion of the Caribbean Sea. I think I may have found the friendliest people on Earth. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, is always smiling, singing, and dancing. It was beautiful! Its hard to describe things that should be experienced... so I illustrated my week on post-it notes.

Here are the Top 5 Things to do in a tropical island.

1.Snorkel



2. Dig your toes into the sand



3. Look at seashells



4. Be lazy



5. Drink lots and lots of virgin piña coladas
My brother and I would chant, "Its piña colada time!" and disappear to the bar.

That's my week in a nutshell. <3

Top 5 Tuesday: Etsy Extravaganza!

This edition of Top 5 Tuesday is an Etsy special! There are a couple of things that I've been eyeing and I'd like to share :)



1. Foodie Soaps by Soapopotamus! I particularly like the ones that she molded into breakfast foods. I have to repeat that these are actual soaps and not food! They look so real! The fried egg even looks like it has some flecks of black pepper over the yolk! Gosh, I really want to get these because I think it would be hilarious to have guests over and have them wash their hands with a fried egg or a piece of strawberry toast! omg! That would be the joke of the century! Soapopotamus has lots of soaps to choose from like donuts and cinnamon buns. But she does not limit the shapes to sugary confections. She even has some that are shaped like roasted chicken and false teeth! I want to be this girl's friend. She sounds like a lot of fun!

2. Breathers mini comic series by Justin Madson. I met Justin at Mocca Festival a few years ago. His comic books caught my eye when I passed his table because of his interesting character designs. He dresses his characters with goggles, wings, and robotic arms. I picked up Breathers vol. 0 for $2 and it was a very quick but deep read about a post-apocalyptic world where the air isn't safe. Its a sad tale, but I'm still interested to see where it goes.

3. Bear vase by Prettyrandomobjects. I was never really into pottery until I saw the work by Joanna Mendicino! Everything she makes is so cute! I love the simple face on her critter planters. I seem to have inherited a green thumb from my dad! I'm planning on raising African Violets someday and I would love for them to live in these darling pots!

4. Little Red Riding Hood Shirt by Em & Sprout. I have always been a fan of Lindsay's designs! Lindsay is an internet darling who was formerly known as "kid pirate". Now she extends her cuteness as Em & Sprout and is also the brains behind a sister site called Sick for Cute. I have a hard time choosing which shirts I want because I love them all. But I think I might end up getting this one because Little Red Riding Hood was one of my favorite children's stories (aaaand its in a lovely shade of green!)

5. Custom Cupcake Necklace by Migoto Chou. How cute! I love that she lets you customize something special. Its everything from the color of the frosting, the flavor of the cake (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry), toppings, to the scent! These would make wonderful gifts, or even a gift for yourself :)

Do you shop on Etsy too? If so, please let me know some of the things or shops you like. I love looking around Etsy!

Have a great week everyone! <3

Top Five Tuesday!

I've been meaning to get back into posting on Tuesdays! I got held up by other projects. oh noes! But guess what! These are the highlights I wanted to share while I was gone. Enjoy!


1. At the end of January, I was finally able to enjoy my Christmas present! My boyfriend bought me tickets to see Avenue Q off-broadway! I've been wanting to see this show for years! I knew about it a long time ago when it was first produced off-broadway. The tickets were only $23! But no one wanted to go with me because they didn't know what it was. Then the show started gaining popularity and was moved to Broadway. All the people that didn't want to go with me fell into the hype and saw it without me! Can you believe that?! Shortly after, Avenue Q was retired, but now its back! I was so SO happy to finally see it! Its one of the most original things I've ever seen on broadway. And I've been to a lot of broadway shows. The characters are all so dynamic and believe me, just because the puppets look cute and cuddly, they do not hold back! Raunchy and risqué? You bet! But all in good fun. I highly recommend this show!


2. Sometimes when I'm searching blogs and pictures, I come across one of these rare, internet gems that are hard to pass up. I've recently discovered Scanwiches! Its exactly what it sounds like. Pictures of sandwiches that met with fate on a flatbed scanner. I have this odd fascination with food photography and this satisfies my attraction to the weird and whacky.


3. One of my nerd secrets is that I love the Olympics! Did you watch it? This is one of the few things that I really look forward too. If its an Olympic year, I'm a couch potato. I seriously won't go out! I love the Olympics so much that it actually hurts my feelings a little bit when I hear people say that they find it boring. Boring?! The reason why I like it so much is that I admire the idea that the best in the world are competing with each other in some amazing cosmic competition! Its incredible to be good at something, but to be considered the best in the entire world? What an honor! I've always enjoyed the Winter Olympics since I since I was a kid. The huge attraction was always the figure skating. I remember my heroes on ice: Scott Hamilton (who can still do a backflip at age 51!), Surya Bonaly (from France who could do a backflip and land on one foot!), Kurt Browning, and Kristi Yamaguchi. My new heroes are Sasha Cohen, Michelle Kwan, Johnny Weir... ok, so you can tell that my inner nerd is oozing out.

Vancouver 2010 was different because I was actually excited about all of the events. I had my TV stuck to NBC for more than a week and it didn't matter what event was on. I liked them all. The skiing, snowboarding, cross-country and even odd events like curling. Admittedly I was drawn to Speed Skating because of Apolo Ohno, but I've been watching him since Salt Lake City in 2002. He has that athletic charisma and has grown a lot in his career! He's interesting to watch. Ever see him in interviews? He's so poised and confident. I envy that :) But anyway, back to speed skating, try giving it a chance. Its so exciting! I'm glad the short track is under three minutes because there are times when I'm holding my breath! Amidst the chaos there is also a lot of strategy and power involved.

Ok... last thing about the Olympics (I swear!). Didn't you just love the Olympic mascots! Soooo cute! The picture above shows Sumi, Quatchi, and Miga. I was thrilled that the character designs looked familiar and it turns out that they were created by one of my favorite design houses Meomi! Everything they make is cute!


4. As you know, last month I went to the International Toy Fair in NYC. Well, if there was anything I would've liked to take back from the fair was toys. And I had to choose, I would have liked to take home one of the toys from Flying Monkey LLC. You can't go wrong with dinosaurs! And guess what! Its actually two toys in one! They're so cute!

I also met the nice guys at Joola. They are developing a very cute miniature ping pong table. Its seriously only about 4 feet long! Don't be fooled by the size! You can actually play a full game on the tiny table! I spent part of my day at their booth playing ping pong and talking about anime conventions. Good stuff :)


5. This is my new friend! Her name is Taco! I'm not allowed to have big pets where I live, so I keep my pet enthusiasm by housing little critters like Taco. She's a gerbil and fearless. I don't think she realizes that she's small. The first few days after owning her, I held her in my hand and she climbed up my arm (and really fast too)! She's fun to have around. Her favorite food is peanuts.

Top Five Tuesday

Ok, I lied. My next entry isn't about my first month on Etsy, I didn't quite finish writing that blog... but in the meantime I give you this!



1. King Kong VS the Dinosaurs. I'm not a fan of the movie, but I was flipping channels over the weekend and I saw this scene that had me at the edge of my seat while holding my breath! King Kong is pretty bad ass! This must have been a lot of fun for the writers and animators, "Let's have King Kong fight a dinosaur. No wait... two... THREE!!" The remake wasn't that great, but it did have its moments and they can be relived via YouTube. But what's up with the rock music?! haha! It just seems too obvious to add rock music to visuals about breaking stuff.

2. Optimism. The only spot worthy for a king was #1, so optimism will have to settle for #2. I have been reflecting about this year a lot. This was not a good year for me at all, but I have held on to my optimism for 365 days. Its all I have to get through the hard times and keep pushing along. Its really nice to keep things around that inspire you. I found this cute animation to remind myself that life isn't all that bad. I'm counting down the days until 2010 so I can start over.

3. Persimmons. Winter is my least favorite season, but there are a few things I look forward to and at the top of my list is persimmons! They are so refreshing and abundant this time of year! If you've never had a persimmon before, they look like strange tomatoes, taste like ripe cantaloupe, and the flesh is as crunchy and juicy as a plum. Persimmons need to be peeled. The skin is tough, waxy, and unpleasantly tart. When I was a kid, I loved reading scientific fact sheets with the technical drawings and Latin names. So I give you this one about persimmons. Science is fun!

4. Nail Polish. I live in a part of the United States where we get four seasons and sometimes the cold and dreary days leave people less to be happy about. One way to cheer myself up is to dress myself with bright colors either through my clothes or nail polish colors. It is a cheap and fun way to pamper yourself. My current favorite color is Coconut Kiss by China Glaze (its the third one down). Its the most amazing shade of purple I've ever seen! I had a similar nail polish color in highschool but that bottle was long lost. I was ecstatic when I found this color! This replacement is actually much better! <3

5. Charity. This past Christmas I asked my family not to give me any presents. Instead I asked them to donate to my charity of choice. I brought along my fund raising envelope and was scared whether or not they'd accept my hippie ideas. I was expecting it to be filled with a few pennies and dimes, but surprisingly they were very supportive! I got a couple of generous checks for the cause! Yay family!

Top 5 Tuesday: Random things that make me happy

There's a really fun trend among bloggers called "Things I Love Thursday". I like to blog a day in advance or the day of, and Thursday just doesn't seem to work. I usually work on projects on Sunday, so I like to take Wednesdays off as a tv night or hanging out and that leaves no time for blogging. How sad! I still want to participate so I'm making my own day to rave about the things I like! I was aiming to start this for 2010, but so many amazing things happened this week that I can't wait two weeks. So this is the first installment of Top 5 Tuesday!!



5. The Poladroid application for Windows and Mac! This is an oldie but a goodie. I have been playing with this recently and I am in love with the results! I never had the pleasure of owning a polaroid camera, but I have used one before. I can tell you this, this program is almost as good as the real thing! Not only will you get unpredictable color results like a real camera, but it features the "developing" noise and you can shake up your photo so it develops faster! How fun! I've used this for my Bennyville Etsy banner. Guess what! The program is free!

4. Amirugumi Dolls! These are knitted stuffed toys that originated in Japan. The trend has growing strong in the US. I love looking at Amigurumi Kingdom's cupcake bears on Flickr! This makes me want to learn how to crochet. The patterns look confusing to me, but I will learn someday!

3. Homemade Cookies. I've decided that this will be my new hobby even though I don't really bake. Sweet treats make people happy and I want to be the person who does this. At my Mom's request I made oatmeal cookies and before that I baked a banana cake that my Mom's co-workers are still talking about!

2. The Princess and the Frog. As my pal Dade says, "Disney got its groove back!" I think he's right! This movie reminds me of the old-school fairytales that Disney used to make. Its a cute make-you-feel-good movie that children and adults will adore. I sense a comeback!

1. Pac-Man Hamster on Youtube! This little video put me in such a good mood! I dig the sound effects. On the subject of hamsters, I found a girl on Flickr who loves hamsters more than I do! She's known as Pyza on Flickr. Her animal photography is gorgeous! She manages to position her little cuties like stuffed animals. I've owned hamsters and believe me, its incredibly hard to get them to sit still. Not only is she a talented photographer, but she has a funky fashion style too! I love this outfit! Her shoes are so cute!

I hope you enjoyed a little slice of my life :)
There's more to come! My next blog entry will be my first month experience with Etsy! <3
Have a lovely week!