out and about

Saturday.

I was on a quest looking for some winter walking boots. By walking, I mean boots that you could actually go on a long walk with. I was thinking leather with some low heels. I found a bunch of good ones online but I figured I would look around town first so I don't have to deal with shipping. Alas, after searching through all the local shoe stores, nobody had my size (of course, I wear a 5). So I was thinking that I would just order online when we passed by a one of my favorite women's clothing boutiques. John suggested that I look in, "it'll make you feel like a woman again", he joked. I decided to go in but just to LOOK. I ended up blowing my boot money on a lacy tank and a plum wrap-around shirt. Sigh. The boutique's name in Matisse and I can't just walk in and not buy anything. They're a little pricey but they do tie a little flower or in my case, a tiny little robin, on your shopping bag. Maybe to help with the buyer's remorse after the sale has been rung.

After that, John and I were feeling a little brave so we decided to go eat sushi. Yup, with little baby of course. We've decided that having a nice sit down meal at a restaurant would be the perfect time to feed the now cranky baby. I guess I was too preoccupied with thoughts of mouth-watering sushi rolls and miso soup to realize that chopsticks and breastfedding don't go well together. And to make things more comical, Mayumi decided that this would be a good time to do a little number two (twice!). And of course, hip little japanese restaurants don't have changing tables in the bathroom. I won't get in to more details but needless to say, there were lesssons learned.

Sunday.

John and I finally got to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. The wedding date was actually Sept. 25 but John had to leave town on that date so we moved up the celebration to the following weekend. We decided to throw all caution to the wind and catch a movie. We left the little wailing one with my parents. I was a nervous wreck, I felt guilty about leaving Mayumi and I felt guilty for leaving my parents with a very angry baby.

It was really funny because while I treasured the time alone with John I found myself checking my phone every chance I got to see if my parents had called (I think it was twice before the movie and three times during the movie). We went and saw "Fearless" with Jet Li which was a let-down because I was expecting something more poetic like "Hero". 2 hours of precious quality time with my husband wasted!

After the movie, John had managed to convince to me to take a nice lunch out at a local restaurant. I was reluctatnt at first because I thought Mayumi was going ballistic by now and would forever remember this day as "the day my evil mom abandoned me." I was so impatient with our server and was kind of rushing him through the order and getting the check (I'm so sorry!) By dessert time, my stomach was in knots from all the worrying that I didn't even want to eat any of it. Poor John. I hope I didn't ruin it for him.

When we finally got to my parents house, I rushed through the doors, hoping to rescue my wailing baby and my stressed out mom, only to find grandma and baby comfortably nestled in the rocking chair. Baby was sound asleep and my mom even got her to take the bottle which I have never been able to do. I seriously need to lighten up.

Mental note to self: You owe John a really nice date soon.

And again ...

Before I forget, if you want to see more photos of my lovely little Mayumi, check out this link.

So where were we . . .

Okay, so long time no blog. Where was I you ask? Well, I've been around... staying home mostly... you know, since I just had me baby...

YES! You read it right, we finally had Mayumi!

Last July 16, 2006, at about 1:36 pm, we finally got to meet our daughter, Mayumi Audris. She was a hairy little thing (she had back hair and ear hair), weighing in at 7.2 ounces. Was it kismet? To be perfectly honest, hardly. She was as bewildered as were. She was as wary and cautious of us as we were of her. I don't think babies are born to like their parents immediately. We definitely had to work on getting to know each other better. I was told that there will be 90 days of madness following the birth of your first child. I took faith in that and lo and behold, things do get better. We are almost over the 90 day hump and Mayumi seems more settled wiht her environment.

Was she a cryer? I hate that question. All babies cry. She cried but we worked through it. Does she sleep through the night? Not yet but I have adjusted to her sleeping schedule so I am saner during the day than I was a month ago. Mayumi is almost 3 months old now and and is currently figuring out to use her hands. It's so funny to see her try to guide her hand to her mouth and miss (is that mean?). She looks like she's giving herself a little punch. She is an awesome little person and makes for great entertainement (24 hout baby TV!)

Nothing creative in the works so far. I have been able to finish the back of a sweater that I've been working on. I have learned the amazing skill of knitting while breastfeeding the little one. This is the furthest I've ever come to actually completing a sweater so I have high hopes of having it done before the weather gets cold.

Hopefully, I can blog regularly now. I am trying to master the art of typing with one hand.

Diana

Simple, yummy things.

I've almost forgotten how good simple foods taste. By simple, I mean food that doesn't require one hour of preparation and a dozen ingredients. John grilled me this burger for lunch on the fourth and it's probably the best burger I've ever had. I found it amazing that it didn't have any seasoning in the meat although it did have some curious ingredients like spinach and oats, yet it was still very tasty (very meaty). The best thing about this burger is I didn't feel the heavy, grease induced sleepiness that I usually get after eating pub burgers. I also discovered my new favorite veggie, the sweet potato. John served the burger with a sweet potato "torpedo" which was a microwaved sweet potato topped with pecans and whipped butter. It was deee-lish and it only took 8 minutes!

John said he found the recipe for the meal in Men's Health, the man mag. I think the recipes in magazines geared towards women are a lot more complicated than those found in magazines for men, but I'm sure they are equally good. It's just that I think they want to give men a higher chance at success with simpler recipes.

Filipino cuisine, which I was raised on, involved so much prep time. The foods almost always has a sauce or soup base and that took a lot of time and ingredients. I mean it's delicious but I really don't want to be spending 2 hours in the kitchen simmering in the heat of the stove and the weather, for all three meals of the day. John and I had this interesting conversation about what the best thing America has ever come up with. He says it's Superman, my first thought was grilled hamburgers (It's not my definitive answer but it was the first thing I thought of).

I'm looking forward to a lot of meals like this especially since the little one is well on her way (about 2 weeks left) and we wouldn't have much time for elaborate dinners or dining in and taking out. Also, John gets 3 weeks off and he is the appointed cook for that time. Maybe we start with the meals but I think simplification will be a theme we will be exploring frequently in all aspects of home life, especially with a new "housemate" on the way.

Diana

XS. Before ending this post, I was handed a popsicle that appears to be a frozen banana, dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts. Yum-O!

Pain Management

So half of this week was spent dealing with pain. Since I am prego at the moment, any sort of pain medication was out of the question. I found out that the best I could do was Tylenol at this point, which I didn't find out that I could take till after 2 days of excruciating toothache. Yup, me not going to the dentist "because I'm pregnant" is total bull and is biting me in the ass.

Toothache was one thing, then there was the heat. It was about a hundred degrees in the beginning of the week and I felt like a steamy dimsum bun. My legs and hands started to swell (so no knitting or crochet done during this week) and when I say swell, I mean, there's my leg then there's my feet, no ankles.

I had to be creative with dealing with the pain because of the lack of meds. It was pretty interesting because I learned all this "pain management" techniques at my childbirth classes so I decided to try those out with my toothache pains. I tried breathing deeply and relaxing more when the pain got more intense. I turned off all music and laid down quietly trying to "visualize" a happy memory (this was from the class). So did it work? Yeeeaah.... but after a good hour and a half and it only worked because I was so exhausted from trying to manage my pain that I went down for a nap. I know that I must sound like a complete wuss because this is just toothache we're talking about and I'm going to have to deal with something the size of a watermelon, pushing itself out of my body. Toothache, childbirth... yup not in the same pain category. But my friends, this tooth pain was somethin' else. I will give the dentist a call (!).

There was pretty much nothing I could do for my feet or hands. They are just going to puff whenever they want to. I was told to soak my feet in cold water when it swells and so I am doing that. It's nice actually because it keeps me cool too.

Anyway, I have a lot of work to catch up on. The little girl in the pic needs some clothes and I have other creatures that needs photographed. Off I go.

Diana

Because John is the man!

I know that it's a little late to be blogging about father's day but I will anyway. John and I are going to be new parents soon and I thought he deserved a little shout out on father's day too. He is going to be a great dad. Why? Because of the SUMO doll! The little drawing above is a sketch he did for me because I wanted to crochet little sumo wrestlers. They turned out great and are selling really well on my etsy shop.




Mayumi is going to have lots of crazy dolls designed by her dad to be. If you know John, he just loves to do things like this. He's got tons of energy for anything creative and is the most fun person I know, hands down. I married him just so I don't have to watch TV. Very supportive too. I've done so many crazy (not in a good way) things with my career but he's always been encouraging. Can you imagine him coming home from a 16 hour work day and me saying, "Hey, I think I want to sell crocheted creatures online to make money?". I mean you have to have a pretty good sense of humor to take that in stride. Instead of lecturing me on how we need to find a more stable, steady source of income to pay mortgage, bills and baby expenses, he starts to draw things for me to make. I am truly lucky and I know Mayumi is too.

So John, have a chocodile (or two)!



Yup, that's what I got John for father's day. Chocodiles. It's been on his wish list for awhile. I guess you can't find it here in Portland. If anybody knows of a local store that carries them, let me know. It would make my hubby so happy.

Anyhow, for a fun link, try the search engine gizoogle. It'll bring the gangsta out of everybody. Try searching for a website that you already go to on a regular basis and see what happens to the site description. Check it! It's fo' real.

Peace out!

Diana

Mr.H and other things.

So today, I've decided to do something other than crocheting. I think me and my cats need a break from each other. I was having some wrist pains yesterday on my right wrist and it scared me a little since that is also where my mouse clicking hand is located. I wish I was ambidextrous.

A little while back, I bought some old sweaters from goodwill to felt (thanks, betz, for the wonderful tutorial) and John has been having fun with them lately. The photo above is Mr. H, the second doll from John's new felted collection. He is made from scraps of felt made from the sweaters. I love the colors on him and the big hole in the middle for his mouth. I think I want to keep this one for myself but will ask John if he wants it up on etsy. I love being married to an artsy, craftsy guy.

I organized my button collection last night. That was fun. I am an organizing freak! It's funny though because I'm so into every little minutia of everything that it makes it so difficult to categorize. I end up with a bigger mess than when I started. I have to remember to generalize and then go from there. I've decided to go by color first since that is the first thing I think about when designing things. It'll do for now.

Finally got started on a knitting project! I miss knitting. I've decided to try and write a simple wrap sweater pattern for myself. No fancy stitches, I'm just gonna try and focus on construction first. Here are some pics of my progress with sketches and the yarn I'm planning to use. Will keep everybody posted on the progress but be warned, I've been known to take half a year finishing some projects. Wish me luck!



Before I go, does anybody know of a good cooking blog?

Late,
Diana

Creatures.

I love the weekend. It's especially nice when the weather cooperates. I feel like its been forever since we've had a nice sunny day in Portland. So I am sipping my ice tea while writing this blog entry. Simple pleasures. Yummy.

Yesterday was very productive. John worked on digging up the backyard some more. I worked on completing some custom orders and worked on some prototypes which is what you see in this picture.

The little fat bird was actually a prototype for the buddha that I am trying to make for John but it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to. I didn't want to waste the blob shape thing so I made it into a bird which turned out quite cute. I have it up on my etsy shop. I love the little bunny cutie! I still have to work on making her stand up on her own.

I also got a package from Dawn last Friday. I was so happy when I got it. This is Killer the Dog and he is even better looking in real life than in the pictures. The little red dots on his head are actually sock grippers. I could tell that the this little dog was the product of careful planning and meticulous execution. So check out her shop. Everything is worth your money.

Thanks for the little bird too, Dawn! You are awesome!

We went to see a movie called "The Proposition" which is a cowboy movie set in Australia around the 1880s. It was a very sad movie but I liked it. If you don't like a lot of violence though, this movie is not for you. I'm not talking Kill Bill violence, I'm talking The Schindler's List type violence, the kind that pulls on your gut. The screenplay was written by Nick Cave so that's another reason to go see it (the music is actually pretty good too). Also, John says he's never seen so many flies in a movie before and I say that cowboys are definitely dirty folk (dirty like very low on the hygiene category).

We're also showing one of John's friends around town since he and his girlfriend are going to move here. It almost seemed like the city was selling herself to us, everything was perfect. The weather, the greenery, the fair downtown, and the people, they all looked great. Sometimes I forget why I love this city, it's good to have someone to show around so I can rediscover. I don't know what the vibe is ... healthy?... I'm not sure if that's quite the word but Portland just makes me feel great and young.

Anyway, I think I'm in the mood to munch on some watermelon so I will see you folks later.

Later,
Diana

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have a lot of projects that I really, really want to start but can't because I have a dozen or so that I'm in the middle of. Sometimes I wish my hands would work as fast as my brain but no, I will probably have arthritis at the age of 35.

John is trying to learn Tagalog (Filipino dialect) and it's fun to listen to him practice his lessons. He can now count to 10 in filipino! I'm so excited for him. I tried teaching him to count last summer by singing this filipino nursery rhyme about counting. It didn't work. It must be my singing.

Since we are on the subject of filipino things, have you ever heard of Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome. It is a freaky
cause of death where you just go to sleep, have really scary nightmares (this part might be legend) and never wake up. It occurs mostly to Southeast Asian Men around 23-35 years of age. Why am I talking about this? I was over at my parent's house and they were watching this old movie that a young actor played in who died of this cause. It just gives me the creeps. I mean the guy was completely healthy and young and then he just never woke up. People that were close to him when he died said that he was talking in his sleep. Ooooh ... just freaky, X-filey stuff.

Anyhow, do you dig my bunny? We found it at the goodwill and he looks good enough to be in a Mark Ryden painting. I love him. He collects old dolls and toys from thrift stores and uses them for models in his paintings. Very cool.

I have to go now and try to crochet a buddha. Will let you know how that turns out.

Ooops, also we went out to dinner last night and I got this for a takeout container! So appropriate.


XOXO,
Diana

Nesting.

John and I are nesting (new term learned from countless pregnant lady literature). We are spending more time at home than we ever have. EVER! Even before we were married, we were always out doing things. I think the longest time that we've spent, either at his place or mine, was 5 hours straight (this is awake time). So we are saving tons of money from not having to fill up on gas, parking, on food and shopping (only to find that we will have to use all the savings up for diapers). We've decided that we better get used to it since we will be stuck "indoors" for a little bit while the little one and us are getting to know each other. It is actually pretty fun and very comfy and cozy...

We started some home projects (see John digging up the backyard). I am excused from digging duty since I'm pregnant (the perks! oh, the perks!) and I wouldn't be much of a help anyway. I did pull out some weeds though. He is so sweet! He won't even let me do house chores but I do them anyway because he works so much already. I am trying to knit and crochet like crazy because I know that it will be a luxury to me when Mayumi is born.

Speaking of knitting/crocheting... Wouldn't you want to meet this guy?



He is the Black Ninja Tabi Amigurumi Kat! He is the result of another John and Diana collaboration. John is so good at sketching out interesting little creatures. This ninja was also his brainchild. We are going to take pictures of him with action shots and everything. Did I mention that he comes with throwing stars too!? Yes, he is for sale, come visit my shop.



John also made me this "hooter hider" for breast feeding. He chose a really nice patterned flannel fabric and it came out really great and usable. He is like Mcgyver to me.



I have a lot packages going out today so if you bought something from me this last week, it is coming! The cats are selling like crazy. It seems like all I've been making are cats but I love making them so I'm not whining or anything. Thank you so much to all those people who loved them enough to want one for their own. It is so fulfilling to sell something that you made.

Oh, yes, you want to visit my shop to find out what these cuties are...



XO,
Diana

Counterfeit, Fake, Knockoff

I've done it! I just finished my counterfeit Dior yesterday. I think I like mine better than the real thing. The Original: "Lady Dior Quilted East/West Bag" is valued at $1,150.00 and mine is absolutely priceless! It crocheted this by eye meaning I just kind of went along by looking at the pictures (no pattern). It was a lot like drawing. My first love will always be knitting but crocheting was fun because it is so easy to improvise shape and texture. I think I will send this to Stephanie since she can probably take better pictures than me. Here are more detailed shots:




I was reading the paper this morning (but I think it was from yesterday) and I'm not a huge entertainment fanatic but I came accross this one article analyzing the chosen name for Angelina Jolie's baby. Her name is apparently Shiloh and that means "messiah" and I forget her other name but apparently it means "new". And so they are making a big deal about naming the kid "new messiah" like it's a weird thing. It brings to mind the whole hoopla about Katie Holmes baby being named "Suri" and how it really doesn't mean princess but the closest thing that it could possibly mean is a breed of rare alpacas (which is nothing to be ashamed of in my book). So why am I wasting precious blogging time writing about this? I just think that the press should leave them alone and let them name their kids whatever they want to name them. I mean talk about ruining special moments. I swear, when I give birth and someone starts to analyze the name I chose for my baby, I will strangle them with the umbilical chord. Don't they have better things to report about?

Since we're on the whole birthing thing. My brother-in-law and his wife are scheduled to have their very first baby today (scheduled meaning a C-section) and so I am very excited for them and am wishing the mother-to-be (!) a very comfortable and problem-free delivery. Can't wait to see our new nephew!

And also, my two moms (biological and by marriage) celebrated their birthdays yesterday. I think it's so cool that they share the same birthday, it makes it easier to remember. You guys are awesome!

I sold all of the kitties at the shop (I am so excited about that!) so I am off to make more.

XO,
Diana

Hurts so good!

I am a crocheting maniac! I think I've crocheted so much that I can do it while sleeping. Needless to say, my fingers huuurt! But I like it, I like it a lot...

Meet Mr. Tso and Tso. He (they?) is a Siamese Twin Cat Amigurumi Doll drawn up/designed by my awesome hubby, John and engineered/crocheted by me. He is a gift for our (soon to come out) daughter, Mayumi. We were just looking at the toys that we've amassed for her the last couple of months and came to realize that we don't have any "people" dolls or toys. And we kind of like it that way. Actually, my grandmother and my aunt gave us two little blond baby dolls at the shower last week but we didn't mind. They can be the "monsters" among the monsters. John actually sewed the faces of the cats himself and I am very impressed. He is a rennaissance man.

John also made a CD compilation for the baby. The graphics that he did was so nice (see pic below). We called the CD "Mayusic" from her name Mayumi Audris. Really, the CD was also for us. John and I wanted to see how much children's music we could tolerate. Fortunately, there are a lot of children's music out there that will not melt your brain after 2 hours of non-stop listening. Johnny Cash has a good one called, "One and One Make Two" and also this amazing (!!!) song by Dan Wilson of the Semisonics, called "Willie the King". There are a lot of revivals of classics like "Twinkle,Twinkle" and "The Rainbow Connection" by artists like Raffi and Karen Carpenter. We figured we'll start her off with something that all three of us can bear.



I am also almost done with my counterfeit handbag for stephanie's project. I just need to put a zipper on it. Here are some progress pics. The real Dior bag is pictured on the lower right hand side of the 1st photo. Stay tuned for the "real" thing...





Isn't this the cutest mobile ever! Thank you Auntie Filipinas for this amazing toy. Mayumi will be hypnotized into quiet cooing and drooling after looking up at this for a good minute or two. Seriously though, it is so cute and it matches the room perfectly.



Updated the shop with some cute little kitties. I am offering to make Mr. Tso and Tso for anyone who wants one like him, so go see the shop.

Well, I am off to felt some old sweaters from goodwill. Thank you Betz White for the awesome felting tutorial.

See you guys later.

Plastic, frozen, babies anyone?

Firstly, the internet at our house was not working the last couple of days so I haven't been able to blog (excuses, excuses!). I could have gone out to the coffeeshop for free wifi but it was raining miserable yesterday (excuses, excuses!). So to those people I owe emails to, it is coming, I promise. Thank you to the good people of comcast for coming by and fixing the problem.

We had our baby shower last Sunday. It was super fun. The frozen babies were for a little parlor game that we had (no, it's not some art piece that I'm doing to express my feelings of motherhood). The game was called "water break" or something like that and the mechanics of the game were: each guest was given a baby ice cube to put in their drink and whoever gets their baby out of the ice cube first, won a prize. This was one of the games that John was able to look up for the party (another one I wrote about in my last post). I have to give it to my very versatile, creative and fun husband. He was the organizer of the whole event and everything went without a hitch.

We were very touched by everyone's gifts and wishes for the baby. This baby is very much loved and she will have a lot of babysitters (I have everybody's name that volunteered committed to memory, so you know who you are and there is no backing out now!) (hehehe). Of course, we got a lot of baby advice and stories. The one that sticks out most in my mind was this one conversation I had with my dear Auntie Pirima (we love you!) and it went like this:

Aunt Pirima: What kind of foods did you crave?

Diana: Ahhhh .... didn't really have much of any cravings. Except, I remember eating chicken strips with coleslaw for one whole week.

Aunt Pirima: Oh ... the baby will be white.

Diana: (confused silence)

Aunt Pirima: The coleslaw... it's white so the baby will be white.

I guess there's this filipino old wives tale that if you eat a lot of something while you're pregnant, your baby will inherit a characteristic of that food. Oh, and also when Auntie Pirima says white, she means fair skinned. I am Filipino, so I'm a little bit brown and John is Caucasian so he is pink (I say pink because he does not look white to me, nobody looks white to me).

Anyway, before I end this post, I was reading my friend Natasha's blog and I read that some miserable guy was ranting about her yarn and some other people's handspun art yarns. His post was just so hostile and unfair. I've bought yarn from Natasha not because I viewed her yarn to be some kind of high and mighty patooty art. I bought them because I thought they were beautiful. And I will pay good money for something that I think is beautiful. I am not an art snob nor am I a millionaire with lots of money to blow on anything that calls out the word "art" but I am a sensible person who knows what she likes and dislikes and also knows a thing or two about knitting. I also have an art and design degree, not that it's anything to brag about, but I think that gives me a certain qualification for giving my opinion on what I think is art and what is not. I've made things with her yarn, lovely things, and they are perfectly functional and the yarn was easy to knit with. The photos below are of a purse that I made with some her yarn (the body of the purse). It is one of my favorite purses, I didn't need to make it complicated because I thought the yarn made it beautiful just by itself. The texture of this yarn is amazing! The photo doesn't show it very well but there are shades of teal interspersed with the white wool and there are parts of it that has a delicate little shimmer to it (I think it's some silk in there).





I think he was just jealous because he wasn't making any money out of his own spinning stash.

Mister Darkeros, before you dog on some other people's work, show some of your own (using your crappy camera skills as an excuse is very, very lame). Natasha has a lot of clients that can vouch for the quality of her work. Do you have any that can vouch for yours?

Crochet Mania!

I've been under a big crochet rock and have not come out to blog or do much of anything else. It all started very early, thursday, last week, when I came across this site and found Stephanie's "The Counterfeit Crochet Project". It was the crochet project that I have been waiting for. She is basically doing this art project where you choose a designer bag (like from Gucci, channel, YSL, etc.) and replicate it using crochet techniques. She is inviting crochet-ers of all shapes and sizes to take your hooks and make one of your own. I've started on mine but I haven't photographed the progress as of yet (which I will real soon). Anyway, as if the project wasn't fun enough to do by itself, she will trade you for photos of your bag (yes, just for photos) with one of her DIY, reconstructed, vintage clothing. You can send the bag to her if you wish so she can photograph it herself. Click the link for the project above to see all the cool purses that have been made or are in the making. I think the project is pretty hilarious but at the same time, it gives such a strong, serious statement against our "designer" driven culture of mass consumption. I mean, these bags are sold for hundreds (thousands) of dollars and people want them. So much so that whole markets are created to counterfeit these bags to fill the demand for people that can't afford to buy the real thing. The best parody for these bags is to re-create them using grandma's age-old crochet skills. Crochet is so homey and craftsy and so not the polished, streamlined, expensive look of these bags.

This project rekindled my interest in crocheting again. I've been looking to do a "modern" crochet project for awhile. My last (and still unfinished) crochet project is for a granny square bag (so old, so boring). So since my crochet juices are flowing, I've decided to make Mr. Potato (see above) and this little kitty...



This is what's on Mr. Potato's back ...



It reads: "I am not an old potato!"

They will be making their debut in my etsy shop soon. Speaking of the etsy shop. I have uploaded the basket backpack to the shop with all the photos so if you're curious to see how it works, just visit the shop.

I had a great time celebrating mother's day with my mom and my aunts last Sunday. My dad cooked up some great barbecue and just enjoyed the weather. Thanks to all those who greeted me a Happy Mother's Day even if I'm not technically a mother yet (2 months to go). John wasn't there to celebrate with me though, he had to leave for a business trip. Sigh... but he did leave me a great present, which was making me a little workspace in the garage to do all my craftsy things. He got up at 5am, on Saturday to clean up the ENTIRE garage to make room for a little studio for me. He is the sweetest!

Have to go and prepare for the baby shower we are having this weekend!



Doesn't baby food make great color palettes? These baby food jars don't have labels on them because they are for a game we are doing for the shower where you have to taste and guess what the baby food is. This is John's idea.

Talk to you all, later.

Bunnies are cute!

I finished some crafty things to put on my etsy shop. The photo above is a detail shot from a filipino basket backpack that I "rescued" from being forgotten all about. These bags used to be big in the Philippines but not a lot of people use or buy them anymore (unless you are a tourist). They are basically baskets that are made to function like a backpack. Really strong weaving but monster on your shoulders if you put really heavy stuff on it. I think it was inspired by the indigenous Igorot mountain people that carried these huge baskets on their backs to carry crops up and down the mountain. I found this in a little shop in SFO that specializes in Filipino goods. I was feeling nostalgic. Anyway, I've decided that it needed a little bit more personality so I've added a little bunny applique (that I made) and some cool vintage repro fabric for the lining. There will be more photos of this on the shop once I get a shot of me wearing it (so it makes more sense. Well for right now, this is it. It's a teaser.

John was so happy to get his package of Chichi's corncake mix from the mail yesterday. We were obsessed with trying to make this at home from scratch for ages. We got hooked on this corncake pudding (called tomalito, I think) after eating at Chevy's. They serve it as a side dish. So after some failed attempts to make it, fate took pity on us and after casually mentioning it to John's mom in a conversation, she told us that there is a mix available for that (the just add water type). Hallelujah! The only thing was that they only sold them in select stores in the East and Middle America. So John spent a couple of hours last weekend to try to find someone that would sell and ship it to him. Hormel did. And this is why I married my husband.

I stumbled on this new blog written by this woman who specializes in felted things and she had a tutorial for shibori felting. It is so easy! I couldn't believe it. I've been researching shibori for awhile and the best book that I've found about it in the library was for silk shibori techniques. Her name is Betz White and you should check her blog out.

Okay, so I've got to go to a doctor's appointment and have to get a move on.

Here is a parting shot. I finished knitting this clutch with Luxe yarn and it is so soft and gorgeous. It reminds me of eyeshadow from the 80's (mauves, violets, pinks, shimmery).

fishy stories or stories of fishes

I am a bad blogger. I promised myself that once I started a blog, I would write on it everyday. But...

Anyway, here is what I've been occupying myself with the last couple of days.

Friday was a fun day. John and I went to the zoo to look at animals and people. For all those who don't know, we are expecting a baby and she is due sometime in July. I thought going to the zoo would be perfect for observing parents interact with their kids. We are going to be first time parents so we need all the help we can get. We went and saw the new exhibit there featuring Visayan Warty Pigs. They are totally punk rock! The males have mohawks and some of them even have beards. They are critically endangered so for all my filipino folks out there in the Visayas, stop eating them! Come on now, mohawks don't look too tasty.

So what did we learn from our little zoo adventure? 3 things for sure: 1. Visayan Warty Pigs are not food, 2. Little girls really do like the colors pink and purple, and 3. Elephant ears (the cinnamon-sugar kind) sold next to the Asian Elephant cage are just as yummy as the ones sold in fairs or farmer's markets.

We also watched this documentary about WalMart called "WalMart: the High Cost of Low Prices". It pissed me off. John always said that I shouldn't watch sports or political documentaries because I get riled up pretty fast. Anyway, I usually don't like to talk about my politics because I don't want to offend anybody but I'm sure we all dislike cheats, liars and greedy people so for the record, I would just like to say that I strongly dislike (hate seems such a harsh word but I was 99.5% close to using it) WalMart. I will not go into it out of respect for people that like WalMart (please, for the love of god, tell me why you like them?!).

Saturday. WalMart is truly evil. They must have felt my dislike vibes because they just sent me ridiculously friendly letter (oozing with propaganda) to obviously spite me! Apparently they are trying to build one around the neighborhood and they are asking me for help (!). So as responsible citizens and mature adults, John and I decided to fill out their little checklist in the bottom to show our support.

Thankfully, my friend Natasha saved the day because she sent me some of her gorgeous handspun, handyed yarn. For all those people who are yarn and knitting junkies, you all should check out her stuff. Once you start knitting with her yarn, it will be very, very difficult not to scoff at store-bought yarn. Click here for some delicious, delicious yarn and fiber.

Sunday. John and I are just chilling at home. We finally finished "building" and organizing our home office. Yey! John is making me some tapas tonight, some bacon wrapped scallops and some thai corn fritters with sweet chili sauce. He is the bestest husband in the whole world! I will go and see what he is up to, I think I smell bacon ...

BTW, here are the beginnings of a painting that I am doing about the Dagupan Milkfish Festival. It is basically a festival celebrated by the good people of Dagupan City where the high point of the whole celebration is the grilling of 24,000 Milkfish on a 2 kilometer grill. More on this later ...



Lastly, for all you guys that need to get something off of your chest, check out this site.

Got nothing to do today but smile . . .

Yesterday was weird. John wasn't feeling well and called in sick but ended up going to work anyway (poor guy!). Didn't get much done yesterday because I had all this chores to do. Laundry gets in the way of everything! Can you imagine if I lived back in the day when they only used washboards and clotheslines. That's all I'd be doing all day looong. That's what I'd be, a frickn laundry lady (although that's not bad except I don't get paid for it).

John and I are in a bit of a book binge here. Right now I'm reading a book by Christopher Moore called "Dirty Jobs" and it is pretty funny. The plot is about this guy that owns a secondhand store in SFO and accidentally inherits the job of being a grimm reaper.

I haven't been reading a lot of books lately, I've been addicted to listening to NPR's This American Life online. I think I've listened to their whole archive (some of them twice). I've decided to stop when I've noticed that all of my conversations started with me saying "I heard this story on the radio..." I mean it gave me some interesting things to say but I was starting to feel a little one dimensional. You know, like the "Band Camp" girl in the movie "American Pie".

I still love NPR. It is way better than TV. I love Ira Glass and This American Life. And while we're at it, I love you frickn Americans! No one makes for better entertainment than you!

Back to books, everyone should go and at least look at this one other book that we found called "PostSecret" by Frank Warren. The whole book is basically a collection of postcards that people mailed back to the author, with their deepest, darkest, secrets. I guess Frank Warren, back in the day, thought of this brilliant idea to give people out blank postcards and encourage them to write/illustrate their secrets and send it back to him. The postcards were given and recieved in anonymity, of course. He just left them in a lot of public places and given them to random people. And people sent them back. The result was this amazing book of funny, heartbreaking, and sweet postcards. It's interesting to see what people consider to be their biggest secret in life. In the very end of the book, there's a copy of the blank postcard, if you ever want to send in one of your own. I might do it. You should do it.

Okay, I have to go and do some sketching and I have some ideas for things to add to my shop. I will post some photos tomorrow. If I have time, I think I will go and find some thrift stores to browse in today. My friend natasha has been finding all these great "thrifty" things and I am jealous. And I STILL have more laundry to do. I know, I know....

NOTE: The picture from yesterday is a working drawing for a painting that I will be doing soon. She is called "Manang Pasensya" which means "Old Lady Patience" in filipino.

Manang Patience (Old Lady Patience)

Manang Patience (Old Lady Patience)
Originally uploaded by liljuno22.