le sigh... (another day in the life of)

today was just filled with... well, crazy confusion/ disappointment/ anger/ holding back tears/ slight contentment/ delicious food and smells/ beating drums/ a bunch of other emotions that i really wasn't expecting to have this morning.

let's start with the crazy confusion (because sometimes i enjoy alliterations). my sister and my cousin and i were planning on going to downtown LA today for fashion district and little tokyo, so i could get some fabric and we can catch the end of nisei week there. i'll admit, i'm a terrible driver. i pretty much need step-by-step directions everywhere i go unless it's some place that at some point in my life i've driven to on an almost daily basis. so maybe me driving to LA wasn't the best idea, since i don't go there TOO often. but anyway, a lot of times, my sister can be VERY moody, to the point where she mocks/gets mad over pretty much everything i do. so when i politely ask for which freeway entrance is the closest to the bank, she literally yells at me. this is where that anger part comes in. i'm not gonna go into this too much, but let's just say that this was what half the drive there was like (a drive that is at least 20 minutes).

when we finally got there, i kinda had to drive around in circles because we wanted to find meter parking instead of the usual $5 garage parking we usually get because we didn't expect to stay a long time there. after spending a good 5 minutes trying to parallel park at a meter, we found out that the meter doesn't work, so we give up and try to find the $5 garage. while trying to find it, a pigeon comes out of nowhere and decides to just sit in the middle of the road. this is where the holding back tears part comes in. i slow down to try and give time for the pigeon to leave the middle of the street, but my sister and cousin insist i drive forward because there are cars behind me. so i continue driving, certain that the bird would at least see the tires and get out of the way. then, THUD THUD. i don't think it saw the tires... T-T

i try to cheer myself up by thinking about all the fabric that i'm gonna buy from my favorite fabric store, Michael Levine Loft. my plan was to stock up on a load of fabric so i can make some more clothes for fall semester. this is where the disappointment part comes in. guess what? it's closed on sundays, even though their business card says OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK. lamesauce. we end up just walking around all the random fabric stores around fashion district, looking for all the $1/yard places. guess what else? most of these places require you to buy 3 yards per fabric roll. the ones that don't require it are pretty much just selling crap. 3 yards is WAYY too much for me to buy of one single fabric that i only plan on making one thing with, so i try to be sensible with my spending and the whole time there i end up only buying 2 different fabrics, whereas in Michael Levine, i could have bought 2 AND A HALF LBS of fabric with the same amount of money i spent. le sigh...

we head out to little tokyo, which i have to say is where my day started turning up (maybe because i wasn't expecting much?). anywho, this is where the slight contentment part comes in. we go around the JACCC to see some of the japanese exhibits, including ones on painting, dolls, and some awesome bonsai trees (with tiny fruit! it was like someone had taken a piece of my dreams and placed it in a museum...). there were also japanese drum shows on a number of stages around the area, which was also pretty cool. the local stores had food and gift stands around, and we got a hold of some okonomiyaki and some mochi ice cream (:p). we also bought a takoyaki pan, which i expect to be eating a lot of in the near future :)

after the long drive home, we ended up going to the Puente Hills Mall, and i finally bought nice black leggings (because i've pretty much given up on tights... they rip too easily!!).

as for stuff i've been making, last week i knit a cable messenger bag, but i think i'll just post pics of that along with other stuff i make this week before school starts.

also, sorry this post was so long! i just had to tell SOMEONE about my day...

resuming challenge!!! haha

woot! so the sunburn is pretty much gone, and now it's safe to take pics haha. i'm just gonna gather all the stuff i didn't update on into one big post. this is in chronological order, of MOST of the stuff i made, because i actually made other stuff but those were... uhhh.... well, i don't wanna call them "failures," but that's pretty much what they were. again, excuse the crappy pics :/

baby pink maxi dress with gold straps. i don't know wtf i was thinking when i made this, since obvviously i have NOWHERE to wear it to. i just wanted something pretty!!! and it really is pretty in person... also, sorry for visible bra straps...

baby pink jersey tank with rosettes. this one was kinda tricky cuz the entire top was made from the scraps of fabric that were left over from the pink maxi dress. but i actually did it! woot!! also, it's kinda hard to see but there's a drawstring at the waist, and that's why there's the tie.

close-up of the rosettes. i was surprised at how nice they came out. this top is really comfy :)

floral mini dress made from a HUGE mumu-like dress that i found at the thrift store. in retrospect, i suppose i should wear something underneath like tights cuz it's really short.

here's a pic of it without the flash, so you can see that it's a really flowy dress. and the print is soo pretty!! i was kinda going for a vintage-y feel :)

yellow twist vest. you can't really tell from the picture, but at the bottom of the vest there's supposed to be kinda a twisty thing going on haha. this one didn't come out as good as i hoped it would but i still think it's worthy of posting! i didn't really come up with this one either... i saw a tutorial online on how to make one, and it looked really cute, so i thought, why not. ugh. whatever!

as for this week, i still haven't come up with anything!! i've been doing a lot of little things here and there, but not really "making" anything. and it's already thursday!! need to think of something quick.

lately, i've been trying to keep myself busy by doing the most random shit around the house. for example, today i tried polishing my leather high-heels with a banana peel, cuz i read online that it's supposed to be good for leather, and it actually worked! haha i was pretty surprised by the outcome... the only problem i guess with this is the shoes smelled kinda like banana afterward? but as long as they look nice haha. yesterday i took the time to rearrange my makeup brushes in a more organized way. so what does this all mean? I AM FREAKING BORED AT HOME. to the point where i feel it is necessary to do all this random shit. sighh... school starts at the end of august, and i'm really excited about it, but at the same time i'm kinda loathing it :/

we'll see what happens :)

challenge post #2

i'm finally getting around to posting my entry for this week, one hour before the week is over! whew!

this week i did a painting, as i finally got some paints to work with! yay!! pretty much all i got was primary colors, so i guess from now on i'll be mixing/blending all my colors myself... anywhoo! on to the painting!!

this one is entitled "Lost." if you look at the following pictures, i think it's pretty obvious why. it's a pretty small painting in person, as i'm probably not skilled enough to do something on a large scale...

view of the entire painting...

close-up of the little star. look at his expression.

i used acrylic on cardboard, cuz canvas is so overrated :) i wanted to do something a little cutesy, but with a little meaning to it. sometimes i think we all feel like that little star...

anyway, this week has been pretty eventful, at least in comparison to some of my more lazier summer days. thursday i went with elaine, jackie, and sarah to disneyland, cuz apparently jackie works there now!!! it was fun, and we ended up spending the entire day there, until midnight. friday i went with a couple cousins to the beach, which was WAY too packed, i'm guessing cuz it's 4th of july weekend. soo packed in fact, that people around us were actually arguing over their claim on the bonfire pits... today is the 4th of july, so the fam bam and i trekked over to suzanne park to watch the fireworks show, which was kinda nice. i wish the fireworks were a little closer though... ohh well. yesterday morning i sent in my application to sally beauty supply, the location near the michaels on colima. here's hoping i get the job! getting rejected from 7 different places would be kind of a downer. other than that, there's not much going on in my life...

happy 4th of july you guys! have a good one :D

challenge post #1

but before i get to that, what is UP with all the celebrities dying?!! sorry. i'm watching the news right now and they said michael jackson died today. but not too long before that, farrah fawcett died. and not too long before THAT, ed mcmahon died. hopefully this won't be a continuing trend...

ANYWAY, back to the challenge. yay for keeping up! yesterday i made a hot pink tank top with knit details. enjoy!
excuse the obvious bra straps. i was too lazy to change to a strapless. also, excuse the unflattering pictures... bad lighting+sis taking pics= awkward looking pics
backsies! you can't really tell, but there's supposed to be a braid at the top of the straps and the bottom part is just supposed to be kinda dangling there...

on the bed. the straps look like a hot mess...

knit detail at middle of tank. i cut up strips of the cloth and knit them together. i needed really thick knitting needles to knit it, so i used two of those thick highlighter markers as needles. yay for improvising!
this is the dress that i mentioned two posts ago that was meant for clubbing... i promise it looks better in person!!!
another angle
pleating detail :)
on the bed again.

two posts ago i also mentioned a painting, but all of that is being put on hiatus right now because my sister still has to find her paints... right now all she can find is white, which doesn't help too much all on its own.

anywho, more to come soon!! two days ago i went to fashion district with the sis and the cousin and i didn't get too much fabric, but i did get some... hopefully i'll get some use out of them :]

ALSO, another random blurb. i HATE registering for classes! today i registered for classes online, and the ONE class that i really wanted to get into i couldn't!! again!!! i registered for 5 classes so far, and it's STILL only 12 units!!!! why are they so stingy with the units?!!? i'm still gonna try and waitlist for that class that i didn't get into, that way it fills up most of my week. hopefully it'll all work out :/

summer challenge!!!

seeing as how i'm only a couple weeks into summer vacation and i'm ALREADY bored, i've come up with a little "summer challenge" for myself that i will try to keep you guys posted on in this blogger. so here goes...

the challenge is to make as many things as possible, but complete at least ONE thing every week. by "make," i mean sewing clothing, making accessories, painting a picture, baking something, etc. you get the idea.

rules:

1. finish at least 1 thing every week
2. a "finished" item needs to be something i'm satisfied with, i.e. it can't be some useless piece of shit that i whip up in an hour and pass off as something i "like"
3. each item requires at least 1/2 hour of planning (which won't be too difficult because i usually take a long time just thinking about what to make...)
4. each item has to LOOK like i tried. people need to be able to tell that i put some kind of effort into it (depth of thought would be nice!)
   
5. each item must display SOME kind of originality (for example, if i sew a dress, i shouldn't be able to find an exact copy of it in some store or online or something...)
6. post each completed item on blogger!!!
   

goal: other than to just keep me busy, the goal of this challenge is to expand my creative abilities and to use up whatever materials i have, in a "creative" way. i want to show some kind of productivity for this summer instead of just staying at home being a lazy couch potato. by doing this, maybe i'll even come up with a tattoo design i like cuz at the moment i keep changing my mind...

anyWHAYYYS as i'm typing this i'm kinda working on a piece that i started an hour or so ago, so hopefully i'll have that finished and posted soon (yay for painting!!!). also, some time next week i'm heading off to fashion district, so hopefully i'll get some good cloth there and whip up some clothing and whatnot cuz my stash right now is looking pretty lame. :p

also, just to keep you guys posted, so far this summer i've made 1 top (that i'm kinda not so satisfied with) and 1 dress that i'd say looks pretty cool, although i have yet to wear it out in public (as it was intended for clubbing, but i have yet to do that as well haha). someday i'll find a semi-formal event to wear it to, then BAAM. i'll wear it. hahahaha :)

ps, another semi-challenge that i'm working on is to just not re-gain any the weight that i lost during the school year, cuz that would just suck. suck many tiny monkey balls. pshh. those monkeys would LOVE that. gross.

rockin' the seam ripper

today is the first day of spring break, and i'd have to say it was pretty productive :)i got a little cleaning done and i almost finished making two things: a mini purse and a totally HAWTSOME scarf, both of which i am dying to wear outside of the house. i just need to make a few more adjustments and once i'm done with that it'll be totally bitchin'. i'm also planning on making another purse over the break, but this one'll be a lot bigger. perhaps i shall post pics later ;)

once again, sewing proves to be totally theraputic.

other plans for spring break include visiting lauuuura with reinalyn on thursday and going to litto tokyo on friday with the cousins. i also need to find some way to hang out with elaine some time this week because i haven't seen her in FOREVER and she can't go out on thursday :( my aunt asked me if i wanted to work for her for a day doing a clerical job at her office, which i'm a little hesitant about but i neeedd moneyy... at least i won't be picking up doggie doo, right? anywho i'm not even sure that whole "work" thing is gonna happen. we'll see.

now i'm off to listen to little children scream and to eat dinner. sigh.