overhaulin'

so i totally spent most of today overhaulin this blog, i'm not done yet and there's more to come!

wicked

some days i like to toot my own horn

and today seems to be the day that everything i do seems to reflect my awesomeness... toot toot!

many compliments on how well i'm performing at work, a few of the senior leaders
think i'm doing great and that i deserve a raise...
it's not possible for them to give me a raise since
i'm a contractor, but just hearing it means i'm doing something right
i finally got an offer to become a permanent department of defense employee,
which rocks because i can finally get benefits, but sucks, because i'm taking
a huge pay cut...we'll see if i take the firm offer...

near the end of january, the senior leaders decided to 'reward' me
for my 15 months of hard work by giving me a good tdy to HAWAII!
i thoroughly enjoyed myself, made some new friends and drank maitais every day

last week, i made 75 conversation cupcakes for valentine's day:

then i went to the hot springs earlier this month and it snowed!
yes, my nekkidness was very cold, but sitting in the hot springs was soooo relaxing,
that i'll have to make another trip here again...i got to make paper and 2 postcards at a
paper making workshop:

tonight, my awesomeness made a diaper cake for my friend
tameco's baby shower, i'm so cracked out tired and my neck & back spasm
is starting up again, i think i'll just give up on playing with
my new apple itouch and go to bed, but lookie lookie!

yes, i am this talented. toot toot!

forever and ever

wow, it's been so long since i've posted.

i haven't been able to craft anything, since i've picked up another contract and

now i teach 2 english classes on top of that.

i had so many plans for all the things i wanted to make and now

it seems like i'll never have time to do them.

hopefully, once work calms down and blows over, i can finally

make the time to do stuff i've been meaning to do for tameco's baby, who's

3 months away.

for new year's, on the 30th, we went to kumiko's house for making mochi

and as always, fabulous food. we got to make sweet bean and strawberry mochi

and they were delicious.

one of these days, i'll be able to sit in on her pottery classes and make something...

3 day weekend & gaming

friday night, the ladies

(angie, meco and daughter, taylor, in tow, joss, and the boss, nanners)
came over for craft night. we didn't so much craft as eat pizza, talk,
laugh, and watch daddy's little girls.
technically, it still was a craft night because i taught
joss the slip knot to start her foundation chain for crochet
and i think i taught her the single stitch.
i think...

even if noone got anything done or started, i think it was a great way for us to unwind,
nanners and joss mentioned that just needed to get away,
from what, i don't know, but i know the sentiment,
sometimes, i just want to be alone,
in my own thoughts and feel some satisfaction.
it's not the same when you complete a project at work...
that special satisfaction when you put your blood, sweat, and tears into
something you created with your two hands...

i started on beading a little owl for my keychain and i got as far as step 18
and then it got too hard...that and i can't read kanji, i just read the diagrams.
oh yeah, and my coworkers seem to think i can read kanji because i own
a gazillion japanese craft books and i speak 4 languages and manage to
understand most of nihongo that is spoken to me, which only seems to be spoken to me
when my coworkers are around...the trips to the craft store, the trip to joyful honda and buying tons of light fixtures. i don't know how i managed that, but i knew how to count and knew enough of the words to get me by...

i started a macrame' project for the ipod today but i got sidetracked playing
guitar hero 2, then karaoke revolution party, then karaoke revolution country...
jeremy made mention that i should just go ahead and buy a wireless guitar so we could get encore of the 80s too, so now i gotta think about that...

i wish they made a karaoke revolution game with 80s hits or
just the cure and depeche mode and madonna, then we'd be jammin' and i've been trying to convince jeremy that we need an xbox because they have better games that are cheaper, but he's not buying it...yet

we tested out our new dance dance revolution for wii and that thing is
HARD!
imagine trying to keep track of 4 arrows, staying on the beat, and now
having to avoid stepping on foot destroyers, doing double-steppers, foot stompers,
AND having two controls in your hands, squeezing the triggers and swinging your arms
AT THE SAME TIME!

i must have looked like a complete idiot...

but what idiot do you know that can do all of the above and be
good at crafting, foreign languages, diagram reading, singing, dancing, air guitar and gaming?

that's right, ME!

cooking 'crass'

i taught/hosted my first cooking/english class tonight.
i got 5 students and i'll get to teach them twice a month :
kumiko, sumiyo, rie, naomi, and miwa.

i tried (and i should have tested this earlier but i thought it was foolproof) a pound cake,
and it totally overflowed from the baking dish to the bottom of the oven
and started burning
*grimaces* not my best first impression...

i had to let them go early because they have kids and family to tend to,
but i let the pound cake bake some more and it turned out really well,
so i hope the teaching liaison, tamae, will deliver the finished pound cake to the students tomorrow

i think we'll go easier next time and try something from a box...like cookies.

their english was great for first timers and i was totally shocked to find that they were in their mid-to-late 30s. and here i am, 25, no kids, teaching them to cook/bake...
it should be the other way around, huh?

i think the best part of teaching tonight was that they were repeating
'slowly' over and over = and it sounded like 'srowry',
adding flour and sugar, but one of them, sumiyo,
was just dumping the ingredients in and naomi and miwa were going nuts
with the electric mixer, getting cake batter everywhere.
it was hilarious. and then we started talking about dislikes and sumiyo said
" i disrike my husband ".
i don't think japanese talk about things like that,
much less in public or with someone they meet for the first time,
but i appreciate their candidness and honesty, whichever,
which makes me feel like they're not afraid to show their opinions and not afraid of nonconformity.

i think i'm going to like this class alot =)

finally!

so finally i'm posting the pictures of mark's pillow covers and other stuff i've made in since then. sunday, i made a dash to the lilyan and went temporarily insane. i got pink and white stripe and pink and white polka dot fabric to make hats for my coworker, tameco's, daughter, taylor's birthday. i think i did alright, being that it's my first time making hats, this will be a
nice excursion into the world of millinery.

i got some weird bendy sticks that help you loop ribbon, rope,
whatever into stuff for drawstrings and more patterns.

mark's pillow cases

my first attempt at button-hole making

my record player

something i've been meaning to make and finally did as a
"see you in a few" present for our 1st shirt

temporary insanity purchases

the drawstring beanie/beret, that kid has one big noggin'

the pattern book i got it from, there's a good reason why eugenia kim banks...because she rocks!

domo-kun rockin' the floppy hat

he's hiding

pins i made for the hat using yo-yo patterns

it's domo-zilla!

so i think domo-kun has official become my model-slash-actor (and not actor-slash-model).
i think he's doing a good job, being that he's up in my header, i don't think anyone else would fill the position quite as well as he would. i put up an ad in the paper and noone else responded too.
except for him. and now he's taken over.

*peace out!*

more gains and losses

saturday, i took angela and josalyn *hahahaha "joss"* and her 3 well-behaved (^o^)!! children to tachikawa to go to yuzawaya, then to kichijoji for the giant yuzawaya. scored 2 smaller embroidery hoops, a package of embroidery floss cards, 2 bias tape makers, 2 pins for my berets, and a small jiji-kun hand towel.

it was a pretty tiring day, being that it was hot and humid, but we left around 11ish then made it back about 5. not an all day thing, but alot got done, hitting 2 places in a day.

madeline l'engle died too. she was one of my favorite authors as a kid. i even named my pet mice after the character's in her book. and i had alot of pet mice.

i'll post pics of this soon, since i have to go to bed now... *blah* work work work. i have a great idea for an embroidery pattern that i wanted to put on this case i was making for my sunglasses. but it will come in due time and hopefully i won't forget.

i finally drilled holes so i could put up shelves in the living. i'll admit, i didn't do the measurement too well, so the shelves aren't equi-distant from each corner of the wall, but i have a simple solution: to hang a mobile in the corner with more space!

i know, i'm a GENIUS.

a sad day...

it definitely is a sad day for the world, because if there's one thing i enjoy more than sewing, it's music and today, we lost someone who to me, was one of the great singers and performers of our time, luciano pavarotti.

ROME - Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C's and ebullient showmanship made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar, died Thursday. He was 71.

His manager, Terri Robson, told the AP in an e-mailed statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August.

"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness," the statement said.

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer

i remember sitting in my room and playing his operas, trying to figure out what he was saying to whomever he was singing to, in my first days of learning italian. i came to enjoy his voice and talent so much and i bought his old lp's with clips of his performances from some of the more popular operas. my favorite being, la boheme "che gelida manina":

Che gelida manina! Se la lasci riscaldar.
Cercar che giova? Al buio non si trova.
Ma per fortuna e una notte di luna,
e qui la luna l'abbiiamo vicina.
Aspetti, signorina, le diro con due parole chi son,
chi son, e che faccio, come vivo, Vuole?
Chi son? Chi son? Son un poeta.
Che cosa faccio? Scrivo. E come vivo? Vivo.
In poverta mia lieta scialo da gran signore
rimi ed inni d'amore.
Per sogni e per chimere e per castelli in aria
l'anima ho milionaria.
Talor del mio forziere ruban tutti
i gioielle due ladri: gli occhi belli.
V'entrar con voi pur ora ed i miei sogni usati,
ed i bei sogni miei tosto si dileguar!
Ma il furto non m'accora poiche,
poiche v'ha preso stanza la speranza.
Or che mi conoscete parlate voi.
Deh parlate. Chi siete? Vi piaccia dir?

translation:
How cold your little hand is! Will you let me warm it for you?
Why bother looking? It's dark, and we won't find it.
It's our good luck, though, this night's filled with moonlight,
up here the moonlight could rest on our shoulders.
Please wait, my dear young lady, and I will quickly tell you
who stands before you, and what I do,
how I make my living. May I?
Who am I? What am I? I am a poet.
What keeps me busy? Writing! And what do I live on? Nothing!
In poverty I'm cheerful, I am a prince who squanders
arias and couplets of longing.
And as for hopes and dreams of love and castles-in-the-air,
Miss, I am a millionaire!
My fortress could be broken in, robbed clean of the fine jewels
I store; if the thieves were eyes like yours.
And now that I have seen you, all of my lovely dreaming,
all of the sweetest dreams I've dreamt, quickly have slipped away.
This theft does not upset me, because such treasures
mean nothing now that I'm rich with sweet hope!
And now that you have met me, I ask you please,
Tell me, lady, who you are, I ask you please!

now, puccini was a poet in every sense that shakespeare was. pavarotti brought, if not life to puccini's words, then an amazing force that seems to penetrate the deepest reaches of your heart and soul.

well maybe only to me. but i guess it's time once again to play an aria, for him, and craft...

i too, am a millionaire...

stick a fork in me..

ok, so i think i've customized this blog as best as i can, but i think once someone makes better templates for blogger, i'll probably change it again and again.

it's been a fruitful day, a down day where i live, but i went to work anyways and got stuff done and organized into 3 piles: inbox, outbox, and limbo.

and there's so much stuff in limbo.

like all the craft pics i have on my computer and other blog, but now i'm bringing it here!

a little duckie and chick quilt i made for my sister, kat

my little pincushion, i love this print!
a welcome kittie i embroidered ages ago
a baby alien on a rocket
a swallow or sparrow, i wonder what's the difference?
a bento cover, stack em up and cover them, your lunch is your business!
a knit shirt i made and a toile-print pleated skirt
jewelry tack board
it's me!
some earrings i made
restringing my vintage pearls
a japanese teacup pincushion i made for ramona
rodney's going away present and my first attempt at cross-stitching
crayon holders i made for his 3 daughters for the trip
so pretty with cotton, felt and ribbon!
a little baby quilt i made for his wife's, tamika, birthday
today, i finally finished my dinner napkins to go with the placemats!
while i was doing that, i was sipping some cream limoncello, yum!
tiny little sake cups
the cute kittie pins i bought at the steak restaurant, bikeri donkey

yoyo's in a cuptiny tiny tiny pincushion
another pincushion
ahhh, the end of my hard work...
woohoo! 3 day weekend! i'm thinking of running to the fabric store and surprising
mark for his birthday and making replicas of the pillows he's been pining for. i think he'll love it but before i buy anything, i need to make sure the button-holer setting on my sewing machine works. can you believe i've had this machine for 2 years and i've never made a button hole?

hmmm, and i need to invest in a serger...

goodnight!

first thing's first

i've always wanted to start a craft blog, so i finally took the time to "create" one. *whew* i'm gonna have to start pulling my craft stuff from my personal blog to this one, so don't get excited over the changes. i do anticipate changing my blog templates, if not soon, then quite often.

i've had a alot of ideas for things i wanted to make, i wrote them down somewhere, and it's probably lost in the abyss that i call my craft room. yes, i managed to secure my own room for crafting. for me. all i need is a speaker system to hook the ipod and then i'll be set!

i think i'll use this as a shopping blog too, since i'm now obsessed with shopping.
what girl with ovaries isn't?

lastly, i'll try to keep up with this as often as i possibly can. work literally drains my life force, so when i come home from work, i don't want to do anything except vegetate.
and smother myself so i won't have to go to work the next day.

just kidding.
but if you have any questions, comments, concerns, feel free to post a comment.
i'll try not to take criticism too seriously, but no guarantees.
some days, i will have to just slice you. =)

rock on.