please shine down on me.

oh beach weather, where are you?

some wishes:
a gocco printer
yamaha p-85
an ice cream maker
a serger
sunshine
a nice bowl of warm buttery popcorn
you
to be curled up in bed
mashed potatoes (i haven't had them in so long!)
to feel inspired again.

work is sucking the energy out of me. but i am thankful i have a job, especially in these times. it's just lately, especially with the gloomy weather, i've been feeling gray. uncreative. it's harder to get up in the morning. i fall asleep while drying my hair. i've been drinking three cups of coffee a day (that cannot be healthy). i can't seem to focus. i zonk out on the train and always almost miss my stop. all this with enough sleep.

and i've been thinking about teaching again.

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happy birthday to moi :)

i turned 24 yesterday. my weekend was full of flowers, yummy cakes, italian food, hugs & kisses and harry potter.

because i like making lists, here is a list of things i've learned and am still learning in my 24 years here on earth. my birthday always feels like new year's.
- pin where you want to cut
- never put people on the spot, even as a joke.
- things never go according to plan
- smile and forgive: even when it hurts
- you don't always have to speak.
- people just change. period. no need to analyze.
- we complicate our simple lives with complicated thoughts.
- love is not a feeling.
- don't be so quick to react.
- do not respond to emails in anger. type it out then delete. never hit send. you will regret it afterwards.
- use energy wisely. do not over think things.
- when in love: crazy heart, clear head
- it's okay to go against the grain.
- always say hello and good bye and i'm sorry.
- jealousy ruins friendships.
- it's okay to make mistakes. it's how quickly you learn from them (and how quickly you fix them!) that counts.
- a lot of things in life require practice. like patience, bias binding & piano.
- live a life you'd be proud of.

have a great week everyone. and to those with birthdays, happy birthday :)

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i've never failed at baking...

and today i did.
ARGH.

i attempted to bake a red velvet cake for my birthday...and all i got was a brown sloppy mess in the oven. soooooob.

sigh, can this gloomy awful week get any worse?

sigh.

ps: i'm not really a crybaby
pps: on a brighter note, i'm tutoring again! the girl is sweet, from korea.

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cleaning makes me cry.

i prefer cleaning my bathroom to cleaning my bedroom.
it's not because it's dirty, but it's because of all the clutter that has managed to accumulate over the one year we've spent in this house.
i am overwhelmed. so much so i had to google "how to clean bedroom without feeling overwhelmed".
ARGH.

this is what i found.

1. make a plan for cleaning room.
okay:

• clean out fabric-strewn cupboard and fold up fabric one by one neatly and arrange by type and color
  
• organize scrapbook materials
  
• empty out basket of fabric scraps (i don't know what to do with them. i keep telling myself that i'm going to do something with them, but i never do. should i just throw them away?)
  
• sort through books and get rid of the ones i don't want in my room
  
• tidy up shelves
  
• get rid of messes under the bed
  
• this is the worst: empty out desk drawers and sort through papers (i hate doing this because i'm afraid i might throw out something i'll regret!)
  
• dust surfaces and window blinds
  

2. prioritize and break the plan up into different sections
my sewing area, my desk drawers and my fabric storage are the messiest areas in my room. i'll work on that first.

i'm skipping step 3.

3. turn on some upbeat music. avoid distractions like tv and visitors.
darn. i was going to watch the 2nd episode of trueblood. i guess that can wait for later.
will pump up some elton john. HA. jk.

4. set a timer for 20 minutes.
good idea.

i'm skipping step 5 & 6.

step 7 should be STOP BLOGGING.

hardeehar.

well, off i go. i hope everyone is spending their lovely sundays outdoors. and not indoors cleaning. waaah.

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blue & red party

how is everyone?
this weekend i threw my little sister a birthday party.
so much fun.

sorry for the pic, it was really cloudy that day. my little sister helped me out with the bunting and painted on the letters. i used bias binding to string the triangles together.


i labelled their cups so that my sister could do the seating arrangement (harhar, imagine that) and so that they can re-use them.

i decided to make it a pizza party at the last minute.

which meant sewing 9 aprons at the last minute. their aprons were part of the party favors and they looked adorable in them.

that's my little sister in the middle, with the cute bow.




the basement was a makeshift movie theatre.


i turned the basement kitchen into a concession stand. i placed cotton candy into individual bags, popped some microwave popcorn and transferred them into those cute red and white popcorn bags.

party favors. the boys got the blue (this cool yoyo+disposable camera), girls got red (pretty notebook+disposable camera). i also cut out thank you cards from heavy cardstock and used clothespins to attach it to the bags.

and that is all. she's turning 13 in a few years. hopefully she'll still let me throw parties.

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a day at the lake

c'est juillet but it is still FREEZING.

nothing much is going on. i am dying at work from sleepiness. and the minutes are ticking away ever so slowly.
tonight i am going to
- go for a run
- work on the sleeves of the dress that i am working on from a japanese pattern
- finish ep. 1 of true blood or finish watching waitress
- sleep early

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my blog is fixed!

hello all!
i'm not sure if you noticed, but my blog was being redirected to some other ghastly website (searchacross/blogholic). i definitely missed blogging and i was afraid i had to start from scratch again (coming up with a new blog name was definitely a brainteaser).
but anyway, it's back and i'm back! if you're coming across the same problem, email/comment i will be able to direct you to the different forums i had to visit.

i've had a great few days. john was here. with his slr camera (jealous!). and was able to take some fantastic pics of downtown t.o. this is one of my favorites.

remember to live slow.
miss you already, bub.

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