This is what happens when you finish the biggest custom order you've ever done

you do late night cookie & ice cream runs, eat cookies in forts and have even more cookies for breakfast

you get dogs to wear your yeti hat at wedding reception after parties

you get friends to wear your yeti hat at wedding reception after parties

you get even more people in sf bars to wear your yeti hat

you have friendship in sf

you watch rear window in union square

you eat three twins lemon cookie ice cream & green chile apple pie

the lesson of the story: you chill out! haha. work is great, and steady hustling is important to staying afloat but so is relaxing. so, now that i've got it all out of my system... it's back to the lovely grind.

Rawr!!

I needed to take a small break from work this weekend... and the breaks were a wedding and a trip to SF. I'll post pictures later, but here's something I finished tonight! Yay! Tiger custom order done! :)

Rock Paper Scissors, round 2

So the little spoon battle is based on KB back when we used to date. I showed it to him before posting and this is what he said:

me: Hahaha

Now you know what I was doin back there. Sulking

Kevin: haha

i dont know what i was thinking exactly.

i was probably thinking 'she's an older child. she probably likes being the big spoon, being protective and nurturing.'

me: Hahahahaha

Really though?

Hahaha

Kevin: hahaha i mean no.

obviously i knew how cool little spoon was

Awkward Turtle

You don't become the awkward turtle. You create the awkward turtle.

A Kid Moment

I got home around 2am last night. First thing I did when I got home? Made myself a sundae. Yeah. That's something I've always wanted to do when I was kid but was never allowed. So take that parents! This 26 year old does what she wants, when she wants!

Btw, that's my travel utensil... it's a spoon on one end and fork-knife on the other end. Win!

Dulce Goes to the Park

By far the most challenging project I've ever done in 5 days... therefore, 100002348092348 awesome points. It was a good test in time management and pushing myself to make a plush so complex and so big. Hoorah!

A thought on fighting the good fight...

A few days ago, I talked to James about ego and pride. When life is going so well, you start to become a little boastful or prideful. You're receiving consistent positive validation that you're doing something right and well. Confidence paired with validation gives you such a high, it's hard to come back down. Humbleness comes from understanding that you can still learn & make mistakes, and those opportunities can come from everyone & anyone. It’s like a tree. Learning, growth & openness are what ground you downward and your confidence and pride is what causes you to branch out and extend past yourself. Maybe that’s why rappers are always repping where they came from. It’s their roots. Their humble beginnings. It’s a reminder of their struggle from ashy to classy (points if you get that reference).

The thing to remember is that you never stop fighting, and you should never stop. A mistake I tend to make is thinking I can ride a wave of good fortune indefinitely without having to work. Good fortune doesn't really come in the form of a wave--it's a singular moment. The war still wages so you have to keep hustling. And it’s not about fighting to win, it’s fighting so you never lose or give up.

Progress Report #5: Dulce!

I'll post more from the brief photo shoot tomorrow :)

Progress Report #2: Calendar Collaboration

Going to redo the kiddies so they actually fit under the elephant... but the idea is that the boy's pissed because she keeps feeding the elephant the cookies. No cookies = fort fail.

Rock Paper Scissors

Awww... looks like she lost the battle for little spoon.

Progress Report #4: Dulce!

Time for a photo shoot, then it's off to New Jersey!

Clink!

8x10 print now available on etsy :)

My Evil Exes, Part 1

taking a break from this:

to start this small personal side project:

In honor of Scott Pilgrim, I'm going to draw my "evil" exes in regular and superhero form. Haha. Here are the most recent three.

Progress Report #3: Dulce!

A headless dog!!!

Oh wait! There's a head!

Juuuust kidding. Hahaha sorry. I got so excited after I stuffed the body. I just need to do his head. I'm gonna dedicate all of tomorrow to it to make sure I get that cute face just right.

Now why you wanna go and do that, love, huh?

Oh brother, I did so much work today it's fabulous :)

Spent more money on caring for my car, delicious Cuban food with A, mailed a custom order (but not before doing a photo shoot in the post office) to C...

helped two lovely ladies with a project

and sewed more Dulce. I got less than 2 days to finish this! Braaaawwrrrr!! :)

Rock The Bells: Crafting & dancing with Dulce & the crew

Hands down the most epic hip hop show I'd ever been to. Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Rakim, Tribe, Wu-tang, Murs & 9th Wonder, KRS-One.... Yeaaaaaahhhhhh. My way of pre-partying?

Sushi, green tea, miso soup, salad and jotting down my to do list! Hahaha. I've been so work-minded that I knew I needed to decompress before the show to really enjoy it. So that's what I did.
I managed to find street parking (yay!) and walked behind these fine jesus-loving folk. Everyone loves hip hop.

Afshin, Shaila and Afshin's cousin were late so I saw Rakim & KRS-One on my own, lost in the crowd, sewing to the words & beats, sketching neighboring listeners.

There's a picture of me somewhere dancing to Tribe AND sewing. I'll have to bug Shaila for that one haha.
Just broin' out. No big deal.
What?! And you can't see all 39849320894208934 members of the Wu??! Teehee...
Yeah, that's a bag of potato chips Afshin found on the ground. Yeah, he's eating them. And yeah, they were delicious.
Snoop, you were surprisingly amazing. Especially when teamed with Warren G for Regulators. Thank you thank you thank you. I can die a happy woman having heard that song live.

Work Day at the Beach: Progress on the Life-Size Doggy

I was supposed to go to SF Saturday to see friends and eat delicious food, but I stayed behind to be responsible and work on the custom order dog. This change of plans turned out to be an awesome decision. Adam suggested the beach since it'd be gorgeous out, so off we went to Capitola.

My aunt gave me a mini sewing machine she inherited from her husband's great aunt. Not only is it mini, it's battery operated. It even has a foot pedal! I'd declare it a win except for the fact that I couldn't get it to work... wah wah. So it just stood there looking cute.

Having Adam around was helpful as he also thinks in the third dimension. We nerdily discussed how to approach construction of the head. I didn't quite figure it out until we serendipitously stumbled upon a neighborhood build-a-bear. The salesperson was soooo helpful, handing me unstuffed dogs and bears to examine and flip inside-out. Universe, you're so cool.

It's a fish umbrella!!

This picture is so special I can't believe its real!

Guess which drawing in the sand is mine!

We grabbed ice cream, headed back to the car, found a parking ticket (bahh!) and headed home to have dinner with my parents except that it wasn't actually with them. They had eaten already. So silly. I tried very hard to just relax for the rest of the night while with Adam's friends, but dang, work kept creeping up. So, I bounced because work was on the brain and sewed until 2am. Mission accomplished.

look at those legs!

Now, I'm going to rock the bells... of course I'm going to sew. There's something very entertaining & special about sewing a giant dog while snoop dogg is on stage. Just me?