preview

i've been working on projects for my boss' blog and here's a preview of something i've cooked up, scheduled to post on black friday.

mash-ups

here are some more birthday cards that i've done for people at my work. we have a ton of november birthdays it's getting ridiculous.

it's always a good idea to take two different fields or seemingly different fields and see how they can mesh together. for example, taking a blanket-stitch found in sewing and applying it to a paper craft.

or taking the same embroidery thread and using it as a detail for a paper craft like the center of a paper flower.

this is always a fun experiment in other fields too and the possibilities are endless. what would happen if we were to combine music with painting, culinary and graphics, landscaping and architecture? some of the best examples of design and art has been the result of the mashing of two different fields. what interesting results could come out of combing whatever your field is with something else? this is where innovation and creativity comes alive.

in focus

october has certainly proven to be a memorable month. work was crazy, i turned 29 years old, had my wisdom teeth pulled, my uncle passed away, my mom left for a 3-week trip to korea leaving me home with my dad.

there are times in life when things come in to focus and suddenly you feel really stupid for wishing you could buy that new jacket when you already have 30,000 jackets and life seems to become so real and certain things just have no significance anymore. but the moment passes and life becomes out of focus and you mind wanders again to that dumb jacket.

lately i keep having those moments of clarity and blurriness.

the other day i discovered my first official adult wrinkle. i know, i know, such is life. and it's not a first wrinkle but in the moment it was significant for some reason. like the physical manifestation of my bodily decay had suddenly become a reality. i'm getting older. my body will one day betray me and rebel against my wishes and in fact it has already begun to do so.

every time i listen to the radio i am reminded that our nation and our state is held together by a thread. government is so completely fallible and it's a wonder that we make any kind of progress at all. and when someone says an off-handed remark that sends another in to a spiral of defensive comebacks and darting looks i think to myself, "man, people are held together by a thread." and when my aunt sits quietly until a single picture of her wedding flashes on the projection screen at her husband's funeral i know that she was held together by a thread.

and life continues and i still have careless desires for things that don't matter and through it all something continues to hold us together.

alphabeat

i miss food

i've been hungry for the past four days. i mean, ravenous. i had two wisdom teeth pulled and one cavity filled on wednesday and i haven't been able to eat anything but smoothies, jello, and pudding. normally i enjoy a tasty smoothie, the occasional jello, and rarely pudding but having it day-in and day-out is just plain maddening.

makes me reflect on last weekend's tour de food. i knew my dentist visit was coming so i wanted to spend my birthday weekend eating all the foods i love.

first i had islands on the tuesday before my bday with my old co-workers. did you know that they have endless fries/onion rings just like red robin?? fantastic! it was a toss up between their china coast salad and their hula burger. not wanting to be offensively racist i went with the hula. mm, i love me a good burger. no pictures unfortunately.

on saturday i had lunch with my parents at my most favorite chinese food place called peking restaurant in westminster on westminster ave. and newland. we go here every year for my birthday. we had dumplings, beef noodle soup with homemade noodles, and some chinese veggie i have no idea what it's called. delish. no pictures again.

dinner was with one of my closest friends randy, whom i've known since 7th grade. we went to my favorite shabu shabu place called california shabu shabu in fountain valley (woot!) on brookhurst and garfield. great customer service and the best shabu i've had in OC. see above.

sunday was the U2 concert which was food for the soul. 'nuff said.

top it off with chili's on monday night with the monday crew and their two 3-course dinners for $20. whoa! blow-you-mind kind of a deal and of course i had CFS (chicken fried steak) which is killer at chili's. remembered we should've taken a picture while walking out.

sigh, so i'm starved and i'm realizing that i'm terrible at remembering to take pictures.

as chuck would say, "life-changing"

yesterday i had the awesome chance to see U2 live in concert at the rose bowl stadium. streaming live on youtube, black eye peas opening, dvd filming, and their last concert for 2009.

vertigo tour was amazing and that was in 2005-2006. no line on the horizon was the longest they had taken to release another album and i felt nervous coming into this concert.

how would it hold up to past U2 concerts? would it just seem like deja vu and nothing new from the vertigo tour? would it be worth all the physical pain of standing for nearly 12 hours? yes it was.

the staging was simply amazing. the stage itself had so many moving parts and just when you thought you had seen all it could do it would do this:

the 360 degree screen webbed down and into this beautiful light show

my point-and-shoot seemed to have a hard time with taking shots because of the moving targets, stage lights, and frequent moving hands in front of the lens. haha, i was a little sad because all for members of U2 were so close to us but i did get a few good shots.

thanks chuck for having a ticket for me! life-changing!

he's a keeper!

at work i get a lot of boxes and packages in the mail. none of them are for me because i order a lot of things online for my boss.

today i got a box and this time it was really for me. when i opened it up i saw these lovelies. i couldn't help but keep saying, "aww!!"

mark surprised me with flowers at work and it was the sweetest thing. thanks for making my day - you're the best, sweetie!