Tragedy

I apologize for disappearing again... a bit of tragedy has struck my household for the past few months.

My sweet kitty Tamara after 18 long years of being with our family has gone to that big litter-box in the sky.

Ever since I was a toddler, she has graced our household with her queenly presence and jumped me from the fridge to nibble on my scalp (and I would run away screaming every time). But for the last few years she reverted back to being a sweet kitty that would drool in happiness as I pet her and fed her snacks on my lap. For the last few months she suddenly aged drastically, not being able to climb into her bed and going blind in one eye. We were hoping she would get better and my parents took good care of her while I was far away at the university.

She passed very peacefully next to my mother and me on Christmas Eve while the other cats watched worriedly by the door of our bedroom.

There's a story in Japan how cats that age past 13 or so will be a nekomata, or a demon cat. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, a nekomata is supposedly a spirit cat that has two tails and can speak and walk on two feet. (kind of like the puss in boots story) My mom and I would joke that our cat Tamara is not a normal cat, being 17 and still in great shape and bossing around the other pets. It feels odd that she's gone, it feels like she's still wandering around our home like the queen she was.

Sorry for the sudden change of pace, but hopefully I'll be back to my old crafting self soon...

I'm back!

Sorry I've been so busy lately...! I've been straddling three art studio courses along with normal lectures and participating in two clubs at the university. I originally had a pretty important role in one of the clubs, but I've decided to step down from my position because it has been keeping me from creating the art that I've wanted to work on for so long.

But before I cut off ties with the groups, there were two big events that I really wanted to participate in! One was 'Cruise for Cancer' sponsored by the Illini Longboarding Club, and the other a fashion show hosted by the Japan Intercultural Network. Here's some videos from the two events! I'm only in the second video though...

Now that the events are over, all I have to do is work on final art projects and get back into crafting! :)

Moving In...

I just moved back to the dorm yesterday, and I'm so beat! I've finally met my new roommate as well and I'm glad to know she fit in just fine with my quirky friends. :) Most people are scared away by my friends' sugar-induced energetic explosions but she seems ok. I was surprised when she was able to keep up with us. I imagine a very tiring semester of foolishness ahead of me... Now I must tend to my V-shaped sunburn on my neck from wearing a yukata all day in the blistering sun. Quad Day at UIUC is a very draining event when you are the one handing out fliers for a club!

In other news I start school tomorrow morning. Somehow I ended up with classes from 9AM to 9:20 PM... I will either drop a class or sleep like a log on my off-days. There really is not much time to be fooling around!

chiffon cake and raspberry jam

Remember the raspberry bush I mentioned a while back? I made a small batch of simple raspberry jam yesterday afternoon for some friends coming over for lunch today. The recipe itself is very simple, just use the same amount of sugar as you are using berries and a bit of lemon juice if you like a more tart flavor. To be honest I didn't bother to check how much of the raspberries I had and it turned out just fine; I'm thinking the ratio of ingredients is more important than how much you make at once.

前にうpした我が家の庭のラズベリーの写真を覚えている方はいますか？

その大事に育てたラズベリーで昨日ジャムを作りました！

かなり簡単なレシピです。果物と砂糖を１：１、そしてレモンジュースを少々。。。

大体ジャムが冷え始めれば果物に元々含まれているペクチンで勝手に固まってくれます。

家ではなるべくよけいな物を使わない料理をめざしています！　まぁ、その方が意外と簡単に作れるんですけど。。。

For lunch we did a mini potluck. We had some tomato and basil pasta salad, grilled lamb, and a simple mussel dish simmered in white wine and various veggies. A friend brought some delicious breaded chicken and an Asian-style leek side-dish. For dessert my mom baked a chiffon cake which we had with fresh whipped cream and a spoonful of my raspberry jam. I must say, it was delicious with a nice cup of coffee.

今日は友達を呼んでちょっとしたランチを。。。

ラム肉のグリル、ムール貝と野菜の白ワイン煮込み、トマトとバジルのパスタ、チキンのマリネなど。

我が家で「ランチ」と言えば皆が適当に料理を持ってくる事になってます。

今度は色んなおいしい料理が集まりました。

そしてデザートには母が作ったシフォンケーキに生クリームと先ほどのラズベリージャムをそえておいしくいただきました☆

最近、いかにおいしい物が食べられるかが毎日の目標です♥

It's storming outside like crazy right now, it was so sunny this afternoon though. Weather is not predictable these days. I do appreciate the rain though, it will help the plants in my garden but when it's stormy it gets so DARK in the house! My house gets a lot of natural light so we're not accustomed to turning on the lights until it's past 6PM. It was just fine while I was working at my desk, then it became visibly darker so I look up at the window and BOOM it's thundering. Crazy huh? I guess I'll be using my time tomorrow to pick up the fallen branches from my lawn from the giant willow tree by the edge of my yard...

I haven't accomplished much lately craft-wise, I've been busy making a plush roll-cake pincushion for my friend's 22nd birthday. I really want to get back into drawing soon though! :)

felt sweets

I've been having issues with my laptop overheating too easily lately, so I've been doing more crafting than anything else. I've been on a donut craze recently and I've made a bunch of big donuts for purse charms and keychains as well as mini donuts for cellphones. The donuts themselves are brown fleece (personally I think they are stronger this way) with felt frosting and seed bead sprinkles. The mini donuts are the same size as those tiny powdered donuts like Hostess Donettes, and they really remind me of my childhood when I would save my lunch money to buy them in the cafeteria at school.

I think I'll attempt to make life-size macarons next! And maybe cakes too, but not too complicated ones.

summer bracelet!

I've been experimenting with hemp lately and here's one that I came up with. It's up in my Etsy shop now! I hand-dyed the hemp to be a smokey gray to match the gunmetal of the rhinestones. I saw some macrame bracelets with rhinestones at American Eagle but I wanted one with a more natural look, so I made my own. :) This one has small orange and pink rhinestones but I think I'll make more with different colors.

アメリカンイーグルで見たブレスレットが気になったので自分で作ってみました。

お店で見た物よりちょっとエスニックな感じなのが欲しかったんですけど、ヘンプを自分で染めるところから始めることに。。。

ヘンプを染めるときこのような薄い色はあまり好ましくないらしいんですけど、これくらいの色が一番自然に見えるかな〜。

ラインストーンは夏らしい渋めのピンクとオレンジ、金具は金属じゃなくてガラスとブロンズのランプビーズで作りました。

私のEtsyショップで売る事にしました！いろんな色のラインストーンも使いたいな〜。。。

Fireworks and Hydrangeas

I went over to a friend's place for fireworks and barbeque last night! I met some friends that I haven't seen in a long time. It feels nice to do something simple with friends for once, no going to restaurants or whatever but instead hanging out over a grill and just talking and eating... and throwing water balloons lol. Hotdogs burgers and s'mores in the yard are all I need to have a good time with friends, I don't need to go to nice restaurants and go shopping to have a good time. :)

One thing I like about summer is watching the hydrangeas bloom in my yard. At least all that rain came in handy, although it kept me immobile for a while the water definitely helped the flowers. It's also interesting how the flowers change colors, last year the flowers were more green-ish and they made good dry flowers, but this year they are pink!

Raspberries!

I went to pick some raspberries from a bush in my garden (showed above! it's my favorite plant in our yard lol) while the weather was nice. It's so sunny today but with such a cool wind! It's very refreshing. I plan to get enough berries to make some jam soon. They are also very good if you freeze them and drop them into some pancake batter for a quick berry pancake breakfast. Also good for baking too! I guess they don't have to be from your garden, I freeze fresh fruit to use in cooking all the time. This method works great with blueberries. :)

今日は天気がとてもよかったので庭のラズベリーを少し収穫しに。。。

我が家自慢のラズベリーの木は私が小さい頃からたくさん実をつけてます！

でも今年はちょっと実の数が少ないかな。昔は実の重さで枝が折れたくらいなのに。。。

取れば取るほどたくさん実がなる木なので一生懸命実がなってないかチェックしてます。笑

たくさん集まったらジャムを作るつもりです。

冷凍すればかなり便利！ホットケーキを作るとき凍ったまま生地に入れるとジューシーなベリーホットケーキになります！後マフィンなどの焼き菓子を作るときにもいいです。

家ではこのために大体ラズベリーとブルーベリーが冷凍庫にはいってます。

一人暮らしを始めるときには絶対この木を持って行きたい！なんとか株を増やせないかな〜。

I've heard before that if you don't pick the berries often, you get a smaller harvest. I did notice that the last few years I rarely picked the raspberries except for quick snacks, and the number of berries this year is saddening. I remember in my childhood how every summer the branches of the huge bush would sag from the weight of the fruit and my dad had to put wire supports under them. I'm trying to pick more and take better care of the plant to ensure bigger harvests! When I move out of the house I'm definitely taking a sapling of this bush with me. I don't know if this will produce good fruit but it's the memories that count.

Superman!

I apologize for not updating for so long! The weather here has been odd lately which is causing mini power outages, and that messes with my router. It's also been hot as well as rainy and my cats are trying their best to keep cool, like Panther here cooling his tummy off on the cold kitchen tiles. My family calls this his "Superman" pose. :) Not having a reliable internet connection is a bit of a pain, I've learned to prioritize what needs to be done first while my laptop stays usable.

Thanks to all the extra time spent away from my laptop, I've been doing lots of knitting. I've got plenty of hats and a few hair accessories done that will be up for sale in the September craft show! But until then I need more items for my Etsy shop as well.

Which brings big news! We will be welcoming a new member to Noraneko Alley, the new alley cat is Sam who makes wearable accessories out of those little paper lucky stars. Hopefully I'll do some collaborations with her to make cute little accessories soon.

With the time I had I managed to whip up a more colorful banner for my Etsy shop. I'm hoping to make similar pictures for each member of Noraneko Alley to use on the shop that says "Made by _member's name here_" etc. I hope the weather gets better soon...

heart lockets

I found these adorable and super tiny heart-shaped lockets that were left over from when I bought them to make heart earrings for a friend's request, and I decided to make bracelets with them. Here is the result! A bangle bracelet with glass beads, hematite rounds, czech seed beads, and some silver-tone findings (I think they were pewter, I can't say for sure) They wrap around twice and are loose so they virtually will fit any wrist size.

I love the heart locket! It's so tiny and cute, especially the little engravings. Although I'm not sure about putting a photo in there, its so small you wouldn't be able to tell who is in the photo...

友達に頼まれてハートのイアリングを作った事があるんですけど、そのときのハートのロケットの残りを最近発見。

ちょっとブレスレットにしてみようかと。。。

小さなハートのロケットの甘辛なバングル出来上がり！

ガラス、ヘマタイトとピューター（だったような気がする。。。本当にピューターなのかな？）のビーズを使いました。

ヘマタイトってパワーストーンとしても有名ですよね？

私は単に色が好きなだけですけど。笑

それにあのずっしりとした重みがいいですね、私もよくヘマタイトのブレスレットを使ってます。

ちなみにこのブレスレット、中はワイヤーで大体どんなリストサイズでもOK！

自分以外の人のために作るときは手首の大きさを測るのが面倒だけどコレだと楽だな〜。

candle wax and cotton yarn

I managed to fix my longboard problem today :) all it took was a little melted candle wax in the pivot cups and it was good as new. I took poor Hei-chan out to cruise around the neighborhood bike paths today while it was dry in the afternoon. The rainy weather is continuing here, it rained this morning but thank goodness the sidewalks were dry by evening. I'm planning on re-painting the walls in my kitchen and family room but the rain is making me delay my plans...

Since I can't do much I bought a few skeins of Lily "sugar 'n cream" cotton yarn. I love it so much, the colors they have are closer to my taste and it's very durable stuff. I'm attempting to make a market bag from a pattern on Lion Brand Yarn available here for free. Wish me luck!

昨日のロンスケ問題はなんとか解決しました！

実は昨日、ロンスケの平ちゃんをガレージからクローゼットに移すときトラックスが以上にギシギシ音を立てていました。

溶かしたロウソクの蝋で変な音は無くなりました。

石けんの削りかすでも良いらしいです。こんなので直るのがちょっと不思議。

ちなみに今朝降っていた雨がやんだ後久しぶりに乗りました。

蝋を少し塗るだけでポンピングがだいぶ楽になりました！

でもやっぱり湿気が気になるのですぐに練習をやめて平ちゃんはクローゼットへ。。。

代わりに最近買ったコットンの毛糸で新しいエコバッグを作って気分転換。

使ったのはLily の「Sugar 'n Cream」！

１００％アメリカ製のコットンでかなり丈夫な毛糸です。

しかもちょっとレトロな感じのカワイイ色がたくさん！

ブランドの名前もカワイイな〜。ずっと使ってみたかったんですけど何を作ろうか今まで決まりませんでした。

パターンはコレです。色は「カントリーグリーン」link（０１２２２番です）

出来上がったら写真をうpします！

doodles and squeaks

It's been a while since I drew anything on Tegaki, it felt good lol. This time I was listening to "nazonazo" by RADWIMPS, which means "riddle" in Japanese. I love this band, it's one of my favorites. *u*

自分が描きたい絵を描くのはひさしぶり。。。

いつもどうりのヴェサちゃんとシルヴェンです。

RADWIMPS の「謎謎」を聞いていたら何かこんな感じになりました。

いつもに比べたらちょっとシュールだな。

I feel I've been neglecting my poor Hei-chan AKA my longboard. I was calling it Dubhán before but over time it also adopted the names "Hei-chan," "Shizu-chan" (as in Heiwajima Shizuo from Drrr!) and "Kohe" (as in Nanamatsu Koheita from Nintama Rantarou). I've gotten used to screaming "ikedo~~n!!!!" when speeding down a hill thanks to this name.

最近ロンスケにあまり乗らなくなりました。

ずっと雨の日が続いてなかなか乗れません。

湿気を避けるためにガレージからクローゼットへお引っ越し！

気がつけばボードは友達にいろんな名前をつけられています。

最近は「平ちゃん」や「静ちゃん」、さらに「コヘ」など。。。

...I think these are pretty accurate names lol. Both male characters who go on random rampages and are difficult to stop. I love to speed but I'm bad at braking, and I've had experience where I almost ran over some drunk sorority girls on campus. My friends who come up with these names are amazing. :)

平和島静雄と七松小平太。。。二人ともすごいキャラだな。笑

私がスピードを出してるくせにブレーキが苦手と言うとこから付けられたらしい。

部活ではロンスケ歴の長い先輩に無理矢理止めてもらうときもある。（と言うより止まれなくなったときに助けてもらう）

さらに私は過去に酔っぱらいの女子大学生の集団をロンスケで引きそうになった事がある。

最近は猛スピードで坂を下るとき無意識に「イケド〜〜〜〜〜ン！！！」と叫ぶくらい。

どうしてくれるんだK子、コレじゃ私はただの変人じゃないか！？

Lately I've been having issues with extremely loud squeaking from the trucks. I tried the soap in pivot cups method but it isn't working so far. Maybe I'm not using enough soap? I'll just keep trying I guess. Does anyone have problems like this or is it just me? I use Paris 150mm trucks...

Thrift shop finds and cat naps

Last week was very busy with work, there were some visiting stores at the supermarket I work at with delicious Japanese treats! Some people from Rapopo (not sure about the spelling) and Kukuru came from Japan to make sweet potato desserts and takoyaki. I must say, it was very yummy! But it was a very busy week at work which kept me away from my laptop for a while. I'm still trying to recover and can't help myself from taking little cat-naps with my sweetie Panther during the recent rainy days.

先週はバイトで大忙しでした〜！パソコン使うのが久しぶり（笑）

日本から「らぽっぽ」と「くくる」の方がイベント来て、お手伝いをさせていただきました。

アメリカで焼きたての「くくる」のたこ焼きが食べれるなんて、何か贅沢☆

「らぽっぽ」のスティックポテトも美味でした♥♥

でも先週の疲れの性か最近パンサー君といっしょに昼寝してばっかり。

寝顔がラブリ〜。パンちゃんなんでこんなにカワイイんだ！！！

A little before the week my job got busy, I went around some thrift shops with my mom to see if we could find any neat things to use at the upcoming craft show/goodbye party for a friend. I just happened to find this adorable little picture frame for $2.

バイトが忙しくなる前に実はちょっとお買い物をしてました。

近くのアンティーク屋さんで超カワイイ写真のフレームを発見！ちなみにお値段は＄２（日本では２００円くらい？）淡いピンクのバラがお気に入り！

中のガラスがボロボロだったので、新しい布と網戸用のアクリルメッシュを入れてみた。

ジャジャ〜ン！イアリングホルダーの出来上がり！

メッシュの穴にイアリングフックを引っ掛けるだけ。

メッシュと布の間にはゴムを入れてあるのでフックが入る隙間はたっぷり。

意外とたくさんイアリングを付けられるし、一目で全部見えるので急いでるときにアクセを選ぶのには結構便利。

簡単に作れて机の上も可愛く♥　今度クラフトセールで手作りアクセのディスプレイに使う事にしました。

自分用にはもうちょっとクールなシルバーのフレームで作って。。。

It's a little too 'sweet-lolita' for me but I still find it attractive. I took out the old glass and added some fabric and a plastic mesh used in windows. There's some rubber strips in-between the mesh and fabric. Why do all this? To make a display for earrings of course! Since there's space between the mesh and fabric, you can stick earring hooks in the holes and display your earrings while organizing them at the same time. It's easy to make and I have a larger one I made with a vintage pewter frame for my own earrings. It's better if there was nothing behind the mesh, that way you can put studs on there too, but small picture frames don't work that way. :( But who cares! I find these very helpful since I can choose and grab earrings quickly and the frame itself is a great accessory for your desk.

It really isn't hard to make, I suggest you try it out! :) Now I'm off to make more crafts and finish drawings that I owe some people.

chouchou mishap?

うぅ〜ん。。。シュシュを作ってみたのは良いけど何かイメージとちょっと違ったな。

毛糸が太すぎたみたいだ。編み目が硬過ぎて結びにくい。（＞д＜；）

と言う訳で残った毛糸でポーチを作ってみました！

お花の形、どうですかね？

Remember when I said I will make some chouchou's with a cute pink yarn I had left over from a different project? Apparently it didn't go as well as I planned. I guess I need some thinner yarn, this was way too thick and the scrunchie is hard to tie... So I decided to put the yarn to better use.

Ta-da! A little(?) flower coin purse/mini make-up bag! It's a tad bigger than expected but it still works pretty well. Considering I made-up the pattern as I went I like it a lot. I think I'll try it out in different yarns too.

一様小銭入れにもなります。ちょうど丸いコンパクトが入るくらいの大きさ。

Here's a side-view showing the zipper and pouch behind the flower. :)

横から見たらこんな感じ♥

new layout!

My old layout seemed too stuffy for the summer so I decided to refresh with a more airy layout. The photo is of a small magnolia tree that is planted right outside my dorm. :) The whole campus is covered with magnolia and dogwood trees, they are very pretty in the spring!

My old layout may make a come-back in the winter. It gave me a nice cozy feeling~♥ but for now I'll keep it simple.

気分転換にブログのレイアウトを変えてみました♥

ちなみに写真のお花は寮の玄関で咲いてるモクレンです。

私が通っている大学はモクレンとハナミズキだらけ。春にはとてもきれいなんです！

暑い〜。。。

先週はあんなに涼しかったのが嘘みたいです。（汗

寒いのは全然平気なのに暑さは大嫌い！な私です。

シカゴの冬は寒いのが有名だけど夏も普通に暑い。

さすがに暑過ぎて編み物もちょっと諦め。毛糸を 手に持ってるだけで暑い！

代わりに絵を描こうと思ったらmacbookは暑さでオーバーヒート。ギャ〜！！

イラストのリクエスト待ちの皆さんごめんなさい！　お仕事はしばらくお休みと言うことで。。。

It's hot.

Too hot. TT___TT;; The temperature is fluctuating too much for me to handle.

It has been very cool, even cold at times for my first week back from college, and suddenly its 87 °F. I should have been ok with this since it's not strange for it to be this hot, but I think my body has gotten too used to the past week's chilliness. Thanks to that my laptop keeps over-heating and I haven't been very productive. I'm trying to work on commissions and such, I promise!

Is it just me but does it feel discouraging to some to knit in the summer heat? Just holding the yarn in my hands feels scorching to me.

Home!

I've safely moved back from my dorm to my house! I'm surprised that there is such a drastic change in temperature, even though it's only a 3 hour drive, it's mostly a straight drive north from my college to my house. It's so much cooler and less humid near my house, I'm so happy!

Being near my pets is so different too, I really missed my little fuzz-balls! 5 cats and a tiny little dog running around my house... I guess one thing that I didn't miss was the fur all over the place. I've been vacuuming like crazy since I got back. >XD

So my summer is not very summery, it's cool and breezy and I have all the windows open while I clean. My first day of break seems to be a lot of housework lol.

I hope everyone enjoys their summer! :)

Done with School!!!

:EDIT: sorry about all the edits guys, but I've been having some issues with the formatting. Argh! I hope you don't mind. ):

Ahhhh! Finally done with exams and school. Summer break, here I come! I plan to do a lot of art and crafts during break and update my etsy store more often. To kick it off, here's some doodles I did while I was trying to

de-stress from final exams:

Talking with some of my friends has brought up some really nostalgic things, like what TV show we watched as a kid. Out of the list someone mentioned Gensomaden Saiyuki and I squealed like the silly fangirl I am from remembering a pretty significant part of my childhood. After that we commenced sharing who was our favorite of the four protagonists (mine being Gojyo, he will always have a special place in my heart lol) and the fact that I apparently resemble Hakkai the most when it comes to my personality according to my friends. (vicious with a sweet smile! D8< ) The idea stuck with me and I sketched Hakkai on Tegaki-E first, then I couldn't leave the other 3 behind. I still have to clean up Hakkai's version though, since his drawing was a sketch and I took more time on the others.

I've found Tegaki-E to be a really good place to jot down ideas for future drawings and such. I think I'll be there more often now that I have the time... but I really need to make some more substantial things! I have a lot of leftover yarn from previous projects, and I'm thinking I'll make some scrunchies with them. Lacy and fluffy chouc

hou's (that's what they are referred to in Japan. Personally I think that's a much nicer name than "scrunchies") are popular in Japanese girl's fashion lately. Here's some that I found on Yahoo shopping that were just adorable!

I think my leftover cotton-candy-pink brushed yarn will make a nice one. :) I can't wait to start!

Finals!

I have 3 final exams and the semester is over! While taking a little break from studying I started working on my unfinished drawing (also shown in my last update) on Tegaki again. I still have a little more until it's finished but I really should get back to studying. I guess I'll let it sit for a bit longer before it finally becomes a finished drawing. :)

Study Time

Whoa long time no update! Finals is coming up and all my final projects/essays are due... which is not the best time to be blogging but oh well. :)

I'm sitting at Panera, sipping my frozen mocha any typing my last essay for my comparative world literature class. I'm hoping I get it done by the time I run out of coffee and scones -____-;;

Enjoy some scribbles that I drew on Te

gaki while I took a break from studying! Drawing is such a good stress reliever ~~<3

後少しで夏休み！

でも一番勉強が大変なときでもある。

と言う訳で今日はおとなしくカフェでコーヒーを飲みながら勉強。。。

この店のオレンジスコーンはやっぱりおいしいな〜☆

ついでに落書きを少々。。。

勉強しすぎて気晴しが欲しいときに何かインスピレーションとか湧きますよね。汗

彼は誰と戦っているんでしょうね〜。相手を見たい方はこちらへ： http://www.unowen.net/tegaki/dblog.php?u=34999

Click the link and scroll down to see who he's fighting. :)

まだ描き終わってない。

と言うより続きを描きたい。。。でも勉強がぁ！！！　涙

AAAHHH I want to finish this drawing so bad! But I have to study!

picking a major

Right now I'm doing interviews with my school to see which art programs I can get into. It looks like I can get into painting and sculpture for sure, but I'm not too sure about art education (which is what I was planning on doing for the sake of getting a job OH NO) If worst comes to worst I'll major in painting for my BFA and declare a second major next spring? *sigh* that's so much waiting for me...

To be honest I think I could have gotten into Art ED easy but for some reason I couldn't find the place where they were doing the interview. I wrote down one room number where I was sure it was at but the advisor wasn't in the office and I grabbed the head person of the art foundations from his office to help me look for where the interview was being held and we still couldn't find them. WHAT.

But I only have till tomorrow till the program advisors decide what majors I will be allowed to pursue. OH GOSH I'm nervous.

Other than that the club that I'm in is hosting a Japanese style Hanami picnic this weekend and a Japanese festival the week after that. I'm in charge of bringing some snacks to the picnic and I'm manning the yakisoba stand! Woo!! I'll definitely post pictures for those!

more hemp!

最近以上に暑くなってびっくり。ほんの少し前に雪が降ってたのに、まるで夏みたい！

と言う訳で昔大好きだったヘンプを最近また始めました。

やっぱりアメリカの夏と言えばヘンプ！特にビーチとかでよく見ます。

ヘンプの編み方は結構簡単ですぐに出来上がるのが良いところ。

高校生の頃、カリフォルニアに遊びに行っていた友達がビーチでヘンプのブレスレットをその場で作る売店のおじさんを見つけたのが始め。ちなみにその人は真っ白なドレッドヘアのすごいオーラのある人だったらしい。あんな怪しい人に平気で近ずくのも友達らしい。。。でも良い子は真似しないでね！

その辺なおじさんにヘンプの編み方を教わり、その後、友達が私にも教えてくれました。

懐かしいな〜。。。

More hemp bracelets. :) This time a simple bangle bracelet

Available in my etsy shop if you're interested.

There's a really sudden heat wave here on campus, I can't believe that it was snowing just a week ago during Spring Break! It's inspired me to make some summery things, and when I think summer I think hemp, leather, and worn metal on the beach. :)

summer bracelets

I've gotten back into hemp recently, and I've been making bracelets like crazy for the upcoming summer. I plan to finally re-update my etsy store which I've been... neglecting for quite a while thanks to my schoolwork. Hmm... I wonder what I should make next?

My Baby!

So I thought it was about time that I showed a photo of my board, so here it is! An Earthwing Superglider; it's really solid (well I guess all boards don't flex for me since I'm super lightweight) and I've been practicing on the bike paths around my dorm until I'm comfortable enough to go around campus where there's lots of people and cars. I get a lot of funny looks from passing people but I've only been on the thing 5 times so far and I've never skateboarded/surfed/snowboarded in my entire life. Give me a break!

I've decided to call my board Dubhán (pronounced DUV-an). Yes, I name all my precious things. My white macbook is called Kouki and my black bamboo fun tablet is Takeshi. :) But I've decided to call my board Dubhán after a black horse that appears in the story I am currently writing; stubborn, strong, and hard to tame, but reliable and well-worth the wait once you gain his trust. Let's hope that I can do that soon, it's getting warmer out and I want to take this baby out for a ride!

自分のロンスケの写真をまだ撮ってなかった！

早速キレイなうちに撮っておかないと。。。

と言ってももうかなり泥まみれ。

外はまだ雪解けでビシャビシャ。

多分これからももっと汚れるんだろうな。（笑

ちなみにこの子をこれからドゥヴァン(Dubhán)と呼ぶ事にしました。

ドゥヴァンは今私が書いている小説の主人公が乗っている黒い馬の名前。

Dubhánはアイルランドやスコットランドの古い言葉で『黒い』と言う意味らしいです。

頑固でワガママな馬。でも強くて懐いたらほんとに頼りになる。

何となく似てるなぁ〜と思うのは多分私だけ？

やっぱりお気に入りの私物に名前を付ける悪いクセが止まらない。。。

stop-motion animation!

お久しぶりです！最近ブログに何も書いてないなぁ。。。っと思ったらヒマな時間がないからだとやっと気がつきました。最近友達に勧められてロンスケを始めたのです！

ちなみにアメリカではこれはロングボードと言ってサーフィンとはまた違うもの。

日本語と英語の微妙な違いはめんどくさい〜。。。

簡単にいえばデッかいスケボー。たのしいです。転びまくってます。

しかも夜中一人で練習。（涙）

昼間は人が多すぎて危ないから練習にならずって感じです。

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

宿題でストップモーションアニメを作りました。早速youtubeにうp！

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

Hmm, not much updating yet again. I'm finally not sick anymore! All of my free time has been used to go outside and practice longboarding for the last week or so. For some reason I'm not very good at pumping... but I guess I just need practice. I've actually only been outside maybe 4 times with my board, and it's always in the middle of the night where there aren't too many people to bump in to.

In other news, I've been busy making stop motion animations for my art class. Here's one of the finished products! It's hard to draw every panel, I can't imagine having to do all those drawings like in real animations...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! :)

I didn't have a special someone to spend time with this Valentines Day (boohoo lol who cares. just have fun!!) but I helped my roommate with a surprise birthday party for her friend. I feel like I did almost all of the work getting our dorm room ready though... she wasn't even home till noon. Oh well there was good chocolate cake so it's ok. The ganache we made did not work out properly since my roommate put in too much cream when I wasn't looking, so it's more of a glaze now. I swear I told her we're only making 2/3 of the recipe... but she never listens to me when it comes to following directions. But we figured out it goes great with clementines/tangerines whatever those little oranges are called. (I seriously can't tell the difference between them) Interesting combo that we will enjoy for a few more days.

I have a lot of homework left now that I finished most of the cleaning up afterwards. Time to cram for exams!!

longboard!

I recently bought myself a new longboard for cruising around campus and such (who knows, I might learn some tricks when the weather gets nice) and I can't wait for it to come in the mail!!!!! I'm a complete beginner when it comes to skateboarding in general but hopefully longboarding will be more forgiving. The head of the longboarding club at my college was nice enough to help me choose my first board. He really is a great guy, he's been so patient with me asking so many questions.

Here's what I'm expecting to get!! An Earthwing Superglider ! Now the thing is there's a little story behind me choosing this board. At first I really wanted a Bigfish V-lam, but it was way out of my price range. I really loved looking through the boards, and giving up on the Bigfish was a bit of a dilemma for a poor college kid like me. I eventually chose the superglider and ordered it, but the guy from the longboarding club came back with an offer with some people selling a used Bigfish for a great price.

...

:[ I think you can imagine my surprise. My Superglider had already shipped at that point, and I've decided to take that as a sign that maybe the Bigfish just wasn't meant for me. Goodbye v-lam, we just weren't meant for each other right now. Maybe in the future when I have a few hundred bucks to spend I'll see you again. lol

So... I'm a bit broke at the moment as you can tell. I'm still sick, and I SHOULD be typing my essay. But my professors don't need to know that. I may upload photos of me falling off while practicing on my new board once it arrives. It's scheduled to come next week.

I'm having a very hard time being patient right now. ;)

From my Tegaki account. It's really relaxing to doodle every now and then. :)

Wow, I feel like I've been neglecting a lot of things lately. I started having an itchy throat a few days ago and now it's a fully-developed cold. I think I'll be down in bed for a while longer. My headache is not getting better with the partying neighbors in my dorm slamming the doors so often. (and screaming happy birthday, that doesn't help either)

I've decided I want to try and get a skateboard when I can afford it to ride to class. I don't think I can afford a bike and leave it outside in the snow, but skateboards are allowed to be stored in the dorm rooms. I can't wait!

Moved in!

Okay, so all my stuff is in my new room now. (well, not quite lol I noticed I forgot some things like my umbrella so I'll have to have them sent later...) I'd love to share photos but I haven't met my roommate yet (weird, huh?) and I think she probably won't appreciate me taking pictures without her being here.

SO here's a partial pic of my bed with my new Snoopy plushie that a friend gave me for Christmas. ^^

Ah, I miss my little Petey... I'm too used to having him wake me up in the morning. I hope he's doing well with my parents back at home.

Missing my kitties...

引っ越しの日まであと三日！　あぁ～、出来れば猫たちも連れて行きたい！　大学の寮に入って一番寂しいのはペットがいないこと。 クラフトの材料も持っていくか迷ってます。　夏にはまた荷物を全部まとめて家に持って返らなきゃいけないのがちょっと問題。　無理やりでも毛糸は少し持っていくつもりです。　荷物が多すぎる～！！！
Ah, only a few more days till I move to my new dorm room. I'm already missing my house with all my little fuzzballs running around. If I could afford an apartment I would definitely take one or two of my cats with me. I'm also having issues with what craft supplies to bring. I'm giving up on my jewelry supplies but I'll try to bring some yarn and my crochet needles with me along with my art supplies.




「オイラの左フックを食らってみろ！　エイッ！エイッ！」　水遊びに目覚めたパンサー君。　水とボクシングしても勝てないぞ☆
My cat Panther playing with the faucet again. He never quits!





義理姉からもらった古着。ちょっと隙を見せたらパンサー君のベッドに早代わり。
I was looking through some clothes my sister-in-law gave me. I think Panther likes her fashion-sense lol.





愛犬クッキーです！黒いモコモコがいろんなところから飛び出す毎日。 パンサーは今Victoria's　Secretの袋がお気に入り。
Panther loves Victoria's Secret! My dog cookie does not approve...

Happy New Year everyone!!! Sorry for not uploading anything lately, but I've been a tad busy.

I'll be moving to my new dorm later this month and starting classes at a whole new university. I'm so excited but anxious at the same time. I'll be shopping next week for a few things that I'll need. One of my friends was thoughtful enough to get me an adorable new shoulder bag for books and such for my Christmas present. (Now if only it was about an inch wider it would have fit my laptop lol but of course I shouldn't be picky.) I don't know how my friend figured out I love owls in a vintage style illustration, because that was the pattern on the bag! I'll post a photo soon for all to see. :)