TiLT

1. Crayons - The artists first tool is how I always like to think of them.  I just got a fresh box the other day to go with my Scribbles coloring book that I wanted to keep out on the dining table when we have guests.  Sort of a feel free to color in my book coffee table experience.  Not that I have all that may guests lately.  Also the amount of colors and how they have expanded themselves at Crayola is ridiculous.  I got a box of 96 crayons!  I love to just pick out the pretty colors read the color sniff the wax and put them back ( I might be weird for doing that).  It just brings back nostalgia.

2. Tokyolife - This book is pretty amazing.  I had it saved on my Amazon and then I was able to get it through my library.  It was this huge and thick tome that I wasn't expecting but pleasantly filled with oodles of knowledge and eye candy.  Each designer or artist that is features comes with a bio and essay written by someone else.  It's almost like an entire Pecha Kucha in a book form about Current Japanese Pop Culture and Art.  I still haven't finished it yet because there is so much content to read through.

3. Treat Yo Self - yup a movement I am well familiar with and I did treat myself last week.  I got this luxurious $160 leopard fleece blanket (on sale for $70 at Macys'). Two new pairs of shoes and a cute Harajuku Lovers purse.  Sometimes you need to just enjoy the material things in life without consequences.  I wasn't totally heedless, mind you I had a budget and some items were bought as parts of my completing a wedding registry.  Still it felt good.

4. Night Watch - The book not the movie.  It is a much better book then I had expected.  The world and how they describe is all just eerie and dark enough to give you the chills.  The way the story flips between point of views is something I also enjoyed and how it isn't just one continuous story line but several stories all surrounding one character who is not a big hero, not the best in his agency but he does his job.  I don't find it as scary as I've heard but I do have a larger tolerance for gore, fright and things that go bump in the night then most people (or so I'm told).

5. Graduate School Application.  Why is this something I love?  It seems a bit strange but forcing myself to go through this process and investigate has been a real joy.  It has been like peering into the looking glass to evaluate myself as an artist and my happiness with current life. There has been some ugliness I have found and this process but with the Graduate Application and my hopes of acceptance that will change the ugliness.  Personal life couldn't be better and this has also made me look through and appreciate the goodness and my budding married life.  My Husband has been nothing to supportive of this endeavor and I know it will be difficult but it also makes me happy to move forward in my life.

Before the Road

Sorry I've been a bit MIA over the past week.  I truly wasn't here.  I was amidst great friends in Chicago prepping for my Best Friends Wedding that happened this past Sunday.  I had the privilege of being the Maid of Honor, or as I like to call it Bitch of Honor.  I love my best friend a lot.  I ran back and forth in the city, parking cars, running errands and keeping her cool. It was also pouring rain was I was doing these tasks.  I drove in from Columbus, Ohio Wednesday night.  We met to run some errands and do dinner then I drove off to a friends apartment in Wrigleyville where I stayed till the rehearsal on Saturday.  Before I left this was the outfit that I was wearing.  Something a little casual and fun.

Drapey Navy Cardigan from Anthropologie
Tokidoki VS Marvel Spiderman Shirt
Navy American Apparel knit mini skirt
Harajuku lovers Yellow Jelly Wedges from DSW

 

Close up of my lovely shoes.  If you look for these get them in a size larger then your normally wear.  They are a bit narrow at the front and run all around a little small.  Since they are rubber they will not stretch with your feet.  I got these as a present to myself for my past birthday since DSW was so kind of give me a little discount.

I have a few more posts to make from my Chicago Trip.  Sorry these is nothing on sewing at the moment.  Currently my studio space is a wreck.  It is situated in the basement where we have a non-functional Air Conditioner that is being replaced tomorrow.  In preparation for that all the shelving and storage normally surrounding the HVAC and A/C was displaced to my area.  I'd be lucky to find my scissors in that mess.  On top of the missing AC we found our one and only bathroom to be severely clogged and turns out we need to get our main-stack water line replaced completely.  Now the final kicker I caught a cold of course while running around in the rain.  I am a tad miserable and going to work on some hand sewing projects till after the Midwest Craft Caucus.

If everything goes without a hitch in the house tomorrow for repairs we will be hosting Grace Dobush writer of Crafty SuperStar during the Craft Caucus.  I'm very excited about this!

Makes Scents to me

A little off the beaten path yet still beauty related I've realized that I am death to scents.  Every Single perfume I have fallen in love with has been discontinued or made but uncomfrotably attainable to my laziness or my points card at Sephora.

My first Perfume love was Contradiction by Calvin Klein I wore that my entire High School career.
Which is still findable but there was a period of time when it was difficult and now that it is at Meijier's no thank you!  I honestly couldn't even tell you what it smells like anymore.

In college I was all about smelling like things I wanted to eat so I was obsessed with Demeter's Cinnamon Buns. Which I could easily pick up at Sephora, or Anthropologie.  Then suddenly it was gone from common sight.

Sure there were a few in betweeners such as Curve and Pleasures but they just didn't suit me.  I have my "bitch"  or Business is going down perfume FF by Givency.  But that is much too strong for an every day perfume.

Most recently I was in love with Fiji Flower from Sephora's own exclusive line. Which is so obscure that I can't find a picture.  There was also Le Petit Prince Body splash that was wonderfully light and just a pinch of flower.   Also spend a limited time on the shelves at Sephora.

In between these has been gifts of Burberry and Harajuku Lover's Lil Angel.  Neither of which I have been crazy about.

My latest love has been Masaki Masaki which I of course discovered 2 months before Sephora stopped carrying it.  I didn't even have the forutne of buying a full sized bottle while in stock.  It was a total  fluke purchase to up my free gift or something and it was AMAZING.  I got the little rollerball tester version.

My new found love is TOKYO MILK and I hope they don't disappointment and suddenly disappear out of my convenience range as all the other's have.  I am so thrilled that I can pick it up locally at "On Paper" and the new store next to Basil on High Street.
The scent I have newly chosen for myself is Song in D Minor

I love the super simple bottle and vintage desgins for their graphics.  Even better it is only $20 a pop!  I know the website says $28 so that's probably a larger size then what I saw locally.

Hope you enjoyed my little scents history.  I know if I REALLY wanted to I could find them all but as I said previously I'm a bit lazy when it comes to scents as opposed to shoes, or clothes or makeup.

Has there been a particular perfume that left you hanging?