Red & Gold

Happy Chinese New Year! I never usually celebrate it (one year, an old white grandma said "happy new year" to me in February and I thought she was crazy)... but since I'm in Hong Kong this year, I've been surrounded by dragons + crowds + Chinese music + red + gold for the past week, and I'm quite enjoying my days off, roaming the streets and checking out the festivities.

 I have no idea what these apples say but I bought them just because they were tattooed with Chinese characters. (Somebody help me translate? haha)...

 Anyway, I usually never wear red + gold together because it would make me feel like a giant CHINESE RED POCKET, but for Chinese New Year, it's the tackiest/most festive thing you can do. haha. Since McDonald's gave me a free ferrero rocher with my golden nutty mocha, I decided to give my fingers the Chinese New Year treatment with red nails + a gold ring...

I always used to do this when I was a kid... of course, step 1 was to thoroughly devour the chocolate...

 ...then I'd take a coin and smooth out the gold wrapper...

 ...roll it into a thin strip...

 ...and make myself a cheap disposable ring...(much cooler and cleaner than disposable diapers)...



Anyway, I promise the next craft I post will be much more legit, but you'll have to deal with this for now, because I've been spending my time exploring Hong Kong during New Years. I'll be posting some of my adventures tomorrow so come back again (if you're not already scared away by my sad disposable ring idea)... haha give me a break... it was probably the first DIY I ever thought up when I was like... 7.

What would YOU do with a ferrero rocher wrapper?

Let me know your best idea and if I like it enough, I will PERSONALLY send you a hand-crafted, limited edition disposable ferrero rocher wrapper ring. That spectacular prize alone should be motivation enough for you to post a comment. HAHAHAH...

quotes of the day

I like interesting quotes. When I read an inspirational one, I get motivated for that one moment to be a better person... and then the next second I've forgotten it and carry on with my life. HAHA. That's why my daily coffee mug (the white one below) keeps me happy every day. I definitely have to work on the "good health" part but I've already mastered bad memory.

Anyway, that was a random compilation of some quotes from coffee mugs and some drawn on giant post-it notes in my spare time. Photo credit for the star/piano shot goes to Grace, who does not believe that she has an artistic eye, but who is wrong. =)

The Mr. Potatohead Exhibit

Yesterday, I went to this Hong Kong mall called "The One" and they had a Mr. Potatohead Exhibit!!! Check out all the awesomely-themed Potatohead collectibles!

MASHLY in love... ha... ha.... No. That's wordplay gone too far.

A Lakers Potatohead...

Star Wars Potatoheads...

...a SUPER CUTE R2D2 Potatohead...

A super creepy Spongebob-gone-wrong Potatopants...

An Elvis Potatohead that doesn't even look like a Potatohead anymore...

 ...and a Spiderman/Ironman/Transformers section! 

 Clearly I was craving some potatoes...

 ...and considering I'm creating an entire blog post on Potatoheads, CLEARLY I'm obsessed.

Look... I even have a video. HAHAHA

Oh, and in the video, when I say "this is totally Randy"... I'm referring to the person, not the adjective. bahahaha

And finally... say hi to my new Mrs. Potatohead coffee cup! 

Anyway, talk to you tater! (did I just type that? ... never again... never again...)...
I just lost my few remaining friends.

i am the urge to paint on an empty canvas

While I’ve been on creative hiatus due to the daily ham-n-egg scramble of trying to bring home the bacon, I’ve resorted to being inspired by fabulously fetching advertisements like the ones below (and making up nonsensical breakfast-food analogies on the side).

By the way… I think it’s funny how in the 1^st and 3^rd images, they make the left brain look so… dead. I think the 2^nd image has the best interpretation of the left brain – clean and structured yet intricate and innovative. Meanwhile, the right brain is busy regurgitating rainbows.

Left brain: 
I am the left brain.
I am a scientist. A mathematician.
I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear.
Analytical. Strategic. I am practical.
Always in control. A master of words and language.
Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers.I am order. I am logic.
I know exactly who I am.

RiGhT BrAiN:
I am the right brain.
I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion.
Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. 
I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet.
I am movement. Vivid colors. 
I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. 
I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel.
I am everything I wanted to be.

(images from: JeannieJeannie - a super cool design blog)

Although the whole “left brain/right brain” theory isn’t even true, I completely identify with the right brain description in these Mercedes ads. I feel that sometimes the world rewards people for having left-brain qualities (or at least prefers to hire people who are organized and practical). It’s nice to be reminded that this world needs all different kinds of people and that even my severely lopsided inclination towards being a logic-lacking nostalgia-loving borderline-hippie dreamer has an (almost) socially-acceptable place in society. “I am creativity. A free spirit.”  I love it. But as much as I embrace spontaneity, this ad doesn’t quite convince me as far as to buy a Benz because of it. That tiny little left-brained voice in me says that wouldn’t be practical.

Anyway, what do you think? Which of the three images do you like the most?

Which side of the brain do you identify with more?

the next chapter...

So this is the engagement story. It's much easier for me to post about it here than to retell it 100 times in person. I love storytelling and making a chronological adventure out of every blog post as you can probably tell... but the first few times I tried telling THIS particular story, I was a stuttering awkward mess. I've gotten better, but now for all of you people who have been asking me about it, I can just lazily direct you to this link... hahaha. Anyway, here it goes...

It happened a few days before Christmas. The day after I got off the plane, Randy took me out to a super cool lounge called Raw Canvas in Yaletown, where (as their motto states) you can eat, drink, and make art.  So that is exactly what we did.

 We ate...

drank...

 and made art.

 It's really fun because you pay for a canvas and you can use as much paint as you want. Randy and I decided to work on a painting together. Little did I know he was secretly texting and setting up a surprise behind my back... but I didn't notice anything because I was way too into the painting. HAHA.

 In the end, we painted cartoon versions of ourselves, complete with a jetpack and hot air balloon.

 Near the end of our session, Randy kept on rushing me to finish but I was having so much fun that I didn't want to leave...

Finally, I was reluctantly dragged away from painting to my heart's content. haha. Then, Randy suggested that we open our Christmas presents. He specifically wanted to exchange gifts at the fountain where he had first asked me out almost 6 years ago. It was freezing cold, but I'm always up for something random, so we grabbed Tim Hortons coffees (how Canadian) and off we went! When we got to the fountain, I saw this this random light display that seemed a little out of the ordinary...

There were other Christmas lights on surrounding trees and lampposts, but this particular light display looked suspiciously different because there were battery packs on either side... like someone had just left it there. I pointed out that the lights were "interesting"... but I didn't think too much about them.

 Anyway, I gave Randy his Christmas present first and he totally rushed through opening it. I kept on saying things like "wait... there's more inside..." but he seemed super excited to give me HIS present. It came in a box and it was a photo album (an empty one that I had given him two years ago to fill with photos). This time, he gave it back to me and it was filled with photos of us with a storyline, kind of like a picture book. 

When I got to the last page... it said this...

...and when I turned the page, there was a picture of a ring box. DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!

That was when I finally clued in (haha) and went into "shocked" mode. Randy asked me, "Will you be my Mrs. Potatohead?"  and of course I said yes! Then he said, "Okay guys, you can come out now!" and two of my best friends came creeping out from the shadows where they had been hiding in bushes like the shady lurkers they are. 

Quite useful lurkers they were though, because they helped us document the excited aftermath. haha

So THESE TWO were the culprits who set up the lights... they were good sports because they had been freezing their butts off outside while waiting for Randy and I to arrive, and warding off curious kids who kept on trying to touch the lights.

After much happy dancing and prancing, we finished off the night with class... AT McDONALD'S. HAHA. Burgers, fries, and ice-cream make the best celebratory meal! =)

As for the ring, I never had any expectations because all I ever wanted was a RING POP (or a LORD OF THE RINGS ring!!!... although that represents total evil, so maybe not)... but considering my utter lack of knowledge regarding engagement rings/shiny things and the fact that I know as much about carats as I do about carrots, I have to say that Randy + my close friends know me well... and I absolutely love the delicate vintage-esque setting that he finally decided on.

I feel so blessed because honestly, it was a very special moment. Both Randy and I dislike unnecessary extravagance so just being able to spend hours painting and working on something together was one of the best things in the world.

Anyway, that's the whole story! And I'm officially on my way to being Mrs. Potatohead!

=)