Author: TwinkieChan

Sooo, Bibi has a cone on her head and some stitches in her face.   Rewind. When we moved into this house, the backyard was a wreck. Everything was super overgrown and neglected. After cleaning up the trees and bushes, we were left with a big ol slab of concrete in the middle of the yard, which gave the place a prison-basket-ball-court kind of feel. It was a bummer but I kind of ignored it and the entire backyard for a while. My mom took an interest in re-beautifying it, and helped me pick out and plant a bunch of new flowers and little bushes and ferns. It really helped! But we are now taking it a step further and ripping out half the concrete and putting in lawn! We’re also getting flagstones to cover the remaining cement. It is going to look spiffy out there! Anyway, during all the back yard work, I figured the dogs would be bummed to not be able to do their business whenever they wanted, so we planned to stay with my parents during this time. We were there for two nights, when my mom woke up in the morning and said, “Do you think we need to take Bibi to the vet?” I had been awake for a little bit but my eyes had been closed, so everything was still kinda blurry. I couldn’t see what the big deal was. All of a sudden, I freaked out! She had two HUGE bloody gashes on her head, right above the eye, and little scrolls of skin scrunched underneath. It wasn’t bleeding very much, which was weird, but I when you can see white-ish fatty tissue dangling off your baby’s face, you kinda want to hurl and pretend it’s not real. She didn’t seem to be in pain, though. There had been an altercation between Bibi and one of my parents’ dogs and he snapped at her. She has grown up around those dogs but nothing like this has happened before. She also has very thin, delicate skin, and not much hair to protect that skin, so she does run into bushes and stuff and rip gashes in her own skin, but I had never seen anything like this before. It was kind of shocking. The vet said she needed stitches and might have to go under general anesthesia, so they had to keep her for the day to empty her stomach out as much as possible so she wouldn’t barf from being anesthetized. I felt so bad leaving her at the vet in a crate all day with her face dangling off her skull. We picked her up later that evening, and she was super groggy, but my parents’ house is very stimulating and fun, and she kept trying to run around and do stuff with the other dogs, while she clearly would also start sagging and collapsing when standing still. We decided that I would take the dogs back to my house and […]

On Saturday, Manda and I had to run some girlie errands: MAKEUP SHOPPING!!!! We spent an afternoon in Union Square, mostly at Macy’s, where I saw a cardboard cut-out of Justin Bieber and begged Manda to commemorate the moment. Apparently some rando also wanted to commemorate the moment! Then of course we had to go shopping for my wedding dress! Just kidding!! We saw these dresses on sale and wanted to be matching forest fairy princess maidens for Halloween, but then discovered that these were the most hideous and ill-fitting bridesmaids dresses ever. I think that the dark socks really made the outfit. At first, Manda refused to remove her pants and boots because her boots were too annoying to take off. So she just pulled down her pants in the fitting room and I thought this was classy and hilarious move. I’m on the right, trying on a denim skirt by Material Girl. I ended up buying it cuz I’m funny like that. I had to buy a huge size so my giant womanly hips would fit in it, and now we have to take in the waist by like 3 or 4 inches. I’m not a girl, not yet a woman. Manda also bought a faux leather coat by Material Girl and it is SOOOOO CUTE!!! Of course I failed to take a photo of the clothing that actually looked GOOD from this outing!

Updating the shop on a Friday night? Sure, why not!!! I know you are all home at your computers working like me! 😛 Cupcake berets coming soon… hopefully in the next 2 weeks :).

On Saturday, we met up with Mars, Josh, Tiffany, and Daniel, and had brunch at The Elite Cafe. You gotta love a place where mini donut holes are on the starter menu! Then we all made our way over to Japan Town to check out the J-Pop Summit. Miss Alphabet and Locketship had booths right next to each other, which made for convenient shopping and hang outs! Check out Zambi’s blog entry for better details about the booths!! I didn’t take any photos! I wish I had a photo of me and Amy and her friend Josh, since he was wearing gigantic platform boots which made him 7 feet tall and made us feel teeny tiny! Anyway, today I wore my purchases from that day: a cakey hat by Locketship and a cute top from Miss Alphabet! Too bad you can’t tell from the photos really that the cake plate is sparkly, and so is the lavender fabric on the shirt! Last night while watching Bachelor Pad, I painted my nails! Because I got obsessed, I totally ordered this OPI UK exclusive color I Pink I Love You from some UK website, and the package ended up shipping from Belgium. Fancy! (A polish with the same name was released here in the U.S., but it’s a pale baby pink.) Then I decided to pile a bunch more crap into my hair. This hat/headband is the most amazing accessory ever. Only downside: it’s mounted on a child’s head band, and I have the biggest head on the planet. I can wear the headband for maybe 2 hours and then it’s brain explosion time!!! Oh well! WORTH IT.

So, remember this weird gif I posted a little while back? That was my sketch for a crochet piece my friend and crochet elf Marissa was going to commission for her new nursery, since she wanted to decorate the baby’s room with a lot of art made by friends. We went to her baby shower on Sunday, and I decided that I would finish this piece and gift it, along with a matching baby hat. The whole concept came about after Marissa and I chatted about the baby’s name. One of her possible nicknames is “Sweat Pea,” so I kind of ran with that! Plus, Marissa has a love for bunnies, so I smashed the two together!! Here’s the finished piece! It’s 11 X 14. I decided to leave out the white polka dots in the background that were going to be white puff stitch. I started making a swatch, and the white puffs sort of distracted from the centerpiece, so I made a pink shell border instead, which has inspired me to make more crochet paintings with crocheted “frames”! Fun! I was telling Manda that I didn’t intend to make a lot of crochet paintings right now, because I don’t know that they sell as well as my regular work. I do like making them, though, so hopefully when I feel like I have more time, I can make more just for fun!! Clearly I enjoy putting small food-animals into tasty food-boats. Here’s a shot of me painting the canvas to match the lavender yarn I used as the background color. That night, I thought I was like a color-matching paint-mixing savant, because I had matched the paint so perfectly to the yarn!!! But after the paint dried, I realized the paint was slightly cooler and bluer than the yarn. Oh well! Here’s a shot of me with the painting at like 6:30 in the morning when I finished it. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in the nursery itself. Also I can’t wait to meet the real Sweet Pea! Marissa has one more month to bake a baby.

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you might be familiar with my love for peter pan collars on dresses and shirts. One of my bday presents from Hairy was this detachable peter pan collar by bepixielated on Etsy. Check out her cute shop!

I spent a lot of time in estrogen today. Manda and I went to Esther’s farewell-and-take-all-of-my-clothes champagne brunch. We brought cupcakes from Let’s Cupcake. It was a gathering of ladies eating and trying on Esther’s clothing she was giving away before moving to the UK. Afterward, Manda and I hit up the Pika Pika in Japantown. Manda had prepared for this and brought her Care Bear kigurumi, so I grabbed my hamster kigu, and off we went! We did one set with normal clothes, and one set with our giant pajamas. DAMN, IT WAS HOT!!! I was sweaty and apologizing for stinking in my humongous fleece onesie with no proper ventilation. Sorry these are kinda washed out. I think we should avoid the super bright setting on the photobooths, and also, we got them enlarged via scanner, and I am sure that did not help with the lack of Manda’s eyebrows either. I think my favorite is the one on the camel. We ran out of time and couldn’t decorate it, but it truly needed no decoration!

Hairy called this my “old lady outfit,” kitties and roses! I have a really bad addiction to clothes by I’m Your Present. I have a disease!!! Shirt & Hair bow: I’m Your Present, Shorts: F21, Tights: Celeste Stein

Amidst all my sample making for YY, I am still trying to get new items into my Etsy shop for you guys! Update coming soon with more ice cream hair clips, strawberry cake hair clips, cupcake coffee cup cozies, and cupcake slouchy berets! There is a lot of sprinkle magic in my near future! Oh! Plus! I got the banana split denim jacket back from the art gallery, so I think I might put that up on eBay before my mom steals it. She tried it on yesterday and loved it. She’s rad!

Earlier this week, I was in Dallas for Yummy You meetings. We’ve been laying low a bit, working on making things bigger and better, so thanks everyone for your patience, and fingers crossed for more Yummy You this holiday season! So much has happened with Yummy You this year that I should probably never talk about, but it’s been an interesting journey in trusting your gut and doing your best to build a good team. I wish I could show you the things I saw in my meetings. There’s going to be so much fun stuff!! Stuff I can’t wait to have myself! Wheeee! Hairy got me this tshirt that says One Woman Army. It really feels that way sometimes, but then I remember I do have a great support system around me. There are days when I feel like nobody can do their job right, but I trust that all the hard work and anxiety will pay off in the end. In good news, I might be getting an intern! Thanks everyone for the bday wishes!! Again, it was a very low key bday. The BFF and I didn’t even take pictures at the amusement park. We decided we were definitely too old for roller coasters. I felt like I was getting beat up in the head by a gang. Plus, the funnel cakes don’t even taste good anymore. It was like cat food squished into a circular patty. Only Disneyland for me from now on! We had fun, though, as only besties can. Last night, the BFF held a small sewing class for me and her roommie and we got takeout for dinner. It was the first I ever sewed anything on a machine. We sewed on paper to learn! It was exciting and scary. You just kinda had to be ok with making mistakes. Shirt: Kweenz Destroy, Tights: Celeste Stein, Shorts: True Religion, Socks: Don’t remember! Bought them in Vegas, Belt: from the Bettie Page shop on Haight, Hair bow: Puppy Cat Meow, Star brooch: Pizzicato Kei, Necklace: AthinaLaBella

Cute drawing by the wonderful KittyPinkStars! Today was my 35th bday! It was super mellow. I had a nice dinner with my family, went to a chef-related after-party event thingie at the Westin for two seconds, peeped Richard Blaise and Fabio from Top Chef, took a pic in a photobooth, and went home to work. Tomorrow my bff is taking me to an amusement park to eat junk food and go on some rides. I started to think about how weird it would have been as a 13 year old kid, for my 35 year old mom to go to Great America with her best friend on her birthday!!!

A few years ago, my brother and his wife thought of this idea to have a joint birthday bbq at my parents’ house since we are both summer babies. One year we had a burger cook off, and I was too lazy to edit the video, and now I have no idea where those files are. The photo above is my brother and me, in the super hero capes that Manda made for us. We are all very special people. Anyhoo, we organized the burger cook off again this year. I didn’t invite my veggie/vegan friends, because they are nice people and would offer to come anyway probably, but I just wouldn’t want to torture them with the celebration of meats that would ensue. I made the score sheets and prize ribbons the night before at like 3am. It’s helpful to have lots of craft supplies available at home at all times! Root for your favorite contender and see who wins! p.s. it’s not my birthday until August 6th. I’ll be 35! oh p.p.s. The use of “Rush” for the music came about because we were watching Adventures of Power, which is a really funny movie about a dude who loves air drumming.

Here’s me with a giant puffy delicious fried what bread called a bhatura. We had dinner at Dosa the other night. I could eat a million of these things. SO GOOD.

Cat food. Runes. I tried to google what shapes these are supposed to be, with not much success. Hairy said it was a cross, a church bell, and a Jesus fish, but I think what he thinks is a church bell just looks like a a mutated tree. What ARE the oat cereal shapes in Lucky Charms?

After seeing a picture posted by Sue in Instagram of her yellow sandals, I HAD to get a pair of my own! I chose white!

I was on the phone with my biz partner today in my craft room, and the image of myself having a serious phone call with my pink blinged out iPhone and over all cutesywutesy outfit struck me as….funny. Your offer is unacceptable.

My mom came over today and took me to lunch. She kind of just appeared at my door so I quickly had to get myself together! Today’s hair experiment was a messy low side bun with lots of hair doodads to hide the fact that I don’t have a lot of luscious long hairz. This would probably also look cute with a ton of flowers instead of bows. For my Tumblr buds, I can’t figure out why the heck this won’t post as an animated gif over there?! Frustrating! I took a pic of the front just cuz it seemed weird to only show the back! HAhah. One of those lazy tshirt and jeans days :). I have been finishing up a bunch of custom orders. Check out the lemon cozy that went out today!

This is what my vanity table has looked like since we moved in. The bedroom was the first room I put together, but the last room I’ve actually decorated. I started throwing stuff onto the vanity in the corner, and the pile kept growing. It became this horrible task in my head to clean up this mess, but last night, I finally dove in, and am so happy!! Much better!

While my cousin was in town, we did a lot of shopping. I picked up these mint corduroy shorts in the sale section of Urban Outfitters. They’re Levi’s. While I was doing my laundry and washing them, I noticed all my mint green clothing clumping together, so I decided to put some on and snap a photo! Tshirt: Threadless, Shorts: Levi’s, Knee Highs: We Love Colors, Shoes: Dr. Marten, Head Band: Made by me!

I can’t remember if I told you guys I finally joined Tumblr. If you are on it, I am twinkiechan. I was really resistant to join for a long time. There is only so much social media one person can manage! But I decided to join since it seems like a cool way to share photos and inspiration, so it’s purely visual for me. I only blog here :). But this also means that sometimes I forget to post pictures here! So follow me on tumblr if you like. I’ll also reblog other people’s photos that I enjoy over there, but will only post my own photos over here! Also most of my tumblr photos are coming in from my Instagram. It’s all so convoluted and silly, right? Last weekend my cousin from Hong Kong came to visit, since he was in town, training for his new job. We ate a lot of food and did a lot of shopping! Ugh, so much shopping. Can’t wait to show you my new favorite ugly shorts…. I have also rekindled my love for Froot Loops and jelly bracelets. Manda already stole two bracelets from me 😛 . I think I am going to get her her own set!

Congrats to the winners! I drew them randomly using Random.org. I will email you guys and put you in touch with the author. Thanks, everyone, for entering and showing your support for Joyce’s new book!

Yaga from Switzerland asked if I wanted to send her “5 important things” to be included in her Monday Friend blog feature, which includes a cute sketch by her of you and your important things. It’s up now! Thanks, Yaga!     P.S. Only one more day to enter the giveaway! I’m going to select winners tomorrow!

Here’s a short video of me and the dogs engaging in some very serious business. p.s. If you haven’t visited my blog for the last few days, don’t forget to check out my giveaway!

There’s a zipper up the back. I should have tried to see if I could get inside of it. I probably could if I cut the feet off! I’m not sure what this was even for. The seller predicted that it was the cover for an inflatable chair, since the tag says “inflatable.” But it’s not really in a chair shape, ya know? There are so many possibilities with this thing that I don’t know what to do with it. Suggestions welcome! I thought of just stuffing him and using him as my new scarf model! Or driving around in the car with him, buckled up like a human, buying him a latte, etc. Hairy thinks he’s creepy, but I think that’s just the jellymonster talking.