.: MIA :.

Sorry for disappearing without notice. I'm quite alive and well, actually. My parents are visiting, and we're still in the catching up mode so I'm still very busy between driving them here and there, playing games in facebook without guilt and scrapping.

I'll share some pictures later, but now I want to give you a little printable before it's too late. Hopefully you'll find good use of these tags. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

download both here
download the top one here
download the bottom one here

.: stolen from Yon :.

How cute is this boy?!?!

.: happy monday ! :.

I'm feeling very festive today and have been listening to Christmas songs. I think it's the weather, all cold and rainy, and Starbucks' red cups with lovely typography on the back. Totally don't want to deal with finals. Just want to sip my warm coffee, hug my shtinky pillow and stare out the windows... Mmm

.: SF Found :.

If only it didn't look a tad nasty I'd probably take it home, dress it up with my next-day outfit. I can redecorate my room with a boutique feeling, with window displays, merchandising and all :p
Sigh ... one day, Maria, one day you'll fly away from this house of sorrow :D

.: homesick :.

Mom sent it to me yesterday. How adorable is this guy? He's very dramatic. He doesn't like to stay at home, always looking out the window, sighing, wishing to be out chasing cats (and when the cats hiss, he'll run for his life...) He caught a cold a couple of days ago because he was sitting on the front porch too long on a windy day, so now he's wearing his vest everyday :D

.: Singing along in the morning :.

The beat kept me going, although it seems like I won't finish my homework in time.

puccho (japanese candy) cupcakes!!!

puccho (japanese candy) cupcakes!!!, originally uploaded by hello naomi.

Aaargh cute! May never eat them and just stare at them until I'm hungry. Then I may eat them. Ha!

.: can I have this in front of my room? :.

Only Mark could greet party guests this way..., originally uploaded by pmsandvodka.

How perfect!

.: happy monday no more :.

That's it, I won't do happy thoughts monday again. I'll do cranky monday instead. I have no more patient for this irresponsible, selfish, silly creature. I have a long list of her sins that I may not forgive. From her extreme loud music & tv to her lack of hygiene to her insensitivity to her surrounding. I've never been this mean to a person until I met her. I was a tad guilty for speaking my mind to her last week but not anymore. How dare a person borrow somebody else's stuff without permission and broke it? And put it back like nothing happened??? I wouldn't be so pissed if she asked for permission and apologize when she realized she broke it. My roommate may chimed in since it happened to her last week, as well. This girl need a very good shock therapy. She needs to snap out of her pity-me-my-life-is-so-sad mode asap. Hey, life only sucks if you let it happened! Do something about it instead of trying to drag everyone down the rabbit hole.

.: see? always food :.

Naturally, food sunday pictures today came from last thursday's thanksgiving meal, provided by my friends. I only help with the maccaroni & salad, and they tasted good! lol. Every year I'm thankful for having a good life, it has been challenging and interesting at the same time. What are you guys thankful for?

.: how true ? :.

I started to reduce my contacts with several people. I don't hate these people, but I know how much they like to talk and most of the untimely conversations happened while I was rushing to finish my homeworks. Despite the fact that I told them I'm busy, they chose to ignore it and continue talking or asking for favors. I found it difficult to gather my thoughts and translate it into correct and proper English, and most of the time I need quiet time to think and write. It is challenging to go back to that mode after a long conversation. I am torn between being a good friend by responding to these conversations that may takes 2-3 hours or be a complete jerk by ignoring them but finish my homework in a timely manner. I chose to ignore the phone call earlier today because I was rushing to finish my homework, and when I opened my daily zodiac I found this: How weird is that? It's not that she's a higher-up but the rest of the story was accurate. Let's hope these people will understand that I don't mean to be rude at all. :p

.: the only thing constant is ... :.

food sundays. this is the only one I can post regularly every sunday, apparently. Very yummy kimchi fried rice from a small korean restaurant in Berkeley. It's right next to Sweetheart so you can grab a yummy strawberry milk tea with boba. Ah, bliss.

*droool*

.: sf Found :.

Well technically not SF, but great finds nonetheless right? I have no idea what kind of chair it is. A very decorated baby seat, maybe, but the top part is non removable. Was it a toilet seat? Something to reshape your tush? No idea. And the second picture I found reaaally disturbing. How sad it is that someone throw away a picture of you when you were still young & cute? Although....... on second thought, there are boxes of my old pictures that I wish I can burn & erase from history ... all the 80s hairdos, versace jeans... yikes. Let's hope they are lost during the move, muhuahahaha...

.: sad day :.

Today has not been the best day in the world. I won't go into too much details, but one of the reason is my cousin's dog (chester's beloved) is missing. She's very small and always stay indoor, she never wander outside the house ever because my aunt does not want her to get dirty. Their best guess was she managed to escape (since she is very small) and was taken by someone. They're very sad because they love her so much, and it's heartbreaking to see all her toys around the house. They've been asking around & went to the dog peddlers (who usually kidnapped pets & ask for ransom........ smart move, eh?) but no sight of her. I truly wish for her return.

.: food sunday :.

Kimchi Udon at Mifune, Japantown

.: youtube ...uhm.. sunday :.

Ever since they sold energy 92.7 I rarely turned on the radio, and I'm glad I did it today because I heard this one by a British band named fanfarlo. I don't really know what genre they belong to, folk? alternative? (what is considered alternative, anyways?)

.: SF Found & pics from home :.

Obviously I'm trying to catch up on blog posts in one day, so here goes:

A Damsel in Distress

I found this pink lady just 'hanging' on the fence of Scrap, SF's version of Berkeley's Urban Ore. It's full of scraps, literally. Scraps of paper, junks from offices, used student projects, used cold pressed boards, fabric samples, wallpaper leftovers. Most of the stuff don't have price on them, so you'll have to look poor & sweet when you're there so you won't have to pay more.

Breakfast at Coffee Bean - Bandung

And my mall-hopper parents sent me this picture of their breakfast meal at Coffee Bean, one of my dad's favorite coffee spot. I don't know if any US Coffee Bean offers this, but all Asian Coffee Bean's outlet offer full breakfast sets.

.: belated sentiments :.

Last week a friend of mine posted this on her facebook status after I wished her a happy birthday : "if someone/a friend really truly cares about you, they will make time for you no matter how busy they are. Saying too busy and don't have time is just a polite way of saying an excuse." I was thinking whether it was directed at me considering how often she complains about me never finding the time to talk to her, and how she's been ignoring my messages lately. She claimed that nobody is THAT busy (yap I got that a lot, lol) It makes me feel really sad. I wonder whether all my friends think of me that way, and then today I got this message:

Dear Maria,

I really enjoy reading your blog. I miss Crepe Vine a lot, and I want to see the final bird house picture, with the bird in it. I love recycled art!

PS: I miss my friend.

Yonius (how can anyone not love this guy, seriously?)

And I constantly got BB messages from my best friend updating me with her pregnancy, and another one sending me silly jokes. I am probably too busy trying to balanced out school and life, and I probably forgot to return a call or two, but these real friends still reached out for me. They didn’t leave me just because I’m busy. They understand, and we’re still friends although we don’t talk and meet every week. How lucky I am to be friends with you all, and I hope when this (a.k.a grad school) is over, everything will be back to normal. And then you can shoot me for being ‘too busy’.

Oh FYI, that girl who posted the fb status: she never call me first, never asked me how I’m doing. Whenever we talk, she spent a good half hour scolding me because I never called her. And then she talk about her achievements since the last time we talk. So I guess in a way it was an excuse :p

.: happy thoughts monday :.

Oh what a happy monday! My class is cancelled today due to a happy circumstance: my teacher's wife just gave birth to a baby girl, named Olivia Grace. Isn't it a very lovely name? I can use this spare day to do ... even more homework, lol. At least I don't have to rush everything, and right now I'm just sitting down while hugging my stinky pillow, typing these words, and drinking good coffee. I found joy in simple things, do you?

.: hungry much? :.

Scrambled Tofu from Crepevine : all my favorite veggie in one dish. yum

.: crafty saturday :.

I'm wondering why my professor ask us to build a recycled birdhouse, completely out of waste materials. How does that relate to graphic design? My best guess is that he wants us to get familiar with different kinds of materials available to us, and get our craftmanship in shape.
I have three ideas for this birdhouse : a tim-burton-ish circus, a shakespeare cottage, and a love nest. I'm leaning towards the circus theme because I'm very much into festival, circus-y graphics. I do have terrible craftmanship skill, so hopefully I'll be better after practice.

.: BART fashion :.

He was wearing a fully embroidered shirt, with an aviator & matching blue headphone (same as mine!)

I wonder wether green pants & red shoes are 'in' right now,
because I saw two different girls wearing them

She's wearing pattern allover, top with a white knit cap full of fabric flowers

.: look what I got! :.

My mom just sent me this picture yesterday. Chester is officially a very girly boy now. At least his hairbands are in his favorite color. :)

.: and another one ! :.

This is the last one of the week... I promise!

.: another one! :.

.: live like you'll die tomorrow :.

I never saw this video nor heard this Radiohead song, so naturally I was amazed. Simple yet effective (I use these words a lot lately, I noticed) Here's the lyric:

When I'm at the pearly gates
This'll be on my videotape
my videotape

When Mephistopheles is just beneath
And he's reaching up to grab me

This is one for the good days
And I have it all here
In red blue green
Red blue green

You are my centre when I spin away
Out of control on videotape
On videotape

This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can't do it face to face

No matter what happens now
I won't be afraid
Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen.

.: left or right :.

Do you use your left or right brain the most? I kinda know the answer already but I still took the test :) Obviously I'm right-brained, I almost got no logic whatsoever in my head.

.: ideal vs real :.

03, originally uploaded by lucy rose

This post is kinda cheating because it's already Wednesday, but oh well! :D A phone call with Yon always trigger deep conversation (weird, eh? even if we talk less than 5 minutes, the topic is always serious!) Yon & I got into a conversation about not losing track of our ideals while pursuing what's real. The creative types are in big trouble because we're idealistic to the core. Logic rarely work charms on us. We challenge logic. Let's all be honest here: we all have hopes and wishes that we sometimes have to sacrifice for the sake of keeping what's real. We abandoned what we really want for something that 'makes sense.' Every disappointment, every unfulfilled wish, everything that we deemed as 'childish' and ignored, are going to add up and eventually 'kill' you. It's never okay to loses focus of who you really are just to make people 'likes' you. When the right one comes along, every single piece will fall into place. These people should never stop make efforts, constantly showing you how they really care about you, and strive to make you happy. Love is not a word; it's all about the action. The gestures, the sweet little things they do for you, the random flowers sent to you, the supports whenever you fall (and never say I told you so), how they're sincerely interested in everything you do and say. They have to make you feel special. It's not naive to wish for someone like that. That's real.

.: blog revamped :.

I've been ignoring this blog for sometimes now because I have mixed feelings about everything that has been going on in my life and I don't want to write something that I may regret afterwards. This blog needs revamping, it's so random like me :p

Right now I plan to have :
Happy Thoughts Mondays
My Sentiments Exactly every Tuesday
You-tube Wednesdays
Pics sent from Home every Thursday
Things I found around SF every Friday
Random crafts on Saturdays
and I save the best for Sundays: Food Shots!

Of course every once in a while I'll throw a picture or two of random things.

This week's happy news is that I got my new headset (thanks to beb's parents) so I can use my phone to actually call someone and talk instead of texting.

.: könnte schlimmer sein :.

könnte schlimmer sein, originally uploaded by i_hear_noises.

I want this right in front of my computer so whenever I feel like a failure I can be reminded again, cheerfully.

.: even more doggie video :.

I just saw this commercial and I think it's so funny & compelling! Companies are trying to exploit dogs lately, like the recently aired Jim Beam commercial.

.: chessie boy :.

I shot this when I went back to Indo last summer, and still my favorite video. You guys are probably sick of hearing how cute and adorable my Chester is... :p He's a big fan of fruits (mango, orange, apple, and durian!), any types of ice cream and old fashioned mints (such as miami and davos). If you want him perform usually those bribes work really well. ( Translation for non-sundanese : toel2 = colek2 huehehehehe....)

.: abandoned :.

For those whom I have ignored and perhaps poisoned with spray paint vapors, I apologize. This is the reason why I have abandoned you all (sorry Yon, please don't get tired of the 'I have homework' excuse). This project has been taking so much of my time and literally made me sick to my stomach because I inhaled too much of spray paint vapors (I put these projects inside my room less than 24 hours after I spray them). Speaking of homework, a fellow classmate and I have this discussion on how we repel friends by saying 'I have too much homework, can't hangout'. They thought this is just our excuse for not wanting to socialize, they don't believe that we have THAT much homework. Honestly, even we can't believe that we have that much homework either. This school has been taking a major toll on my life, and I think of all 20 students that are in my thesis batch, 18 of them started to feel burned out. Right now, I'm dying to have successful projects to keep me going, because I'm aware I haven't been one of the good students. So we'll see how this semester goes :)

Anthropologie Velvet paint collection

This is why graphic designers can't have manicures

.: rainy day :.

I'm rotating these books on my daily 'to-read' list

Aroma Coffee, handmade in Bandung

I heart rain more than sunshine, but today it's like a mini thunderstorm all over the Bay area. All I want to do is hide under my warm blanket, read good books and drink good coffee. or tea. or mango juice. or... or .... you know what, fro-yo will work too. Too bad I have to go out and shop for primer and spent the afternoon spray painting my cans.

.: love/hate san francisco :.

The little girl was dancing to ZTC's music

porsche ferrari scuderia show

I'm still not loving San Francisco unconditionally, but I learn to accept it. Especially when they come up with the most random festival/celebrations like the Fillmore Festival+Lovefest where everyone can dance around in their birthday suit. This past weekend I got the chance to go to the Columbus Day festival thanks to my friend Joy, whose boy is a drummer in a cool band hired to entertain visitors of the festival. They have everything italian in this festival: food, music, mini casino inside the Catholic school's gym and car show. note: beb pointed out that those are Ferraris that I posted. I had pictures of the Porsches too but clearly I only know Toyota by heart!! I love how creative people dressed during the festival, feels like it's Halloween every week!

.: No bird got flipped :.

Hiya all, please support my thesis by visiting my other blog (as if I need more, eh?) I'll be happy to read all your incivilities stories, as long as you don't mind I'm using them in my thesis book later on :) All comments, inspirational stories and photographs are more than welcome. Thanks!

.: hostility :.

As someone whose thesis topic is civility, I am not civil at all. If anything, I do the topic for my own sake. I am aware how hostile I can get especially when I haven't slept well and there's a major lack of coffee in my system, or anywhere around Chinatown (HA!). I'm a hater. I hate loud piercing noises. I hate nosy people. I hate know-it-all, arrogant people. And if you're a pious, you'll never hear anything from me again. It's a good thing to do this topic, really. I have to get my attitudes and manners checked, before I judge others. Be nicer, Maria!!

.: anthro luv :.

Never ending cravings for Anthro's stuff. The shoes came from Chie Mihara and just waaay out of my budget, even with discount. But it looks so cool & will look good with tights and dresses.

.: freebies! :.

Okay now this may sounds like a promotion, but I got this book for free because I subscribe to my points, and I clicked every ads they sent my way. I got like 3 ads per day, 5 points each, and about three times a year I exchanged the points with $25 amazon gift certificate, which I used to buy this book :D And I thumbed this book like crazy for the past 4 days because I have to sketch 300 logos. And now I may have gone crazy, because I started to draw flying houses and wings on everything.

.: so you think you can tell the differences? :.

If you're a dork like me who got excited when you spot your favorite type on display, you may want to take this quiz. I got 19 out of 20 !!! *braag braaag*

.: serious fetish :.

I heart shoes. Really. Especially chunky-heel-t-strap-buttery-leather-quirky shoes. I wish I can get a better shoot of the shoes but it's tough to take shoes' pictures without shaking :p Oh and my roommate got a full size mirror so i can tell whether I look like a total whacko or super stylish now :D

.: addicted :.

I'm always addicted of something and go crazy with it. I'm forever hooked on Starbucks, green milk tea & fro-yo. Last semester I went a bit crazy with Trader Joe's kettle corn but the mania seems to slowly disappear(or has it? hmm....*run to TJ now*). Right now I'm all crazy for Korean's mixed grain rice (probably to the horror of my roommate who keeps on finding the rice cooker all purplish) with sprinkles of furikake. Salmon furikake, to be exact. It's salty, spicy, salmon-y... over warm rice. Just dump spam in it and call it dinner! I can probably eat this everyday! (Or until I got tired of it and find something new) If I can eat this, drink green milk tea and have mango fro-yo with lychee topping as dessert, I'll be happy like sotong for the rest of the day.(don't ask)

.: around SF :.

This is what happened when I had too much junk mail, too much homeworks,
and procrastinating mode-on. I cut them subscription postcards into butterflies and hang them.

ATM Machine for human?

Look what I found on the street in Hayes Valley. Somebody got lucky, I guess.