micky matsu

Homemade ramen

2011-09-12T10:41:00.001-07:00

There are many reasons I love my husband...and I do have to say, his cooking is awesoooome.

i'm back!

2011-07-19T23:28:00.000-07:00

the dust has settled and i am back
here is a video to kick start my return....

le droit de suite (the resale right) - VA from Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet on Vimeo.

10 reasons why my heart is still in San Francisco

2011-03-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

10. Cool Areas are Named After Streets
The glorious Haight & Ashbury.
Let's hope my dad never finds these streets. A wonderful mis-mash of late 70's remnants, eclectic food establishments and high end fashion. Although a little touristy, I can say it was quite enjoyable to wander up and down these streets diving in and out of thrift stores (but more about those later....)
Clement St.
Riddled with lovely small businesses, I enjoyed a soy-latte from 4 different establishments, bought my daily produce from 3 different Chinese markets and yes found Turkish Coffee. If it's possible to have a favorite street...well, this is in the running.

9. Awesome Food
The Underdog
Best little hot dog establishment I have ever had the honor to partake from! Vegan, organic, many alternatives to the traditional beef hot dog. This place makes you question what the true definition of a hot dog is. I loved their chicken&turkey dog AND their homemade tator tots from russet potatoes. I have found myself telling the story of these tots twice this week alone! yummm.
Burma Super Star
The only food place we went to twice! (and if you knew my husband this is nothing short of a miracle). Delicious burmese food, made a fan out of me!

8. Walking is normal
Unlike the streets of 'suburbea hell' (as my husband calls them), walking in SF is a normal & a socially acceptable means of transportation. Where we live, it is only socially acceptable to walk down the street if you're a.pretending to jog or b.really jogging ~ and even then, you're bound to get some kind of smug suburban look. I have to say it was enjoyable to walk to the local corner store with my newborn and be met with smiles and not glares.

7. Re-usable Bags at the grocery store is also normal
Let's just say it was nice to load all our groceries into our canvas sacks free from awkward suburban faces.

6. Scarfs/Hats
as well as peacoats and boots...not only for style, but also weather appropriate. (yaaay!) enough said

5. Used Bookstores
My philosophy on bookstores is the same as that of thrift stores, the content always reflects the surrounding community...that's why my husband and I enjoy West LA and SF so much more than East Whittier. *sigh
Let's just say Green Apple Bookstore was our spot for (more than) a few outings!

4. Thrift Stores
See #5, seriously re-did half my work wardrobe under $40. oh what? Who has a nice blazer so she can rock one like Tina Fey? (hahaha someone watched waaay to much 30rock while on maternity leave. lol!)

3. Parks and Co-Ops
There were 2 parks within walking distance of our apartment....one had an awesome playground that Isami would have loved if he were 2 years old instead of 2 months old, and the other....the incredibly awesome Golden Gate Park. Let's just say it was awesoooome (and there was a truck selling the best clam chowder ever). :)
Co-Ops
Leave it to my hubby to find every co-op within a 10 mile radius of our apartment. We went to a very delicious bakery as well as my new found favorite grocery store of all time, Rainbow Grocery. Seriously, seriouslyyyy, seriouuuusly ~ nothing in LA compares. And after returning home and going on a 5 store hunt (3 stores by my hubby and 2 by myself) for a Quorn product, we resolved with a sad sigh, that alas, we were not in San Francisco anymore.

2. Chow with Kevin & Nori
Lovely brunch with lovely people. Breakfast is my favorite food hands down (2nd to sushi of course). Per Kevin's recommendation the maple syrup was amaaaazing (and if my hubby weren't there, I would have enjoyed muuuuch more of it. LOL)

1. This Is It Ice Cream
If we hadn't stayed in a grad students apartment, we would have never found these little treasures. We went to multiple stores to replace this guy's cappuccino This Is It (which we totally ate from his fridge). And it was because they were sold out. I'm telling you, soo gooood. Ice cream, oatmeal cookie and chocolate. Mann, I could eat one right now!

www.shopohnori.com

winter can be a state of mind

2011-02-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

today's "daily" is a book cover based on the photo of my dear friend & talented photographer, Aimee Koopman. i decided it was time to publish an anthology of 'winter' poems.
'winter' meaning a state of the soul.
may we all find the fireplace & hot chocolate within.

Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over (2010 Version)

2011-02-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

today's inspo.

"leave all your love and your longing behind, you can't carry it with you if you want to survive"

children, etc.

2011-02-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

taking a break from the insurmountable amount of "dailies" that are to come....a few thoughts on child rearing.

my goodness is it hard work! but boy is it worth every minute of delirious exhaustedness & its only been 7 weeks!

anyway, more thoughts on this later. shalom.

beards

2010-11-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

link: http://www.myownsurvey.com/ibugu/FABSICSABGC

day 6

2010-09-03T23:50:00.000-07:00

inspired by:

day 5

2010-08-29T00:48:00.000-07:00

wow another beautiful day~ got to sleep in (a rare treasure these days), grabbed brunch with my pops, then bonfire with the church peeps. late dinner with the hubby who is now practicing his arabic to my stomach. ohh our son will be multicultural before he even sees the sun. :)
anyway, through it all, today's sketch is the ever growing prayer of my heart....
thanks hillsong united. dang, you guys still inspire me

day 4

2010-08-28T10:44:00.001-07:00

(yesterday's post)

after living thru my 12 hour work day~ i managed to muster enough energy to plop down and eat chickfila on my bed, veg long enough to watch a documentary about andy warhol and throw together this sketch inspired by, yet again~ our friends thrice.
my desk job really does make feel like i'm....
drowning in a digital sea,

day 3

2010-08-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

today's post was inspired by something i heard on the radio a while ago. i've been meaning to make a peice of it for a while, its been stuck in the pages of my sketchbook for a bit~ anyways here's the first digital sketch of it....still pondering the best media for this one. but yes, stark statistic huh? makes me question the cost of those cheetos in the vending machine downstairs from my office....

day 2

2010-08-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

woOt finally made a day 2 a few days later. hahaha :)
thanks Thrice, you always inspire me....

day 1

2010-08-22T23:54:00.000-07:00

hello blog world.
decided to finally start the daily excercies ~ thanks taryn & josh!
just a really rough start. but it's the starting that counts right?
today's is based on our friends: mewithoutyou.

it has just begun

2010-03-05T23:55:00.000-08:00

soo, i've embarked on a new journey...as i await my wedding day & all the changes that will come. each day i am creating at least one new thing~ in this, my journey to not let my creativity slumber, despite my cubical dazed mind. *sigh. none the less, i find such joy in the challenges of fighting to keep myself sane in the monotony.

anyway, yesterday's was a watercolor, but i will wait to post that when my scanner is set up. regardless, today's was a shout out to judy smith. without her conversations i would never have silly phrases to make art out of.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T10:02:00.001-08:00

i know, it's only rock&roll ~ but i like it.....

2009-10-27T00:23:00.000-07:00

so i've been thinking alot about life callings, etc. and taking the example of Jesus ~ i mean, the guy prepared his whole life, for a 3 year ministry in his 30's. somewhere i think suburban american dream has gotten it all wrong. why are we infatuated with youth? and why do people always live defeated as if they have "missed it", if only they had known more when they were younger, blah blah, self pity, etc. i too have fallen to this trap, but we must fight to stay out. if i take Jesus' example, then i'm in the right place~ just preparing, growing and learning. i have only missed what i have kept myself from.
and grace always abounds.
anyway, these guys also helped keep things in persepective.
http://www.youtube.com/u2#p/u/

"you've GOT to get yourself togetherrrrrr"

official, new favorite artist of the year

2009-10-20T23:10:00.001-07:00

my recent discovery

makes me want to paint thousands of watercolors for 1 minute of film. *sigh. :)

today's parking spot

2009-10-18T13:41:00.001-07:00

hello does this work?

2009-10-12T23:25:00.001-07:00

hello! testing 1..2...

helllo!

2009-10-11T02:24:00.001-07:00

tis time to sleep now.

current food for thought

2009-10-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

how being "engaged" is like, ok this is going to sound nerdy, is like the 'inaugurated kingdom'...now, if you don't know what that is, i'll have to take you out for a cup of coffee to explain...but just in case, here's my thought.
being engaged is...that you're already promised to each other, completely. but it's not complete yet, not complete until after the marriage ceremony.

now, is not the Kingdom of God similar? once you're Christ's..you are His. this life is His, everything I am. but it's not entirely complete until He returns.

the question is...do i look forward to His coming the way I look forward to my wedding?
honest answer...no, not really.

the hours of preparation, consent moments of day dreaming~ how to make it more awesome, all the praying, praying praying for miracles that the event would be moving and more than just motions, all the thoughts....it's content and awesome. and my prayer is now, that i would seek the Kingdom in this way. the way an earthly human wedding can draw us to clarify whats important: family & God.

isn't that what the Kingdom does too? clarify our vision. it ought to.
:)

thought of the day....

2009-09-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

how "work" (as in 8-5 desk jobs that are non-inspiring) can be like drugs.
with phrases like,

"i need this... for just a little bit longer..."

"i can stop anytime i want"

hmmm. is there an Anonymous club for this? perhaps i shall start one. :)

making my heart glad.

2009-09-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

**oh bantjes. so beautiful!

recently i've been thinking....

2009-07-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

that disillusionment is the problem. and the hardest part is that we cannot free ourselves from disillusionment, only God can. this is a hard thing to come to terms with. hmmmm

time

2007-11-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

perhaps the many things that vie for my time are not worth fighting with. sometimes i wish i could move away to another country, maybe some sort of country side, for an extended amount of time. and just make art.
i would like that very much.

helvetica and more

2007-10-30T23:26:00.001-07:00

wow. i cannot say how disappointed I am in the font choices here. especially after watching the helvetica documentary! i mean, my goodness! haha
today (after philosophy of aesthetics talks, the helvetica film and my own ponderings)
i'm coming away with the thought that perhaps Art ought to induce a response of some sort. i have a hard time backing the abstract view of beauty for beauty's sake. shouldn't beauty move one to respond? i'm not sure...just blabbering again.
its still hard to pour out my guts into my artwork. i'm so used to filtering myself. perhaps i'll post some pics later just so my imaginary internet audience may view the depths of my soul in spraypaint jpegs. haha

yes i'm back online

2007-09-24T23:40:00.001-07:00

what a fabuloso day.