Thursday, November 27

prison


the view from my temporary desk, my car!

this is how work feels sometimes...it even
looks that way.

especially today when i've bought
an absolutely heavenly blue yarn
waiting for me to turn it into something
some relative of mine in amsterdam or
croydon will love.

not to mention those two books
sitting at home, waiting for me
to page through them with mental
oohs and aahs.

in any case, i am certainly not
ungrateful for my job nor the
paycheck i got yesterday (chi ching!)
so do not be mistaken.



an idle sketch, tmr i'll post it in its totality.

have a happy evening!

Wednesday, November 26

thanksgiving

we don't celebrate
thanksgiving here but
i do have a lot of thanks
to give to some special people
who made yesterday evening
feel like a early christmas
morning.



this came from my bestie of 11...12...
who's-keeping-count-anymore years Cam.
twas as she described it 'a very very very' late
grad gift, which i looooove!

the second: a set of 13 inch (ambitious, no?)
knitting needles, which will come in handy on
my journey to no stressdom.

the third: two books on graphic design and
illustrations, 100% images, not theory.
the most random things inspire me, so
these are just random nice things in books.
nice coffee table pieces too.

and finally: a hdmi cable.

the last three were from my vader.

i love giving gifts, and i'm not at all fussy
about receiving them, but it is quite a
nice feeling to know you were
though of.

thanks!

Tuesday, November 25

tension

my head feels quite crammed
today, too many thoughts
fighting for the fore or
perhaps its just a headache.

i managed to find 5 mins
to break from work and
make a post and nothing
seems to be coming to mind.

chu


some random waterfalls we found

wish i had a picture with
no people in it but it was quite a
big group so there was always SOMEONE
in the way.
i wouldn't mind going back there again.

Saturday, November 22

thoughts

"maturity does not come with age,
and common sense isn't so common"

this is what is on my mind right now.

the situation i may or may not
expound on in a later post but
i found myself reminded today
that although traditionally the
older you are, the more mature
people assume you to be, it is
not always the case.

"sound practical judgement that
is independent of specialized
knowledge, training, or the like;
normal native intelligence"
(common sense)
i dont know...maybe
common sense is really something
that is subjective and individualistic
and the name is just contradictory.

sometimes people really just
surprise me.

Friday, November 21

friday


(this is how much i love fridays)

yay for another weekend!
i hope i will make the best
of it.

another semi-uneventful
week has passed and i'm
that much closer to the
13th when a very
special package arrives ()
and christmas which my
Mr. is determined to
make me love...again.

the commercial aspect
of christmas overwhelmed me
after working every christmas
in one of the most popular
retail stores in my city,
but i think i'm on my way
back to loving this time again.

have a merry friday!

Thursday, November 20

decor first, house second...?


led clock

doormat

emmo home is my new
favourite place to online
window shop.

i love how the doormat can
read 'come in' or 'go away'

can't wait to start
decorating my house.

realist

why is it easier for
us to waste thoughts
on the negative?

i don't think i'm
a pessimist, but i'm never
overly optimistic either.

i'm more of a realist.
i have hopes and i certainly
dream, but i always have
that reservation that things
just may not turn out the
way i might like because
of X factors.

before i stray too far
from what i really wanted
to post on, i think the mornings
are the most stressful time of
the day for me.

(if i could have made that 'the'
any bigger, i would have.)


the stress isn't even work
related stress, its the actual getting
to work that i find stressful.
i honestly can't imagine that
people drive worse anywhere else in
the world, although an italian/german
couple who were visiting told me that
the driving is the same in southern italy.

this morning as i was going down
to work, a bus driver on the other side
decided that he would use my lane
to avoid the bumper to bumper.
below is a rough depiction.



what's even worse is that he
had the nerve to sit there and
gesticulate at me as though i
was in the wrong!

After about 15 mins, some
kind person let him back into
his lane and i went on my way
STEAMING mad... something
like this happens every morning.

after some time, i wondered
why i was letting it upset me
so much, turned up some music
and continued on my almost merry way.

i think its only human to express
anger, fustration, annoyance at
such things but i don't know
why persons internalize and
continually harp on something
that happened days, weeks or years ago.
that sort of thinking creates a mental
nesting area for bitterness, hate
and other poisons.

on the very upside the wkend
is near and i should be looking for
material to get my closet going.

Random me fact
i don't drink soda,
i'm a water or fruit juice person.

Tuesday, November 18

keep it street



Photo: Nicholas Claude

i love art's many faces.
i'm not a terribly huge
fan of street art that
becomes almost an
eye blister but i think
it def has a place amongst
the rest.



i took this in london,
it was interesting to
find this graffiti-d place
in the middle of the other
blank and unblemished
structures.

Random me fact:

i've only cut my hair
3 times, 2 of them were by me.
i promise it was even.

Monday, November 17

upBeat

yup yup,
feeling a teeny weeny bit more
upbeat today.

i did a nice lil drafty draft
of the flash for the entry to my
site, please tell me what u think!



it still has some way to go
but its a start. i'll make another
upload when its finished.

going to watch Quantum of Solace
later with my reg group and i think i've
seen almost all the Bond movies.
dad made sure his little girls didn't
grow up like girlie girls, so while
other little girls played with barbies,
my sister and i were climbing trees.

i know its old but this song
has been in my head for a bit.

random me fact:
i love almost every movie genre,
except romance,
i'm sure you saw that coming.
i especially love a good indie film!

Sunday, November 16

caught in limbo

...okay so maybe i'm not caught,
but i'm certainly in an 'inbetween'
spot.

i never expected for there to be
an awkward transition phase
between my graduating from
university and joining the workforce
fulltime.

esp since i've been working part time
for the past 7 years; every weekend in
addition to a couple solid months.

and yet i still have this unexpected
conflicting feeling that i should be pushing
ahead faster than i am.

and it spills over into my projects.
i feel it most with my latest, a website
which i decided i had to have for whatever
reasons at the time and now i have no
intimation as to what i'm going to do with it.

sigh

just in case you were curious,
i stuck with my original choices
for dinner on friday and overall i thought the
food was good, it wasn't quite the bite out of
heaven i thought.

the coquille de mer was very nice, i love cheese
and the lobster and shrimp went well with it.
the soup du jour was pepperpot soup which i ♥,
so i opted for that instead of the lobster bisque,
and it was good although it wasn't the best I've had.
the grilled filet mignon had to be my favourite
dish of the night. i had mine done
medium well and it was so good!
the dessert sadly enough was the most disappointing,
the vanilla bean creme brulee with
caramelized rum on the top.
mine tasted of pure white rum which i dislike,
but dessert was just one down factor,
i still had a great time with some lovely people.

all this rain today is making it hard not
to just spend it sleeping.

random me fact:
i'm a chronic sneezer once i get going.

Friday, November 14

Food!

tonight I feel as though
I will be taking a bite out of
heaven.

Its Restaurant Week now,
and I'm eating with 6 others
at one of two restaurants in
the priciest bracket...

I expect it should also be the
most DELICIOUS as well.
(hopefully!)

Here's the menu:
Appetiser

Coquille de Mer

Medley of seafood in a rich cream sauce with mushrooms and cheese

Spicy Stuffed Crab Back

Flaky crab meat seasoned, spiced and stuffed in its own back

Caesar Salad

Garlic anchovy dressing, croutons and shaved Parmesan cheese

Soup du Jour

Lobster bisque

Main Course

Stuffed Snapper Fillet

Stuffed with fresh spicy crab and crusted with herbs

Calypso Shrimp

Jumbo shrimp sautéed in butter with julienne of peppers and onions

Grilled Filet Mignon

With sautéed fresh mushrooms and Béarnaise sauce

Dessert

Vanilla Bean CrÈme Brulée

Rich velvet custard with a crisp caramelised rum topping, served flamed

Chocolate Mousse

Rich cream, chilled with chocolate shavings

Fruit Sorbet

An array of flavours

Petit Fours

I'll be having the italics!

Random me fact:

I would like to skydive someday,
but I wouldnt try bungee jumping.


my artsy bee

SO...
it occurred to me a couple days ago
that I should put up a profile pic
on the blog.
I wasn't inclined to use one of
myself really, so I sketched this little bee
below on a 3" x 3" sticky note at work.
as it usually happens with my art,
I wasn't entirely certain what I wanted
to do...I was just sketching.
I drew a paintbrush on the
end of his antenna, thought it was cute.

After I was finished, I scanned it in and
vectorized it in Illustrator (♥) and then
coloured it. I added that red paint drop
just for a lil 'POP', even though my Mr.
who is also a designer, thought it was
blood....
......
I like the red.


The wings I drew in Illustrator because
I forgot them while I was sketching.

Like it?

Wednesday, November 12

Foodie Anonymous


a lil something I did on my down time

today is a rather overcast day,
very rainy, I can hear my bed calling
me to come and wrap up under the
comfort and just sail off into dreamland,
with the sound of the raindrops on the roof.

....

back to reality.
with roughly 3 hours left in the work day,
maybe more depending on the time
that my Mr. takes to get thru the traffic.
I just had lunch and I'm already thinking
about dinner... so wrong. I should def
join a Food Anonymous the way I love to eat
and the portions at that!

I found this really nice recipe online and
I've been thinking about making this one
weekend when the weather is nice and
cool.



I would substitute the scallops, mussels and fish,
for lobster instead...maybe a little fish,
though I am not a huge consumer of fish
(except in sushi...and a nice fried parrot fish with festivals on the beach )

I would also add some scotch bonnet peppers,
and use fire roasted tomatoes instead and
use less butter and more olive oil.

Pair this with some garlic breadsticks
and it should be preeeeeetty good.

Random me fact:

Food is another of my ♥ loves, I am a HUGE foodie!

Tuesday, November 11

body image


this is me!

I was thinking today about how we
view ourselves and how others view us.
Purely due to genes, I'm petite (5 3'')
with small bones. I have never really
(yet, children will probably changed this)
watched anything I've eaten
(unless its to ensure I don't have a heart
attack before 45... make that EVER)
.

In my teen years I did ballet,
modern dance and gymnastics,
but recently aside from occasional yoga
and 1.6 mile jog, for the past 6 years
I have had no serious exercise routines.

Now just to show you how different
cultures and personalities can
produce different body images,
I somewhat desired to put on some
weight (in the right areas). In the culture
I live in, a voluptuous figure, curves
and so forth is very appreciated.

My mother reminded me that I
will pack on weight after children,
so I'm no longer wishing for extra weight.
My point is though, no matter what my
society dictated or implied through media,
I was always happy with my appearance,
even when I went thru grades 1-6 with my
knees being bigger than my calves and
thighs (and ooo..the teasing...).

I believe when you are truly happy
with how you see yourself, that
confidence speaks more words
than eating once a day to maintain
a small size ever could.

This thought started when my
gorgeous sister who is 1 size up
from me, 3 inches taller with curves
straight off the cover of King magazine
...said she was fat...

You just never know what someone's
self-image is like, the most beautiful
woman or the most handsome man...
could have some serious self-image issues.

Random 'me' fact:

I am the oldest of 4, my sister
and 2 half but fully loved brothers,
the younger of whom was 1 on the
5th of this month.

change of address

a quick post to say
juuuuuuuuuuust
in case anyone had bookmarked
my little blog, I changed the address to
artsybee.blogspot.com
its still a little of my everything,
thats just easier to type.

Random 'me' fact:

I'm not a pineapple lover,
not on pizza, in a drink or just slices.

Monday, November 10

.love.

i swear i fall in love everyday.

not with people though,
some experiences i've had made
me very wary of people.

today the love i refer to is for furniture.
those things we put in our houses to
make it feel like a home on the inside.
Interior decorating could be my second
calling yet.


I just love these pieces.
I have a deep love for nature,
(everything except roaches)
and these things in my home will
really give me that lil warm feeling
you should have when you walk through
the door.


I found all of these at west elm,
just in case anyone was curious.



my bonsai tree would look
great in one of these.

the furniture bug is biting me hard,
as I'm still finalizing a design for my closet.
something I must complete soon as my
never ending love for handbags has
run me out of space.

Random 'me' fact:

i love red nail polish

Saturday, November 8

my 'short' absence

damn...just when I was
going good with the daily posts.

I have a good excuse tho...
yesterday I was attending
my graduation from university.

What a good feeling it is to be
finished... I have paid my dues,
and am now officially own my
entry ticket into the workforce.

Funny how it works, we pay
to be qualified to work,
depending on the area of course.

Anyway to the expand on the title,
Kings is a drinking game that I'm
going to play with some friends tonight.
Some people may be familiar with the
game, depending on the amount of persons
playing, it can be a lot of fun or a sure way
to cirrhosis.

Google it as there are many variations
to the game but we play as the following:
2 - You
3 - Me
4 - Whores (or Ladies as I prefer it)
5 - Never have I ever
6 - Dicks (Men)
7 - Heaven (last one to raise their hands drinks)
8 - Great (everyone drinks)
9 - Bust a rhyme
10 - Categories
Jack - one step back drinks
Queen - Questions
King - This person makes up a rule for the game
Ace - Waterfalls
Joker- the bathroom card.

...yes...you are not allowed to leave the table with out the bathroom card.
Which you can beg, borrow, steal or negotiate.

Cheers

Random 'me' fact:

I'm a rum and tequila drinker, never vodka.

Thursday, November 6

how we see what we see and why



These two postcards that I picked up
in a bar in Amsterdam show one thing
but three very different ways that it can
be described, based on how you perceive it.

I got to thinking today about just how
terribly WRONG we can sometimes be
in a situation when we perceive something
or someone to be what they are not.

Making judgements is human,
I will be the first to say that I have
passed judgements on people and
situations and although I usually keep them
to myself, it does affect my thinking and
therefore sometimes my actions.

And there have been those occasions
where I couldn't have been more wrong.
Friends who were not friends...
people who I thought undependable were
the ones keeping me going through rough patches...
and the list goes on.

But its those times where I was right
that keeps that thought process going.
Getting out of a situation because
something...just didn't seem right...
only to have the situation explode.

Anyhow...I'm not a person for
the 'what ifs', life requires you to
roll with the punches and sometimes,
its just more fun that way.

P.S. I'm curious, what would you tick on the postcard?
Does it have to be one or could it be all three?

Random 'me' fact:

I don't sing in the shower...I dance

Wednesday, November 5

...



Just something I wanted to share
as words aren't coming to mind today.
...
maybe due to being up all night
and up very early this morning,
hopefully sleep will not evade me tonight.

Random 'me' fact:

I'm currently learning Dutch, tot ziens!

Tuesday, November 4

...drum roll please!

There will be a lot of disappointed people tonight,
one way or another,

since both candidates can't win.

If only America was such that both of them
could share the sandbox,
but unfortunately, you can only have one indian chief,

too many cooks spoil the broth, blah blah blah.

Anyway
I refuse to touch on politics any deeper than that.
Over the past months, I've had friends stop
talking to each other because things become too personal,
and they lose the
ability to respect each other opinions.
I've also heard made up 'facts' about each candidate...
Overall I'm happy the big day has finally come.

I am once again watching the hands of the clock,
on my little lime in the corner (lol)

and anyone who reads this is sure to think
I'm being paid for nothing.
I'd rather anyone who formed this conclusion think instead,
that I'm a great multitasker, fully capable of counting down
to 5pm, blogging AND executing the day's work.

I also found what might be my 67th handbag.




I'm a sucker for patterns.

Random 'me' fact:

I loooooove chocolate, despite the occasional migraine.

Monday, November 3

45 mins to go..

Tic toc...

45 mins to go before I can get in my car
to battle the traffic home,
and I cannot wait.

Unfortunately, the memories of weekend
did not last long amidst the hours of
staring at the computer screen, emailing
suppliers, and taking phone calls.

Fortunately I was able to take the edge off by doing some
midday retail therapy, good for the soul, not so good for the pocket.

I've been feeling very vintage-y with regards to my accessories these days.
First off, I've been wanting a vintage telephone for the longest,
and skeleton key anything has been catching my eye recently.
Just today, I was doing some online window shopping and saw this.
Different.

Random 'me' fact:

I have over 60 handbags...maybe 70.

Sunday, November 2

a lovely-ish sunday

Sunday...another day I love...
usually spent at dimsum
(chinese breakfast/brunch)
with one side of the family.

however, this morning was exceptionally sunny
and hot so it was decided by some friends that
I should join them in some poolside shenanigans,
and I was most happy to oblige them.

the past week has been very dreary,
what with it raining at least 5 hours a day everyday.
I'm not sure why I would think that my sunday would be an exception,
even though it started out as such.

just as I was getting used to soaking in the sun...

...that happened...
well the lightning is an exaggeration but those clouds are real.
All the same fun was still had and I hope the feeling lingers on
tomorrow while I freeze in the air conditioning at work.

Random 'me' fact:

I love to participate in underwater photoshoots!

Saturday, November 1

unfinished business

I love saturdays...I almost never know what to do with them anymore since I've broken free of my former job that stole my saturdays for almost 5 years.

Anywho...the above picture shows one of my unfinished swimsuits...I believe its been sitting there for maybe 3 weeks now. Not nearly as long as a certain black and cream satin blouse that has been waiting for a zipper for almost a year.

I've been finding myself with this tiny habit of keeping unfinished business in various areas.

*I would like to note however that this has never been the case for me with regards to work and academia.*

And yet still
  • my violin lies awaiting a new string, untouched for quite some time
  • 3 paintings are stored away waiting on that final 'wow' factor
  • the sketch for a new closet lingers on my sketchpad
  • flyers for various dance classes are overlooked
  • the birdcage that was to be resprayed and made fit for new tenants...you get the point
(for the last, I told myself that it was because I didn't believe birds should be caged)
Most of the times, it isn't these unfinished things that engage my thoughts.
The unfinished or unresolved issues with the people I surround myself with are the ones that really get to me. (which is probably why nothing else gets done)

Even though these issues are very few and far between, there is an exception, one that I've learned to accept as it is rather than to fix.

Random 'me' fact:
I have a fruit smoothie every morning, its a great start to the day!