Often Awesome At Work

A few months ago I got myself a new job in the field I eventually want to go into, Fashion Designer. Don't get me wrong I adored the Red Cross but I don't want to go into a medical field, or teaching for that matter. My boss is really awesome and I'm no where near his level of craftsmanship but I help out, and do little things he finds tedious and watch him do his thing, so hopefully, one day I'll be half as good.

He also makes me food for lunch. And sends me home with boxes of treats like chips ahoy, Fruit gummies, and half gallons of milk. Sometimes life is awesome.

We made this wedding dress about a month ago. I never got a picture of the finished product it was a last minute thing. The shoulder straps look weird because we haven't adjusted them for the bride yet.

This is the beading on the over-skirt, it's made to be detachable so the bride doesn't have to trip over it while dancing.

Another picture of the over skirt. I individually hand sewed on hundreds of little circular flaps of fabric. When it was done it looked like it was covered in white butterflies. 

My official title is assistant, which involves a lot of things besides sewing. I take notes from clients, do a bit of work traveling, a lot of reminders, and sometimes accompany him shopping.

This day we stopped by some clients near Bridgeport Village so we stopped to do a few errands, and he bought me a cupcake. Chocolate with cherry frosting nummy!

My boss picking out his cupcakes.

Later this same day we picked up fabric from a clients shop and I was looking at her dresses and got super excited because "I helped make that one!" It's really cool to see something I helped with up for sale, even if my name isn't on it.

Bonus!

Later that same day I went tomato picking in Randalls parents backyard.

Oooh delicious tomatoes! Seriously garden cherry tomatoes are one of my favorite things, they're so flavorfull!

Randalls mom runs a cat rescue, there's always a ton of cats around but Bebe is the only cat that actually belongs to them, she has the cutest little meow, I just liked the way she looked near the marigolds.

Cat Bed

 I bought Gawain this pet bed last Febuary, he's only recently started sleeping in it. It's about time too since I was about read to get rid of it. I'd done everything to get him to sit in it, put treats in it, place it on my lap so he'd have to get into it if he wanted to sit on me (something he wants to do often). But one day I just let him in, went to do something else and the next time I looked over he was in it! I took like 50 pictures I was so excited.

Doesn't he look all snugly? He's almost too big for it.

The Problem With Geeks

A geek now-a-days is defined as someone very knowledgeable about a subject which can be considered odd, out of the mainstream, or to a degree above the norm. Geeks don't have to be smart, but their obsessions can be just about anything from Sci-Fi and anime, to Renaissance painting or stamps. The great thing about the internet is that it provides a conduit for these people to be open and learn even more, as a result we've realized how many of us are out there and we've become more mainstream.

The problem is, that while it's acceptable to be a geek now, most of us remember a time when you hid your obsessions from your classmates and hoped they just forgot you were there. So now, all grown up we lash out. 

"You don't like Battlestar Galactica? You're not a REAL geek."

"You're unfamiliar with the works of Titian? Sorry we have to stop talking to you."

"Can't read binary? Get the fuck out!"

Like any child that's ever been picked on can tell you, when we picture revenge, we don't think of a harmony with the folks around us. Geeks don't dream of equality, we dream of getting even. But you can't really get even with people who just don't care. You see chances are you didn't make something of your obsession. Very few comic book geeks actually go on to making a career out of it, and even if you did, if the track star who picked on you in Highschool doesn't give a damn about comic books you're shit out of luck.

An so geeks sublimate with people who do care, and you get geek on geek violence, often called Trolling. They will pick apart your opinions, infer things you didn't mean, and just generally act like hooligans. It's really too bad, I don't like Lost, the Wheel of Time series, or scrap-booking, but I can see why other people do and I don't hate on them for doing so. And why can't I like Star Wars AND Star Trek? They're both awesome anyway!

I guess what I'm saying is, why can't we all just get along?

Royal T and the Pier

It's been my plan to go to Royal T long before I set foot on California soil. A few of my favorite bloggers are always going there for parties and gallery showings, and I wanted to go too! There wasn't anything actualy going on when I went, but they had a few cute exhibits.

I call this one Pinata Fruit!

Bacon towel! Exhibit filled with a few things they sell in the shop.

This was my favorite, it's like a produce market, but the produce was all stuffed fruit and veggies with faces. I'm kicking myself now, I should have bought a happy red apple.

Our food was quite good and a reasonable price, the three of us got sliders, and the Royal T plate with it's cute sandwiches and desert, at the top is a fresh baked cranberry scone, It was the best thing there. I did feel a bit sad though because Royal T doesn't put a lot of it's focus on tea, my Iced Royal T Milk Tea, tasted bland and uninteresting. It was a lovely little cafe but it doesn't hold a candle to my Mint Tea back home.

Although, Mint Tea doesn't have their waitresses dress up like maids....

Also check out my Tarina Tarantino ring mom got me for my birthday. It's not a great picture I suppose, but it's so lovely, just perfect for my style these days.

After Royal T mom and I went for a walk on the Redondo Pier. My grandparents have lived just across the street from it for as far back as I can remember, and though it's changed over the years, some things are still the same.

This is the Fun Factory, these creepy clowns have graced this wall for a LONG time and on lazy days I would beat it down there with 10$ to play video games until dinner. A few years ago they filmed a episode of Dexter at the Fun Factory, Randall was with me and I maybe freaked out a little bit, it was pretty cool that some of my childhood memories now include Dexter.

These guys are part of a small park near the pier, they've been there forever but you might be able to tell they've seen better days poor things.

These stairs are not new but the tiling on them is. It's super cute and kinda looks like I'm surfing.

The docks.

The pier used to end where that boat building is and you used to have to turn around and come back the way you came. But in my early teens they built more pier out into the ocean. It circles around and connects to the other side.

This "new" pier had all sorts of art embedded into the concrete, whales, dolphins, jellyfish, and flying fish pictured above. When it was new it was lovely, now a days it's a bit faded, and usually there's gum or bird poop on it.

On our way back to my grandparents condo we took a loop around the back side of the pier and there was this little man made grove with a waterfall so I had mom sit while I snapped a picture.

Mothers Day and 85 Degrees

 Mom, Grandma and Bobby, Uncle Barry and JJ, Adella, Grandpa, and Me

So this is the first Mothers Day I've actually been with my mom in say 9-10 years, though I've always tried to send gifts and I always called, it was nice to be able to participate.

I made a delicious lunch for everyone of Tian Provencal (kinda like a french pizza), and Drunken Grapes. All of which was completely decimated by the time I managed to snap this picture.

Uncle Barry and his fiance Adella brought a cake from 85 Degrees Bakery, which I will get to in a moment.

He loves his mommy!

Me with my mom! I know we don't look much alike, maybe in the eyes. It's weird though, because my brother is the spitting image of my dad when he was younger to the point where I get pictures mixed up sometimes if I'm not paying close attention. But I don't really look like one person in particular on either side of my family, more of an amalgamation of everyone I suppose. After this my mom and I went to get a Mothers Day Special Mani-Pedi.

 

 

85 Degrees is this fantastic Vietnamese/French Bakery in Irvine we went to early on in my stay. I believe they make the trek once every 2 weeks or so and I privately think of it as the LA version of Voodoo Doughnuts with huge lines whenever you go.

 

The pastries at 85 are made on premesis and are beautiful and tasty with less sugar that it looks like, but it might surprise you to know they're not the main draw, in fact when I was there I didn't see anyone buying pastry because at 85 Degrees it's all about the bread.

Basically you pick up a tray and start piling it as high as you can manage, it's not uncommon for people to buy 6 boxes at a time, my favorites were these breads shaped like leaves that tasted like honey, and the very popular custard rolls. My mom likes the brioche which are those two giant buns on her tray above.

 It's mostly a well kept asian secret, which is why it's lucky my grandparents are friendly with Vaughn pictured on the far right. She's this really cool lady who buys like 10 Coach purses at a time. She makes jewelry for a living and keeps my family up to date on the latest in happening asian food. You might also notice in the above photo, everyone has a drink. The most popular beverage at 85 is their salted coffee which EVERYONE buys. I don't like coffee so I had an iced green tea, and I'm not fond of green tea, BUT IT WAS THE BEST FREEKING GREEN TEA EVER! I still tell people about it, it was milky and tasted faintly of jasmine, so good!

 Down the way from 85 Degrees was a ramen place, I had spicy beef ramen my mom and grandma had ramen with peanut sauce in it that they talked about for days. Here I am with the store mascot!

Tulip Festival

Spring is here in the Pacific North West, Randall took me to the Tulip Festival, it was beautiful.

Me with some nice large Salmon Impression tulips.

Randall with the Orange Queens... we thought it was funny.

Golden Parade Tulips

Rococo Tulips, which I have to say are aptly named.

Salmon Parrot Tulips

Casablanca Tulips

Holland America Tulips, they are very tall and very red.

Orange Juice Tulips, it was a cute name.

Randall ducking down near some Holland America.

I can't remember what these are called, does anybody know?

Last picture, hope you liked them.

Going Around the Bend

The view outside the house.

My fathers side of the family used to take spring and summer vacations together when we were young. One of them was to rent a series of three town houses in Sun River which is just past Bend Oregon in the high desert. What you didn't know Oregon had deserts? Well we do, and they are very desert-y.

I never had fun in Sun River as a child, even though often the trips landed on my birthday. I never felt well, and slept on a tiny chair in the TV room cause my only other choice was sharing a bed with my brother. Lame....

The family that owned the town homes sold two of them and my dad decided to rent the third for two weeks. Dad and Cath had different members of their friends and family visiting them in that period, I came for three days on the tail end of their vacation on my own. I didn't really do much besides laze around and eat smoked tuna, so this post will be picture heavy, type light.

Doesn't that look nice? It's private property but I'd bring my laptop and tea out there and blog if I could.

Cath acting weird. Okay I made her do this, but both she and my dad were more then a little tipsy at this point.

DUCKS! Cute and tasty.

Day TWO

This is not an error screen, this is what the sky looked like the whole time I was there.

It's adults only from noon to 1 each day. Dad and Catherine did this pretty much every day.

Swimming is involved too of course. I didn't do much of it myself, chlorine does terrible things to my skin.

Pool is the color of my toes!

Huge-normous Dragonflies kept landing on us. This one decided he liked me and stayed for a good long while before I shook him off.

Lazeing about listening to my tunes. I got a weird sunburn this day, just thought you should know.

Day THREE

COWS! Driving home I grabbed some shots of the desert. Okay the background is desert, the foreground is farmland.

Lots of forest fires this year, here's a burnt out bit that spanned for miles, in fact....

See that? It's not a cloud, I assume it's either smoke, or steam from putting the fires out. Later on I went through a town completely covered in smoke. it was as if I had entered in a horror movie.

Anyway, that was basically my trip, later!
-Arika