Harvest Festival

Just a quickie post.

Our church had our annual Harvest Festival this past Saturday for the little kiddies, and we all dressed up in our Halloween costumes. I'm bummed because this year I'll be in Hawaii for Halloween and won't have a chance to dress up, so this was my day to dress up and be silly.

I went as Hello Kitty:



I crocheted the hat (bow and all), wore a plain Old Navy pink dress, white shirt, white opaque tights, and black and white polka dotted shoes that have bows on them. I was the photographer, with the Diana F+ with Instaback (uses the same film as FujiFilm Instax camera). I painted the photo background (you can see it in the picture, the blue background with a tree and two owls).

Anyways, that's what I got to wear for this year's costume. What will you be this Halloween?!?

Fall into the Season

Sorry I have been absent for a long time. I'm even more sorry that I don't quite have the time to write a real post for you today. I just wanted to say how blessed I am for everything, even with complications. I've been dealing with working double the hours that I'm supposed to be doing, lots of homework, extra obligations for church and other related stuff, plus I just got over a cold. I promise to write something great when I get a chance, and share with you all about what I've been up to lately. Friends, I'm sorry for being so absent in every way.

I can't wait for Hawaii in 3 weeks. It'll be crazy with all of the stuff I want to do while there as well as my brother's wedding, but it'll be a vacation nevertheless... I'm dreaming of warm beaches, clear waters, endless sunshine, and hiking like there's no tomorrow.

BTW, I want to give my blog a makeover. Any ideas?

May I Help You Find Anything Today?

I am officially back at home in Oakland! Tomorrow morning, I'm going to sign my paperwork for my new job at Macy's as a Sales Associate. I'm pretty excited about starting something new. Also, I've been doing homework and reading like a maniac this week before my deadline today and Monday.

It's a great feeling to know that God has put all the pieces in my life back together without me having to worry so much about it. The topic for my Sunday school lesson planned for this upcoming Sunday is about letting go of your worries and letting God take care of everything. It's no use to teach the high schoolers something that I don't practice myself.

Ok time to stop procrastinating and actually finish my homework so that I can go out and have fun with the youth and young adults at youth group tonight!

A New Beginning

Today marks the end of my old life and the start of newer things!

Yesterday was the last day at my job at the library. It was a crazy, hectic day filled with last-minute work, but I feel a sense of relief to leave that place with such fond memories. Plus, we had cake! Julie and Huy came back to Davis and took me out for Thai food. Then we ate leftover cake. It was great hanging out with both of them. I'll really miss them when I finally leave Davis.

So, today I woke up feeling free. I didn't have to make a mad dash to work, nothing to wake up for. But, as habit always rules until a new habit comes along, I woke up way too early for my taste and couldn't fall back asleep. I started packing up what little I have at this place. I don't quite want to leave Davis yet. Let me cherish one more lazy day in this quaint little town.

I'm sad to see my Yuki monster leave... Have lots of fun at school at UCSD! Can't wait until Thanksgiving when she comes back when we can act all sorts of silly together!

Also, Sunday I got to wear a yukata for Keirou No Hi! I love yukatas/kimonos! We're so Japanesey:

An old chapter in my book has closed and a new page is being flipped. What will life bring me tomorrow?

One thing I'm really looking forward to is teaching Sunday School to the high schoolers at my church twice a month. I already have my first lesson planned out. I think it'll be a good learning experience for me too, it'll help me to grow in my faith and learn more about the Word in order to teach the younger ones. I was hesitant to volunteer to do this at first because my life was chaos for a while, but I think that the pieces of my life are re-assembling themselves enough that I can tackle this and really make an impact on people's lives.

I have absolutely no concrete plans or deadlines for the day and I'm loving it!

Pretty Things

I found some pretty things online, and I want to share:

An adorable navy blue clutch I found on etsy

Day Dreamer embroidery pattern at RVA

Photo by Mr Squee on Flickr

Photo of my coworker's cat, Dina. She's pretty cute and adorable! She LOVES attention!

And finally...

A pretty pyrite necklace from Urban Outfitters that I just had to have, and now I have it! Was at the store, picked up two notebooks for school that were on sale, and came across this little treasure! Fool's Gold!

Something else that is really inspiring me, especially with colors and design is watching new episodes of Project Runway. I've been a fan for a long time, and I wish I knew how to sew clothes. I always have ideas, but never the patience or the talent to make anything.

I'm so happy that all of my favorite shows are coming back soon! So You Think You Can Dance and Glee returned last night, Fringe comes back next Thursday. Heroes, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice come back soon. One thing I'm sad about not returning until spring is Chuck. Oh well, it'll be soon enough. At least it didn't get the axe.

Woo hoo it's almost the weekend!

Follow the White Rabbit Giveaway!

I couldn't help but post this to my blog to enter this giveaway contest! It's the most adorable fawn ever! Follow the White Rabbit Giveaway! I just entered, now it's your turn!

I can't wait to try and make this wallet.

On to other news.


Julie and Huy's wedding on Saturday was so fun! I took Kei as my "date" and we spent the whole day together. Plus, it was nice dancing with someone that actually knows how to dance. All I can say is that it was so great to see them finally getting married. I wish them all the best!


Are they not adorable!?!

I went rafting with some friends on the American River on Monday. I think the funniest moment was when we were going down some rapids and Erica fell out and got picked up by another raft that we had a long water fight with. I think they wanted to hold her hostage as they sprayed water all over us. On the upside, I got an awesome arm and upper body workout since I was the one rowing for the entire group of us the whole 4+ hours. For most of the time, I was in the back rowing on both sides while the rest of them sunbathed and battled it out with other rafts. Yea, paddling by myself on a 10-person raft with 7 people on it was a workout. Monday was an awesome day, I can't wait to hang out with them again.

I am officially homeless. I moved out of my apartment in Davis, turned in my keys, and now I'm housesitting/cat-sitting for Julie and Huy until they get back from their honeymoon, which is the last day at my job (before moving home to Oakland to start my new job).

I'm over him. Yup. Simple as that. I feel liberated. Time to move on with life.

I never knew that surrendering my past, present, and future to God could feel so rewarding. He made me realize that my life is too short to carry burdens. My God is awesome because He has set me free!

Bunting

There's this project that I've been meaning to do for quite a while and never actually got around to. It's one of the easiest things in the world, yet I kept putting it off. I saw someone's homemade paper bunting somewhere (probably a craft blog) and wanted to make one too! This realization came to me while I was at work. I jumped onto flickr to get some ideas. Here are two of my inspirations:

I was thinking I could make something like this for a dorm-warming gift but have people write little messages on each flag, but then I got to thinking that this would be a good gift for a birthday in lieu of a big group card. I'll see if I have time on Friday to make one for Chie's birthday (which is tomorrow, but won't see her until Sunday). If not, it'll just have to wait for another occasion.

Ok I'm hungry so I'm going to go dig around my kitchen for something to eat. Stomach grumble grumble...

Inspirations for Birthday Gift

My best friend's birthday is next week. I feel like such a bad friend because I haven't gotten her a gift yet. As you can tell from my previous posts, I've been a bit preoccupied, especially emotionally and psychologically. I want to make her a present, something one-of-a-kind, but I couldn't seem to find the motivation or the inspiration for the perfect gift... until today.

Red Velvet Art just had a store update, and I was in awe of the planner kit. Eek it's so cute! I wish I had spare money to buy it for her, but I found that I am inspired by this idea to make a personalized one just for her. I don't know how much time I'll be able to work on it because I need to do some last-minute packing to prepare for my move (my mom and sister are coming to Davis to help me take a van-load of my stuff to my parents' house before my official moving-out date). I hope I can finish it before next weekend when I see her again.

I can't believe how inspired I am today to create stuff. I wish I wasn't at work. I wish I was at home with all of my supplies spread out around me... too bad. Reading everyone's blogs makes me want to bust out papers, glue, colorful pens, and yarn! Stop being so darn creative, everyone!
Sorry everyone, no photos to share today... :(

What a week!

This week has been insane! First, my Tuesday schedule was discombobulated because I had to take off time from work to drive to the Bay Area for an interview and had dinner with my family. Yesterday was normal. Today, I came to work at 11am and don't leave until 8pm. Tomorrow, I'm back to my normal schedule, except that I won't be going to Youth Group as normal because I'll be staying in Davis to do the last bits of packing so that my mom and sister can come up to help me move stuff out of my apartment. I'm glad that it's starting to calm down a little... but not by much. At least my future is more certain.

I canceled my lease for the apartment I was supposed to live at starting September 5. Instead of moving there, I'm moving all of my stuff out of my current apartment to my parents' house this weekend and the next. Since I'm not actually leaving work until Sept. 16 whereas my current apartment's lease ends Sept. 7, I will be staying at my friend's house while she is gone to Hawaii on her honeymoon. Yay housesitting and cat-sitting! I'm truly grateful to have friends that are willing to put me up when their wedding is over Labor Day Weekend.

Speaking of the wedding, I'm super excited for them! I'm taking Kei with me to the wedding. I have something to really look forward to in the midst of my crazy life. (Reminder to self: write wedding card, get cash from bank to insert with card.) I have finally decided what I'm going to wear for this lovely all-day event:


Julie and Huy's Wedding Outfit by toshisushi

I haven't talked about crafty stuff lately. It's been a while since I've made anything. The last thing I made was a penguin amigurumi for my brother's birthday. My friend from church, Joanne, enlisted me to make coffee cup cozies. She wants me to crochet something for her. I wish I had the time to make them for her, but my supplies are all packed up or not at my apartment right now, so it'll have to wait until I'm settled in at my parents' house. At least the first few weeks of my new job will be pretty chill and not very many hours, so I'm hoping to have time between my new job and school...

Oh that reminds me, I should probably get started on my required reading for the week for my class... I've been running around like a mad woman.

Ok that's all for now. Maybe I'll be a little bit more calmed down by the next time I write... and more rested (I've been having trouble sleeping lately). I need to stop overanalyzing everything. Until later!

Hectic Transitional Period

I wish I could write more on my blog more often. Lately, my life has been a crazy mess... and not in a good way at all.

I officially started grad school yesterday. It's exciting and scary at the same time. I haven't been in school for two years and returning to a life of constant reading, boring assignments, and exams doesn't seem as fun as I thought it could be. I enjoy the subject matter but the prospect of at least three more years of school is not nice. We'll see how my classes go. At least it's all online.

I had an interview with Macy's in San Leandro this afternoon. I was offered a part-time sales position to work in the Young Men's department. I'll mainly work evenings as a closer, up to 20 hours a week. I start next month. I dread having to tell my current employer and all of the lovely people that I work with that I'm quitting, especially as the work atmosphere is getting crazy. I will be sad to leave the library. Truly. However, I'm looking out for myself since it definitely feels like no one is watching out for me. At least I have a job that I'm looking forward to starting soon.

I'm in the process of cleaning out my apartment to move. I was supposed to move into a new studio across town, but with the new job in the Bay Area, I'm packing up my stuff so that I can move back in with my parents. I'm moving over the Labor Day weekend (must be out by that Monday evening), and as if moving isn't crazy enough, I'm attending my coworker's wedding in San Jose on that Saturday and will have to return to Davis the next day to pack up and leave. As if moving isn't crazy enough, I intend to remain in Davis even after I officially move out. I can't quit my job until mid-September, so I'll be "homeless" for two weeks until I start my new job. I'm hoping that my coworker will let me stay at her home while she's on her honeymoon. I promised to cat-sit while she's gone, so maybe they'll let me house-sit? I hope so. If not, I have to find someone else to crash with for those two weeks.

I'm not accustomed to change. I like stability. I like routine. I hate uncertainty. I hate not knowing where I'll be two weeks from now. I hate the idea of not having a set schedule. I hate when things don't go smoothly or according to how I want things to be.

I have to put my faith in the Lord. He tries to assure me that He has a plan for me laid out already and that I don't have to worry about the minor details. I know that God just wants me to be happy. I need to stop interfering with His plan and just go with the flow... But it's so hard for me to let go and let Him lead me. I'm stupidly stubborn. At least I admit to my narrow-minded ways.

Even though my life is going to be crazy for the next month or so, I am ecstatic that I will be living at home rent-free, closer to all of my friends, and in cooler weather. I hate the Central Valley heat. I hate not having my closest friends near me. I hate having to drive an hour and 15 minutes to see family, or two hours to go to church or to see friends. I am free of the restraints that living in Davis put on my life. Free.

On a completely unrelated note, I am so glad that I was able to hang out with the members of Team One, the mission team from Japan. I wish that I was able to do VBS with them and do everything else that they did during the weekdays, but the time I spent with them was filled with fun! Here is a teaser (find the rest of my pics on my flickr):

Ok I don't know about you, but isn't this the cutest grumpy, sleepy, fuzzy bunny you've ever seen? It was at the San Mateo County Fair. I want it!!!