On a Serious Note...

Making these paper snowflakes were so therapeutic. It actually made me feel better about everything in life. Things were not so rosy lately. I'm going through some things that I wish I wasn't, specially on this Holiday season. Heartbreaking, really. I have no words for it.

Seeing the house so cheery like this, it makes me smile and it gives me hope, that somewhere down the road, things will be better for me.

There are things in life that we have no control of and this is one of them.

It is indeed a sad Christmas for me but it only makes me look forward to the next Christmas because I know it will be so much better than this one.

Eventually, I will have to accept things as they happen but I'm really glad for this blog, I can run away, even just for a minute...And breathe.

Christmas Cottage

I am finally done decorating outside our home. It kind of reminds me of Hansel and Gretel's house. I wanted to put more but I stopped myself.


I used fake snow but I don't know if it turned out looking like snow. My kids came home from school and said "Mom, why did you spray paint our windows?"

Here's the garland I made. I think it turned out so pretty. What do you think?
I did red and green for our outside decors and pretty pinks and purples inside. I wanted red and green so it would look more like Christmas and not a girl's birthday party. Can you imagine if all these were in pink?

So festive right?
I also installed these little cute plastic white fence. I should buy more to surround the front of the house.

Total cost for all the decors you see:
approx. $13.00

Tinsel garland -$2 for 2 colored tinsels. The bead strings I used were from my own supplies.
Red bow-$.99 cents from the 99cents store.
Wooden candy canes-$4.00 for four from the 99cents store.
$2-white fencing, a dollar each for 5 panels.
$3.99- for a bottle of fake snow.
The Happiness it gave my kids... PRICELESS.

Gifting mood

Last night, my kids and I baked some sugar cookies and blueberry muffins. We put them in little baggies I got from Target a few years ago. I made bow cards and put dice earrings on, I also included my blog's business card just in case they get bored during the Christmas break :)


We wrapped the cookies/muffins in parchment paper and tied silver tinsel string around it.






They enjoyed writing little notes for their friends.

Then I got so tired and forgot the second batch of sugar cookies in the oven.I remembered it after one hour, before we went to bed! That was scary! but I'm just thankful that I smelled it before completely forgetting about it.

Have a happy Christmas everyone!

Unique Los Angeles part 2

A lot of you may have been waiting for the photos I took of your booth from unique L.A. but unfortunately, my memory card stopped working while I was resizing the photos. These are the only ones that I was able to retrieve. It's so devasatating. The photos of my kids disappeared with all the other photos on that 8gb memory card and I hope that someday it would just start working again. Does anyone know if anyone repairs these things?

I apologize to all of you who may have been waiting for those photos. You would have loved them if you saw them. I have and that even makes it all worse. I would love to have those photos back from the grave.

But anyways, that's technology for us, it makes or breaks us.
Here are some photos of the event for you... And the last ones that I have of it.
Enjoy...












A happy Monday to you my lovely readers.

The Julie & Julia in me..

While I was watching Julie & Julia today, I kind of saw my life unfold right before my eyes. I think most of us who have a passion for what we do can totally relate to how Julie & Julia were towards what they love to do. We feel such enthusiasm with what we do that sometimes nothing else matters but getting what we want done...And dreams fulfilled because that seems to be the only purpose of our existence.
I wish I knew what I want to do, just like Julie & Julia but I sort of have a different story because I can do so many things that I can't seem to choose just one. And stick to it and make it work. At 32 years old, I still have not figured out what I want to do in my life. Isn't that odd? It saddens me and yet it excites me because it is a journey. I know eventually I will find that one thing that gives me the most joy and satisfaction. And somehow, I feel like I am closer than I think. And somehow that calms me.... A little bit.

I convince myself every now and then that I am not crazy to think that I am destined for big things. We should always, always dream big or we'll never get anywhere. I have wasted too many opportunities in life and I wish I hadn't but I do believe in second chances.. And third and fourth... On many chances.. Unlimited chances. As long as we are breathing... there are no limits to what we can do or the opportunities that may come our way. I should always remember that.

Always.

I am doing this blog because somehow I will get to know myself this way. By reading what I write as if I wasn't the one who wrote it. And seeing my life from afar and learning to appreciate everything that I have. And I am also hoping that I will learn to love myself this way. I am also hoping that when I finally understand who I really am that I would figure out just what makes me truly and absolutely happy. And if I do, life will be so much simpler, so much better.

I envy everyone who has figured out their life and have decided to do one thing and make a living doing what they love to do. That is a slice of heaven right there. You wake up in the morning, you do what you love, you sleep with a smile. Oh, how I would love that! I wish someday I can be that. But for now, I'll do this . I hope and dream to know the real me.

I hope someday to not be called a "Jane of all trades" anymore but instead just be called, simply... "Jane".

Just like Julia

just like Julie

Have a Happy weekend!

My wonderland

I love that I have a space that it's truly mine. It's quite a mess and I really don't mind. I love everything here, though just like me, it is constantly evolving. I want to paint the walls, I just haven't figured out what color yet (any suggestions?)


Here are some vintage buttons in jars. And my vintage, rare, Alice in wonderland and Through the looking glass book collection.

I love that my walls are filled with art. I want more actually. I want to purchase a Kurt Halsey next.

Here is a painting that I made. I love her.




I collect many things. Just like these vintage threads.

I made the bunting out of yellow fabric. I really love how it adds some whimsy to my studio. I made the curtains but It's only there temporarily. I will eventually change it.

I just love this. It's vintage. And Juliet is pregnant. Apparently, some say that Juliet was pregnant when she killed himself in the Shakespeare play. Hmmm, makes you think 'eh?

I got this salvaged window art at the flea. I am thinking of hanging it on our bedroom wall as a headboard but I'm still thinking about it because I love it here too. It's pretty huge and it just makes a great impact in any room.

I love my fake cuckoo clock. And I love the color.
I will post more photos soon. Right now, I have a mini pink Christmas tree in my studio and I just adore it!

Unique Los Angeles part one

My family and I went to 'Unique L.A.' and we loved it! It was quite overwhelming though. There were just too may good stuff!


v is for violet

I wish there were arrows on the floor or aisle numbers or some sort of markings so we know that we've been that way. Or they should have grouped the kid stuff together or the clothes together. It was like a very confusing maze. They gave us coupons for free drinks but we couldn't find the booth!!! There was an information booth but there was no one there, only a sign that said 'be back in 10' but I kept checking it way beyond 10 minutes but there was still nobody there.

We enjoyed it but we could have enjoyed it more if there was some better organization of the event.

We bought:

Kiefer from Kauzbots (see post below)

shirts from RIOT

shirts from Hakaa apparel

a bow ring from Braskie




( If you see your work,please let me know so I can properly credit you)

More photos coming soon!

Robots with a heart

We just adopted Kiefer from KAUZBOTS

He loves him
and we love him!

And in his pocket you will find a red puffy heart... Because Kiefer is a robot with a heart!

*Purchase a Kauzbot and 10% of the retail price is donated to the kauze close to that robot’s heart.

It comes in different colors too. This color is just perfect for our little rock star!

India by car

Yesterday was so much fun! We got to visit a Holiday Arts and crafts boutique.

And we bought this hand knit duck beanie for my son. He loves it so much!

Then we saw a yard sale full of vintage! I got these woven place mats from India. It reminds me of the stuff you'd find in Anthropologie. They were beautifully done. There was a huge box of them there! I got around a dozen.

Then I saw a whole box of these vintage toys from mattel. All sealed and all. I looked at the date and it said 1985. I could not resist them so I bought a whole big box of them. I think I got 11 boxes.

I also got this golden ring boxes

My daughter took this photo, isn't it amazing? She has a really good eye. I love it.

We drove and drove and drove, while I took photos.

The sky was just amazing, the world is so beautiful. We should always try to look around us and appreciate the wonderful world we live in. Look how beautiful that day was...
We couldn't stop looking up in the sky. My younger daughter said to me "mom, heaven is opening!" It does looked like it.

Can you see the L.A. skyline? Isn't it magical?

Then we went to this Indian restaurant with lots of sweets
These were all new to me but some of it I loved. Like the milk cake! They were divine. So if you happen to be in L.A., you should visit this place (it's quite popular with the locals) in Los Feliz. We also had some bhasmati rice and curry.
I love how Los Angeles is so diverse. You can visit many cultures just by going around the city.