summer rain, me loves...

its raining, it's pouring, the little munchk is snoring...

i love summer rain, even better, summer night rain! the windows and doors are open with a nice breeze and the sound of rain drops are filling my ears. i'm not a person for the heat. the blasted sun is not my friend. maybe it' sbecause i think shorts can look a bit cheesy, maybe it's because i think i look strange with a tan, maybe it's because my hair gets all a frizz.... i'm sureic an think of a hundred other reasons, but lets jsut stop there.

Munchky is fast asleep and so i hopped on the compy. it' shard during the day to get anythign done really. little munchky is a handful, as she shoudl be, little one is not even four months old yet. babies need love and snuggles... and my munchk makes sure to remind me of the snuggle bit!

i sold a dress on etsy yesterday, yay! packages. it was only my third sale, but, eh! i'm determined to keep the shop up to date this time. the last time i had it open, i had 6 items up. two sold and then i never renewed the other items. now they are back up for sale. this may sound lame, but i like decorating the packages i send out. i used to have quite a few pen friends and i just loved decorating the envelopes- i thought it was the funnest part of writing a letter! :) did you guys ever keep a pen friend?

Father's Day and walks...

What a kooky but great week it's been! kooky 'cos I've been busy but great because, well... Just because I suppose. :) on Sunday it was Father's Day and that means my Cutie got to celebrate his first holiday as a proud papa! yay! :)

Now that little Munchk is a little older , my mama is helping out a bit more a few days a week so I can work on some projects that I've completely neglected while the, you know, whole pregnancy thing and being a new mom and all. :D I was supposed to go back to work at the end of the month but am now extending it until the end of August- if my job approves it (fingers crossed!). I'm feeling very optimistic and motivated at the moment and really want to finish up some stuff. Said "stuff" will hopefully be revealed by the end of the week or mid next week. So much to do and so little time!!!

here are some pics below of my Cutie and I celebrating as well as some shots that I took while taking a walk with the baby Munchk. :)

love life

wow- haven't written in quite some time, but here i am, back in the blog world. :) it's been so busy lately at home. with work, class and homework, my time spent at home is either on the computer or spent trying to "rest".

even though i'd rather be crazy busy doing other things, i've jsut been really happy lately. :) there are soem new and exciting things going on in my personal life and i'm just really excited aand happy for the future. i love my family, i love my little cutie of a husband and i just love my life. i'm happy. are any of you guys extra happy??? what makes you happy? :)

just a few piccies from peru and one back in the burbs of the bank! :)

 

 in peru with cutie in one of peru's best buffet places to wine and dine in! :)

                                      

 my fabulous brother, me, cutie, and my new sissy!

 after my brothers wedding- this was no "regular" wedding. it was like an awesome party mardi gra wedding- minus the flashing for beads- you got those for free from a court jester! :)

me and cutie at macchu!

 the day after we came back in peru, it snowed in burbank!!! :)

Peruvian Piety...

i've been SUPER busy! doing what? i have no clue! but i've been busy alright! i just came back from peru (my brohter got married there- yahoo!) and was totally inspired by all of the hand woven textiles and alpaca roaming around. :)

so one of the things that has been keeping me busy is a photoshop class that i started right before my trip to peru- and here is my first homework assignment! i've been thinking a lot about lace ruffs for the past several months- so i also added little Baby Jesus in there because he's usually dressed in some pretty elaborate velvets, lace, ribbon, etc. inspired by the streets soley devoted to selling religious relics. paintings, dolls, statues, clothes for your saints, night lights, rosaries, tapestry, and of course, crowns to adorn your Baby Jesus! so with Baby Jesus in there i'm free to mix in all lace and pretty delicate things that i want to.

i'm pretty excited about the photoshop class- especially after fiddling around with it last night. i will share pictures of Peru once i find some time- as for now- i'm a busy bee with homework and wanting to draw. Sunday is my only day to myself so i think i might start drawing something. i got a huge piece of watercolor paper from swain's so i'm set for a huge painting- i'm thinking of painting scenes around the home- me and my cutie, loungin' around and being lazy.. pretty sweet huh? :) i feel happy at the moment. optimistic...

what's got you feeling happy and optimistic these days????

my paint brush had dried up until...

...  i had to finish my painting for the eastside luv art show, thirsty canvas- eeek! i've officially worked on my painting 2 days- the first day i drew and i painted the first picture about 4 hours- the second day was this morning- i painted for about 30 minutes. i have to turn in my painting on saturday- so i better finish this up by then! the actual show is on dec 2 at eastside luv in boyle heights (los angeles). the theme of the show is the glorious classic drink that everyone has drank (and been drunk on) for 1000's of years... vino! well- vino, cocktails, etc.

i decided to paint a girl kind of just being lazy with a glass of wine. she has it proped up on her shoulder, just taking sips as she pleases. i haven't painted in the couch yet, but i think it looks a bit boring right now- so i'm going ot add some texture in the couch- maybe like a little floral print and i have to do more detail on the hair. i want to take up some paint on the jawline area- and i have to finsih the eyes and mouth of course, i don't know- what do you think?  aaaaand i also want to make the background a more rich red... like vino. :)

sorry that i hadn't posted sooner- i'm a bit of a wreck when it comes to posting- arent' i? well- i think i'm going to start a new blog with sewing projects- soon to be a wholel ot more in this coming year- as i'm making myself use all my stash fabric.. y punto! this blog will remain for my field trips, drawing, random pics and my daily babbling. :) i hope to start my new bloggy in mid/late december and focus on patterns and of course- sewing fabulous little frocks for me to wear... and once i get my sewing confidence- perhaps even make some stuff for friends, family, strangers, etc. :)

hope everyone is doing fabulous! :)

this past weekend i went to the glendale paper fair with cutie. cutie can look for HOURS through old postcards- always researching and on the hunt for his blog. i on the other hand- can look for hours through old photgraphs. i like getting to know newly found friends from the past. best of all- i love when i can find pics of a ceratin group or family and see them change through the time. and i love, love, love when my new fround friends have written notes on their pics.

below is one of my favorite little darlings that i found. i found a few pics so i nabbed them all! :)



on the right- you see a cute smiling girl- on he back of the pick it reads, "she's 21. hazel eyes - brown hair- and is 5'10in." hmm.. i thought it was cute. maybe soemone was trying to play cupid and write her info on a pic... sooner or laterit looks like she found a sailor friend. :) she was a looker that would make any man happy.



here are more pics of little miss darling. :) look at the bottom riht hand pic... she is just so cute... and she played the ukey! i bet her voice was like a little birdy. :) girls like htese are the kind that inspired me to get a ukey.. my voice.. ehm... i'm sure my cutie would say it was like a little birdy! (lets not ask WHAT kind of birdy.... :)



and here- we see her with a group of friends. i was able to find some separate pics of her friends in the huge box that i attacked. i tried to kind of match the friends in order. the top right hand friend is on the top. :) the one below is in teh middle- and then litte miss darling is right below herself on the left hand side. :)



and looky here- i found friend # 2. i think she looks a little older and a bti more sophisto in the picture to the right. :)



i didnt' find friend # 1, but i did find another little girly. i like her int eh main picture- she looks very happy to be with this boy. :) i wonder if it was her boyfriend or jsut a boy who she had a crush on and was maybe very giddy to be able to snag a picture with him. :)

there were also many othe rpictures that i bought, but those i'lll post later. OH! at the same show , i bought my self the CUTEST ever little lamps! they are vintage german porcelain and on the stand of the lamps, there is a dancing girl. i found 2 of them- so they can be friends- they are in perfect condition! (thank you mama and papa cress and grandma and grandpa cress- it was bought with their birthday money! eheheh) they will go nicely on my new vanity that i also got for my birthday (thank you sissy!) i'll psot pictures of the lamps once i ahve my vanity up.



what do we have here? one last final forgotten memory... i found this in the same box, i found this western union telegram... perhaps a secret rendevous and it loks like they might've had a few!

do you guys have any favorite vintage pics? are they your own family or also found new friends???

morning sunrise...

saturday morning and the sun isn't quite up yet. i woke up at 430 in the morning and couldn't fall back to sleep. so i'm watching downtown 81. so far, its a bit slow... maybe i shouldn't judge the film quite so quick.

what is this little birdy looking at???

film review- it has very bad tunes and it has some pretty good tunes. mostly the acting is pretty, "meh." debbie harry looks of course like an angel, as she always does. it's on netflix streaming. i like the band who has a tall thin white man singing an an asian girl in red on drums and a few other bands/songs in the film... what do you think?

oh my! this little birdy is looking at you! :)

hope eveyone has a fabulous saturday!

starting out and an oopsies moment!

ok- above is the first dress pattern that i've started working on. it's a vintage late 60's - early 70's pattern that i bought while antiquing in san pedro. i've never actually worked off patterns and was a little intimidated. sure i can drape a dress and scribble some symbols around and it works for me (not all the time.. ehhhehe) but i was a bit nervous about going off somethign that i think is so ehm.. final???? one good thing about this pattern- since it was used- all the pieces were already cut! :) that saved some time- one of the down sides to this- is well... i'm hardly a junior size 10 by todays standards (and for sure not by 70's standards!).

so after the first go around- i noticed i needed to add some extra to even fit this mock up around my ehm... curvalicious hips (hahaha1). after the second go around- i was now able to wiggle in and zip it up.. but well- the shape of the dress looked nothing like the little fun dress in the illustration- so my third move- which might be tonight- will be to add a bit more to the sides for more wiggle room and a bit more of an overall loose fun flared fit. lets see how this turns out. overall (so far at least) this pattern is pretty easy to work with- although i did have to get my sewing book out to remember some hand sewing stiches...


on to my "oopsies moment"- this is kind of embarassing to say the least... eh! i usually wear a pretty basic uniform to work- some sort of pants- a V or a scoop neck t-shirt and my mockies. i wear my mockies almost everyday. i've been a faithful user of mockies ever since i got my first pair about 2 years ago. there is one problem with mockies (at least in my experience). if you wear mentioned shoe almost everyday for work- they tend to (of course) wear out every 7-10 months. this mornig as i was telling cutie i needed new shoes... and him saying that no- i didn't need new shoes- that i have a load of them in the closet (this is true- but they are not of an everyday work shoe ilk). so i huffed around a bit (as any wifey would do when todl she shouldn't buy more shoes) i get over it and give cutie a kiss good bye and off to work i go!

ok. i'm walking up the steps to my office and what do i see when i reach the top of the stairs??? my big toe- saying hello to me!!! the little leather stitches had become undone- my little piggies wanted to explore and see the mess that is my office and i shoo-ed them away back into my mocky and ran to my office and closed the door!!! i showed my shoe to my co-worker and had told him about my morning convo with my cutie and he started laughing and said- "you SO know he's going ot htink you did that on purpose!" i was so embarassed! luckily, i remembered about some keds that i had thrown in the back of my car one day and thankfully i am able to wear these for the day (not considered appropriate) by my work dress code- but i thought it might be better than walking around with my little tootsies hanging out! and i just love how you can see my little mocky sun tan not to mention you can now see my little hide-away socks- le' sigh! needless to say--- hey cutie! guess who's getting new shoes this weekend! :) hehehe...

pencil and mc.paint fiddles...

this is what little zins is feeling like this week... why? i'd rather not say. it's defintiely not home or married life though... aRRrRgh- grumble, grumble, grrRrrRr...

>:OP

ginger is on the prowl... sketchbook here i come!

this weekend is a bit strange- i wanted to get some stuff done- but am busy.. ehm... not with anything really. well- other than doggie-sitting- let me introduce to you Ginger. she is a bit of a pampered pup. she gets groomed once a week- has special snacks and when you take her for a walk- if she doesn't like the route you've chosen... she WILL NOT walk- but she has the MOST adorable sad eyes in the world- you just kind of give in to whatever she wants... she ends up picking the route, she is the master... and i end up picking up her doo. this is what doggie lovers do (or dog walkers).

other than doggie sitting- i'm going to pick up my parents from the airport- and am meeting with my best friend trmw- feels like i haven't seen her in ages, can't wait to chat adn catch up with everything.

i need to fully immerse myself in something creative that i love. out of sewing, drawing, crafts, out of all the three- i love drawing the most. i will take pictures as i finish them. this week for sure i have to finish the little girl that i started ages ago. a friend of mine said he really likes my stuff and that he would screen print one of my drawings for me in his class. so i really want to finish her up. i'm not sure why- but i just really like the drawing. i'm atchd to this little girl for some reason. i like both versions of it. i like the actual quick sketch and the real one that i started (but have not finished). i will post it up as soon as i'm done. needs to be finished by wednesday for his class on thursday.

as i've said so many times before- i want to do so much- its hard for me to stop, sit and actually finish one thing. is there a phone app out there that will hold you accountable for finsihing all the things you say you're going to do???

little zins back...

i've been missing- but not without good cause. i went for a little vaycay with the hubs to wisconisn to have a 2nd reception for all of his family and friends who couldn't make it out to california for the first one. my parents, two of my sissies and one boyfriend were able to make it out. :) i think the 3 pics above are probably my fave series of pics from the trip so far. :) the trip was nice and relaxing... i felt like i got married all over again... which gave me that bride giddiness all over again- hehehehe. :)

my vacation relaxation bride bliss was soon squashed when i came back to la by a little thing i call "work". le' sigh- oh well, that's life i suppose this was just a quick update- i'm going to try and get caught up on a bit of stuff this week and hopefully will be posting a bit more regularly this weekend... hopefully. i've also been cooking a bit- so i will also be posting some yummies soon... hehhehehe. how domesticated i've become.... :)

happy birthday to my very cool mama!!!

ok- so- here i am- to celebrate my mama! it's her birthday today and i just wanted to share with you some of my favorite pictures of her and my pops. (they were the team that made me ya' know...) :) i called her early in the morning with cutie to sing a duet of the birthday song- we were the first callers of the day and with our incredible singing voices (ahem!) i'm sure we made her morning! :)

i love the first pic of my mama (born juana colombia novoa-alvarado)- the way she's just lounging around and the expression on her face is just so perfect casual cool. hehehhe. :) the 2nd picture is of my mama and pops - hehehe- i think he looks a like such a a little boy in this pic. :) both pictures were taken on their honeymoon. which made my mama a tender 19 years old. :)

these pics are also gorgeous of my parents i think! i actually have these on our wall- soon to be in our new craft room! :) my mama and pops dressed as primitaive cave people... scary!!! i love my moms eyes in this pic! the 2nd pic was them looking superb of course near christmas time. :) i want to find a silver tree just like that for christmas! :) so to my mama, i want to wish a fabulous, spectacular happy birthday and 100 more to come! :) i love you, i love you, i love you! :)

and well- here we are back in bloggy world and and out of the dizzying world of love i have for my mama- ehhehe. :)

(hard at work for diddly!)

ok- so i did not just completely ditch my dress- but here i am- (pics were taken this morning- so do excuse my jammies and my mess of hair.) so i draped and made a pattern for the skirt... which was a big mistake- cos duh! after i made my pattern- i remembered i couldn't use this pattern for this dress- as the print has a stripe border at the end- and i should've gone with the skirt that i had originally already sewn for the mock- up! aRrrrgh! there was obviously a reason why i had draped it the way i originally did for the mock-up! i should learn to trust my first instincts! it would've saved me a lot of time! now i have to make another mock-up as i think i tossed the original one out- cos i had the clever idea of making a different skirt... argh... mhrgehvenri!

to end this post- i will leave you with my mommy frolicking in the snow. :) happy birthday- i love you!!! xoxoxo

...and thank you for reading....

:)

weekend walk and a yummy

yesterday morning, my friend hollie and i went for a little walk- strictly for a nice little stroll... but well- we came across 3 yardsales! and i bought this cute little dress- the yardsales gal originally tried selling it for 10- but knocked it down to 5 when she saw a huge hole in the back- nothing that can't be fixed... but she didn't seem to know that.

anyhoo when i first saw the dress- the bodice reminded me of something that could've been 40's- but take a look all the way down- and this was definteily from the 70's- which can also be fabulous- but lately, there's been a bit more of a 30's- 40's vibe in the air for me. even though i don't... and probabaly never will fit into this dress- for $5 i thought it would be worth while to take it apart adn at least use it for pattern purposes- i can cut the skirt in half and cute little 40's dress i can have. :)

oh- and incase you didn't know it- i love to cook. here is a white bean and totellini soup i made- lately i don't know why- but i've been craving anything with beans... so tasty! cutie liked this so i felt like i got an "A" in the kitchen. :)

not quite finished.. ehehee...

ok- so here is where i'm at with the dress so far. ehehhehe- no, i'm not finished with it yet- i should know myself better than to give myself timelines. i did do the mock up in a fakey fabric- but of course when i was going to cut it in the real fabric- i started fiddling with the pattern and with new fabric. i thought itwould be cute to make the top a different polka dot instead of using all the same fabric for the dress. i showed it to cutie and he agreed. :) so snipping i went. this morning i finished drafting the sleeve pattern. i bought a pattern drafting book in my school days- i blew off the dust and found that she was loaded with great info that she wanted to share-she was excited to strecth out on my desk...hehehee. :) so i'm planning on a bit of a puff sleeve and little ruffles around the neckline and sleeves- which i turned into a deeper scoop instead of a v and i may or maynot make a sash... i think i just might wear this with a belt... eh- we'll see! :)


quick little garden update! my marigolds and zinnias are starting to bore me... i'm waiting for some bloomin' flowers... argh.. although i do think it's a bit of an accomplishment that they've grown as much as they have. my last few planting projects failed miserably. what i AM super excited about is my strawberry plant (the littel white flower) and my little figaro figgy tree! :) i think the little white flower blooms turn into strawberries.. don't they??? a cute little transformation if thats how it goes. little strawberry seems to grow quite fast- i've seen her change almost everyday since i got her... what should i name her... any suggestions??? :) and i love seeing figaro every morning and evening to see which little leaf has sprouted from where.

everything in it's place...and i can't find a thing!!!

on saturday cutie couldn't handle all the fabric around anymore- he took me to ikea and he bought a little cubby bookshelf to keep all of my fabric in. once he put it together and i put my stuff in- he was SO happy to have space and not have to look at the "mess". he is one for tidiness... and i am... well... i would call myself and "organized mess" kind of person. :) hehehe. as i was putting everything away- i found all these cute possible combinations. i'm DETERMINED to make at the least- 1 garment this weekend. whether it's a skirt or dress (i prefer a dress) above is a pic of my new fabric cubbies... thank you cutie for helping me get organized! cuddles to you!

it looks orange here- but the solid is a pink linen like fabric. :) floral print is a challis. * teh floral print fabric is copyrighted ;)

i want to make my 2nd reception dress out of this. i think want the darker gold velvet for the accent- but i love the stripe lace- very early 1900's i think- i want to wear flowers in my hair. :)

i was looking for a solid white fabric i have that i want to use for the accents for this- but now that everything is in it's place- of course i can't find diddly squat! but i did find this cute stripe that i think would go cute with the mini green and white houndstooth print. :)

i can't wait for my long weekend! i will get something finished... or i will give myself a bad talking to! (and no cookies for a week!) note to cynthia- if i don't follow through this weekend- i give you full permission to give me a scolding too!!!

soon to be etsy goodies...

tonight cutie is away so i decided to do something to surprise him... i decided to be a domesticated wifey and do the laundry i was thinking of maybe doing the dishes, but i didn't want him to have a heart attack- so those can wait... :)

before i decided to be wifey- i tried taking some new pics for my Beaton Branson Etsy shop. unfortunately- the lighting in our mini- apartment is the pits! we have 1 major light source- everything else are little lamps. i will have to get some pictures done on the weekend. i really need to get a move on my little shoppy-shop- poor thing has been a ghost town and has been completely neglected. here is a pic of some shoes that i will be putting up... and a dress that i attempted to take pics of- but didn't quite finish due to the lighting. these will be put up by Friday night or Saturday morning.

vintage Trotter Leather Weaved Oxfords - size 10 - $22

vintage R&K Knits- For Girl Who Knows Clothes- M/L - $25

it actually says that on the tag- thought that was kind of cute- for the girl who knows clothes, hehe. :) i still need to take more detailed pics- but here it is with a little close up of a little snag above the 2nd button (pic on the right). well- that's it for the quick post- my little baby zins are growing splendidly since the last pic below! :) hope everyone has a wonderful friday!

the zinnia's are all a sprout!

last weekend i planted some little zinnia and marigold seedlings. i had cutie help me move the television out of the way of our "patio" so i can get started on my little garden. we moved figaro (my figgy tree) over and planted my little seedlings. here they are on day six. the red foldgers jar is sprouting up a storm and the tin pot seems to be taking its sweet little 'ol time... grRRRuff- but all good things come to those who wait i suppose.

although the weather was great- i spent most of the weekend feeling a bit sickies. :( saturday i went for a morning walk and heard a strange bird... i stopped to look up in teh tree and was surprised to see that the squabbling culprit was infact a little squirrel- staring me striaght inthe face! i didn't know that squirrels made such noises! he was holding onto a brnach and looking right at me- again- he squabbled and i saw his little throat gobble up and down. sincehe was giving me soem squirrly lip- i decided to keep walking. on the walk- i had another 6 squirrel sightings. after a walk with the squirrels, we went to a bbq and to the first cemetery screening- the wizard of oz! it was a bit chilly but it was great to see it up big on my dearest valentinos mausoleum.

sunday i spent most of the day being sluggish trying to sleep to avoid my neck pain but as an early bird, i can only stay in bed for so long before i start getting ansty. still feeling a bit icky and i don't really want to go into work tmrw- but i suppose i have to, meh! so, for those who have to go to work ... or are lucky and get to stay home- here's to a happy monday to you all! :)