1.30.10 // bi-dye

when i colour my hair there really is no rhyme or reason. i load up a toothbrush with dye, and run it over the parts of my hair that need touching up. i don't need foils or any of that, and i certainly don't need to stick to one colour. normally there are three colours that will make an appearance somewhere:



bi colours, yay! sadly, my hair grows super fast and that means that the bleached parts go with it. my bangs used to be completely purple but now only the tips hold colour [they're currently blue]. purple is the most prominent, but there are streaks of pink mixed in there. i want to try something different. when i get my hair bleached again in a few months, i'm thinking i'll finally go green, just for awhile.

1.29.10 // there is a way to be good again

i know these aren't photographs, but i've decided that designs count! for our first assignment in advertising design we had to make a movie poster for 'the kite runner' in the style of an important historical designer. i chose saul bass. for those of you who don't know him, he did a lot of posters for alfred hitchcock movies, as well as some title sequences. his style is characterized mainly by simplicity. almost no emphasis was placed on the actors, but rather on the story. in his work he would break down story elements into their simplest form; if you were to take away any part of his designs, they probably wouldn't make much sense.



i like the first one better. i dunno, i just think it's easier on the eyes. matt said the black background doesn't seem appropriate. it's true, it makes it seem darker than it should.

1.28.10 // winky owl

winky owl says hello



and winks, of course ;-D

1.27.10 // shower closet

the other day i was telling my dad that i should just move into the simi valley office because it's much closer to moorpark college haha. and even though i was totally joking, it's definitely possible...except the office doesn't have a shower. and then i started to wonder, who actually has a shower in their office? my dad said that at one point he considered getting one built in one of his old offices because of all the late nights he spent there on call. he didn't do it. apparently office showers are super expensive, around $10,000.

and then today i go into the bathroom of the other office i work at, and this is what i find:



omg it's a shower in a doctor's office! ...and it's being used as a closet for cleaning supplies. that's...quite an expensive closet, isn't it...

1.26.10 // compy's first hiking boots

there's only one way to make this make sense to anyone ^_^

me: emma will be contacting you about her sick computer. apparently she hikes at stoney a lot
matty: does her computer hike with her?
me: if it knew it had a doctors appointment i'm sure it would come along
matty: put on its cute little hiking boots and such
me: compy's first hiking boots. aww
matty: soon compy will learn to climb
me: i have a vision of a computer climbing in hiking boots...i must draw it

and so i did draw it. well part of it...

1.24.10 // typographical rainbow pt. 2

finished the handmade part of my first typography project. i like the way it turned out.



the next step is to work on it in photoshop and create a print. i'm excited to do this because there are a few small changes that i'd like to make digitally. you can still see some pencil marks that i couldn't erase all the way and i do want to even it all out a bit. i'm debating on whether or not i should add in a blue background. on one hand it could make it look more real [because there are so many rainbows/clouds/suns made up of words, right?] but on the other it might be too much colour. either way, this was a lot more work than i thought it would be, but i think the final product will be even better. =]

1.23.10 // happy birthday party, shay shay!

and so my girl shaina turned 22 and decided to celebrate the occasion at sagebrush cantina.


the birthday girl and me, with a special appearance by matty's nose. how he managed to do this i don't know, since i think he was the one taking the picture...


zach and jade, completely oblivious to whatever sjb's doing right next to them.


wtf mala, says matty.


this is priceless. nick looks just a little scared and kenji looks a little too...happy.

we've left our mark on the place, that's for sure... ;-p

1.22.10 // vinyl skeletons, half off!

is this not the coolest thing ever?



i've been wanting a laptop bag for a year now and i had my sights set on this one at borders for a long time. just never got around to buying it, though. but then i saw that it had been reduced 50% and there was no way i could pass up the opportunity again. so here it is now, on my bed. i know it's a laptop bag and all, but i've been using it as a regular book bag because of the rain. it's good for carrying around a binder and a book. no need to lug around a huge bag when i don't need to take much to school. there were a few more designs, including a black one with stripes. maybe...haha. goodness, i do love paperchase. i would work for them in a heartbeat but the closest store that isn't in a borders is all the way in glendale. no fun.

1.21.10 // [red] velvet goldmine

the perfect end to any day, rainy or not:



everyone and their mother keeps raving about red velvet cupcakes so i decided to finally try one. it tasted like a regular cupcake, but i guess the bright red colouring makes it more fun. i would love a purple cupcake, though. or even a blue one.

when i was driving home from school i saw the most beautiful, flawless rainbow. it put the one i saw the other day to shame and the best part? it was a perfect arch. i don't think i've ever actually seen a rainbow from end to end and it was all i could do to keep my eyes on the rainy road in front of me. i debated taking the next exit just so i could park and photograph/look at it, but it faded too quickly. still, it was definitely one of the most breathtaking things i have ever seen.

1.20.10 // stop and smile

another ridiculously rainy day. i'm not looking forward to driving to moorpark for my class tonight =/ on the way home from work earlier i saw a minivan being pulled by a u-haul. it had those little external brake lights attached to the back and they looked like a smiley face. i dunno, watching the 'eyes' light up was pretty entertaining.

1.19.10 // red sox and rainbows

it was pouring when i got to school this morning. surprisingly the 118 was pretty empty, and i got there an hour early. yeah, still dunno how that happened since i was driving pretty slowly and could barely see the road. it was super hard to leave my warm car to go and walk to art history, especially since i could see this from where i was parked:



this is the second time i've seen the mystery red sox fan's car. makes me happy, since there really aren't that many sox fans around here compared to other teams. i'm down with the dodgers, but it seems that everywhere you go, people will advertise their love of the yankees. not cool at all.

when i got home my mom told me to get the camera, there was a beautiful rainbow outside. and there was! it made my day.

1.18.10 // rainy monday

time for LA's annual rainstorm. i love the rain, just not when i have to drive/walk around in it. otherwise there's nothing better than hearing rain pound against the roof. and who can say no to free car washes, too?




views from my sister's window, overlooking the backyard.


view from a gas station on topanga canyon.

1.17.10 // cookies!

what better way to spend a rainy day? specifically sunday, which tends to be boring. not a fan of sundays. even when i don't have school the next day they're just so...blah.



my favourites are the chocolate peanut butter cup ones. best stuff ever. my sister went for the small chocolate chip ones.



jealous, much? oh well, i'd share if i could ;-p

1.16.10 // spektracular

went to see spektra at the whisky after almost a year. didn't tell justin i'd be there, so he was totally surprised. i'm such a great daughter. ^_^ for most of the show we were all outside the whisky hanging out with the rest of the band. i guess that if justin's my dad, that makes the rest of the boys my...uncles? o.O smash was smashed and no amount of my excitement was enough for him. i hadn't met sparky yet, but the kid's insane.



justin provided us with a valuable piece of knowledge:



...even rockstars go to ralphs. the show was wonderful. only saw spektra and the band that went before them. no idea who they were, but the lead singer looked like a combination of shane west and brandon flowers. the drummer was like 40 and matty was pretty much in love with him.



don't even get me started on the bass player. the kid was grinding up against that bass and it was kind of...hot.



...and then was spektra's turn. justin was given his brand new, signature model mudd bass. it's very sparkly.



had a guest appearance by andy heart [original guitarist], who raced over to save the day when sparky was too drunk to stand, let alone play. it was so weird to see him. his hair used to be longer than lexx's and of course he dressed glam. now he just looks like some kid who is surprisingly good at glam guitar!



but yes, a fantastical show. if you're ever in the area [hollywood] i highly suggest you try and see them. they will never fail to rock your socks off.

1.15.10 // moor[park]ing

i'm telling you, there is no better time to get to moorpark college than 8:30am on a friday. my class is at 9am and the parking lots are dead.



no joke, i actually drove around the emptiness trying to decide where to park. so much selection! why can't tuesday and thursday be like this around, say, 1pm?

1.14.10 // typographical rainbow

i started my typography project today. we are supposed to create a collage using only words cut out from magazines. i'm doing a rainbow. surprised? didn't think so ;-p



it's a lot harder than i thought it would be, but i like what i have so far. might not be able to finish the rainbow part today because it seems as if most advertising designers don't like using black or white text on an orange background. gotta search a little harder for that. also to come: clouds and a sun. i know, i'm adorable ^_^

1.13.10 // zatchariah shoelace and lollipops

hung out with zach today before class. it's rad to be going to school with that kid again, even though we don't have any classes together and will rarely even be around at the same time. all the same, he's always fun.


run, forrest, run! don't be late for the class you don't have!


moorpark's dark room. i will have to figure out a way to use it...


zach practicing the fine martial art of lolli-jitsu


um, why does my strawberry lemonade taste like cherries? btw, zach flipped off the camera as a scale. now we all have a decent measurement of how big the cup is, as well as his finger.

1.12.10 // plastic

today i was waiting for one of my art history classes to start and i sat down next to this:



rad? i think so. it has everything plastic that you can think of, held together with zip ties. all those bits of plastic used to be trash, until a few creative people decided to turn it into this. now there's innovation for you.

1.11.10 // which way again..?

today was my first day at moorpark college. it is lovely. even though i've only had one class so far [typography & lettering design] i know i am going to like it a lot. unfortunately i didn't get any pictures of the campus or anything because i was too busy scrambling around trying to find everything, but there will be some soon. instead, i finally photographed something that always makes me laugh when i'm driving home:



got enough signs there? it's a little confusing... which way am i supposed to go? right??? ;-p

1.9.10 // needles

there is so much weird stuff to be found in a doctor's office. had a pretty long break at work today so i was just messing around, seeing if i could find anything interesting. nothing i haven't already seen in my almost 3 years of working there, but i did come across the container of used syringes, which i found morbidly attractive... so many of them get used each day, and this is where they end up before being sent to their destruction. all thrown into a big, foreboding red-orange box of doom.

1.7.10 // deeee with four e's

i finally took the new slr out for a test run. isn't it nice having a little sister around to photograph?


i'd forgotten i'd set the camera to monochrome, but after seeing this shot i was happy i did!


biiiiig smile, she gets it from me ;-D


and of course the best shots are the ones where they don't even know you're taking a picture.

1.6.10 // in your pants

matt was so excited to show me the pants that are called 'zach.' they're really nice jeans but all i could think about was him having my bro zachariah in his pants >_<

1.4.10 // butter=gold

grocery shopping is fun when you're not doing it alone. the things you find are priceless



irish butter is golden, as are irish boys.

1.1.10 // a new decade

i've never been too big on the whole new year's eve thing. seems like an excuse to party, much like every other holiday. but when matt said he wanted to have a party there was no way i could refuse. i wanted to use the occasion to break in my brand new canon xsi digital slr, but carrying about a bulky camera trying to get artistic shots at a party doesn't really work. oh well.


the night's entertainment. amazing


sometimes the cool shots aren't even planned. jade and me on matt's bed is pretty hot, wouldn't you agree?


friends are awesome, especially when they make absurd promises they won't remember the next day. ^_^

have a good year, everyone. hopefully you will make an appearance on here at some point =]