look a little closer blog

Yesterday was a stressful day. I’m pretty sure I drove my colleagues crazy with my popping stars, but the day ended on a much better note *literally*! Once a month I volunteer at a nursing home and sing/laugh/forget-the-words-to-their-songs-making-them-mad-but-still-having-fun to the elderly. It’s a really awesome project, but sometimes it can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to learning all the hits from the 1920′s, 30′s, 40′s, and on. Well, last night I had help and it was great! We traded off on the guitar and song leading, and I was able to lead the residents in dancing with the egg shakers. “Left, right, up, down” all to the tune of Sidewalks of New York. Needless to say, volunteering lifted my spirits.

On my way home, I skipped and danced through the snow…

Left little reminders of love… (i gave every car on 96 street a heart!)

Considered sitting in this lovely throne…

But decided I’d rather snuggle with the kitty..

We stayed in and watched the snow globe…

**
On my morning commute, I thanked the guy that made a path..

And the guy with the snow blower! (I have not seen one of these since the cornland!)

Looked at the pretty trees..

And decided to leave more reminders of love..

Happy Friday!

today has been stressful

but i found these in my purse..

and am feeling better.

Lately, I have had lots of thoughts running through my mind.

Needless to say, it brings up a bit of stress.
Or maybe I just wish we had nicer weather..

Whenever I feel “stressed, annoyed, bla, insert-your-word-here” I find that doing stuff with my fingers helps me relax.

A few weeks ago, one of my colleagues gave me an air pack. It has been sitting on my desk for the perfect moment..ready to be popped.

I am waiting for the perfect moment to pop this, but until then I thought it would be fun to pop some other things.

So I’ve been cutting out shapes of bubble wrap for my popping pleasure and giving them to friends.

Take that gray day!

I’ll pop you away!

Ahh, feeling better already!

Ahh Monday. I am exhausted. I think we walked 100 blocks, literally.
This weekend, our adventures started in Central Park..

We did a lot of walking and a lot of talking.

In catching up, we realized that we’ve come a long way since the days of chasing cats, sneaking into old “haunted” houses, and climbing mulberry trees.

But, some things never change, like our adventurous spirits and love of looking at pretty things.

Like sparkly chandeliers..

Which I will totally own one of these someday!

As children, we used to believe in magic..and we still do.

I think strangers were a little scared..

In reality, we were just playing with trash.

We connected with my Asian roots..

But I’m still a little confused.. Germasian?

Since my family is always changing, it’s important to take family portraits.

The rest of the night was a little blurry…but I believe we did dancing.

The morning after, I found my earrings on my fan.

AJ got me some coffee..and Lavi gave me kisses.

We sat on the fire escape and saw pretty shadows.

We were both too tired to walk around, so we did lots of sitting.

Enjoyed an interesting dance show…

and found some love in Times Square.

Sadly, this morning he had to leave.

We had a wonderful time and it was just so nice to catch up. I am really lucky to have such a special friend! Life is so chaotic, but I think that at the end of the day, all you really need is love. (hooray Beatles!)

If my life were a painting, it would be very bright. Full of color, and full of life. One of the reasons I love painting is because adding that extra tint of yellow or pink can really make something breathe. Imagine a dull flower and adding a highlight to it. All of a sudden it has life. The people that come in and out of our lives are constantly bring new breath to us.

Haven’t you ever met a person that is like a breath of fresh air?
I have, lots of them.

And I seriously hope that those I’ve met will be there for the next chapter of my life.

But it’s good to know, that I’ll always have someone there to catch me.

xoxoxox

My childhood best friend, AJ, is visiting me for the weekend.

high school prom..

Well, we’ve had an adventure like the Oregon trail…

To start, he was supposed to be here at 3:35 pm and I was going to get leave work early, sadly his flight was canceled forcing him to wait for 9 hours. During his 9 hour wait period, he hopped from gate to gate trying to get a standby flight until a nice lady told him he had no chance.

You’d think that with having 9 hours to figure out how to pick him up in the zipcar, I’d have planned a route. Actually, I live quite close to LGA, but managed to get lost. In fact, I saw both Yankee Stadium AND the new Citi field.

Here’s my map. The green shows you how simple it would have been to get there. I did the pink. It was ridiculous.

We finally got together after 9 hours and had some drinks..

maybe too many..

and some morning bagels..

took a walk in central park..

saw some people sledding…and…

(from aj’s point of view) – “kim got into sled, asked girl as she was sitting in sled, if she could use the sled”
(from my point of view)- asked lovingly if i could take the sled for a spin..

they let me..

i’m not a good sledder…

we made some new friends..

have had lots of smiles…

and now we are off to see the rest of the city!

i love hearts
i love anything sweet
i love making things

katie’s kiss in your pocket idea was so sweet i had to make my own.

so i did..

i started off with my photoshoot.

lavi even joined me.

lots of kisses.

then i drew on all the hearts into the sequence

to make it my own, i personalized my book a bit..

“for those days your feeling a little blue..”

“i picked a kiss for your pocket– just for you!”

then you can flip through it!

for all the kisses!

and the end.

my valentine also treated me. to some lovely roses.

which are a nice addition to my desk.

Hope you had a lovely valentine’s day!

this weekend was fun.

**

had some fun with the color green.

saw some pretty light..

ate some blood oranges..

walked into the chinese new year.

saw the girlies…but got a little too tipsy..

and i lost my phone!

i bought another..:( but, i have 30 days to return it, so hopefully some miracle happens and my other is returned.

**

i was in a foul mood for awhile, but i made a mess and it cheered me up.

and of course, lavi helped.

last night we decided to have a snowball fight.

we met at the park by the rink. (sheeps meadow was closed)

i wanted to make a snow angel, but the snow was too hard!

oh well.

so we started preparing for the fight..

to start, you have to have your arsenal..

and a little bit of booze helps keep you warm.

and kristen made a new hat..

then the fight began…

look at the mess we made!

we were leaving the park when we found this awesome fort!
which anthony thought would be a good idea to play in..shirtless.

he reminds me of gaston.

**

waiting for the bus.

thrift store open at weird hours on 1st ave and 88th street

and i went home to queen lavi

The sketchbook project tour has begun!

Books were meant to be touched. The exhibitions will be treated “library-style”, complete with library cards for each visitor who can check books out and view them while in the galleries. There are no frames hanging on a wall. This is a purely tactile experience.

**

My sketchbook is a little different. It is pretty, sweet, ugly, awful, human, pure emotion, and the rawest piece of art I have ever done.

It is 100% complete honest.

I don’t expect anyone to read the whole thing, but if they did, they would see what exactly what I felt in overcoming a broken heart.

Anytime I felt anything; I wrote, sketched, drew, scribbled, tore paper. I used my art to help me get through the worst of it. It honestly helped. I realized this when I wasn’t writing in it every five seconds. I think I took a break on day 14. That was when it started to get better.

I don’t have a copy of the book, but I do have some photos. I planned on scanning the whole book, but never did. I wasn’t even sure that I would send it. But on the last day of the second extension, I sent it. I am a different person than when I wrote the book. I even start the book with that disclaimer. Who knows if anyone will even pick it up?

That said, the schedule of the book’s tour is above.

Cheers to emotion and using art to release!

I love my new camera.

I love taking pictures, but it’s better when it’s nice outside!

Last night Johanna and I thought it would a good idea to run around the city and shoot some pictures.

NOT.

I think we got about two blocks away from her apartment before she said, “My feet are freezing and wet. I’m not sure this was a good idea.” I almost died laughing, since I was a bit skeptical of the idea earlier in the day. Needless to say, we basically walked around the block–at least it was in good company!

Here is one picture I managed to take in the snow. Not the greatest, but I’m learning!

I also took some photos at home. I was doing some research and learned this cool technique which changes the shapes of the bokeh (photo blur).

I wish my apartment would always be lined with hearts!

Or that they’d be reflecting in my wine!

Luckily, I have Lavi to remind me that she loves me!