Inside Kimmy's Mind

I haven’t updated in awhile and  it’s been driving me crazy.  But I’m changing that now, here I am attempting to update a short post. I have so many things that have happened in the past month and I still haven’t had a chance to update about any of it. But for now, I’m just going to post a little update and some random thoughts I’ve been having. Such as knitting! I created my own jellyfish pattern, I updated about it awhile back and I’ve been improving it. I even gave one to a new friend that I met on campus. I’m thinking of selling them on Etsy. But I’m a bit scared about this whole selling items I create. But I’ll just keep practicing and improving.

Another thing I’m excited about is forming the knitting loop on campus! It might take awhile for it to develop into what I hope it turns out to be, but I know it’s heading in the right direction. I’m alsoexcited to meet new people. I’ve made several new friends already this semester and it’s a wonderful feeling. Especially since it hasn’t always been very easy for me.  But I actually have friends that I can meet up with on campus, do you know how much I wished for that when I first started UH. It’s wonderful to have it now, so in that since I’m glad I’m still in school, even though I met two of my new friends outside of school. We just happened to attend the same college.

I said I would do my best to make this a short update, I need to make time for my blog. I’ve missed it, and I still have tons of drafts that are waiting to be finished and posted. Ok, it’s late, until next time….

I’ve been wanting a lot of things recently. And most of these things are related to crafting in some way, especially since I now work in a craft store. My inspiration meter has been going off the charts. I just want to create all the time, sadly I’m not left with the energy to do so on some days.

After work, I try to head on over to my desk to doodle or knit something, ANYTHING really. And it’s weird, because there are times where I want to create and have the time but I’m not feeling motivated to do so. Now I have the motivation and the inspiration and I just don’t have the energy. My eyes are heavy as I type this entry out. Blogging is another way I can feel creative, because I’m sharing something with others. And recently I’ve been adding doodles to entries so it makes me feel happy when I can post my progress on the whole doodle front. And when you see progress that always makes you work harder, even if it’s small improvements. Like this knitted jellyfish I made. I bought a crochet version that I mentioned here awhile back and I’ve been wanting to recreate it in a knit version. I’ve finally gotten around to doing so and here is the first prototype. It’s pretty raw, but I am proud with how it came out. Need to work on fixing the stitches on the i cord tentacles, and then need to stuff it with a more sturdy stuffing, I didn’t have anything aside from yarn, so that’s what I used. Still pretty good with no pattern. I a basically created my own pattern for it, based on techniques I have learned in the past. Go me!!! I’m really excited about this. Because usually crochet is the skill you need in order to create cute little plushies. I mean, not always…I’ve seen some talented knitters created plushies by changing a pattern into a knitted version. I’ve still got long ways to go, but this project has made me feel really good about my knitting skills, even with all of it’s flaws. It’s nice to pinpoint the areas I need to focus on the next time I knit one. Hopefully, that one will be an improvement.

 Real quic, so NBC has this new show, it’s called A to Z, which doesn’t premiere until October but Hulu has the first episode on it. Watched it right after Sailor Moon, and it’s a bit cheesy, but I love Cristin Milioti. She was the perfect mother in HIMYM and I’m glad to see her in another show. I just hope America can embrace the cheese and give it a chance, because what’s wrong with sappy rom com tv shows? I know they sometimes create unrealistic expectations, but that’s why you escape to fiction in the first place. For something that doesn’t always happen in reality.

Go watch the episode, let me know your opinion on it, I think it could be cute and interesting. That’s all I wanted to say in this post, until next time….

Thanks for reading and commenting.

I desperately wanted to call you my own, but sadly that won’t happen, little ball of fur.

Look how cute this cat is? I’ve always wanted a Siamese cat, or a Ragdoll one, they always have these beautiful blue eyes. And look at her little paws! Gah! I’ve never even seen her in person, only this picture and I already fell in love with her. My sister’s neighbor found her but couldn’t keep her, so my sister figured I could. After seeing this picture I really wanted to. I’ve always been a cat person, I have two at my parent’s house, but they would hate it if I took them away from the only place they’ve known as home. Besides, they would make horrible indoor pets. They enjoy the freedom of being able to own the front and backyard. And when I lived with my older sister, there were also two cats. They were adorable…minus a few things.

Here are some pros and cons that left me with not getting the cat.

Pros

• Adorable little things
• Having one is awesome
• They are independent
• Cuddle with you
• Great for small apartments….or big houses
• They always stay cute
• When they show you affection it’s the best thing in the world
• And just wonderful

Cons

• LITTER BOX!!!
• Shedding
• Destroying furniture (not necessarily a problem with every cat)
• Cost
• Again, LITTER!

Many more pros, but I went to my apartment office to ask about the deposit and how much more my rent would cost. 10 extra dollars a month which doesn’t sound too bad, but the deposit is 400. 400? And I only get half back if I move. -.- 400 is just not something I can do at the moment, and every pet deserves an owner that can actually afford to take care of them. So sorry little kitten, I wish I could have kept you but it just wasn’t meant to be. But it doesn’t mean I won’t ever be able to own a cat….one day I will. :3

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Today is my older sister’s birthday, I obviously do not have a memory of meeting her what with being a baby and all but I do have plenty of memories of her after that.

We usually have talks discussing our childhood, moments of nostalgia that sometimes make us tear up, and it’s weird to imagine life back then and to see where we are now…it’s also amazing. She’s always been there to guide and help me.  She taught me how to play Barbies, which sounds bizarre but our games were planned out. Down to the many different outfits our dolls would wear. We matched. Sounds difficult but it was a lot of fun, and she’s the only one who could trick Kat and me into cleaning our rooms before playing “hotel”.  -.- What can I say, we really wanted to play with her. Growing up together taught us each how to share. Sometimes, if we were lucky mom would buy things in threes. But some toys, such as game consoles were how we learned how to take turns. SEGA Genesis, our first console where we trained our hands in ABBABBA codes and cheats. Finally getting to the last level in The Lion King game back when I was in middle school. It was magical. Summers staying up for the entire night after we got the ps2, simply because we didn’t have a memory card and Kingdom Hearts was exciting. We would pass the controller around during boss stages after one would fail, it continued going around until one of us was victorious. Magical I tell ya.

And now here we are, each with a 3DS and still playing games together. I’m still pretty obsessed with Animal Crossing and that’s all thanks to her. Thanks for that. She can be extremely inappropriate at times, and immature but I don’t think she’d be Nina if she wasn’t. XD I love that now we are older we can still joke or be serious and just depend on each other no matter what. And to answer your question Nina, I have no idea what we were laughing about nor why we were in the living room with blankets on the floor. I think it was during Christmas or something? I dunno, I’ve slept since then.

Anyway, the point is I couldn’t imagine my life without my sisters in it so here’s to you Nina, Happy Birthday! I hope you get to meet Alan Cumming while in New York or see David Bowie walk down the street or something like that. That happens in New York, you know?

Thanks for reading and commenting.

I’ve always wanted a travel size watercolor kit along with an aqua brush and ever since I saw this particular post over on Michelle’s blog, I’ve been on the hunt for supplies. This is part of her blog series that she calls Journal Diaries,  she features a guest artist and their journals in each post. Seaweedkisses has always inspired me, she’s one of my favorite bloggers. And the other day I stumbled upon the greatest little art store.

I was very bad yesterday, I spent so much money….but let’s just ignore that part and focus on the goodies. 😀

Decided to stop by this fabric store in midtown, I’ve gone in a few times but have always walked out empty handed. One reason being, I’m still a novice when it comes to sewing so I get really intimidated when I enter this store. But today I finally bought some pleather, that’s right pleather. And I haven’t tried to make anything with it…yet. But I’m already in the mood to work with real leather. Perhaps a bit too ambitious for me, but we shall see.  Anyway, so I bought a yard of that and some sturdy interfacing.

After hitting that store I made my way to the Houston Press office to pick up my first paycheck, have I mentioned how much better direct deposit is? -.- Well it is. But on my way to the office I noticed this art supply store, I’ve must have walked by this building a million times but have never really noticed what it was. To be honest, I thought it was abandoned and was excited to go and look around. Sitting on the counter was this chick, her head was shaved minus the top part that she pulled into a ponytail and it was this neon green color. She chewed on a pen when she talked to me and asked if I needed help finding anything. I was so overwhelmed with the store that the words aqua brush came out without me even realizing it. She showed me the different ones they had in stock. While I was looking over which one I wanted she asked me if I was looking for anything else, and again my voice just answered on its own. It was as if my brain were on autopilot, answering the neon girl’s questions while I examined the brushes.  She showed me the only travel watercolor kit they had and then returned to her position on the counter. After deciding which brush I wanted, there were multiple sizes and I have decided on buying more later, I looked at the watercolor kit. Luckily, she offered me a 20% student discount. Didn’t actually help too much though but I was still very grateful and I’m in love with the items I purchased. I painted a few pictures using the brush and my normal watercolors. I also have tube watercolor, I’ll pull those out when I’m home and use the pallets for when I’m out and about. Still painting my character with minty green hair, I think it’s a great color and would love to sport it myself…if only my job would let me. >.< I’m thinking of getting some extensions and just dying the ends of those and then use those as a compromise, I’ve never dyed my hair before so I don’t know how it will react to it.  Also, my drawings tend to come out with an awkward smile, almost as awkward as mine in real life. hehe

 Well, I’m off to paint some more, let me know some of the art brands you like to use. Also, if you’ve dyed before, did you notice a huge change in your hair? Until next time…

Thanks for reading and commenting.

I finally cracked and bought Animal Crossing New Leaf. After Kat bought it I totally made plans of getting it myself, it’s unbelievably adorable and I couldn’t resist.

The weirdos also have it and when I went to visit Jobro’s town I stopped by his museum and to my surprise his T-Rex matches one at work. We call him Y Rex and he’s a bobbed tail dino. I found it hilarious how they matched, also isn’t my character cute? Nina gave me the buns and minty hair color, seeing as how I can’t have it in real life I can live vicariously through game and art doodles.

This is definitely a game I’d suggest if you own a DS. It’s the kind that never ends, so you can put it down and pick it back up without worrying about starting over. Plus, customizing things is always fun, so if you’re a fan of that option then that’s another reason to get it. You should totally save up and buy yourself a DS if you don’t already own one. If you don’t consider yourself a gamer then again, this game is perfect for you and you will have tons of fun. Unless you’re the type that gets bored easily or hates games with no actual ending or point then this isn’t for you. -.- I get excited over simple things so easily, but I don’t care I find it fun. Here’s Kat’s character and mine watching tv in her house. Since I just got mine, my house is still small but reservations are in the making. The siblings and I always start off conversations with, “I got stung by bees…”Or “I missed an appointment…” So now as a rule we have to start by saying, “In Animal Crossing…” So we know we are talking game not real life. XD I’m late to the game but oh well. Ok, enough playing…off to bed I go.

Lastly, I gave my first dino tour on Saturday, and the next two dino parties I will run on my own. I will have a trainer shadow me, but I will be in charge. >.< I am so freaking nervous. My first impromptu tour was not too terrible but I did not know how to time myself and went too fast. It should be 45 mins long. :/ I think I made it to 20 but that’s because my trainer kept reminding me to slow down. I know I will just need to practice, but I wish I could already be a the point where I know what to do. Here’s to practicing and improving

Kat and I went to Half Price Books last week where I found this comic illustrated by Matthew Forsythe. I had several books in my hands that I had planned on buying, but after I found this one I put the others down. I’ve been looking to illustrators a lot lately, they are again very inspiring and I really wish I could express myself creatively through illustrating.

Doesn’t mean I won’t attempt it. >.< I’ve been doodling a lot for fun, but I find myself getting frustrated when a picture doesn’t come out as well as I had hoped. The photo is from the comic mentioned above, how adorable is the art style? The artist is a one of the head illustrators that works on Adventure Time. Here’s the synopsis according to the cover of the book:

After eating everything in sight, Voguchi is sent to the market where a chance encounter introduces her to Jinchalo-a mischievous shape shifter. He sets our hungry heroine on a strange adventure into the sky, leaving her home far behind.

A little girl who eats everything?! Totally made for me. Speaking of which, my place is definitely in need of some groceries. -.- I keep putting it off, I’ve been eating cream cheese on graham crackers for dinner. Hopefully on my trip to the Kroger’s I don’t have to deal with a shape shifter. 😛 The ending sort of confuses me, so if you’ve seen it, I’d love to hear your interpretation of the ending. There are no actual words so the entire book is made up of pictures and your interpretation.  Moving on to Anya’s Ghost. Vera Brosgol is wonderful, she worked on Coraline and Paranorman, I can definitely see similar art styles there.  This and her comic, “What were you raised by, wolves?” is a bit darker. Anya’s Ghost is about a Russian immigrant who is trying to fit in her American high school, she’s bullied a bit and tends to see life in a negative way. And one day, on her way home from school she falls down a hole where she isn’t alone. Frannerd recommended this novel in her vlog a couple weeks ago, and it seemed interesting so I had to go and pick myself up a copy. I’m glad I did. I’m really loving this limited color pallet, along with watercolor. I want to start buying more Copic Sketch markers, they give off a watercolor effect. But they’re pretty pricy so it might take a while for me to get a decent collection. Plus I want to be able to use them correctly and I don’t think I know how to at this point. Also, I’ve been loving these illustrated notebooks from Scout Books. This post totally turned into things I’m currently loving.

I haven’t been keeping up with my disposable camera challenge, but the month isn’t over yet so I will make sure to try and get some nice pictures. I’m excited not knowing how they’re gonna turn out. Thinking back, that’s what I loved about it when I used them on class field trips back in the day. XD Of course, we would always wait years until we got them developed. I don’t intend to wait that long with this one. Let me know if you’re attempting the challenge.  That’s all for now, until next time…

Thanks for reading and commenting.

I’ve always loved blog entries where the blogger shares the contents of their bag. I don’t know why, I guess I find the photos interesting so I figured I’d try my hand at posting my own.

On a normal day out, I’ve been using my olive green satchel that I bought from Forever21 a couple months ago. It’s on the smaller side so I can’t carry as much as I usually do. This bag causes me to condense the items I choose to bring with me so I enjoy that. Sometimes I add or remove a few things from the list, but this is what I carried in my bag the last time I went out.

1. Pocket Juice: This is my favorite new thing, as long as I remember to charge it after using it. It gives me enough battery power to last the day after I use my cell to take tons of pictures and navigate me on my travels. It’s a nice thing to have and a good size, I’ve seen smaller but this one is rechargeable by outlet not double AA batteries. I absolutely love it.

2. Keys: These don’t really need an explanation, apartment, mailbox, bike lock. That’s it.

3. Mini wallet: This is what I carry when I use my smaller bag. It has my Q card, debit, license, campus id and some loose change. It’s actually falling apart so I’ll be needing a new one soon. But it’s a nice size.

4. Ipod: I love having my ipod around, it’s an older one so it only holds 1000 songs but it saves me from having to use up my cell battery listening to music.

5. 3DS: I love my Ds, and after buying Bravely Default I have been carrying it around more often but I don’t always carry it with me all the time. Especially when the weather is poop.

6. Altoids: I love mints compared to gum, and I love Altoids, but these are pretty chalky so it does get in my bag…I miss the sour ones but those were more like candy than actual mints. I’ll probably switch back to Tic-Tacs…got to have some type of mints.

7. Nivea bliss chapstick: a kiss of shimmer, I love how soft these leave my lips feeling. But I also have a fruity one that tastes yummy but sort of defeats the purpose of chapstick. So it’s nice to have this on hand, I have very thin lips so lipstick looks odd on me and lip gloss is messy. -.-

8. Star Wars Moleskine: When I use a bigger bag I carry my Star Wars planner but with this bag I like to carry this smaller notebook. It’s the perfect size and having something to write notes or ideas in is important.

9. Cell: HTC DNA. Like everyone else, my cell phone is something I carry with me everywhere. It’s my GPS, and contact with the rest of the world. Makes meeting up with people a lot easier. Of course I remember a time before cell phones were a necessity.

So that’s pretty much all I carry in this particular bag, like I said it changes when I change the bag I use. Now I’m off to make some dinner and finish washing some clothes. I start my first event on Thursday for Houston Press. I’m hopping it goes well, I’m a bit nervous about it. Wish me luck and until next time…

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Today is my little sister’s birthday! She’s 21, I cannot believe it. I still have memories of the night she was born. -.- I wasn’t her biggest fan then. I actually recall hating her, that is before I met her of course, because after that she became one of the most important people to me.

Perhaps hate is too strong of a word, but I was young and all I knew was that she was the reason my mom wasn’t reading me a bedtime story that night. It felt as though my mom was gone for weeks, I believe it was a day or two. I know…pretty melodramatic of me. The next day I remember riding the elevator and walking into a hospital room and there was my mom, laying in a bed. She looked tired, but it was like she was glowing. I know they say that when women are pregnant, but I just remember seeing her and being filled with this immense joy that all I could do was run and jump on the bed to hug her. There was this box thingy next to her, I remember my mom pointing to her but I can’t remember caring that much about it. I was near my mom so that’s all that mattered to me at the time. It wasn’t until this mommy-stealing baby came home and became Kathy, MY baby sister. I remember just always wanting to be near her, always wanting to help my mom take care of her. She was the cutest baby ever, fat cheeks and legs. Growing up with my sisters was/is amazing, and being in the middle, has taught me how to be a younger and older sister to two very talented women.  (The lovely picture was drawn by our brother-in-law, Jody Robertson)

We stayed up making macrons, (I’ll write a post on that later), I woke up to find that she had eaten most of them. But hey, she will just have to make some more. So here’s to you, my-not-so-little-anymore-baby-sister. You are definitely one of a kind and I’m happy to be your sister and roommate. Now, what are we eating for dinner? 😛

That’s all for this post, until next time…thanks for reading and commenting.

This past weekend was Pop Shop, which is this amazing craft event that lasts two days and happens twice a year. They have smaller events known as Mini Pops that I’ve mention in the past but this was even more amazing and being apart of it was absolutely wonderful.

My sisters and I were asked to host a craft table, we share an art blog known as Mind-Speaks where we each post creative projects that we are working on. We wrote a guest post over at the Pop Shop blog. And of course Mija updated about it over at M-S and on her personal blog as well.

It was a blast, I was afraid people wouldn’t be interested in it but luckily there was a great turn out. There were a couple of people who were very enthusiastic about it too. They came back to make more or they brought along friends with them. It was a nice feeling to inspire someone creatively. I hope we managed to do that if not more. The little kids were adorable, the ones that were old enough to stamp the corks down themselves were still young enough to find it magical. But who am I kidding, even the teens and adults thought it was magical. Their excitement after stamping a background pattern was just priceless. There were a few people who just weren’t interested and that’s fine, but some of those who weren’t interested ended up returning after seeing tons of people with the cork necklaces. Even vendors started looking for us.

Jellyfish by Nothing but a Pigeon//etsy//blog

Mug by The Barking Bunny//etsy//site

On to the goodies! I bought this adorable jellyfish to ease the pain of losing a great stewardess bag that only cost 12 bucks!!! >.< I waited and of course someone else bought it. But Mr. Jelly totally made me happy. How cute is he? The artist was unbelievably friendly. Being a knitter myself I always find crocheters fascinating. One day I hope I can learn how to crochet. Correction….one day I WILL learn how to crochet. Moving on, this adorable mug was given to me by my friend Ginger. I was debating whether or not to buy one after she had purchased a set of mugs from The Barking Bunny. But before I went off to buy it, she handed me her bag and said they were for Kat and me. How wonderful is she?! I absolutely adore her.
There were so many things I wanted to buy this weekend, but things tend to be more pricey at craft fairs. For understandable reasons.

Along with the craft fair, Sunday just so happened to be Star Wars day. I didn’t get a chance to go to the Star Wars art fair that was happening a couple blocks from Pop Shop. But I stayed up all night making this skirt. It was completely rushed and had so many flaws, but I love it nonetheless. It did its job and served me well. I’ve learned that I should always have trimming, no matter what. I need to buy that stuff in bulk. You never know when you might need something trimmed with pretty ruffles or pleats. Any who, it’s filled with tons of mistakes if you examine it closely, so don’t do that. I need to buy more Star Wars fabric so I can better prepare for next year. I ran out of fabric so I had to use some left over galaxy fabric I had. But it came out alright for doing it in one night, rushed and messy but I was glad I made something to wear. Did some buns too, Leia buns look more like cinnamon rolls but doing the whole sock bun makes them all round and perfect, so I went with that approach. I was hoping we would make it to the Star Wars art fair, but the line was too long and we were all tired from being at the studio two days in a row. So we went out to eat instead and just relaxed and talked. It was a wonderful weekend, we had so much fun and we hope to continue doing these fun art fairs.

I think I should end this entry now. But before I go, a few small things that I’ll talk more about on my next post. Went to an interview for Houston Press on Wednesday. Got the job, and this Thursday was my last day at the deli!!! Also…I’ve passed two of my grades so far with an A and a B!!!! I made a B in Biology!!!! Crazy, I was afraid I wasn’t even going to get a C but I managed to get a B!!! Damn, I’m so happy. This means I won’t have to retake it for my science credit. Yay!!! I’m such in a good mood. Ok, more next time…until then.

Thanks for reading and commenting.