Past Halloween Costumes.

Preschool: Fancy Cat?

I had told everyone I was going to dress up as

Snow White (which was my favorite movie at the time)

but my mother had trouble doing snow white make up.

Or just didn't care what I wanted!

-Longview, WA-

I wore that same "Black Widow" Costume 2 years in a row

(I had to justify paying $30 for the hat alone, on a college student

budget!) This was just after a trip back from Europe.

2004, Seattle, WA

PIMP. L.A., CA 2005

Better shot of my "outfit."

This was taken in Hollywood.

Las Vegas 2006.

Retro Girl? (make shift costume!)

2007 Longview.

Old School Tennis Player.

2008, Longview.

The Unabomber.

2010. Longview

Sexy Librarian.

*Childhood photos are missing because my baby albums are with my parents....in Sacramento. I did dress up every year as a child too. Korean Ghost, Angel, Witch...

THIS YEAR...is a surprise. ;)

yesterday.

I spent how many hours decorating cookies?

today.

today, I saw a man with a cat on a leash, walk out of a pot-dispensary near our neighborhood.

today, the neighbors informed me that there was another shooting last night (2 in 1 week!)

today, as I was outside, washing the car, on this beautiful, sunny, glorious fall day, 3 thuggish teens walked by and my ferocious 7lb dog barked at them. Those boys told me they liked our pumpkins and smiled as they walked on.

I have to go wash the car as fast as possible, in case there are stray bullets.

Sinus Headache? Tip:

I woke up with the gnarliest sinus headache this morning. The sudden drop in temp. combined with dry air always causes sinus headaches for me. I took Sudafed first thing this morning, and later ibuprofin (out of desperation) when my headache would not cease. I just had lunch....leftover pineapple-chicken curry (with extra spice) and feel INSTANTLY better. I had forgotten that eating spicy foods cause sinus headaches (caused by dryness) gets the juices flowing and relieves the headache instantly! <3

Here are some other benefits of eating spicy foods.

I am rarely without a bottle of Sriracha OR jar of jalepenos at the dinner table. :)

weekend Project.

I purchased a vintage card table that looked VERY similar to

the one shown above, for $8. Except MINE had a big

slash in the vinyl.

So I cut the vinyl off (which was kind of gross anyway).

And painted the board that was underneath. 

It was a long project, mostly bc of the mishap I had to start.

(I didn't like the original design that I started painting).

"Finished" product up close. The colors are actually gray & Purple.

This photo washes out both those colors.

There were a few mishaps with the tape not sticking down...

as you can see, where the paint seeped under.

So today I will be touching up with gray paint and calling it good!

We already have a dining room table....but there have been so many times where I needed a light weight folding table. I'm very happy to be the owner of a (new?) folding table. :)

Confession:

I'm not even going to pretend I liked this guy in the past, because I always found him to be a bit obnoxious. BUT I decided that I can handle this sort of thing for the holidays (aren't the holidays obnoxious?). I could always use another Christmas CD. ;) I feel so dirty admitting this.

What I made today.

When I first awoke this morning, I thought that I would take it easy today.

I ended up cooking for 6 hours today. Ha. HA.

Home-made Pita Bread. 

Let dough rise.

Bake 2 at a time (total of 8).

Korean steamed pork buns. 

Which entails chopping various veggies into teeny-tiny pieces,

cooking the meet/veggies. Squeezing out alll the liquid from the

meat/veggie mixture. Letting the dough rise twice.

Rolling the dough out into 16 equal pieces, stuffing them.

Steaming in 3 separate batches (since I do not

have giant steamer). 

tzatziki sauce.

No, I don't plan to eat all that today! Tomorrow will be an easy day when I cook up chicken pitas. Yum. :)

Only 10 More Days...

...Left to watch the crap out of my favorite Halloween movie,

before I retire it until next year!

missing.

above drawing, drawn by then-boyfriend/now husband.

Last seen: Las Vegas, NV 2007.

Has been lost since. 

Did it go out with the rest of the junk in the alley?

Is it hanging in someone's living room?

Or has it gone back to the Earth?

We shall never know.

Five.

1. Seeing: Fall leaf bouquets I cut from a tree outside. 

2. Hearing: The hum of the fridge, the whimpering of my dog (begging).

3. Tasting: Sun-dried tomato turkey sandwich w/BBQ chips.

4. Smelling: Fall scented candle burning.

5. Feeling: Chilly, my toes are freezing! 

Water is Life. (Tips on Conservation)

10 Easy Tips on Water Conservation. 100 Tips. The 100 tips, are more ideas, but most people don't usually spend the time to READ all 100. So here are MY tips (and I am always working to evolve better ways to conserve water).

1. Turning off faucet while brushing teeth. This should be a given....and it's easy to make (good) a habit. BUT what I recently noticed was....if you are living with a roommate, boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse....is EVERYONE in your house doing this...or is it just you? My husband brushes his teeth at different times than me, so I did not realize he was leaving the faucet running. So I left him a friendly reminder:

p.s. that is dry-erase pen on bathroom mirror.

also a good place to write other reminders

and daily affirmations!

2. Collect excess water for plants. In the summer I leave a bucket in the shower, to catch excess water. All year round I collect glasses of water left out, you know...where someone got themselves a glass of water and then didn't bother to finish it? I dump that water into a watering can, or directly into a plant OR into our pet's water dish. 

3. Don't flush the toilet every time, if it's just #1! Especially in the middle of the night...bc not only is it wasteful, but honestly...it's kind of freaky. Anyone else get freaked out? Of course, remember to flush when you have guests over...bc that could just be awkward. BUT if it's just you...and you're the only one who's going to be home for a while just leave it! Even if you flush every-other, that is saving HALF the amount of water!

4. Don't take baths. A bath a couple times a year...when you are sick or really stressed is fine of course! BUT honestly, taking a bath to get clean is kind of pointless. Basically you are using WAY more water than you would in a 10-15 minute shower, just to fill up the tub....and wallowing in your own filth in the tub. None of that is being rinsed away. blech! Plus it's not possible to do tip #2 (collect water) if you are bathing.

Okay you all know this stuff anyway. Please feel free to share your own tips! I am always interested in more/better ways of conserving.

Something Delicious.

Here is an extremely easy, yet completely delicious (and beautiful) Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe.
I've made it several times (I prefer to make it in a spring-form pan with my own graham cracker crust).

I made it this weekend, for a beautiful fall backyard BBQ. I will probably make it again before this season is over! Enjoy.

My latest obsession.

THE WONDER YEARS on Netflix streaming.

I need to get through this in order to have my life back! 

(haha)

J.Han Closet Visit.

*No photo of actual closet...because this 1920's  house has 2 TINY closets and therefore our clothes are crammed in and really, there is not way of making it look presentable, ever. Actually there is...but it would require knocking down a wall...so...

Vintage ring stand: Thrift store find. (2years)

Top to bottom: diamond/gold bow pinky ring:

gift from favorite aunt. (15 years)

Square cocktail ring: Purchased from cart

in Piazza Novona, Roma. (7 years)

Oval ring: thrift store find. One of my faves. (1-2 years)

Tibetan Silver Flower ring: Anniversary gift. (6-7 years)

Vintage wooden BEEF box: gift from husband. (1-2 years)

Left to Right: Turquoise bead earrings: made by me. (4 years)

Next 2: Vintage leaf earrings, thrift store finds.(10 years, 3 years)

Bakelite necklace: thrift store. (6 years)

Diamond/Gold Peace necklace: Gift from favorite

aunt. (Favorite aunt turns out to be rich, too). (6 years)

Leaf pendant: thrift store, pinecone: West Yellowstone. (4 years)

Clockwise from top:

Moc boots: NYC. (2-3 years)

Minnetonka moc boots: Zappos (1 year)

Minnetonka mocs: Xmas gift from MIL (3 years)

White fur flats: Moksha, Seattle. (6-7 years)

Jessica Simpson Leopard Heels: Zappos for 28th Bday gift to self.

Bejeweled boots: Vintage (bought brand new). Etsy. (2 years)

J.Crew tweed dress circa 2001.

Wool Long sleeve dress: Etsy. (3 years)

Eddie Bauer circa 1990. Recent Tacoma re-sale store find!

Left to Right: F21 magnetic bracelet. Love it...but if you

dance too hard...the magnets fail and you end up throwing the

damn thing on the floor! (2 years)

Leaf Cuff: Vintage, thrift store (5 years)

Pyramid bracelet: F21 (2 years)

Angled Bangle: Thrift store (4 years)

Flower embroidered coat.

ETSY (amazing).

1. It was hard to pick items. (I stuck with fall-ish items) 2. General theme being: THRIFT STORE! my whole house is that way, though. 3. I would REALLLLLLY love it if some of you posted closet visits! I'm really interested in what people cherish. (and spying on their closets) 4. I forgot to do purses. I have some cool ones, but I am by no means a purse collector and it was probably a subconscious decision when I "forgot." (I have been using the same 9West cross body purse purchased at ROSS for the last year.)

Yum.

I made these the other day. Pumpkin Cupcakes. I had some left over pumpkin pie puree from a pumpkin cheesecake that I made a couple weeks prior. I needed to use this up! Here is the recipe I used. I halved the recipe for cupcakes and instead of using plain puree I used the kind with all the spices already in it (since that was what I already had opened) and skipped the cinnamon step in the recipe. I did add walnuts, but I could've done without, esp. in cupcakes. The husband said he liked the walnuts though, so I guess it's a personal preference! I personally don't like "surprises" in my cupcakes, I like them to just be soft.

Hope everyone is enjoying their fall thus far!

Ya heard it here.

Remember the recent Missoni for Target craze? Well next up to bat is Jason Wu.
(Oh and the Versace for H&M in November)

Love.

One of my favorites. I will do a JHan closet visit soon.