a hello kitty sunday

In honor of Sanrio's 50th anniversary, they decided to turn the Santa Monica Barker Hanger into a festival of cute dedicated to the characters we have grown to love during the wonder years.  I was excited to partake in this special event because it brings out the little kid in me who collected Sanrio erasers and pencils. I have been receiving Sanrio pencils, erasers and pencil boxes as gifts since I can remember. My mother would pretend they were presents from Santa Claus because at a young age I believed a fat dude with a beard would hand out gifts.  As a tween, I would save my allowance and every Saturday my parents would take us to the mall. The first stop would be the Sanrio store and see what I can buy for 10 bucks. I had to save a ton of moola to even afford a big plush animal. With my lack of resources, I end up buying an eraser or a mechanical pencil to fill up my stamp cards and to receive the little token when you buy something at the store.

My favorite character was Ahiru No Pekkle because my favorite color is blue. I immediately bought anything Ahiru No Pekkle and had a fairly decent size collection.  I felt a whole lot of nostalgia perusing around the extravaganza along with my sistahs.

The festival consisted of games, food trucks, a ferris wheel, smart cars, art and of course some shopping.

Here I am, waiting patiently for some Sanrio collectibles. Seriously, a line to spend money, Priceless.

Tada... The End!
P.S. Check out my flickr account for all my pictures. Especially the art portion. There were lot's of great kitschy art.
Click here!

mi bolsa

 I love contributing to my favorite flickr group, What's in my bag? It's one of those voyeuristic things and I like to share and also love to see other people's belonging in their bag as well. This will be my 3rd post. So far, I have been fanatic with Hello Kitty. I never liked the Sanrio character when I was growing up because she was too pink and girly. In college, there was feminist article I read about Hello Kitty not having a mouth to voice her opinions.  According to the feminist, Hello Kitty is a cute thing that doesn't speak her mind and  shouldn't be praised by young girls. I was so upset at about the article because there was some truth to it and disliked Hello Kitty even more. The kat grew on me and now she is an icon.  I still find it disturbing why she doesn't have a mouth though, but at least she is not so pink. But since I read her story, Hello Kitty is one metropolitan kat. Here is Hello Kitty's story, Hello Kitty was born on November 1st and she lives in London, England with her parents and twin sister, Mimmy. Her hobbies include traveling, music, reading, eating yummy cookies, and best of all making new friends.

i voted

I hope California will get out of this sink hole.

an owl, clogs, paul & joe sister

Eeek, I'm Gilty! Yes, Gilt has been my vice for some time now and I have been buying up a storm whenever my pocket book allows. When I saw the Paul & Joe sister bag, I couldn't pass it up because it's reminiscent of the Alexa bag for Mulberry, minus the hefty price tag. Also, investing in such a bag is a bad idea since everyone from their mama has the Alexa bag and it will be as tired as a Balenciega bag. Well, I don't think so because I'm still drooling for the Balenciega in black with gold hardware, I just can't muster myself to buy it. Anywhoo, I am enjoying the Alexa inspired bag as a staple in my fall wardrobe. I'm also steppin' around L.A. in my clogs from Madewell my sis found for me. What a good deal I might add and the fringes on top are icing on a cake. Even though I'm not an owl fiend like my sis, I had to buy this cute coin purse too. This madness has to stop! There are too many cute stuff out there and in these ridiculously low prices that no one can pass up like moi. Oh boy, am I in trouble.

honey toast in vegas

My sisters and I rarely go off the beaten path when it comes to Vegas because the Strip is fairly convenient with all those buffets and all, but ironically, most food places close early for a city that never sleeps. We had to trek out to their Chinatown, which is more like an Asiatown since it's a hodge podge of Chinese, Korean or Japanese eateries. We ended up in Ichiza, a Japanese tapas place. The food was delicious, once you figured out how to order. They make the restaurant authentic by posting the best dishes in Japanese all over the walls of the restaurant. Their highlight dessert is called honey toast. It's basically toast, honey and vanilla ice cream and ooh it was yummy. I ended up googling honey toast and it's quiet the rage in Japan. Who knew?

summer skin 10'

The summer months do bring us outdoor concerts, Vegas trips and a day out on the beach. The summer season in L.A. wasn't as hot as expected. It never felt like summer because there were nights around the 60 degree Fahrenheit. Anywhoo, It doesn't stop me from enjoying summer. Here are my top summer moments in 2010 and in no particular order.

I spent 4Th of July in Paradise Cove, Malibu with my family. My parents enjoyed the seafood extravaganza and my sisters enjoyed taking in the sun and the sea breeze. I managed to enjoy another day in Paradise Cove and walked along the beach admiring the ocean front view homes.

My annual trip to Las Vegas for my Anni. Surprisingly, Vegas was not too crowded and steaming hot. We stopped by at Peggy Sue diner because I have always wanted to go. Every time I pass around Barstow I see large statues of dinosaurs and was always curious to see the park. The food was typical burgers and shakes, but it's a unique little place. I gambled in Vegas but didn't win as always. Will you ever win in any slot machine? But I did find the most fun slot machine ever, the Sex and the City slot machine. Only a penny and you get to enjoy excerpts of some episodes and match shoes to which Sex and the City gal. So fun! It's always popular since every gal is playing it. Also with 20 bucks, you can play a good amount of time until you loose it all.

I got to participate the 2ND annual Fashion Night Out. I knew about this since last year. I went to Fred Segal to celebrate Fashion Nigh Out last year and who knew the event would blossomed to an all night extravaganza. My sister and I headed out to Rodeo Drive since we were attracted to the free Chanel manicures, a ginormous Ferris wheel and Sprinkles cupcakes. To our surprise, we stumbled to a good friend of mine Trung and his BF Luke. Ooh how fun it was as we chin chin to free champagne in all the lux stores and scored on some free nail polish.

My favorite summer moment to date was when my sis Darah and I received our certification as bonified Open Water Divers on 08/08/10. As always, we didn't know what we were getting into. It's a lot of dedication, time and perseverance. There are lots of times where we were thinking, can we possibly do this? We stuck to it, especially my sis since her nickname is "Girlie" and she is never the sporty type of gal and found enjoyment in breathing underwater. People who never dive do not know the process in diving underwater. There are lots of equipment, troubleshooting, and safety checks before jumping into the water because if these safety checks are not done, you will compromise your life. Even though it's such a high risk sport, it is an amazing adventure breathing underwater among sea life.

Summer always bring out great music and we managed to enjoy La Roux at the Nokia Club, which is a great venue I might add. The place is intimate and the sound is impressive. We also saw Kings of Leon at the Hollywood Bowl and were they badass! We saw our favorite songbird, Mieko in Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach. I luv this venue because it reminds me of the coffee houses you see in the movies. The seats are couches, and there are tables all around where you can enjoy a drink while they perform. Great acoustics too.

We spent the last day of summer in Vegas to see Phoenix at Pearl in the Palms Casino. My sis Darah and I will make an excuse to make a road trip to see a DJ, band or art exhibition. For example, we made a weekend to see Paul Oakenfold in SF and to catch the Frida Kahlo exhibit in SFMOMA a couple years back. The last day of summer, we made a trip to Las Vegas to see Phoenix. Las Vegas in the weekdays is amazing! No long lines for anything, we got upgraded to a better room with no extra cost and after the concert, out of no where we see Thomas Mars in Ghostbar. What a crazy night. The venue is pretty intimate too and our seats were not bad at all.

scuba diver for life!

This summer has been an interesting one. I didn't travel like I would to some foreign country and get lost or enjoy myself in a Caribbean island sippin' some summer cocktails. I mostly stayed in L.A. and travelled to a different kind of place. Most people can't travel there because a person has to be certified or you will indefinitely kill yourself. I'm talking about scuba diving. Since my first trip to Hawaii in my early 20's and seeing some random people scuba dive to the ocean, I have always wanted to be a certified diver. My sisters and I shared the same memory and so we finally became certified this year. One thing you don't know about scuba certification is it takes a lot out of your time, especially your weekends. The only thing you have to do is stick with it, and the reward is amazing. Especially our final dives in Anancapa. Anacapa is located in the Channel Islands off of Ventura County. Gosh, I have lived in L.A. since I was 7 years young, and this was my first time seeing this amazing environmental reserve. California is truly beautiful. The goal at Anacapa was to do our skills that we learned in the pool, and apply it in the ocean. That was the most annoying part because I already wanted to swim with the seals. Yes, they were these nice seals that wanted to play with us. After dive 3, we are certified divers, and our 4Th dive, we got to venture on our own to the mini kelp forest and see some sea life underwater. It was an amazing experience I tell you. To accomplish something most people can't do since fear of water, ocean animals and even the patience to learn the safety skills was trying enough. There was a girl that quit after her first dive in Anacapa. What a shame since she had invested all the time, money and energy. This wasn't our first ocean dive. The weekend before diving in Anacapa, we beached dive in Redondo Beach. That was truly spectacular as well. Anywhoo, scuba diver for life! Click here for pics on flickr.