day 91

youth is beautiful. but so is weathering. 

i love texture.

(nyc)

in real life!

this picture makes me happy :)

day 90

day 89

day 88

day 87

day 86

let's live in beauty

love the layouts of these lofts, i've always been a sucker for high ceilings:

and i'll take one glass bedroom right on the lake, please:

or perhaps a tree growing out of my house:

or a fairy tale bedroom built for two:

but for sure a library filled with books and a nice view:

and of course, a closet in the attic:

a girl can plan, can't she?

(nyc)

fancy a holiday, anyone?

(in nyc, not greece, sigh)

stardust!

this is what i meant when i wrote day 74!!
except that this is much prettier and better written :)

billow like the wind

love love love this dress:

and all this chunky jewelry:

(nyc)

j.l. stanley

when they ask to see your gods
your book of prayers
show them lines
drawn delicately with veins
on the underside of a bird's wing
tell them you believe
in giant sycamores mottled
and stark against a winter sky
and in nights so frozen
stars crack open
spilling streams of molten ice to earth
and tell them how you drank
the holy wine of honeysuckle
on a warm spring day
and of the softness
of your mother who never taught you
death was life's reward
but who believed in the earth and the sun
and a million, million light years of being

day 85

day 84

hakuna matata

it means no worries for the rest of your days... :)

can you feel the love tonight... this song reminds me of when i first started understanding love. the initial shades of love are like blush... pure and clean and majestic and safe and innocent...

(nyc)

i just bawled my eyes out

watching this:

don't waste time, it's beautiful...

(nyc)

handy dandy quirky

"people are like stained glass windows. they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within." - elizabeth kubler ross

(stained glass rose window from notre dame in paris)

i remember when we were little, my dad had a stained glass workshop set up in our dining room at our old house. we rarely used that dining room for eating, but i would use it to do homework, practice the piano or play hide-n-seek with my sister. it had this golden chandelier that you could pull down or push up to any level you wanted, so my dad would pull it all the way down for brightness and make all sorts of things. i remember the stained glass apple in particular, the tree sculptures he would make out of the old copper wires, and clocks made from old computer parts.

once, he had been working on a painting in the garage. it was raining and my sister and i were going to play at our next door neighbor's house (sarah from england with the giant pet rat. ewww, i know, but as kids, you don't give a flying crud). naturally, instead of using umbrellas like normal human beings, we decided to use my dad's giant canvas as a shield from the rain since we could carry it over our heads and it would protect the both of us at once. our logic was very, very sound.

whenever we go to dinner, my dad always does origami with the paper slip that covers his chopsticks, while waiting for our food to come out. this results in frogs, cranes, stars, mini-humans. i don't even think he realizes that he does this. whenever he goes hiking, he brings home branches, stones and what not, and new sculptural creations pop up in our garden. his hands and his mind are constantly in motion, making do with whatever is around, which actually also makes him quite handy around the house. he fixes leaky toilets, cobbles broken shoes, installs new lighting, builds stone walkways. the man is a fixer and a doer, and he can do it in his sleep.

which makes me think. that when something comes that naturally to you, it is a gift you must nurture and let flourish, for that is what will sustain you when all else falls dark. my dad is never dark, and it is hard for me to comprehend him as a man under stress, because while i may be flailing about, he has already moved onto dreaming of what is next.

finding people with that strong inner light is truly rare, and i somehow got lucky enough to be born to TWO such people.

today, i am just genuinely appreciating all the beautiful stained glass in my life. i feel humbled with gratitude, and at peace.

thank you universe.

(nyc)

day 83

day 82

fucking cute

why is this animal so effing cute?! i want to eat it.

maybe better to eat these instead:

japanese = miniature

(nyc)

day 81

the selby

when i got really sick a few years ago, i literally laid in bed all day for a couple of weeks because i was too weak to do anything. that's when i discovered all these great websites, one of which was theselby.com. the breadth and depth of the website has come a long way, which is awesome. who doesn't love meeting creative people and their spaces, all around the world? thank you todd.

click---> the world is made of vibrations, including what you feel when you watch this...

(nyc)

piazza sant'egidio

if you know where this particular piazza is, you're lucky, because i know i am:

it's in trastevere in rome, it's tiny and it's absolutely magical. that balcony on the right always has beautiful flowers, and during the day, there's a little fruit stand downstairs where the big gray door is. behind us is an awesome wine bar called ombre rosso and there's also an english language movie theater just off camera right (for those days when your head hurts from too much translating and you just need a break).

i used to live right down the street from here, past that big tree in the middle. and even though this piazza is nothing big or spectacular like some of the others in rome, to me, it was genuinely special. it felt like my own secret nook of the eternal city, hidden amongst the confusing cobblestones of this old roman neighborhood. i have lots of memories here, like the time two young carabinieri (italian policemen with their white mickey mouse gloves) harassed me and my sister just so that they could flirt with us (they were enchanted by her blonde hair). how very italian of them :) or the time my friend elle insisted that she could find her way back to my apartment but proceeded to get totally lost in the neighborhood maze, and i found her here. or the time i tried to finish a whole glass of fragolino (oh-so-girly strawberry wine) at the bar, failed miserably, yet still managed to walk home very tipsy by myself. i am so weak sauce.

i miss it. i really, really miss it. and i'm really, really grateful that i had the chance to live here and get to have such memories.

i'm not done with you yet trastevere, i'll be back... a presto.

(nyc)
  

 

i will have my cake

and eat it too!!!

that's right, i'm a greedy little bastard and i want it all... why not ME!! :D

(nyc)

be my guest

one day i will invite you to dinner. and it will look like this:

(nyc)

day 80

day 79

day 78

day 77

day 76

day 75

day 74

day 73

day 72

oops.

day 71

just surprise me.

day 70

and another star is born.. :)

laugh out loud

i looooove japanese prank shows, they're the best!!

(nyc)

GRRRRRRRRRR

WHY IS WRITING SO HARD?!?!
who told me to do this and why?!?!
#$&??!?!@#$*@!!!!!!!

this is harder than a constipated POO!!!!!! arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

(writing hell)

day 69

beautiful

i find everything about this picture beautiful.. the color, the graininess, the bedsheets, the hair, the girl, all of it.
love. it.

(nyc)

big city life

by mattafix... remember this?? hahaha... only in rome :D

(nyc)

rabindranath tagore

most people believe the mind to be a mirror, more or less accurately reflecting the world outside them, not realizing on the contrary that the mind is itself the principal element of creation.

(nyc)

day 68

raaaawwwwrrrrr goes my stomach

note to self: do not read food blogs late at night when hungry :(

click to read jonathan gold's 60 korean dishes every angeleno should know. i gotta get back to LA. asap.

(sadly, nyc)

march madness

the words pour over me mezmerize me captivate me romance me entrance me infect me chain me drown me elude me obliterate me
silly me
homer's sirens were
mere child's play
giving birth is wreckless, easy
coaxing enticing pleading begging on blood-skinned knees against the acres of furious hot glass
just
for
a
single
melody

lunacy insanity madness i SHOUT at you
but you will not stop
glittering

(nyc)

day 67

some days we all need a pick-me-up from a friend :)

day 66

health is wealth.

day 65

rumi

the minute i heard my first love story
i started looking for you
not knowing how blind that was

lovers don't finally meet somewhere
they're in each other all along.

now that, my friends

is a treehouse!

(nyc)

day 64

mere seconds

if you really really really reallllllly want it, you have to will it into existence SO HARD that there is no choice but for the universe to fold itself around you and bend to your wishes.

what, in life, do you want so bad, that it is the singular focus of all your intentions?

michael phelps won 8 gold medals in the 2008 olympics, setting new world records as an olympian and as a general athlete in all of history across all sports. none of those races were won by more than two seconds. in fact, one was won by 7/10th's of a second. and one was won by a mere 1/100th of a second. 1/100th!! you can't even blink an eye that fast.


what are you dreaming of? but more importantly, what are you actually working for?


(nyc)

funny funny dante!!

so very excited for dante heejun han, who's made it to the top 10 for american idol this season!! we first met on the set of a film we worked on together, called west 32nd, directed by michael kang. watch this clip below, it's hilarious (with lanny joon as the other character):

and now this! and yes, he's exactly like that in real life haha... :D

so proud for him, excited and happy!! GO DANTE GO!!!

(nyc)

day 63

day 62

day 61