INSPIRATION//: [words to live by]

{source: creaturecomforts.com}

TRAVELS//: [tahoe | northstar]

{photo taken with my bb at the top of the mt. at northstar in tahoe last weekend}

this past weekend was my monthly trip up north to visit my parents. i flew into Sacramento and they picked me up and we headed straight up to tahoe to our family's condo.

Saturday i woke up and my parents dropped me off to go snowboarding at Northstar. it was just me and the mt. of snow spending QT. although because i'm able to go at my own pace i noticed really fast how out of shape i really am. man am i sore... STILL! ha!

note to self: remember to do 100 squats a day a month before the season starts. lol

on a bad note, the airline baggage handlers broke one of the stripes on my board bag.. grr!

TECHNOLOGY//: [web browser | firefox]

obviously with me being a graphic designer, naturally i'm a Apple/Mac user.

at first in OS9 i used internet explore but when OSX came along i've always used Safari for my main web browser. i believe Firefox came out a little after but i never did the move over to Firefox... that is until now. Safari seems to have a few glitches here and there which seem to be fine in Firefox.

so I've officially decided that i'm going to try out Firefox fully as my default web browser. we'll see how it goes.

xoxo

PUBLICATION//: [r.i.p. | domino mag]

i'm sad to inform ya'll the one of my favorite publications is going under... DOMINO. what a sad sad day it is. sigh! stupid economy.

{source: wwd}

PERSONAL//: [souvenir | from hubby]

The hubby was gone to NYC and Orlando for almost 2 weeks and this is what he brought me back. Cute right?! He said everyone laughed at him when he bought it.

Thanks beluga! Xoxo

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

DIY//: [coffee filter | garlands]

{source: ga ga for garlands blog image image from: creature comforts blog}

Do it yourself coffee filter garland. super cute, i love the ones that look like pom poms (bottom left). when i saw them i thought of my friend annie... she's such a crafty person. >_<

if i threw parties i'd definitely make these. 

INSPIRATION//: [up lifting | quote]

{source: creature comforts blog}

FAMILY//: [holiday | photos]

the hubby's parents normally send out Happy New Year cards with a photo of us "kids".  last year it was the 4 of us at erik & mel's wedding. this year we somehow forgot the take a photo with just us "kids" when the hubby's parents took us to hawaii to visit erik & mel last summer. so the hubby's mom asked me if i could possible try and add daren and i in a photo that they took when they went back to hawaii in dec. 

keep in mind daren and i havent taken many photos together this year. so i only had one photo that would work of us that we took at my friend's wedding back in aug ... and this is how it turned out.

INSPIRATION//: [color | combos]

i have no idea who this is. but love the pink, lavender color combo.

i loves these colors!

{Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis shot for French Glamour}

INTERIOR//: [couch | pillows]

Finally bought some throw pillows for the couch. Now I just need to find ones for a splash of color.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

REVIEW//: [blackberry | bold 900]

The day I FINALLY joined the crackberry nation (aka addicted blackberry users) was on November 4, 2008. The very day the new blackberry bold was released by AT&T to the USA. The second day I got the Bold I wrote a small short/early review and I said i'd write another one once i've used it a little longer. Today's that day!

Let me just first off say I'M IN LOVE and with any love it's not perfect but I'm willing to look past the imperfections (for the most part at least ha). I've now had the Bold for over 2 months now and I believe I'm able to give a pretty accurate review about it at this point.

• VISUALLY (exterior): its sleek, clean, the screen is vibrant and I love the faux leather backing. It's easier to grip and a nice texture vs the BB Curve's slippery plastic one, etc., the only thing that's a draw back is the silver border is black plastic painted silver. So when you drop the phone and it dents/chips/scratches the plastic is shows the black.

• GUTS: the new OS is nice and the icons are clean they reminds me of a Mac's. As for applications it seems that BB devices only are allotted a certain amount of space and you can't use the Slot memory card to add to it. Also the OS freezes once in a while and you'll have to do a hard restart which is taking out the battery and putting it back in. the Bold has wifi and bluetooth and it's also 3G. one thing the iPhone has over the BB Bold is that the iPhone 3G you're able to turn off the 3G if you'd like, while on the BB Bold you stuck to using it unless it drops on you and go to the EDGE network.

• SOUND/PLAYBACK: this is one of the things the BB Bold trumps on the iPhone... the speaker on this bad boy is amazingly loud and clear. As for the music playback it now has a previous song/next song button (vs the old curve). The only thing I don't like is that it can't play music I buy from itunes (but I think I read some where now you can... but I'm not sure) which I blame itunes for more than RIM for this flaw.

• EMAIL: this feature is what BB is known for and yet another feature that trumps the iPhone over. Out of all the devices i've owned (which tech only my sidekick and iphone had email) the BBs email system is AMAZING. It's extremely reliable and fast. On the sidekick and iPhone you can wait up to 30 mins to 24 hrs to receive an email. The blackberry works on its own emailing system so it's able to shot you your email right away. LOVE IT!

• MESSENGER: aka BBM aka Blackberry Messenger. Oh how I love thee. for those of you who don't know BBM is I AIM for BB user to other BB users. I never knew how many people I know owned a BB until now. The great part about it is its FREE to BBM unlike AIM for BB thats actually considered text messages. I'm trying to convert all my friend that aren't BB users to do so mainly for BBM reasons and because it's so reliable ha.

• WEB BROWSER: one thing that I loved about the iPhone was it's internet browser and how you are about to control it with the touch screen. But to be honest the BB Bolds browser isn't to shabby. When it comes to mobile browsing to be honest I don't do much of it either way it takes too long to load (iphone and/or bb bold)... I can wait until I get to my laptop or desktop for most things.

• CAMERA/VIDEO: the pixel in the camera is lacking a little (iphones resolution is a tad better), but at least theres a flash (unlike the iphone). I'm still trying to figure out the setting for the camera. The flash is a little harsh on the photos and washes things out at times. the video is also at a tiny qlty, but what do you expect its a mobile phone right?! at least there's a video. yay! (even tho i'll hardly ever use it ever heehee.. just nice to have)

All in all I love the phone. I wouldn't go back to the iphone for nothing (until they come up with a solution for all the things i hate about it now... then we'll see). Personally, its well worth the money. But then again I am a tech geek in a way. It'll be hard to sway me away from being a crackberry addict now! Look even president select Obama can't resist it. haha

COME JOIN THE CRACKBERRY NATION TODAY!!!! lol

HUMOR//: [blueberry l900i | china]

The other day I was surfing on crackberry.com and I came across this post and like they did I HAD to post this under humor. 

Of course leave it up to us chinese people to make a knock off of my new LOVE the Blackberry Bold. They call theirs the BLUEberry L900i. 

Hilarious! 

GREAT FIND//: [sneaker | mid tops]

I guess wearing my chucks saturday made a suppressed monster arise once again because the same day I came across these pewter metallic nike mid tops and I had to have them. i went from tomboy to semi tomboy to semi girlie to really girlie. my roots have always been tomboy, and i'd like to think i still in some way in a tiny way i still am. i've been trying to work the sneakers back into my style... its still always evolving. 

The photo doesn't do it justice.
LOVE THEM!

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PERSONAL//: [sneaker | style]

I busted out the chucks! Going back to my roots wearing sneaks. Let me just tell you I haven't worn sneakers in YEARS! And I think the last time was for my halloween outfit. Ha!

Off to take shortie to the dog park w/ mina & simba. I'm determined to get shortie to be more social. Lol

Wish me luck!

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PERSONAL//: [photographs | mammoth]

the day after xmas me and bunch of friend headed up to Mammoth for a snowboarding trip... first trip of the season. one of my friend brought his SLR and fisheye lens. i've always had an attraction to photography and i got me missing it... a lot! here are some of the photographs that i took that trip with his SLR and my point & shoot.

if you'd like to see more photos from our trip click here.

anyone wanna buy me a SLR with all the lens??? >_<

xoxo

PHOTOGRAPHY//: [max wanger | Photography]

when it comes to photography i love the not so traditional shots. like when photographer play with cropping, space and of course detailed shots... LOVE IT! to be honest for me personally when its done right i feel like it captures the moment better than just taking a regular photograph of people posing.

while i was surfing the blogs i ran into some photographs by Max Wanger over at A Cup of Jo. Max apparently had done Joanne's engagement photos and she found him from another blog. the power of blogs man!

here are a few of my favs of Max Wanger's photography

FOOD//: [baking | red velvet]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
So to ring in 2009 I baked mini red velvet cupcakes. I know its not the best presentation, I was in a rush people were already waiting to eat them ha. Next time I'll buy one of those frosters that you put into a bag so that it'll be cleaner and prettier.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T