Nail Art

July 13, 2014

Recently, a friend introduced me to gel manicure nail art. I am not one to get mani and pedi often at the salon, I am a do it yourself kind of girl. My friend has spectacular taste and her instagram feeds of her gel manicures got me curious… I decided to give it a try. It wasn't hard for me to come up with a pattern, I was obsessed with Art Deco pattern for a while now and it was the perfect opportunity to do it. I looked up some Art Deco patterns on Pinterest, extracted the ones I like, sketched them up in Autocad, then loaded them into Photoshop for final coloring. All that might sound complicated to someone who doesn't know the programs, but to me as an interior designer, it was very simple. I found making patterns to be very addictive. The nail technician at Valley Nails was able to hand draw my pattern onto my tiny fingers just as I designed. Well, the time limit didn't allow her to do all of my design, she did three of them and the other two we had to simplify them a little. I was happy with the result. It's not going to be an ongoing thing for me but I definitely will do this again for special occasions.

Gel Manicure with custom Art Deco design artwork

Stay or Leave

June 4, 2014

I've been trying iTunes Radio lately to see what's new out there that I've been missing out on in term of music. I don't drive anymore, so you never have that quiet time in your car to listen to the radio. This song came on and I couldn't help but listening to it again and again and now share. The most beautiful songs are usually written with a tormented soul of the singer/song writers. I've always wondered do people write good happy songs? There are very few… I guess it's the same idea as writing in your journal which I can't even remember the last time I wrote one...

Stay or Leave By: Dave Matthews

A Beautiful Mess

May 16, 2014

"A Beautiful Mess"

You've got the best of both worlds
You're the kind of girl who can take down a man,
And lift him back up again
You are strong but you're needy,
Humble but you're greedy
And based on your body language,
And shoddy cursive I've been reading
Your style is quite selective,
though your mind is rather reckless
Well I guess it just suggests
that this is just what happiness is

Hey, what a beautiful mess this is
It's like picking up trash in dresses

Well it kind of hurts when the kind of words you write
Kind of turn themselves into knives
And don't mind my nerve you could call it fiction
But I like being submerged in your contradictions, dear
'Cause here we are, here we are

Although you were biased I love your advice
Your comebacks ‒ they're quick
And probably have to do with your insecurities
There's no shame in being crazy,
Depending on how you take these
Words that paraphrasing this relationship we're staging

And what a beautiful mess, yes it is
It's like we're picking up trash in dresses

Well it kind of hurts when the kind of words you say
Kind of turn themselves into blades
And "kind and courteous" is a life I've heard
But it's nice to say that we played in the dirt
'Cause here, here we are, here we are
Here we are

We're still here
What a beautiful mess this is
It's like taking a guess when the only answer is "Yes"

Through timeless words and priceless pictures
We'll fly like birds not of this earth

And tides ‒ they turn ‒ and hearts disfigure
But that's no concern when we're wounded together

And we tore our dresses and stained our shirts
But it's nice today. Oh, the wait was so worth it.

Click on Image to play "A Beautiful Mess" by Jason Mraz

The Architect Bird

April 22, 2014

Today, I am inspired by this little bird called Vogelkop Bowerbird. He is a multidisciplinary little guy. As I learned about him, my eyes widened as I could not believe what he is capable of! He's a structural engineer, an architect, and most of all… he's an interior designer with an artistic eye. He built complex structure with woven dry twigs and called this his home. He then gathered treasure findings (antique shopping) to decorate his bachelor pad, some with flowers, stones, or colorful dry fruits. He meticulously arrange them in his own artistic pattern. All this work to attract the beautiful ladies into his home. The ladies do have their picking around the neighborhood. They fly in and out of these handsome lads' houses to check out which home would fit their needs. With a happy ending, they do fall in love and mate.