The final Paprika of my 4 part series is pictured below.  This Paprika was made for a female student at W&L.  She is a sister of the Zeta Tau chapter of Kappa Delta (ΚΔ).  We used the pink version of the Trident pajama pants to create sleep shorts. The remaining yardage was saved  for the piping, the Trident and Greek Letters.  The background fabric is a decorator-weight Waverly print.

ΚΔ’s colors are olive green and pearl white. The client wanted pink as the 3rd color as the intended recipient has her entire room decorated in pink and green. That is one of my favorite color combinations as well.  Not only would the pink and green be great for a ΚΔ but it would be great for a ΔZ, AKA, or anyone who my kids say “rocks the croc”.

As requested by the client for the 3 other Paprikas, a zipper was installed in the bottom seam and the designs on the back of the pillow are skewed towards the top so the monogram can be added.

If I’m not misinformed, one can get Somatic Tinnitus from being tense, or having tense muscles, in the head and neck region.
I have a tense neck.
Last Saturday I bought myself a new pillow. A pillow, which was, it turned out, too high; too thick. I thought my bodies aversion for it would end if I just kept on sleeping on it. I had a similar thing happen when I bought a new bed. Felt like crap the first few days and then I got used to it; liked it. So I slept on the crap pillow for three days. Getting less and lighter, sleep while doing it. Not good. My neck hurt after night one but I thought I should be persistent. Now I’m super tense and I have a high pitch noise in my left ear. Not pleasant. Not pleasant at all.

I have now changed back to my old pillow. My non-high-pitch noise inducing pillow.

Let’s hope this shit comes to an end.

Get Your Bed Wedge – Foam Wedge Bed Pillow 7″x 24″ x 24″. By Duro-med

There are just certain things which we used to take for granted that are now nowhere to be found. In the good old days, you would walk onto a plane and each seat had a travel pillow and blanket well organized and ready for our comfort. I relish the days when the airlines used to have a big ole’ stack of newspapers and magazines they would pass out to passengers just before takeoff. That was nice. You could cover up, rest your poor weary head and kick back with a good piece of reading material.

Gone are the days of baked on board cookies and actual meals. Yes, sadly we are in a “fend-for-yourself” world and having your own travel pillow just makes sense. Obviously we cherish our comforts. The road is rough out there but we can all survive as long as we have our own plushy, squishy travel pillow with us.

We used to coddle our children and allow them to bring their little pillow with them for added security and comfort. But now, we ALL have a travel pillow and it is no longer just for the kids but for everyone. We’re all just kids deep down inside wanting our “lovey”, as some nannies call it. It makes us feel nicer. After you’ve been practically stripped down by federal agents, walked through security beltless and shoeless and had to stand in line and wait to be subjected to all this humiliating scrutiny, it’s nice to be able to snuggle down in your middle seat of a full aircraft with your own clean, silky travel pillow. As Martha would say, “it’s a good thing.”

Sitting for long periods of time will cause swelling and joint pain and an increased risk of blood clots. Numerous studies have been done on Deep Vein Thrombosis, known as “Economy Class Syndrome”, problems occurring on long flights. There is a travel seat pillow out now that actually runs on batteries providing alternating support to your derriere. On a very long flight or drive this could actually be a life-saver if you are prone to stiffness when sitting for extended periods of time.

There are nice sets available on the market with the matching travel pillow, blanket and eyeshades. This is a nice trio to keep on hand. Traveling is almost an extreme sport and having a few comforting niceties at hand will make it a little easier on both you and your aching muscles. Face it, coach seats are getting smaller and as a society we are getting bigger. Your travel pillow may just take the edge off, allowing you to fall into slumber land and forget all the woes that go with air and road travel.

This Paprika is the second in a set of four for a client.  The intended recipient is a student at Denison University. He is a member of the Ohio Iota chapter of Phi Delta Theta (ΦΔΘ).  Denison’s logo is a bicolor capital D.  The client wanted solids for the majority of fabrics and a touch of coordinating plaid for the outline of the Denison D, the Greek letters, and the piping.

The flip side of the pillow has his fraternity written in 4″ block  letters centered left and right but positioned towards the top so the client can have the pillow monogrammed.  These are the same size letters that the Greeks wear on their shirts.  I used the same plaid for the letters. 

Both the Denison D and the ΦΔΘ are appliqued with a satin stitch to provide a more finished appearance.  This pillow also has a hidden zipper in the seam so the exterior can be removed for easy washing.

The Paprika is a pillow that has been appliqued, quilted, or in this case: both! This Paprika was made from a middle-school student’s t-shirt. One side of the Paprika is a large rendition of the school mascot from the back of the shirt.

 The other side of the Paprika incorporated the miniaturized mascot from the front of the shirt as well as award patches from 2 different sports that the boy plays for his school. The client wanted the little designs to skew towards the top of the pillow so she could have it monogrammed. So there is a nice big space at the bottom for his name or initials.

This Paprika incorporated piping and a hidden zipper in the bottom seam so that the insert can be removed so that the actual pillow cover can be easily washed. Both sides of the Paprika were free-motion quilted using a meandering stipple design. Like a t-shirt quilt, this is a necessary step for a t-shirt pillow so that t-shirts remain stabilized.

If you are looking for a gift for your master or any other Dog lover … this is it!!  I am going to get one of these throw pillows made with my photo on it for Mik.  Mike will love this for his Christmas present and I can even order it online.

Hey, little buddies, you can order these from Wrinky Dinks

I have a new banner!  Yay!  Big thank you to Paige who is a Photoshop wiz-kid for making it for me!  I am totally delighted by it – and now will be hitting Paige up for all my Photoshop needs!  No good deed ever goes unpunished…

I am currently doing the groundwork for setting up an etsy shop.  I think it will be worth it once I’ve got it up and running, but I did not fully realize just how much work setting it up properly would be.  I need to figure out prices for everything, figure out the shipping weights and rates for everything, make tags for all my saleable items, get better photos taken of it all, right on down to picking a name for my shop.  Oy vey!  I planned to have it done last weekend, but other things distracted me too much and I didn’t get to it.  Story of my life!  But when its the Eastside Culture Crawl, it really isn’t a good day for getting your own work done, its time to go see other people’s creations.  And covet, covet, covet as you get inspired anew.

In the spirit of the etsy shop, I pulled out some older finished projects and took photos of them.  These are two 12″ x 12″ pillows I made well over a year ago.  I believe the cotton prints are Michael Miller for the dress forms and Alexander Henry for the pin-up girls, but don’t quote me on that.

pin-up girl and dress forms

I just love the pin-up girls!

isn't she stunning?

I love embroidery!  And apparently, the color yellow.  Here are a few things I’ve been embroidering lately…

^ zippered mini pouch

^ scarf I bought in Chicago

^ pillow I made for my couch

I only have the one pillow finished so far.  I have another one to sew up but I don’t think I’ll embroider anything on the second.  I haven’t sewn much in the last few years, but thanks to my grandma teaching me as a kid, I still remembered how to thread the machine like it was nothing.  (Thanks!)

I made bone shaped pillows to sell at the Dragonfly Marketplace. Of course, I had to pass them by my usual focus group. I think that Daphne at least is sure they are going to be a hit! We will see on the 2nd Sun. in Dec., the 13th, at the The Dragonfly Shops & Gardens in Old Towne Orange.

Nun hatte ich endlich mal wieder Zeit, um ein bisschen zu nähen.

Eine neue Wohnung braucht natürlich neue Kissen…

Und da das Baby, von dem ich hier schrieb, nun vielleicht doch ein Junge wird, ist auch eine Babydecke in Blautönen auf den besten Wege fertig zu werden.
Mit persönlich ists ja egal ob ein Junge auf einer roten oder blauen Decke liegt (hauptsache schön und kuschelig) aber es ist halt ein Geschenk…

Sobald sie fertig ist, gibts natürlich auch Bilder von dem guten Stück.

Und obwohl eigentlich noch viele andere Projekte beendet werden müssten, habe ich einen Pullover aus einem wunderbar weichen Leinengarn angefangen (musste einfach sein.)

Noch siehts ja nach nicht allzuviel aus…
Die Anleitung ist Buttercup und bei Ravelry zu haben.

Once again Bape and Tempur get together. This time they worked on the Baby Milo pillow. The pillow features two different Milo faces, one on each side, and will be released in the near future

This may look like two pillows, but it’s actually just the front and back of one! So even though it’s pricey, it gives you double the options. I love the vibrant colors, love the whimsical pattern and love that it was modeled after a handkerchief the designer’s grandma owned. (-Moe)

Handkerchief #4, $120, by FJS Pillows.

I love vintage hankies. They are so delicate and pretty. In the past few weeks I discovered some fun uses for these pretty treasures. Nikki over at Whimsy Love made a Hanky Scarf which is so cool and unique. I have recently rediscovered how much fun scarves can be and so want one of these.

Amy at Design Sponge shared this lovely, cute pillow made from vintage hankies. I love throw pillows and firmly believe that it is impossible to have too many pillows. These are pretty and just about perfect.

he came in the night
while everyone slept
arousing no suspicion
he went right to his craft
the only remnants of his visit
where the body’s naked remains
there’s no telling why he does it
or clues to who he may be
only exposed stuffed and stained cushions
with their skirts lifted to show prodding down pricks
hope he doesn’t strike your bed tonight
taking away the covers while you drool

Thanks for visiting my blog! If you’ve been here before welcome back and thanks for continuing to follow my journey. If you haven’t, well, I’m so happy to have you join me on this magical ride!! There are so many things going on right now with my photography and designs. I’m still waiting for Jonathan Adler to “discover” me. Let’s bring some attention to melissaAnne Designs! Please click on the link and visit Jonathan’s site!! Someone pays attention to where his traffic comes from so you just might be able to help me get on his radar! Plus, I promise you will LOVE what you see in his collection and you might find the perfect gift for the holidays! OH…and if you live in the Dallas, TX area…..he’ll be at Nest December 3rd so go visit him!! AND, feel free to tell him about melissaAnne Designs if you want. I don’t mind, of course.

I took a trip recently. I didn’t pack a bag. I didn’t board a plane. I spent the day with an old friend who until last year was a regular “travel partner.” We worked together for almost 10 years and travelled around the world working with companies to develop crisis management programs. We have a special relationship, some of it stems from responding to mass casualty disasters and the bonds that are formed in those experiences; but he’s also someone I look up to, respect, and can always call upon in times of need.

Many of our trips over the years involved long flights, unknown places, and unique adventures. We both love photography and sometimes these trips were opportunities to do what we loved professionally and personally. This recent trip was not quite as exotic, it was in our own “backyard”, but it was definitely a new adventure. It was an escape from an ordinary day. It was an opportunity to recapture part of the past, live in the present, and look ahead to the future.
Jamaica Bay Nature Preserve was where our itinerary took us this beautiful, sunny, almost 70 degree October day. We were surrounded by nature, removed from my daily concrete surroundings, yet the big city I love was still in sight. This was our day to experience nature, reconnect with a trusted friend, and bond again through our love of photography. We set off on the trail through the preserve at around 10:30 a.m. with our cameras in hand. Well, I had MY camera “in hand.”

When we worked together, our professional styles were always very similar. We could finish each other’s thoughts, collaborate and develop industry leading programs and products, and feed off each other’s passion for what we did. From a photography standpoint, our styles (and equipment) couldn’t be more different. He has all the toys and bells and whistles for his Nikon. He talks about aperture, f-stops, and things I can never quite comprehend. I have my beloved Canon Powershot S5 IS and I just see and shoot. It doesn’t matter that we don’t speak the same photography language because we share the same passion for the experience.

Reaching For The Sky

Colors of Nature

As we make our way along the trail we stop to photograph different things. My friend likes birds and they are his favorite photography subject. I have a bit of a bird phobia so feathers, wings, and things that fly are not part of my portfolio. So we shoot. Together, but apart. Each capturing our own vision of the Preserve and highlighting the moments and things that speak to each of us. He looks up at the sky, I look around and down at the ground. One of us will fall behind, trying to capture something with our camera that we’ve seen with our eye, but we’re still together in the moments that make up this day.

Let the Sun Shine

Treasures in the Sand

Weathered By Time

We talk occasionally, about his new life in retirement, my new job, our families, and my plans and goals for my photography and textiles. But mostly we take pictures, the communication between us more of a silent passion that we share for the beauty around us and the desire to capture it perfectly. This is a new dimension to our relationship, which was previously based on verbal collaboration, but it’s just as strong and just as comforting.

Colors...Textures...Miracles!

Looking Past the Trees

We spend most of the day walking through the preserve, catching up to the one who moved ahead, talking about the moments and things we hope we captured, and moving the conversations along. As late afternoon approaches we take a seat by the pond and watch the ducks and swans swim, the planes on takeoff and approach to JFK, and the subway rush past. There is a world of activity surrounding us but somehow it feels serene to sit here with the comfort of an old friend, the beauty of nature, and of course my camera. It was another one of those moments that I have begun to cherish. A moment when I felt like I was complete. I was in my “place” in life. A moment in which I felt inspired to keep moving toward my dreams. One of those moments I didn’t want to end.

Reflection

Every Day Has Moments of Glow

We decided to extend our photo day and shoot the sunset but we had a few hours to kill. My photography days are never quite complete without additions to the Water Colors Collection so we take a drive in search of boat yards. After a few missed exits and turns (a comforting reminder of the old days when we were regularly driving around lost in strange cities) we eased into a small boat yard on the Bay and off I went. As enjoyable and inspiring as the whole day had been, these next few moments were exhilarating. I was in my zone. I was discovering new treasures and creating new visions. My own special visions that I enjoy sharing with others and hope someday to become the fabrics for my own design line!

melissaAnne Water Colors Collection

It was a quick visit to the boat yard and back to the preserve to catch the sunset. As we walked along the path, the setting sun blocked by trees, I was afraid the timing of our boat yard detour and my new additions to the Water Colors Collection would lead to missed opportunities for catching the colors in the sky. We reached the place on the path where the trees thinned and the water’s edge came into view just as the sun was setting into the horizon. The world before us turned brilliant shades of yellow and pink and it was as if this amazing day full of quiet self-expression and friendship was ending with an explosive, colorful exclamation point. It was a celebration of a passion and of friends coming together and creating new bonds and new memories, in our minds and in pictures.

Clouds at Sunset

My Dream Is In Color

I took a trip.  Part of the journey towards my dream.  I came back refreshed, inspired, and with new souvenirs and memories.  Moments, experiences and friendships like these are what inspire me to keep chasing that dream. One thing. Every day. One action to bring the dream a little closer. That is my mission. So, I might be waiting for Jonathan Adler, but I’m not just sitting around!  I’m making it happen.  I made my first melissaAnne Designs Water Colors Textile pillow recently. I LOVE how it turned out.

I have design ideas for the next few swatches and hope to get them made very soon!  I am excited to be the featured artist at Linger Cafe and Lounge in Brooklyn December 1-14! I will have about 8 prints on display during the show and December 5 will be a big celebration of my art and my birthday! What a great present to be able to share my visions of color and texture and be surrounded by my friends!! I can’t think of a better gift (well, maybe if Jonathan Adler showed up at the party…you know, he has a new store just down the street! You didn’t know? OH! Well go visit on your way to Linger).

Do you have a dream? Are you taking action? Leave a comment and tell us how you stay inspired and what steps you are taking to get there. You might inspire someone else or help someone take a new step toward their own dream. We can’t do it alone! We need each other, so let’s do this together.

Luckily, my barn is off from the road and I don’t yet have a problem with people dumping cats.  But over the years there have been a few stray cats who have made appearances.  Most moved on rather quickly.  John would always say, “Don’t feed them.”

I complied to some extent.  I figure a weary soul deserves a meal, but I didn’t make it a habit to feed the strays.  Back when Stray Grey first showed up, I would occasionally put out dry food for our cats in the barn or garage.  This practice was halted when I found a young opossum in the garage!!!!

Stray Grey decided to stay.  At first he was but a fleeting grey tabby shadow and would disappear whenever he saw you.

Stray Grey- exit stage right

Eventually, he lingered longer.  Over time he became my faithful barn helper.  He’d follow several feet behind me and talk to me with his deep gravely voice.

I’d never had a cat pick me.  Stray Grey’s interaction with people seemed to be quite limited… he obviously was not somebody’s pet.  He kept his distance and he didn’t trust humans.

I so looked forward to seeing my tabby friend.  We had a bond…. separated by a few feet… but a bond nonetheless.

If you got too close, he’d hiss and show his teeth.  He looked so fierce.  But he never ever tried to bite.

Stray Grey- looking fierce

Stray Grey- "Too close!"

He loved to sleep in the garage on the cat bed.  It was always such a treat to see him there.

Stray Grey on "his" bed

It became clear that he had picked Leaky Creek to be his home and me to be his human.  John didn’t protest and I think he looked forward to seeing him.  Stray Grey didn’t live long enough to grow to trust John.  John wasn’t bothered by it.

I have a rule with the strays, I have to be able to touch them before they earn their name.  Stray Grey let me touch him on a few occasions, but he never welcomed my touch.  Poor cat would cringe and on the rare occasion where I stroked his coat, he saw no pleasure in it.

I decided not to violate our trust and backed off.  I dreamed of the day when we’d cross the hurdle and Stray Grey would sit in my lap or come to me for attention.  Sadly, that day remains in my dreams… I hope that up in Heaven he’s met up with John and is getting his pets.

But, Stray Grey earned his name.  I always liked the name Toby for an animal.  So, he became Toby.  I think John thought that Toby was a dumb name.  He continued to call him Stray Grey.

Then came the horrible day when I opened the door to go feed and there was Toby sitting in the garage waiting for me and there was blood everywhere.  I was shocked.  It’s hard to evaluate injuries on an animal that you can’t handle.  My assumption was that he’d been in a fight.  It looked like his testicles had been shredded.

I didn’t even know where to turn to for treatment of a stray.  I called Doctor Foster and he said, if I could catch him and get him in here, he’d treat him.

Therein lay the problem…

For days we tried to catch him.  We did have him trapped in the garage.  John even got a live trap from the humane society and we tried to coax him in with food.  My friend, Erin, and I had a very ill fated attempt which ended up with a wild bleeding cat loose in the house.  Luckily, John was home and put his firefighter common sense to the task and we soon had him back in the garage.  Most men would have yelled and screamed.  John obviously wasn’t pleased that I’d let Toby get inside, but he handled the situation and dropped the issue.  Finally in desperation,  as Toby was getting weaker and sicker.  John suggested a snare.  He didn’t want to hurt Toby, but it was getting down to critical point.  Either we caught him and got him to the vet or he was going to die.

John fashioned the snare and we caught Toby.  Toby got loose.  John re-worked the snare and caught him again.  We loaded him into the cat carrier easily and got him to the vet.

Dr. Foster said he’d call us after he examined him.

In the previous post… I told you how compassionately Dr. Foster handled the situation.  It appeared as if Toby had been attacked by something.  It had basically ripped out his whole hind end… testicles, rectum, intestines.  The vet tech later told John that he’d never seen such injuries.

Dr. Foster offered us the opportunity to have Toby cremated.  Not thinking about it being February and concerned over the bill, I decided against it.

John always took care of things.  I’ll never forget how he insisted on overseeing his mother’s body placed in the body bag.  He wanted to make sure Ann was properly taken care of and handled properly.  He took care of the things I couldn’t handle.  He had a year earlier retrieved our other cat’s body and buried him.  John was my rock.  Being a firefighter he was used to handling things that the public never saw and he protected me from a lot of things.  I knew I could count on him when I needed him to be there.

John went and picked up Toby’s body.  I had told the vet that Toby was to come home to be buried.  Toby was a stray and he picked me and picked our farm to be his home.  We had a level of trust and an understanding and a bond.  Toby needed to come home…

Then for the irony.  After John brought Toby’s body home, I posted online that Toby had been euthanized.  I had posted trying to get suggestions on how to catch him.  Well, somebody replied that his injuries sounded like a raccoon had gotten a hold of him.

Not more than 15 minutes after reading that, I spotted some creature by the trees.  I called John.  We confirmed that it wasn’t a fox.  John went and got the gun.  Once he was sure it wasn’t a cat, he pulled the trigger.  One dead raccoon.  It had been nosing around a pile of bird feathers.

Toby died, but his death may have very well saved our barn cats’ lives.

John HATED to shoot things.  But, John was our protector.  He protected our animals and he protected his family… like any good man would do.

In this case John was glad the raccoon was dead!  I think it was the only thing that he was glad he killed.  Toby may have been my cat, but John was fond of him, too.

John went out to dig the grave only to discover that the ground was frozen solid.  John tried for a few days.  Good thing the temperature kept Toby “refrigerated.”  Finally, John went to Home Depot and rented some sort of “chisel pounder thing” and was able to dig the hole and we buried Toby.  I’ll also always remember how John decided to wrap Toby’s body in his cat bed pillow cover.  It was just so fitting.  John was always like that… he knew the right things to do at the right times.

John handled Toby’s escape into the house and his death and burial fiasco with such compassion.  Never was Toby “MY” cat.  Never was Toby a “stupid cat.”  John recognized that Toby was terrified, hurt, in pain, and afraid and he treated him with compassion.

Toby’s death devastated me- I never knew how much my buddy had taken hold of my heart.  Days later and even weeks later, I would think I’d hear his gravely voice when I went into the garage and went to feed.  I look for a cat and not see one.  I told myself that I was imagining things.  After my more recent experiences, I think maybe it wasn’t just in my head.

John was a cat lover… hopefully up there in Heaven he’s got Buttons, Salem, Spook, Kit Kat, and Stray Grey to keep him company.  And it’s Heaven, so they all get along!

Most men would have gotten angry and frustrated over trying to capture the cat and trying to bury him.  Most men would have yelled or screamed (I can’t said that some profanity didn’t come out of John’s mouth because it probably did).  Many men would have walked away.  Most men wouldn’t have done all of that for a stray cat… his wife’s stray cat on top it.  A cat that ran from him.   But… John wasn’t most men…

I cannot even describe how slow this day went–I even caught myself asleep with my eyes open in my Lagliva and Liberatore classes (those teachers are the anti-thesis of boring, okay?). As I stared at Liberatore droning on about the love of God and Lagliva about the etymology of religion, I kept glancing at my phone only realize that only five minutes has passed and dismissal was still ages away! Oh dull day.

And for the nth time, I wasn’t in the mood to go to work so it took me ages to finish my C2 apple (I know, ew right? But Bea told me that Dominic told her about the perils of too much Gatorade and I didn’t want to get the little lemon C2 bottle), pick myself up, and gather enough energy to hail a cab. After some time, I managed to draw some strength from what I can only attribute to Divine Providence (and my bosses were looking for me already so…).

So there I was, researching and typing about breast exams and sandwich-making while waiting for the clock to strike four. Interesting, I think I wasted practically my whole day glued to the clock. I really need to start wearing watches again . By the way, I got lost in the office for the third time. I found myself, not in FHM this time, but face to face with my Candy bosses! They all told me that I was so thin already . Oh well! On the bright side, clothes hang better when you lack body fat. :|

Before I forget, I did a good deed today (Santa are you reading this?)! I gave an extra P50 to the cab driver for not getting me lost and for having a broken meter! I also gave an extra P20 to the trike driver because I didn’t know I was holding 40 bucks. Anyway, so there I was–after being stuck in traffic for an hour, I had to help mother with the grocery shopping. To make a long story short, I had to balance like 10 bags of groceries, my bag, a stroller, my laptop, and Fiona in one trike, oh agony! Because I was too busy doing that, I didn’t notice that someone kept texting and calling my phone asking me if I was home. Go figure and when I asked, that mysterious person refused to tell me.

HOWEVER, when the trike drove past my house, oddly enough, there was a familiar Innova parked in front. Hmmm. And because I hear my Media Law readings calling me, I have to cut the story short (again). Jason gave me this suuuper cute travel pillow because I was sooo tired and he said I could use it when I sleep! So yay. Hahahaha Thank you! Wasn’t that nice of him? That made the whole day better!

Bow! And that’s the story of  how November 18 ended with a bang. Hahaha

P.S

I saw Bea in Rustan’s today and she got to meet Fiona the fug pug! Heehee. She was so bothered by Fiona’s stuck-out tongue which she (Bea) kept pushing back inside her mouth.

The law is reason free from passion! Go media law!

I finished a sewing project this weekend that I’m pretty excited about: a throw pillow for our living room.  I was inspired by this pretty little pillow from anthropologie:

Cute, isn’t it?  I really liked the simple stripe design and homemade applique look.  I wasn’t up for paying an arm and a leg for it, though, so I decided to try my hand at making it.  My version didn’t turn out perfectly—this was my first go at applique, and I had a little trouble with puckering—but I’m still pretty pleased with the outcome.  In fact, I think I like my faded color scheme better than the brighter shades of the original.  Here’s the finished project:

Yassine’s leaving back to France next week so we decided to show him around DTLA this past Sunday. First we went to Olvera Street and ended up eating some great food and getting a bunch of cool stuff. For those of you that don’t know Olvera Street is in the oldest part of Downtown LA, and is part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument. It has a bunch of street stands, food spots and is right next to Chinatown and Philippes. Of course Yas got a couple of Lucha Libre masks and we got a blanket and this cool fabric that one of the stores were selling for Dia de los Muertos. I decided to put my Mom’s old sewing machine to use (since I grabbed it from her before she left to the Philippines) and make a pillow case.

I’m hyped, the case turned out so perfect I want to go down there again and get more fabric. If anyone wants one of these pillows let me know and I’ll buy extra material!