Tat and Detritus

darksided scrapping

2006-10-17T00:49:00.000-07:00

Today....well yesterday, I was surprised to find a nice package at my doorstep. It was a nice RAK from Washington from one of the KI Memories winners filled with goodies. It's funny how I connect with scrappers from the state of Washington and Canada for some reason. It's a blue thing I guess. Today I also got an invite to a private gothic scrapping board. I never knew there were so many "darksided" scrappers out there! Looking forward to creating some chilling dark layouts for a change. :) It's gonna be a lot fun. This is the cover of my KI Memories album where I did a photo shoot at the cemetery with my punk doll. I dedicated this doll album to my grandmother and aunt who had to sell their Christmas dolls every year because they were pretty poor after their dad died. They both decided to get full time jobs at the ages of 11 and 12 at the General Hospital in Los Angeles because their mother lost both legs and eyesight to diabetes. (They weren't learning much at school anyhow because they were used for cleaning and cooking for the teachers.)They used their first paychecks to buy a furcoat for their mom/my grt grandma! And dolls. So whenever anyone in my family travels they know to pick me up a doll. My cousins picked me up this Hawaiian doll on recent their trip to Hawaii. The little girls on the island weave hair on these dolls and sell them to tourists.
<

In light of all the scrapbooker blog bashing going on I found this interesting section in Wayne Dyers' Intention book on 'Steps for Overcoming Ego's hold on you' pretty profound.

Step one. STOP BEING OFFENDED. The behavior of others isn't a reason to be immobilized. That which offends you only weakens you. If you're looking for occasions to be offended, you'll find them at every turn. This is your ego at work convincing you that the world should'nt be the way it is. But you can become an appreciator of life and match up with the universal Spirit of Creation. You can't reach the power of intention by being offended. By all means, act to eradicate the horrors of the world, which emanate from massive ego identification, but stay in peace. Being offened creates the same destructive energy that offended you in the place and leads to attack, counterattack, and war.

The Quran, Fruit Cookies......OMG!

2006-10-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

Trying to adjust to this cold weather. This is the time of season I go out and buy a bunch of books, try new coffee and tea brands, and buy new PJ's before the drama of the holidays begin. While I began reading the thousand page book, 'The Great War For Civilisation-the conquest of the middle east' (by Fisk) I received a 300 pound brick in my mail from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Washington DC. I wondered what in the world it was since I'm always getting freebies in the mail. It was the Holy Quran! Then I thought, Oh shit! I'm going to be on some kind of FBI watchlist now! HAAAAAA! Weird huh? So anyway, it really is a beautiful book and technically NOT a real Quran for the fact that it's a translation. I found it interesting to learn that the great majority of Muslims cannot even read Arabic. They just memorize the sounds and words in the text. Maybe this is why the fundies can take advantage. I'll be reading it in bits and pieces and I'll have to send them a thankyou note.

These fruit cookies were made by an Armenian friend of mine that owns a bakery close by. While I was at the fair this year I noticed her cookies on display next to a first place ribbon and it wasn't her name! I told her about it and she said, "Oh, there are a lot of ladies that buy my cookies and take credit for them." Wow, I'm gonna wonder about all those contests at the fair now.

My gay friend Rene just got back from his trip from Italy. He has cancer and goes to these retreats there ran by local priests "to get away and relax." WELL, he calls me to tell me about his TORRID AFFAIR WITH ONE OF THE PRIESTS! WHO MADE A MOVE ON HIM GOING TO CHURCH! This is me on the other line.... "OMG?, OMG?, OMG! about 20 plus times! He is so scandelous! I remember when his sister was having an affair with 'Arnold' but that's a whole other novel. He brought me back a Zucchero CD who is the hottest thing in Italy right now. I told him to please keep the holy relics, I'll buy my own, thanks! Man, it's a crazy world out there right now!

It's all about Joe Nichols!

2006-09-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

I discovered Joe Nichols in People magazine a couple of weeks ago and I fell in love with this HOTTIE ! AND he's a country singer. Very retro/classic sounding which is very cool too cuz I'm not really into country music but I DO like the pre-70's stuff. Ahem

Meet Blanket/Now BurBEARy

2006-08-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

Meet little Blanket. Looks like Nap and Dyna have a little one. I thought I've been hearing something like a squeeky toy at nite. I figured it was the deer family. But here he/she is!. My brother named this bear. The wildlife have been bringing all their babies down during the heatwave. Yesterday someone had called the cops (a real estate agent) and the officer asked me, "Have you seen a bear?" I laughed and asked, "Why? are you gonna arrest him?" My gawd, how lame he was! "Nope! I didn't see a thing! I said. ;)

This weekend I went to the beach and stopped at King's Hawaiian Restaurant in Torrance for some fried Macadamian onion rings and guava/passion fruit cake. Yum! They had these new, interesting looking, paper-cut-artwork pieces on the wall.
I miss living at the beach so much! My brother is going to build some condos in Redondo Beach in a couple of years. I'm thinking maybe I should buy one of them and maybe design a scrapbooking loft in one of them. I'm not into the cluttered, show off every Prima bottle, and embellie, etc. scrapbook room look. I'd like to find a HUGE antique armoire to put everything in. Probably will end up designing something on my own. We were supposed to tear down this house and build a Japanese country Haiku house. (Japan is one of my top 3 fave cultures!)I wanted to do a Japanese art nouveau style look but the builders turned out to be con artists. I found out they had defrauded someone in town for $150,000. And their website is still up and running and they are even featured in HGTV. Frauds!

I visited A-Z Scrapbooking for the first time and fell in love with Brittany the scrapbook store mascot. I don't know why I didn't take a pic of her! She is such a little sweetheart. I guess I was busy tweaking in the store. Next time.

Me and my Guardian Angel

2006-08-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, look at what I found in my Yahoo folder. I thought I had lost this. This pic was taken back around 2000 in my old apartment that I rented at a convent. This must have been around Nov. 2000 because of that lollipop I'm holding. My veteran friend takes me every year to Knott's Berry Farm cuz he gets free passes. So anyway, the ONLY reason I find this picture interesting is because I asked, "If anyone is here with me right now, please show yourself in this picture (that I'm about to take)!" This was probably after midnight and I was alone in my apartment where I always felt the presense of my grandfather and Godmother. This is what showed up. I showed my veteren friend and he's like, "Uh, yeah." Then I showed it to three other guys and got some more "Uh, uhhhhhs?" So perhaps I'm the only one that sees a face here. Turns out the convent I lived at is more interesting than this pic because Mother Teresa lived there when she was recovering from one of her heart attacks back in the 90's. And St. Teresea's relics were here too as well. The city closed the streets down and everyone walked down the middle of the street at midnite with St. Teresa's relics. That was very surreal.

Well, other then talking and taking pics with ghosts in the middle of the nite I've been extreme scrapbooking. I've been working on my KI Memories contest album. My gawd it's so nice scrapping 6x6! I got one of those Heidi Swaap kits at Costco and that has been so helpful. Yesterday I got on my roof and was throwing Lil Davis paints on my layout below. My cat looked up at me and gave me one of the dirtiest looks! Also did a mini photoshoot at the cemetery with my fave punk rock doll I got in Paris years ago. Her mohawk got flattened out in the box she was in so I've been trying to reshape it with my fingers.

Well, Nap AND FAMILY or friend were here the night before last running aroung like a couple of gorillas. I named the smaller bear "Dyno" or "Dyna." They were Thing One and Two out there causing a rucus? around 2AM. Whenever I'd get up to catch a glimpse of them I'd see black fur flying by. They are some FAST creatures!

My newest love is Creme Brule frenchtoast from Whole Foods Market. The olive bar used to be my fave thing BUT OMG this stuff is the bomb! Do I need spell checker or what! The blogger one doesn't seem to be working. Well, it's not like a give a shit anyhow. Back to some more extreme SBing..............

My bear loves jLoZ

2006-07-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

Haven't been around much lately due to all my summer family vacations. I've had family over a few times as well as traveling up north for graduations, baptisms, and birthdays.. I've been getting over a few hangovers. ...a Disney (bad) one, a Cadillac Margarita one, tequila shots (uh!) one, and a Mojito (good one) every week. Our last family dinner was at jLo's restaurant, Madre's in Pasadena. The Mojito's there ARE TOO DIE FOR! The Sangria's arent that bad either! jLos father hangs out there a lot in the bar and sent us a round of Mojitos and an appetizer plate. He's a very sweet man and sat down at our table and was speaking to my mom in Spanish. I'm not a fan of his daughter nor anyone else in my family either BUT I love her food and shabby chic decor! Whenever jLo comes in we get a call that's she there but we're always busy doing something else. I think I'm gonna do some shabby chic favors or something and see if she likes them and put them in her restaurant. Maybe we can sell them for a charity. The Madre menus are cute. They are cigar boxes and cost $100 a piece. Oh yeah, and I saw Hillary there during her book tour a while back right after I saw her at Border's. AND Aye yi yi my bear Nap got into the trash last nite and ate my jLo leftovers I threw out! I'm gonna have to keep my trash inside now. He looked so cute lying there sideways with his belly hanging out! I need to keep a camera outside so I can take a pic of him.

Birthday pics coming up...... These are pics of Alex and his new Mustang on his second birthday. As you can see he was VERY STOKED!!!! A little TOO stoked but it was a pleasure seeing him so happy. The cowboy theme of the party was scrapped for Barney! Bleah! Alex's Barney stage has begun! Lucky us. What a challenge it was coming up with Barney party favors. I was so uninspired. I ended up hollowing out some styrofoam eggs and filling them with plastic dinosaurs and candy, glue gunning them back together than spray painting them PURPLE, GREEN, and YELLOW. What a mess BUT worth it. Figured all the kids would have fun slamming them open outside and they did. There was another mother with a child with Downs and autism there who said her kid's Barney stage lasted up until the age of 11/12!

Nap's back!

2006-07-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

Earlier tonight I heard the heavy steps of something walking around outside. It was my Napoleon!!! I walked out to my porch to watch him in all his glory walk by approx. 12/16 feet away from me. I can't believe I called him Pookie! :P He's been napping for a couple of hours now and grooming himself. Looks like he has fleas too. He lifts his huge head up ever 15 mins or so. Light sleeper. Looks like I'm gonna have to get up extra early to make sure he's gone before it starts getting light. Will set my alarm for 4am. I shall be paying attention to my dreams tonight after receiving my big dose of bear medicine.

The Bear

Power
Strength
Introspection
Healing
Self-Knowledge

Bearpaw: power and direction

Bear's Wisdom Includes:

Introspection
Healing
Solitude
Change
Communication with Spirit
Death and rebirth
Transformation
Astral travel
Creature of dreams, shamans and mystics
Visionaries
Defense and revenge
Wisdom

2006-07-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

You Are 91% Indie

You're so indie, it's kind of amazing that you actually found your way to this quiz.
Generally, your tastes are genuinely indie... but sometimes you like something just because it's weird!

How Indie Are You?

Happy Anniversary Edna ;)

2006-06-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

It looks like Edna's infamous digi thread on 2peas has been mysteriously pulled up on its first anniversary. Maybe we should make it an annual thing. I had to go back and do some creative editing *deleting* to erase all the loopy stuff that I amused myself with a year ago. I'm sure a few NSBR detective peas will get the inside joke of the last edit. Someone was trying to prove, I guess, how far digi scrapping has come. I'm assuming they're judging by how "lifelike" the L/O-embellies can look? I still don't get it. I just can't imagine trading scrapping in for mouse clicking. Those digi kits look stale and lonely to me. To each there own!

Anywhooo~ back to Edna! Incredible Edna was created by the inspiration of Hollywood costume designer and eight time Acadamy Award winner Edith Head. I found it interesting to just read that Edith traded her her famous Bob for Anna May Wong's chignon. I love and admire her too because she was ahead of her time and is the first Asian American actress. A weird tidbit: my uncle almost married one of her nieces! Her documentary can usually be seen once a year during Asian American month on PBS. {Anna May Wong's image to be put here WHEN BLOOGER FEELS LIKE WORKING!}

There hasn't been much to watch on TV lately since the season is over...So-I-thought! I'm now watching other things and different channels I never looked at before like Nascar for instance and thats only because of Danika? Patrick. It's so refreshing watching a woman whip those boys arses around the track. Racing was something I could hardly stomach watching BEFORE.

Time Discovery had two very fasinatings prograams on the genealogy of Jesus and his family and the origins of the The Three Kings, magi from Persia who were believed to be astrologers as well as astronomers. They predicted a April 18 birth for Jesus. In Germany there is a Cathedral holding their remains (Insert relique image here blogger) with paintings on the wall of their journey to the cathedral. It was cool to see how the scientists and astrologers worked together to pull the clues.
I keep wondering where all the Persian magi went went Islam took over. Iran/Persia is is one of my favorite top three cultures. I hope to live long enough to see the young population there rise up and change their country. They have such a rich and beaufiful culture. The show renewed my interest in the Persian prophet Zoroaster (Zoroaster image here) I'd like to read more about. Islam pretty much wiped him out as well as his teachings. Another weird tidbit: The founder of Ebay is Iranian. He started Ebay after having difficulty searching for Pez candy dispensors for his gf.

Another "jewel" to watch is Romeo & Juliet on Animal Planet. Watching monkeys is always good medicine! Documentary Channel is also playing "Women in Black" right now about Catholic school sisters. I remember when my mother and her childhood Catholic school girl friends saw this a few year ago. I think they were disturbed with the movie because they could relate to it. Can't wait to see.

My May Entry

2006-05-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here is my second attempt at a May entry. A few weeks ago I tried DL some B-day pics and grew tired of Blogger rejecting them. Maybe I'll move over to TypePad for my first year anniversary ALREADY! Wow! I think that last entry was sufficient and long enough to take care of the entire month of May! That entry is long! It didn't seem THAT long when it was being read over the radio by a DJ at 2 AM in the morning. I must have been very impressed. :) I've been busy lately anyhow helping my bro out with his new business and my friends new band. FINALLY received Photoshop from a Tech nerd friend of mine. I refused to pay hundreds of dollars for it! Been tinkering with that and making party favors. Scrapping A LOT lately and submitting stuff. I'm still waiting for responses.....maybe I should take that as a "no go". Or maybe I should check my messages I haven't listened to in a couple of days. I've been trying to diet and IT DOESN'T HELP WHEN PEOPLE KEEP BRINGING ME pints of Ben & Jerry's NEW "Napolean Dynomite"!

Latest Human Kindness Foundation Newsletter

2006-04-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

~Thoughts From the Road~
Dear Family,

As I sit in a little motel in Murfreesboro TN to write this, President Bush has just put forward his new budget in which he has cut funds for Medicare and other social programs, and has increased spending to an unprecedented degree for the Pentagon and Homeland Security. In defending these cuts and hikes, the President and his spokesmen have all said that the new budget reflects our national priorities.

I’m afraid they’re right. They are essentially saying that FEAR AND INSECURITY are our national priorities, not health or poverty, not homelessness or education or communities or caring for our elderly. And they have a good case. The only reason this group of mean-spirited wealthy businessmen are running the world in the first place is that they played to our fears and won, and they keep doing it. Even his most ardent supporters must know in their hearts that President Bush is not very bright and is constantly dishonest with the American people. But they are convinced that a) their children are in mortal danger; and b) he is mean and heartless enough to do whatever it takes across the world for America to be safe. Like the old saying goes, “we have met the enemy, and he is us.” The United States is becoming a menacing figure across much of the world, because our national lifestyle uses 30-40% of the world’s natural resources, and we need to colonize other nations in order to keep consuming so much more than our fair share. NO politician, whether democrat, republican, libertarian or any other, is urging us to use less, to make a dramatic shift in how much we drive, how far away our food comes from, how much electricity we use.

This newsletter is called “A Little Good News,” so where is the good news in all of this? Where it always is - in the hearts, minds and lives of each of us who dare to step aside from the fear-based mainstream culture and live more deeply. When our nation is cutting its own throat and becoming a beastly presence around the world, could there be a better or more important time for us to become real spiritual seekers and sages? Could there be a more appropriate time for us to personally become beacons of compassion, humility and wisdom? If our economy collapses under the weight of those military budgets, if China goes to war with us over oil, if the utility companies begin to schedule regular brownouts or blackouts as many countries already do to save petroleum, tens of millions of Americans are going to be seriously unstable. We don’t do too well without our morning TV and coffee, without our air conditioners and hair dryers, without our personal freedom to hop in our cars and drive anywhere we like anytime we want.

Many mature and intelligent people are predicting very hard times ahead for Americans in the near future. Our entire national lifestyle is based upon an unsustainable addiction to petroleum. It would be great if you and I become more serious about our spiritual journey right now so that we can be calm and strong in the face of such worldly troubles. People are going to need some guidance and reassurance, some strength that only comes from knowing that this world of fleeting consumer happiness and political insecurity is trivial compared to spiritual joy and peace. There is never any real “security” in that material world, and there is never any real threat to our spiritual nature. It’s time for us to be serious about Jesus’ advice to “be IN this world, but not OF it.” The world we are in is falling apart. The world we are of is still beautiful, noble and holy. Always will be.

What do I mean by “become more serious about our spiritual journey right now?” I mean right now, this minute. I mean taking a look at the bottom line - less selfishness and less vanity - and deciding this very hour to commit ourselves to living for the sake of others from this day on. We know someday we’re going to do it, we know someday we’re going to get on board with the advice handed down by every sage in the history of the world. We just keep assuming today isn’t the day we radically change. It’s not convenient, it’s not practical. Dear friends, our civilization is descending into open madness, our children have statistically become the most violent people on Earth, tens of millions of us are taking anti-depressants just to get through the day, and so it’s hero time. It’s time to take that enormous leap of faith and live for a higher purpose than selfish pleasure, selfish security and selfish gain. Someday, it’s got to be NOW. That leap cannot always be a little ways off into the future. How about making this article the last thing you ever read as a self-protective, self-centered materialistic human being? I mean it! Don’t just read through this. I’m talking about you!!

The path is simple, though the details can be very complex. The path is living for the benefit of others, living for the benefit of all creation. Keep that idea simple. We don’t need ridiculous arguments about Salvation or Heaven or who’s going to get there. We merely need to wake up every morning and spend a few minutes in prayerful reminder that we intend to live for the benefit of others today. Then each day becomes an interesting adventure of how to do that! But at least we will have a single and clear focus for our lives. That alone will begin to dissolve our fears and bring us peace and strength.

In order to make our best guesses all through the day of how to be unselfish, we need to take decent care of body, mind, and spirit - specifically, a healthy body, a quiet mind, and an open heart are the goals of daily spiritual practice. A body we abuse through bad diet, lack of exercise, etc.; a mind we cloud with noise all day long, violent images on TV, pornography, etc.; and a heart we keep closed due to fears and desires, do not enable us to tune in very well to the Divine guidance that whispers inside of us all through the day. Every tough or confusing situation carries its own solution within it, but we are usually too unfocused to perceive it. When we start cleaning up our act, many of our problems reveal their own solutions that then seem so obvious we are amazed we couldn’t see them before

Are you really going to find joy through comfort or false security? You know you’re not. But does that real joy exist? Is it just a great big rumor? A few words of hope to help unhappy people cope with their unhappiness? Apparently a lot of people think that is the case. Even a lot of clergy have become little more than lay psychologists and humanists, suggesting that miracles and mystical events like the parting of the Red Sea, the virgin birth and resurrection, the raising of the dead or healing of the blind, are merely metaphors and do not need to be taken literally in order for us to have faith in the goodness of mankind. Yikes! Where do we mystics begin to straighten out such denial and ignorance?

Well, first thing: Millions of people throughout history, even some of us reading this newsletter, have experienced mystical states of consciousness, what sages would call some degree or other of “Transcendence.” We often get mocked or exiled or even executed for bringing it to anyone’s attention, but that doesn’t negate its reality. In this state - again, to any degree of it, from a tiny taste to full-blown God Consciousness - miracles abound, and are completely natural. The virgin birth or resurrection are child’s play on that level of reality. Reports of these experiences, from every religion and civilization, describe several qualities that are common to all those different cultures and centuries: A union with God, with all of existence, the cessation of the individual egoic identity, a Divine Awareness of the individual as a vehicle of God’s purpose on Earth, and an overwhelming, absolutely unconditional Love that really and truly has the power to move mountains or create new worlds.

These descriptions are virtually the same and describe the singular core experience that led to every religion. Religion is about a higher reality, not just an historical story and some dreamy poetry about rewards and punishment, heavens and hells. It’s about something that is real whether we choose to believe it or not. And the goal of religion is to touch that real experience ourselves. Let’s try to keep that in mind, okay? The bottom line of religion is to touch God, not to just be a nice person.

I spend a lot of time in motels these days, and sometimes I flip through the channels to find religious programs to keep me in touch with what is passing for Christianity among the general population. It would be scary if it weren’t so unbelievably silly. Fear-mongering and money-raising, exhortations to be “loud and proud” about one’s faith. Jesus himself told us “When you pray, don’t pray loudly out in the streets for people to hear you, but pray in the closet.” Yet we have turned modern American Christianity into a loud, barking sideshow doing exactly what the Savior Himself told us not to do. Jesus also warned us not to believe everyone who comes in His name, but rather to look for those who do His Father’s work - feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, shelter the homeless. Yet any well-dressed snake-oil salesman can buy some TV time and launch a loud, proud, money-grubbing crusade in Jesus’ name and there always seem to be enough people to send them money for their limousines and mansions. All in the name of the simple carpenter from Nazareth who said it will be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for such a man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Yikes again. I guess it really is true that the bigger a lie, the more people will believe it.

Let’s get back to the Good News. The saints and sages encourage us to spend some time every day alone, quiet, sequestered from everything that is in the world of time and place, the world of material reality. Why? Why did Moses go up on top of Mt. Sinai, alone and humble? Why did Jesus go out in the desert, alone and humble? Why did Mohammed go into the cave, alone and humble? Why did the Buddha sit under the Bodhi tree, alone and humble? For the same reason Jesus tells you and me to go pray in a closet: To humbly open ourselves to a higher reality, the Great Mystery, what most of us call God, what Buddhists call Bodhi Mind, what Native Americans call Great Spirit. All the same, all One. We go off alone and submit ourselves, present ourselves, to its presence. Not loud and proud. Not as scholars or “members.” But as children before the Lord, not knowing anything except that God is Good. You’ve heard the expression “Waiting on the Lord.” That’s what we do in the closet for those few minutes every day. That’s what we do for longer periods of time in occasional retreats. We learn to sit down, shut up, offer ourselves to that Larger Reality, and humbly wait.

No Cathedral can guarantee us the direct experience of the Holy One, and no prison cell can keep us from it. Jesus told His apostles, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” Just sweet words? Just a metaphor? Or are you willing to consider that in some incomprehensible way, the entire infinite, unbounded Kingdom of Heaven is actually, literally within you and me?!! Go pray in the closet. Such simple words, such simple instruction. Go pray in the closet. He’s handing us the keys to the Kingdom and we keep building more huge churches and holding what could only be called ceaseless membership rallies under the name of Christianity. It’s become just about membership, hasn’t it? “I’m saved; are you saved?” How about the actual teachings of the religion, of the Savior Himself? You know, putting others first, turning the other cheek, giving away our wealth, trusting that God will feed and clothe us, rejoicing over the reformed criminal, accepting everyone at our Father’s table - you know, all that stuff Jesus actually instructed us to do? How has the popular religion in His name become merely a loud, proud, elitist membership fraternity? That’s a real head-scratcher!

But you and I do not need to figure out how tens of millions of people have unintentionally fallen into a mockery of Christianity or any other faith. You and I simply need to make our own decision about where we will stand. Jesus told Pontius Pilate, “You have no power over me.” Since Pontius Pilate then ordered Him to be executed and He was indeed killed, we need to reflect on what Jesus meant. In this world of people and events, Pontius Pilate certainly did have power over Jesus. He had Him crucified. Yet three days later, Jesus came back to show us that even imprisonment, torture and execution are trivial next to the Love He represents. He came to show us there is this world that we are in, where the Pontius Pilates will always seem to have power over us, but then there is this world we are of, which is a Force that makes death itself trivial and reversible.

Be in this world but not of it. Hmmm. Be in prison but not of it. Be in parenthood but not of it. Be in your job, your marriage, your hopes and dreams, your achievements, your plans, your recovery, but not of it. As they say in the South, you and I are “not from around here…” Being both in and of this world we see around us would be really depressing and make us feel quite disempowered. That world is headed toward a train wreck politically, socially, ecologically, in just about every way. Countless millions of people go through the day not believing in anything truly beautiful, noble, or holy. How unbelievably sad. Because this very same world is astonishingly beautiful, noble and holy when we view it from the spiritual realm that we are of.

My dear elder, an Anglican monk named Father Murray Rogers, says “Bo, faith is not the most important thing; it’s the only thing!” Father Murray also said “Every crisis is a crisis of Faith, no matter what else it appears to be.” Father Murray once defined Faith as “Believing in an Ultimate Goodness behind everything, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

You and I can directly touch that Ultimate Goodness in the closet. I have many times. The Supreme Force is not neutral, it is Good. It is beyond our understanding, for sure, but not beyond our ability to experience it, or put more accurately, to merge into It when our separateness falls away. Don’t settle for too little. Many of the “New Thought” or “New Age” churches seem to be trying to make this worldly level of reality the perfect one. They have all the right words about everything being God and so forth, but they’re trying to make personal, small, egoic happiness the Big Joy. That will never happen. This world we are in is tiny and limited and extremely conditional. The world we are of is a unified consciousness that doesn’t need protection from trivialities like poverty, illness, or adversity. By knowing where we are OF, we can have less fear and more power to help in the world we are IN.

This is a time when it would be helpful for us to simplify our spiritual perspectives. “May I be less selfish today than yesterday. May I be less vain today than yesterday. I dedicate myself today to live for others.” All the practices and paths are merely to serve these simple ends. Like one of the great Tibetan teachers told his student, “What is needed now is not more teachings, but more practice, my son!” Let’s really do this TODAY. Commit yourself to living for others right now. You know it’s the right thing to do, so don’t wait any longer. Believe me, your life will be a fascinating adventure just figuring out what it really means to put others first. And Life truly will bring you all you need if you really make this commitment

With Love,
Bo

Human Kindness Foundation

Happy Saint Pat's Day!

2006-03-17T13:41:00.000-08:00

Today I'm eating meat.
My corned beast is slow cooking right now. I'm gonna stop at the bakery to pick up my Irish bread and "something green" dessert. Maybe pick up some HARP lager too. Looking foward to Mimi's blog after this cuz I'm sure I'll get the right story behind the Saint.... and awesome picture. LOL

The image above is a memorial to Captain John Riley, leader of the St. Patrick's battalion who gave their lives for Mexico during the U.S. Mexican War 1846-1848.

And I'm looking forward to HBO's film Walkout tomorrow at 8pm about the early Chicano movement in 1968. How funny, someone is playing Sal Castro. I still have his business card in my wallet concerning volunteer work. I guess all Mexicans know eachother! The entire cast in PBS's Chicano documentary was at my grandmother's best friends funeral last month. You'd think everyone would have a copy of the VHS since their footage was in it, right? No! So I'm looking for some. My grandmother's friends funeral car procession was so long, can you believe I never saw the hearse! Just miles of cars-just like a train. She and her husband were the first Mexican family to move into Montebello (which is like 90% Mexican/American now)and actually had to fight to get her kids into the local schools! I know she was fueled up cuz when she was a little girl my grandmother and her were put in the special ed classes and slapped by the teachers if caught speaking Spanish. They were used to serve food to all the teachers and clean the school. So I know that lady gave them hell. I'm happy for my grandmother though because her best friend is finally with her now!

2006-03-08T22:27:00.000-08:00

Kate Bush is back? I keep hearing about a new album coming out or some kind of import collection coming out. Time for a trip to Ameoba Records to find out. That would be cool. Last time I listened to her was maybe 3 months ago. I was surprised to here that Tupac liked her too. And I'm surprised my mom likes Tupac. I don't know what's stranger. In fact I was just about to buy my mom her own Tupac~ Greatest Hits CD from Amazon. She likes the song "California Love". I'm listening to her Maria Callas CD and she's listening to my old 2Pac.

There's this book I've been wanting too about this inspiring blind German woman who went to Tibet to teach children braille. She learned the language and TRANSLATED the books all on her own! She even travels by camel to the homes of the blind children to teach them so they won't become outcasts in their society. It is called
My Path Leads to Tibet: The Inspiring Story of How One Young Blind Woman Brought Hope to the Blind Children of Tibet
by Sabriye Tenberken
I think I'm gonna spend the rest of the nite over at Amazon.

Someone gave me two boxes of these delicious gold and copper truffles. I looked up the website and found this.....
Truffles by Carrie I didn't know AOL had a storefront? I hate AOL but I really love her truffles. I love eating pretty metallic chocolates that are probably cancer causing but what the hell?! I'd probably eat them if they had glitter too.

Did you like Salma Hayek's hair at the oscars? My hairdresser did her hair. He did me Saturday afternoon and her Sunday morning but I didn't go anywhere... but to the bubble drink place. :P

Check out my Owl Cam link >>>>> Frida and Diego are incubating five babies!!!!! Frida's a good mother. Diego's out looking for dinner right now.....probably a juicy rat.

2006-02-27T12:20:00.000-08:00

I'm returning to my blog after two long cold strains and a family visit. I'm just grateful it wasn't the flu with asthma complications! The only thing I missed out on was a large peace meditation my mom invited me to with "Swamiji" who flew in from India. I have never heard of him before but he got my critical, sarcastic, Capricorn brother to meditate now! hehehe He wasn't very happy about going either at first. I got a kick out of HIM trying to reveal meditation to ME. I didn't want to diminish his lightbulb moment by telling him, "Uh yeah I've been doin it forever and have suggested it to you in the past...remember"? I just confirmed that yes meditation energizes you when your mind is free of thoughts (esp. negative ones) and clutter.

My family came down for my cousin's 11th birthday to do the 2-day Disney thing. I got him an IPod like his big bro. He wanted to go to "Islands". Here is little "Nick Cannon". His big brother was teasing him cuz he still likes teddy bears. His 14 year old brother is at the age where he's embarrassed by everything and has instructed his mom and brother to walk away if a girl he knows approaches them anywhere in public. He was invited to his first date/dance with a girl from his sister school and when her parents picked him up he was "humiliated" because his younger brother ran out of the house to see "what kind of car they had". Turns out they borrowed it for the night. hehe

It looks like three new novelas are coming to Fox, CBS, and ABC this summer BUT will be in English! That should be interesting! I remember watching my first Spanish novela in 1994 called "Marimar". I have never been a fan of daytime soaps or Desperate Housewives so this might be the "something different" I'm always searching for.

Can't believe I spent ten bucks on a December French issue of "Marie Claire idees" magazine. They have the cutest stuff in that magazine! So much inspiration BUT frustrating because it's hard locating the stuff inside. After 2 1/2 hours at the bookstore my friend treated me to one of my favorite top ten treats..... Rojak and Malaysian coffee at the Malaysiannnnnnnn restaurant. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Rojak! It's a fruit salad made with mango, papaya, pineapple, cucumber, hicama, fried tofu, red chili, and crushed peanuts in a delicious medium hot Tamarind sauce! The coffee is great too...it's so rich and thick like middle eastern coffee BUT comes with a bottle of frosting.
ARGGG! Blogger pics/images STILL NOT working!

2006-02-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

I received updates on my cousins today. I'm glad to hear my cousin is doing well at his new Jesuit school. I was worried about him because it was his first year attending a Catholic school and freshman year at that. He is also a minority at this predominately upper-class white school. Hates reading too. Well it turns out he's doing great with a 3.8 GPA and is an athlete. I don't know why I was worried, he was student body President at his old middle school. Has lots of friends including a new batch of kids that came from Katrina. He's an Aries....they always want to be first. He announced he wanted to become an attorney and wants to go to West Point! I don't know how I feel about the West Point part though. Maybe he wants to be Prez of the U.S. someday....maybe that's what he has cookin in his head. hehehe He's pretty much a quiet kid too so we really don't know what's goin on with him. I have been lurking around his MySpace page so I have a little clue..... 300 girlfriends and fetish model clubs! Little girls proclaiming they are in love. Oh brother! All of his teachers have instilled in him to stay away from the girls! I have too!

His younger brother is doing well also in grammar school. He's really PO'd his mom put him in Kumon after school. He's the artist, the crazy one, so I don't think he's crazy about the extra math. My youngest cousin, well my cousin's baby is healthy and doin great. He's doin better than expected and can't keep the smile off his face. He emailed me some pics. and is planning his first trip to Disney this summer.

2006-02-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

My friend took me to Chinatown Friday so I could get that memorial Maneki Neko and I ended up buying a bunch of goodies. I love this building and its colors! Went to the Phoenix Bakery for some butterflies-they shrunk! I bought some of my favorites, Botan and White Rabbit candies, Bin-Bin crackers, dried fish, {POWERFUL} diet tea, bok choy, and garlic peanuts. I was inpired by this funky paper too. It's a memorial offering for a male. There's a sports car, gold watch, electronics, cell phone, on it with a shirt, pants, and shoes inside. Maybe I'll take it to the temple to burn as long as I don't burn the memorial temple down! I usually take candy offerings for everyone. Someone always offers my favorite Bin Bin crackers at the temple.

2006-02-02T21:38:00.000-08:00

Today I checked out a new Armenian market to see if they had anything interesting. I was told they had "Rose" flavored ice cream there but I ended up getting side tracked and got some other things like tea. The tea I found is fabulous and I don't know what the hell it is cuz the packaging is in Arabic. It was the last box. I now know why! Got some delicious date bars, flat bread, plump dried cranberries, a beautiful string cheese rope, tomatoes and basil leaves.

I was thinking about the backlash recently (this is in California too! go figure?) over a new Mexican market opening in a Newhall neighborhood. I was amazed at the gall of the prejudiced residents speaking out live on TV... it was just like watching a John Waters movie! "Boss Hog" said, "We have no use for these kind of markets in our neighborhood. We don't eat tripe!" Well, I'm sure his fat ass goes to Taco Bell though! LOL Amazing!

Tomorrow I'm goin shopping for a memorial Maneki Neko for my kitty. I'm thinking gold. Guess Blogger's not uploading images tonite......

2006-01-30T11:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Earth-red-dog Chinese New Year! Yesterday I went to my favorite Chinese restaurant href="http://www.fu-shing.com/home.html">Fu Shing with my family. I love the deep fried garlic/chili lobster there. I sucked on the lobster claws! We also had the hot fried green beans with garlic and bacon bits, fried scallops, mayo walnut shrimp, and the special lucky cake that's not on the menu. It's kinda like ordering "animal style" at In and Out for only "those in the know". I didn't wash my hair or work and I ate my lucky New Year's orange. Did not get any red envelopes but I received a ~Jade~ bracelet. I also gave kitty some lobster. The Tibetan new year is coming up pretty soon too.

2006-01-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm purging a lot of things that remind me of my cat I have room for new stuff. I discovered The Outlet a cool discount store in Monrovia. I found this Schoenhut Concert Grand for my cousin for $100. It retails between $300 to $500 at many sites I 've looked through. They also had Von Dutch sweatshirts for $15. You must go on Wednesdays though because they sell out of items quickly! I love discovering those hole in the wall stores. There used to be another one in Orange County, in Cypress, on Knott and Ball I think. Haven't been there in a long time. I swear the stuff was "HOT" there. Everything came in from New York for this family business. One of my best deals there were the $10, "$50 GAP pants" I bought out. I went to every GAP store in Southern Cali to exchange my stacks of black pants while the managers loooked at me suspiciously. I had the entire GAP collection for two seasons! Shoes, bags and all.

During my purge I came across one of my "Angel cards". The deck is also spread around the house like my Animal Medicine cards because I never used them. But beneath all of my Emily shirts I purged I found this card. It's titled, "The Past." It says.... examine and overcome limiting habits and attitudes formed as protective reactions to painful events in the past. Habits born of hurts long past can grow like weeds and choke the grass. Lessons that you still must learn into a different form will turn. What we learned when we were young can help or hurt us in the long run. I'm a Taurus with Cancer rising SO I tend to be very emotionally attached to all my possessions. That's why I find it so odd that since "N" was killed I've been chucking all my old stuff like nothing. I'm shedding my old skin like a snake.

I am so happy that the time has finally come for the re-opening of the Malibu Getty Museum to open! I remember being there 10 years ago being disappionted that it would be under construction for ten years! That place is so beautiful. It reminds me of my grandma's mansion in "heaven" I dream about whenever I visit her in my dreams. I take a roller coaster to get there (in the dream :p)and have long conversations with her I don't remember when I wake up. It's two stories, all white with Greek and Roman architecture...very beautiful....like the Malibu Getty.

2006-01-19T00:06:00.000-08:00

My baby was killed by coyotes Saturday nite. :( I'm still in shock. She was such a SWEET cat too. Those SOB's come in the nite like thieves. I wanted more answers/details so I did a Tarot reading. Guess whose face I see as I open my first Tarot book? This dirty trickster bast*rd!
The first card in the reading was the fool... who is going over a cliff. There's some type of dog next to him. That's all I needed to know. I warned all the neighbors and all their cats are going stir crazy being held up in their homes. I've been outside at nite with bright lights looking for them and planning on buying some lion urine to put in their den when I find it. Instead of working on my HOF L/O's I've been collecting all my cat stuff or anything reminding me of her....Emily shirts etc., and throwing them in a trash bag to be sent to the Goodwill. I have the urge to purge like crazy right now. A little over a year ago I lost my other cat of 17. It was because of her I discovered Twopeas while googling for memorial albums. I wonder what kind of fate I'll have after "N"s death.
(I use her name as my password.)
My poor baby. I've been praying to my Godmother to take care of her. My mother told me today she had a dream of her(godmother) yesterday and she was around me so thatz a good sign.

I've been tagged

2006-01-13T23:31:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by Lisa.

Four jobs you’ve had in your life:

1. First job. Dancing (actually wiggling)at the age of 6 in front of the organ
store at Cerritos Mall to draw attention to the boring organ music.
2. First first job: Worked retail at the Little Folks Shop. Westminster Mall,
Orange County.
3. Second job: Floral shop on PCH, Sunset Beach.
4. Third: Local modeling.

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2. Lawrence of Arabia
3. Sweet Dreams (Jessica Lange)
4. Kill Bill 2

Four places you have lived:
1. Sunset Beach, California
2. Cerritos, California
3. Huntington Beach, Cali..
4. Hollywood,...L.A.

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Medium
2. Prison Break
3. Curb Your Enthusiasm
4. Frontline

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Europe
2. Mexico
3. Santa Barbara (where I hope to live one day)
4. Africa

Four websites you visit daily:
1. Ebay
2.2Peas
3. Huffington Post
4. All over Yahoo

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Middle-Eastern (all)
2. Home-made Italian (all)
3. Home-made Mexican (all)
4. Japanese (all)

Four places you would rather be right now:
1. Shopping at Tall Mouse/LSS
2. Drinking mango margaritas at Tequila Jacks Long Beach. Afterwards, when I'm sauced up I go next door to ride on the green sea dragon.
3. Shopping at a flea market in Paris or New York.
4. Sailing with my X. :( Nah! I'd rather eat ice cream at Fosselmans right now.

Four bloggers you are tagging:
I think we all have been tagged?no?

Chinese New Year STORE*RAGE

2006-01-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I received this Chinese New Year disk with treats. I'm totally thinking, "Hey, this would make great storage for embellishments. It's 13 inches long. There's even storage in the lid, over an inch. Hmmm, eight compartments. Would be great for a crop. It's time to go shopping in China Town again."

2006 is the

"Year of the Red Dog." or "Hot dog." Fire, fire, fire! According to this website you are not considered the animal of your birth year. I'm ACTUALLY a tiger and need to wear black this year for good luck. :) I love red envelope time too! This is the time you wish you had Chinese family.
My homeless friend bought me this make-up bag from the 99 cents store and I REALLY love it.

2006-01-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

Last night I was searching for Pinocchio for my HOF entry. It's crunch time! I'm doin' a retro Pinocchio layout and I came across an old co-worker of mine on Wikipedia. He is the voice of Jiminy Cricket and one of the classiest men I have ever met~ Eddie Carroll the voice of Jiminy Cricket. In the mid-90's I had him do my answering machine message. He would say, "Pinocchio, you're not going to be a real boy until you get laid!" in his Jiminy voice.

Last week I received a ton of magazines and catalogs in the mail. If you have any desire to journal on your wall you may like a catalog I received called Wallwords I picked a color/font and downloaded a 3inch "quickee" letter with their custom quote generator. I'm still thinking about a quote I could paint on my wall. One of my favorite quotes is from Maharaji . "We are all like thirsty fish in the sea." But I can't put that on my wall. Take a look in the gallery for ideas. There are some good ones.

I finally found the blog of my favorite scrapbooker Danielle Thompson. She has some cool L/O's in MM and CK. Spotted some Calvin and Hobbes Font in the March MM. There was also a rare "people" article in it called Learning from Lifesrping about scrappers introducing the hobby to homeless women as therapy. That was refreshing. I wish there were more articles like this. I think it was last months CK that I was disappointed in when they had a two inch picture of Nelson Mandela recieving a scrapbook. No article or story...just a little pic. WTH! I also spotted pea Lizz Parson in Simple scrapbooks. This is her online ALBUM.

Yesterday I went to my brother's B-day party at Lucille's and had fried green tomatoes for the first time. I'm in love.

my dirty boy

2006-01-06T00:44:00.000-08:00

Today I heard that Martha's "teaming" up with EK Success to create "Martha Stewart Crafts." The Martha scrapbooking line should be out in 2007. Isn't that interesting? Wonder what her PP will look like? If I lived in New York I would probably have applied for some kind of internship/job there a long time ago. Lately her shows have kinda bored me. Around Xmas I thought she would have something interesting to make. Parsnip soup! How boring. The other day she was sqeezing scrambled eggs out of a frosting cone into a egg shell. So dainty and boring. She's gotta get past that East coast style and branch out. Martha should leave the cooking to Paula Deen. I think all Americans should cook Southern. She'll be much better at crafts, though. The link.

See my dirty boy above? Well, he was a bad boy today for spritzing on my scraps!!! Luckily the scraps were protected in a huge Ziplock on the floor. I have had him for about a year. He lived in a abandoned house with a pet door. His owners passed away and he was left there months to fend for himself...until I took him. Other cats would smack him around. He WAS so depressed, weak, and skinny with terrible separation anxiety. He would attack my feet whenever I would leave him sometimes taking my slippers away from me. I thought it was funny... and he was pretty pissed. BUT NOW he is the Lion King (Alpha) on my road. All the cats and dogs stay away from him. He is healthy now with a big belly. You can see the contentment in his eyes now. The change in him was like night and day.

Not the kewtist, but the Kewlist Beatle!

2006-01-03T01:37:00.001-08:00

What Beatle are you?

George Harrison

You are wise beyond your years, caring. A listener, not a talker.

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

And I would like to add, of all the Beatles George had the best taste in women. His wife Olivia was a Los Angeleno born in Mexico City. hehehe I loved the way she attacked an intruder that broke into their home to attack George. She smashed a big lamp or vase over his head. I love seeing his son Dhani because they look so alike.

Letterboxing

2005-12-30T14:34:00.000-08:00

Whenever I'm searching for something on Google I always end up discovering something totally out of the blue like this intersting hobby called Letterboxing It's sorta like a treasure hunt where you leave your personal stamp/cards to be stamped by another and sent to you.....errr I think....still reading about it. It became popular in North America after the hobby was featured in Smithsonian magazine. It looks like their is a box hidden at the Huntington Library where I just had tea the other day and one at my fave icecream shop! Hmmmm. Looks like I gotta do a Spumoni run! ETA: Your personal stamp must be handmade and carved onto a pink eraser.

Today I found this book in the twopeas gallery today that I thought was awesome. It's called Women Who Love Too Much Starbook by chatty. Makes me want to start stamping.

Just wanted to add....I smell a mouse in here.(Sniff sniff)The Disney kind. ;)

2005-12-29T15:05:00.000-08:00

Was just on Burberry Girl's new "Some Like It Hot" blog and heard about the Ron Howard DaVinci Code movie trailer....which of course isn't working for me. :( I can't believe I have that book sitting in a NON READ box of books! I'm bumping it up tonight. It should be interesting because I'm familiar with the Louvre and the South of France. I've seen the stunning Mona Lisa there, she has her own room and have explored the castle and have snuck into places I shouldn't have been in like this dungeon-like room I found walking down a-seemed like a 5-story spiral brown brick/stone? staircase. Then I took a train to the South of France~the most magical, enchanting place in the world. I wonder if they are filming there? Alfred Molina is in the movie....whom I love! Why am I suddenly craving wine now :)?
You know what's funny? Whenever I see Ron Howard I always think of his brother Clint (Gentle Ben). I hope he~Ron doesn't give his brother a part/scene in the movie like he USUALLY always does! Clint is actually a nice guy. He shared his joint with me at a Bowie concert once. All I see maybe is Clint playing the dungeon ogre at the Louvre! LOL I suddenly don't feel like wine anymore!

Want to see my new jacket I got from The Southwest Indian Foundation ? I highly recommend getting their free catalog. I love their stuff!
It has a bit of "scrap appeal" to it. Off to retrieve DaVinci...

2005-12-29T00:31:00.000-08:00

Can you believe its been a year since the tsunami?! It seems like I was JUST watching Oprah's tsunami special months ago! Hope everyone's holidays went/is going smoothly. Someone on 2peas posted a (Haley)"What is the strangest thing you received for Christmas"? thread. I thought it was funny that some people received Febreze. I posted that what I found strange was what I DID NOT receive this year. No See's or Old Navy fleeces!!! The staples I count on every year to recycle! The strangest thing I received was 800 pages of "The Unknown Story M*A*O" WITH "Becoming Madame Mao." My brain is going to implode. I'm actually looking forward to reading them, though....next year.

I already redemed my $100 gift certificate I received from my fave SBing store. Still have a $200 + $50 certificate from Robinsons/May, $60 from Nordstrom, $25 from Lady Footlocker, $50 from Mervyn's, $25 @ Starbucks. I have to return a bunch of junk too. There should be a SWAP site for unwanted gifts where we all can trade our stuff with eachother. There should be a "Have you seen me?" page where we can post a pic of our treasure and hopefully get answers as to what store carries it.

Last week I picked a totem for the new year and I picked a powerful one~Jaguar/Xi. Well, I decided to go with "baby jaguar", more my speed. I don't think I have the attention span for being conscious and being in stalking mode 24/7 required for Jaguar. I did some pretty daring stuff last week too that I normally would not do! I put on my "Jaguar skins" :) and attacked some new tasks.
Jaguar Medicine:
Understanding the patterns of chaos
Moving without fear in the darkness
Facilitating soul work
Empowering oneself
Moving in unknown places
Shapeshifter
Psychic sight
Seeing the roads within chaos
Keeper of the circular time continuum
Gatekeeper to the Unknowable

The Grateful Dead

2005-12-23T01:53:00.000-08:00

This is a tag I made (tweeked on) to match a GD lunchbox I found at Big Lots for my cousin John, the Deadhead from Hollywood. I filled it w/mini Jack Daniel's bottles and a gift certificate from Tower Records. I still gotta run out and buy a gift for his cat Bianca.

One of my weekly Kabbalah emails I recieved is also titled, "The Grateful Dead": We all have moments when we don’t know if we can go on. Whether it’s a personal crisis or simply worrying in bed during the wee hours of the morning, we feel as if we’ve reached the end of the line.

It is during these moments we need to call out to the souls of those who have passed before us. Specifically, to the souls of the righteous.

I am sitting in a hotel in Warsaw, Poland, as I write this tune-up. My parents and I are living out one of our lifelong dreams of speaking to Kabbalah students throughout Europe. Europe is like Disneyland for a kabbalist, as many of our ancestors studied and revealed their greatest secrets in this land.

In the short time here, we’ve visited the burial sites of the Baal Shem Tov, Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk and a dozen other tzadiks (righteous people) I’ve referenced in my books and previous tune-ups.

Now, you might be wondering why we’re visiting graveyards.

What happens when a person dies? The Zohar explains that metaphorically they reach the other side of a glass door where they realize that death is not the big deal we make it out to be. During its lifetime, the soul feels trapped within the confines of the body, and it longs to travel freely again. Death is its liberation.

When we speak of the soul of a righteous person, we are talking about a person who mastered their negativity and completely devoted themselves to helping others. When they die, they realize that there is no better place to help people, as they are no longer limited to helping people only in their immediate surroundings. They can be everywhere at once.

My family and I need the assistance of these souls now more than ever. Though we have a lot to be thankful for, we also have a long list of things yet to accomplish. I know I have so much left to do in this world, and I can use all the help I can get. I think we all can. We can get this help from the kabbalists who have come before us.

But change doesn’t take place in this world without desire. So we satisfy the desire by traveling a great distance to visit burial sites, which The Zohar explains is the closest we can get to a soul. And we contact the righteous by using the Hebrew letters, or lighting a candle, or quietly saying their name and asking for their support.

In this week’s Zohar portion, Abraham’s wife Sarah dies, and he purchases burial land. This location ultimately goes on to be known as the Cave of the Machpalah. The Zohar tells us that this cave is the portal between this world and the next, through which souls travel after leaving their bodies.

This is an indication to us that during this week we are able to establish a stronger connection to those other souls who have already passed on. So, if you are having trouble beating an addiction, or you are looking everywhere for your soul mate - or whatever it is that is weighing down on you - know that the righteous want to help you. Just as it gives a parent pleasure to nurture their children, it pleases the righteous to nurture us.

You can contact departed souls by scanning TheZohar or looking at the 72 Name below and talking directly (in your mind or out loud) to Rebbe Shimon or any kabbalist. And you should know that you are not limited only to the righteous. You can reach out to anybody on the other side that is close to you.

Practice this dialogue every day for the next seven days, and you will open the channels for the rest of the year. But don’t expect to hear and see lightning. Just quiet your doubt, open your heart and allow the souls to come back to life.

Remember, your eyes don’t perceive everything around you. Departed souls are standing right there in front of you, now, waiting for you. Go to them…

I am very well aware of this! I don't pray as often to some family members (fathers side) anymore cuz they think its funny to turn on my TV and radio at 2am in the morning! Grandparents are by far the best to pray to. They are always there even giving advice in dreams. I'm grateful to my grandmother for having come back to say good-bye to me/and my entire family the week after she passed because I know now that there is an afterlife. One person I haven't seemed to be able to contact is a childhood family friend, David, from Washington~Mercer Island who commited suicide 2 years ago. I think I'm going to visit his grave and pray for him. It's a Jewish cemetery so I wonder if I'd be able to decorate there. In the early 90's I also was haunted by recurring dreams of a grade school friend of mine being ran over and killed by a car. I later ran into a mutual friend of ours at a mall and she was telling me how they both went to Mexico to celebrate their 21st birthdays and Hilda was hit and killed by a car. Uh! Those horrible midnite calls made to their parents from Mexico must have been horrible! Hilda told me in a dream to send her mom an angel. I think I might do this anonomously, send her mom a package through the mail. I know I'm a freak! I have friends in high places! :)

2005-12-19T01:47:00.000-08:00

Today my mom's friend invited my mom and I to the Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens for "Holiday tea". I guess it was sort of a mommy & me gathering because her daughter came too. I really don't care for her daughter because she is one of those people that are always ON...like a child actor, I guess, that sucks all your energy out. She was a 80's Rose Queen and prom queen and has already taught HER daughter how to do the "screwing in the light bulb wave." The tea they raved about was OK...I've had better. It was called "Gold Rush." They served us scones, cookies, and horse-radishy tea sandwiches that were OK. I was a little disappointed there was no coddled cream. I was fantasizing about the Chili-cheese tots from Sonic the whole time. BUT the gardens there are beautiful esp. the Japanese one. I felt like ditching everyone and escaping into the Zen garden.

They have an unusual collection of roses in their Shakespeare Garden. This one is called "Gourmet Popcorn".

And "The Green Rose"......

This one is called, "Jude the Obscure"....
Last year Jane Goodall was at there and I missed her. I wanted to take my cousin there but we missed her. :( His birthday is in Spring and I was thinking of taking him to the chimp sanctuary in Palm Springs to have Cheeta, the chimp artist paint and autograph one of "his works" for him. I keep telling my cousin/G0dson Chris that there is an artist I want him to meet!

2005-12-12T22:53:00.000-08:00

I'm back in! :) after being locked outta my blog. Thankyou peeps from "Blogger Help." Wow....whatz been goin on? Christmas shopping, HOF scrappin, my dad just moved next to my favorite SB and craft store and old neighborhood, the Tamale festival in Indio, I'm digging Dr. Wayne Dyer's book, "The Power Of Intention."(He quotes Carlos Castaneda a lot.) And Tookie is going to be killed in a little while. I think everyone is exaggerating the "big riot" to take place tommorrow comparing it to the Rodney King riot in 93. People are worried about the gangsters coming to their homes to terrorize them. I don't think people are aware that there have been riots approx. every ten years in this country... since the beginning.....before all the gangs. Hopefully its not that time again. Interestingly 93 was our first multicultural riot. Kinda funny people think that death is the bigger punishment. I have a feeling if Tookie is really interested in stopping gang violence I think he can continue his work from "the other side" more successfully. That may be the bigger plan for him. You know I even bet his victims will be there.....having forgiven him long ago. He will be free now...really.....I don't believe in hell. Well, here on earth...this is the only hell there is. When girls are kidnapped to become sex slaves, tied to bed posts to be raped by numerous men, who have stakes driven through their heads so they can "die slowly" for some pervert psychopaths "during the act" because its a "turn on" to see her body violently shake. Babies/INFANTS being sold for sex. Children dying of starvation every day. So go ahead and give me your fake fundy cartoon hell ANY DAY with flamin' red devil and all. I'm not afraid. There ain't no way but up from this joint. RIP it's 12:01

2005-11-29T23:46:00.000-08:00

On my way back from Cedars today I stopped at the Sinai Kosher Market for dinner on Pico as well as the Beverlywood Bakery for some apple nut strudel, chocolate dipped lace cookies, macaroons, and monster cupcakes. I made sure to grab a handfull of Sumac packets to take home with me. It's a lemony tasting spice I like to drown my rice in. I was thinking of trying it on the fruit sold at a Mexican stand nearby. My Mediterranean-Mexican cross-cultural experiment. Oh, and onion rings! I love lemon on them too. Gonna poor some Sumac on them. Uh! I feel like rolling in mud and watching one of my all time fave movies "Fatso" with Dom DeLouise. If our "Southern style Paula Deen" Thanksgiving wasn't enough I'm stuffing myself again. Last week I even created a personal health blog to paste all the health tips I find online. Found some info about clearing your system out with celery on an Edgar Cayce site of all places. It brought back memories of the time that was to be my WEIRDEST book purchase. It was at the Alexandria Bookstore. If you know anything about Edgar Cayce the mystic/prophet you know his books have a mysterious way of flying off book shelves. So.... sure-as-shit I walk over to his section and guess what hits me right on the head as I'm standing there? A small paperback book of his ailments/remedies. That was so weird....but I guess I knew it was coming! Maybe I'll go to the Alexandria again for fun and see what he picks out for me this time. LOL And how often in life does a book choose you?

Which SB Paper Collection Are You?

2005-11-26T00:29:00.000-08:00

You are 7 GYPSIES paper!
Oh la la...you are sophisticated and enjoy fine
wine and a candlelight dinner. You envision
travelling the world someday. Your scrapbook
pages are elegant and well thought out.

Which Scrapbooking Paper Collection Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

N. Hollywood Thai Festival

2005-11-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

All of my senses were stirred at the Thai festival last weekend. I hit the first booth as soon as I walked in standing in line for some sticky rice w/mango. There were booths that sold 101 different tamarind treats~my fave. There was an obscene looking/smelling/tasting fruit there called Darian. Tasted like a onion mango.

Everything was paid for in tokens. Everything had a lucky theme to it. Even the Thai Tea and coffee popsicles had a random hidden red spot on the stick for a prize. The pops were constantly being shaken in this metal tub.

The Temple was beautiful. There was a funeral taking place so I just got to peak inside. This is the alter for the person of the funeral in front of the temple.

I loved all the Buddha alters. I left a offering at everyone. If I lived nearby I'd definately come here to meditate. Last year Buddha's relics were here on tour. Slapping myself in the face for not seeing! :( (I did get to partake in St. Terese's 2000 reliquary though!)
There were two stages with all kinds of entertainment going on. A pond to float your flowers w/incense and candles with your intentions. There were tons of games and raffles. I won a incense fan, Mango juice, a Wonder Woman address book, and bird feeder. :) Can't wait to go back to their next festival in April.
*Edited to add more pics if Blogger allows >: Errrrr!

2005-11-15T01:32:00.000-08:00

Lost Emily

Which Emily Strange are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Can you see the resemblance?

2005-11-11T01:33:00.000-08:00

Crazy Trading Spouses lady and Sigmund the Seamonster~n~family

Kuchi's twins

2005-11-11T00:45:00.000-08:00

ATLANTA - November 1, 2005 - Zoo Atlanta, a leader in the study of gorilla behavior, announced that Kuchi, a 21 year-old female western lowland gorilla, gave birth to twins on Monday, October 31 in the evening at Zoo Atlanta. The birth of twins is extremely rare. Six incidences of twin gorilla births in North American Zoos have been recorded since 1966, with only three sets surviving.

Navajo artist R C Gorman

2005-11-07T23:25:00.000-08:00

has passed~gone home~ at 74. I talked to my mom tonight and asked her, "Guess who died?" She replied, "Gorman." She said she went to his studio in Taos in the 90's and saw some of his magical work. I remember in the 90's when New Mexico/Santa Fe style was the thing. Still is at Big Lots! Eww, I remember writing this long az poem about taking a train to Santa Fe and read it aloud in front of my drama class with a fake accent. What nerve. He will be missed.

My Online and Real Life Pet Dog

2005-11-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

This is my official online pet Chauncey who works as a model for the Oriental Trading Company. Whenever I get my OTC catelog in the mail there is Chauncey always bringing a smile to my face with his priceless face. I wonder where he lives, what he eats, if he is really a she, and how old he/she is, and what in the hell he is!

This is my real life dog Zorro as Vader for Halloween. He has a little man attitude and loves going after big dogs and loud cars. Any animal his size or smaller is no threat to him and he'll just walk by and ignore.

My King Charles amigo Amigo I babysat last week. I walked him to the Seminary while his daddies were on a cruise.

Freakynameics

2005-10-26T00:26:00.000-07:00

The controversialFreakonomics~A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side Of Everything arrived in the mail today. I have not read it yet but I scanned through it and found lists of "Low End/High End" White Girl/Boy Names. Girl's with names like Brandy, Britany, Tonya, Heather,Taylor, Samantha, and Courtney are the Low-enders AS WELL as boys named Cody, Travis, Tyler, Justin, and Brandon.

The "High-enders" with High-Education parents were named Katherine, Lucienne, Marie-Claire, Glynnis, Adair, Beatrix, Philippa, Neeka, Atara, Rotem, and Waverly. The boys, Dov, Akiva, Yannick, Tor, Ansel, Guillaume, Zev, Calder, Finnegan, Kia and Harper.

The only High-ender name I have ever seen was actually today on someone's high-brow blog....hehehehe!... Philippa. Maybe all these Finngans, Ataras and Tors are all living on the East coast....I'm assuming. I want to meet a Zev!

meme challenge 15

2005-10-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

This week [Oct 24th] we are talking music. Maybe music that you don't normally talk about. Yep, guilty pleasures. Those musical loves that would surprise us that you like. [or they don't have to be guilty you could just pick unique groups].

Let's see.... I love everything.
1.Old western/country/bluegrass/folk music. (Pre-70's) I think everyone loves Patsy Cline. I also love Johnny Cash too.
2. Middle eastern music/instruments
3. I like Indian music too and watch Bollywood movies sometimes.
4. Brit-pop
5. 60's jazz
6. Opera
7. Irish folk music
8. Mariachi bands
9. Gothic
10. Lounge.... I like it all

~Dia de Muertos~Hollywood Forever Cemetery~ Oct. 29th~

2005-10-22T02:06:00.000-07:00

UPDATE Loved it! It was a five star LA event. There were so many beautiful alters there. One was dedicated to Rosa Parks, several for American soilders who were killed in Iraq, Johnny Ramone, Jane Mansfield (there was a screen playing her movies above her plot w/ a skeleton in a blond wig and her skeleton poodle.) There were many family alters including a few pets. Every corner of the cemetery had some kind little play, dance or musical performance. On the main stage
bands played,(I missed Lila Downs last year :() poets talked. One said, "Don't ever forget your heritage and those who came before you. Don't ever forget where you came from."

Around the stage there were food booths. All kinds of food and drinks. The margarita stand was the longest. I had fried quesadillas with chili on top. There were tables set up around the pond with floating candles and flowers. Every table had a fresh flowers. There were ribbons and huge flower arrangements everywhere. Inside the mausoleum there was a art exhibit with a costumed lady singing folkish Spanish songs. There was also a long row of booths of artists selling their work. I'm thinking about setting up a booth their next yearbut I also want an alter space. I better start on all my memorial SB albums NOW!

Boose, B.B.Q., spooky movies, and music.....I'm there

2005-10-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

I joined four book clubs AGAIN! One Spirit, Book of the Month, The Literary Guild, and the History BC. Receiving books in the mail is like getting a crack fix for me! I'll even put them back in the box so I can take them out again after I smell them, feel them, check out how many chapters and pages they have. I have soooo many books to read and finish as it is but I still keep piling them up in storage. This all began back in high school in the late 80's. But back then I never paid for them. That included free music from Columbia House and the "other one", I can't recall the music club name. I received tons of free fashion magazines and cigarettes as a teenager! There were coffee makers, coffee, makeup from Cosmetique, and pasta (I think I joined some pasta club.) I hoarded all my freebies/cheap crap in my bedroom so my dad wouldnt find them. Like a dummy I would experiment late at night smoking the cigs without knowing how to inhale, sticking my head out of my bedroom window blowing out smoke. Fortunately it never became a habit. Maybe it was my asthma or the ocean breeze steps away from my house!
Since I lived at the beach every summer I had a friend that would come squat over at my house and she too would start ordering the "freebies". We would stay up till 6am drinking coffee, watching videos, smoking, tearing out pics from magazines, reading, and crank calling people. I remember crank calling a particular classmate of mine I was jealous of who was a late 80's, one hit wonder/mickey mouseclub muskateer. Boy, I was really enraged when I opened up one of my freebie magazines (Rolling Stone) to see her at George Michael's party with George Harrison's arm around her! But I was also elated that Rolling Stone misspelled her name. She eventually flatlined in the 90's turning to drugs and bulemia. She might be wanting to make another comeback but I don't think Columbia is interested anymore. I sort of feel sorry for her now. She still has a fanclub in Chile though. Soooooo, the only thing different now is I order my coffee from Hawaii~ Lion Coffee Kona gold. Order my books usually from Amazon and subscribe to SBing magazines.....and occasionally smoke flavored tobacco from a hookah.

Leave Napolean alone!

2005-10-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a little bit of bear drama. My new naive neighbors called the police on (my :P) harmless bear Napolean. The police officers were making a spectacle with their flashlights and megaphones and fortunately he escaped into my mini forest that leads up to the canyon. Napolean is a little large and intimidating but wouldn't hurt a fly. The officers even disturbed the deer and their new babies/fawn. How annoying! Gonna have to have a talk w/the new neighbors 2morrow.

All Creatures Great and Small

2005-10-13T01:48:00.000-07:00

I enjoy looking at the little animals over at the UK scrappers gallery. They make me think of James Harriot who I loved growing up as a kid. Next week I'll be babysitting my friend's King Charles Spaniel,"Amigo". I hope he's ready for his photo session. Let's see now... the credits! The first Oscar goes to...
Family Val-EWES created by "scrapdolly"

Natural Beauty by "maisydaisy"
Ceilidh by "scrapscot"
Purrffect LO by "craftycaz"
BRAVO! BRAVO!

What's your faith? Quiz from Beliefnet

2005-10-12T00:21:00.000-07:00

Your results:
The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.
1. Mahayana Buddhism (100%)
2. Neo-Pagan (98%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (96%)
4. Reform Judaism (94%)
5. Jainism (93%)
6. Liberal Quakers (91%)
7. Theravada Buddhism (90%)
8. New Age (87%)
9. Sikhism (87%)
10. Hinduism (79%)
11. Bahá'í Faith (76%)
12. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (70%)
13. Orthodox Judaism (68%)
14. Taoism (68%)
15. New Thought (66%)
16. Islam (61%)
17. Scientology (59%)
18. Secular Humanism (55%)
19. Orthodox Quaker (53%)
20. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (45%)
21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (40%)
22. Jehovah's Witness (35%)
23. Nontheist (31%)
24. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (30%)
25. Seventh Day Adventist (25%)
26. Eastern Orthodox (18%)
27. Roman Catholic (18%)

2005-10-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

As Day of the Dead gets nearer I think of who I'm going to include in my alter. This is my Psych professor, Dr. Glenda who was murdered over a year ago by one of her graduate students. She was only 36 and found decapitated in her new home on Valentine's Day. She was found stabbed to death in her torso area in her kitchen, her head found in the fireplace. The murderer who was also in his 30's commited suicide that night by running in front of a big rig truck completely in the nude. I remember him too, walking around campus because he was so tall and bald. He was scary looking with a larger than normal forehead, always serious looking. Who would have known? She was one of those very kind and sweet people too, not phony at all. I walked by her dark, vacant home a few weeks ago around 10pm and heard loud banging coming from her front window. It really creeped me out but my mind just tells me that maybe someone was inside the house screwing with me for gawking.

meme challenge week #12

2005-09-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

"This week [Sept 26th] we are going silly and talking about our quirks.
Things about us that are abnormal, bizarre, crazy, curious, far out, flaky, fly ball, freakish, funky, funny, geeky, kooky, nutty, odd, oddball, off-center, offbeat, outlandish, peculiar, strange, uncommon, unconventional, unusual, way out, weird, AND whacky..WHEW!"
10 "Weird Facts About You"
I think I have already been doin this everyweek!
1. Let's see...I am psychic and have premonitions. I inherited this from my great grandmother.
2. My lifelong totem has been the owl. Owl always warns me of death. And this summer was the summer of death! Check out my owl cam link to the right to watch "Frida & Diego". See Diego above.
3. I tap my cats big furry balls (pom poms)sometimes when he walks by or he's in my face. Gosh this is sick....I should delete this. LOL (well, there's "nutty")
4. I collect whiskers.
5. I have a guru..... he taught me how to meditate.
6. I always drentch my onion rings with lemon juice and salt.
7. Like to visit cemeteries and collect Victorian mourning jewelry.
8. Only eat meat on special occasions/holidays. I wouldn't stop eating meat completely because my culture is very important to me!
9. I put the remains of my cat in a Maneki Neko statue.

10. Use to live at a convent.

meme challenge week #11

2005-09-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

Ten Scrapbooking Mantras/Rules

1. "Do your own thing." Be original.
2. Never copy or "scraplift" another's L/O or SB celebrities hair-do.
(I've seen many Heidi Swapps out there!LOL)
3. All you need is cardstock.
4. Don't pay attention to what people say is supposedly "popular" and what is not.
5. Scrap more, Pea less!
6. Never scrap with paper "you don't like" (that particular season) esp. from a company who is running a
contest expecting to see their product. (Chatterbox MM 2004)
7. Never come to the point where you run out of ideas and themes that you start
scrapping your McDonald's or Starbucks drink.
8. Never impose fake props on children in your pics. You can always tell when a L/O
is a little too "made-up."
9. Stop pestering Thena for poems. Go buy the book!
10. Try something new every week.

Week 10 "Memories From Your School Years"

2005-09-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

1. St. Mary's of Assupmtion, 4th grade I was bored in class so I asked Sister
Patrice Marie (who always smelled like pee)if I could go to church to pray. Alone in church I hallucinated and saw tears falling from the blessed mother's eyes. I went back to class and told my friends then they saw it too! And then the whole class hallucinated! Well, I ended causing a lot of drama at school and in the end someone (an official of something) got close enough to touch the dry cheeks on the statue. What I did accomplish though was getting both of my parents down on their knees praying in church together for the first time. LOL

2. St. Mary's of Assumption, 3rd grade I made my first scrapbook of animals! My teacher, Mrs. Chittwood was a mean ol' biotch but I was her fave!LOL Evidentally everyone in class did such shitty jobs on theirs and mine was so outstanding she walked up and down the isles holding up my scrapbook while scolding the class. She reminded me of the Queen in Alice in Wonderland.

3. Our Lady of Fatima, 2nd grade I was the only one who went "face to face" with the priest during our First Confessions. I remember confessing, "fighting with my little brother".

4. Ramona Convent, 7th grade I invited all of my friends to my Halloween party...sorta. My Goth father bought an old Hearse for fun and chaufeured my friends and I around Hollywood Blvd. to see the premiere of Halloween (?). We were all piled up in the back of the hearse and when he let us out in front of Mann's Chinese Theater everyone in line cheered & clapped for us. Dad was in a tux and skull mask (one of the characters in the movie)and mom was Morticia. There was a rumour going around my school that my dad worked for the morturary. I had to explain that, no he did not, he was only a freak!

5. Huntington Beach High School, 10th grade I crashed my BMW in the island in front of the police station and just left it there! With only a learning permit I called my dad and got scared so I hid out across the street at my best friend's jacuzzi and swimming pool where I swam all night. Out of sight , out of mind, I guess? I could hear my dad's car racing up and down the street looking for me from the pool too. He was so furious the friendly officer was scared of him too, when I finally decided to come out of hiding. LOL

6. HBHS, 11th grade I bought a Cosmo mag that came with the mini yearly astrological book that predicted, "You will meet a dashing and daring Aries man approx. on Valentine's Day" and sure as shit on Valentine's Day I was sitting in class and this Hot guy in a black leather jacket was standing outside my door pointing at me to come outside. Like a dork I look behind me and he's all, no YOU! Totally like a Jake Ryan scene from the movie "Sixteen Candles". So I go to the door and he hands me a Valentine with an alien on it that reads, "You're cosmic." He was an Aries, dashing and daring and became my bf. He looked like a young Elvis but moved away to go to school in Massachusettes. :(

7. Ramona Convent, 9th grade I made plans with my friend/classmate to get stoned after school during last period. We were passing notes back and forth about how she stole some weed from her very famous dad. So after school at my locker someone taps my back. It was Sister Virginia Anne. She said, "Come with me dearie." She had gone in the trash to retrieve our notes and read them. The dean gave us a warning and a lecture. We didn't want to reveal who the weed was from. I'm sure they knew.

8. Grammar school, I remember getting excited when the monthly Scholastic book club catalogs/readers were passed out. I loved ordering books and the feeling I got the day our orders arrived. My favorite book of all time was Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak. It came with a record sang by Carol King!

9. I always remember being student of the month for October.

10. St. Mary's, 6th grade I sold the most chocolate bars in the entire school winning a radio and a field trip for my class. I was always selling stuff door to door starting with the first grade and did it ALONE. I sold Girl Scout Cookies, chocolate bars, Gem candies, raffle tickets, and calendars.

Country Living & Cowboys

2005-09-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

My weekend had a country theme to it. I watched the Hank Williams biography and discovered a cowboy cooking show called "Campfire Cafe". The chef cooked apple dumplings with a pecan sauce to die for. I thought they would be a cute idea for Halloween. He cooked them in a dutch oven over an open fire. At his website I found these cute apple shaped dutch ovens by Lodge. Those dutch ovens made me wonder how my Mexican grt grandmother cooked her tortillas when she was riding and cooking with my grt grandpa and Pancho Villa during the Mexican revolution. I have many famous and infamous vaqueros and cowboys in both sides of my family so I've always been attracted to vintage western and cowgirl stuff. The Halloween edition of Counrty Living Magazine has some cool things in it!!!!!!!!!! I was very impressed. There was a vintage California "Vaquero" label cowgirl shirt in it I want real bad. Not too many people are aware or acknowledge where the "white American cowboy" originated from... where he inherited and took all his skills from. And I'm not talking about the phony and fake John Wayne. They learned everything from the Mexican vaquero who brought their ranching culture to America. In the Southwestern U.S. of the 1850's and 1860's, the riding style and the cattle herding equipment were both of Mexican origin. The only difference was their language. The early European immigrants from the start and to present day have always tried to erase our culture and history (but use for their own novelty) and make us feel like inferior foreigners on our own land. Many Mexicans from the SW have Native American roots from Arizona. My family is Papago which recently has been changed to its original tribal name, Tohono O'Odham in an attempt to De-colonize their tribal name. Many Native Americans were given Spanish names during their Christian ? baptisms and blended into Mexican culture. Here's some cowgirl ephemera....

I forgot to add, that cowboys spent the majority of their time Knitting! contrary to all the gloss behind American history and Hollywood you will hear. It was very boring being left alone with all that cattle on the range so cowboys spent their time knitting clothing to trade and sell. I'm assuming this would include African American cowboys too.

Sometime around the year 1680, a people composed of bands of wandering mountain hunters, aquired the horse from their southern neighbors, the Utes or Camanche who were distant relatives of the Aztecs They became master horsemen in a short time.

Kewpie Party for Santina

2005-08-31T13:45:00.000-07:00

These are my latest party favor prototypes of Kewpie with S.E.I. papers. I still need to personalize them with names, maybe add balloons, and do the centerpieces. Someone from the UK already wants to buy them. I'm still waiting for my Kewpie shipment and I need more ribbon! I had little Santina in mind when I made these. She's the cutest baby in the world. I love her hat!

2peas Meme Challenge #9

2005-08-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

10 Places I Want to Travel to:

1. Japan
2. Kerela, India
3. Peru
4. Egypt to see Queeen Hetshupsut's? sanctuary
5. Tahiti (I want some black pearls!)
6. Tikal jungle, Guatemala (finger monkeys!)
7. Tibet
8. China for panda expo
9. Galapogos Islands
10. Ireland

Holly Hobbie meets Grandma on X-mas

2005-08-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

My super psychic scrapbooking ablilty came into play yesterday as the mailman dropped off my Scraptogether.com FREE TRIAL package of Anna Griffin papers. I ALWAYS KNOW WHEN THERE IS A SB related package in the mail waiting for me! The paper is a little dated I think. That's why it's free but I'm sure I can do something with it around X-mas time. Maybe I'll swap it off. LOL I call it the Holly Hobbie meets grandma on X-mas and they share Hickory Farm's pastel Petit Fours and cheese logs, paper package.

BUT! I have been searching for a homely style paper for a 70's schooltime L/O but I need bright colored Holly Hobbie-ish, tiny floral paper in primary colors! Specifically, red and yellow. So, this L/O is going to have to wait till I find the perfect paper. I hate it when I have a print stuck in my mind and I have to search for it. Uh! Here is the work in progress. I always add PPings of my favorite characters at the time, who I loved. This is old school Hello Kitty, Jimmy and Patty.

I'm looking for something to match my best friend Elisabeth's red/yellow outfit here. Also, something similar to my red/navy outfit right above her.

The paper manufacturers are good at making 70's novelty themed paper but they always leave out the OTHER funky part/styles from the 70's that were also around too.

(Ooooops! The boy in the pic is Scooby and a 90's roommate of mine. He grew up to be a meth head but now is doing better and is working for his Republican father's construction company in Newport Beach. And BTW he's under the delusion that he is self-made! hehehe Ah, can't you just see all the hard working illegals working for him?)

The Messiah Has Returned?!

2005-08-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

And has been living in Little India, London! Wow! Who is this man who has been
making sporadic appearances around the world showing up to crowds third world countries? The fifth Buddha? Christ? Krishna? Imam Mahdi?? Hmmm, let's see what his message is.....
"My dear friends, I am happy to be with you once more.

My plan is that my teaching should precede my presence and prepare my way. My people will release it through their groups and group endeavour. When mankind is somewhat prepared, my voice shall be heard.

Meanwhile, my efforts are bearing fruit, producing change, drawing together men and nations, and bringing new hope to the world. I am emerging soon, but first I would point the way into the new direction which man, if he would survive, must take.

Firstly, men must see themselves as brothers, sons of the One Father. This is essential if they would progress one step nearer the Godhead. Throughout the world there are men, women and little children who have not even the essentials to stay alive; they crowd the cities of many of the poorest countries in the world. This crime fills me with shame. My brothers, how can you watch these people die before your eyes and call yourselves men? My plan is to save these, my little ones, from certain starvation and needless death.

My plan is to show you that the way out of your problems is to listen again to the true voice of God within your hearts, to share the produce of this most bountiful of worlds among your brothers and sisters everywhere.

I need your help, I call on you to aid me in my task. How can I stand aside and watch this slaughter, watch my little ones die? No, my friends, this cannot be. Therefore I am come quickly among you once more, to show you the way, point the path. But the success of my mission depends on you: you must make the choice -- whether you share and learn to live peacefully as true men, or perish utterly.
My heart tells me your answer, your choice, and is glad.

May the divine Light and Love and Power of the one most holy God fall now upon your hearts and minds. May this Light, Love and Power lead you to seek That which dwells in silence within you. Find That and know that you are Gods."

Okay, I'm really digging his message whether he is Jesus, Santa, or the Easter bunny. I don't think anyone is going to take him seriously wearing that Jiffy pop hat though. Let's see what else he has to say.....

"Each man is a lighthouse and sheds abroad his light for his brother. Make bright your lamp and let it shine forth and show the way. All are needed, every one. No one is too small or young to take part in this Great Plan for the rescue and the rehabilitation of our world. Resolve to do this and be assured that My help will not be withheld.

How to start? Begin by dedicating yourself and all that you are and have been to the service of the world, to the service of your brothers and sisters everywhere. Make sure that not one day passes without some act of true service and be assured that My help will be yours. This, the Path of Service, is the only path for true men, for it is the path which leads them to God."

Well' I don't have to worry about that...I'm always in the presence of 'lambs'.
Here is a print of his hand that is suppose to bring good luck to you. I already put my hand on the screen and said, "Please, if you are 'for real' will you please make me HOF 2006?" And then, what if he's real? :O

New Memorial Option~Diamonds!

2005-08-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I watched the finale of two of my favorite shows. Six Feet Under RIP :( and Family Plots. In family Plots Rick had diamonds made of his sons ashes. They are made by a company called 'Life Jem' and are "created by placing carbon, the primary element of all diamonds, in conditions that recreate the forces of nature." They also do pets :) I'm thinking of having some of my Dottie's ashes made into a custom designed "Siamese Eye" blue diamond brooch. The process takes from six months to a year and being a Taurus I'm just lovin' this. :P Can you tell? This so beats laying in the ground with my arms crossed. I never really wanted to go out like that. I want to be a canary diamond now. Click on the future pic of me below.

KEANE AND KEANE

2005-08-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

KEANE number one: A Brit? pop band who I like. Checked out their website yesterday. Their new CD out is called 'Hopes and Fears'. They sound just like Travis. I really thought my 90's obsession with Brit pop bands was only a stage but it is still goin on. Even my 'all time favorites' are English. David Bowie and Robert Smith. Love Belle & Sebastian. My 'Super Furry Animals' from Wales still have a special place in my heart:)Love chatting with my Scottish friends who love Oasis and growing/smoking their legal maryjane and making fun of my Scotch-Irish roots. They ask me if I'm really made outta booze. I am now a 'Ulster-Scot'. My funny friends from Wales like talking smack about the English and new local bands. I read somewhere (BBC) that the people of Wales have the purist blood/roots to the land than the English. English blood was mixed.(I'm thinking with Danish blood?) Half- blood prince? Any connection? I am definately headed to Ameoba records Hollywood this weekend.

KEANE number two: San Francisco artist and creator of 'Big Eye Art'. I would love to do a documentary about her for W channel. Her husband took credit for all of her paintings until a judge ordered him to paint during the divorce proceedings. Her x-husband replied, "I can't today, because I have a sore shoulder". She is currently living in Hawaii now and has converted into a Jehovia's Witness. I was lucky to have found one of her old paintings at a flea market in Pasadena for $20. I'm still searching for all "Big eye' stuff out there.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman

2005-08-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

We all watched 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' this weekend on Pay-per-view. It was a silly movie but I just loved watching Shemar's scenes and cracking up on his lines. Line's like, "I want to be your Knight in shining armour.", "I'm in love with you, tell me your in love with me. Say it! Tell me!" I'm sure in real life this is far from the case! I was laughing so hard I had to get out my asthma pump to breathe. That man is so fine! He made me slobber in my popcorn.

Instead of going to Little Tokyo Sunday (like another pea did) I went to Tom's Farmer's Market all the way in Corona. I liked it. Bought a cute red cat shaped bottle of German wine, some California cheese, freshly made French bread, honey butter, taffy and dried fruit. Found some good raisin nut bread to make my date and cream cheese sandwiches with:) There were some cute bikers walking around there too. Sam Elliot firefighter types. Will be going back soon.

I love you TOO, Shemar!

The reason I don't eat at chain restaurants

2005-08-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

Well I should have known better than to eat Italian 'out'or to eat at a 'chain' restaurant for that matter but a gift certificate was involved. Well, Maria's Italian Kitchen was by far the worst Italian food I have ever tasted! I let several reviewers know about her slick, greasy, oily, and bland dishes. All I tasted was oil and the food gave me a headache. The breadsticks even sucked! And you should have seen the people in line. Personally I think people dont know that they're eating shit cuz they have never had the real thing. That goes for the Olive Garden too! My Sicilian grandpa was the best chef and spoiled me with his food! I miss him although he visits me in my dreams sometimes. His sauce took hours to make and actually melted in your mouth. I gotta find a picture of my grandpa........... This is me and my grandpa~ and my cousin Jeff.

I'm Tom Waits

2005-08-10T23:50:00.000-07:00

Tom Waits... charismatic story-teller with a
penchant for freaky people and unusual
settings. You thrive on the concept of the
underdog coming out on top.

Which fucked-up genius composer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

PUCCA~My Latest

2005-08-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'm an official paper piecing tweeker! Someone from Japan gave me this beautiful origami paper so I did a Panda search and found him at ABCteach.com
I'm also a Pucca fan. The reason I like PPing is beacause I think it's the cheapest (all you need is cardstock) and funnest way to scrap. (I also used green paint samples from Home Depot for the tiles) You can also personalize stuff too. And "do your own thing".

Save a Buck on your next Latte

2005-08-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

by ordering shaken iced coffee (sweetened or unsweetened)and add the cream or half and half yourself.

Andy you're a Dick!

2005-07-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

Living in Los Angeles you run into a lot of celebrities and when you own a club you see they think they can get special treatment because they're used to everyone kissing their asses 24/7. Their 'entourage' are even more annoying! Then there's Andy Dick. I loved him here in Hebrew Hammer. I loved that movie! I loved Andy Dick but this dude has got some serious issues. What the hell is goin on in your life when you don't even know how to party and have fun anymore?! Andy is such a spaz that when he drinks he has to grab bottles w/liquor and glasses from the bar and start throwing them at the wall! And then he's grabbing young guys by the balls! He's obviously in the closet and I don't know how long his wife is going to continue to front for him. Then he flips John off with two hands and what can you do but laugh! Just hope he doesn't end up like Belushi and some of those other talented comedians.

Cheburashka-Gotta Have One!

2005-07-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

During the 2004 Olympic games I noticed this adorable little teddy bear the Russian athletes were holding. I fell in love with him so I googled every damn Russian site I could find and found out that Cheburashka is a famous Russian children's book character created by Eduard Uspensky. AND Eduard Uspensky never gave permission for his character to be used as the official Russian mascot!

Finally I found a link that sent me to 'Baby Melt' a cool comic/toy store on Sunset Blvd. Cheburashka was boxed in a little orange crate with oranges. There were also The Cheburashka Show tapes available that looked like the equivalent to our claymation Gumby series. Baby Alex owns all the Cheberashka goodies now. Here he is...

Hello Kitty Crop

2005-07-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Kitty Crop

Just found out that Hello Kitty scrapbooking paper is FINALLY coming out! I have sooo many childhood pics to scrap and have been waiting for Sanrio to put something out. Recently I purchased some HK ribbon from Jo~anne's and was wondering what to mix it with. My mother would take me to Little Tokyo, Los Angeles in the 70's to shop at the first tiny little HK store there. It was heaven for me as well as my little secret place to take my best friends to. Mother's would knock at my front door in Cerritos and ask where I was getting this cute stuff from.

I am now waiting for Paul Frank to come out with some paper and then I'll be really happy!
I made this altered Paul Frank inspired stencil organizer out of this cool red glitter paper I found at my LSS.

Buttercream Frosting and Ben Affleck

2005-07-19T00:46:00.000-07:00

No, it's not a fantasy! We share the same hairdresser. We also share the same hairdresser as Richard Gere. Richard, Ben, and Edna have a fabulous hair stylist named Rene. Rene gives Edna freebies all the time such as this friggin luxurious set of Buttercream Frosting body butter, Orange-vanilla body polish, and Pumpkin-papaya-mask by Jaqua. Edna smelled like a bakery and Starbucks today. Edna met a very important person in Ben's life too. LOL Edna let Rene go wild on her hair. See Edna look in the mirror. See Ben get stoned. See Ben space. LOL See Spot run?

A Party Fit For A King!

2005-07-18T00:02:00.000-07:00

The party turned out fabulous! Approx. 50 guests showed up. The food was great! The stuffed Pinnochio hats w/my grandpa's sauce came out great! My mother, Elena, and I were up cooking all night and into the morning. We were so tired! We had Italian sausages, lasangne, bread, pasta, fruit, and green salads, beef and chicken terriaki kabobs, fruit, cheeses, wine, beer, soda. Someone brought egg rolls and pork ribs. Elena's sister brought over her trays of chocolate covered strawberries, frozen bananas dipped in chocolate w/colored sprinkles, cookies, and marshmellos also dipped in chocolate colored sprinkels. The kids loved them.

My party favors/decorations received a lot of compliments. One guest said, "You should go into business with your party favors. You'd be a millionaire!" I said, "That's what I'm working on." :) Since it was a Pinnochio themed party I stuck with Italian colors for the balloons, fabrics, and Pinnochio hat favors. All the wooden Pinnochio's looked stunning. I put Pinnochio masks from Venice, Italy on the wall. My brother made a lollipop tree I put large suckers into. Another guest said, "This is the best 'first' birthday party I have ever been to!" This was really a big production. I feel like I did a wedding! My cousin joked, "We're not going to have another party for 5 years! "He doesn't know I already started on the Mexican cowboy theme for Alex's 2nd birthday!

My cousin rented one of those jumpers. That thing was a kid magnet. They couldn't get enough of that thing! Which was fine with me. They were all boys! Most of the men and teen-agers were outside with them talking sports, drinking beer, playing music. The women were inside talking and playing with the baby, drinking wine, and taking pics. Alex never cried and was enjoying all the attention and excitement. Elena invited Kristopher's teacher to set me up with. He teaches Chicano Studies and history and is moving back down to LA. He was tall, and Mexican, and had a Masters~my 3 prerequisites! Something bugged me about him that I can't pin down.

Later in the evening when only family was left we brought out the tequila bottles BECAUSE WE MEXICANS KNOW HOW TO PARTY! We did so many shots my cousin had to do Tequila runs. I only did three shots and that was enough because I was also drinking Margaritas. A few people brought out their guitars and started playing and singing. My cousin John from a punk band was even playing songs by 'X'. Everyone was buzzed or drunk and laughing.

THEN my uncle's Palistinian friend busts out with his cool Hookah pipe! We all go outside and he sets it up. In minutes we are all in a circle taking turns puffing tabacco. The tabacco was apple flavored and comes in a variety of flavors like cherry, lemon, melon, strawberry, and cotton candy! Dude, I'm getting one of those! He even put tequila inside the pipe. So I'm sitting right next to Nimer, the Palistinian guy and he was telling me about his Catholic background and how his anscestors are from the village where Jesus preached and rose from the dead. I had no idea there were Catholic Palistinians! I thought his background was pretty cool and interesting to listen to. He's really involved in his church and has a son in Israel right now.

All of the sweat, drama, and work was worth every minute of Alex's first b-day party! We are all grateful Alex is healthy and thriving and is a happy little boy. It was a party fit for a king's son!

Alpine Village

2005-07-06T01:05:00.000-07:00

Alpine Village is a small German shopping center in Torrance that features a market with all kinds of German imports. It has a great deli, restaurant, and a cool toy store filled with adorable toys from Germany. I went their specifically to buy 'the bomb' candy for Alexander's B-day favors and some wooden Pinocchio's to decorate his party with. The German's make the best candy! (Esp.if you love black licorice.) I don't care what anyone says.

Alexander the Extra Ordinary

2005-06-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

This is our family Canary diamond Alexander. Alex was born with a rare form of Downs syndrome called Mosaic. He hasn't needed any therapy yet because he has been developing normally, so far. His first birthday is coming up and the theme is going to be Pinocchio/nursury rythmes. I made his invites today from a copy of an earlier Warhol/Pop print we had professionally made of him several months ago.
I'm still working on the favors/decorations.(Wooden Pinocchios, vintage Pinocchio comics from Italy) We're going to have these cute little Pinocchio pasta hats with my grandfathers Sicilian sauce. They were bought back from Firenz, Italy. I'm also thinking of making mini triangle Pinocchio hat pizzas.

Still need the cake and flowers..... This party is gonna kick some ass! It's kickin mine already!

Edna's Faves/ Fafi & Katjes >2<

2005-06-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Fafi is my favorite graffiti artist. She is from France and travels around the world painting walls where ever she can. She has a new line clothing, jewelry, figurines, and books.

Her work is funky, fresh, and
feminine and is the inspiration for my new layout.

The Germans have got it goin' on in the gummy deptartment. I have been addicted to black licorice for five years now. Every two weeks I alternate between Katjes
Kinder, panda bears, tire treads, and cat paws. and

Edna's Faves/ Prada & Pupa >1<

2005-06-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

Pupa Cosmetics are SICK, colorful and fun. They are from Italy and come in adorable little kits such as teddy bears, postcards, angels, devils, and pinwheels. Edna owns the Pinocchio kit.

They make cute x-mas/greeting post/cards to send out.

The pinwheel is adorable and would make a cute gift.

These are the new Class of 2005 Prada keychains which aren't as nice as the 2004 robot tricks.
They can be worn with jeans or clipped onto your bag. I clipped mine on my Dickies here last week at my cousin's graduation.

And this is "Rufus" the bot trick.

101 Things To Do Before I Die

2005-06-14T22:49:00.000-07:00

A TwoPeas post got me thinking today about this. Maybe I'll start with 25 for now and another 25 for what I've already done.

Things to do before I die or go blind.
1. Go to Kerela, India/elephant sanctuary
2. Adopt from orphanage/sponsor a school
3. Get published, Get published, Get published!
4. Do a documentary or TWO
5. Buy property/ranch w/horses in Santa Barbara area
6. Own an indoor potbelly pig
7. Own a hairless Mexican dog
AND a hairless cat

8. Go to New Orleans and gain 10 pounds
9. Win the Nobel Peace Prize AND an Oscar
10. Go to Hello Kitty World in Japan
11. Get spanked by Johnny Depp....... Continued.......

Things I already have done..............
1. Lifted my blouse in a 7/11 and exposed my TT's for free booze(when I was young and perky)
2. Had my hair cut in Paris done like Joan of Arc

3. Had a fling with my professor
4. Started a scandal in Catholic school by lying that I saw a tear fall from Mother Mary's face
5. White water rafting
6. Visited Marta Becket in Death Valley
7. Snuck into 5 concerts pretending I was an employee
8. VIP Laker's Club Status games
9. Racing horses on the beach in Mexico while drinking beer
10. Volunteered for "Caring for Babies with Aids."
To be continued........

Victorian Hair Scrapbooking

2005-06-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

I found this interesting article today while searching for Victorian mourning jewelry from Victorianhairartists.com.
"Jewelry made with hair is dated back to at least the 1600's, when hair bracelets were given as love tokens by both men and women. During this time one was likely to find the hair placed under glass and used as a background for initials or some other personal symbol to the wearer. Hair jewelry stayed popular until the late 1800's. Many people today believe that hair jewelry was made only for the purpose of remembering a deceased loved one. While that was one function of hair jewelry, many pieces were also made for sentimental reasons, as tokens of affection.

Queen Victoria gave pieces of jewelry made from her hair as gifts, many of these pieces were given to her children and grandchildren. Napoleon wore his watch on a chain made from the hair of his wife, Empress, Marie Louise.

Hair was valued for sentimental reasons at a time when there were no photographs. In lieu of photographs, young girls kept scrapbooks of their schoolmate's hair, usually with a name and verse to go with it identifying whose hair it was.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, postcards and valentines were sent with hair attached. The sentimental sender would glue locks of their hair onto specially made postcards, (a picture of a beautiful woman) and send it to someone as a keepsake.

Today there are only a few Hair Artists who are making this type of jewelry. There are no schools where one can go for instructions, so this art is self taught. An enormous amount of time is spent learning the different techniques. Hair Art like any other art is a constantly evolving process."

Golly Dolls from Harrods. Racist?

2005-06-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

Recently, my mother brought me back Golly dolls from Harrod's London as gifts. My gut feeling told me, there's something WRONG about these dolls. I'm just not feeling them. So I did research on them and found out they were created from a children's book by a girl named Florence Kate Upton. She was from the U.S. but moved back to England after her father died.

"The Golliwogg was based on a Black minstrel doll that Upton had played with as a small child in New York. The then-nameless "Negro minstrel doll" was treated roughly by the Upton children. Upton reminiscenced: "Seated upon a flowerpot in the garden, his kindly face was a target for rubber balls..., the game being to knock him over backwards. It pains me now to think of those little rag legs flying ignominiously over his head, yet that was a long time ago, and before he had become a personality.... We knew he was ugly!"From the Museum of Racist Memorabilia.

I'm a little fascinated as to why these dolls are still being produced. Maybe it's time to put "unintentional racism" on check. I can see collecting them as antiques, museum or historical pieces with full understanding of their history but to produce them in 2005! They are made by Merrythought in England and I love their "Cheeky" bears. I think I'm going to email Harrod's and Merrythought about their "Golly situation." I'm not going to tell them, "Oh, you racist bastards! Shame on youuuu!" I'll just inform them that "they are products of racism" unintentional or not, and I find them offensive. It's your choice, you're reputation, or something like that. Harrod's usually has excellent customer service. They always send out handwritten thankyou notes to all their customers. Stay tuned.

Searching for Takashi Murakami

2005-06-07T23:56:00.000-07:00

I'm LOVING this T.Murakami wallpaper!!! But it's as hard to find as his Louis Vuitton bags. I've been making mushroom, and smiley flower paper pieces for my scrapbooking layouts. It would be cool if he could also make patterned SB paper. If I could only find his email.

This is half of my "Greg Brady & me" LO inspired by T. Mura. smiley face flowers. It reads, This is Greg Brady (Barry Williams) from The Brady Bunch holding me up in my striped, highwater, bellbottom, jumpsuit with Buster Browns. In the seventies, Toys R Us had promotional celebrity events that featured child star actors and characters from T.V.. Notice the promise ring on Greg's finger. Hmmmm, wonder if that is from his TV mom Florence Henderson? Freaks!

My mentor has died :(

2005-06-06T00:56:00.000-07:00

My mentor and art teacher Janet Church has passed. I would consider her one of the pivital and influential people (as Dr.Phil would say) in my life. I met Janet at her art studio in the third grade. She hesitated at first in taking me in as a student because I was so young but I proved to be precocious and artistic at my age. All the other students were adults. Janet was very tempermental (unlike Taro), moody, and demanding and made me cry my first day! She was a type A personality always bursting with energy, usually arriving to class with her long, white, wet hair, from doing laps at the Y pool. She rarely sat or kept quiet for more than five minutes. On occasion an artist would trigger her into a fit of rage. It wasn't uncommon to see wet brushes with paint flying across the studio. But believe it or not everyone still loved her. I learned so much from her. I remember one lesson in particular when I was painting my life size Japanese anime "Candy" doll. She had a bright frilly red dress and Janet was annoyed that I couldn't see "all the colors" in her "red" dress. She screamed can't you see the blue, purple, and green in her dress! I saw orange maybe but not green! I didn't see any rainbow. But I agreed....I wasn't in the mood to have my brushes thrown up in the air. Sadly it took me more than fifteen years to finally figure out what she was trying to teach me! My other influence was Taro Yashima, artist, activist, and Caldecott winner. Taro was a perfectionist and would draw things over 100 times sometimes until he was satisfied! He passed in 1994 and came to me in a dream handing me a red rose. I knew right away he had died and was saying good-bye to all his students. But his books still live on. And Janet lives on in all her students and art work.

Welcome to Edna's Blog Darlings!

2005-06-05T17:27:00.000-07:00