Sooo busy!

I'm soo busy! Updates: Berrysprite will most likely be postponed until the end of July. What I've been doing: I'm running out of clean clothes. I spent $40 on groceries at Safeway, which is located in the bottom of the Watergate Hotel (yes, THAT Watergate Hotel). We get back from researching at 6pm or 7, do homework until 12 and then get up at 6 or 7 (depending on the day). We even have homework on the weekends (I guess the Smithsonian really IS hardcore!) There really is no time for a proper blog post, so hope this is okay.

Capital Building:


John Walsh of America's Most Wanted (my grandma loves that show!) is the new covergirl of the Crime and Punishment Museum, which is located in Chinatown. It's like he's selling shampoo!

Dupont Circle and the Inn

Hee hee, thanks for all the comments guys! While I'm having lots of fun being by myself, it can get lonely being in a new/strange city by yourself... there's no one to say things to, like: "Hey, look at that tree that looks like a foot." So it's so nice to read all your comments on my blog and flickr! Don't worry though, I won't be by myself for much longer; tonight is my last night in the bed and breakfast I'm staying in, and then tomorrow it's off to George Washington University. If you ever come to DC, I would highly recommend staying at the Inn at Dupont Circle South. It's a bit old and a little expensive (for a college student... but they were the cheapest I could find in comparison to the other rates for hotels and B&B's I saw while I searching on the internet.) The room I stayed in the first night was called the Queen Anne Room, I think, and it was very spacious and lovely.


Here is the Dining Room; they put out refreshments for the afternoon and night-time!

Here is the atrium! It's a nice place to eat because you're technically in the Garden, but you're still inside!

The room where I've been since the first night is this little one, appropriately called "the nook," there isn't even a closet! But who needs a closet anyway? All I need is a bed, and that's the essence of "the nook."
Here's the front architecture of the Inn; it's the white part in the middle. DC has much more vegetation than I thought it would... Dupont Circle is especially nicely greened!

There are many reasons I like it at this B&B: the staff is really nice, it's clean, the breakfast is really good (every morning there is fresh baked bread, omelets cooked to order, etc) and it is literally 2 dozen steps to the Dupont Circle Metro stop. Dupont Circle itself is a great place to stay if you are in DC; it's got a really great night scene and is a notable gay and lesbian community. It's really nice; great architecture, and it seems pretty safe.

There are lots of little places to eat (some are expensive, a few are not)-so far I really like Cosi and Julie's Empanadas. Although it's a bit more expensive (around $7-$10) their flatbread, sandwiches and salads are so good; I like the Bombay Chicken Salad. Julie's Empanadas is open extremely late and it costs $3.41 per empanada... so far I've eaten the turkey with spring onion and the Chilean beef (with raisins, ripe olives, hard boiled egg and beef) and both were super yummy and filling (one should be good for a meal). Both Cosi and Julie's Empanadas are mere minutes away from the Inn.

Flight to DC

Yay, I begin my DC journey! My flight out of Honolulu was at 7:30 pm, and my family came to see me off (with hugs, lei, and spending money... they're so sweet!) It was a last minute rush to make sure everything was packed, but I got all of my essentials; including a rice pot and yarn (hey, I'm going to be in DC a month. The weight limit for American Airlines was 50 lbs, and my suitcase was 49.8 lbs! I don't know how I did it... the actual suitcase was around 20 lbs and everything I added in made up the rest; I didn't even have clothes in there! Well, my ticket to DC from Honolulu was $500 dollars, which was SUPER cheap considering I flew over an ocean and a continent (4835 miles or 7780 km). I used kayak to find the fare, in case anybody's interested. Anyway, considering the distance and price, my flight was 7 hours to Dallas Fort Worth, with a 4 hour layover there, then 2 hours to Regan International Airport in DC.

Here's the best part... I was upgraded to FIRST CLASS on the Honolulu to Texas part of my journey for FREE!!!!! I was so psyched; I have never been on first class (as I could never afford it!) It happened like this: my flight seat was unassigned, and there were directions that said to go to the ticketing agent for further instructions. When I went up they told me to wait a few minutes until my name was called. I waited and waited; almost everybody had boarded! Then they called me up and gave me my ticket. When I looked on it, it said "FIRST," and I thought that there was a mistake. But they seated me in first class! What happened was the economy cabin was completely full, and there were three empty seats in First... lucky me and my nonchalant ticket booking!

Everything was so nice... I'm totally spoiled now! The plane was a 737 so it had those seats that are like pods that recline all the way back, until you're lying down! The stewardesses had a never-ending supply of free drinks (even alcohol... to bad I don't really like alcohol!) and everything was served in real glasses and real plates, no trays in first class baby! I almost wanted to ask, "How much do I owe you?" and I had to keep stopping myself from looking around every five minutes, because of course everybody else in first class had actually paid the fare for it! First course was a little jar of mixed nuts and pineapple. They came around with a hot towel; good think I watch a lot of movies because otherwise I might not have known what to do with it (I learned from the Wedding Singer with Adam Sandler!) When they asked if I wanted Vinaigrette or Miso Cilantro dressing with my salad I was a little confused, but I snapped out of it and got the Vinaigrette… it was HUGE and delicious, with goodies like soybeans and shiso, cucumbers and beets; we even got a choice between a sweet roll and a cheesy breadstick! All of that came on a little black tray with a matching napkin, an orchid flower as decoration, personal salt and pepper shakers, and a little cup of whipped butter. For dinner we had a choice between stuffed salmon and lasagna roll; of course I got the lasagna, which was deliciously filled with ricotta and fresh spinach. Just when I thought we were done, they came around with a dessert alcohol tray featuring amarettos and creams, and a wine pairing with dessert cheese and grapes. Like I said before, I’m not a big alcohol drinker, but the stewardess came around and said, “Would you like an ice-cream sundae?” I was already so full, but come on… when else will you get ice cream on a plane? So I got the vanilla bean ice cream with strawberry sauce (we had a choice between mango syrup, strawberry or hot fudge… we also could have had pistachios and whipped cream). SOO delicious. I usually don’t sleep on planes but I was so full, and at the touch of a button the seat became a bed, so I actually slept instead of doing all my readings and work. It was SOOOO nice, and just what I needed to start the trip!

Here’s hoping you guys will get upgraded too!

Happy Father's Day!

Holly's guinea pig amigurumi

I make tons and tons of amigurumi, probably around 100 every year; I love how cute they are! In fact, I thought they were so cute that I started making amigurumi myself. You would think that I have many amigurumi stashed away in my room, but the truth is, I typically don't keep them for myself. In fact, I sell nearly all of them! I actually only have three right now, and all of them are the very first of their type (you could say they are the guinea pigs of the amigurumi world!) I don't keep all my guinea pigs, but I do keep the EXCEPTIONALLY cute ones; and here they are! On the left is my original cloud bearlet, the first bearlet I ever made with needle felting. On the right is Tiny, the first bear I made using felt for an eye background (to give him dilated pupils!) And in the middle is Bun-bun, who is an amigurumi rabbit made from one of the patterns I hope to sell in my shop very soon :D Speaking of which, I'll be putting my shop in vacation mode soon and hopefully posting some patterns... it all depends if I can finish everything on time; I leave on Tuesday!

Vinyl wishes

I turned in the editing sample I had due for a possible job... wish me luck (and also thanks for everyone who already has.... you guys give me such good karma!)

So because I was done I started snooping around for a good gift for myself, thanks for the suggestions about the Nintendo DS versus the Ipod- I think it might be an Ipod touch for now; my sister got one when she bought a new Mac, because Apple is having a promotion where if you buy a new Mac, you get a free Ipod Touch (so if you need a new computer and you're a teacher or student, go get one now)! So I got to play with hers and it is pretty awesome... I think the biggest draws for me are the fact that you can use your ipod like an ocarina (an instrument in the Zelda videogames... and also a real instrument) and also the ability to watch the anime Bleach on a bigger screen than the Ipod Nanos have.

Anyway... while I was searching I found these are super old vinyl toys (meaning they came out a while ago) but they are so cute! They are perfect as little gifts because they are relatively inexpensive(around $5 to $10 for one) and small... favor sized! . And since I'm still trying to decide what I want for my birthday, and I'm limited by A: Space (I just spent the entire afternoon cleaning my room (which includes both of my sisters' stuff since they never clean and I share a room with them) and B: money (until I find a new job). I think if you search on the internet you can find a bunch of places that stock them, but I think I'm going to go with shopkawaii.com.... they have low shipping.

These are the Cannibal Funfair series by Tado
This is the Wish come true series: This pill shaped one is the one I want, but there are others :)

And this is a bird girl by a fan of Unipo; The artist submitted her design to the company and they chose it! She's on flickr but I don't remember who she is!

Kamehameha Day

Before:
After!:

Today is Kamehameha Day, which is actually a State Holiday, which means a lot of people don't have to work today; I think because we have many holidays that relate to Hawai`i, we don't celebrate other holidays like Columbus Day (I'd much rather celebrate our holidays!). Basically, the day is in remembrance of King Kamehameha, who established the Kamehameha dynasty over all the islands (some would say he unified the Hawaiian Islands). From this line of ali`i (rulers/chiefs) the Hawaiian Kingdom and our Monarchy was born. To honor Kamehameha's memory, lei are draped on his statue near the capitol and `Iolani Palace (the only Royal Palace in the US); the lei are very, very long and there are very many of them! There are also statues of Kamehameha in Hilo (he's from the Big Island) and Washington DC that also get leis, but none as much as this one!

Random post

I'm not usually a movie person, but I am super excited for these two movies... especially since my netflix choices have been sucking of late. I pretty much think Jack Black and Rachel Weisz are the really great actors; you surely know of my love for Jack Black already. But you probably didn't know I about my affinity for Miss Weisz; she's so cute and sweet in her movies! I loved her in Constantine and the original Mummy! I have a relatively short list of actors and actresses who I will go to see movies for, and these two are definitely on it.

I also have a small dilemma that requires a large sum of money to resolve; luckily my B-day is coming up and I can use collective monies to offset the costs. I can't decide what would be better to get to go to DC; a Nintendo DSi or an Ipod nano! Both have extreme entertainment value... but which would I get more use out of? I think maybe an Ipod (you can listen to it in the metro etc). Which would you pick?


Leaning towards the yellow or orange... red is cute too!

Actually... they don't have this color DSi in the US yet... only in Japan. Maybe I should wait until they do!

Awesomeness!

Zoolander... "In the Computer!"

I've been making my blog super fancy... have you noticed? Well, it's a step-by-step process so maybe it's not that visible yet :D Previously, I was having the hardest time uploading a favicon to my blog; a favicon is the little icon that appears next to the address of your blog (if you have firefox, that is). I was finally able to just a moment ago, using this website; it's extremely helpful and seems to have all kinds of good information for people whose normal interactions with a computer are strikingly similar to that scene with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in Zoolander (LOVE that movie)! It wasn't actually as difficult as I thought it was; if you are trying to add a favicon yourself, I would recommend making it easy on yourself and taking the path of least resistance by uploading a .png or .gif photo to photobucket (don't mess with those .ico formats... that was what was screwing me up!) and follow the directions on this blog accordingly. Now I have this cute little guy as my favicon; he's one of many designs for my new ellusive fabric!

House/ Dog & Cat Sitting

I've been off of crafting this entire week because I'm house sitting for friends of mine; Vlad (his real name is Vladimir... funny dog!) here has a strong attachment to people and he can't sleep home alone. He's really funny; he's a beagle mix and he's currently watching me type with one ear flipped up over his head- I don't think he's noticed yet :D I'm also watching two cats, Jan and Klaus. I've never had this many animals to watch before (lovebirds, fish and snails don't count... they're low maintenance!) It's actually kinda tiring. I can only imagine what kids are like!

Anyway, their house is super big, and there's nobody here; you would think I could craft like mad... I even brought all of my sewing supplies (along with research and school books) so that I could get some work done, but I just can't get into crafting here. I have been working on fabric though, so at least that's something. Here's just a little bit of Vlad to leave you with... I often lie like this myself, although I don't think I smile like this!

June's feature amigurumi and free desktop calendar download!

Yay, I'm not too late this month (only three or so days... an improvement for my normal 5!) Here is June's free desktop calendar, available for download at my photobucket or flickr.

Featuring Baguette, the sweet Paris kitty! She's ready to eat bon-bons at the cafe decked out in her pretty skirt, classic pearls and jaunty beret; she and Monsieur penguin are ready for a wonderful day!

Baguette was named by my sister, and she actually took a while to make! She is the first of my eyes to feature handpainted eyes (I did them... I think they look cute!) She also features:

• a tulle skirt sewn by hand-it was so hard to sew
• a little crocheted beret
• champagne colored pearls
• three bon-bons in parchment paper (made from fimo, handpainted and glazed)
• a polka-dotted felt placemat
• and my personal favorite; a blue and white penguin, who is my first dual colored pom-pom.

I hope you like Baguette :D She'll be for sale in my etsy sometime this week or next.