You guys! I moved into the sweetest place ever! I'm so in love with it I want to take it outside the middle school and get it pregnant! It's the place I wrote about in my last blog. The magic, amazing timing place. I moved on the 15th, so I've been here for exactly a week now. I got the living room painted because it was this dingy grey-blue and I was not having any of that. It is now this amazing azurean blue. Here's a couple iphone photos! You can still see the less than awesome paint color of the walls in my bedroom. I want to paint those white, and do some kind of graphic wall decal on it.





Living alone certainly is a bit weird. It's taking some time to get used to. Having the cats helps. But gosh, before I bought curtains, since I'm on the ground floor, I kept thinking people were standing on my window ledge and watching me! I'm such a baby!

I had a bunch of my friends over on Sunday night for our very first Hell and Keller night of cookery! We're basically all lovers of Thomas Keller and have decided to cook through the entire collection of books. Minus, perhaps, the sous vide one. We made fried chicken, salad, glazed sweet potatoes, collard greens, broccoli rabe, chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches.. Along with two bottle of champagne and two bottles of wine. Can you see where the Hell part fits in? I did not consume any food the next day. Gluttony. So overwhelming. We had 30 pieces of fried chicken!

I'm super addicted to Skeemo and Angry Birds on the iPhone. What iPhone games are you guys currently playing?!

An amazing moment of serendipity occurred last week. While working late in the office last week, the vocalist of my coworker's band happened to come in. They had plans that evening. During their conversation, she asked if anyone was looking for an apartment. Of course I said I was! The place sounded perfect. Her bf owns the floor (I'd be in 1 unit, them in the other) and the previous tenant just moved out. 1 bedroom. 3 blocks from my work. Cats more than welcomed. Completely within my price range. Obviously I went to check it out, and fell in love with its adorableness. I submitted my application on Saturday, and if all goes well, I'll be moving the week of the 15th! Things got more random the next when I showed one of my closest friends the apt and he told me exactly where it was, as his friend, and coworker (of my current roommate, and lady, as well, Jaylin), had just moved out. He's actually friends with the previous tenant! After that conversation, I checked my gmail to find an email from the designer of my SXSW SF Embassy project talking about how the people that own the place are awesome and were talking about the girl with the bacon tattoo checking out the apt. SO RANDOM! It's like it was meant to be! I am so excited to be moving into my own place! Amazing apartment, perfect job, adorable boy, best friends I could ever need... I'm so glad I made the decision to move to San Francisco. Almost as much as I'd made the decision to join SG over 6 years ago! Everything SG-related has lead me to this point.

Anyway!

I'm super addicted to these two bands right now, and so should you! Phantogram and Local Natives

So the Suicide Girls Guide to Living comes out in only 11 DAYS!! Last year I flew to Vegas for a couple days to shoot with the rest of the girls and I'm super excited for everyone to see the results! It's no Maine horror movie, but I think it's pretty cool in its own right. Check out this video of myself, Zoli and Nya on how to prepare absinthe. It's my first time ever on video doing this. Sorry for the dead eyes!




And some more shameless self-promotion, check out my web developer set currently in Member Review!



ps. how is it March already?!

Life has been WAY too busy lately! It's work work work! But great work. I'm developing some secret software for an unnamed brand, that I am really excited for. It'll be shipping with every instance of a product. The second amazing project I'm working on is an iPhone game. The concept hasn't been done, and I think it'll be a hit. I <3 my job.

The biggest news is that my bff and I are moving into our own places! Jaylin and I have lived together in the House of Carniwhores for the past year and it's been fantastic. But gosh, I am SO ready to live on my own now. Especially in a place with a nicer kitchen.. and walking distance to work. The unfortunate part is that I've got no furniture! I've been a bit afraid of how much the whole move is going to cost, to the point where I might be canceling my trip to SXSW. Sad panda. Anyway, I'm selling things to help fund an apartment deposit so I don't have to worry as much. WHICH LEADS ME TO!

I'm selling the laptop I bought for freelancing in September!

My RTFM set is over in Member Review if y'all haven't seen it yet! It could use some love.. to maybe get it noticed and out of MR. Any web developers out there?!



xoxo

GREAT SUCCESS.

Seriously. It's one of those days where I expect the world around me to suddenly break into a musical number.

How do you guys ask someone out? There's this cute fella I'd really like to ask out, but I'm crazy shy and entirely afraid to talk to people I'm attracted to. I'm awkward, and the least smooth person. What should I do?!

How do you conquer a lifetime of shyness? How do you actually talk to members of the opposite sex without alcohol or wanting to vomit?

And now for the typical MR set plug ...

Thanks for all the comments on my RTFM set currently in Member Review! And if you haven't seen it, check it out here and maybe give it some love if you like it! <3 <3 <3

It might actually be the last set I shoot. I feel like I've reached the point where I don't really need to model anymore. It might be the 5 month countdown to my 30s coming at me, but my heart/creativity just isn't in it. RTFM is a set I love and feel captures who I am, so I'd be happy leaving it as the end one. But I heart SG regardless.

Is anyone else as obsessed with lala.com as I am?! I only started using it a couple weeks ago but already it'a become a favorite site. I feel like I'm cheating on last.fm! I'm sorry flaneur! While there are a few UX improvements to be made, the basis of the site is great, and with Apple's recent acquisition, oh man, the future looks bright (unless they shut them down, but I'm doubting it). Web version of my iTunes collection? Yes please. Plus their whole "listen to the song once for free, then buy the song rights online (10cents), or the mp3(99cents)" is fantastic. Here's my profile over there! Hopefully they'll open up some data to view. I'd like to see more stats, especially around influencers. I want visualizations!

Anyway, I recommend checking out Dawes and The XX.

Who else is going to SXSW this year? Jaylin and I just bought our plane tickets. I'm headed out for both Interactive and Music. First time at music this year! I'll be in Austin from the 11th to the 21st of March. So excited already. Nerd spring break is always my favorite time of year, and with music on top of this year, oh man. Already the list of bands is impressive.

So I shot a set with Cherry when she was in SF in December. Hopefully it'll be hitting MR soon, but here's a couple preview pics! I decided I really needed to shoot a web developer set, as it is pretty much my life. Oh yeah, and my hair is all short. Hope y'all like it when it comes out! Cherry did an awesome job. I couldn't be happier with it!

2010 is already off to an interesting start. On the 1st, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish this year. Ideally, I'm going to cross off a solid bunch of them, and then add some more things. The year of personal growth! I'm on a entirely new path I've never before visited.. or should I say driven on?! Today I successfully acquired a learner's permit for a motorcycle as well as a car. Yes, that's right. I am almost 30 and have never had an actual license. The one of most importance is that of the motorcycle. A scooter will soon enter my life. I'm not sure what kind I want just yet however I do know what type of helmet! So going for the 60s vintage shorty + goggles look. Badass? Too nerdy?



I also applied for CA ID.. for the sole purpose of getting my 215 card. This is what San Francisco's done for me. And that's also on my 2010 list. Medicinal marijuana for the win. Does magical things for my anxiety and headaches. Looking forward to having a wide strain selection to choose from. Legally (if you don't think about the federal government at least).

Things went weird with that beautiful boy from NYE. The night was amazing, closing off our individually crappy years, and then he just started ignoring me. Eventually he IMd me to say that he'd explain everything the next day. But do I really want to hear it? I've had the worst luck with guys this past year. Just really shitty dudes that don't respect me at all, and only think/care about their own feelings, and quite frankly I'm over it. I deserve so much more than that, and it really sucks to have to question what's wrong with you and what's makes you so easy to just dispose of without warning. I'm troubled on how to handle situation since I do care for him, as a friend primarily, with a bit of extra. Blah. I'm a sad panda over it.

Moving on to happier things...

MY NEW JOB IS AWESOME!! Overwhelming given the amount of hats I currently wear at said job, but goodness, I'm going to be extra challenged and pick up many new skills. Not to mention, they've offered me the opportunity to do some design work!

Unrelated to everything. Does anyone else watch Greek? It's streaming on Hulu right now and I can't stop watching it. I'm in love with Cappie. Especially with his 3rd season hair. Meeeowww.

It's 2010! The future is now! Happy New Year, folks! Are you all as excited as I am to leave that poor excuse for a year 2009 behind?! Not to be totally nerdy, but isn't it pretty rad that today's date is binary?

Last night was pretty perfect. I was lucky to have the most beautiful man I've ever seen (and a longtime crush) as my date for the night. I wore a red strapless Ted Baker dress. Drank entirely too much, including some mdma. Though that, sadly, had little effect on me. Much partying was done with the most important people in my life. The year started out fantastically, especially the waking up next to the beautiful man part.

So now it's 2010. I survived the holidays alone (on purpose) and I am so ready to kick ass. New job starting on Monday. Divorce finally filed. Many projects being planned. SxSW fast approaching. Sunset skydiving! Amazing friends. Oh yeah, and it's the year I turn 30. I don't usually do resolutions, however, things that I will accomplish include: Getting a driver's license, mastering the art of Indian food, cooking the Ad Hoc book, buying a scooter, traveling outside of North America for the first time and most importantly, putting myself 100% into things.

What kind of awesome things do you have planned for 2010?!

Now for some random things. I went to a white elephant party a few weeks ago and proudly gave out this as my gift. It went over pretty well.



I got tired of not being able to find good pierogies in SF so I made some myself that were amazing.



Oh yeah, and I made donuts!



Lastly, ready for the most ridiculous what the what picture ever?! Me, back in the mid 90s.