Friday, January 30, 2009

Boom-ch-ch, Boom-boom-ch-ch.

As brought to you by the folks at People Food, clickem the horses.
It's shocking how long I was amused by this.

whyyy?!
















I just got the email from Domino! I'm so sad! Why did Domino have to go :(
A small haiku and a moment of silence for Domino

simplicity clean design
pretty bold style
get organized and look chic

Domino! Why must you leave us?


















I'm terribly sad to hear about the ending of Domino Magazine due to lack of advertising. Damn this economy. Domino is my favorite magazine and I hope that it will return someday.

I don't know if I should go through the entire website and just save all the photos and recipes.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

friday mixtape!

to go along with vina's music post...

every friday or so, i make a friday mixtape. this is so i can enjoy my ride to work and my ride back home because i am scot free for two days!!!! 

i just made my latest friday mix in a while, entitled "goodtimesfriday". i like it so much that i had to share. i think it's because this mix makes me feel like it's summer, and we all know we need a little of that right now. contact me for this mixtape request :-)

1. what a difference a day makes / dinah washington
2. am i the same girl / barbara acklin
3. to sir, with love / lulu
4. i only want to be with you / dusty springfield
5. it's a shame / the spinners
6. i heard it through the grapevine / marvin gaye
7. the oogum boogum song / brenton wood
8. the tracks of my tears / smokey robinson & the miracles
9. how long do i have to wait for you (ticklah remix) / sharon jones * the dap-kings
10. these eyes / alton ellis
11. you cheated / the slades
12. dream / roy orbison
13. tonight you belong to me / nancy sinatra
14. you send me / aretha franklin
15. my girl / temptations
16. baby love / diana ross & the supremes
17. tainted love / gloria jones
18. stand by me / ben e. king
19. love is a losing game / amy winehouse
20. baby it's you / smith
21. gimme a sign / brenton wood
22. sailboat / bob & gene
23. warwick avenue / duffy
24. trust in me / etta james
25. i never loved a man like you / aretha franklin
26. can't get next to you / otis redding
27. don't know why / norah jones

That's not my name!

Not that this song is anything new but here's a little somethin' somethin' for some living room dance action.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

aw...how sweet

just an image i found on this cool site that vina pointed out to me the other week. trĂ©s sweet, indeed~!



Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I am going to throw this question out there...

Hi everyone! Can you believe it iced in Richmond too? Not as bad as where you were I am sure...but we never get any sort of winter weather here!!!!
ok I am going to throw this question outthere! Should we have a get together/ dinner in rememberance for marking one year since Marie died? I think it would be nice...nothing sad or morbid just happy memories or something? What does anybody else think? If we do it I can do it the weekend of Feb 7th or the weekend of the 21st?
Keep me posted!! HAHAHA-I made a joke without trying

Snow woes.

Today:

I overslept 40 minutes.
Snow was JUST starting to fall as I left the house.
Was stuck on 123 for about an hour and a half.
After witnessing 4-5 car accidents & ice swervings directly in front of my car, I thought "Fuck this, I'll Write For Artists some other time" and decided to go home.
Pulled a u-ie and headed home.
Two minutes from home, on Hillendale, car started to swerve towards a parked car.
Successfully managed to avoid hitting said car.
Was just congratulating myself on such a close call when another car hit me.
Information exchange with the parked car owner and the car-hitter.
911 is called. They say "sorry, too many accidents, we're not coming."
Car-hitter's car was then hit by another car. Badly.
911 is called two-three more times. They send a firetruck.
Firetruck eventually rolls by and deems the collision as unimportant. Doled out some forms. Lit a flare.
Policeman comes. More information exchange, fingers numb at this point.
Home now.
I am fine. No injuries all around.
Will crawl back in bed and pretend nothing happened.

Monday, January 26, 2009

"Sleigh Ride"

considering the superbowl, with all its bold commercials, is just around the corner, Jo pointed me to this little gem of an ad..ENJOY!




how can you NOT laugh at a good fart joke!?

Making of Obama Logo

Hey AVT Crew,
Not sure if any of you saw this but I thought some of you might enjoy it...

The Making of the Obama Logo

Friday, January 23, 2009

Dead Chihuahua Style



“Based on Paris Hilton’s discarded pet Tinkerbell is an upside down dead Chihuahua. This design capitalizes on the trend of carrying a small dog as a fashion accessory.”

Link via James Piatt

This thing costs $317. I think I could make something similar. What are your thoughts?

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Cupcake Adventures

So I stumbled across this video, which is somewhat lengthy, but so cute and wonderful. I love the imagery and the use of food throughout the video. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

HI

HI A LITTLE LATE BUT I AM HERE NOW

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Sci-fi and the forty-fourth.

Me: Muse likes watching Fringe.
Sopha: Pfft, I think it should be called "Cringe".


Watching Neighborhood Ball on channel seven.
Obama, Obama, Obama!!
Michelle O.'s pretty pretty dress!
Ray Romano's fizzling jokes!
Faith Hill! Alicia Keys! Mary J. Blige!
Happy new president, y'all.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Table of Condiments



Have you ever opened your fridge or cabinet to see the same 
old dreaded condiments sitting there? 
Do you ever wonder, "How long as that been there? I wonder if it's any good?" 
Perhaps you try the sniff method or even, gasp, the taste method. 
Well now you can look them up on the Table of Condiments!

I found this interesting and handy. I now realize I need to
go home and throw away probably about 90% of
the condiments in my fridge. LOL

Friday, January 16, 2009

Vday Favors

I designed these cute little box favors for my sister in law. She's planning a valentine's day themed babyshower. I wish I had better quality images, but I think I did a pretty good job with what I've got :)




I'm wearing my Obama tshirt today at the office :D Of course that's not me in the picture, but that is the shirt :) I wish someone at the office would tell me to not wear it at work!









Let's get it on.

Balloon animal sex.

so cute, so dirty.

Also, is it sad that I was thoroughly amused by this?

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Robot PIE

sooooo there's been lots of project time at work. one of my smaller projects was coordinating a "pie potluck" for national pie day on the 23rd. the idea was to create a better bond with my department and another department and what better way to do it than with pie??? below is my invite...i thought i'd share this little robot guy with you. tee hee.



annnnd here are two other pics i found somewheres on the internets that i thought were cute:



Stop me if you've heard this one before...

time for a super short mixtape in the form of youtube~!

1. "stop me" - mark ronson feat. daniel merriweather (live version)



2. "let go" - imogen heap (live version)



3. "just for now" - imogen heap (live version)



4. "chasing pavements" - adele (live version)



5. "black and gold" - sam sparro (live version)



6. "happiness" - goldfrapp (live version)



note: you can probably see that jools holland show, i enjoy very much~! if you have bbc america, keep an eye out for it. :-)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Le balloon

I found this too cute not to share. I hope you like it!

Henna Cake

I just love this wedding cake!
After reading Vina's blurb about weddings and engagements, I got an email from REALSIMPLE, and they had a tab about wedding cakes. I perused through all these cake options, and I'm like, I wonder what my wedding colors would be. Before I even see this cake I'm like..knowing me I'd be all dramatic and have my colors as white and black and sure enough here's this cake that pops up. Isn't it lovely! :D I wish someone'd get married so I can go to a wedding...

No one on the corner has swagga like us!

hey guys, i LOVE the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire and i wanted to share it with you all.  MIA collaborated with most of the tracks. holllaaaaatchurgurrrrl


Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Best of 2008, fourteen days into 2009

I always mean to start these "end of the year" posts early, I really do. I write lists, mentally-plan photo collages, and inevitably get caught in the whirlwind that is the end of any year. Le sigh. Well, you know what? I'm here now and you're going to read the best of Vina's 2008. Sorry it's such a long one but hey, at least it's only once a year!





















Artsy Fartsy Things.
- Spent 3 weeks drawing a guy who ate pavement on a sheet of rag paper that was five feet by 3 feet. Went through a plethora of charcoal which may or may not have given me the black lung for awhile.
- Took a printmaking class and discovered that litho ink never comes out of clothes, mineral spirits make you a little bit high, and it's probably not a good idea to wear white.
- Met some awesome people and feared for Shanime's life a little bit as she continuously poked the bear. The bear being Chris.
- Got a little fresh with Jack Kerouac.

Lists
You have no idea how much I enjoy list-writing. I write lists for things I've already done just so I can cross it out. Grocery lists. "What to pack" lists. "Possible outfits for ___ occasion" lists. "Marathon Drawing ideas". "Things to do" lists. There's a multitude of little notebooks for different lists. Red telephone book from Stephanie is for recipes & dinner party menus. Black spiral recycle notebook from Thrib for everyday "things to do" and "what photos to upload" lists. Gray moleskin notebook from gopher to carry around at all times.
Damn! List writing is the shit, boyyyy.






















AVT4Marie
The AVT crew raised over $2000 for the DC "Light the Night" charity walk in honor of our dear friend Marie. There were red balloons a-plenty, free chili, dancing to Shout! and Love Shack, and a last-second mad dash to the finish line. Nasreen jumped onto the metro by herself, haha! We all wore red! Jenn joined a teenage dance circle! In the end, despite the chilly weather, we all came together and walked.
For the cause and for our friend.

Google Reader
Holy hell, I love Google Reader. It makes the blog reading a helluvalot easier.
Blogs that I enjoy the most:
Orangette
Stereogum
People Food
DCist
David Leibovitz
Overheard in New York
Nordljus
There are countless others but they're all basically food, washington post, music, art and (don't think less of me) wedding blogs.





















Cupcake love.
2008 was a pretty big year for cupcakes. Steph's love for cupcakes just washed over the entire crew and many a cupcake was made, bought, or eaten; which my tastebuds loved, my hips not so much. Cupcake bakeries just started popping up all over the DC/VA area. There's Cakelove (I'm sorry..wait 5 minutes before eating?!), Georgetown Cupcake (meh, whatever) andddd my own cousin's Chateau Gateau (insert shameless plug).

Fighting the fat and Beating the Bulge
Not the best topic to sandwich (oh god, I said 'sandwich') between cupcakes and food but I managed to lose over 30 pounds this year. Started eating breakfast every morning and stopped eating late at night. I went to sleep regularly (maybe not during that damn marathon drawing) and exercised plenty. The elliptical machine is my friend. I ate a banana every day for about five months en route from campus to gym. Technically, I've dropped two dress sizes but for the most part am wearing a lot of the same clothes. I see the same people at the gym every day but am only on speaking terms with some of the employees. Seeing them in real life it would be like seeing your elementary school teacher at Giant. Holy shit, they exist outside of the gym?! Madness.






















Those were some good eats.
I love food. I love taking photos of food and I love talking about food, regardless if I'm hungry or not. Not to sound like that kid from Soul Food or anything but food is love. If it weren't for some meals, I probably wouldn't remember certain events. Carnival Taboo night with the mini corndogs and Yathrib's caramel apples (no nuts for Phillip or he'll die). Mac-n-cheese, broccoli-n-cheese rice for Stephanie's School Lunch-themed Birthday. Spinach orzo and key lime cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day. Also, I dined al fresco quite often this year to my absolute delight. There's nothing like a good meal and good company in the wonder that is the great outdoors. Nothingggg.

The Stork paid a visit and....
I got a new cousin. Maela. Souknanda in France aside, Maela is the only girl cousin I have amongst a sea of Sananikone boys. She's this adorable little thing who enjoys chandelier lights and falling asleep at the dinner table. Maela became my hero when she spit up on a monk. Her eyebrows turn bright red when she's mad. I have a feeling that she'll have no problem keeping up with her big brother Kai when she's older. This I absolutely cannot wait to see.






















Da Musics
I didn't catch as many music shows as I would have liked (Bird!) but the ones I did manage to see were incredible.
-Devotchka- Acrobatics! Theremins! Accordions! Songs from Little Miss Sunshine! Oh! Remember that time I got yelled at at 9:30 for taking a video of "We're Leaving"?
-Basia Bulat- opener for Devotchka, loved her voice and eight-string ukelele.
-Gym Class Heroes- Mason Day. I especially enjoyed the "Time of the Season" cover and being one of the few who knew more than just the album singles. Gross was the amount of panties thrown onstage. Wtf does that even achieve? If it's telling the people standing around you that you're a whore/groupie then mission accomplished.
-The Gray Kid- This one was twice and each time is always a fun adventure with my girls. His openers are always awesome, most memorably Oliver Future & Kokayi. For once I said to hell with being responsible and went to the December show the night before my asian art final. That was an interesting two days. Printmaking Crit, Drawing Crit, Gray Kid, 3 hours o'sleep, study, Asian art final!

Podcasts
One rainy day, I rediscovered the joy of podcast subscribing. I highly recommend:
Tara Stiles Yoga- Pretty and one of the few yoga instructors that doesn't make you want to shoot someone.
Crash Test Kitchen- This Australian couple's playful and witty banter is HILARIOUS, as are their video titles: We did it all for the Gnocchi, Pasta Fire Extinguisher, or Froth my milk up.
NPR podcasts: All Songs Considered, Live Concerts from All Songs Considered, Satire from the Unger Report, Most-emailed Stories, Food, and Second Stage.
Coffee Break French- (re)Learning how to speak French from a Scotsman. How fun! No, really.
This American Life- Stephanie got me hooked to CPR's Ira Glass.






















Out-n-about Cubscouts!
I seemed to go out a lot in 2008. Granted, it was probably only to Cafe Asia and I saw the same crowd each time but still. Me and nightlife aren't quite likethis. Why?
A. The avtcrew enjoys things like movie nights, board games, potlucks and picnics.
B. Half of the time I'm too lazy to doll up, don heels and trek to Clarendon.

On the flip side, I always have great fun when I go. Winner Circle (and all that goes with it) are such a fun-loving bunch and I enjoy being around (and taking photos of) their camaraderie. Boui and his random rants about douchebag v-necks. "Saving" Calvin's life (all I did was prop him up a few times and give him a leg to use as a pillow). Utilizing most excellent hairtography with Liem. Potato salad & Sangria with Stella and Sohe as well as hearing about their drunken antics such as public urination and chain-reaction vomiting.


The Election
Cmon, now. Virginia voting blue? Don't tell me that's not mind-blowing and this is coming from a gal who isn't much for les politiques. Inauguration next week!! Side note, here's a fun story about Obama that I read in DCist.




















Love and All That Mushy Stuff
2008 was the year for love. Not for myself, thanks for reminding me, but many of my friends and family. Engagements and weddings galore. No worries, I'm not bitter, hahah. Barbie and Matt got engaged. I was priviledged to be asked to take photos for Steph's cousin's wedding. That was fun although technically I wasn't supposed to be on the altar with them. Whoops! Oura and Steph (L., not T.) got married in a toy store which was so them. Their wedding was one of the cutest and sweetest weddings ever. Watch the video so you can see and go "awwww". Phoebe and Derrick also got engaged but technically it was 2009.


Yeah. That's about it. I'd write the whole "things to look forward to in 2009" thing but it's damn near four AM and I'm sleepy. Luff yoo guys. Will edit in the morning.

Pink AND Furry...What more could you want?


So I found this on one my frequent visits to the Gizmodo Gadget Guide website. I shared this with Stephanie and her immediate response was "Ew" but don't let that detour you.

I'm not sure why I had the compulsion to post this, but whether you find it hideous or beautiful, it's rather mesmerizing. Perhaps it's all that pink or maybe it's the compulsion to touch it. Either way, it's kind of fun. Enjoy!

Oh, and no I would never put this anywhere in my house.

obama cookies!

Typical Dad behavior.

This is a sad-but-funny kind of story. One of my parents' friends recently passed away and my parents have been planning to visit since Asians tend to congregate at the deceased's for moral support and such. However, they don't know where the house is located. Apparently it's quite close to our neighborhood but you can't visit if you only know the general vicinity and not the actual house number which brings me to today's conversation:

Dad: (just in from going to the market) I drove around and looked for the house.
Me: Did you find it?
Dad: No....I drove around for awhile too. There were no piles of trash bags, no Lao people walking in & out of houses, no piles of shoes outside of any front doors....no accumulations of Hondas and Toyotas..

when jesus tries to lure you in via cute animals

so i've been in need of a calendar for the new year. today on my lunch break i went to Borders and what do you know, they had a sale on calendars!! 50% off. pretty amazing. i looked around and i guess everyone bought all of the good ones because there wasn't that much of a selection left. it was either dora the explorer, girls next door, twilight, or cute animals. so of course i picked the cute animals! when i came back to work i took out the calendar to admire all of the adorable little creatures and avoid doing anything productive. i didn't realize this when i bought it, but upon closer inspection i see that each animal had it's own bible verse! i can't believe these little animals are preaching to me! i feel totally duped. 

Last day of SCHOOOOOOOOOL!!!!

remember the cosby show episode when it was the first day of school and dr. huxtable tried waking everybody up by yelling "LAST DAY OF SCHOOOOOOOOOL!!!"?

welllll...not the last day of school TECHNICALLY but it the long-awaited inauguration is coming up~! what's everyone up to for this crazy event??? i'll be chillin at home watching it on tv...

there are some shows out there during the weekend / week that cost some SWEET mula. i thought i was spending a good amount when i paid $50 for the big shoulders ball (but not much of a surprise since you guys know i won't stop when it comes to andrew bird). anyhoo, i was just talking to my friend and she mentioned that the jay-z tickets were $500~! i just checked on stubhub.com and the price range for those tickets is $285 - $6000~!! and then SHE said "they better be bringing tupac back for that kind of money." seriouslyyyyyy. haha.

and to close with an old motown song that has no relation to the inauguration, here are my two favorite covers of it:



Monkey Shuffle

PLEASE DON'T TICKET ME, I'M JUST A SLUGGER
I was lucky enough to get a car that was actually using their heat. So often I get in a car and they've got their joint set at like 60 degrees or not at all. But this time I got a car that was nice and hot so I drifted off to sleep on the way to work. Just as we were pulling into Rosslyn metro I asked the driver if she happens to go farther up Wilson. She said yes, Courthouse, which is perfect because that's just one stop away from where I work. She makes a u-turn to go up Wilson and outta no where some cop hops out of his undercover car and pulls her over. Ya, I just hopped outta there. I don't have time to wait for this chick to get a ticket or be lectured by this dude! Of course the cop looks at me like where the heck do you think you're going. I told him I'm a slugger I don't know her and I left. I wonder why he pulled her over. I'm pretty sure it wasn't an illegal u-turn..ah well..

FREEEEDOOOOM
I was all nervous last week cuz I had to go into the city for a meeting with Pe+er Linco!n. This is the same guy that's been terrorizing me at work for 2 years, that I lemon bound up one night, and I constantly call a d-bag every time I get off the phone with him. This guy is absolutely intolerable, but I had to go to this meeting. We go through the meeting, bladdi bladdi blah, and it turns out he's handing over his duties to someone else! I don't have to deal with this dude!!!!! I wanted to do a hifee fifee monkey shuffle on the meeting table when he said that! Maybe even do the soulja boy! I'm still in shock about these turn of events! This past week has actually been pretty good. I find out my mom is going back to Sudan for like two weeks, I lost 7 pounds, and Pe+er Linco!n is finally out of my hair!! FREEDOM!


Monday, January 12, 2009

Dirty screens and beauty marks

[via gtalk]
Christine: saw this picture of my cousin
totally thought he had a beauty mark
and then i realized that my screen was dirty.

Christmas and some muppets.

As you've probably figured out, I've been on a video clip montage-making kick lately. It started with the AVT4Marie video and escalated from there. It's so much easier to consolidate all the video clips and photos that would normally take forever to post. Annnnd we can add kicky music that may or may not be entirely legal!


Oura & Steph's Wedding from vina s. on Vimeo.



Spent forever uploading this video and it took the 'tube not one minute to take away the audio. Gotta protect them muppets, apparently. Thankfully, Vimeo was good to me.
Watch it while you can before the man shuts me down.


Christmas 2008
Just your average family christmas vid.
Maela, Kai, pasta and gifts galore, oh my!

09 Tidbits

WORK IT OUT
This year I'm truly focused on getting healthy. I've already lost 7 pounds in one week! I know you're like, how the hell is that possible? Lots of hard work. I worked out 6 days out of the week, twice a day, and ate nothing but fruits, veggies, low/nonfat dairy, etc. Also Campbell’s and Progresso make these awesome soups that are fat free and filling, so I'll have that for lunch. So since Jo and I are weight watchers members we 'weigh in' each week, my hope is that by my next weigh in I will have lost another 7 pounds. Wish me luck!

THE WRATH OF GOD
My parents have been driving me nuts about Joseph and I. If you don't already know, I told them we're in a relationship and of course they went bananas. Threats of disownment have been mentioned often, God's wrath, and general disgust. They firstly believe that dating is a sin, and secondly, him being Christian and me remaining Muslim [what little bit of muslim is left in me] is unacceptable. Therefore he has to convert or else God is going to smite me and I'll be forever stricken from the family record, so my parents say. Honestly, after losing my sister life has clarified itself. Your spirit tunes into what life means when you lose a loved one. Of course this will be a constant battle of them Koran thumping me and threatening but this is the course I've choosen and I will stick it out. And as Obama says YES WE CAN. And gosh darn it, I will.

SLUGGIN AROUND
As some of you know I am a slugger. A slugger is a person who hitches a ride to work every day. There are several slugging locations through out the area [Horner Road, Potomac Mills, etc]. Since, I ride with so many different people, as well as hop the Metro I witness some pretty strange and often hilarious things. I haven’t seen anything wild for a couple months but when I do, best believe I will post about it :)

Saturday, January 10, 2009

AVT 4 Marie

if you haven't already seen this via your facebook, vina made this awesome vid of us all getting together at the Light the Night Walk for marie~! enjoy :-)

Happy New Year~!



so here's to a new year~! here's a new place to keep each other up to date a little more easily...kind of a combination twitter / facebook status / myspace / evite / whathaveyou... our very own JC message board. have fun~!

"You have been invited to contribute"

Wow. That just gives you a tiny dose of the warm-n-fuzzies.