I have been waiting patiently for today to come. Not for the leap year bit, but for Psych! It seriously is the best show on TV these days. At least for me it is.
I've been a fan since day one. I remember the day I tuned in for the series premier - I didn't love it, I just liked it. It actually took some time for me to appreciate it. I was a loyal Monk fan, so to see another show take over USA NETWORK didn't sit well with me. But when Monk finally ended, I turned to Psych and it became my number one show.
I've never missed an episode, I own all seasons on DVD, and I get way too excited when I watch repeats on TV. I CAN'T get enough of it.

Luckily living in New York, only an hour away from Manhattan, I get to participate in awesome things that spark my interest... like attending plays that both JAMES RODAY and DULE HILL are acting in!

Two years ago, James Roday did an off-Broadway play called Extinction. It was great; his acting was top notch. It was strange seeing the dramatic side of him, being that Pysch is a comedy, but I liked seeing him play other roles.
He went through this mustache phase that all the fan poked fun at. Here's the picture I took with him. I have this stupid grin on my face - I was way too excited.

Fist bump action + my twin standing in the back?

He was honestly one of the nicest and most laid back people I've ever met. Being that his character has a silly/hyper feel to him, I expected James to be somewhat the same. But I was shocked to see how chill he was. He was kind enough to stick around and talk to every single fan until everyone was happy.

Last year (it still hasn't hit me that just two months ago is now considered 'last year') in December, I attended Dule Hill's Broadway show called Stick Fly. Strange seeing Dule in a drama also, but it's easier to picture it than James since Dule has played mostly in dramas. I saw the play with my brother and friends.

He was super friendly too, but there were factors that made meeting him a little difficult. It was in the middle of Times Square, there was a barricade and people everywhere screaming his name - he was bombarded by everyone, so we only were able to speak to him for less than a minute. I shouldn't complain - it was a great opportunity seeing him working in person.

I'll end my little fangirl story there.
James and Dule definitely make a great pair on the show. I can't wait to tune in tonight. It's going to be a supersized episode! I hope some of you are interested and decide to watch it too!

My sugar intake the past couple of days has been off the charts. Well, that may be an exaggeration, but I really have been eating more sugary sweets than I should. I guess I'm still trying to finish my Valentine's Day candy... along with other goodies that I've been buying here and there.

I discovered how amazing oat clusters taste with ice cream. I love oat cluster cereal, and I love cookie dough ice cream. Combine them, and that's what heaven tastes like.
My father surprised me with chocolate. Dark chocolate. Special Greek dark chocolate. Delish!
And today I treated myself with a smoothie from Planet Smoothie. 'Chocolate Chimp' flavor - bananas and chocolate chips. Man, it was great. Surely kept me occupied with happy thoughts while on the train ride home.

To end the post, here's a song by Sonic Youth, Sweet Shine.

Books galore! I've bought so many books in the past three months. I don't know when I'll ever get around to reading them. I guess my goal for 2012 would be to get through all of these! (Compared to how many books people read in a year, this is probably nothing. I just don't read often. I'm trying to change that!)

01. I couldn't help but buy this book. I didn't realize there were other Twin Peaks books released aside from the Diary Of Laura Palmer. So far this is my only Twin Peaks book. I'm on a mission to get a hold on the other ones.
When I received this book, it made me smile seeing the message someone had written in it. It's a shame to see them get rid of a piece of their history like that, but I kinda took it as a funny little find for me.

02. I found this book at Goodwill for $2.00. So many pages full of fun and easy recipes! I'm not one for camping, but these recipes are easy enough even for ME to make. I can't wait to dig through this book and create some yummy-goodness.

03. These I actually got for Christmas that I neglected to share. I've been on a biography/autobiography kick. Especially books related to musicians.

I'm trying to think of an order in which to tackle these books. I think it's safe to say that the Dale Cooper book is the first one I plan on reading. We'll see where I go from there. One day at a time!

I've also been playing around with my blog layout. I have a layout in mind that I'd like to create - I'm slowly getting there. I'm a little rusty in the html-coding department. I guess it's experimenting time!

I never know what to post on Sundays, unless I have a pre-set plan of what I want to post.
Then it hit me. I think it'd be cool to talk about four things that occurred during the week and/or weekend, and accompany the post with photos related to what I plan on sharing.

01. Friday was one of those rainy-miserable-commute sort of days. I was not in the mood to be on the that early in the morning, but I had to go to class. I took pictures during my commute going into the city to keep myself awake.
02. Later on that night, I felt the need to do some arts and crafty things, so I started making a cupcake book. My mother surprised me the night before with one of those Martha Stewart shape-puncher things. It was a cupcake puncher. Being that it was a new purchase, I couldn't help but punch out cupcake shapes all night.
03. In between moments of gluing and waiting for the glue to dry, I was sewing up a shirt. I sewed on lace on the back of my button down shirt. The edges were messy, so I embroidered them to make it look cleaner.
04. My awesome red bulb in my nightlight went out. So I replaced it with this yellow bulb I had. Funny thing is, five minutes after I replaced my bulb, the power went out on my block. Luckily it was only out for half an hour. I can't sleep in total darkness.

Hope you're all ready for the new week. I already can't wait till next weekend comes so I can be lazy again, hah!

Here's my song of the moment by Phantogram.

It's such a nice day outside! Does this mean that Spring is officially coming, and Winter is on it's way out? I wouldn't mind that so much. This Winter was not so Winter-like. But I don't think I mind it so much. We did get snow this season, so I think it's okay to move on to nicer weather.

Today's Thursday. Here's page 08 from my 001. Under The Milky Way art journal.
Drew a picture of The Raveonettes. Colored them in with gel pens. Remember gel pens? I have a whole case of them that are still good. I use them once in a while; I should really use them more. They're fun!
Also wrote a quote from an I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness song.

To end this post, here's a video by The Cure. This song has got to be one of my favorite songs in the world, and I think it's perfect for sunny warm days like this. Such a dreamy atmosphere.

Man, I've surely been the queen of procrastination lately. My head has been all over the place, and I haven't been able to focus on the task at hand. Can't help but surf the web all day e'eryday.

I said I'd try to post up my Clue caricatures today, but I never got around to editing them yet. So maybe by Friday they'll be up? I definitely need this weekend to come here faster.

One thing I can say for sure is that I am loving lounging around in my doughnut pajama pants and monkey socks at the moment. With Pandora on! The Raveonettes station all the way. - My current state.

That being said, time to stop procrastinating. Here's the Talking Heads! My song of the moment.

I planned on posting Friday, and when I didn't, I planned on posting Saturday, and when I didn't, I planned on posting Sunday. I still didn't. It's been a busy weekend.

Look at this mess! Surely not a very organized working space.

But thankfully this was Saturday, so this mess is cleaned up. And my caricature project is done!
There are a few finishing touches I need to make before sharing. Maybe tomorrow I'll post 'em!

I also wanted to share: I tried Indian food for the first time ever on Friday night. I actually really liked it. A little out of my price range, but it was a good first time experience. The restaurant I went to was really nice; it had a good atmosphere. And the owners were helpful. I had no idea what to order, but they helped clear things up. I enjoyed my meal very much and I definitely plan on trying more!

I was on the train coming home today and saw this poster. I needed to take a photo. I LOVE Graham Norton. He and Craig Ferguson are my top favorite talk show hosts. Seriously funny guys. Oh snap, oxymoron.

Time to work on those finishing touches I spoke of!
Here's my song of the day by Martha & The Muffins. They are truly an underrated band from the '80s.

I made a few changes to my book last night. I've officially decided to call them 'art journals'! I don't know why I never thought of that phrase before, but it sure does makes sense.
After that life-changing moment, I went in and numbered my pages. I purposely hidden them in each page, but they're all there.
After THAT, I decided to keep track of each book by numbering them and giving them a little title on the spine. To go with this outer-space/galaxy theme I started, I called this one Under The Milky Way, named after The Church song.
With that all being said, I went back and revisited blog posts and put in the page numbers of each page. I also put the journal name, even though all previous posts are from the same book.

I used white fabric paint to write it out. It doesn't seem to be that readable, so I may go over it with a darker colored fabric paint.

Edit: I went over it with orange fabric paint. It's more clear, but not so clear in the photo.

For the actual page, I finished this one up last night. They're quick drawings of Kat Bjelland and Eva Green. It's the last page of this book, page 12. This is probably one of my favorite pages from this book.

To end this post nicely, here's the video to The Church's Under The Milky Way.

I've been procrastinating so so so much today. Here I am still procrastinating. But I figured that I'd get down to business after this post.
I wanted so hard to try and post everyday, but I found that once classes started, it wasn't so easy. I apologize for not posting much lately, but I'm really trying.
I decided to write a quick recap of things that occured recently.

01. My caricature project is due next week, so I'll keep you posted with my process of putting together my finals.
02. I got a haircut! It's super-duper short, but not pixie-short, so have no fear. I plan on making it some kind of "two-step" process - got the haircut, and I plan on dyeing it soon. Maybe I'll post a before & after when I'm done and satisfied with the outcome.
03. How was your valentine's day? Mine was a bit bland. It was a plain, normal day. But it ended nicely when I a stranger gave me a cupcake. Sounds creepy, but it isn't - resulted after having a conversation while helping some poor lady recover her signed Adam Lambert poster through Google searches. It's a strange but interesting story.
04. Bought a few new items that I'm quite excited about! Waiting for them to arrive - I'll share when they come in!
05. And lastly, my new computer is almost done! My friend has been keeping me updated on his progress. He received all parts, put them together in the tower, and has installed the awesome LED lights inside. We've run into a few snags, but we're sorting them all out. I think it'll be done sometime in the next week! I am way too excited, no words can't describe it. I can't wait to have my computer back and running!

Time to get back to homework assignments. Here's a great song - a great way to end this post.

I don't want to do anything today. I'm having one of those I have my homework in front of me but I haven't touched it since yesterday days. Maybe it's laziness, or maybe having my laptop on isn't helping. Kinda hard to turn it off when I do need it for my assignment. Lose/lose situation I guess!

Part two of my caricature project! Finalizing on a theme and sketching out a better version that I can work off of for the final. I decided to do caricatures for the movie Clue, one of my favorite movies! Can't do Twin Peaks all the time (well, I can, but it doesn't hurt to have some variety for projects). Still working out ideas, but this is an idea I really want to use for my final.
Curlicue frame, simple black and white character, "name" plate at the bottom with the weapons the characters are associated with, and red backgrounds. I'm diggin' it.

They're a little hard to see - they all have a sheet of tracing paper of top with the red filling. But you get the basic idea.

Also, I've been browsing through lots of my old photos and have been feeling real nostalgic lately. I'll post about that another day though. Other than old images, I've been looking through some old art that I've done. This isn't too long ago, but I did this digital image of Danny Elfman in my computer class last year. Played around with the masking tool and inserted galaxy images. It's so weird but fun.

Danny Elfman is the mystical god of the galaxy!
I'm on a Danny Elfman kick now. Here's a wonderful Danny Elfman song!

This week has been busy, busy, busy. I have to say though, I know it's still real early in the semester, but I feel like I'll have more time to breathe. I don't think things will be as hectic as they were last semester, and I'm really excited for that. I have spare time, which is wonderful!

Last night, I was rearranging things in my room. It's looking good, and not as cluttered.
I dug out these little fold-able containers that I used when I lived in the dorms. I didn't know what to use them for. Then last night I decided to fill one with colored tissue paper and the other with magazine scraps. I don't have it in me to throw out scraps that I know I could use. So why not keep them accessible in cute little containers like these?

It's also Thursday. Here's another page from one of my handmade-books-turned-into-art-journals.
Quick sketch from a magazine, doodles, and a thumbnail from the beginning stage of my monster box!
Page 11, in my 001. Under The Milky Way art journal.

And my song of the moment is by The Raveonettes, one of my top favorite bands. They're releasing a new EP in March and I'm super psyched. I love everything they release, and I'm so happy that they're finding their sound, which is perfect. I can't wait to hear their new songs.

I apologize for being absent for almost a week. Finished my first week of classes. Seriously feels like winter break never happened and we just breezed straight into Spring semester as soon as the Fall semester ended. So much work to do already! Nuts.

When I woke up this morning, I had an urge to bake. But I had no intention of spending and hour baking sweet goodness. When browsing through old recipes in my mother's recipe book, I came across a print-out of a recipe for the "5 Minute Chocolate Cake". It was just what I needed!
It is the strangest thing ever, but I tried it anyway. Next time I make it, I plan on experimenting with different flavors and possibly add some frosting! Fun stuff can happen in a small period of time.

As for caricatures, I had to draw some out for my first project for my general illustration class. I've never drawn caricatures before, so this was new for me. I've been experimenting with Twin Peaks characters. It's actually kinda fun but difficult at the same time.
These are just quick sketches, but as soon as this assignment is done, I plan on gluing these into my handmade books and continuing my collages. They'll be a fun addition.

Anyway, so here's the recipe for the 5 Minute Chocolate Cake!

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips [optional]
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug [microwave safe]

01. Add dry ingredients to the mug and mix.
02. Add egg and mix thoroughly.
03. Pour in milk and oil and mix.
04. Add chocolate chips [if using] and vanilla extract and mix.
05. Put mug in microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
*Cake will rise over top, so don't be alarmed.
**When finished, you can also tip over into plate if desired.
Enjoy!