back from tokyo

it’s not often that we get to take little trips together like this. and i’m not even talking about trips that people are used to, like say, a week or so, that’s kinda impossible with his job, just little 2-day trips. talk about ironic, since i have a job that gives me an obscene amount of free time, and a 2 consecutive off days like this is a luxury to him. so, we were kinda excited for this one, even though both of us aren’t exactly big fans of tokyo. we had ghibli and cirque du soliel planned, and disney if we still had the energy or time the next day. and i planned for us to take the bus back at 2:40 from tokyo so he could have ample time to rest up for his work week ahead.

back in the hotel on the first night, i asked him what he enjoyed the most that day. “めいと子猫バス”, he said. it is the cutest thing ever. if you’ve watched my neighbor totoro before, you probably would know the neko bus. in this short film we got to watch in studio ghibli, the baby cat bus makes his appearance and he has the grinniest grin.  and furry balls too!

when i asked about the opposite, he said it was how we nearly couldn’t get onto the bus in the morning. yes, i made a huge blooper with my bus tickets reservation and it would have cost us our trip to tokyo, or at least totally screwed the schedule up.

and that sweetest guy never made a peep about it before i asked.

the most stressful part of the day for me was having to find a Family Mart in tokyo to pay for the return bus tickets right before our cirque du soliel show. it was obviously my fault, but as my stress level built up walking aimlessly around looking for a convenience store, he held my hand, and told me everything was gonna be alright. that’s why i love this guy, and that’s why till this day, we never actually did have a quarrel.

and when we finally found the store, paid for our reservation and was making our way back, he pointed out the smiling moon in the sky to me.

we made it back to aizu the next day and the same smiling moon was featured on tv. apparently, it’s a pretty rare phenemon and the last time it occurred was about 2 1/2 years ago.

「きっといいことがあるよ」 he said, smiling at me.

 

わたしはわたし

 

樹ノ音工房

this little pottery workshop in hongo turns into a cafe on the whims of the owners, and for 1,800 yen serves up cake and also a beverage of your choice in a hand-made ceramic cup that you get to bring home. though there were a few other designs to choose from, it was love at first sight for me with that little doggy cup. i had a much harder time choosing the cake.

i love the textures of everything there-from the rough touch to the ceramic wares down to the unpolished wooden look of the tables and chairs. it was a simple little place filled with hand-made goodness. i’d sign up to learn pottery with this workshop in a heartbeat if they’d only teach me how to create that rough texture and etch my own illustrations on it. but that’s probably trade secret. dang.

 

13: mini envelope 1. item – a blue balloon

 

17: everything will be ok

made this for no. 17 instead. i think i will change the heart-shaped tree to 22: home instead. he is my ‘big tree’ after all ermmm…can’t quite believe i said that. anyway, one of my students found her way to his workplace and told him she wanted him to marry me. now, how’s that for embarrassing.

this image was taken a couple of weeks back and the quality of this photo wasn’t all that good. a lot of noise was showing up so i had to limit the size of the image. i’m going to shoot RAW more from now, and of course, learn how to expose my photos better. i have so much more to learn but all is good.

with any luck, everything will be ok.

 

03: in the middle

i haven’t been updating a lot because things got a little foggy the past few weeks. but the view wasn’t all that shabby-at least it was magical in a overly paranoid sort of way. and now that i am done being delusional, i can get on with my life.

the middle path beckons. hurray.

 

17: everything will be ok

simplistic as it may sound, but i think if we can look for love and beauty in the things around us, things that we often take for granted, and be thankful for them, then everything might turn out to be quite alright.

 

6. wild beasts

attempting this topic in my usual illustration style would probably mean dressing up the little people i draw in tiger costumes. but that doesn’t sound too interesting, does it?  i was about to skip this topic when i recalled having 2 packets of dinosaur origami lying around somewhere. i bought them a few months back and meant to bring them home for my nephews because the older one is attending origami classes and the middle one is all about dinosaurs (and pokemon and batman). but when i opened the packet up, i realised there was no way i was going to be able to translate all that instructions into english.

i had a bit fun making the dinos 2 weeks ago. it tickled me pink because this is so not a topic i’d usually attempt. i really wanted to bring them out for a photoshoot but i couldn’t muster up enough courage, so i did it at home instead. i think it turned out pretty ok : )

and since i will probably not have time to do a whole lot of editing, i am going to post the final versions here as well. and remember the kitties on the tree? scroll down and and have a peek!

 

空想ばかり

 

there are pretty dream bubbles to catch,

and suddenly, quite a lot to look forward to.