helter skelter

 I feel like the moment I'm about to catch up on things on my plate, other things start piling on again. Crazy! Over the weekend more paperwork arose for ensuring some proper legal works. Will the struggle with the paperwork ever finish? Stay tuned to find out!

Jokes aside, no particular theme for today's post. Just some pictures of the week!

A little postcard surprise from Job (ytube: jobsjournal). I love the postcard image, it's a piece of my dear Canada. I got a little mail from Kelsey, a long time patron, it's very cute mori style pokémon stickers!! A New Years postcard from hakumo a really old friend. We don't talk at all during the year but she always sends me a postcard - without fail!! But this time there's no return address so I'll have to maximize my stalker skills to find an address to send back!

On Sunday, Karen and I saw this interesting tree... And later I met up with one of my friends with a Mina Perhonen cover for her Hobonichi.... So beautiful!! It's reigniting my desire for a nice cover. I forever regret I couldn't get my hands on the Sometimes Lucky cover...

Karen and I made time in between packing the apartment to go on a little date. All that matcha softserve is for me by the way. My NRT Traveler's Notebook is starting to grow on me finally. I just loved my Brown so much - but after having customized the cover a little more, it made it feel more me! Still always loving the yosegi charm - it's pricey but I always love looking at it. And the second picture features the Tokyo Train Station Traveler's Notebook that belongs to my friend Annie :)

That's it for this week! By next week I will be at my new apartment!!! Excited!

Mail More Love

So since the last post, I have dropped off the face of the earth due to the very deadly flu that has been going around. Right after I posted two weeks ago I literally was bed ridden for 2 more days, then out of commission for the next week... and only today, right now, do I feel like a normal human being. What a crazy experience! I feel so bad for my wife who saw me in this sub-human state. But I am back, and things can only go up from the bottom!!! And to be honest, many things have happened since the last post... It's almost overwhelming. I will touch on a few items towards the end. 

Recently got a postcard from Fiddy and Satchi!

I drew a Koi postcard to reply Satchi :)

But today I wanted to write about postcards!! 

Over the years I have amassed a large amount of mail I received from friends around the world. It happened quite organically, in a way that I didn't notice, until I had to think about it one day. I've always enjoyed receiving things in the mail, and that fostered a love for sending good words out as well. With the advent of the internet, I can communicate with my friends at leisure; this makes mailing posts more like a treat! What I mean is that nothing too seriously grave is discussed, as we talk about those things in real time.

Sometimes I wonder how people in the old days manage to get any communication done... 

What really fostered my love for written mail and sending packages was my time corresponding with my friend Yi-Wen. I loved her posts to me! What was special was that she always drew a little image. At the time she lived in London, so I also received special british goodies. In the end, though, it was always her letter and little piece of art that made my day. 

February postcards! The California postcard is a Baum-Kuchen x TSL piece :) I just coloured it with watercolour

Since then I've had years when I've sent a lot of mail, and others that were less inspired. This year I really wanted to get back into it! So much that it is one of my new years resolution: Mail more Love!! Working at my job I realized how just a little extra touch in the things we send can lift the whole intent of the package. So I will be a lot more dedicated and careful about how I choose to send mail out this year! My hope is to do it steadily once a month, and to draw a little something if time allows. I'm so excited to get back into it!

I've included pictures of my February postcards in this post. It's a little early but that's because we are moving!! We actually weren't planning to move till March but the right place came up and we snatched it up right away. It's larger than our current place (not so important) and recently renovated (very important) - and close to my work! I'm looking forward to walk to work all the time! I'm also looking forward to happier pup and happier plant children!! I'll surely post about the moving process in the future!

lil forest spirit from cynthia 

recently bought a Monstera child, and had to separate him

Hello 2018!

Happy New Year!!! 

Since it is just my wife and dog and I at home, things are calmer than with family. Both our families are a little scattered around the world - and I don't really want to connect with mine just yet anyway. So it's the year of a very quiet Holiday Season, giving lots of time for quiet reflections (and in my wife's case, a lot of time for freelance). I've also come down with a cold the first day of the New Year, that means the rest of the year will be okay, right?

As new years roll around, everyone in the planner community is excited to start on their new books and are motivated in how to change their system to help them work more effectively. It's a super exciting feeling to start a new blank book - I sometimes wonder how do we carry this feeling throughout the year.

This year I am excited to use some new and old analogue tools!

+ Hobonichi Techo A6 Japanese

This will be my 3rd year using Hobonichi Techo! I've tried the Weeks in 2017 but it was too small, so I've switched back to A6. The first year I was gifted a Hobonichi 2016, I inadvertently committed myself to draw daily comics in it. It was a lot of work!! So in 2017 I've stopped. But since then I've felt less attachment to my journal... which is very unfortunate; so I will be trying to keep it a habit again! It leaves a little less space to write, which is alright, I've always wanted to keep Hobonichi as a happy journal! If given too much space, I start writing nonsensical things, so less is sometimes more!

+ Traveler's Notebook with Weekly + Notes

I've figured out last year that Weekly view with space for notes on the side is my favourite format for planners. It gives me space not only to write gratitude memos but also note some stuff I might not want to write in the weekly space. I'm really glad TN weeks started mid December because I simply couldn't wait to get started on it! That Midori paper is just beautiful; I love the cream colour so much. And as with the Hobonichi, it's super important for me to have paper that is fountain pen friendly! I know Fiddy bought the Weekly Horizontal so I'm curious of how that turns out. 

+ 36 Sublo pocket date stamp

I've been low key hunting for an appropriate date stamper, and recently saw this really really cute pocket date stamper that my boss uses on her correspondences to me. My coworker informed me that they were all sold out everywhere, but that she had an extra one she was willing to part with. It was the guitar+amplifier motif so I removed the rubber and added a little self carved frame. I'm so grateful to her generosity, and I can't wait to literally date everything!

+ fountain pens

One of my new years resolution this year is to only buy 1 fountain pen. I've gone way crazy in 2017 and honestly I already have my holy grail pen: Pilot Prera and I don't need to have more. I'm going to start letting go of some of them online and stick with my favourites. I'm not sure how much I can cut down, but we'll see! I really want to give more love to what I have.

In the coming months there will be lots going on. We are slowly looking for a new apartment, and I am in a frenzy to look for way to decorate and make a place our own without losing our deposit. I'm also on a plant fever frenzy! I bought quite a few within the week and I'm excited to see them grow. In 2018, I am hoping to make a home in Los Angeles! 

On EDC!

I need to get back in the habit of writing on blogs again!!! Let's try again to make this happen! 

Lately I've been thinking about making an art material post - actually before I stopped posting I had planned to make a materials post. Right now I'll just post about my EDC (every day carry). Art post will be a little more complicated. Since I've last posted things have changed a little mainly due to the addition of my Traveler's Notebook~ In my EDC, this is my basic carry (my bare bone carry is just TN, sketchbook and pen).

BASIC EDC

watercolour tin (24 half pan or this small one)

global arts travelogue handbook sketchbook

traveler's notebook regular brown

kuretake waterbrush

fountain pen (default LAMY SAFARI)

I try to carry all these most times, and generally I'll have a pen case with me holding my fountain pens as well as a OHTO Minimo pencil, which does come in handy more than i realize! As for handbags, I use a variety of Kiplings, though I am eyeing a The Superior Labor one ...

watercolour tin

I love love love using a tin palette for watercolour! The one in this photo is one I made with a mini postcard tin and some empty half pans + magnets. Recently I came across ppl who have used smaller tins! It's suuuper cute! I might consider it if I'm really strapped for room. I generally will bring my 24 half pan tin when I plan on colouring, I like having the small one as a light casual carry. I use Holbein watercolour tubes. The paints are very vibrant and the pigments are abundant; but because they are generally opaque like, I'm considering switching to Daniel Smith down the line (plus now they make smaller tubes!)

sketchbook

I don't know how many years it has been since I've settled on this sketchbook, but it's been LONG time. Travelogue Handbook is the best... It's just the best for me in terms of how I work. Actually when I started buying them, they were cheaper than they are now... but it's still worth it!! The paper takes a good beating and seriously takes washes well. The pages then buckle up but they also settle down flat after a while, it's really amazing. I LOVE it. It also feels casual enough to just write in it as well.

traveler's notebook

I fell into this TN hell in around January and started to look for cheaper alternatives. Because I was really into bullet journal, I thought this would be a great system to integrate into. So for many months I had tried some Fauxdoris - just to see if I could make this work. (Un)fortunately, it did! I loved the system! In july I finally bit the bullet and bought an official TN when Fiddy came to visit... and our books have been brothers since. I'm still working out which inserts to put in but currently I have 1. Baum-kuchen wallet insert 2. blank notebook for bujo 3. Traveler's Factory Canvas Insert. The latter I got at the Traveler's Caravan x Ace Hotel vent that I absolutely loved!! 

waterbrush

I actually much prefer using an actual brush nowadays, but still nothing beats the convenience of a waterbrush and a rag cloth. I have almost all of KURETAKE's line of waterbrushes, my usual carry is Medium round or the Flat. I think with Flat you can do almost anything, so I just carry that.

fountain pen

One of my personal hells. For drawing I always carry a Lamy Safari inked with De Atrementis Document Ink Black - and sometimes another Lamy Safari with same ink but different colour. I like the De Atrementis Document Ink a lot - they dry fast and I love the assorted colours. Currently, I'm also testing out using my TWSBI ECO for my drawing pen, as the steel nib is very stiff and I like that stiffness for drawing. I also often carry a Pilot Parallel Pen when I go urbansketching - I feel like it keeps me nice and loose.

That pretty much sums up my EDC!! I hope to cover more art materials next time.. For now, have some photos~

jotting down baking ideas in my TN

Ace Hotel, quick sketch on rooftop

a beautiful stack of TNs from people and staff at Ace Hotel event

   

On Fountain Pen Week

Anyhow, it was a fun busy week! Things are getting into motion so I hope to try to blog about it and record the events. Though to be honest, I do more than enough recording so I don't know why I need to lay my life out even more.  I'll try to schedule posts and make sure there are contents to post about. This blog is probably going to be everywhere...

I was really excited for Fountain Pen Day this week! I just like looking at everyone's pens to be honest. I don't know what it is about them that's so enchanting. Maybe because it's such a personal experience for everyone. Also because I'm a stationery geek. For some reason I can't believe I only got into fountain pens in February. There will probably be some stationery posts later on :3

Speaking of stationery, I've been throwing out a ton of things since June. I've discovered Kondou Marie's cleaning method. So I have been getting rid of my surplus and things that I haven't been using like crazy. Thankfully my friend Carey is open to receive all my stuff (including a giant box of zines I had to shed). Practising KonMari method has really helped me to descern what I like and be more careful of my purchases. Like many artists I've.... had a art supply/startionery buying problem. The addiction is coming along...thanks to Karen.

The main reason why I'm going through KonMari and weight shedding is because I'll be moving down to California to be with Karen in January!!! We are so excited!!! We signed our apartment papers recently and we have a place together now! I'm so excited to finally make the move down for the next chapter of my (and our) life. I'm finally taking step to make the transition into the animation industry. I will be working hard to try to make this as smooth as possible! But seriously excited to hang with people too haha

Oh I'm bringing my dog with me too!

Food blurb: This week Carey and I went to lunch, and found that we had room for dessert. We spontaneously went to get BingSoo (shaved ice). I was pleasantly surprised that it was the fluff shaved ice which I have yet to try. It was amazing!!!! Can't wait to go again!