Miyazaki's Spirited Away

Last September, Hayao Miyazaki finally announced his retirement. *tears* so today I would like to give tribute to his legacy and tell you my favorite movie of his! Okay, if you don't know Hayao Miyazaki is, you're definitely missing a lot! click here to know more about him. Miyazaki is a world- famous Japanese screenwriter, director, animator, and artist! He has been making countless animated movies and all have been loved and praised all over the world.

My ABSOLUTELY favorite movie of his would be Spirited Away and I first watched this in its original Japanese version with English subtitles. I had another opportunity to watch it few years later dubbed in English voice over when Disney bought the rights to produce the movie's English version. I'm a sucker for magical fantasy themed stories and this particular is one of the most beautifully and creatively made fantasy stories of all time. I love how the culture of Japan and the spirits were incorporated into the magical theme too.

Here's a short gist of what the movie is all about..Spirited Away is about a tale of a ten year old girl named Chihiro, who discovers a secret spirit world when she and her parents get lost and venture through a hillside tunnel. When her parents underwent a mysterious transformation into pigs, Chihiro must fend for herself as she saves her parents from the evil sorceress. She ventures out into an adventure working for the sorceress as she encounters strange spirits and creatures while finding her way back home to the human world.

I love how detailed the movie is with its props and background. Miyazaki's ideas went overboard crazy and it was very very original. The characters & the plot were very unpredictable and Miyazaki was able to put a touch of magic in every part of the movie.

Spirited Away is one of the most successful film in Japanese history ever since it was released. Acclaimed by critics all over the world, the movie was considered as one of the best films of the 2000s decade and one of the greatest animated films of all time. I couldn't agree more!! It won numerous awards including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards. Need I say more? The movie is literally for all ages, so please do watch it if you haven't because you're missing out! 

Thank you, Hayao Miyazaki.

Happy List

The Happy List:

1. red velvet cakes

2. drawing and actually liking the output

3. book sales

4. movie marathons till the wee hours of the morning

5. rainy days and afternoon naps

6. old couples holding hands

7. blueberry buns

8. snapchat photos

9. someone listening to your honest thoughts & feelings

10. embarrassing my brother in public

11. fat kitty stickers on facebook chat

Eat Fresh Menu

This is a menu that I've made early last year when I first tried figuring Adobe Illustrator out. I've noticed that graphic illustrations have been receiving much more attention during the past few years. Ads, layouts, magazines have illustrations that are made through the means of technology and I guess, I wanted to try it and keep up! Comparing it to the traditional way of illustrating (which is by the means of using the hands to sketch, paint, color etc. ), they're not that different except of course, the technicality of it. I would love to learn illustrating and I'm actually trying to start another project using the Adobe Illustrator for practice!

Oh, by the way, Eat Fresh Hong Kong Famous Street Food is a real restaurant based in Manila, Philippines! :) hehe, It is actually our very own family business which serves Hong Kong street food meals. You can check out its facebook page here. One day, *fingers crossed* I would be able to illustrate the menu for our restaurant and perhaps, other projects for clients as well. Exciteeeed!!

Have a good day, buddy!! :)

Since I had no classes today and I had no plans either, I went to Vivo City to spend my afternoon there and yes, I went there alone. Another little adventure of cessy. Haha, I'm really used to going places and doing things alone now and honestly, it isn't that bad. I get to have time alone to think and do what I want. Anywayyy, I went for a quick shopping spree since H&M and Cotton On had major sales *yayyy*. Afterwards, I spent the rest of the time inside a cafe doodling. There were a lot of people around and I tried drawing the people around me. I started observing each's face and I've realized that I never really did give much attention to detail. Each person's features are totally unique and it was actually amusing for me to try & capture that and put it on paper. It was fun and I plan to do it again some time again :)

The Currently #3

Listening to the voices of the French couple downstairs, they're our newest flatmates. I hear laughter & giggles.

Reading my twitter feed. Most of them are from my friends back in the Philippines, most of them are talking about how stressful their academics are..and oh, some tweet about how she can eat Krispy Kreme donuts forever.

Feeling meh. quite down.

Wanting a really good back massage. I've been having aweful back aches and I've yet to find out the reason for it. I'm actually going back to the Philippines on an October weekend for my checkup.

Hoping that when my brother comes home, he would bring home some food. I'm starving and I'm too lazy to go down to feed myself.

Needing a new song to listen to. My playlist has been filled with youtube covers...I need a new song to play all day long. Any suggestions? :)

Thinking whether I should've bought that dress in H&M..dang, it just costed 15 SGD.

Planning to accomplish all my tasks for next week within the weekend. Though the list is quite shorter than before, this time's more tedious, really :(

Wearing the usual. Comfy loose top and denim shorts.

Loving binge watching movies. Every week or so, I would download a lot of movies that I haven't watched & I would either watch it with my brother or with bacon, my pig stuffed toy. hehe.

#nowwatching The Croods

ola mi amigo! The latest movie I've watched is DreamWorks Animation Studios' The Croods. The film was released early this year, but I never really found it interesting at first. I thought this would be another typical 3D animated movie about cavemen with funny lines in the script every now and then. Last weekend, my brother finally convinced me to watch the movie with him and boy, I was wrong!! I love love love the movie and a couple of tears were shed here and there too. Not only did I find the story quite unique, I certainly love the animation ESPECIALLY the visual development! Yes, the characters & the plot was certainly adorable and very witty, but what stood out to me was  places the characters had been. It certainly reminded me James Cameron's Avatar.

Here's a really short gist of the movie and don't worry, I won't spoil anything for you if you haven't watched it yet! :) After their cave was destroyed, the Croods family was forced to treck through unfamiliar world with the help of an inventive boy named Guy to save themselves and to go off to "Tomorrow". Of course the movie is much much more interesting than that, so be sure to watch it too okay? Check out the trailer here :)

Going back, The Croods' visual development was absolutely stunning. It was set during the pre-historic age of our Earth and DreamWorks was able to execute the world we never knew in a beautiful creative way. Here are some visual development designs released y some artists for DreamWorks.
Credits to conceptartworld.com for its featured artists articles!  All rights reserved to DreamWorks Animation Studios.

Jason Scheier : click here for his portfolio

Arthur Fong : click here for his portfolio

Leighton Hickman : click here for his portfolio

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

unknown

unknown

The Kiss

In Bed (1893)

I came across Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings in an illustration blog during one of my past times. Below one of its paintings, there was a small paragraph of how one blogger was imagining the feeling of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec when he was painting these artworks because of the "trials" he had gone through his. That instantly made me curious. Hence, I started researching about Toulouse-Lautrec and his life.

 I've chosen quite a few of my favorites among the artist's paintings and they're all posted above. I love how the intimacy and connection of the couples are so strong. On the contrary, the artist's life was a far cry from these intimate happy ever afters. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in 1864 in southern France. He was the last in line of an aristocratic family. As a child, he was weak and often sick. At the age of twelve, he broke his left leg and at fourteen, his right leg. (how unfortunate, really :( ). His bones did not heal properly and his legs ceased to grow. When his younger brother passed away, his parents separated. Deprived of the life without physical incapability, he lived completely for his art. He would dwell in Montmarte section of Paris and dance halls, night clubs, prostitutes - all were memorialized on his canvas. He would often stay in crowded nightclubs and make a quick sketch of what he sees. He was an alcoholic and it would later be the reason for his death.

My point is..for him to live a life with a scarcity of attention and genuine love, he was able to paint such pure paintings. What was he feeling then, to paint something that he, himself, had and will not ever experience? 

Travel Throwback: Palawan, Philippines 2012

For the past few years, my family and I have been spending our New Year's Eve out of town. Since my brothers are now working abroad, we make it a point that we would still have small family bonding in that time of the year away from the reality of work. We've already spent the New Year in Singapore and Hong Kong, but last year, we decided to settle inside the country. We went to Palawan, specifically its Coron Island. I've only got one word for that place : BEAUTIFUL.

Unlike the crowded and polluted Metropolitan of Manila, where I grew up, Palawan is untouched by the urban living. People lived in small simple houses, and oh! The sky and the water are just so pure. Among the 1770 islands of the Philippines, the province of Palawan, located at the country's southwestern border,is one of the most famous to go places for vacations in the world. Yes, the world.
The pictures do not give justice to the beauty of that magical place. It is blessed with pristine beaches, and clear blue waters, cliffs, caves, everything is left unspoiled.

 In our trip, we were able to ride one of the boats for a couple of days. Throughout each day, our guide would take us island hopping. Each island has a small beach of its own and during lunch time, we would eat our meals along the shore. We got to do snorkeling too and it was wonderful! Untouched by the pollution, we got to see coral reefs and schools of fishes of which we've never seen before. It was as if we were in Atlantis and I'm not even kidding!! During our few days trip there, we also got to tour around the small city and see how the locals live their life there.

This year, my family and I are planning to go to Hong Kong to spend the New Year. I can't wait to be reunited with them alreadyyy. weeeee. Anyhoo, if you're planning to visit the Philippines, visiting Palawan is DEFINITELY a must. That is one of the places that still holds the true beauty of my country. It's amazing once you get to immerse yourself in the pureness & wholesomeness of a country's culture and beauty.

East Coast Park

Hello there! I've been staying in Singapore for more than 3 months already! 3 months and 2 days to be exact. hehe. So far, I've been doing a lot of mini traveling and I can't help but to fall in love with this country more and more. I spent last sunday with my brother hanging out in the East Coast Park and it was lovely! We rented 2 bicycles and my brother taught me how to ride a bike. (yes, I don't know how to huhu) After 2 grueling hours, I got the hang of balancing myself but I still couldn't pedal. We eventually found out that the bike I got was broken. :( Anyway, a reason for me to go back yes? I have yet to cross out "learn to bike" on my bucket list! Going back to the point, I just want to share the different activities you can do in the East Coast Park because that place is just heavenly. I mean, a park AND a beach, side by side. Honestly, what more can you ask for?

East Coast Park is along the East Coast Parkway and East Coast Park Service Road. Quite far from the city, but it is very accessible through various means of transportations, especially the bus! Whether you're alone or with your family, you can engage in different activities such as camping, biking, fishing. The park is ideal for friends and loveydovies alike! Here's a short list of activities you can do, according to what I got to see last Sunday.

• Exercise - There are fitness stations where you can actually work out. Lots of people both young and old are also jogging along the running trails. The trees are perfect for giving you some shade while running too.
• Biking/ Roller Skating - This is one of the activities that I'm definitely going back for. There are bike and roller skates rentals and they charge on hourly basis. It is really affordable and very very fun! It is a very convenient way to move yourself from one place to another too since the park is HUGE.
• Taking pictures- If I couldn't emphasize it enough, the park is such a beautiful place! With the trees and the lovely view of the sea, the park is such an ideal place to practice photography or at least a pretty place to capture the moments you have with your loved ones.
• Camping - As you can see on the picture above, some parts of the park have been filled with tents. I'm not sure if they're being rented or the people actually brought their own tents, but as far as I know, you can go camping! People also brought some food & drinks and spent their lazy afternoons in the park.
• BBQ Partyyyy!!! - okay, maybe a party is too grand..BUT there are a lot of BBQ stations where you can..well, barbecue your food! 
• Have a picnic - bring a mat, a good book and perhaps some food and you'll have a lovely lovely time at the park. The trees give you some shade, while you sit back and relax.
• Play Frisbee, Soccer, Volleyball ++ - lots of open spaces in the park where you can have fun sporty activities
• Enjoy the Beach - okay, there are endless possibilities here. I've seen kids who made sandcastles, people who went to fish along the coast too! Some people went for a swim and oh! Inside the East Coast Park, there lies Singapore's first cable ski and it seemed really fun & daring for those who are up for it.

I've seen people fly their kites and have their tai chi lessons too! Hopefully, you get the point! The East Coast Park is definitely a place you should visit! Have a great day, everyone :)

Lorelay Bove

Tadaaaa. I immediately fell in love with these art works when I first laid my eyes upon them! These are made by none other than the lovely Lorelay Bove. When I first stumbled upon her works, I immediately googled her and ended up in her blog : lorelaybove.blogspot.com. Not only do I love her style, but I love her job as well!! She's currently working at the Walt Disney Animation Studios as a visual development artist, a.k.a. my dream job. Stalking about her life and what nots, I can honestly say that she's one of the people who inspired me to pursue the career of illustration. When I saw her career of illustrating characters for movies and designs for children's books, I said to myself, "I want need this!". 

Born in Spain, Lorelay Bove moved to Los Angeles when she was 14. After graduatingfrom CalArts in 2007, she started in working int he visual development department at Pixar Animation Studios as a trainee. Now, she has worked on Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" doing colors, characters, propes, and the overall visual development. She also worked on "Tangled", "Winnie the Pooh", "Prep and Landing", "The Ballad of Nessie". Lastly, she was the lead designer of "Sugar Rush" in "Wreck-It-Ralph"!! 

Her influences in her art style was Disney, according to her, since she grew up with the classics. She also admires painters like Miro and Kandinski. Her style reminiscences of illustrations from the 50s and 60s. She is fond of that time period as she grew up with classic hollywood films. She loves the style, colors, and the simplicity of the design.

Do check her blog out! :)

Dove Real Beauty Sketches

Hello there! How's your week been going? I just wanted to share this Dove Campaign which had gone viral a few months past. I've always loved Dove's beauty campaigns, this one especially. I love how the company didn't even advertise any of their products in this video, but it all concentrated on how women perceive beauty and the way they look at themselves.

In this video, Forensic sketch artist Gil Zamora created sketched of women Dove recruited based on their own descriptions of their facial features. Then he interviewed strangers who had met the women and asked them what the women looked like and he sketched from those descriptions too. You can clearly see the great difference of how the women see themselves as compared to what others can see! I got a little bit teary too, because the message is just so powerful. Dove was able to highlight  women's distorted self image. Kudos to Zamora for his skills and Dove for this inspiring campaign. We are all beautiful in our own way and we have to remind ourselves just that :)

Kysha's Krew

One of God's greatest creations is the human voice. I ABSOLUTELY admire people who can sing. Oh how I wish I was blessed with such talent *cry*. If I was, I wouldn't stop singing at all!! I can even imagine myself singing the words out of my mouth when I'm talking to people! ehehehe.

Today, I just want to share a cover by Kysha's Krew and it's ahhh-mazinggg ~~~~ Such talent should be shared to EVERYONE! I cannot believe that I personally know the people in this band! Ja, Diego, and Kysha are students in Ateneo de Manila University, the school where I studied before. The three of them made up the band, Kysha's Krew, and they have been performing for school events and gigs. I've heard them play live and they're incredible!! They made a cover of Mannequin by Katy Perry and it's even actually better than the original song itself! No bias, I swear, because I love Katy. Now, go click that play button because I know you want to! I've been repeating this song all afternoon. Enjooooy.

8 Weeks & counting

It is midnight and the tutorial week is officially over. I honestly cannot believe that it has been 8 weeks already! This tutorial week was what I needed to pick myself up. I didn't only had the time to catch up with some homework, but I was able to spend time to my brother and mother as well. Most importantly, I was able to spend more time with myself and reflect about life basically. Here's a lil gist of my scattered thoughts:

• Use time wisely. I should stop staying in at home for too long. (cessy the hermit) I've recently discovered that there are a lot of hidden nice locations around the nooks & crooks of Singapore and I'm planning to visit them one by one, most of them are just thrift shops and vintage cafes. I can't wait to check them out since I love traveling and discovering new places!
• Positive in and negative out! I've been down in the dumps lately and I gotta focus more on the brighter side of the picture! Look around and be thankful, because you are blessed and loved :)
• Working hard is key and there is no shortcuts! I plan to start my Week 8 right and continue it. I have to give my best to get the results I want, no matter how hard it will be.
• Make more plans, keep moving and stop slacking.
• A little indulgence wouldn't hurt, it's good for you. So I plan to get myself a massage and some mani-pedi soon to refresh myself up!

Here's to the little adventures,yes? So excited for the classes to start again because I get to see my classmates! I'm ecstatic on learning more and drawing more too!

P.S. That's a picture of a yuuuummyyyyy banana split I shared with my brother yesterday! A happy picture to celebrate the tutorial week & a good good start of the wonderful weeks ahead!

Wild Honey for the Hungry Bunny

From left to right: Raspberry scone with butter &jam, English Breakfast, European Breakfast

As they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Last Sunday, my mom visited me and my brother for 3 days and we brought her to Wild Honey at the Mandarin Gallery along Orchard Road. Wild Honey is an all-day breakfast restaurant and it is known best breakfast places in the country! AND YES, their food really gave justice to its name. *drooools* hehe. The place is utterly adorable with its brick walls, hand written black board menus, to the mismatched tables and chairs to give of a quirky, yet homey atmosphere.

Wild Honey's menu consists of breakfast items of which each is named after a country's type of breakfast. (see picture below) We then settled for their best-sellers: English and European breakfast, we also ordered The Savory, which was the "special" breakfast of the day. Oh! we squeezed in some raspberry scone, while we wait for our meals to be served too! 

It was my first time to try a scone and I immediately looooved it! *love at first taste!!!* I didn't want to share it, but my brother & mom wanted to have a few bites too. The scone is a biscuit-bread type of pastry. It had a toasted golden crust, but the inner was sweet and moist. Definitely going back for it next time.

My mom ordered the English Breakfast which was probably the biggest breakfast meal in the store! The plate was filled with pork back bacon, Cumberland sausage, eggs, mushrooms, baked beans, baked potatoes, ripened tomatoes, and two slices of thick toast! Talk about eating like a king for breakfast!

My brother ordered The Savory which was the day's special, meaning it isn't actually part of the official menu. Unfortunately, I don't have any picture of it, but I'll try my best to use my words to describe them! The Savory consisted of a fish cooked in a metal pan together with scrambled eggs, herbs, and spices. Two slices of grilled toasts and ripened tomatoes were on the side too. I had a taste of my brother's order and it was light and tasty.

Finally! *drumroll pleaseeee* My order, the European Breakfast, was voted the favorite among the three meals! yayyy hehe. ( My family and I have this thing of whoever orders the tastiest meal gets the pride of having good taste. ) The European Breakfast is Wild Honey's version of eggs benedict. The meal consisted of two poached eggs with sauteed  mushrooms underneet the eggs, imported Italian proscuitto and homemade Hollandaise sauce,which tasted like cheese, on their brioche. Everything all went together very well. Omnomnom.

That wouldn't be my last time to drop by Wild Honey, for sure. 

mini midnight escapades

The love for reading actually runs in the family. It was a quarter before midnight when my brother and I suddenly decided to grab some coffee, both of us wanted a quiet atmosphere to read. Immediately, we headed to the nearest 24/7 Starbucks and ordered some latte as spent the wee hours fully engrossed in our books. We finally decided to go back home when my brother couldn't hold his bladder any longer. At 1:45 am, the time where most have already gone to bed, my brother and I slowly made our way back home. It was then I realized a few things: 1. my brother and I have such a queer relationship and it's special in it's own way. I mean, who else would just go to a cafe and read books without talking to each other? 2. Singapore is so safe that we can actually walk home without being scared of what might happen. It's a beautiful peaceful country, indeed.

True Friendship

Tadaaa!! Meet my girl best friends! Pam, She, Ira, and Ju. Together, we call ourselves the "eating club" because we go out to eat...but that's another story to tell. I grew up with these girls and I am beyond thankful that I have them around me through my ups and downs and lazy afternoons. I've shed liters of happy tears with them and gosh, I can't wait for December so I can hang out with them already. Even though I'm far away from them *tears* #clingycessy, I've never doubted our friendship. You know those friends that will just go away and grow distant just because you guys stopped communicating and seeing each other? yeah, I've had my fair share of those and it's heartbreaking. However, those are the times that will show who will actually stand by you through it all,yes? That's what I call true friendship, and not those friendships by mere coincidence.

I read this article in Thought Catalog on 25 Signs Someone is a Real, True Friend and I would like to share it here because these points actually hit the spot :) I emphasized the favorites of my best friends & I! happy reading!

1. They don’t make you feel like a horrible person for passing on invitations because you have to do things important to your education, career or the betterment of yourself in general. Sketchy is the friend who legitimately bashes you for choosing work over play.

2. You feel comfortable enough at their place to raid the refrigerator or go number two in their bathroom – probably in that order.

3. You’ve discussed and agreed that hypothetically, if one of you were to get bit by a zombie, you’d hold off on killing each other until you actually began turning into a member of the walking dead. (Also, if they aren’t 100% certain you’re dead, they’ll hold off on hooking up with your spouse.)

4. They’ve answered a call you made between the hours of 2-6am groggy and disoriented, but prepared to listen to or meet you for help with your emergency. And it better have been a damn disaster if you barged in on their REM cycle with phone-on-nightstand vibrations and Marimba on full blast.

5. Much like with family members, you can go extended stretches of weeks or months without talking and hanging out consistently, yet there’s no doubts about your relationship. Schedules get busy, circumstances arise, but your friendship remains fully intact.

6. They’ve helped you move. (If they help you move during the summer, they’re the realest friend, and you better buy them some type of friendship ring or at least the 2 for $20 at Chili’s.)

7. If you throw a huge party that results in your place being trashed, look around at cleanup time. Anyone so much as stacking red SOLO cups or pouring out half-drunken beers is worthy of considering a friend.

8. Any little favors they’ve done for you in the past aren’t kept on track of, and vice versa.

9. All of your posts on social networks are guaranteed a comment, like, favorite, or SOME TYPE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT from your friend. It may sound stupid, but in this day and age, you can’t leave a pal’s post response-less – not even the 47th picture of their nephew or their 4th selfie of the day.

10. If someone slings their name through the mud, you take offense, interrupt and kill any bashing immediately – and they’ll do the exact same for you.

11. They are sincerely happy to see you have any type of success. Not the lying-through-my-teeth fake smile and bogus “Screw you, why not me?Ohhhh, well good for you!” – but legitimate excitement and congratulations.

12. If you’re being an a-hole, they’ll make you aware of it to your face.

13. You don’t constantly find yourself scolding them for putting unflattering photos of you online, because they know better than to post an eyes closed, unprepared, bad candid snapshot of you.

14. When a friend knows painful information (e.g. your crush hates the way your face looks), they’ll tell you. Maybe slightly modified to soften the blow, but they won’t leave you in the dark with false hopes, or headed down a disastrous path.

15. Your interaction naturally begins and ends with casual insults the majority of the time.

16. Even when involved in relationships, they don’t fall off the grid or blow your friendship off entirely. Yes, new love commands a lot of attention but don’t pull an Andy from Toy Story and just straight up neglect your clique.

17. When you stop to tie your shoe, they actually wait for you to finish as opposed to leaving you in the dust. Or they keep walking and openly vocalize and laugh at the fact that you’re being left behind.

18. They’ve taken the dreadful, guaranteed to cause massive drama step of informing you that you’re being cheated on.

19. Rarely do you discover anything about what’s going on with them on social networks. You don’t need Facebook to tell you it’s their birthday, or Instagram to see who they were with and where they went last night.

20. They don’t let you do anything stupid – at least not by yourself. If you wind up hammered, singing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song solo on karaoke night, reevaluate the friendships of everyone you were with that night. Someone should’ve intervened or started to sing.

21. You’ve borrowed each other’s stuff that normal acquaintances probably wouldn’t share. Cars, spare rooms, expensive electronics, etc.

22. They’ve dropped you off at or picked you up from the airport. This is especially meaningful if you have something like a 5am flight.

23. You’ve changed the music playing on their radio or iPod and lived to tell about it.

24. During the lowest of lows, they don’t give up on you even if you’ve given up on yourself.

25. There are silences, but they don’t feel the least bit uncomfortable or awkward. If you can sit down and shut up with a person, never feeling obligated to fill that hushed void, you’ve got a special connection.

Reading these points one by one made me go down the memory lane with my friends and I can't help but to feel blessed by having these weirdos around me. Who's your best friend and have you given him/her some lovin muffin today? :)

Meet Dr. Suess

Quotable quotes from Dr. Seuss' books that we may have read somewhere:
"Why fit in when you are born to stand out?"

"We are all a little weird and life a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."
(this one's my favorite!)

"To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world."

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"

"You're off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way."

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"

Hello there! Quite a colorful post, isn't it? Today I would like to pay tribute to the man who is behind the stories we've grown up with, Dr. Seuss. His words, like the words above, have been used to remind people of self-love & positivity. Unfortunately, I haven't read any of Dr. Seuss' books, but I am well aware of his illustrations! Oh! I did grow up watching the film adaptations of his books! I adoooored The Grinch, starring Jim Carrey. I remember watching that film with my younger brother over and over again! and who would forget The Cat in the Hat? and the adorable animated films, The Lorax and Horton Hears a Who!

Ever since watching those films and being able to see Dr. Seuss' works, I can't help but to notice his style of illustration. The use of bright solid colors was perfect for a children's book, but what caught my eye was his imaginative creation of character designs. One look at it and you certainly know that it was Dr. Seuss'. They all have a hint a quirkiness and that's where the magic came from.

Dr. Seuss' real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel and he was a famous American writer and cartoonist best known for (duh) his classic children's books. He first became famous for his advertisements and he also turned to political cartooning. He spent his life illustrating and what I admire about him is that he put his talent into good use. During World War II, he made posters and films to direct support to the U.S. army, In 1954, Dr. Seuss completed The Cat in the Hat and used only 236 words.  He made use of simplified vocabulary so that it could be easily read by beginning readers.

Dr. Seuss' works continue on to be a children's classic and his stories never fail to touch the hearts of both young and old. He's such an inspiration because just through his illustrations, he was able to bring forth a whole new world of magic to the people :)

The Currently #2

Reading my planner's to-do list. I'm half way through my tutorial week and I still have LOADS to do!

Listening to A Rocket to the Moon's playlist. Love love love this band ever since it was introduced to me.

Wearing my denim shorts, loose white lace top, and silver slippers. A very comfortable outfit during this sunny day.

Thinking about what I should eat for lunch...tummy's grumbling 

Hoping that the Zamboanga situation in the Philippines would be resolved. People are endangered and it's scary. Let's keep on praying, people :(

Loving vintage shops and cafes with nice interiors. I dropped by one in Bras Basah Complex and sadly, I wasn't allowed to take any pictures. Anyway, I've been listing down hidden pretty places in Singapore and I plan to check them out.

Needing a new backpack. My bag's straps are worn out and I wouldn't be surprised if they break anytime soon. I probably would go to Bugis later and buy myself a new one.

Wanting a retail therapy & long skype sessions.

What's up, Ketchup?

Hello there! How are you? things have been pretty busy for me lately, projects are piling up but thank God for our term break next week! From September 6-15, I would be able to have time to catch up with my projects and re-touch them if I have to. Some of my friends would be going back to their hometown/ countries, and I'm quite envious of them, really. Especially knowing that my best friend will be turning 18 this saturday and I wouldn't be able to attend her celebration. It'll be the first time in our 6 years of friendship that I wouldn't be there with her to celebrate. On the bright side, I will have 10 days to relax and visit the places around Singapore that I haven't been able to see yet!

Here's a jist of what I've been up to lately!
A Sketch A Day venture:
I've posted a short blogpost about this and fortunately, I've been quite consistent so far! Instead of wasting my blank hours doing nothing, I've tried sketching and doodling to discover what my style is and so far so good, hopefully I'll keep this up! Also, I'm planning to make more sketches to put it into my portfolio so that I wouldn't have a hard time when I have to apply for internships next year :)

Interior Madness:
One of the things that really take a HUUUGE chunk of my time is the interior designs of pretty houses. Lately I've been browsing through blogs looking at beautiful houses with nice kitchens and living rooms with the most adorable decorations. I guess I'm being too excited for the future, yeah? I really want to have my own house and decorate it myself! Not to mention trips to IKEA!!!! hehe, someday, Princess, someday.

Yummy Yam:
One of Singapore's signature street food is the ice cream stalls along the streets. Ah pe/ old uncles sell ice cream with the yummiest flavors! From the usual chocolate, mango, to corn, peppermint, blueberry...the flavors goes on and on, not to mention the 1 SGD price is pretty cheap too. You can also choose to eat the ice cream on cup, on wafer, in cone, or on bread. I got to try the famous Yam flavored ice cream and well, it tasted like yam. hehehe. It was sweet and cool, perfect for the sunny weather here :)

Thrift shop finds:
Deconstruction and Reconstruction is our latest lesson in our 3D Fundamentals class. In this project, we are to take some item, preferably an electronics gadget, and break it down to its individual parts then use thdestroye parts to reconstruct it into something else. In search for items that we could destroy deconstruct, my classmates brought me to a street near Raffles place, a 15-20 minute walk from NAFA. This street was full of street vendors selling hand me downs and useless electronics. From broken cameras, to motherboards, to empty Wi-Fi modem and DVD players. I didn't even know that such place exists and there are people who buy such things. A new adventure everyday,yeah? anyway, it was an odd place and the lady that we bought junk from happily told us to go back next week!

Another thrift shop I've discovered was New2U inside Singapore's Council of Women's Organization. All proceeds go to the funds of the said organization and one book caught my eye! It was only worth 1 SGD and it looked brand new. I bought it because I fell in love with its illustrated book cover and you know, I love pretty book covers.

Tea & Books

Yes, the picture says it all! I cannot emphasize enough how I love love loove rainy days, books, and tea ( or tea latte, that sounds really good too ). Put them all together and you'll have a one suuuper relaxed Princess here! Leave me alone with a hot cup of something and a book, and I can survive all day without talking to anyone. I can literally stay in one corner and enjoy my alone time. Introvert cessy mode!!

I took this picture this morning in Starbucks. Usually on Wednesdays, I would wake up around lunch time since my class starts at 2 (hehehe sorry I'm such a lazy butt). However, today, I woke up at the right side of the bed and planned to go for a morning walk & breakfast! As you can see, that's my chai tea latte, mushroom & mozerella sandwich, and...tehnically 2 books. My planner and my sketchbook. I spent my whole morning in Starbucks not reading this time, but scribbling down notes on my planner and sketching. I was enjoying too much that I didn't even notice that 3 hours had already passed. I just want to share how refreshed I feel after my few hours of...you can say, solitary? It felt good to just draw and relax, and not think about projects or homesickness or future plans. I plan to do this more often because I think it is healthy for my soul.