affordable presents: daiso

I needed to create 3 birthday presents stat. Three of my girlfriends' birthdays are very close to each other and I was going to give them their presents all on the same day. So I decided to give them similar presents. 

I had never heard of Daiso until my younger sister, Ashley introduced me to this Japanese dollar store. (They just opened one local to me.) Every item in the store is $1.50 unless marked higher. I took a look around last week and I came up with these 3 presents and I only spent $20!

Apparently there are 15 locations in the U.S. - 5 in Washington and 10 in California. So hopefully there's one in your area! If not, you can always order online.

Not too shabby, right?

- Christina

my weekend 001

My weekend consisted of:

1. Donating A BUNCH OF STUFF to Savers. I've been clearing my room for a few weeks and I'm almost running out of things that I want to get rid of.

2. My older sister, Natalie bought this beautiful comforter at Savers for me. Made me feel very eco-friendly because it was thrifted & made in the U.S.A.

3. Watching a Woody Allen documentary. I fell asleep in the middle so I'm very familiar with his early work and current work. ;)

4. Eating vegan donuts from The Donuttery.

5. Hanging out with Timber & Oliver.

6. Watching the Angels play the Tigers. Angels won! (It's sometimes difficult to have a picture of Keith smiling. He always likes to tease me.)

7. Eating at Lola Gaspar in Downtown Santa Ana. Delicious handmade fries, margarita & cauliflower tacos. Yum.

How was your weekend?

- Christina

link love

It's finally the weekend! Any plans? I'm going to a birthday party tonight & going to see Boyhood on Sunday with Keith. I'm also going to redeem my Veggie Grill free birthday meal voucher, too! Here are some great links from around the web. 

I'm constantly trying to be more creative in Photoshop. Slowly learning! Check out Jamie's tutorial on how to add texture to text.

This will be very helpful when I start packing for our Europe trip. 

A vegan friendly dream catcher DIY.

This documentary looks fascinating! & it's available to watch for free.

Great post about eating healthy on a budget.

A podcast about eating vegan in Italy.

- Christina

Photo by Courtney Seymour.

washi tape keys

All of my work keys look the same! I have three keys that unlock different doors, so I created this little solution - put washi tape on the keys to distinguish them. What do you think? Hopefully this idea is helpful for you! 

- Christina

25th birfday

          

Yesterday was my 25th birthday! Keith and I took a day trip to LA to celebrate. We got to LA around lunch time so we went to the vegan restaurant, Cafe Gratitude. We had so much yummy food. It seems that a lot of vegan restaurants now and days want to create menu items that center around substituting meat and dairy (a lot of seitan, tempeh, tofu), which is fine but Cafe Gratitude was a breath of fresh air with a lot of VEGETABLES. I created a little video documenting our lunch date. (I wanted to document the whole day, but technical difficulties...) The menu is really unique. At the top it says "I AM" and you fill it in with your order. My entree was called "Whole," so I ordered "I am Whole." Definitely a restaurant worth checking out. Can't wait to go back!

After lunch we went to the Griffith Observatory. It was my first time visiting. It's so cool! The observatory was created in 1935 by Griffith J. Griffith (great name, right?) to have the public be exposed to astronomy because apparently observatories we're out in the middle of nowhere and were only available to scientists. There's a lot of exhibits, all free to check out. & there's a planetarium that have different themed shows ($7 a ticket). We watched the show about the Northern Lights. Super fascinating. 

Other activities included going to KindKreme for some chocolate ice cream, walking around a nearby farmer's market & Echo Park Lake, have a birthday cocktail (a bloody mary), and dinner at a Japanese restaurant, Honda Ya. 

This morning Keith, Courtney (& some puppies) and I had a lovely breakfast which pretty much concluded the celebrations very nicely. 

I'm so thankful for Keith and Courtney making my 25th birthday extra special. Love you two.

- Christina

kickstarter film fest

Hi everyone! I have a Kickstarter project that I've been planning out for the past couple of weeks. I'm hoping to have it produced by the end of the year. With the interest in my project, I've become interested in other Kickstarter projects.

Kickstarter just recently announced their annual film fest. It's so inspirational for me, as a recent film studies graduate, to see people crowd sourced their idea and accomplished it! I hope that works out for me someday.

Another cool feature of this film festival is that you can host it at your house too! Kickstarter will be making it available to stream on July 18th, the day the festival is commencing in Brooklyn. 

I created a little round up of the films that I am interested in seeing. The films featured in this post are all women driven projects. 

Little Feet is a film from the point of view of a child, Lana. She is the daughter of the director and was assigned to eccentially create the film as she pleased. It's a fascinating perspective that I haven't heard of before. My favorite line from the trailer is, "I love you Lana. In my brains and my heart" spoken by her brother. Isn't that line enough to make you want to see it?!

Me & Ewe is also a film with from a child's perspective and is directed by 11 year old, Trinity Andersson. She has been playing with stop-animation her whole life. With the funding from her Kickstarter project, she was able to create a short film with real production value. She says to shoot one second it takes 15 minutes to an hour depending on how many models are in the shot! It's really inspirational how driven this young woman is. 

You may have already heard of Obvious Child which stars Jenny Slate. I first knew about Jenny Slate from Girls, but she's also recognizable from SNL and Parks and Recreation. Obvious Child is "an honest comedy about what happens when Brooklyn comedian Donna Stern (Jenny Slate) gets dumped, fired and pregnant just in time for the worst/best Valentine's Day of her life." Directed and written by Gillian Robespierre, it's a real inspiration to see more women filmmakers in the industry.

More women filmmakers include Katrina & Riley of World's Longest Yard Sale Documentary. These two women go on a quest to collect stories from vendors and patrons of the 127 Sale. The 127 Sale is a yard sale starts in Michigan and ends in Alabama! I'm really excited to see what they have in store.

These are only a few of the Kickstarter films that I am interested in. Others include, World Fair, Tomorrow We Disappear, and Rich Hill. I can't wait to see these films from the comfort of my own home. Bring on the popcorn!

- Christina

summer playlist

Creating playlists are fun all year long, but are especially fun during summer. Listing to tunes specific for the season while by the pool or on a long drive are prime. Here's a summer playlist just for you!

- Christina

P.S. - Be sure to follow. I plan on updating it throughout the summer! Also, I prefer to listen to it on shuffle. ;)

happy 4th of july!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! This picture is also a #flashbackfriday (2 years ago!). Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. It's my favorite holiday because there's no expectations except to have fun with your friends and family. There is no pressure of presents or obligations. And for the most part, weather is always perfect! 

The 4th also lands on my birthday month. When I was a kid, having my birthday in July was kind of a bummer. No classmates ever noticed it was your birthday because you were already out of school. But now that I'm older, July is SUMMER. In June there is the end of school and August has the beginning of school. July is purely just a summer month. 

I hope you all enjoy your holiday!

- Christina

my summer bucket list

Saturday marks the 3rd week of summer and I don't want this one to go to waste. Since I've become an adult the years are going by so quickly. Weeks can just go by and when someone asks you, "what have you been up to" or "what's new," you don't really have that interesting of an answer. My personal goal is to have more exciting evenings and weekends (I'm a M-F 9-5er). 

Inspired by this post, I decided to make a Summer Bucket List. This way I can be accountable for having a fun productive summer.

yoga at least once a week: I have a favorite yoga class that I go to Wednesday nights and for A LONG time I haven't made it a priority.

read at least 2 books: I made the number low to not overwhelm myself. I'm currently reading #GIRLBOSS for A Beautiful Mess' July Book Club. I'm excited to be in the book club, and I'm excited to be reading! I don't do it as often as I like.

make homemade ice cream: I've been seeing recipes all over for homemade ice cream, it's about time I make some of my own! (My Vegan Dessert pinboard has so many recipes that I want to try. & here's a link for helpful tips to make vegan ice cream.)

make more videos: Like I said before, videography is something I am very interested in & I want to make more videos! You can see my videos here & here.

try more recipes: There are so many recipes that I want to try and share!

paint my nails more often: This episode of Ask Emily (from Cupcakes and Cashmere), Emily says to look a little more polished even if you don't typically wear that much makeup, paint your nails. I couldn't agree more. Painting your nails just gives you a little extra somethin'.

Wish me luck while I try to accomplish my goals. I hope this inspires you to make your own list. Please comment below and let me know if you have. This list will definitely make my summer a lot more interesting!

- Christina 



watercolor design is from designlovefest.com

a beautiful mess book club: #girlboss

For the month of July I will be participating in A Beautiful Mess' Book Club. I am so excited to be apart of the book club and make myself accountable for reading. Reading is something I really enjoy but don't put enough time into. 

This month we are reading #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso. I'm already 100 pages in (sorry I couldn't wait!) & I am enjoying her story. I highly suggest getting a physical copy of this book because it has illustrations and photos that accompany the story & advice. Can't wait to finish it!

- Christina