dear kiki...

Is it the Weekend Yet???

Wow thanks for all of your lovely comments on my SPC piece below, so nice!  Please go check out all the FAB work for this weeks challenge here Self Portrait Challenge The June Pop Art challenge is now over and it's on to the July Challenge Self Portrait as [fill in the blank] which should be fun but I will need to plan ahead.  I love these challenges, they remind me to be creative at least once a week!!  I also get inspired by tons of fellow Self Portrait Challengers who are uber talented!  Can't beat it baby!  Yeah so I am super excited for my weekend which will actually kick into gear starting tomorrow night!  I'm going to a soiree at The Fly one of my favorite bars here in the City & I get to hang with my friends!  My friend Kristin is going to Africa for a month partly for a huge YMCA Youth conference and then for vacation, I'm so jealous and proud, she is awesome, her work is very inspiring!  Friday will actually be low key, long workout, home, cook dinner, get some stuff accomplished then Saturday celebrating a friends birthday in SF starting at Bissap Baobab and who knows where we will end up with that group!  Sunday I'm going hiking at Muir Woods and Stinson Beach with friends and Monday I am going to work ick but no-one will be here and so a couple of us are leaving very early to shop, workout and then go out since we have Tuesday off!  Tuesday recover from prior days of fun and maybe watch some fireworks!  YAY!!!  I'm soooo excited for this weekend!!!  Now if the weather will just cooperate!  I need a new pair of shoes, some cute open toe wedges, I've seen some on-line I like (that are vegan of course) but I need them now, hmmm maybe need to shop a bit earlier.  Hmmm maybe shop a bit today, I do need to return a toaster for the office at Macy's at Union Square, perhaps I shall wander into some other stores whilst out and about...*insert evil laugh here*...  {Excellent}!  I am an evil genius!  Ciao!

Make Art...

It's that time again, Self Portrait Challenge time!  This is the last week of the Pop Art theme, and though time consuming, it was extremely inspiring and fun!  I'm sad it's over but excited to tackle a new challenge theme.  This is obviously Roy Lichtenstein inspired and it's also inspired by this little article I read in a magazine about a street artist who posts big word balloons with messages from the people onto advertisements, big posters, billboards etc.  Really cool stuff!  This was really fun to make even though I was tired and sore from work and working out.  Thanks for checking it out!

I scored a copy of the newest issue of Herbivore Magazine when I stopped by Whole Foods last night to pick up a few things for dinner.  I love this magazine, I can't wait to dig in plus it's just so pretty and I'm a sucker for great design!  I made yummy soft tacos with black beans, salsa, a wee bit of shredded soy cheese, lettuce, bit of toffuti sour cream a dash of spicy guacamole on whole wheat tortillas...mmmm mmmm yum!  Mostly I'm impressed with myself for working a long hard Monday, working out for 1 1/2 hours, stopping by the grocery store, proceeding to make dinner and then creating my Self Portrait Challenge!  YAY me!  Oh crap, just realized was supposed to call little sis back after she got off work, gah!  Sigh... Sorry Boop!  Damn am less impressed with self now!  Ciao!

SF PRIDE 2006!

It was a beautiful weekend in SF and PRIDE was AWESOME!  We had so much fun!  Our booth was great, I had a blast taking pictures of people with the Travelocity Gnome, oh isn't he just adorable!!  There were also adorable dogs and puppies EVERYWHERE!!  I saw the most freaking irresistible canines this weekend!  Lots of wiener dogs, one of my faves and a welsh corgi just like Ein from Cowboy Bebop I *heart* Ein and I *heart* Cowboy Bebop!!!  Yeah so it was heaven!  Well except for being surrounded by hot boys who were all gay, but it's OK.  I did get a wee bit of a sun burn though, but I don't think it's too bad.  I got some great pics that are posted below.  There were a lot bare asses out and about too and we got some pictures but I think it's a little too early in the morning for that!!  Hee hee!  Seriously, this is what I love about the Bay Area, about SF, I love walking around the city, events like Pride and seeing all different kinds of people, of all different ages, just have fun.  I love the diversity of this city, this area, I love meeting new interesting people wherever I go!  I love that everywhere has soy milk!  I love the energy that pumps through the streets of SF and up into me.  I love that I heard Opera today!  I love it here!  I had a FAB weekend, yummy sushi on Saturday followed by Sex in the City marathon, followed by sake cocktail yumminess at The Bar Fly one of my fave bars in SF followed by Soy Vanilla Chai and PB Bagel at Rocki'n Java in the Haight!  Then PRIDE Festivities, sun, dancing, Gnome silliness followed by a little Z & Kristin hang time.  Whew!  I'm tired, can I have a weekend for my weekend??  I'm excited for this week though, we get next Tuesday off for the 4th of July and have a little soiree at The Fly on Thursday YAY!  Enjoy the pics, now let's see if I can get a layout with pictures of the Pride Event published... that would ROCK!  Ciao!

It's Hot in the City, Hot in the City Tonight!

Yeah, that's right fellow Billy Idol fans, it's HOT in the City alright!!!  We have record highs in San Francisco right now.  Yesterday it was 85!  Which may not seem hot to most people but it RARELY gets that warm in SF, which means the rest of the bay is scorching!  I feel like I'm back in San Diego, it was this warm all the time, but at least I can break out my cute SD skirts that have been collecting dust in the back of my closet.

I finished this layout up last night, I like it, it was really fun!  I'm just happy to have done a page, it's been WAY too long!!  I have all these ideas swimming around in my head and no time to actually make the stuff.  I really love this Dandy Warhols song and it cheers me up when I'm feeling like a freak for my choices.  Plus I'm feeling very bohemian in this warm weather!

It's Pride Celebration this weekend in San Francisco, Travelocity will be out there with the gnome etc. on Saturday and Sunday.  Lots of people from the office are volunteering and I'll be there on Sunday.  Looks like it will be mighty warm out but lots of fun!  People get really excited about taking their picture with the gnome!  I'm excited about it!  It's going to be a fun weekend and it's almost here, YAY!

Hope you like my page have a great Thursday!  Ciao!

Got Milk?

Well it's Tuesday and that means it's time for The Self Portrait Challenge!  I'm so excited!  I was really sad I missed last weeks because I have had so many ideas on this one and just so little time to actually execute them!  Anyway this one is actually a form of the first idea I had with this challenge, it's kind of a parody (obviously) of the Print "Got Milk?" ads.  That milk mustache is all digital baby, no milk was ingested to create this ad.  It was tough because I had so much information to include I had to narrow it down to some key points.  I'm truly sickened by much of the advertising that goes on today because most of it is full of half truths or complete lies.  Especially with this ad campaign, (as funny as some of them may be) it's so totalitarian in scope, it's as if they are ordering you to drink milk, that milk is the only way, the holy grail of nutrition which 1) is completely not true and 2) annoying man!  Our society is brainwashed from grade school to believe these fabrications, this milk propaganda which truly just pisses me off!  Where does all of it come from???  The DAIRY industry!  Anyway this is an alternate view point, something that says hey damn it, some of us think for ourselves!  Some of us disagree with this crap, this celebrity driven farce!  Like me!  Pop art uses popular images, cultural icons, to say something, to force you to look at things just a little bit differently.  That's what I'm trying to accomplish here, there are some different ways to look at things, this is one of them.  Thanks for taking a peek.

Here is the text in case you can't read parts of it...

Worldwide estimates suggest that two-thirds of the population has trouble digesting milk after childhood. New evidence suggests that high-protein diets can actually cause calcium loss. Osteoporosis rates are very high in the United States and yet we are one of the highest dairy consumers in the world. Many nutrition authorities receive grants and other funding from various livestock and dairy industry interests. Animal products contain numerous compounds that can trigger cancer. Baby calves are removed from their mothers forever less than 24 hours from birth. Newborn calves are fed a milk-re-placer made from the cheapest possible ingredients, we drink their milk. Cows have a natural life span of over 20 years but starting around age three, they produce progressively less
milk after each pregnancy and are slaughtered at about five years of age. The modern day cow is almost constantly pregnant.

If any of this interests you and you would like to learn more about the role of dairy in health and nutrition I recommend two books.  Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating by Eric Marcus and The China Study both are in my what I'm reading sidebar here, full of great information.  They will also reference many other great books.

My Space Madness...

Hello my darlings, yes I have returned, I have not abandoned you!  My life is just crazy right now, so much to do and so little time, weekends are simply too short, I need at least 1 more day to accomplish all those little things that pile up during the week!  Last week was INSANE!  I was crazy busy, work was nuts, nuts I tell you, it's just now calming down, a little.  I also went to my friend Jessica's band's show Me and My Arrow at Cafe Du Nord one of my absolute fave venues here in SF on Monday night.  I had planned for the night out but still being away caused me to miss Self Portrait Tuesday and some sleep.  It was super fun though, I had a blast!  Let's see, I took my first spinning class on Monday and another on Friday wow, way more fun then I thought it would be but damn did my ass hurt!!!  Seriously after that first class, my ass was like bruised!  By Friday it was almost recovered but the first part of the class I was in pain and then it just went away, I've been told it gets better as you do it more.  Great workout, even with the pain.  Plus I did weights upper and lower on Thurs so by Friday night I could barely move I was so sore and exhausted!  I got my hair cut, chopped it off!  It's not super short but comparatively to how effing long it was it feels short!  I love it!  It's is sooo easy and dries so fast instead of me having to die while blow drying it for 15 hours!!!  Here are some of my pics, I had fun manipulating one of them.  I think the black and white one turned out cool looking.

Speaking of the pictures, so Saturday night prior to going out with my pals I uploaded these 3 pics to my profile on myspace about 8pm.  OK, I love myspace, I get to find the few people I've lost touch with and want to talk to and keep in touch with my friends, write silly messages to each other, see new pictures, keep track of what's going on etc.  However, there are the annoying solicitations and apparently if you log on, on a Saturday evening your ripe for the picking or something.  I seriously got about 20 messages, I mean come on, there are no boobie shots on my profile, nothing to suggest I'm a whore and yet I still receive the disgusting messages.  I actually got a message from someone with porno pictures on their profile, I mean some hardcore shots WTF??  Also an 18 year old boy and I mean BOY!!  Hello did you not see that I'm 29, you are a CHILD EEEEEEEWWWWW!!  GROSS!!!  I've hung out with my sisters friends who are 20-21 and those boys are boys, they seem little, like ew, no way could I date someone that young let alone an 18 year old, are you insane, I am not a guy ok!  Myspace is such a bizarre little world, I thought maybe my quote or headline might have been the problem so I changed it.  I loved that quote but it seems that most people ie. idiot perverted boys don't get it.  Even though I reference it, whatever, I should know better by now that most people are just not as cool as me ;)  It was "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw"  Which is one of my all time favorite quotes from one of my all time favorite movies Heathers.  Oh Christian Slater and Winona Ryder how you rocked my world.  That movie has a wonderful language all it's own, I heart it.  It's hilarious!  Anyway now it's "I Kick Ass For the Lord"  Which is another all time favorite from the beautiful, divine splatstick Peter Jackson masterpiece, Dead Alive.  I doubt anyone will get that either but at least they won't flag it as something it's not.  Or will they...

I get a lot of messages from guys who clearly did not take any time to even look at my profile!  Here it is by the way if your curious Katie on MySpace.  They always say things like, I really like your profile and it seems like we have a lot in common and your beautiful blah blah, so I click on their profile, out of curiosity and my own personal amusement and I'll see something along the lines of...

"My favorite movie is 2Fast and 2Furious"  Ummm what exactly was it in my profile that you thought we had in common???  I mean honestly if that is your favorite movie, please, move along, I would have to be drunk to talk to you, um no thank you.  Also if Goldeneye was a favorite also please go away.  There are certain movies that wave like a red flag for me those would be two of them! I mean clearly they just looked at my picture and thought hey "I'd do her" I'll message her and see if she's a whore...lol!

I have also had some really bizarre messages that go on and on in a scary way and then some that keep messaging weird come on's and then apologies. What's funny is that me and my friends send the good ones to each other, it's a good need a laugh while at work kind of thing!  The other warning sign are guys that message you and you click on their profile, their attractive seem ok but then you look at their friends and it's just sluts galore!  Your just like OK that's how it is, moving on.  Anyway, MySpace, silly, entertaining, sometimes gross little Internet social scene and it's addicting.  Enjoy the pics, have a good Monday Ciao!

Vegan Eats...

Yes, I did it, I got my act together and downloaded the food photos from last weekend!  It only took me a week but WHATEVER!  I also started and completed a layout last night, the first in a looooong time!  Felt good, need to do a couple more this weekend then I will feel a little more back to normal.  It's been too long since I've played and created!  It's so hard to find balance in life!  It's FRIDAY!  Woooohooo!  That means it's bagel day and today I'm getting my hair colored.  Not sure what color exactly, thinking dark blonde or light brown, something a little closer to my natural lighter blonde color but more fun (for me).  I just decided the dark brown is way too much maintenance right now, it's fun and I'm sure I'll do it again but I can't have roots in less than 30 days yuck!  My plans for the weekend, tonight after hair, run/walk at Lake Merritt with Z, go out to dinner and hang, Sat, cook, clean, scrapbook, take pictures, watch movies, Sunday the same, maybe brunch with friends.  Simple, relaxing, must de-stress a bit, decompress!  OK now the yummy photos!  Have a GREAT weekend! 

Muffin Madness!!!  Lemon Poppy seed & Carrot Raisin from Vegan with a Vengeance

Italian Marinated Grilled Tofu with Basalmic-Glazed Portabello Mushrooms, mmm, mmm from Vegan with a Vengeance

FORKING DELICIOUS!!!!  CIAO!

My Sister's Uber Cool!

Ciao, Ciao all, I neglected yet again to download my yummy vegan food pictures from my camera last night so they will have to wait until tomorrow.  To tide your visual palettes over until then I present pictures of my beloved sister and her new AMAZING, CHIC, HIP, MOD, Space Age 'DO'!  Seriously she looks like a model!  I love it!  It's inspiring me to be brave and chop my hair!  Not that short, I could not pull that kind of thing off!  She can, she has a beautiful face, and angled cuts look GREAT on her!  Man I can't wait until she moves here just so I can force her do photoshoots for me!  Hee hee I'm soooo selfish!  Wow I'm just in awe of her hair!!!  Also she just scored a job at Urban Outfitters which means Yummy discounts for us both!!!  I'm sooooo excited about that!  YAY!  I love discounts!!!  I have my eye on one of their couches/futon things so this is perfect!  Anyway not much new going on, work, work, work out, play in photoshop, eat some Thai food, sleep, rinse, repeat!  So here is one more picture for your viewing pleasure of the cutest hair cut ever on the cutest girl ever who I adore!  Have a great Thursday, YAY it's almost FRIDAY!!!  Woooo hoooo!!!!

Self Portrait Challenge...

Um mine is really late but as it is still 10:45pm on Tuesday I technically have time to post!  It's the day for the Self Portrait Challenge and June's theme is Pop Art.  Well I have lots of ideas on how to explore this topic and how it relates to self or self perception but didn't have time to delve into them too much.  The idea that has been swirling around in my brain has to do with how the original definition/impact of the Pop Art movement is vastly different in the corporate enviroment we live in today.  Even relation between Comic books being considered "Pop" strikes me as changed.  Take the Andy Warhol image of Mickey Mouse as presented in the 60's and put that same image in the context of the world today, two completely different statements, two completely different worlds.  Mickey Mouse then, a pop icon, rising, popular culture, animation, fame, Walt Disney's imagination, creativity, not an abstract artsy creation but one that appeals to the masses.  Today a multi billion dollar globalized corporate conglomerate that separates itself from the original innocence of Walt Disney's dream more and more each day.  Evil worldwide empire that uses children to sew those cute stuffed animals, pays lobbyists has a huge influence in domestic and worldwide politics, representative of American Corporate takeover.  Comics then, popular medium for the masses, comics now, marginalized medium, comic book movies... POPULAR... comic book video games...POPULAR number of people actually READING comic books um MUCH lower than in the 60's.  I can't wait to see how everyone interprets this one and the ideas they come up with.  Really a lot of inspiration and room to play with this one!!!  My image was inspired by both the many Andy Warhol pieces with repetitive images, bright simplified/cartoonish images and the angles in some of his photography.  I also wanted to make the focus of the photo my kick ass earrings!

The Great Hair Debate...

This is such a pathetic post but I can't help it I have a hair appointment on Friday to color my hair and the following Monday for a cut so I have to make a decision PEOPLE!!!  I'm soooo torn!  I LOVE my brown hair, seriously, it may sound weird but I have coveted dark brown hair for a Loooong time, it always seemed so hip and exotic to me!  However, ladies, you will understand this, OK, I'm a snob about my hair, who touches my hair, etc.  I pay a lot of money for my nice hair, I like my hair, I'm vain about my hair, I just am, I admit it, I embrace it.  So, I shell out basically with tip about $100 for my hair color and less than 30 days later, it had already faded and I started to see some blond roots, THAT FAST!!!  OK I am vain about my hair and all but I usually go 60 days and just get some highlights or something.  Now this week I have MAJOR blond roots, ugh, everyone tries to tell me you can hardly tell it's not that bad but seriously you can tell.  I'm just not accustomed to spending THAT much money on my hair and whilst I don't want to kiss my lovely brown coif goodbye I'm scared to commit to another cycle!  So TORN!!!  Maybe I will go a different blond, a little darker so I'm not quite as sad.

Then there is the cut.  My hair is simply entirely too long at this point!  It's driving me crazy!  The summer is the worst with my hair this long, last summer I had it in a braid all the time so I wouldn't have to go through the torture of blow-drying it!  It's miserable and if I don't properly blow dry it and straighten it, then the day after blow-drying it will be all kinky and weird and then I have to put it up anyway.  Thus I think I am going to cut a significant amount off, do something funky.  Which is probably a good idea given all the bleaching it maybe about to go through.  Dying it dark is actually healthy for it, going back to blond not so much, but whatever!  So this is my sad little dilemma, so very not interesting but it's what I have to contemplate at the moment.  I'm also inspired by my sisters uber hip modern new do.  I will have to post some pics of it this week. 

I did a good amount of cooking this weekend, I made two different kinds of yummy healthy muffins which my co-workers are enjoying at the moment and an Italian marinated tofu, grilled and portebello mushrooms in a balsamic vinaigrette and a potato and green bean dish Saturday night.  I have some pictures which I will post on wed because I forgot to download them last night and tomorrow is Self Portrait Challenge day and I'm sooo excited about this months theme Pop Art YAY!!!  Have to get home before the sun goes down to take some pics!!  I have a cool idea, (well I think) but it will take some time, actually I have a couple ideas but one to do for this week.  YAY for inspiration!!! 

Try to survive your Monday, I know I will... Ciao!