Coral Amber

Over the weekend, I bought what can only be called “mom jeans.” They have a comfort-no-gap streatch waistband that reaches my navel. Of course, they bring back brain flinching memories of being called “Urkel” in junior high, but I actually sought them out on purpose. The weight I gained since last time I bought jeans has caused all my lower rise pants to give me a delectable muffin top that I secretly fear will someday land me on peopleofwalmart.com. These high-waisted wonders slim the bulge without cutting into me and make me look taller and leaner. So, in the fight between sweating to the oldies and and shopping with the oldies, laziness has won out for now, but there maybe a rematch this summer.

I spent a lot of time last summer interning at a library to finish my LTA degree. I decided to create the visual part of my final presentation as if it were an undercover spy’s dossier. I might not have finished on time except the due date was pushed back a week at the last minute. Let me know what you think!

Well, sugar cookies shaped like cherry blossoms anyway. My friend and I decided to try out my new cherry blossom shaped cookie cutters to make these delicious treats.

That’s me getting covered in flour while rolling and cutting the dough into cute blossoms.

A closer shot at the shape of the raw dough.

I’m smiling at these cookies because I managed not to burn them. They are happy survivors.

Oh wow, they puffed up so big!

I decided to recut the freshly baked cookies so they kept the stylized cherry blossom shape.

We had fun decorating with different colored icing and blingy crystal sugar sparkles. I kept the super big one all for myself. :-9

I have a lot of projects I’ve done for my library technical assistant classes and I wanted to show them off in a fun way. I created an online portfolio in scrapblog with pictures, videos, and links to my written projects. This took me about a week to make, working a few hours (or more) a day, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these creative projects. Leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Yoda is a four eared cat who has become an internet star since his pictures were posted on the internet by his owner. He isn’t the only genetic anomaly among cats, many can be found with extra toes or ears, but he is one of the cutest. He was also a stray before he was taken in by his loving family and given his fitting name. They found him in an alley by a bar while watching a bears game. He’s quite possibly the coolest cat I’ve seen in a while.

While I’m not a girly-girl by any means, I have trouble not liking anything cherry blossom inspired. Their fleeting beauty in the spring makes me want to celebrate all year long. They are becoming such a popular theme that a resourceful internet search can yeild some classy jewelry online that’s still within a reasonable price range. Here are some of my favorites that are unique and sparkly.
On the right is an adorable ring I found on Amazon that started me on my quest to find more sakura bling. It’s a wrap around ring made with cubic zirconian stones to resemble a single branch.
For a more organic look, I like this ring that has an entire cherry tree branch filled with tiny pink blossoms. I found it on a British website and every customer had rave reviews for it, saying they got complimented whenever they wore it. That was enough to make me very envious.
The Japanese icon for the cherry blossom is a stylized blossom with notches cut out of the petals. This lariat necklace is my favorite representation of that style with both a full blossom and blossom outline. It looks so similar to the blossoms on a retro travel poster I have. It’s a custom piece, so it requires a little more effort to get one, but I think it would be well worth it, don’t you?
Finally, if you need something more glamorous for a more formal occasion, I suggest these cherry blossom earrings made with Swarovski crystal. I found these on Amazon and somewhere there is a matching necklace, but I didn’t like it quite as much as these elegant and simple earrings.
These are my favorite pieces from around the web, but if you find some you like please leave a link in the comments. Who can wait for spring to see the cherry blossoms again?

Hi! Meet Purply, my first creature created in Spore Creature Creator. I find him both odd and endearing. Spore is the much anticipated new game from EA that promises to let you “nurture your creature through five stages of evolution: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space. Or if you prefer, spend as much time as you like making creatures, vehicles, buildings and spaceships with Spore’s unique Creator tools.”
The creatures are extremely customizable in a very easy to use interface. It’s fun and slightly addictive to make your own creature and then watch them dance, sing, play or pose. You may be wondering what to do with a creature once you’ve made it. Post it in the Spore online community with pictures or videos available right in the game. You can even record a moving avatar. After that, you’ll have to wait until the full version of Spore comes out next month.
Spore comes out September 7th for around $60, but you can start making outrageous creatures with the Spore Creature Creator free trial or pay $10 for the full starter kit.

I don’t even realize how much I miss the humor of Buffy until I watched this clip for the never realized Buffy animated series. She hit herself in the head with a stake! So perfect. Why isn’t anything else on tv quite this funny? Why didn’t a network pick this up? Why aren’t they just doing it on the web so I can get my fix? The world is full of unanswered questions.

I’ll admit I am a bit biased towards female type robots. They are just cuter. After all, half the point of having a robot is that it’s adorable to look at (which also explains my feelings toward robo-kitties). Last Christmas, Sakura was at the top of my list. She was adorable, lit up, and had a small vocabulary of jokes, Magic 8 Ball like fortunes, and other cute sayings. She even will keep your secrets, but I haven’t thought of any to tell her yet.
The robot is posable, but only moves on her twirling, whirling scooter. My friend’s kids had a blast dancing “with” her and asking her a million questions. She resided on my nightstand for months, but I have moved her to a display shelf where I wouldn’t knock her over as much in my morning stupor. Sakura is still available on Amazon, but the price has gone way up from the under $20 pre-christmas price.

Over at Dvice, I saw a beautiful storytelling robot called Murasaki. Murasaki-bot tells the Tale of Genji in Japanese, complete with gesturing and fan brandishing. It’s just a prototype for now, so it isn’t available to buy, but I really want her. I can only hope she comes with a USB interface so I can program her with my own MP3s and sequence of gestures. If nothing else I would love it if she connected to my computer and moved in reaction to getting email or hearing music. Gah! Will my dreams of a desktop buddy never be realized?

Femisapien is the newest release from WowWee toys. It’s a pretty advanced and interactive bot for the money, only $100.
She walks, dances, and poses like a model and will even hand out business cards. You can teach her to move by posing her in sequence and she will remember it and repeat it. She will actually dance with you. If you hold her hands she will sway to and fro just like an awkward junior high student. In Kiss Mode she blows kisses at anything placed in front of her.
She speaks “emotish” which I can only assume is like Furbish and not like angsty Morrisey songs. There is a link to a comprehensive review over at Engadget, complete with video. She is the least cute of the bunch, although she makes up for that with feminine movements.
Overall, I am still disappointed in the lack of programming available for these robots. Although they all do a variety of tricks, each is still just a toy. Perhaps I want too much. Well, here’s to the folks writing programs for the Nabaztag and the Tux Droid. May your innovations lead to the perfect cute and customizable fem-bot!

It’s so easy to wonder where the summer went. While the days are long and warm I want to make sure I fit in the little things. So here is a list I wrote earlier this month:

1. Make a mix CD (I used to do this every summer).
   
2. Ride my new bike (I’ve been foiled twice, once by a stuck garage door and then by a flat tire).
   
3. Make a flash video (with my toy robot Sakura).
   
4. Bake a yummy dessert I’ve never done before (perhaps crème brûlée cheesecake).
   
5. Write a poem.
   
6. Write a children’s book (based on my Moon Balloon idea).
   
7. Create a scrapblog.
   
8. Clean out my room (I need to pare down).
   
9. Paint my toenails.
   
10. Wear my new bikini.
    
11. Write encouraging sidewalk notes.
    
12. Play a spy game (hopefully with invisible ink).
    
13. Make a smoothie with my smoothie blender.
    
14. Eat at an outdoor cafe.
    
15. Fly a kite or play some Frisbee.
    
16. Watch the movies and read the books I already have on the shelf.
    
17. Copy files onto portable hard drive (already started!).
    
18. Get a haircut.
    
19. Make some jewelry.
    
20. Work on conversational robot program (this one is kinda tricky).