Comikaze Expo : First Timer

im pretty excited y'all! ill be attending Comikaze for the first time and im pretty excited. ill actually be attending Hello Kitty Con as well (the day before), so its going to be a rad weekend. The only Con ive been to is the Vampire Diaries (omg, Ian Somerhalder was like 15 feet away from me and i got to take a picture with Steven R. Mcqueen!) a couple years ago, so i dont know exactly what to expect from either of these Conventions.
I do know that i want to dress up for both. Lets start off with the Comikaze Expo!

Yep! i want to cosplay as Peter Quill/Star-Lord! Since i dont have much time to "make" anything, i bought his gun online (Meli did a recent post about Cosplay for Dummies: Store Bought and one of the links she recommended was Costume Super Center. thanks, Meli!) . i forgot that he has two, so im still debating whether to buy another or not (what do you think?). anyways, im really excited about cosplaying as Peter Quill, not only do i favor him a lot in GOTG but also because his costume looks comfy. haha. I also love the fact that he wears boots. i love BOOTS! haha. id wear them forever if i could (it just doesnt work in the summer unfortunately *sad faced*).
Now, its time to look for a red leather jacket or something super similar. I will be hunting at thrift stores. wish me luck!

--
Rosa

Chris Botti

i got to attend my first concert at the Montalvo Arts Center. i always hear about the place but have never been! i think a year ago or so there was a concert there that i wanted to attend, Randy Newman! ugh. but i didnt get to go *sad face*. the other night my friend text me if i still wanted to go to the Chris Botti concert, i said yes! why not! Montalvo? jazz music? live music? im there! ive heard some of Chris Botti's music before but dont listen to him religiously. my friend on the other hand, loves him! anyways, it really was a night of first for me! Montalvo and Chris Botti. i really wish i snapped some shots of the mansion but i really had no time. i want to take a day, go back and just photograph that gorgeous place.what i loved most about the concert in Montalvo was how personal it felt. it was a pretty small theater area and i loved how the stage was just so close to everyone.

i was seriously gushing at all the musicians and guest singers! i cant even begin to tell you how incredibly talented these people are. the first to appear was Caroline Campbell (sounds like a beautiful old school hollywood actress, huh?) well, she was very beautiful and the most talented Violinist ive ever seen/heard! so incredible. she had a solo that just blew my mind and ended with a standing ovation. second was Sy Smith! i mean.. i cant even begin to describe this womans voice. maybe, EFFORTLESS. and im really not exaggerating. please take the time to listen to Sy (and Caroline)! you will not be disappointed! Once Sy set stage, everyone immediately fell in love with her. not only with her voice but just.. HER. she was so spunky and fun! i would love to see her again! third on stage was the handsome George Komsky! an opera singer with a beautiful voice. George has performed the national anthem at the ATT Park as well as the San Francisco 49ers (HOLLA!) vs the New England Patriots game (in 2012?). it was that football game where Chris Botti discovered George and contacted him to become apart of his tour. so awesome! i must also mention how AMAZING the entire band was. Billy Kilson (drummer) was so BAD ASS.

at the end of the concert everyone seemed so quick to leave (maybe to catch the shuttle? but there really was no time limit for it. or maybe that the crowd was a bit older? haha. no idea). but my friend and i (along with like 20 or so people) stayed while we watched the techs clean up the equipment on stage, the line to the shuttle grow and uploaded photos onto our instagram. my friend had seen Chris Botti at Montalvo before and mentioned that he came out in the back to sign autographs. so we waited and im pretty sure all those folks that left had no clue about it. haha. so we went to the restroom and then made our way to where Chris Botti was. my goal the entire night was to get a photo with George Komsky. even standing 2 feet from him i just couldnt get myself to interrupt his conversations. so i waited and waited. but, FAILED :( i did, however, get my autograph from Chris and so did my friend. she also got a photo with him! at that time i was bummed about not getting my photo with George that getting one with Chris wouldnt have been the same. haha. lame, i know.

it was a really great night! i really want to attend another concert at Montalvo and to also see Chris Botti again!! i made a Chris Botti sample playlist on my Spotify if you want to take a listen, here!


--
Rosa

the year of kindness

 

what I love about this new year is that Im already crossing some resolutions off my list and its only been a week. haha. One of the resolutions I would like to focus more on, is helping & being kind to others (which includes animals). I mean, in any way that I can. I already started some acts of kindness (with the help of Kate Gabrielle!) She had also tweeted about donating to your favorite charity. I mean, I pay for Netflix and Hulu every month, why not this? So I started writing down some charities and organizations and found that WWF was a charity im most fond of. I have a heavy heart for Wild Life animals. But not only do they protect animals but also the planet. Ive decided to become a monthly donor! im pretty thrilled and I get to keep up with all the news on their twitter page. Im also thinking about adopting an animal in a couple weeks. yay! a fact about me: I actually wanted to become a Wild Life Biologist before majoring in Animation :)

to keep up with this resolution, ive decided to do one today! I went to Safeway today to get lunch and as I was passing the card aisle, I stopped. reading the list of Random Acts of Kindness (thanks to Kate, again!), I remembered one about sending a "note of appreciation"! I have so many people to thank and I thought this was a great way of letting them know how much I appreciate them. I bought a stack of cards and will be writing and mailing them out on Thursday! :)

one of my favorite bible scriptures: "and as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise" - Luke 6:31. I always try to treat people the way I would like to be treated. that's something some people forget. heck, sometimes I do to! but its always been pinned in the back of head since I was little. i simply smile and say a sweet "thank you" or "hello" when i come across rude people and its not to get under their skin but maybe they are having a bad day and just need that little reminder! They may need that simple kindness to get through their day :)

i hope this encourages you all!
hope you have a pleasant Tuesday!

--
Rosa Clementine

This past week

this past week, well past month and a half, have been incredibly hard on me. but I thought id share the good/fun moments! :)

1 // I re-discovered my love for Easy Cheese! oh my goodness.. haha.
2 // I bought beautiful October flowers for my mom. her birthday was on the 1st.
3 // I wore my adorable heart ring by the lovely Michelle from CreatureType.
4 // the Tweet that im still obsessing over from the verified Wilfred!! I tweeted my doodle and I got a tweet/re-tweet :)
5 // went to LB Steak house for one of my good friends birthday dinner. I know what youre thinking, "who gets chicken at a steak place" haha. simple, I didn't have the money for steak. haha. but man was my Fried Chicken delicious!!
6 // Sunday, we went out for my moms birthday (again). haha. this time my brother joined, so it was all of us together! We ate at a Filipino restaurant called Isla.
7 // Sunday was also my good friends birthday party. I helped her with a Vegas themed party. it was a success. We made/drank Mock Tails and even had a "High Rollers" room for the folks that wanted to play Black Jack. haha. it was seriously a lot of fun :)

*be sure to check out my post, before this one, for a week special in my shop.

Have a lovely Tuesday!

weekend snap shots

    1 // the Captain America toy I really really want! (from Target).
    2 // waking up on Saturday to a beautiful rainy day.
    3 // my sister took a photo of me zoning out to World War Z! oh and my baby niece fell asleep on me.
    4 // sushi dinner last night with my fam.
    5 // cookies and cream cookies. THE BOMB. bought the box mix at Target.

    hope you all had a lovely weekend.

enter my giveaway for chance to win two prizes.

ends September 27th.



a confession

ive dealt with so much insecurities since I was younger. too tall, chubby, thick eyebrows, broad shoulders, big feet, pimples, frizzy hair, the list goes on. High school is when I actually began to accept myself. There so many people taller than me, even girls! I tweezed my brows, lost a little weight, I learned to love my hair and people really didn't care so much on how I looked. Everyone looked different and that was the beauty of it. I felt good about myself, mostly because I was myself :) I dealt with insecurities from time to time but for the most part, I was happy with myself. Until a year ago. a year ago for some odd reason all of my confidence dropped. I hate photos of myself! I don't like when people take pictures of me and the only time I do is if im making a silly/ugly face or its me taking them myself, because.. well, I get to add the filters I want to make myself look decent. I don't know if its because im getting older but I haven't been happy with how I look lately. I gained weight (I started working out in Feb but haven't been able to go since July because work as been crazy busy), my hair got shorter (so many split ends) and my face has been breaking out like crazy. Not to mention there has been people in my life who have actually made me feel like im the ugliest person on earth (fyi: i don't associate with them anymore). Ive learned through all this to just make the best out of it, i should be happy with myself regardless of what others say. Yes, I still feel insecure sometimes but it helps to follow such amazing bloggers (Kate, Cazz, Michelle, EM, Marlyn and Bee) who actually gives me a bit of confidence. Sure, maybe I should give myself confidence but to be honest these ladies are inspiring. they are all beautiful in their own way!  I RARELY post photos of myself on IG or here on my blog (when i do, its usually half my face or not my face at all) but maybe that will change (maybe photos of me once in a while but not all the time haha. the photo above is a start). Lately, ive felt pretty good about myself. ive been wearing my favorite mascara, putting outfits together and figuring out what brooch to wear next! Sometimes, that's really all it takes to get a boost of confidence. Im doing my best to feel more good about myself! ill make that a goal!

enter my giveaway for chance to win two prizes.

ends September 27th.

beam me up, Scotty.

If you read my Past Couple of Days post, i mentioned that friday night was a little Star Trek girls night at my friends house. i also mentioned that i was going to DIY a Trekkie shirt as well. That didn't happen. i had no time to create such a thing. instead, i thought id do a "Star Trek Bound" (in relation to "Disney Bound"). So, of course red and black would have to do it! I also did my Starfleet Insignia brooch and you could see it in the second photo :)!
you probably cant tell, but I went as Montgomery Scott! haha. I had a lot of fun. we watch both movies! We had delicious pizza, chocolate chip cookies and drank ice tea and milk from wine glasses. I hope we do "girls nerd night" again and maybe watch Star Wars this time ;)
Star Trek is probably my favorite movie of the year. Though, until I watched The Worlds End. haha.
Still, Star Trek Into Darkness was brilliant and if you haven't seen it yet, please do!

hope you all had a lovely weekend!

also, don't forget:

 

forgive me

I really hope you aren't getting annoyed at my recent brooch postings! haha. im a little too excited about them.. also its really the only thing ive been working on recently. they have been a lot of fun to paint and its been giving me a boost of creativity. im wanting to keep a bunch of these, then I remember that I can always paint another. haha. my favorite brooches right now are the Mickey ears. I hope to go to Disneyland before the end of the year and rock one of them! Im also thinking of making some super hero brooches with my nephew in mind :) If you want to purchase your very own brooch hand-painted by me, visit my shop Pretty Clementine.

on another note, remember when I told you that I was reading three books? Well, have I ever told you that I get distracted easily when I come across another book? Which explains why I was trying to read three. haha. Well, Simon Pegg (only the love of my life.. totally kidding.. ok, not really.) has a book called Nerd Do Well that I have recently purchased. Ive put the other three books aside and I cant seem to put Simons book down. Im not even halfway done and it has already become one of my favorites. ugh, i adore him so much.

have a lovely Thursday!

i left my heart in..

Hello lovely bloggers :) How was your Labor Day weekend? Mine was pretty nice. Friday and Saturday we celebrated my nephews birthday. Saturday night we watched some of the VMA performances, I really wanted to see Nsync again. haha. After church on Sunday, some of my friends and I made a trip to good ol San Francisco. We ate at one of our favorite spots, Buckhorn Grill (mmm), and then walked around while we stopped at some shops (including Lush and Urban Outfitters). After that we headed over to the Pier were we watched gymnast do some daring moves on the streets, ate clam chowder for dinner, played at Musee Mecanique and had Ghirardelli's ice cream for dessert. It was a pretty long day but fun. The photos above are my favorite shots from the day. On Labor day I didn't do much but stay home and then headed over to my sisters where we watched Tyler Perry's Temptation and Argo. Both are really good by the way. One part of Argo I got up and started pacing back and forth in the living room having crazy anxiety haha. I cant even imagine if I watched it in the theaters. haha. I really want to buy that movie, it was really good.

Those of you who are wanting to purchase some brooches, they will be added to my shop by 6pm tonight :)
Hope you all are having a lovely Tuesday!

friday fun facts

here are some fun facts about me. happy Friday :)

(incase you wanted to know: orange cardigan/scalloped ring/bicycle tank top - all from Forever 21)

- Daria was one of my favorites to draw when i was little! I would wait for it to come on just so I can draw all the characters.

- Besides teaching myself how to draw, im a self taught painter (which is why I don't have any professional techniques haha). I loved drawing so much that I decided to try watercolor, then I wanted to explore the world of painting. I didn't start painting till I was 15 or 16 years old.

- my parents didn't really care too much about what I watched when I was little, so I got to watch Beavis and Butthead a lot :)

- my childhood crush? it wasn't Jonathan Taylor Thomas or Devon Sawa. It was Kevin Zegers & Elijah Wood (I still dig them both).

- I watched Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in theaters FIVE times. #nerdtothefullest

- The Incredibles is my favorite Pixar film. I'll always have the memory of my dad taking my brother and i to watch it in theaters and my dad had this embarrassing smoker cough and then he eventually fell asleep. haha.

- I went to the Vampire Diaries Convention in San Francisco last year. best day ever. I got to see Paul Wesley (Stefan), Ian Somerhalder (Damon) & Steven McQueen (Jeremy) on the panel. My friend and I also got a photo op with Steven! :)

-  Jay Leno waved at me. On my last trip to Hollywood, my friends and I decided to drive around Beverly Hills and look at all the fancy houses. When we were stopped at a stop sign, a man in an old school car was on the other side - stopped as well. My friend was driving and I was in the passengers seat. as we pass by she says "hey look its Jay Leno, wave." i thought she was joking and it was just a man that looked like him. But i waved anyway. when i was waving he gave a nod, smiled and waved back.. and our faces were in shock! we screamed! and all i was thinking at that moment was *omg, it really was him and he waved back*. haha.

- i spend a lot of time at Peets Coffee and Tea. Im there 7 days a week on my lunch break. Im obsessed with their Ice Vanilla Latte & sugar cookies.

- I loved Posh Spice. When i was younger i sent her a letter and attached a small plush toy to the envelope (i glued the tag to it). Later my mom handed me back the plush toy (it obviously wasn't aloud to travel with the letter) and i remember feeling sad that it never got sent to her. I wonder if she ever got my letter though, probably not. haha.

- i am the aunt to this adorable boy. my nephew Jonovan turns 9 today! happy birthday to him :)

its friday

happy friday pretty people. I have actually been sketching the past couple days but haven't had a chance to snap shots of them or scan them (for better viewing). Sorry about that :) Its been a pretty busy week. hm, well kinda. for three days I had a stomach flu and then I went out to dinner at a pho joint with some lovely friends last night. Currently, I am super exhausted. It took me forever to fall asleep last night! and now im here.. at work.. finally drinking an iced coffee. But its Friday.. is it weird that I want to do something tonight even though im tired? haha. Im taking my niece and nephew to see Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. Im incredibly excited! since.. I am a huge fan of the first Percy Jackson movie AND Logan Lerman (*swoon*). I even thought of having a Percy Jackson themed party at one point, itll happen someday. haha. Ill be sure to let you all know my rating for it. Along with two others that I didn't get to post.
oh, by the way.. im in love with my new blue and white polka dot sweater that I got a h&m. so comfy! its still a wee bit warm to wear it BUT Fall is right around the corner and im so excited :)
I hope you all are having a good day so far.. and I hope you have a tremendous weekend!

my friday tunes:

98* "Invisible Man" / Bon Iver "Holocene" / Benny Goodman "Goodnight my Love" / Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack

Survey says

So Indiejane had posted a myspace survey today and it got me thinking.. wow, I cant believe how many of those I did. haha. Honestly, I really liked them and I haven't done it in forever! So..... why not do one!? Here it goes:

three items you will always find in my bag:
chapstick, lotion and my phone.

my favorite guilty-pleasure is:

chicken fried steak and gravy with mashed taters.

if i could have lunch with anyone, who would it be?

That's so hard. My first thought was Tim Burton, then Chris Evans, then Walt Disney. BUT I think I would have a blast with Mindy Kaling :)

my favorite song lyric is:

Theres so much going on
Sometimes I can't find my way
And often times I struggle
Struggle from day to day
I have to realize that it's not my battle
It's not my battle to fight
I have to know if I put it in His hands
That everything will be alright

the piece of clothing in my closet that i have had forever is:

I would have to say, my jean jacket that I would wear all the time in high school. cant believe I still have it and it doesn't even fit me anymore :(

my favorite children’s book is:

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (+ LOVE the illustration in that book) and there was this book I would ALWAYS pick up but cant remember the name of it; the illustration looked a bit vintagy and there were animals dressed in suits and dresses. If someone knows that im talking about and knows the name.. please tell me :)

i am currently reading:

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

my favorite place to be is:

Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood. but mostly my room, haha.

one thing on my bucket list i haven’t done is:

Zip lining. I don't want to bungee jump or skydive but ill do zip lining. OH and swim with dolphins :)

my bringing-down-the-house karaoke go-to song is:

unfortunately, I don't do karaoke. haha. yep, im one of them shy people. But if I were to pick a song it would be any Nsync song. haha.

i am afraid of:

insects and bug bugs. even butterflies!

YOUR TURN :)
I would like to read yours, so leave me a comment if you do one!

that random thursday

sketching has been incredibly low on my list lately. lack of sleep. things come up. so, this is a random Thursday post of all things art related.
1 // watercolor - and my piece of Jessica Rabbit.
2 // bits of my desk - my paintings, art supplies, business cards, coke bottle & Alice.
3 // Coraline - in the beginning of the year I made a trip to Universal Studios & got to see this!
4 // toys - Just few of the toys in my bed room/desk
5 // fabric - Kate mentioned some vintage fabric in one of her Room Tour post. I got my vintage sheets here.