Mascara Painting

I'm thinking this is the perfect thing to try when my mascara tube kinda dries up and I can't use it anymore but there is still good stuff in there. Waste not, want not. Plus I love this song and Bette Davis.

Fearless Video

Awesome video! I love the way it's shot and all the mixed media elements. Not to mention, Taylor Swift looks like an amazing performer. I'm a big fan but I won't ever going to a live concert, most likely, so this is the right amount of insight.
xox riv

The most important things...

Saw this on the RISD campus today while I was walking around during the hurricane watch... so true

Video Phone

one of my favorite videos of the year. I love all the outfits and the dance rift in the middle with Lady Gaga.

I want to apply this idea to some fund raising...

Uniform Project Picture Book from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

I love this project so much! It's heading into it's second year. I want to design my own little black dress to do this with. The two focuses I would like to donate to are:
--Education in Africa
Check out the documentary, A Small Act, which is about The Hilde Back Foundation
--Cancer Research

Are you fund raising for anything in your community?  Let me know for what and how!

How to be Alone

Starting my own business means I send a lot of time solo working and traveling.  But since my days of living in Tokyo when I was 17, I've cherished my alone time.  Here's a poem/video that pretty much sums up all the great things about and to do when being solo.

Tea is my salvation

Happy New Year to all!

I have moved back to my home town of Chapel Hill, NC.

I hope to prosper and do well in 2010.

I've made a few changes to my daily routine to simplify things- i.e. make my life easier, less stressful.

My #1 New Year's Resolution is to cut back on Coffee!

I hope to save money by not drinking so much coffee.

Less jittery energy where my mind is firing too fast to comprehend.

Less crashing and running out for more coffee.

Less wasted time running into some rando person at the coffee shop and talking with them when I should be sewing at home.

Less dehydration. 

Observations from 2009- A day didn't start constructively until the first cup of coffee was consumed.  Some days 2-3 cups were inhaled.  I love coffee, it smells good, tastes good in its many forms, ice cream, espresso, with a little cream.  I would pull over during road trips to brows books and drink Starbucks at Barnes&Noble whenever possible.  Many trips were made into down town Carrboro to buy $3 cups of coffee when I would be too tired to figure out how the coffee maker works at home.

My #2 resolution is to drink more tea instead.

A few things I've learned from Body+Soul Magazine Feb2010 (read the article here) about green tea:

Green tea has about 50mg of caffeine per cup, compared to 175mg in coffee.

Because green tea hasn't been fermented, it retains an antioxidant called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), thus Green Tea may reduce the risk of cancer.

I have also been enjoying Lady Earl Grey by Twinings, introduced to me by my friend Marjorie.  Marjorie is Scottish and has the sweetest accent, she told me that this tea was just for ladies and tastes especially good shared with a lady friend at 4pm- Tea Time.