UUPP gift card giveaway!

Today I'm very excited to feature a great artist, illustrator, mom of 3, and fellow blogger trying to spread smiles and love to people :)

She is Carrie of the Etsy store "UUPP". 

Her prints are not only cute and fun but also inspirational and UPlifting!

They have definitely inspired and helped me, especially after the earthquake and tsunami hit my home country. 

I can't imagine anyone not smiling when looking at her prints!

Just like me, she is a big foodie as you can see from her prints.

You can also tell how much she loves her home, and how much she "loves to love"!

Some of my favorites are:

Uplifting hearts through art...I need do more of this! To inspire and make people happy through my music, as well as my blog!

Here are her responses to some questions I had for her:

What inspired you to start making these prints?

I started making prints in response to some really difficult times I have had over the past few years.  We all go through these times at some point. I really looked for things to help lift my spirit. I find hope, peace and love, through my family, friends and faith life.  I started channeling my creativity into designing art prints of my favorite quotes, inspirational sayings, anything that was uplifting. I decided to open a store and name it UUPP (unique uplifting positive prints). That name seemed to capture everything.   I have been overwhelmed with the response from people  who have found something uplifting about my work.  It feels really good to know that I am able to use my gifts for others in this small way!

What are your goals? (with your prints, as well as in life!?)

I am currently writing several children’s books. I have illustrated 15 books already. Writing is my new venture.  It has been really exciting to pursue this.
As far as my Etsy store, I have more ideas than I could possibly create in a lifetime.  I love that though.  I am going to continue to make work from the heart.

What else do you enjoy doing? (other hobbies, talents, loves :)  )

I absolutely love to garden, both flowers and vegetables.  I also love to cook as you can probably tell by my Julia Child section in my store!
When I am able to convince my teenage daughters to garden with me or cook with me, it makes it even sweeter. I also have a 2 year old and he loves to do both.




Today, she's offering one of my lucky readers a $10 gift card to her store! 


To enter:


Become a follower of my blog (scroll up and click the "follow" button and then leave a comment below telling me what your favorite work is from her store! She's also got notecards too. And also started doing custom quotes!


For Bonus entries (leave a separate comment for each action):


Become a follower of Carrie's blog (+1 entry)
Like Carrie on Facebook (+1 entry)
Heart her store on Etsy (+1 entry)


Giveaways is open WORLDWIDE and ends Tuesday, May 3rd at 11:59 PST.

Orkestar Meze & Giveaway winner!

Happy Easter everyone!
I wanted to color some eggs and I totally forgot to get the kit for it...well..there's always next year!
Hope everyone's having a nice Sunday whether you celebrate Easter or not :)

Yesterday I went to the Topanga Earth Day Festival where my hubby performed with Orkestar Meze, a Balkan gypsy funk band. Here's a taste of what they do...

That's my hubby with the blue cap playing alto sax :)
Danceable, FUN, awesome music... provided by TALENTED members who are all current or past students of CalArts (California Institute of the Arts)
led by Milen Kirov (vocal/keys) a doctorate student at CalArts. Be sure to check them out!
Please visit their facebook page to learn more about them :) Feel free to like them on facebook!
If you like their stuff, they are also accepting donations online towards the making of their first album.
If you make a donation, you can receive special perks including digital recordings before the official release of their album!
Check out their fundraiser page!

Also the winner of the Bath & Body Works Giveaway is.......

Jacqueline! Congratulations!
Thank you to everyone who entered and have followed my blog!
Please stay tuned for another giveaway soon!

Happy Friday , Happy Deals

Dress-Threadsence/Woven belt-Forever 21/Boots-Nine West

Happy Friday everyone!

Although my head looks really big in that first picture,
I'm excited that the number of my blog followers jumped from 6 to 23 in a matter of a few days!
Thanks to everyone that has entered my giveaway already!
If you haven't entered my giveaway for a bath & body works body cream, please do!
You have until tomorrow!

Today, I did lots of "wifey" things since I had the day off.
I'd never been to a laundromat until a week ago, and I went again today
(since I don't trust our inconsistent laundry facility at our apartment anymore...)
For some reason I always had this idea that laundromats are dirty and crowded and no fun...
But it is the exact OPPOSITE at this laundromat! So I've had a pleasant and happy experience
doing laundry for once haha.

My happy deal I wanted to mention was that it was my first time getting gas at Costco today
and yes, their gas is cheaper than any gas station around!
It may only be 10 cents or somethin' cheaper but money is money!
I'm sure you can all agree with me that we wanna save as much money as possible
with the ridiculously high gas prices!
Are they ever gonna go down again?

Since I cancelled my ticket to Japan in March,
I re-purchased my tickets for August.
I learned that you can potentially save a lot of money if you book an airline through their PARTNER
airline! It's a "code-share flight".
So I saved $300 for an ANA flight to Japan through the United website!

What are your tricks in saving money?
coupons? or even using energy efficient light bulbs?
water coolers over store bought water? hand making everything?

First ever outfit post!

Crochet tank top-New York Company, Plaid shirt-Forever 21, 

Denim shorts-American Eagle, Shoes-Threadsence

I always wanted to do an outfit post and finally got the chance to do this :)

It's so much fun!!!

I'm pretty satisfied with what the iphone 4 camera produces! pretty neato...

Photography by this handsome guy 

aka my hubby :) love you and thank you!

Stay tuned for more outfit posts.

Don't forget to enter my bath and body works giveaway!

More happy things are ahead of us :)

Bath & Body Works Giveaway!

I'm pleased and excited to offer a Bath & Body Works Triple Moisture Body Cream (a $12 value) for my second ever giveaway!
The winner will get to pick ONE of these five scents (carefully selected by moi!): White Citrus, Dancing Waters, Sweet Pea, Forever Sunshine or Carried Away.

***Please read all directions or your entry may not count***

To enter this giveaway:

Follow my blog publicly through Google Friend Connect 

(scroll up and click the button that says "follow")

and leave a comment below telling me about something happy you encountered lately :)

Sorry, this giveaway is open to U.S. Readers only

For a bonus entry:

Read & leave a comment on one of my older posts

then come back here to tell me which one you left a comment on!

Giveaway will end Saturday, April 23rd at 11:59PM PST

Good luck! 

urban items

I know Urban Outfitters has the cutest clothes.. but do they have the cutest day to day items or what?!

mini donut maker

mirrored bird cage jewelry display

measuring spoons

poodle salt & pepper shakers

Fisher Price record player 

USA Map Chalkboard

And these are just some of the SALE items...I want everything they have!!!

When we move to a new apartment in June, I would love to go all out and decorate the heck out of the place with some cool items like these...

Smiling Sunday

Happy things:

Got to do some hip hop dancin' with my friend. I used to dance a lot, as I mentioned here,
and finally am gettin' back into it again and I am SUPER SUPER happy and excited about this!

Ate a delicious Ramen & Salmon Egg Bowl combo today!
I think Japanese food is no doubt my favorite food..
Santouka Ramen in Torrance has awesome ramen noodles... and their combos are such great deals!

A lovely gal I know has just finished her training to be a yoga teacher and I went to her classes.
She is awesome! It's really great how I can really clear my mind while doing yoga
and how much lighter I feel after each class! I'm hoping to keep doing yoga.

I've been playing Epic Mickey on wii a lot...it's quite an amazing game..
I think it's one of the best wii games out there right now.
You use paint and thinner to change your surroundings and complete challenging quests..
I'm glad I bought it!

Got a free "cotton undie" coupon from Victoria Secret. Don't you just love those?
I have too many freebies from that place :)

This isn't super new, but my hubby and I have been watching the tv show LOST from the very beginning since we'd never seen it before and we are definitely hooked! We watch an episode when ever we have the chance to! It's funny because we've never been "tv shows" people, except for of course, the OFFICE. Nothing can beat that show.

This is even more old news, but we finally got a brand new MacBook Pro after my hubby's computer died. Though it did live its maximum lifetime I think. 6 years or somethin' like that. I was always a PC person but now, I think I'm gonna feel weird when I use a PC. These things are great and I'm sure will last very long.

Re-discovering a song you love but hadn't heard in so long. I think this has happened to many people before and it's one of the coolest feelings ever...

Stay tuned for some cool news...(giveaways, perhaps)
I'm also going to start doing outfit posts so stay tuned for that too please :)

And feel free to share anything happy (no matter how small) you encountered this week :)

Also head over to Carrie's blog for a chance to win a $20 gift card to her Etsy shop.
She creates inspiring and UPlifting prints!
I'm going to feature her and her work soon and she has also kindly offered me to do a giveaway on my blog also!!! Exciting!!!

More happy things are ahead of us!

Eventful

It has been an eventful and great week though and yes, full of happy things (of course!)

Like I said before, even though it's been a very rough month because of the earthquake in Japan,
we still have to try and remember the happy things that are around us. 
We have to look up.


I won tickets to the first ever LA Spring Fair and there I saw this little guy who's in the picture. 
So adorable. 
Animals just have this amazing power that heals you and makes you smile,
We got to pet a baby gator, see kookaburras, an awesome magic show by this guy and his kids, 
ate bacon wrapped hot dogs and drank fresh lemonade. 
It wasn't a very big fair but we did get to see the Nascar practises
(since it was at the Toyota Speedway) and they were awesome!
I can not imagine my self at all in one of those cars though.
Height and speed are some of my biggest fears haha. 
If I were in one of those cars I would break down before the car did.


I also won a giveaway through a blog so that was exciting!


And I went to a certain gallery/yoga studio in LA to meet with the owner as I've been trying to organize a fundraiser gig and she was interested in letting me hold it there.
There I met two of the nicest people ever, Peter and Anne.
They happened to be visiting from Oregon and we talked a lot.
When I was leaving, they handed me a $20 bill and said,




"This is for your fundraiser event because we may not be able to attend.
Good luck with the fundraiser and we'll be thinking about you"




Amazing and beautiful experience that was.
I was speechless.
Thank you again to them... 




My hubby and I have been attending many of our music major friends'  
Undergrad and Graduate Recitals a lot lately.
And every time I go to one, I am reminded of how honored I am
to know such talented, awesome and nice people that I can call friends.
I'm very proud of them and wish them all the best in their next chapters of their books.


I can't believe it's been 4 years since I graduated college...


...so uh before I am reminded of the fact that I'm getting old...


Here's a happy announcement!


Stay tuned for a giveaway in the next few days!

More happy things are ahead of us :)

(Sideways) Scrabble

Happy things...

Playing Scrabble with your good friend that couldn't quite remember the name of your blog lol (This is one of my favorite board games of all time. I hadn't played it in a while but I think I still did pretty good...)

Buying two of your favorite movies for $4.99 and Wii games that you had wanted for $25 each. (Burn After Reading and The Blues Brothers--I highly recommend them both if you love laughing! Burn After Reading is just hilarious..and the Blues Brothers is a CLASSIC and a must-see for all music lovers) 

Booking a flight back home (JAPAN) for the summer! I'm hoping things would have settled down by then. I'm excited that I'll finally get to see my family and that I can somehow help out with the earthquake/tsunami relief from over there as well. 

Hiking with your hubby on a nice, sunny Sunday. Because you can spend a good hour or two with him. Plus, even if it's a short hike, it makes you feel so much better physically and mentally!

Having two extra days off this week! The music school I teach at is on Spring Break this week. 

Having way too much prosciutto in your fridge. Why is prosciutto just insanely yummy?

I always need to STOP my self from eating too many in one sitting but it's usually too late.

Winning 4 free tickets to LA's first Spring Fair! Yay! Not only did I win but I was also on the radio :)

Now we just have to find a good time for me and the hubby to go--it's looking very difficult at the moment but I know it will work out!

Please, even if you stumble upon this blog randomly, feel free to comment or just look back on your week and remember the happiest things that happened to you, even if it's small!

More happy things are ahead of us!