★☆ Happy 2011! ☆★

[Currently listening to the BlazBlue Original Soundtrack - BlazBlue is a fighting game for the Playstation 3; I recommend it for it's interesting storylines, characters, and of course, the rockin' music by Daisuke Ishiwatari!]
Good morning everyone, and a Happy New Year 2011 to you all! Can you believe it? Another year has come and gone, so you know what that means right?

A brand new year - a brand new day - a brand new start!

A lot has happened to me this year, but the most unforgettable thing about 2010 was when I had my car accident in March. I may have mentioned this quite a bit in my blog this past year, but this accident really turned my life around as well as my family's. We've gotten much more close than we did before and I feel like I've grown into a stronger and wiser person in many, many ways.

And speaking of a lot, I realize that it has been a little over a year since I started this blog! I have a lot to catch you all up on, but I will do that in my next post :) A couple of highlights I do want to mention, so that I won't forget:

~Update to the conclusion of the car accident case
~My new second job!
~My new YouTube channel - my plans for this year: new vlogs!

A year ago, I wrote down my New Year Resolutions for 2010 - let's see what I wrote and how I did!

1. Controlling my food intake and drink more tea/water.
I think I've been doing well with my food intake. I learned to tell when I'm getting close to being "comfortably full" and overindulged a lot less. There have been a few times that I have over indulged in my favorite foods, but at least I'm doing it when I know I have been doing a good job for a while. :D I've been drinking a lot more water this year, especially where I work. Water is essential to the body especially if you plan on moving around a lot, and I think I did a really good job. :)

2. Making the most of my day by getting up early.
Actually, since I started exercising after getting off from work, it had been harder for me to fall asleep easily as soon as I get home. That's because while exercising my endorphins kept my mind awake. There are times when I force myself to get up early when I need to but then I feel extremely tired later on. I think I've been doing a good job with getting up early when I have to, but at the same time I need make sure that I take care of myself so that I won't overcompensate my body from lack of sleep.

3. Do a few minutes of yoga every morning and hit the gym at least 3 days a week.
I have done some yoga in the morning, but what I've been doing more of was actually stretching. I like to feel all warmed up before I start my day, so I made sure to stretch, even if it was only for a minute or two if I'm in a rush. I made it part of my work routine that if I work at my main job at the retirement home, I go to the gym after I clock out. I do at least an hour of workout, and a few minutes to cool down with stretches or yoga. As a bonus, I motivated a few of my co-workers to work out with me after work! Motivation is contagious!

4. Read a little more each day.
I'll be honest: I didn't do a whole lot of reading as I hoped to do this year :( There were a list of books that I really wanted to read, but I get so caught up in wanting to rest after work or playing my video games or even cleaning up around the house that sometimes I'm just not in the mood to read. I'm not talking about just reading blogs - I'm talking about reading an actual book. :( I thought about getting the new Nook, but then I thought about how I might not be using it that much either with my schedule... I will have to do a better job and find some time to read even if I am busy. :(

5. Organize, organize, organize!
...I will also be honest on this one: I haven't done a good job with that either... Even right now, my belongings in my room - with exception of my make-up, jewelry, and clothes - are in complete disarray... There are times when I find myself scrambling for my things at the last minute when it's time for me to leave for work or wherever I need to go. This will be added to my personal list of things to improve about myself for this year.

6. As much as possible, try out something new each day.
For this one, I did say that I was going to try to improve my cooking skills. For each month, I made a couple of new dishes right in my own kitchen. I have found a couple of new favorites that I enjoyed making: Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup, Iced Pumpkin Harvest Spice Cookies, and Steak Dianne. I also got the opportunity to explore different restaurants and cafes with my boyfriend Taylor in the last year to get the "taste of the town" and we made a lot of interesting discoveries! We are adventurous eaters and will try almost anything! I plan to keep this up this year!

So I did all right in 2010; there is a lot of room for improvement though!

For 2011, here is my new list of New Year Resolutions:

1. Update my blog daily - I realize that I haven't been connecting with you guys here as much as I really should, so I'm going to update my blog everyday. Even if it's for the most random stuff, I'll post it. :)

2. Update my vlog channel daily - I have created a new vlog channel for my everyday vlogs on YouTube :) My challenge is to record each and every day of my life, even if it's just for a few minutes each day. When I get a laptop at the end of this month, I'm planning to use that to edit my videos for my main channel - look out! I'll be cooking for you all very soon!!

My main YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/xsimplyreikox

My vlogs: http://www.youtube.com/xsimplyvlogsx

By the way, here's an updated vlog from my main channel, taken about half an hour before midnight last night/year:


3. Continue to keep myself fit by going to the gym after work or exercise at home.

4. Starting today, I'm going to cut out SODA from my diet! As much as I like to drink soda, it's got sooooo much sugar! I'm also trying to set an example to my family, especially to my brohters, so that they can control their soda intake. My mom's diabetic and she stopped drinking soda a long time ago. I want to try to do the same thing this year, so for one whole year, I WILL NOT drink soda! :)

5. I need to improve on my organization skills - big time. :o

6. I have also noticed this year that I've had a terrible spending habit - I have thought of a method that will help me to spend money wisely this year :)

7. Try to cook more! :)

...and there you have it guys!

So here are my questions to you guys:
1. What are your New Year resolutions? :)
2. How did you do with your New Year resolutions for 2010? Did you do a good job? Are there things you want to improve for this year?

I wanna hear your thoughts! :)

I'll chat with you all tomorrow! Time to get ready for work!

Happy New Year everyone - I hope your year will be wonderful and bright!

With love,

~Reiko xoxo

~*☆Happy Thanksgiving! ~*☆

[Currently looking at my new YT video that I just uploaded! :D]

Hello everyone :)

...and Happy Thanksgiving!! (^o^)

I just finished making some pumpkin cookies!
This is the cookie recipe that I used for a pumpkin bake-off at work last month. I didn't win, but it was so much fun to make! They're soft, chewy and just so delicious...

...want the recipe? Well, here it is!

===Iced Pumpkin Walnut Harvest Cookies===

[Ingredients]

For cookie dough:

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup cooked, pureed pumpkin (either canned or fresh)
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

For icing:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoons either heavy cream, Grand Marnier, or Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum/rum extract (tip: try blending each of them together! My personal favorite is the Captain Morgan icing :D )


[Procedure]

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla - mix well. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt (and walnuts too) - mix until well blended.

3. Drop cookie dough by the spoonful onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake in the oven about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool onto cooling racks.

(I added some confectioner's sugar snow while mine cooled :D )

And while your cookies are baking/cooling:

4. Cream remaining butter and confectioners sugar together. Add vanilla and heavy cream/Grand Marnier/Captain Morgan until creamy. If consistency is too runny, add a little more confectioner's sugar; if too thick, add small amounts of liquid at a time.

5. Drizzle or brush icing onto cool cookies.

...and enjoy! :)

And speaking of enjoying, enjoy my Thanksgiving video! I will be announcing my holiday contest on Black Friday - here on Blogspot and on my Youtube channel. Details soon!

Gobble gobble!

With love,
~Reiko xoxo

★☆ A Nice Day Off with Reiko :) ☆★

[Listening to 恋愛♥ライダー (Renai Rider) by J-pop band Buono! - if you like the anime Shugo Chara, you'd know this song! :) ]

Hello again everyone :) I hope you're doing well - I know I certainly am :)

Before I begin, just wanted to update you guys about the DSKJewelry contest:

As you guys know, 44 girls, including myself, entered to be the new model for the DSK Jewelry line. It's very impressive how Steph's work has reached many girls all over the place, and I'm very proud to have been one of the 44 :) I didn't make it, but a shoutout and a big congratulations to Kayleigh! You go, girl! :D

This was one of the best experiences of my life and I'll definitely be doing this again next year :Dv I'll always be supporting DSK Jewelry! Steph's website is here if you want to take a visit:

http://dskjewelry.blogspot.com

So, I had my day off today, and I decided it would be fun to take my camera with me and show you guys my favorite places to go and things to do :) I haven't made many videos since getting my new Samsung digital camera, so I decided try out something new and have fun with it :) I'll be editing later when I get home from work tomorrow, but I can't wait to try it out and share my day with you!

I was able to take some pictures along the way too, and they'll be posted here :)

Here's a few pics I took of me before I headed out the door :) I love the Beauty function on my camera!

I wear my DSK Jewelry proudly :)

I added one of the small crystals from the Strawberry Lemonade necklace for a fun and sweet look :)

My Earth crystal earrings - they're so beautiful and iridescent in the light :)

My Dainty Moonlight Heart bracelet - I love the tiny heart chain :)

I even straightened my hair a bit - I almost never do, but I was feeling good today. :)

The first place I had to stop by before anyplace else was the post office again to drop off the rest of my textbooks. I had two big boxes and one nicely sealed padded envelope. After a 10-minute wait, I was able to drop them off, but there was a problem with one of the boxes: The label was completely different from the ones that I delivered last week and didn't have a label for postage. This was how the label came after I processed the books online, which really sucked because I had to pay $6 extra for postage... Well, you get some and you lose some. =/ What matters now is that the textbooks are well on their way and I should be hearing back soon from the websites about payments for my books. The money will go toward me getting my new phone - I've decided to finally get an iPhone :) Whee!

I love going to libraries; I love being around books and I always find something new each time. It has been a while since I've checked something out so I decided to pay the Central Library a visit for a book inquiry and looking for new music CDs. It turns out that so long as my books are fairly recent (by a couple of years), I can donate them there. On Thursday morning, I'll pay them a visit again so that they can take a look at my books - they might be able to have good use of them :)

It didn't take me very long to find some new CDs to listen to. By the time I came downstairs, I already had 11 albums in my arms!

Jessie James - Jessie James

Ryan Cabrera - Take It All Away

Vanessa Hudgins - Identified

The Phantom of the Opera Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Josh Groban - Josh Groban Live at the Greek


Josh Groban - Josh Groban Awake Live

I stumbled upon a few albums by Japanese artist, Kitaro - apparently he's a Grammy Award-winning artist!

Kitaro - Thinking of You

Kitaro - Mandala

Kitaro - Best of Kitaro

Step Up 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Enrique Iglesias - Escape

I wished I was able to take pictures inside the library, but I didn't want to take the risk of getting yelled at...

I got hungry, so I went across the street to one my favorite places: Tropical Smoohtie Cafe :) I worked here a couple of years ago and I come back to visit when I can :)


This a really cool cookie bouquet! This was made by Cookies by Design - The Original Cookie Bouquet Company, just a couple of stores down from Tropical Smoothie Cafe :)

My late lunch! :) A Get Up and Goji smoothie and a Sesame Chicken salad - yummers!

After eating I headed off to my favorite hangout spot: Barnes and Noble! As I said, I love being around books! If I could, I would spend an entire day either at the library or at B&N :) My favorite sections to read are the cookbooks, manga, and New Age. :)


I posted on Twitter that I love being in the New Age section, looking at the Astrology books because I think it's really interesting and mysterious how it weaves into our lives. It's interesting to read about, but really, I think that we are the ones who have control of what we do in our lives - just got to have strength to believe in yourself! :)

Apparently I spent about 2 1/2 hours at B&N! I guess time really does fly when you're having fun and enjoying yourself!

I gave Sephora a visit since I'm running out of my concealer... I usually use Make Up Forever brand, but as much as I love it, I was looking for something that was still of great quality and easy on my budget. I was referred to the Sephora collection and got the concealer stick. I also got a couple of products from Philosophy that I'm going to try out later on tonight. I guess it's going to be another entry of "Does it Work?" for these products! They'll be shown in the pictures below.

...I got hungry again, so went to a really cute and yummy frozen yogurt shop called Swirls! They opened at the beginning of the summer in Lynnhaven Mall. Taylor and I have been here before and they have neat flavors for the yogurts; our current favorite was green tea :) They didn't have green tea today though, but I picked out the pineapple coconut and cookies and cream yogurts.

You can even top off your yogurt with fruit, cookie dough, candy, cookies, sprinkles and cereal!

I stayed on the healthy side and added my favorite fruit :)
Did I forget to mention that I'm really liking this over gelato?? It's healthier for you and I got 10oz of this for about $4! Healthy for my body and my budget, lol!

From here I gave @SleeplessFish aka Taylor a visit; it was a very short visit, so no pictures >_< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi09C3NMpFr5kjMtP4FntGlRvF7KVSF5Zr4qDQ79UdsV5mNNn8ixAT0_IIFakcFw5eaPJk58ynfmhBAVYiI-G09NFY-6M0keAFAlivXgjEydxjr6zu19fi2_ZYXMb_01CzuCFTkeHDed04/s1600/SAM_0745.JPG">

Philosophy's Purity One-Step Facial Cleanser - I've heard many good things about this and I can't wait to try it out :)

Philosophy's Hope in a Jar moisturizer

I've never owned anything by Dior before, so this is exciting! This is a sample of Dior's Multiperfection Cream; it's supposed to help lighten darkened complexions and wrinkles on your face.

The concealer stick from the Sephora Collection in Medium :)

It pays off to be a member! I got a free birthday gift!

Included was mascara, white eyeshadow and eye pencil :)

I can't wait to use them soon!

All right, time to rest my tired hands... Again ^-^ I hope you had fun reading :) I'll come back tomorrow with another fun entry for you~! I'll also be editing my videos so you can come along with me on this fun day :)

Until then, sweet beautiful dreams xoxo

~Reiko xoxo

♠ Launching New Blog Soon :) ♠

[Listening to disc 3 of Fruits Basket anime at the moment :) ]

Hey, everyone :) I hope you're having a good day so far - I know I am :)

Remember Taylor? :D He turns 24 today :) Yay!!

Just thought I'd put a funny picture of him for starters ^-^;; (Tay, if you're reading this... xoxo!)

Sadly, he and I are working today, but we will celebrate tomorrow since he has half the day off and I'm off all day :D We plan on having an early dinner, go see Last Airbender, just have ourselves a good day :)

But can you guys believe we're already 7 months into the year? Like... Where has all that time gone, you know?? I don't know about you guys, but through the good days AND the bad, I'm enjoying each day to the fullest and I'm learning a lot along the way. I hope you all are doing the same. :)

I've decided that for my future entries for my recipes, I'm going to create a separate blog, and keep this blog for random happenings of my everyday life :) I think that's a pretty good idea so that I can keep them organized better, so in the next few days I'll let you guys know when I launch the blog site. :)

Again, I'm crunching on time, but I thought I'd write to you guys for a little bit; not to mention that this laptop that I'm writing to you all with is the only working computer in the house - the computer that I currently have in my room has something wrong with it (I think some spyware worked it's way into the computer and now I can no longer browse the Internet...). I will only have limited time and access to you all here but I will update when I can :)

Until next post, you all have a great day! :D And to celebrate Taylor's birthday, and his love for ocean things, here's a picture of me when we went to the aquarium in May:

With love,

~Reiko xoxo

♠ Court Update and Some Sweet Things :) ♠

[I figured out the name of the song! It's 3OH!3 feat. Ke$ha's "My First Kiss" - playing that now! :D ]

Good morning everyone! :D I meant to update yesterday, but had a lot going on :)

...I'm guessing you all wanted to know how the court thing went?

Well... I'm sad to report that there was actually no hearing yesterday :( Dad and I were at the courthouse for quite some time to learn later that the lady who hit me had a no-show. Her lawyer kept apologizing to me for having to wait so long and that the case will be rescheduled for August 26th. Needless to say, I was rather disappointed because I had been looking forward to this day for a long time and wanted to have all this behind me when it was over... Now it's going to be a couple more months of waiting... So until then... :(

I wasn't going to let this get me down, so I had some time yesterday to take some pictures with Taylor at the beach :) The real reason for the picture taking, though, is for the contest that I am entering - the DSK Jewelry model search! I will making a post in the next day or two talking about the jewelry, what it's all about, and even show you guys pictures of my pieces :) I look forward to showing them off to you all!

Until then, here is a preview of the pictures that were taken yesterday :)

Taylor and I; it's one of my favorite pictures of us :)

Enjoying the sun at the beach :)

Sitting pretty :)

Reiko for DSKJewelry! :D

Look out for the new blog entry that I'll post soon about DSKJewelry, okay guys? :D

I'll also be able to post new entries for my food recipes :) I know it has been a while since I posted something for all of you, but please be patient, as my schedule oftentimes keeps me very very busy :) And now that I also have a brand new camera, I can add pictures to show you guys step by step how I make my food :D I can't wait!!

Time for me to get ready for work, but I will be back soon :) Until then, have a wonderful day!!

...oh, did I forget to mention that today marks me and Taylor together for 1 year and 11 months? :D

And one last thing...

Think of you, babiiiii xoxo ♥

With love,
~Reiko xoxo

♠ Slowly Counting Down... ♠

[Currently eating dinner - Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich and a large sweet tea to be exact!!]

Hey, all you cool cats! :D I hope you all had a very good weekend - I sure did :)

Again, I'm crunching on time, and it's late at night... Since I'm in the dining room with my laptop - and with that being the only working computer in the house for now... - I can't play any music since my dad and brothers are trying to sleep... Don't want me to get in trouble do you? ;) Just so you know though, you know that new song from 3OH!3, featuring Ke$ha, the one that has the lyrics going, "My first kiss went a little like this"? It's been on my mind for a while... Pretty catchy. Just saying! XD

Also, I do have pictures, but I will have to wait to post them until tomorrow. So we'll save those and the rest of the most recent news until then. :)

...anyways!

Wanted to let you guys know that the court day is set for tomorrow morning. I have mentioned that this will be my very first time participating in a court session (I'm testifying as a witness), so I'm excited, but at the same time, a little anxious as to how this will all play out. Well, I really shouldn't be so nervous since I am not the one at fault for the car accident back in March, but I guess I just want to see how everything plays out in the very end. My dad will be in the courtroom with me, so at least I'm not going there alone with my lawyer and the other participants.This day has been on my mind since I received the subpeona 2 weeks ago, and now the months of waiting will come to a close... I will update you guys with the results when I return. Wish us luck! :)

Other than that, I'm doing well! It really is summer time, and it's not just from the ridiculous heat that has come to my hometown! Today it reached as high as 102 degrees, or so it said on the odometer on my way to work this afternoon. The notice on the doors said that it is a black flag day and that outdoor activities are to be suspended. I don't really know about that though: even though the black flag warning has been posted all around the building, some of the residents at the retirement still go outside; I don't know how these people do it, but there is a small group who absolutely love the game of croquet - I think they've been outside for an hour or so, with the sun not bothering them at all! (I think they must be real die-hard players to be playing in those conditions...!)

Anyway, when it gets really hot wherever you may be, make sure to keep yourself cool - stay inside if you must, and be sure to drink LOTS of water! I don't want to hear any of my readers say that they're not doing well because they're not keeping cool! T_T Play it safe!!

All right, until tomorrow, everyone, have a good day/night wherever you may be! :)

Lots of love,
~Reiko xoxo

☆Let It Snow! ☆

"Happy Snow Day 1/30/2010"
[Currently listening to Oceanlab’s “Sirens of the Sea” album, beginning with “On a Good Day”]

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good weekend – mine was very busy but also very good for two reasons: I started off my weekend celebrating me and Taylor being together for a year and a half and we *finally* got some snow on the East Coast, where I am!

Since I haven’t been able to get on here all weekend, let me bring you all up to speed to how my weekend went down:

Friday: I got up very early to get the rest of my ingredients to my Chicken Noodle Soup tutorial (which I know you guys are DYING to see at this point!). Since I had already made plans to meet with Taylor, I had to work in haste – not only did I make the Chicken Noodle Soup but also tried a new recipe: Irish Cream Brownies. Both recipes are very easy to make, and in the next blog entry, I’ll add the tutorials and pictures to show you guys how it all turned out =)

Taylor and I went to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory; it was very nice because not only was the food (and cheesecake) good, but the time spent chatting and laughing away was just… priceless. It didn’t feel like we were there for a couple of hours, but it was still fun and relaxing nonetheless. By the way, if you like mushrooms and pasta, try the Pasta di Vinci (or if you don’t like mushrooms, like Taylor, just give them all to me!).
Afterwards, we got to watch Avatar! I know, we got to see it so late, but the waiting was worth it. Although it reminds me of a mix between Ferngully, Disney’s Pocahontas, and Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke, Avatar was actually a very interesting and entertaining movie. What really stood out to me the most were the vibrant colors in the world of Pandora – how cool is it to see the plants and other surroundings glowing brilliant colors at night?! Each night scene had me mesmerized… Why can’t our world be like that?! Anyway, I really enjoyed Avatar, so if you haven’t seen it yet, see it while it’s still out in your area!

Saturday: Woke up to SNOW. Finally, we got some snowfall for the first time in a long time. Tay and I said that we’d believe it when we see it… And we did! Thinking about it now, I think the last time we had good snowfall like this was when I was in middle school or beginning of high school… Luckily I didn’t have to go to work until later in the afternoon, and even though I don’t like being in the cold very much, it wasn’t a good snow day without pelting my family with snowballs and building a snowman in our yard. YES, IT WAS A REAL SNOWMAN - one of my co-workers thought that we just put a trashcan and covered it up with snow, when really the whole thing was completely made of snow!! T_T I have a lot of video footage that I need to transfer to my hard-drive, but I’ll come up with a compilation video in the next couple of days, assuming that I don’t get too busy then. Work was actually very good despite the limited amount of workers, including me, who could come in. The coolest part about the day was when my dad helped out my co-worker, Yolanda, by getting her car unstuck from the black ice that developed while she was working. Yeah, Dad was being awesome about taking me to work and back home since I was very reluctant to drive my baby Rav4 onto the developing ice.

Sunday: Busiest night on a day that wasn’t supposed to be! Again, we only had a limited amount of workers with us and so many people to take care of. I thought I was going to go berserk from the madness. Good news was that I kept my cool as much as I could before *almost* brain-farting the rest of the night. By the end of the night, I was so tired that while waiting for my mom to finish her shift, even waiting by working out at the gym made me even more exhausted! As exhausting as it was this weekend at work, it was worth coming in taking care of the elderly and chasing paper =)

So, did you all get some snow where you are? I think we got at least 4.5 inches altogether; how about you? Leave me a comment and let me know!

All right, I’m going to go ahead and get started on the next blog entry and you guessed right: the food tutorials! Read on and enjoy!

xoxo,
~Reiko ☆*.

☆Filler: "The Most" ☆

[Currently listening to episode 5 of Gokusen Season 3 :) ]

Hey everyone, I'm sorry for the delay in the entries; if you've been following me on Twitter, I've had a very busy weekend and I hadn't found much time to work on them. I will be finishing them tonight, so I hope to have them up by then. I hope you all are doing well, and I thank you for your patience :)

As a filler until then, I'd like to share with you something that I received from my tennis coach in high school a few years ago; it's an e-mail that he gave to us during tennis practice one day and I recently unearthed it from my old possessions. I want to share this with you all because this applies to all of us. This is called "The Most"; perhaps some of you have seen this at one point, but please read it:

"The Most"

The most destructive habit:

Worry

The greatest joy:

Giving

The greatest loss:

Self-respect

The most satisfying work:

Helping others

The ugliest personality trait:

Selfishness

The greatest problem to overcome:

Fear

The most effective sleeping pill:

Peace of mind

The most powerful force in life:

Love

The most dangerous outcast:

Gossip

The worst thing to be without:

Hope

The two most power-filled words:

"I can."

The greatest asset:

Faith

The most beautiful attire:

A smile

The most prized possession:

Integrity

The most powerful channel of communication:

Prayer

The most contagious spirit:

Enthusiasm

Our greatest teacher:

Experience

...and remember: To the world YOU may be one person; but to one person, you may be the WORLD.

Keep this in your thoughts and in your heart, you guys because these are very true. Which one of these are most true to you? I think all of them do, but for me, I would have to say that Love really is the most powerful force in life; a life without love, for me, isn't life. That's why as much as possible, I try to love as much as I can with the things that I do and in the things that I say.

All right, I have to let my dad use the computer for right now, but I hope to have the other entries up by tonight. Until then, be well everyone, and don't forget to love with all your heart! :)

Much love,
~Reiko ☆*.

☆Reiko, the Dream-Weaver :D ☆

[Currently listening to "無能為力 (translated as 'Helpless')" from the Cantonese movie "Love Is Not All Around (十分愛)".]

Hi everyone :) I hope you had a good day, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to make a blog post as I orignally planned for yesterday because I was very busy getting some homework done for my online classes. Ever done all-nighers? Regretfully, I've done it too; sure I got a lot of things done, and yes, I know it's not a healthy thing to do, especially for my body. ...but you know what, guys? I'm breaking the habit, starting now. From now on, I'm not doing that again for my assignments. Ever. Time for a readjustment in my schedule and routine for a little bit, but at least I'm taking the baby steps to get me there. :)
As you may have guessed from the title for today's blog, I'm going to talk about knitting and crocheting for a little bit. No, it's not a tutorial, although I am planning on putting up tutorial blogs in the near future. The main reason why I brought up this topic tonight is that I noticed recently from one of my college friends on Facebook that she was struggling to learn how to crochet. I was actually very excited and happy for her to take on a new hobby, so I encouraged her to keep on trying (and eventually she got past making the chain stitch!).

I'd like to share with you all a little bit of my experiences with crocheting and knitting, so please sit back and read on! :)

I learned the basics of crocheting from my mom when I was in middle school. My mom taught herself how to crochet during her younger years and growing up, I learned to appreciate the art of crocheting through the lace doilies she made. The way the lace looped and intertwined within itself was fascinating, and I couldn't help thinking, "My mom made something like this?" When I was in sixth or seventh grade, my mom and I came up with a project: to take turns crocheting my blanket. I chose the colors and patterns, she got the yarn, and for each row of color, I learned a new stitch. I'm not sure how long it took us to finally finish it but long story short, it did take a long while and the blanket acutally ended up being very BIG. Big as in... you can fit 3 grown people in it very comfortably. Yeah, it was that BIG.

By eighth grade, Mom slowly taught herself how to knit, but I was reluctant to learn since it looked difficult and confusing. I continued to crochet here and there until I got to college, and I haven't done much crocheting until this past year. During my junior year, I asked my mom to teach me how to knit, and yes, I will admit that I was very confused and stubborn at first - it took me days to finally understand how to cast-on on my own (no help of books or even the Internet at the time either!). Eventually, through the help of online videos and forums, I have advanced in knitting techniques and have made blankets and scarves for myself and my friends.

I have been crocheting for many years and am still branching out with knitting, but overall I enjoy yarnwork with either technique because each completed project is unique - you put your time, effort and your heart into making it so with each item made, a part of you will remain in it. It's also a very relaxing activity; I use it as a method for clearing out thoughts or even daydreaming - sometimes I'll visualize the future image of my project and think, "I can't wait to give this to so-and-so" or "I can't wait for my very own so-and-so" (if I don't feel like buying new clothes, lol!). What I like most about doing this is that it's not only a personal activity but a social one as well. In my last year in my home college, I joined the knitting and crocheting club and I got to meet a lot of young women who shared the same interest as me; I even received a lot of advice from advanced knitters within the group, and thanks to them, I've become more confident in my yarnwork skills.

So girls and guys - yes, guys can do it too! - I encourage you all to try out something new, especially knitting and/or crocheting because it really is fun. It really does take a lot of time, patience and concentration to learn and make new crafts, but in time they can be done. If you get yourself caught in a slump, don't give up! Remember that success comes in cans, not can'ts, so ask for help if you need it and don't stop until it's done! (...yes, you can have breaks in between - I didn't mean it like that lol!) If you'd like to seek help, I'd be more than happy to share my advice personally through my blog, so I hope you'll stay tuned! :)

Okay, everyone, I need to get to bed soon, so I wish you all sweet dreams :) And speaking of sweet, I'll be buying the ingredients to my chicken noodle soup tutorial and my secret sweet tutorial for my boyfriend, Taylor, for our anniversary (1.5 years!). The full tutorial is scheduled to be up on Saturday night. :)

Until next time,

With love ~Reiko ☆*.