:in love with a girl:

Everytime we go to a show at Detroit Bar we have to hit up Alejandro’s next door..

Ahhhhhh what a week it’s been! I feel like I have zero time so I am going to  line up several posts so there’s at least semi fresh content on here while I am still acclimating to my new job.

I’m having a lot of fun and trying not to look like a complete idiot as I dive into the world of video game dev. It’s only been my fourth day and the new job jitters haven’t worn off completely, and, just as I was worrying day and night whilst in Japan about pissing off an entire country, I am worrying constantly (and needlessly of course) about saying/doing/breathing the slightest thing wrong.

Overall it’s been really nice though. Everyone there is very nice and laid back. It’s also very funny to talk about video games with your coworkers, and have it be a “work” conversation. In fact, playing cell phone/Facebook/computer games is considered research and actually encouraged.

And now for photos! I am playing major catch up, but I will spread it out over the rest of the week and hopefully be much more rested and established by this weekend.

Strawberries from Mother’s Day brunch ♥

This cat is so handsome and such a shit head at the same time.

Scenes from suburbia

Grilling ultimate burgers at home

Super old one! Orange Datsun.

Leo has been keeping me up at night, literally digging around his box of cat stuff and bringing toys to me in the middle of the night. Part of me wants to enjoy him while he’s still a young cat and the other part just wants to sleep. Anyone know a good way to entertain your cat and satill get some sleep in the dead of night?

Current Obsessions: bubblegum ice cream, Game of Thrones, popcorn, Luke Lalonde, Candy Crush Saga, coral colored lipstick

Ahhhh just had a lovely and relaxing weekend in San Diego with my mom :) I hope everyone had a happy Mother’s Day. Here is me with my mommy and family:

I used to draw constantly as a child and I would get really upset when my drawings wouldn’t look the way I wanted them to. It didn’t help that I had no concept of sketching and wanted to draw perfectly on the first try too. This is one of the best and worst aspects of my personality— I’m frequently never satisfied and will keep pushing until I reach “perfection.” But sometimes it’s just not attainable and I upset myself over nothing.

One day I was having a tantrum and my mom held me tight and told me, “Nothing is perfect!” I was pretty upset and disagreed, but it was one of the best things she’s ever told me. Truth be told, the more I thought about it, the better I felt, and it was like a huge weight off my mind thereafter. I’m still pretty crazy-bitch when it comes to getting things right, but I remembered this fond memory this weekend and am going to take things more in stride. There is perfection in imperfection, after all.

More pretty pics of the Kowalski garden! I am growing a bit of a garden myself on my balcony, courtesy of various cheapy Target and dollar store plant growing kits. Most of them are doing quite well and there’s something fun and therapeutic in seeing seeds you’ve sown grow fresh and green. I can’t wait for the flowers to bloom!

I took a walk with my mom around my neighborhood. The weather’s so damned hot but the evenings are really nice in SoCal. Can’t wait for summer!

… and here are some random pictures from around the apartment/etc. that I needed to post somewhere :}

I also have been holding on to some semi big news lately but been somewhat apprehensive about posting it here. But what the hell. I have gotten a new job! I am no longer a graphic designer at an advertising agency, but a UI artist for a video game company! Quite frankly I do not have any experience in this field at all, so this is a bit of a break through for me. I know I have a lot to learn and I’m sure I will struggle and have to work hard, but I am excited and scared and happy for the future ♥

A lot’s been going on recently, but I’m glad to finally be able to post. First and foremost, I am now the proud caretaker of another living thing in this world— my new cat Leo. I’ve had extremely limited experience with pets, so this is all kind of new and scary…

I got him at the OC Animal Care shelter in Orange last Saturday! The experience was really nice, and I highly recommend this shelter. As for my new kitty, he unfortunately has a cold right now, but otherwise has been adapting to me and Nathan and the apartment just fine.

My mini 2 day vacation from a couple weeks ago included seeing Polica at the Observatory.

Super yums ramen that Nathan made! We got the ramen and chashu at Mitsuwa and added snow peas and egg. It turned out so yummy, we want to try variations in meats, tofu, and other veggies another time ♥

More food! But I can’t resist pho + neon lights. This is from a cozy Thai and pho place near our apartment that is the perfect cure for rainy days.

There is a super amazing Mexican place near Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa that we’ve driven past several times. It’s always looked so cool (the giant fiery torches outside really help with that) and is covered in interesting murals like these cute lanterns on a pink wall.

I have some really big news to announce but I will delay it for next post. It’s been a long couple weeks but life is going to change in a big way soon I’m simultaneously super excited and scared ♥♥♥

Random side note: I’m always self conscious whenever I start sentences with “I.” See? It just makes me feel like a douchebag that’s talking too much about myself. Anyways.

I (see?!) was pulling some pictures off my phone and it’s just now come to me I have a ridiculous amount that I just haven’t edited or even thought about in a thousand years, let alone posted. So perhaps I will have a weird post of scragglers that have been waiting around. Yep.

And now, here is me in a super cas(ual) outfit. The title of today’s post is the “cas” of “casual” written in IPA so you know that I’m saying /’kaZH/, not just “cass” or “cazz” or some BS. Thank you college linguistics course that I took instead of real people math!

Did you notice my California necklace is backwards? I lack the necessary skills to put on my jewelry correctly. Also, I am holding a lantern that fell off the rafters.

Current Obsessions: lemon poppyseed scone, gardening, playing 3DS, PixelJunk Monsters, painting vinyl toys

I was going to try to update a bit more often and here I am, a week out with nothing new. And it’s not for lack of having done stuff. Indeed I feel like I am always busy, or at least, always tired.

I have been on something of a mini vacation (just 2 days) though, and I am feeling quite good now… I finished several little projects yesterday and just generally feel more rested. I don’t get vacation time at my job, so taking a couple days off like this is a miracle worker. Oh! Also planning on exercising (?!) more so I have more energy. 

My dad is in the process of moving stuff to Utah, but I got a chance to see him this weekend. To celebrate his return to the states, we went hiking in the mountains near our house in Santee, something we used to do when I was very young ♥

So, it’s become apparent recently that my family does not like to keep me in the loop of things. Case in point: my dad, who has been living in Thailand for the past couple years or so, has come back to the United States— just found this out a week before he was slated to return. Furthermore, he is moving to Utah so he can participate in dinosaur fossil excavation. I shit you not.

Anyways, I was surprised at how much I really missed him being gone. My family just isn’t one of those tight knit lovey dovey WASP families you see in 90s movies… we love each other in a nice, dysfunctional we-cool-but-I’m-gonna-go-live-on-the-other-side-of-the-world kind of way. But it has indeed been a long time since we were all even in the same country together.

A few weekends ago I went to Balboa Park and the Space Theatre with my dad, aunt, and aunt’s friend, which was really fun. We saw two films in the giant dome theatre and then walked around this awesome desert plants trail nearby the park. Also rejuvenated my love for space again. 

My dad borrowing my sunglasses

Me wearing my sunglasses

Strange growths

I want my own cactus garden :)

I am feeling verbose as of late. Verbose, but not coherent. And with that, I leave you with miscellaneous photos that want out of my phone and into the oversaturated collection of nonsense on the internet.

I saw Kishi Bashi with Tall Tall Trees at Detroit Bar about a month ago. Such a good show! We were actually there to see Shugo Tokumaru headline but he cancelled at the last second. It was still super fun and I got a really cool poster and other shwag there. In fact, KB had a TON of awesomely designed/hand made merch. That’s design and marketing done right.

I never cut apples like this, but this is how Nathan has cut two of them for me recently. It’s actually pretty cute, but hard to eat around.

It’s not that I’m into obnoxiously bright #YOLO #SWAG crayola blood bath colors, I was just tired of my Easter eggs having only the barest hint of color. I got the finest cheapest dying kit at the grocery store the day before, and followed directions for the most vibrant dying, that’s it. 

This kit is supposed to have glitter in it, but it just looks like I sprinkled salt on them. Bullshit. I decided I would add some metallic paint to spruce them up, but apparently I am terrible at it. Nathan and I just sorta gave up and started half heartedly slapping paint on at that point. Then we just said fuck it and made vaguely colorful/glitter egg salad.

The fine art of urban car wash stations. AKA I was bored while sitting on my ass watching Nathan wash his car.

Alright, I’ve been on a pretty bad hiatus, I admit it. Just as you may have presumed me dead, I have felt dead, or at least in a weird state of living i n the background of my own life. Nice. Relegated to side character in my own existence.

I’m actually blowing that way out of proportion. In reality I’ve been extremely busy and productive! No really. And I have something to show for myself too! So I guess what I’m actually saying is, I’ve just been a zombie. Zombie Tiffany for the past month. I will try to get back on non zombie track now.

I am pleased to announce the new redesign and massive overhaul of tiffanysmart.com, my professional and semi-personal portfolio! I did like my old design, but it was time for a fresh new modern look. Also all of the work was ridiculously outdated. Yay! In case you are wondering, I think I played way too much Assassin’s Creed or something because the design is vaguely reminiscent of the Animus GUI. Well fuck. 

So yeah, how’s about that for… excuses as to why I’ve never updated my blog? Answer: good enough.

I feel stupid not posting pictures, so here are some (I have a ton more to sort and edit)