I realized recently that we didn’t have enough magnets to post things up on our fridge, but looked around and found it hard to find magnets that I really liked that weren’t expensive. (Why are magnets so expensive? They’re just magnets…) So I decided to explore my inner Martha Stewart to create my own. I did some research online and found that these handmade marble magnets are a very easy DIY project and you can customize how the magnets will look by what patterns of paper/cloth you put inside them. It seems like it’s a very common DIY project, so there are lots of tutorials for them out there, but the one I chose to follow was at Not Martha. The instructions are very thorough and come with step-by-step photos.
All you need are small round magnets (you can find them in packs), marbles that are flat on one side, circular cut-outs from patterned/illustrated paper or cloth (the most tedious part was cutting them out), silicone glue and a toothpick to help with assembly. You can find all of them at Michael’s or any other craft store, so definitely try making these yourself!
Here are the magnets that I created…
I made a batch of fifty... no shortage of magnets for a while!
Experimenting with different patterns and cut-outs from magazines.
Some of my favorites used musical notes (Ã la sheet music) and typed text.
Just came back from seeing GLAY live tonight, and they were absolutely amazing! I’d even say they were better than last year, but maybe that was because I was closer to the stage this time, and they played more of their older songs that I’m familiar with rather than all the new ones they played off of their VERB album. The concert was held at The Fillmore, just like last year, and Miwa and I got there just an hour before the show. They had opened the doors earlier than they had last year, so although I’d been expecting to take my place at the back of a six-block-long line, we were able to get in right away. We even had time to go buy some merchandise (they were selling GLAY 2009 Tour t-shirts) before claiming our spot, standing pretty close to the stage (only about 15 feet away!).
GLAY rocked The Fillmore as hard as they rock Tokyo Dome, even though the venue was 100 times smaller. They went through several of their famous numbers, including Yuuwaku, GLOBAL COMMUNICATION, VERB, More Than Love, Survival, Starless Night, among others… and of course my favorite, HOWEVER. Miwa and I were jumping, screaming and fist-pumping the whole way through, along with our friend Jason, whom we ran into, and his friend and two random older Japanese ladies who came all the way from Japan to see GLAY perform up close. At one point, TERU saw us and smiled and pointed at us, which was the highlight of the entire concert for all of us… haha* We were exhausted and sore afterwards, but it was so much fun! Their encore song was I’m In Love, which set a great tone for the end of the concert. At the end of the concert, TERU promised again that they’d be back — he made the same promise last year and lo and behold, they kept their word so we’re hoping they’ll be back in San Francisco again soon! In the meantime, I wish them the best on the rest of their short but much-anticipated tour in the U.S., which will be two performances at the House of Blues down in Los Angeles this Friday and Saturday. I love that GLAY performs so well live and always puts forth their best for their adoring fans, whether the audience is as massive as in Japan or as humble as the crowd that still managed to pack the Fillmore tonight.
GLAY released a best album earlier this summer, entitled The Great Vacation ~ Super Best Of GLAY, and spread out over two volumes (3 discs each). It includes most of their big hits over the past 15 years that they made their major debut. You can get a preview of it here.
UPDATE:
Last night’s show got some press in the SF Weekly. (Read the article)
TERU wrote about the San Francisco concert at his blog, TERU ME NIGHT. (Read the blog post)
Last Saturday, we went on a chocolate factory tour at Charles Chocolates in Emeryville. My sister Miwa (who recently relocated to the area) is doing a research paper on cocoa and chocolate, so we went in the name of “research.” It’s confirmed for me that chocolates — not diamonds — are a girl’s best friend.
arriving at Charles Chocolates in Emeryville
the selection for the chocolate tastings. (from left: salted caramel, raspberry filled, peanut-butter filled, almond cluster, and lemon marzipan)
I fell in love with these golden beauties (Steve Madden’s Hanaa sandals) earlier this summer and had to get them! They’re actually very comfortable, are easy on blister-prone feet (like mine), and super cute with a sundress or jeans — they’ve been my best friends all summer long.
During a long overdue cleanup, though, a startling realization struck me as I was gathering and organizing all the shoes that had been strewn all over the place:
I had unwittingly accumulated a collection of gold shoes over the years.
…which is not necessarily a bad thing, as I’ve found that you can make gold shoes go with almost anything. They can help to dress up any outfit with that magical Midas touch. I think every girl should own at least one pair of gold shoes in their lifetime. (Or eight, if you want to be ambitious like me.)
Rather proud of myself, I promptly lined them up (as shown above) and showed the impressive array of these gold babies to Dan. Big mistake. He was utterly horrified and says he’s going to impose an official moratorium on the purchase of gold shoes.
But everyone knows that once you’ve started a collection, you can’t just stop. It’s either you go big or go home….
I love going out to eat and exploring new delicious dishes and then seeing if I can make them myself at home. It’s usually pretty hit or miss — a long time ago, when I was obsessed with P.F. Changs chicken lettuce wraps, I tried to recreate the appetizer at my college apartment and failed miserably — all we could taste were the crunchy water chestnuts. (I’m hoping to redeem myself by trying again someday.)
One of my absolute favorite dishes is linguine frutti di mare, which is essentially mixed seafood pasta. Linguine tossed with “fruits of the ocean” and loose red sauce — just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I have a hobby of trying the seafood pasta every time Dan and I go to a new Italian restaurant for the first time, and going around comparing. So far, some of my personal favorites have been Luciano’s in Oakton, The Cellar in Blacksburg, Buca di Beppo (various locations in California), and The Milanese Caffe in Berkeley. There were many other good ones, but we try to support unique, non-chain restaurants, so we don’t often dine at the likes of places like Olive Garden (although theirs is not bad, either).
