Archive for the 'Art' Category

January 5th, 2021

Year in Review: 2020

Wow, 2020, huh? I think it was quite a… how to put it, abnormal? Crazy? Unexpected? Year for all of us. Here’s a look back on how 2020 was for me.

Personal Life

As COVID-19 changed daily life for many people, it did for my family as well. We did the responsible thing of mainly staying at home, which in a way, improved a couple things. For example, we saved a lot of money by not eating out as much and was eating healthier overall, but we missed being able to do other things for fun.

And well, that also meant doing many things remotely and canceling all travel. I switched to fully working from home, and my daughter, Tali, started Chinese toddler classes online. We had to cancel a trip to Pennsylvania and New York and have not seen my brother or relatives in-person this whole year. In place of that, my cousins and I do a group video chat every Saturday now, so it’s been nice to keep in touch regularly at least. We also haven’t seen my in-laws in San Antonio, which meant doing Thanksgiving and Christmas ourselves at home.

I had another big change (not related to the pandemic)… I got pregnant! My husband and I always knew we wanted a second child, and I wanted to try some time after Tali turned one. We started trying in January, and when the pandemic happened, we considered stopping. Then… I got pregnant in March, so never mind I guess!

In December, Ada was born! Fortunately, the second time around is less stressful. We already knew what to expect, had most of the things we needed, and the labor and delivery was also shorter.

Baby Ada

Though Ada was born a healthy baby, she did have some irregular breathing due to fluids still in her lungs and had to stay in the NICU for a few days. We were so happy when we were able to bring her home!

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March 2nd, 2018

Recap: February 2018

February felt like a much less sluggish month, probably because I had way less allergy problems. Though, I don’t think I was any more productive because I spent hours and hours watching the Olympics. In the past, I didn’t pay much attention to them, but this year, I decided to give it a try and… I got addicted to following along!

As for Valentine’s Day, my husband and I like to treat it as a day where we cook something we haven’t done in a while and/or we splurge on nicer ingredients. For example, we’ve made steaks before and will look for nicer, aged steaks. One year, we made homemade okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake), which we had never done before. This year, we decided on Japanese curry! Though we’ve done it many times before, we haven’t made it at home recently, and we also bought some highly marbled short rib for it. I didn’t take a good photo of it, but here’s a phone photo:

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December 18th, 2017

My Favorite Things: December 2017

Lately, I’ve really been enjoying getting into art again. It’s been very therapeutic and relaxing, especially as I realize that it’s ok that I’m not where I’d like to be yet and that I just need to keep practicing. I used to stress out about it, but now it’s a nice hobby I can do on and off in my spare time. There’s some art supplies that I’ve been really loving, so I thought I’d do a My Favorite Things around them!

Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen

I came across this brush pen when I was researching supplies for Inktober, and it seems to be a popular item for many artists. $11-20 might seem like much for just one pen, but it’s refillable, so it’ll last you. (I bought a 12 ink refill pack on Amazon.) I love how smoothly the ink flows out of the pen, and the brush tip lets you make variable widths in your lines. It took me awhile to get used to it, but it’s fun to use!

Copic Sketch Markers – Sketching Grays

I wish I had these for Inktober, but I ordered them afterwards because I wanted to continue working with ink. Though they’re double ended, I’ve only used the brush tip. It’s a good range of grays, and the ink flows and blends smoothly. I find them pretty easy to use overall. I love the result, and working in grayscale has been good practice too.

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