Hanoi Jane

Get Over Yourself

Life sucks sometimes. I mean, sometimes it really just trips you and then jams a knife between your shoulder blades. 

Current Playlist:

"Hot & Cold" - Katy Perry

"Lost" - Katy Perry

"It Ends Tonight" - The All-American Rejects

"This Temporary Life" - Death Cab For Cutie

"Dickhead" - Kate Nash

Adie Loves Polly

I found this adorable website called Adie Loves Polly. Its a visual blog of this 4 year old girl that takes pictures of things with her polaroid camera, Polly. I'm not kidding. This stuff is adorable and more than that its good to see a little girl that doesn't follow the norm, that doesn't take the beaten path but follows her heart into the forest and forges her own trail. Does that make sense? I hope it does.. 

Anyways, its a really cool site and I think its worth checking out.

Gruyere Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I had this AMAZING sandwich for lunch today! It was a grilled cheese sandwich made with sourdough slices, gruyere cheese and cheddar cheese. It was the best grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had. And I plan on making it as often as I can during the holidays.

My Treehouse

I am going to build a tree house and live there in the summer. Its going to be in Oregon or Washington, and it is going to be the coolest tree house ever. This, I have decided.

Spray Paint!

This is amazing. My roommate was making a t-shirt for the Social Justice Ministry on campus and I decided to tag along and seize the opportunity to not only get out of the room, but also to do something artistic with a medium I have never explored before. Spray paint! I love the stuff now! I seriously want to go out and buy some plain v-neck Tshirts, some cans of spray paint, and then cut out some cool stencils and just go crazy! This is exactly the sort of artistic thing I love doing. I think I should do this over Christmas break with Chris. He'd enjoy it.

Find out more about human trafficking and how to stop it here.

Stamped Tea Towels

Whoa! I just discovered this while gazing through Design*Sponge - a cool modern design blog. But its such a great idea! So I think I'm going to make these for Christmas presents for the women in my family. When you're as poor as me, this idea sounds GREAT because 100% cotton hand towels only cost about $3 each. 
These towels are not all 100% cotton (tisk tisk), but they only cost $25 for three each of three different types of towel fabric at Target. 
I thought these ones were probably the best buy out of all the ones I found. Like the Target ones, 9 of them only cost $25 and they're 100% cotton "floursack" material ( I love it! Floursack reminds me of my grandma's house and baking cookies). But the best part is, you can mix and match with different colors like the ones below. I found these at Amazon by the way.

These ones are nice too. A bit cheaper, 6 for $15, and they're unbleached so the cotton really comes through and it also adds a nice vintage look to it. Check them out at The Towel Place. 

Now I just need to figure out how to make my own stamps or find some that are cheap but still look amazing and hand-carved. Oh the dilemma.. At least I have till Christmas.

Some Happy Places.

This is a really neat little nook of a living space. I've always like the idea of floor seating and floor pillows. 
I like this because its a nice little breakfast nook with lots of natural light and red chairs.. I don't know.. there's just something about red chairs that I love.
This right here is a perfect place of happy. Books, pillows, comfy clothes, little trinkets for decoration, and nice lighting. I'd want a place like this when I get my first house or apartment.
I just like this picture because its full of possibilities. I could cook breakfast for about 10 people at this table. Which would be fun to do for Christmas or Easter sometime. Just celebrate through breakfast while the light is still clinging to the dawn and the dew on the grass is still wet like green paint. While the birds are still optimistic and all the plants look glad to be alive. While the trees and air and dirt look so crisp like a freshly starched and ironed shirt just waiting for the day to wear it in. I love those kinds of mornings.
Forget the conventional tree house! This looks like something straight out of a fairy tale. How fun would it be to hang out in a tree filled with pillows? I'll tell you. It would be very fun. And very awesome.
Only one word can possibly describe this picture: Phantasmagorical. 

Olvera Street, LA

This was on the metro green line going back to Norwalk. This group of kids sitting across from us were just really interesting and they caught my eye. The guy looked like a backpacker/hitchhiker and the girl in the middle was wearing a stained and slightly tattered cream silk dress that had lace. Oh and she also had a fanny pack to top it all off. Very interesting.. She looked so sweet too.. just the way she smiled and her eyes. Like she was the only innocent thing left in Los Angeles. I wish I could have gotten a decent picture of her face but I'm sure it wouldn't have done her justice.
Angel holding his metro pass. I thought it was kinda cute.. He could have put it in his pocket like everyone else would have, but he's odd like that. He doesn't like to do things the conventional way. I like that about him. 
Some puppets and sombreros next to a stone well.
I was so tickled by these.. I was so confused as to what to make of them, until Angel told me that they were cow hoof BOTTLES. Its true.. I've never heard of that before.. but its actually kind of cool. I just wonder who the first person to think of them was. 
This is the place where we ate. La Luz Del Dia. It was pretty good. I got a sweet tamale, 2 fresh corn tortillas, a small horchata, and a plate of rice and beans, all for less than $6! Thats what I call a deal. 

Everything on the whole street smelled so good! But I found out it was all meat dishes (I'm vegetarian). This led to my theory that Mexicans pretty much cook meat in everything. Angel backed this up with this statement, "Mexicans pretty much cook meat in everything". Nuff said. 
I ordered a fresh, hand made sweet tamale. So good.. Reminded me of Christmas.

Here are the ladies behind the counter kneading the dough for tortillas and tamales. I think one man worked here. haha Those Mexican women are amazing in the kitchen. Its a good thing not too many men hang around to mess things up. ;]
This is a guy I met in Union Station metro stop when we were coming back home. I just thought he looked so cool.. out of place, yet perfectly belonging. LA is so unique and strange. I love it. It makes me feel comfortable with my quirks. 

I was just walking by him and kind of staring I guess.. But he turned and smiled at me, which gave me the confidence to go up and ask him if I could take his picture. He obliged and we introduced ourselves. I'm pretty sure he said his name is Kastt, but Angel swears he heard him say Taz. The world may never know. Bottom line: Kastt/Taz has an AMAZING afro that was perfectly complimented by his circle beard (sans mustache).


This was the coolest little shop! And not just for its location and entry-way. They had my favorite flower, the moon orchid, as a candle. It looked so real, too. 

La Golondrina Cafe! This is where I had lunch on my 18th birthday. 
Some buildings through the bus window.

Luchador masks! Angel asked the lady for different types of masks from cartoon shows he watched as a nino.

Angel by a decorated fake well.
Some leaves I found on the ground while we were sitting on the sidewalk waiting for our bus.
Me and Angel. Amigos para siempo.
He was very distant and spacey in the morning.. so I gave him half of my blueberry bagel.

Overall it was a fun day.