Early, Bittersweet Christmas - Welcome, Giant Arpakasso!

It seems that Christmas came early this year for both me and the guy I love, it seems.  Both of our gifts to each other happened to arrive in the mail on the same day by pure coincidence, but sadly, it may not be cause for much joy considering how things are between us now...  

Regardless, one of the dreams that I never thought would come true did today, with the arrival of a large box via the 2nd mail carrier of the day;  I wish that the circumstances could have been a bit less bittersweet, but I still can't believe that I finally got to own and hug my very own giant Arpakasso, it's so cute... ; O ;  <3  

....!! 

...and out pops my giant Arpakasso!  Plus freebies, a mini one and a pretty silver and blue pen!

Instantly stylish in my glasses and scarf  ~ <3

...Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  

I'll cherish this as my most prized possessions and hug it when I'm missing you.
I hope that you'll accept (and hopefully like) my gifts, I poured my time, energy, money, 

and love into all of them.  Merry Christmas.  

End of 2011

After a crazy blur of stress and the shadows under my eyes having darkened considerably, the 2011 holiday season is almost over, and I find myself finally reaching the end of my lengthy backlog list and am almosttttt ready to greet the new year.  It's a gorgeous day outside, and I'm stuck on both the computer and my laptop and sorting, organizing, editing, uploading, and transferring almost a year's worth of files.  Then I have to catch up on a HUGE backlog of accounting (bad Rainbles, bad!!  Dx ) and an art order that was put in around 2 weeks ago.  x__x  (Sorry, Sasuuu!!)

  I can't wait to have proper time to game again!!  [After I collapse and take time to recuperate] Maple Story, here I come!!  xD

I want to see an event like this someday... What an awesome way to end the year!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ FOOD/ SNACKS   ★★★★★★★

My favorite cinnamon sugar bagel chips that my friend, Kamadashi, brought back for me
from his Vegas trip.  It's almost halfway empty  now  ; 3 ; 

My friend Mana showed me this, DO WANT!!!!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ CHRISTMAS   ★★★★★★★

Some of the Christmas gifts that I didn't get to post before

Prince of All Cosmos card!
Katamari = <3 <3 <3

One of my favorite fan amigurumi creations this year, Happy (from one of the most awesome anime/manga
series ever, Fairy Tail!!)

---------------------------------------------

Espeon Pokemon scarf

Three years ago, my friend got free avatar art of Grunny Brand Habible Pudding (with a long and highly alarming list of side effects) that he absolutely loves and has occasionally mentioned to me in passing during some of our many, many random conversations, so for this Christmas, I thought that I'd turn it into a real figure/sculpture with its own packaging.  Naturally gluten free but totally non-edible!  xD

                 

WARNING: Eating Grunny Brand Habible Pudding may result in unwanted side effects, such as burping, warts, fondness of human flesh, growing wings, Grunnies coming to your doorstep and eating your carpet, the ceiling watching your every move, a sudden loss of Gold, macaroni noodles growing up from the floor and sacrificing your NPCs to the Grunny Overlord. Do not use if pregnant, plan on becoming pregnant or value your life. 

---------------------------------------------

A Princess Celestia figure/sculpture that I made from scratch for my friend, Mitsuki,
who is a huge fan of My Little Pony

---------------------------------------------

A mini version of Kakkoii Chibi - Chibi Kakkoii Chibi!  x3

Appreciation

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  Mine was very low key, but this was the first Christmas in a good couple of years where I actually felt pretty happy.  I didn't get a whole pile of presents or anything, but I am very blessed to have received some wonderful and thoughtful gifts from my close friends and family, so I want to say a very heartfelt thank you to all of you!  Especially those who took the time to drop by and see me, even though I was too busy or tired to really talk much   <3

(Even though I can't include everything, it doesn't meant that I didn't love it!!)

Here are some of the highlights:

The first gifts under my tree, from one of my best friends, Fly!!  She (and her parents!)
searched for things that I would like, and she majorly succeeded!!!!  A panda wallet with
all of the elements that I like all in one, my ever first panda ring and necklace!!  <3
I can't tell you how much I love everything, and all the thought and love that you so obviously
poured into your gift choices  :,D  Love ya, chica!  <33

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Super adorable stickers drawn by my incredibly talented friend,  Nicole !
I love them!! <3

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

An amazingly cute penguin plushie (who I named Marvin) and an absolutely gorgeous panda Betsy Johnson (o.o)
necklace from my good high school friend, Eric.  If I'm not mistaken, this year makes 11 years that we've been friends, and in addition to sticking by me through thick and thin, he's always given me really wonderful Christmas gifts.  Thank you so much, I can't tell you how much I love both of these!!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

My sister gave me a whole bag of hastily bought Japanese foodstuffs and snacks on Christmas,
 but went out and got me this in addition, since she absolutely loved the Amazing Everything : The Art of Scott C.
artbook that I bought for her  ^^;;;

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

From my parents:   A pair of super comfy noise-reducing headphones, hair dye, and
Mario Kart 7!!! WOOOOOOO!!  Thanks, I'll probably have time to play it by sometime
next month...!  ; A ;  

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

My small gift to Revelatlon

Some of the best gifts aren't tangible. My awesome new Gaia friend, Revelatlon, gifted me a beautiful Nouveau Autumn dress, an Underland RIG, and tokens~! I usually get absolute rubbish (not literally xD ) from RIGs, but for the first time, I won an item that I actually really really really loved from it, a Blue Acinonyx. So I was able to enjoy the RIG story AND the item for once! x3

"please don't be a bench"  Well, even if it was, I'd still be really happy.  ^-^

The thing smirked.
With those huge, pointy teeth.  Dx

New avvie built around the blue acinonyx  x3

After having to constantly put it on hold, I finally made time to finish hammering out all the details and layout of a joint quest thread with Revelatlon, we were able to open successfully on Christmas night, so if you have a Gaia account, we would really appreciate it if you would drop by to bump or chat~! <3

Visit Us Here!!

 

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ GAMING   ★★★★★★★

MINECRAFT

... -sigh- I kept on telling myself that I only needed to get past Christmas, then I could hibernate or relax, but it seems that realistically, I'll stop being busy from my severely backlogged to-do list by mid to late January at the earliest. ; A ; And now I'm involved with running 4 threads on Gaia, thinking about closing one. And this blog, which I've barely posting on recently, not to mention all of my friends' blog posts that I also need to catch up on.... x__X urghh...

This panda is out of order.  We are very sorry for the inconvenience.  

Before the extremely brief 10-15 minutes that I spent playing Minecraft with SpecOps and Habib, I haven't played any games for around 2 weeks.  ( And I don't even remember the last time when I logged on my poor skype.  Dx )
 It feels like forevvveeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr!  ; A ;


 But it was really weird, SpecOps ended up having to rescue both of us in that short time, I got stuck in that minecart, and Habib got stuck in a well.  xD

Showing Habib my room, and... who's that bobbing outside my
 ocean view wall?  O_O

Answer:  A creeper.  xD

Mele Kalikimaka~

The countdown is over~!
Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas~!!

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say,

On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,

That's the island greeting that we send to you

From the land where palm trees sway,

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright,

The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night,

Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way

To say "Merry Christmas to you."

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Operation Christmas is a success~!

~Christmas cards/packages received:

-Rainbow goat princess (part 1)

-Fly
-Brandon

-Shinobu nee-chan

-Mitsuki

-Gidras05

-Jessica

-Nicole

-Habible

-random-kitty15

-aaznpnaigurl
-

Panda pal #2

-Eric

~Christmas cards/packages sent out 

-Panda pal #3

~Christmas cards/packages ready to be delivered:

-Kamadashi

Android amigurumi that I made for my mom  >w<

Just 3 more days... x__x

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
THE HOBBITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT IN ONE YEAR,

 I CAN'T WAIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!  o(* w *)o
*ahem*  That is all.  

so busy that I've barely even been able to play Restaurant city... 82 requests!!  >.<;; 

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ INTERNET   ★★★★★★★

DEVIANTART

Once I finish ... well, everything, I want to do this memeeeee  ; 3 ;
Hey, Fly, don't you think that this is a cool idea?  xD

Normally, you'd see some sort of improvement... 

In this case, it's more like:  Awesome -->  also awesome  >.<

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ CHRISTMAS   ★★★★★★★

  

~Christmas cards/packages received:

-Rainbow goat princess (part 1)

-Fly
-Brandon

-Shinobu nee-chan

-Mitsuki

-Gidras05

-Jessica

-Nicole

~Christmas cards/packages sent out 

-Panda pal #3

-Habible
-random-kitty15
-aaznpnaigurl

~Christmas cards/packages ready to be delivered:

-Panda pal #2

 

My Pokeball ornament and Apricorn card for Random-kitty15~  >w<

SO!  A while back, I announced a holiday greeting card trade, and one of awesome my college pals, aaznpnaigurl, signed up, and I got two huge surprises when I got both a really unique envelope card that I had to cut around the edges to open, then a stunning portrait of me done by her!  It's my new favorite picture on my bulletin board, thank youuuuu~!!!!  <3 <3

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ PRP BUSINESS   ★★★★★★★

The last rush commission, a medium Japan mochi, went out on the last shipping run before Christmas, on  Monday.  Hope it gets there in time!!  :3

                                        

7 days, 23 hours, 21 minutes...

Black&white buddies, a panda and white tiger.
Drawn with my index finger on the Doodlebuddy app around 3 AM,
 while lying in the dark.  xD

--------------------------------------------------------------

Christmas Gifts Updates:

~Christmas cards/packages received:

-Rainbow goat princess (part 1)

-Fly
-Brandon

~Christmas cards/packages sent out:

-Panda pal #3

-Shinobu nee-chan

-Mitsuki
-Habible
-Gidras05

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ iTouch/iPad/Smartphone APPS   ★★★★★★★

VOXER

Still having an awesome time on Voxer, though it's been incredibly unstable in the last 2 or so days.  Or maybe it's just angry at me for abusing it by talking on it almost allllllll day.  >.>  And panda pal #2 would blame my truffle fingers for making it weird.  >.<  (I DO NOT HAVE TRUFFLE FINGERS!!  Dx  )

And ever since my friend got it, he is starting to dislike having to text, since talking is so much easier.  xD 

Dear Voxer,

 Come on, Voxer, you can do it!  If you just stabilize and stop crashing on me (even after resetting my iTouch), you would be like the most awesome app EVAR.  I know that you're probably struggling quite a bit from the strain of having so many new users after appearing on the 'popular app' list, but I hope that you can find the strength to overcome it! 

Much <3, Rainbles.  

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ INTERNET   ★★★★★★★

GAIA ONLINE

Although I would have thought that we'd have our Christmas event by now, I'm slightly relieved, since just my threads (and planning a new thread) and fishing (that my friend got me into) alone takes up quite a bit of time.  In the meantime, we have a friendly lamp post in the header with a decreasing amount of days that grants items but serves as a reminder that I'm actually a bit too busy to be spending a whole lot of time on Gaia.  - x -;  Oh, the irony.  

...I look forward to and dread getting my next item, since it means having
one less day til Christmas... and I only have half of my
Christmas list done... Dx

YOUTUBE

Definitely one of the most epic Zelda medleys to date, if not the most.
My friend had it on repeat for a while after he discovered it -

and even when he wasn't listening to it, he was humming it xD

Xmas Gifts + Food Therapy + dA Secret Santa

URL LINK ... Get it? Posted on Facebook --> "Habible likes your Link"  xD
 ahaha... [/dork humor]

AHHHH!  I can't believe that I fell behind on blog posting again.   People have been ordering stuff from my etsy shop, and I still have a last-minute commission that I picked up yesterday, so I've been packing up gifts and orders for the last week.  I've been feeling so exhausted lately that I felt burnt out today and had to rest.  >.< 

 I FINALLY got to read the letters that I've gotten in the last week or so and look more carefully at the box of supplies & exchange journal that my wonderful friend Mitsuki sent me.  But I still need to catch up on Gaia responses and a whole bunch of stuff.  @.@

My first exchange journal!!  <3

--------------------------------------------------------------

Chritsmas Gifts Updates:

~Christmas cards/packages sent out:

-Panda pal #3

-Rainbow goat princess (part 1)

-Fly
-Brandon
-Shinobu nee-chan

~Christmas cards/packages ready to be mailed out on the next postal run:

-Mitsuki
-Habible
-Gidras05

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ANIME CONVENTION   ★★★★★★★

KAWAII KON

I found out that Yoshitaka Amano sensei (of Final Fantasy fame) is going to be one of the guests at next year's  Kawaii Kon!!  *_____*  He illustrated my favorite (and one of the most beautiful) graphic novel books that I've ever read, The Dream Hunters.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ FOOD   ★★★★★★★

To celebrate my parents' 26th anniversary, me and my mom spent most of the evening and night chopping, prepping, and cooking lots of delicious lumpia.  For dessert, we had an pumpkin cream cheese loaf, delicious handmade granola bars, and fruit and nut scones, then ended the day by toasting with a bottle of Martinelli's.  Happy Anniversary!  

Ahhhh, lumpia heaven~

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ CRAFTING   ★★★★★★★

Been incredibly busy trying to finish up the first batch of Christmas gifts for my awesome friends, here's some sneak peaks~

Hand-stamped tissue paper!

Glue dots-  a crafter's best friend.  Glue lines?  Awesome idea, but it doesn't
seem like they aren't as strong as the glue dots.  Might just be me.

 I went all out in both making and wrapping a gift (codename: Pink Spheal) for a certain friend.  I hand-punched around 17 sakura flowers, coated each with tacky glue and glitter, then stuck each to the wrapping paper.  :3

★★★★★★★★★★★★★ INTERNET   ★★★★★★★

DEVIANTART

As most of you know, I'm participating on the dA group Gotta Craft 'Em All's secret santa craft exchange, and my anticipation was growing as the deadline, the 15th, was drawing near.  I heard from her today, and I must say, it was more than worth any wait!  

I was so lucky to get such a talented and super sweet secret santa, I'm so happy!!  :,D  And I was so honored and flattered by your praise in your incredibly super sweet deviation description, I definitely feel the love, and that in itself is an incredible gift!! ...  TTwTT  <3

My secret santa giftee got her gift the other day~  Glad you like it!! <3  

I heard from my secret santa, and my gift is this awesomesauce Slowpoke amigurumi plush, eeeeeeeee~!!!  >w<
I CAN'T WAIT TO GET HIM, I ADMIRE YOUR WORK TOOOO~!!  <3  <3