Alii! That’s Hello in Palauan 🙂
It’s my 6th day here and I am finally certified to scuba dive! The marine life here is swarming! I’ve seen packs of spinner dolphins, over a dozen sharks, and countless fish. Not to mention, turtles, octopus and squid! #spoiled
I don’t have many photos on my iPhone, which is what I’m still using to blog. Here are a few photos I’ve gotten from the boat out on the German Channel.
Expect a pstcard, bisous!
♥︎bobbin
Yesterday was my last hula class. I only started in June but I really enjoyed my short time there. 🎈
We took a nice photo to remember our happy times together. I am especially thankful to Hiromi (striped tank top) because we found this school together and she always drove me to our lessons.💕 
I hope to find a hula halau as soon as possible in Chicago!
🌺Bobbin
Hello dear Bisous!
Yes! I’ve been hearing about the heat wave in Seattle. ☀️ Here in Numazu, we’ve been dealing with the threats of a typhoon. ☔️ Lots and lots and lots of ☔️☔️☔️☔️☔️🌂🌂🌂😦😧😑 but the typhoon has passed and we are back to a sunny and humid place.
So we’ve missed you here on our blog! Sounds like we are both in a big state of transition! Job hunting is no fun 😦 but I wish you all the best🍀 I can tell from your Instagram that you had some fun at Pike’s Place!🐟🐙
This week will be my last full week in Numazu. I have a few days left to pack up but alas I will procrastinate to the end. I’m still crossing off things from my Shizuoka bucket list as well. I’m pleased to say that I crossed two things off that list just this week!
I live in Shizuoka Prefecture (a prefecture is like a state in the USA) and Shizuoka is the too producer of green tea in Japan. Before I said sayonara to Shizuoka I had to experience tea picking at least once.
So I did!
My friend WH (a fellow expat🍁) went with me👫 We drove from Numazu to Makinohara- a 2-hour drive! Luckily long drives are pleasant in good company🙆
The tea farm made a special exception to pick the leaves that day.
Miles and miles of tea… 🍵🌱
After tea picking we had lunch at the local tea-themed restaurant. 
The tea cups are actually Chinese style. They are the exact ones I had in our home as a kid so they remind me of my late father.💕
Then the food! ..but my phone blogger can’t handle all the pix and keeps crashing so please check the next blog post 🙂
🎀Bobbin
Hello Bobbin!
Just checking in with you, and letting you know I’m alive and well!! ( Despite the warlike brutality of job hunting and apartment hunting… sigh, I digress)
I’m enjoying the heatwave that is nationwide but is very daunting in Seattle. I LOVE sunshine…but I’ve been here in Washington for far too long and I feel my tolerance for ‘heat’ is much lower then I want it to be 🙂 so after facing a case of painters block, I decided to do a book store run or take refuge in the comfort of paperbacks and AC. The setting of today’s excursion was Left Bank books at Pike place market. It’s a quaint little store that has an adorable and irresistible reading nook on the second floor… I was looking for a book titled “Women who run with Wolves“ because of a quote I read from it on tumblr rumbled my curiousity:
“Wolves and women are relational by nature, inquiring, possessed of great endurance and strength. They are deeply intuitive, intensely concerned with their young, their mate and their pack. Yet both have been hounded, harassed and falsely imputed to be devouring and devious, overly aggressive, of less value than those who are their detractors.”
-Clarissa Pinkola Estes
I didn’t find it. ( or a used copy) It seems that it’s pretty popular (go figure) and I’m just now getting on the proper feminist bandwagon 😀 From what I’ve skimmed, the book seems to be tying in parallels of strong female characters and wolves…I couldn’t help but think of my novel and the artwork I’m drawing/painting and how the little from this book is inspiring ideas for my art work 🙂 I also browsed a book called ‘The Whale’ but I save that for another post 😉
-Bisous
Hello! Hello Bobbin!❤️
Tempus Fugit!! It’s already, the end of June and almost July! Summer has started with a bang! There’s been a heat wave here in Seattle and I’m currently in a torrid relationship with my fan. The nights have been sweltering but…I love warm weather so I’m dealing…sorta
Two and a half weeks ago, was my birthday …🎉
and three days later I receive a gift from you Bobbin! 🎁
And three days ago I finally opened it…I’m a bit slow…😝
I went to the cafe, and slowly opened The ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ themed envelope you sent and discovered the most adorable ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ puzzle enclosed.
I was at the cafe, brainstorming my final illustration (in a series of illustrations for the novel I wrote)
And was presently faced with a little ‘mental block’ and the puzzle was a perfect diversion from my slump!
It took only a minute to complete, but it left me with a lasting feeling of satisfaction and relaxation that I carried over to my sketch pad! Thank you again my friend and I LOVED looking at the post about your Birthday adventures in Hong Kong!
Expect some snail mail from me shortly 😉
-Bisous
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
So excited for the projects we have coming up!! Can’t wait to show you!!
The sun was shining… My heart was beaming.
Hello Bobbin!
Sunday June 7th was my Birthday ! And it was a beautiful day indeed. 🙂 I wanted a relaxing day and I’d planned to do the usual ‘get together with friends’ this upcoming weekend, so Sunday was just for chillaxing … I ventured to the park to do some reading, sun basking and general photography. I received a text from a friend who wanted to meet up with me at the park with her lovely, rambunctious puppy Oliver. We wandered around and got ice cream ( it was vanilla bean with the happiest most colorful sprinkles known to man) then tea. We then decided to do some painting. The sun warmly kissed my skin, accompanied by a gentle breeze, as I calmly painted …It was so charmingly simplistic that I’m still relaxed three days later! Refreshed, I’m ready for a new year:) So here’s to another year of goals being accomplished and artwork being enjoyed and completed !
I just participated in a recent gift exchange through Reddit. I was a Santa to a girl in Poland!
The Reddit exchange was Simpsons themed. To apply to participate we were asked questions like who our favorite Simpsons character is and what our favorite episode is.
My favorite Simpsons character is Lisa Simpson. As a kid, I watched Lisa Simpson and related to her in many ways. Like me, she had a vivid imagination, and passionate beliefs about certain ethical issues. Sometimes she gets carried away with her strong imagination and passionate personality, which affects her relationships. We are both artists in our own right, too!
I was matched with a girl in Poland who likes Homer Simpson the most. She said it’s because she likes to eat just like Homer.
Being in Japan, I don’t have much access to Simpsons merchandise. However, I thought I’d appeal to the Homer within with a bunch of SNACKS! I made sure to get a variety, but also those with cute packaging. It’s not hard to find snacks with characters on them here in Japan. I got some popular Japanese anime ones and some other more widely recognizable ones like Moomin and Frozen. (It’s scary how popular Frozen is here!) And threw in some anime stickers as well.
My favorite episode is “Lisa goes Gaga” photo source:www.public.fr
All hail zee SNAIL MAIL!
I’m excited to do another Reddit gift exchange (although my Santa has not sent me anything yet). A girl in Singapore saw my post on Instagram and asked to do a gift exchange as well! #shoutout if you see this @littledays_
I think it’s important to keep the joy of snail mail alive! Of course, this is one of the things Bisous and I are trying to do here on BnB! So if you ever want to be a snail mail buddy please let us know! ✴︎ ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆
♥︎ボビンBobbin
‘ello Bobbin!
I’m still in a state of astonishment, induced by the intense color of that matcha ice cream you showed me a picture of in your last post! 🙂 Epicness it was, a beautiful sight that not only enraptured my emotions but rumbled my tummy (^_^)
That trip you took seemed to be a lovely excursion as well, I’m elated to read about the moments of inspiration you are experiencing…
I am still working on some side projects of water colors at the moment, but hope to get back to illustrating characters/ideas from my favorite fandoms soon… The other day, I was met with another ‘creative funk’ and feeling uninspired and retreated to nature.
I walked around my favorite park, devoid of any expectations of a wild or unexpected moment that could ignite or spark ‘creative inspiration’ and happened upon a wild flower bed.
Nothing was particularly stunning about it, besides my appreciation of the beauty of flowers seasonal existence. But my gaze lingered upon them as the sun beamed on the dainty petals…
and slowly, I became transfixed on the colors and shape and their movement in a breeze.
all at once Images of some of the works of my favorite painter came to mind: Claude Monet. I didn’t get the opportunity, to visit Giverny, France when I visited France last year, (but it will happen one day ) but the little flowers were teasing my imagination with what Giverny, is actually like.
Hmm this little bed of flowers was reminding me of Monet’s work…
And simultaneously inspiring my desire to paint! Yay! So swiftly and unexpectedly the inspiration had come! My muse this time, was in the form of purple, blue and periwinkle petals. Hope to have something to show this inspiration soon:)
-Bisous ❤
Profitez de la beauté et laissez vous inspirer
Hello Bisous and friends!
How is your weekend going? Although, I really missed being at home and Art-ing, I had a fun day with a girlfriend and thought I’d share my day with some photos and what not with you.
It was Saturday and I was determined to have really good ice cream. I like ice cream that is really rich, and natural. Since I was a kid I liked the dark chocolate, the rummy mousse, the coffee and tea flavored ice creams. I was determined to satisfy my ice cream craving TODAY.
I needed to dress for the occasion so I picked out something brand new in my wardrobe. This sassy little top was purchased the other day at a thrift store for the equivalent of about 10 USD! I appreciate the good condition of the second-hand clothes and their fair prices.
After arriving to Shizuoka City, which is an hour train ride away, we came upon the Golden Week sales. A vendor was selling hats for a reasonable price so my girlfriend and I snagged the deal.
Hats for 700 yen! Wow!
Yep! We watched the less-cheesy-than-expected, quite-elegantly-done adaptation of Disney’s Cinderella. She’s my favorite Disney Princess and I thought Lily James and the crew captured the pure spirit of Cinderella which I’ve always admired.
(source: Pinterest)
After attending the royal wedding of Kit and Ella, we were off to do the ice cream thing.
I got macha (green tea) level 7, which contains the highest portion of macha available. Rich, natural, bitter? Check, check, check! Yum!
TIL: It’s good to get out and do things once in a while :0)
Other rad photos from our day:
♥Bobbin
Bobbin & Bisous 
