STAR LIGHT
I LOVE me some down home pub-style Asian food, and I was really wanting to gather my friends together for a little pre-Christmas spicy food and booz-a-thon  at a shiny, neon-lit little place called Star  Light over in Koreatown! Star Light used to be another little restaurant that was remodeled recently with more lights and a cleaner atmosphere.  Another great plus about this place is that they have really killer karaoke rooms above that are very fancy with shiny lights, new equipment, and really decently cheap rates! I really recommend this place for people who love good old fashioned Korean comfort food and relaxing times with friends!

Eating buddies Eron, Will, and Tim! We got a wierd plate of nachos as part of the complimentary service before the meal was served.

Delicious budejjiga, or "military stew," cooked right at the table with lots of yummy and spicy ingredients. After you're done eating the stew, the staff pour in more hot water, then add ramen to the mix!

Some other yummy things we got that night!

True Mee and I, SMILING LIKE GLUTTONS! =D

More under the cut!

XOIA VIETNAMESE EATS
It is what it says it is: a mecca of Viet food that is SIMPLY DELIGHTFUL. They have the standards such as banh mi and pho here, but also have a few fusion items that are well worth the try. This place is also the home of the MOST DELICOUS banh mi I have ever had!

Crispy Tacos with chicken, cabbage, red onions, Vietnamese coriander (rau ram), tomato and cream sauce made with Oaxacan fresh cream, coconut milk and Sriracha! An absolute DREAM of textures!

Mi Quang! Underneath all the veggies are wide yellow rice noodles, and piled on top are shrimp, pork, lettuce, bean sprouts,crushed peanuts, and mint, all served with a pork broth. SOOO good!

THIS is the life-changing Banh Mi I mentioned! They serve it with a side of Pho au jus sauce which drives me absolutely crazy with food-love.

TSUJITA RAMEN
If you are in for having your entire world totally rocked via noodles, you MUST MUST MUST try out this ramen place, located on Sawtelle in the Little Osaka area of LA.  There are a ton of ramen places that boast that they have the best broth and noodles in town, but man, my palate says, “SHE’S THE ONE. THE LUCKY GIRL I’M GOING TO MARRY” (-Gaston). Created with methods developed by the chefs at the Japan branch of the Tanaka ramen shop, this is one ramen that should be eaten by all! But a warning… they ONLY serve ramen during lunch hours from 11am – 3pm, and as early as 11:15am, there will already be a line. This one is totally worth the wait, though!

This Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen is made by simmering the broth for over 60 hours! When you finish, you can get extra noodles for your dish for $1.50 and they give you more broth, too! EAT EAT EAT!!!

THE BAR AT CULVER HOTEL
This hot little number is great for Happy Hour! Located on the ground level of the historic Culver Hotel (ask any Culver Citizen, and they will tell you all about how John Wayne used to (allegedly) own it, and the midgets from Wizard of Oz used to have orgies there. History, y’see), this beautiful and elegant lounge space is perfect to meet up for after work drinks, or to impress your date and/or scrutinizing keepin-up-with-the-Joneses-type peers.  The Happy Hour prices are great at $5 a plate with a little bar food menu, and $6 cocktails, $3 beers, $4 wine. The totally comfy vintage chaises and roaring fire are fab, as well as the speakeasy Thursday nights they host, starting at 7pm!

We snuggled up on couches in front of the fire with our drinks, a Red Slipper cocktail (left), and a nice cheap brew of Blue Moon (right).

We ordered ALL of the happy hour apps, cos that's how we do. Garlic fries, deviled eggs, mini fish tacos, and 2 plates of things I can't recall.. haha.

They were screening cute old timesey films on the wall behind where Will was sitting, hehe.

HOMEMADE GOODNESS (by me!)
Blessed with enough free time to actually cook for myself and my boyfriend over the holidays, I was able to make some pretty epic things! I got a great hot pot cook book for Christmas, so I utilized it to make this badass nabe at our house. Clearly there is enough food here for about 4- 5 people, but Will and I ate it all ourselves LIKE THE CHAMPIONS WE ARE!

Ultimate nabe... goooo! We used salmon, tofu, naruto fish cake, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, mussels, corn, and konnyaku noodles in this dish! The broth was simple dashi broth mixed with a light soy sauce.

I also made a simple mulled cider for a holiday White Elephant party my friends hosted! It was my first time to one of those things… and it was great! I made a nice warm drink that got chugged down pretty quickly by everyone <3

A happy holiday punch! red wine, apple cider, oranges, apples, rasberries, and spices make for a great mulled cider!

Well, that’s it for the holiday food recap! Did you all have delicious dishes over the holidays? I’ll be traveling to Portland soon this month, and will have another doozy of a food post to go along with it, I’m sure, so if you liked this post, leave me a comment and let me know! <3

One thing I absolutely love doing around Christmastime is heading to Disneyland to experience some corporate manufactured magic! I am such a sucker for the double punch combo of nostalgia + the holidays! I was also excited to check out the Little Mermaid ride for the first time.. it’s my absolute favorite Disney movie, so you can bet there were sniffles and squealing to be had from me throughout the day.

Animatronic Ariel is the best! Her hair moves around, too. Technologyy..!!

Ursula's insides were the most expensive and difficult to make in the entire ride. All of her tentacles move and she is ENORMOUS.

The storybook ride sort of ends abruptly with them getting married. Ariel gets legs, finds a boy, gets yelled at by Ursula then gets married. THE END! =D

This is also the first time I saw Doug the dog from Up in the park!!! SO CUTE!!! Left to right: Myself, Doug, Sandy, and Sheyne, my Disneyland compatriots for the day!

Besides the usual riding of rides, we had a bunch of mini sidequests that day as well that included exploring parts of Disney California Adventure I’d never been to before! We took a gander around the Disney Grand Californian Hotel to check out their amazing Christmas tree and epic fireplace!

Giant lobby is GIANT. Shot from about 3 floors up.

Sheyne and Sandy sittin pretty in front of the gigantic tree! I had to lay on the ground like a crazy person to fit the entire tree in the shot!

There was a nice balcony area we found on the upper levels of the Grand Californian that looked out and over the giant pool area. Pretty swank!

This is the first time I ever got one of these! They use it to time how long the line is! What's weird is that they handed this to us when we were in the fast pass line for Star Tours... Hoookay..

Of course, the night ended with fireworks, the World of Color show, and a lot of EMOTIONAL CRYING on my part! I am a sucker when it comes to music, nostalgia, and visual effects, what can I say?

I was also able to find time this Christmas to get a REAL LIVE TREE for the first time ever this year! I usually either travel back to Pittsburgh or travel abroad for the Christmas Holidays, so this was our first official Xmas in LA! Shopping for a tree was a novel experience… in my parents’ place, we usually just have a fake tree we whip out every year, but I gotta say, picking out a tree, getting it trussed up, and physically trimming is way more fun than digging a dusty box out of the basement!

Thanks to our friend Sheyne, who tipped us off about Home Depot selling the cheapest trees in town! Will and I picked out this very cute and squat Noble Fir tree!

Is there something wrong with me that I feel like this is the cutest most christmassy photo ever? It's in our caaaar! =D

I make it a point to do as many Christmas-like things and cheesy stereotypical Christmas traditions as possible over the holidays. Observe our Christmas morning!

This is the Christmas-sy side of our apartment, with our little tree all done up! This was also the first year for me to have CHRISTMAS with STOCKINGS above a REAL (ok, so it's gas not wood-burning) FIREPLACE!! So christmassyyy!!

At 8AM on Christmas morning, I was awoken by having Will SHAKING ME in bed screaming OH MY GOD SANTA CAMEEEE!!! It was pretty cute and at the same time extremely annoying (yes, Will is my boyfriend, not an 8 year old boy). I came out to the living room to see a plate of half eaten cookies, a slightly nibbled carrot, and an empty glass of milk sitting in front of the fireplace. I think Will must have gotten up pretty early to have eaten all that– err i mean SANTA must have been at our apartment leaving gifts and eating our cookies along with his reindeer who apparently ate some carrots, too haha.

We emptied our stockings and opened all of our presents in a hurry. I was super excited about all of my gifts! I must also say that the range of gifts I recieve really shows that, in fact, it is a TRUE THING and no longer just a JOKE, that I am getting old. Observe the awesomeness:

Presents from Will and my friends The orange cards are TEN passes into this badass Korean spa that I frequent called Wi Spa =D

I made some peppermint mocha coffee with whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkled on top for us for our morning cuppa

Will made some quick baked eggs (bottom) with cheese, eggs, ham, and scallions, and a a little bit of Cornmeal mush (top) for both of us <3

We also dressed up our R2D2 cutout (Will got it from work one day for some reason) in Christmassy attire and took photos like the nerds we are!

The crowning achievement of our Christmas treats was this deeelicious duck that Will had prepared, taking two days to salt/bring/season and bake the thing so we could bring it to our friends' place for their Christmas potluck that night! It was so delicious!

Another fun tidbit was that around 9am, I started getting texts and Facebook messages from friends saying they saw me on the Disney Xmas parade! I was there in November with my friend Shannie and the crew grabbed us and had us answer some holiday-related questions which I guess Disney ended up using as filler for their parade special on ABC! I didn't actually see it, but my friend Sheyne was kind enough to screencap all the madness for me!

Overall a pretty kickass Christmas season was had by all, surrounded by friends and holiday traditions that I tried for the first time this year. This past week after Xmas has been full of eating, lazing about, and eating some more, so expect some epic food photos in the near future!

Keep in touch with Chubby Bunny!
[ Shop Chubby Bunny ] [ Twitter ] [ Facebook ] [ Tumblr ]

The Chubby Bunny booth at the event

I had a blast dressing up as Santa’s little helper and hanging out with the great people who work and visited the event!There were about 300 guests in attendance that night partying in the holiday spirit! It was great!

OH MY GOD IT'S SANTAAAAAAAA! This couple was so cute, and passed out little toys to everyone who took photos with them! Best costume ever!

Thanks to LA Weekly for this pic of my outfit (And the new Chubby Bunny stickers!)

I didn’t take too many photos but you can see lots more here!

LA Weekly
Tune In Tokyo Photoset
Ani.me

We’re always so happy to collaborate with our friends at both Sanrio and Sephora, and this time was no exception! This time, to celebrate the launch of the new Hello Kitty Noir beauty collection at Sephora, they hosted a swank, swingin’ 20′s style party at Maison 140 boutique hotel in Beverly Hills. This private event was open to Hello Kitty collectors and friends for an intimate gathering to view the Hello Kitty suite inside the hotel!

Chubby Bunny was commissioned to make fun and fancy striped bows to show off Sephora’s signature pattern, as well as embody the Hello Kitty-shaped bow that we’ve become famous for creating!

Take a look at the new design!

Big thanks to Yume for taking photos that night, and also Hello Kitty Junkies for their great photos from the night, too!

The bows were given to guests as they entered the hotel by these super cute retro cigarette girls!

I was able to hop over to the event in some vintage wear! I really love this dress! Me looking like a doofus posing in the Hello Kitty suite.

Check below for more fun photos from the event!

The fancy invite guests recieved prior to the event

The original Sephora Hello Kitty mascot costume back in action! This was also created by Chubby Bunny especially for Sephora <3

Who doesn't want a Hello Kitty bathroom? <3

The Sephora, Sanrio, and Maison 140 staff! <3 Thanks for a great event guys!

Sorry this post is a little late in coming (as always!). But! You can check out even more photos from the event on my Flickr.

Or check out these great event reports here!

• Bubble Punch
• Yume Ninja
• Official Sanrio Photos
• Dolly Beast
• Hello Kitty Junkies

We just finished our video from the night! Check out exclusive interviews with Spank! owner Tavuchi, myself, and Sweet Streets curator Caro, as well as lots of behind the scenes film from the day!

Sweet Streets: Chubby Bunny + SPANK! Fashion Show and Pop Up store video!

Below are some pics from the Chubby Bunny x Spank! pop up shop, fashion show, and Sweet Streets opening!

Views of our pop up store before our fans ravaged it! hehe

The fashion show started with Tavuchi and I walking out while holding our brands' respective signs!

Next, the Cheerleader girls Kelli and India came out to pep up the crowd! I love this photo!

Candy Girls Shannon and Bryanna handed out special chocolates to the crowd!

Chocolates with our logos on it! Tavuchi had these made as a surprise...and I definitely was surprised to see my FACE on some chocolate, haha

Our Bubble Girls Selina and Anneline were super adorable!

Pop Idol girls Sydney and Amanda brought down the house!

Unicorn girls and Sandy looked great in their Spank! and Chubby Bunny collaboration unicorn horns! (still available for purchase at WWA Gallery!)

Our awesome models from the Spank! x Chubby Bunny fashion show!

Our pop up shop girl Jenny looks super cute in her Chubby Bunny Space Rangers top, and Chubby Bunny Rainbow Skirt!

Sweet Street's founder Caro (left) and Onch Movement jewelry designer Onch (right)!

More photos from the night can be seen here on my flickr!

And for even more photos, videos, and super cute coverage from the night, check out these links!

• Dolly Beast
• Supah Cute
• LA Weekly
• Tavuchi’s Blog
• Twinkie-Chan
• Defective Geeks
• Tadatime
• LactoseIntolerart
• IDreamofFrills
• Geeky Glamorous

I’m actually running out the door to continue preparations for Sweet Streets (This Saturday! You should come!), but wanted to show you guys photos since everyone’s been asking <3

There were fans lined up all the way up the stairs and throughout the shopping complex of Hollywood & Highland waiting for entry into the big event! At 7pm, a steady stream of Hello Kitty fans were let into the store to shop to their heart’s content! The party featured the new items from the Hello Kitty x Forever 21 collaboration, free nail salon, Hello Kitty herself, and live models courtesy of the Jenner twins. There was even a nice relaxing VIP room for friends of Sanrio, too

Fun group shot of myself, my cute Lolita friends, the Jenner twins behind us, and Hello Kitty herself!

Yay Hello Kitty and me! I'm wearing the polka dot bow that I had made for the rest of the F21 staff also <3

The giant bows I made were used in some of the key visuals for the Forever21 store!

I was so excited I was able to snag the raincoat I wanted <3 It's not very practical (a raincoat with no hood! haha) but I love it! I also made a skirt to match the Hello Kitty mascot outfit I made

Tsuji-san, president of Sanrio, was also on hand for the event <3 I think he looks very dapper in his Hello Kitty scarf!

The Jenner twins.

Crazy nails at the nail bar! The ones that ere free were much simpler than these, but I think I definitely want to go to their nail shoo sometime and get these done! Love the bear ones <3

Tarina Tarantino stopped by also! Here's her on the left with my friend Shannon who is visiting me from Portland <3

The rest of my photos can be seen on my Flickr set

For much nicer looking photos of the night, hop on over to my friend Dolly Beast’s post about the event here!

Alright, off to continue setup at WWA Gallery for Sweet Streets! See you all tomorrow for the big exhibition opening party and fashion show!!!

Keep in touch with Chubby Bunny!
[ Shop Chubby Bunny ] [ Twitter ] [ Facebook ] [ Tumblr ]

Here are more preview pics of the items that will be in the pop up store! Each item is extremely limited in run so please be sure to arrive EARLY to get the best choice of goods!

We're happy to announce the launch of our "Space Rangers" series! Sorry we don't pics of the real shirt ready for preview just yet <3

Our new "8-Bit Bunny" series!

Lost more after the jump!

Leggings from the Chubby Bunny Select shop!

Pink Rose leggings

Sweetheart Candy Leggings

Pink Cloud Thigh Highs

Glass Heart Bead Bracelet

Stars To My Heart Earrings

Monster Eyes Bow

Purple Star Bow Headband with dangling star charms!

Star Bead Bow

JEM Bow Headband. Bow can be adjusted to middle or to the side!

Below are a bunch of SPANK!’s products that they will be bringing to the pop-up, too!

The following are event MORE collaboration shirts for the SPANK! x Chubby Bunny Pop up store!

These versions of the LOVE shirts below are hand drawn so they’re all a little different!

Thanks for looking! As always there will be some more last minute updates about Sweet Streets as we get closer to Saturday, so make sure to check back on our blog, facebook, and official website! (Links below!) And YES! We WILL be accepting CREDIT CARDS the day of the show! (though cash is definitely preferred!!!)

Keep in touch with Chubby Bunny!
[ Shop Chubby Bunny ] [ Twitter ] [ Facebook ] [ Tumblr ]

Everyone dressed up in their most out-of-this-world garb to get into the Galactic theme!  This was my outfit for the night! My awesome friend Jenny made the skirt and I did the star cut outs and bolero. Super fast super simple and super space invader-like!  Threw it on over another dress I already own for good sparkly measure, haha.

Here, I'm pictured wearing the Chubby Bunny Purple Star Bow, and the Bunnies In Space Collaboration Bow in my hair!

Here's the Chubby Bunny booth for the night <3

This night, we also released our colorful army men earrings at the event!

Our awesome cute friends that run Lil' Rae Cakes! Jenny Rae and her assistant Emily had to RUN to this event after working the premiere of the Muppets Movie! Jealous!

Some of the space-themed Lil' Rae Cakeballs!!! I LOVE the princess leia ones on the left!!

Our friend Bebe made a super cute Buzz Lightyear girl!

Awesome friends who had art in the show, too! Zambicandy (left) and YumeNinja (middle) both had super cute pieces in the gallery! My friend Mel (right) also showed up for the night's festivities <3

The party had a curated art section featuring friends of Locketship's original work!

Apologies that these are not super great photos

Apologies for my wretchedly over-excited face in this photo! I was able to finally get a picture with Maria (middle) owner of Locketship, and Traci Hines (right) who performed during the night. These girls are TOO CUTE!

Our friend Jessi Jae Joplin performing with her band "Jessie Jae Joplin and The Ruckus" inside Meltdown comics!

It was a really fun night! Thanks again to Locketship for inviting us out for the event!!

As always, you can see more photos from the event on my Flickr!

And don’t forget.. the BIG NIGHT for the SPANK! x CHUBBY BUNNY fashion show and pop up store is only a week away! Show up EARLY to avoid the inevitable CRUNCH of peeps!

Keep in touch with Chubby Bunny!
[ Shop Chubby Bunny ] [ Twitter ] [ Facebook ] [ Tumblr ]

Chubby Bunny was recently contacted to construct another super fun mascot costume for the famous Ms. Kitty for her debut at the Hello Kitty x Forever 21 collaboration launch party! As some of you may know, this is not our first collaboration with Sanrio! We have also created a Hello Kitty mascot outfit for Hello Kitty’s Bats & Cats Masquerade, as well as the Sephora x Hello Kitty Beauty Collection Launch. And, of course, the officially licensed Hello Kitty Bows in pink and red! (Not to mention producing several Sanrio parties with my other company, Bubble Punch!)

If you guys haven’t taken a gander at this ridiculously cute collaboration line of clothing, you need to now!

One of the cutest images of Hello Kitty from the new line is this super MOD looking outfit she wears here:

Using that, I created a super mod version of the Hello Kitty mascot costume! Additionally, Chubby Bunny created a series of custom headband bows for Forever 21 employees to wear during the big launch event!

The first launch for this line was held in Tokyo, at the Shibuya Forever 21 flagship store. (But not to fear my friends! They are also hosting a super sweet launch party here in Los Angeles next week! Details at the bottom of this post)

I sent my friends at Tokyofashion.com over to the Tokyo launch party in my stead (since I’m busy here in LA making lots of cute stuff for my fashion show next week!)  Here are some of the pics they snapped of the Hello Kitty mascot outfit I created, the fans, and the adorable fashion!

Hello Kitty in her new dress! Check out the matching headbow on the cute F21 staff member!

Hello Kitty posing with the shirt that has the image that inspired her outfit for the night!

Hello Kitty titdies up the store before her guests arrive (the huge line outside!) How cute is this!

F21 shop staff wear their matching dot bows by Chubby Bunny and pose with the famous Kitty outside of the Shibuya Forever 21!

Another image of the inspiration behind Hello Kitty's outfit!

Kitty posing with the Sanrio staff! I just want to hug everyone in this picture.. I've been working with them for a long time (since 2009!) creating collaborative Hello Kitty Bow accessories <3

Complimentary nail salon!

You can see a more in depth report at Tokyofashion.com so scoot over there! A HUGE thanks to my friends there who made it to the event in my stead and totally rocked out with AMAZING photos and video!

And don’t forget, officially licensed HELLO KITTY BOWS in red and pink are available for purchase on my online shop!

Okay, and the moment you’ve been waiting for! The secret weapon that will get you into the Los Angeles Hello Kitty x Forever21 launch party for all of you lucky enough to be in the SoCal area! The same Hello Kitty costume and more of the super cute bows will be on store staff that night, too! Also, Chubby Bunny will be helping to create a super neat Hello Kitty-inspired window display for the store! I’ll be sure to take lots of photos!

Thursday, Nov 17, 2011
Forever 21 x Hello Kitty Launch Party!
Forever 21 at Hollywood & Highland
7:00PM – 9PM
Secret Password: Hello Forever 21! (you MUST say the password!)
Some of the events happening:
* Meet Hello Kitty as she debuts her new Forever 21 outfit made by me!
* Special appearance by Kylie & Kendall Jenner!
* Free Hello Kitty goodie bags to the first 250 guests
* Hello Kitty Nail Art Station (while supplies last)
* Hello Kitty Sweets Station
* Raffles for one-of-a-kind Hello Kitty fashions!

Come early as capacity is limited. DON’T FORGET to say the secret password at the door! See you there!

Keep in touch with Chubby Bunny!
[ Shop Chubby Bunny ] [ Twitter ] [ Facebook ] [ Tumblr ]

To celebrate the anniversary of my friend Maria’s brand, Locketship, we teamed up to make a super cute bow for her anniversary party, being held on November 12th from 7 – 11pm at Meltdown Comics!

Locketship provided me with a super cute bunny pendant which I fashioned as the centerpiece for a super cute bow! Take a look below!

The bows feature a rabbit in space, situated on a double bow. The top layer of the bow has glitter and stars in it, while the bottom layer has a marbled black and blue pattern on it that’s totally space-a-riffic! They’re are only 8 being produced for sale, and they are $24 each!

This super special item will debut and be for sale at the Locketship Anniversary party! They are super limited, so we hope to see you there early!