Broadcast Yourself

[ It's funny how a man only thinks about the (beep)
You got a real big heart, but I'm lookin atcha (beep)
They only want, only want my (ah ha ha, ah ha ha) ]

So! Big news, friends. My shoes are going to FRANCE. Yes, France! Get excited - I am! I just got a whole new bunch of shoes in the other day. I found this incredible SalVal. It was awesome :) I am currently multitasking on about 4 different pairs of shoes right now so hopefully they will be finished/purchased soon. Although technically 2 of those 4 are already sold. Yay! Pictures soon, because I have some wedges that are just darling! Speaking of pictures, here's a new one, which has quickly become an absolute favourite of mine. Please enjoy it ~ click for a larger view. You might've already seen it on my Facebook.


















More exciting news! My website hit 16,000 views this week, which was awesome sauce for me! Onward to 20,000 by 2010! I am currently setting up an Etsy.com shop to sell my lovely shoesies (and hopefully bags and jewelry once I get those up and running!), AND I have entered the above design into Infectious.com's design contest. I would LOVE if you'd vote for me... and I don't think you have to have an account to do it... but go ahead and try it! Just click "LOTS" on the "Love-O-Meter"

___________// [ Please vote for me here!!! ]

http://www.infectious.com/voting/miri-love/miri-tweet/1744

There's a special Facebook ad thing, but it never works :( I suppose I will have to be all low-tech and write one of those old-fashioned note things and tag people. I'd much rather upload a spiffy, clickable image, though!

AND, last but most excitingly (and the reason for the title of this blog), I have started my own vlog. Vlog = video blog. Yes, I know. This could be really good... or really bad. :D Basically, a bunch of my watchers on devART were like "ZOMG Tell us about your life!!!", so I said okay... lol. I am also very inspired by Acrylicana's vlog, which is hilarious, but I think I go into that on the actual intro vlog. So that's exciting. Hopefully I will get that up and running on Youtube with my own page tomorrow/Sunday. Hopefully I will be getting a webcam this weekend (I love that today was paydayyyyy).

___________// [ Here is my happy little neck-of-the-youtube-woods ]
Don't get too excited, it's only one silly little video.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Miriliilove

EDIT: Oh what!? I'm adding more?! Oh what the hey.

Here's an update of the last WIP (Work in Progress), I showed you.
[ Silly silly screencap ]












Bye loves! <3

So why can't you see? You belong with me. | Singing to no one is liberating.

Unlimited, my future is unlimited.

I'm admittedly a little concerned about my oncoming lack of sleep/social life/sanity. I am REALLY looking forward to The Wiz, but I rehearse every day between now and July 18th (with the exception of Fridays/Sundays, and TWO days. whoa). Work 8am-5pm then rehearsal 6-9pm every night. Hmm.

[ Work in Progress - - click for larger]














Day off tomorrow, which is glorious. Hopefully this painting will be finished tomorrow. Really want to go to the Arts Fest in Hburg, but I want someone to go with me.

Fourth Feature ____// Yaylove <3

And here! http://fribee.deviantart.com/art/50-Artists-Banner-123299964

Please click "Digital" and "Lii-chan". SUCH an honour to be grouped with Loish and Janaschi! <3333

Everything is going so well! :)

A place so gloriously wired with lights and sounds

"I am building a good and beautiful life; if you want to add to it, then come on in. But if not, see you later."

[ Hey, oh - here I am. And here we go, life's waiting to begin. ]

I am in the process of putting in an order for these fabulous wholesale shoesies <3 Not sure how many I'll get yet, but you can be sure that they will be all beautiful after I get through with them. I've got some sweet ideas already swimming around inside my lovely little head.

I am finding more and more that I have a deep, deep love for textiles. Why oh why did I not realize this in college when I could have studied it? I still love to illustrate, paint, and draw conceptually; but the things I illustrate belong to a world that is not ours. The joy in fashion is reaching in and pulling those dream-like, fantastic things into our own hands.

My hair is getting long again. I love it <3 I am so excited to have a carefree, fun night with Kori and Sarah tomorrow.

[Am I supposed to put my life on hold,
because you don't know how to act,
and you don't know where your life is going?
Am I supposed to be torn apart, broken hearted,
in a corner crying bout it, me, if I don't show it.
I'm so over it, I've been there and back.]

{Na na na na hey hey hey goodbye.}

Sweet deal <3

Got featured again!

http://news.deviantart.com/article/80639/

It's so cool to be in there with work from a lot of artists I truly, truly admire.

E per la vita che non c'e ~ | No, e la mia vita bella

I really need to get myself back to my normal sleep schedule. I have been zoning all day... the work day took forever.

Exciting things happening recently...

I got a callback for The Wiz, which is tomorrow at 5:30pm. I hope I do well enough to snag a part :) That'd be sweet. My throat has been feeling a little scratchy lately, so I do hope that'll go away until after the audition. I can't believe I almost forgot how much joy I find in singing, and I am so happy to be able to do it again - part or chorus. Singing in the car isn't nearly as satisfying as being onstage. It feels very much like coming home. :)

On another arts-related note, there is a definite possibility that I will be selling my sweet shoes on one of my favourite fashion websites. The details are not currently finalized, which means I can't post any more information, but I'll post more when I have more answers.

Over the weekend, I designed another pair of shoes. I'd like to call them "Nouveau Swimpond". I am absolutely in love with them - but alas, I am a size 8, and they are a size 6 & 1/2. I keep telling my feet that love knows no boundaries (like foot-size), but they refuse to fit in there. Hurr :( Tonight I will be hoping to paint my new bright fire-engine red shoes. Pow! If I have enough energy...

I finished the "Night of Worship" Graphic for Daybreak Church, which will "air" on May 31st. Must say that I wasn't entirely pleased with the outcome, but I guess not everything you do can be a masterpiece. Now onward to designing their Women's Study Graphic. I really enjoy working with Susie and their team; great experience! :) Though my poor poor camera is sitting gathering dust... I really need to charge the battery and shoot some stuff, even if just messing around. Good news is that when I go to LA, I will be having a vibrant and quirky photoshoot with Roo. :) Hope to get some good shots there - about a month away! And before that, DisneyWorld! (Though I doubt I'll bring my nice camera down there - yikes!)

[ oh my God, SHOES ]

These coming nights will be filled with painting, singing, Josh Groban, Last Samurai, Painted Veil, Gumbo, and chocolate cake. Mmm. Yes please.

Por Ejemplo

A work in progress for a contest. Will be painted.

From left, clockwise: Fusa, the Urchin; Lex, the Twin; Xaiona, the Black Widow; Lufu, the Thief; Rozalin, the Harlot; and Simone, the Acolyte.

I am really excited about this one. I've done like, 5 different sketches and none of them have turned out the way I wanted them to... until this one! Let's just hope that paint won't mess it up! I really fell in love with the storyline in this contest. There are many other characters, but these are just the girlies. Basically, the main girl (front), Simone, is an acolyte in the Church. She is wrongfully excommunicated, but the Church strikes a deal with her to identify and bring in certain notorious criminals in exchange for her return to her beloved nunnery. [drama ensues!]

Yesterday I had quite the enjoyable lunch. As I sat at Barnes and Noble with coffee and art magazine in hand (which is one of my favourite things to do), I thought a lot about my grad school portfolio and sketched a bunch of stuff. I am often truly inspired even by art that doesn't make a lick of sense to me. Yesterday I leafed through a magazine on Pop Culture Asian Influence, which featured work of painted ears and yarn hanging from bare walls, among other things. As I tried to make sense of it, I realized that I have a very distinct way of viewing and understanding work. I always ask, "What is it about?" Sometimes art does not "depict" something in the conventional sense. I paged back through my sketchbook and found these words of wisdom: "Art is highly intellectual, even when it appears to be nonsense and mean nothing."

Of course, I completely resonate with this. In my own personal work, I strive to create a sense of mystery. This is difficult in straightforward/commissioned/contest pieces such as the one I posted above, but when I create work for my portfolio or myself, intellectual value - communicating a message - is something that is a main priority for me. But I realize I am extremely limited in how I convey this message. As I looked at art yesterday that seemed completely "whacked-out", I wrote this observation: "I have a hard time breaking my own molds. Why can't I just put something right there? What stops me? What is my filter? Myself?"

It is frustrating but also immensely freeing to meet your own self-imposed walls head-on.

I've been Featured... Twice?

Wow... my work has been featured twice today :)

On Artlibs: http://artlibs.blogspot.com/2009/05/lii-chan.html

On devART: http://nataly1st.deviantart.com/journal/24739486/




Your skin is something that I stir into my tea.

"Today my life begins."

Your life is supposed to begin after college, right? I have never felt that way and I don't know why. In fact, I feel stuck. I feel like every door I reach for is shut towards me. I feel like a carving on a facade... etched and packed in one singular way, never to break free because the wall behind me is connected to every root and vein and muscle, clamping me down, unwilling to let me move.

Being a grownup is hard. You try and make the best decisions for yourself, you try and be smart. And sometimes it backfires. You no longer have the security of a plan, the future is open. You don't know who you'll end up with, where you'll end up at, and sometimes it seems like there are no speed limit signs or road markers. You do the best you can because you don't know how to do anything else.

I want someone who understands. I want someone who loves me for me.

This week:_______//
{Saturday: Musical Movie night with Kori}
{Sunday: Mama's Day at home with my incredible mother <3}
{Monday: Last calling shift of my first year as Annual Giving Coordinator}
{Tuesday: First free night of the summer, which can only mean lots of art, tea, and 24!}
{Wednesday: Dinner with my Daddy!}
{Thursday: Auditions with Amber for "The Wiz"}
{Friday: Out with everyone before graduation}
{Saturday: Graduation <3 Oh my word, it's been a year.}

"So, let me say before we part:
So much of me is made of what I learned from you,
You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end,
I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend."

A Nun in the Sun

I am fed up. I am done. I am running in the other direction so my head won't spin with nonsense any longer and I won't want to continually claw my eyes out.

I am so exhausted with grown men acting like little boys. I know now that it is a choice to trust, not an ability; but I am not sure I could say with any great confidence that I would ever believe that a man would ever have the honour he says he has.

[ Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.]
I find my refuge only in the Lord; He is the place I seek so many times a day when I lose faith in those around me and feel frustrated with things in my life. God has carried me through my own bloody battles so many times; my feet dangle while He grips me in His arms and walks steadily through countless mine fields. He cleanses my wounds; He restores my soul. Even though I feel so lonely, like I have never been before; You never said it would be easy - but You sent my Saviour through the storm.

"I call, You hear me
I've lost it all,
and it's more than I can bear.
I feel so empty.
You're strong, I'm weary.
I'm holding on, but I feel like giving in...
but still, You're with me.

And even though I'm walking through the valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me.
And when all hope is gone,
And I've been wounded in the battle,
He's all the strength that I will ever need.
He will carry me.

I know I'm broken
But You alone can mend this heart of mine
You're always with me."

Why am I always surprised by Your faithfulness?

And even though I'm walking
Through the valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me
And when all hope is gone
And I've been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength that I will ever need
He will carry me

I know I'm broken
But You alone
Can mend this heart of mine
You're always with me

Take Care Now

And the lights come up to meet us
Silent for the evening,
We enter this town like newborn creatures
Those I know I see and knew
And the space between us is reduced
For I am human
And you are human, too.
So turn and turn again,
We are calling in all the ships,
Every traveler please come home
and tell us all that you have seen.
Break every lock to every door,
Return every gun to every drawer
so we can turn and turn again.

-
Take care now.
Great work today.

Cali To-Do List of Fabulousity <3

1. Sushi at kung fu restaurant
2. In and Out burger
3. Bar hops/dance-offs/stumping bros
4. Hollywood Blvd, checkin out the crazies
5. Huge pancakes
6. Beach x 10000000
7. Return of the King and The Rundown and Pirates
8. Backrubs
9. Looking delicious. ;)
10. Good music and LA photoshoot
11. Shopping Spree/Roo = Male Model