Organization: Closet Deep Cleaning

Before!

And after!

We moved into a fairly small space last year- "we" here meaning Antho, myself, and our two rat cages full of squeaky little sweeties. This meant consolidating two fairly full wardrobes into one small closet with a few additional drawers and cabinets thrown in for good measure. When we first moved in together back in 2015 we had a two bedroom townhouse with two stories and a garage, so we had a TON of space for just two of us! We converted our spare bedroom into a walk-in closet with one wall for each of us to hang all of our clothes...and something about all that space made us feel compelled to try to fill it. We'd go to thrift stores and have a lot of fun picking out  furniture, new ensembles and finding things that we might not have shelled out the cash for brand new... and while that was all fun, it was really quite expensive. Not only did we have to pay for all the clothes and STUFF we bought- which, while relatively cheap enough having been purchased primarily at thrift stores- but all that additional space we "needed" every month. It really added up! And really, we barely used most of it. When I moved to Korea to pursue my art for awhile, we decided that the financially wise thing to do would be to have Antho move in with his grandma so that he wasn't shelling out all that additional cash for all the empty space we weren't utilising. She had gone through a tragic loss around the time, too, so our intentions were for Antho to help her out around the house and with the bills while saving cash until I returned... It didn't quite pan out that way, but such is life.  That process started us towards reducing our accumulation of stuff, however, as we went from having an entire townhouse to ourselves to having a corner of a garage, a single room, and a little bit of backyard space for our tie-dye, which meant condensing.

 While I was in Korea I pretty much lived out of a single suitcase and a small closet in the room I rented from my employer. I ended up paying about $350 a month for a big comfy sofa to sleep on and a closet with access to a kitchen, bathroom and laundry. It wasn't a bad deal, all told, and I really enjoyed my stay. Food is amazing and affordable in Korea, and transportation is reasonable and efficient, too. Having moved overseas several times now (first to Japan, then back to the US, then to Korea, then back to the US) I've found it really refreshing to re-appraise my attachment to material things from time to time. I always feel so much more refreshed and at ease when I have less, which seems counter-intuitive. I was in Japan for over two years and while there accumulated a lot of stuff to fill my little apartment with, and when I left I had to spend quite a bit of money shipping all that stuff back to myself. It was expensive and inconvenient, but I guess for the most part I'm glad that I went for it as I've accumulated a collection of Japanese fashion and cooking magazines from that time that I hope to eventually translate and share. While in Korea I stocked up on cosmetics, skin care and sheet masks because they are bountiful and affordable...but again, this is an accumulation of stuff, which it is quite beneficial to sort, organise and purge several times throughout the year. We have a goal of eventually living out of our van and traveling, so we'll need to get rid of quite a bit more before we can do that. I'm viewing 2018 as my year to reduce, use up, and reappraise my things.  While I've bought a few skin care items (sorry, not sorry) I'm trying not to indulge in any of the new makeup or stationary pretties I might want and reduce my overall shopping. I want to use up the sheet masks I have taking up residence in our fridge (rather than food), use up my insane collection of pens, use up all my BB and CC creams, so on and so forth. I'm grateful for the bounty and the opportunities that availed me the possibility of acquiring so many things, but I think it's high time to trim the fat. I like the Mari Kondo (aka KonMari) approach of asking whether each item sparks joy in you before deciding what to do with it, but to each their own. Whatever organisation method works for you is the one to use!

When I first began condensing my clothes, I wrote up an inventory list of all the things going into the tote so I would have an idea what was in it should I go hunting for a specific item. I like to be organised and stay on top of all my things, which is generally an uphill struggle, but I try.

For this particular session, I sorted all my sheet masks and sorted through my clothes until I filled three large garbage bags with donations. I could still donate more, but this was a step in the right direction and some advancements taken in the right direction are better than none, right? 

Vegas: Feast of Thrones at Mae's

We find ourselves extremely fortunate in that over the years we somehow became counted among the inner circle of our good friend Mae's close inner circle of personal friends. This includes a bounty of benefits, such as having the wonderful and thoughtful Mae as our friend, along with invites to the various festivities and events she hosts throughout the year. Not only is she an incredible human being in and of herself, but the amount of energy and attention to detail that she puts into every gathering hosted at her home is incredible! She really goes above and beyond to try to create the perfect evening and entertainment experience for all involved and it really shows! We've been going to her parties for years, first as friends of a friend, but she's such a chill and kind-hearted person that it's hard not to be her friend. Every time we make our way to her fabulous nerd-cave we find a new and exciting event in the works, too, which boggles my mind given the amount of energy and preparation involved for each one. It's always a good time, and the food has been outstanding, especially on the more intimate gatherings where more care and expense can go into the preparation. On this evening we were celebrating the season finale of Game of Thrones, which dates this post a bit, but at least it's finally here! 

Antho and I are a bit behind with the show as it took me ages to convince him to start watching it- and somewhere around season 5 or 6 we got distracted and left off.  Maybe it was all the death... or the CW's Flash probably came back on air and we got so caught up in our beloved Speedster, his melodrama and Team Flash's antics that we couldn't bring ourselves back to the death and tragedies of Westeros. Still, the season finale was certainly a spectacle to behold and we had a lot of fun! The food was absolutely fantastic and I ate an enormous amount. There were cheeses galore with sweet bursts of fruit to pop through the creamy richness, bacon wrapped dates stuffed with cheese, tender fluffy little roastie potatoes with crackly skins, sweet honey baked ham, umami stuffed mushrooms and so much more, all of it absolutely delectable. I was talking about this meal and event for weeks! This is typically the case for any of the events we attend at Mae's, to be fair. 😉

Photos continue below!

Vegas: Dinner at Sushi Twister and love for a sick girl

Surf clam and octopus in the forefront here.

Sushi Twister has been our go-to All You Can Eat sushi restaurant in Las Vegas for years now. I've written several Yelp reviews on them over time and my opinion has changed with subsequent visits. My very first impression wasn't super positive as I felt they stuffed too much rice into their rolls, but since then the balance has been established and their rolls and nigiri are delicious. On the best of days they have super white tuna nigiri available, which is Antho's favorite, but we're always happy to have uni (sea urchin) and ikura (salmon roe) with amaebi (sweet shrimp). If they offer to serve you the deep fried heads, take it! They are delicious! The heads have all that delicious shrimpy flavour but with extra crunch as they get a quick bath in tempura batter before hitting the oil. You can eat the whole thing, brains and all, and I absolutely recommend it. It's the next best thing to eating the live shrimp in Noryangjin market in Korea. 

Eating live shrimp at Noryangjin market. I feel a bit like a monster for doing this x_x #liveseafood #liveshrimp #shrimp #noryangjin #seafood #seoul #korea #southkorea #food #foodporn

A post shared by Jessthulhu (@shethatisnau) on Aug 29, 2016 at 3:51am PDT

We also really like their baked mussels, but there's a ton of hot food options available in their appetiser menu- everything from gyoza and deep fried tofu to rice bowls and salads. Their tempura has been consistently delicious too. If you're not big on sushi there's a lot of options, too, like teriyaki chicken and rice to a roll made with grilled beef instead of fish. We love ourselves some fish and will take it in all it's forms, form raw to deep fried, so there's hardly an item on their menu that we haven't tried at least once. The only real complaint that's ever come up is an item being too spicy for Antho, but if you order off their spicy menu you go into it knowing you run that risk. Lucky for us I can handle the heat and I was able to clear our plate, as the rule for most AYCE places applies here as well: any plates you do not finish will be charged at full take out price. Unfortunately for Sushi Twister we've yet to take on that challenge and walk away defeated. 

As always we had a delicious meal. We never feel rushed here. Sometimes the chefs might get swamped with orders, but if you're patient they'll be more than happy to take care of you when they get the opportunity. We've seen some customers get rude with the sushi chefs and I always hate seeing that... being unpleasant with the people handling your food doesn't incentivise them to cater to you! This restaurant can get quite busy with all the take-out orders, All You Can Eat customers, regular customers ordering off the menu....  being a dick to the girl taking your drink orders isn't going to do much good. If you're in a hurry to get a specific meal you can always order ahead and get your food to go, otherwise relax and enjoy your stay. The food is well worth it if you let the cooks do their jobs. 

Another bonus to dining at Sushi Twister is their rewards card- if you visit their restaurant often enough and have the All You Can Eat meal you can earn a free one! This is great for people like us who adore sushi and go together, as each meal for the two of us garners us two stamps on the card, getting us closer to a half-price meal each time we indulge. Fabulous. 

Vegas: The Linq Promenade

After the proposal at the Bellagio fountains and dealing with the crowds at the Bellagio Conservatory we were ready to start making our way back to the safety and familiarity of the good old van. Along the way we had to pass through the Linq Promenade, which has changed quite a bit since the last time I was there, which was already several years ago now. Antho actually worked there during the Halloween season of 2016 as a zombie in a haunt that was located there, and he had a lot of fun doing it! He was even made a star in their advertisement that aired on the large LED screen along Las Vegas boulevard! I was over in Korea during that time, unfortunately, so I never got to see or appreciate the full breadth of his brilliance as an undead actor, but knowing what a passionate and vivacious character he's always been I know he brought the best to the role and I wasn't surprised that he rocked it. He wasn't able to reprise his role this past year due to scheduling conflicts, but who knows what the future may hold. As for this particular outing, we had a lot of fun and were pleasantly surprised by all the updates to the space and new shops and restaurants that were proliferating. There was even a place advertising sushi cupcakes... yes, you read that correctly, cupcakes! I'm not quite sure what to make of that... maybe they'll be delicious little savoury morsels of fish and rice goodness much like onigiri with extra fancy trimmings? Or perhaps they'll be greasy little balls of sadness and missed opportunities...until we try them for ourselves they shall remain a mystery. There's some fun street art in this area, too! Hope you enjoy the photos~ 

Vegas: Bellagio Conservatory Holiday decorations 2017

After helping our buddy Brandon with his proposal in front of the Bellagio Fountains, we packed up the drawing supplies and headed out. Since we were already at the Bellagio we figured it would be fun to check out the Conservatory! The Bellagio Conservatory is a huge indoor garden that changes depending on the most relevant holiday for the time of year, which can entail massive overhauls of the gardens and the flowers contained therein along with all the decorations adorning the area. During our visit in December we were greeted with the appropriately Festivus related decorum, from giant Nutcrackers to floral Polar bears splashing about playfully in an indoor pond, to a heroic warrior atop a gilded horse there was a bounty of beautiful sights to behold. It was a bit crowded as it was nearing the New Year and many people tend to flock to the city for that time frame, and this unfortunately made me a bit anxious but we were able to get a decent amount of photos before moving out towards where Antho had parked our van. He hadn't been able to get parking at the Bellagio that night, which meant we had to make our way over to the Linq promenade. This wasn't any punishment, though, as we have fond memories there and it's a fun place! We found a Sorting Hat perfect for our friend's upcoming Harry Potter themed party, and some cool murals and things. This post, however, isn't about the Linq but about the Bellagio. Photos abound below!