꒰ Sunday 09.24.23 ꒱

Another happy day! Wouldja look at that? Today I attended a picnic with my school friends. I slept in a little, but walked to the grocery store as soon as I woke up to retrieve ingredients for my dish. I made a caprese pasta salad. Its refreshing, flavorful, and best enjoyed at room temperature. Perfect for a picnic. I cooked the pasta al dente, just as my best friend taught me. I couldn't find mozarella pearls for whatever reason, so I just bought a block of fresh mozerella and cubed it, sneaking bites of mozarella as I sliced the cubes. I called my mom, who seemed impressed with the pasta salad.

I packed the pasta salad into a giant bowl and carried it with me as I took the bus to school. I wore a lace-trim dress, mary janes, and a cardigan. We laid out our blankets on a quiet, shaded patch of grass under a willow tree. I've attended a handful of picnics where most (including myself) are too lazy to cook anything, but this picnic was a real success! It seems most everyone brought a home-cooked dish to share. It was truly a feast! You can see my pasta salad in the corner of the image here. I'm glad people enjoyed it. I don't cook for others often.



My friends and I shared a wonderful meal and many wonderful conversations. One of my friends had recently finished her first ever watch of Madoka Magica, and enthusiastically indulged me as I rambled endlessly about the themes of Madoka Magica and my interpretations of it.



After the picnic concluded, my room mate and I bussed to the movie theater to catch the Ghiblifest screening of Howl's Moving Castle. I snuck some milk tea into the theater... There I watched the official trailer for Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, The Boy and the Heron, for the first time. I had been avoiding it since initially Hayao Miyazaki had no desire to advertise the film and I trusted his decision... But I simply couldn't look away. It's coming to theaters in December! I'm so excited!
Howl's Moving Castle was just as lovely and heartfelt as I remember, but surprised me in that it was funnier than I remember. My room mate and I laughed out loud at a lot of scenes, particularly ones where Howl is most endearingly pathetic LOL. Theres a shot where a closeup of his bare butt is on screen for like 5 seconds lol
Ghiblifest will conclude next month with Spirited Away.. I'm happy I got to watch so many ghibli movies on the big screen for the first time.


What have I been up to lately? My friend Gretchen and I have been playing a lot of minecraft together. Her brother was kind enough to host a server for us. We both downloaded mods that greatly enhance the game with hundreds of lovingly designed furniture and decorative items.. As a background artist, just flipping through the catalogue of items fills my heart with enthusiasim. The mods we are using are Cocricot and Miniaturia. We plan to fill the server with locations from our oc stories. We started with a small cabin in the snow, a simple but cozy build to help us familiarize ourselves with the mod. We started work on an apartment complex as well. Maybe I should make a page to document the development of our minecraft world... As someone who adores decorating games, I can tell I'm going to be playing this for a loong while!



A rustic cabin on a snowy mountaintop...



The exterior of the cabin..



A cozy bedroom nook



The architects themselves...


As I'm writing this, I'm sipping a cup of hot royal milk tea and sitting on a biscuit-shaped cushion that I bought for my desk chair. You may know that I love cute and kitschy biscuit paraphenalia, so this cushion was a must have.. plus, its extremely soft and comfortable!