San Diego Chinese New Year Food and Cultural Fair

Hey There:

Last weekend I went to the San Diego Chinese New Year Food and Cultural Fair held in Downtown.

This is the first year I attend one, they had food, very cool vendors (I wanted to buy so many things!), a Children's Craft Area, the stage with dancers, acrobats, Chinese lions and since 2012 is the year of the Dragon, the San Diego Chinese Center unveiled their new Dragon to be used over the next 12 years until the next cycle begins.

My only complaint is that there wasn't enough food available! There were very few food booths, but I still have very good pot-stickers fresh from the frying pan and milky booba tea, as well as sponge cake...very yummy!

I'm glad I decided to decorate my garden window with Chinese NY decorations, I have so many new ideas for next year. And now here is a clip from the Chinese Lions performance, I love to look at them, but up close they can be a bit scary, lol.

Drink 'n Draw at The AC Lounge in San Diego

Hey There:

A friend of mine told me about a Drink n' Draw weekly event and even though I can't draw to save my life I decided to go and check it out.

The event is held every Sunday night at The Air Conditioning Lounge located at 4673 30th street starting at 9 PM. The concept is costume and theme based sessions with alternative models wearing the coolest costumes.This group was inspired by Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School:

"Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art school is the world's premier alt.drawing movement. Artists draw glamorous underground performers in an atmosphere of boozy conviviality. Found in 2005 in a dive bar in Brooklyn, Dr. Sketchy's has now spread to over 100 cities around the world."

As soon as you arrive at The AC Lounge you will feel the inspiration from all the people drawing and the mellow music, even I felt the urge to start drawing at least stick figures! People are sitting at the tables and at the bar hunched over their sketch pads, notebooks and even tablets, drawing to their hearts content.

There is a live model who sits in front of the group and poses in intervals of 2, 5, 10, and 20 minutes at a time. The night I went to see the group it was space themed with the model dressed in 60's style alien costumes and last weekend the model brought her pet snake as a prop.

The organizer Leia Anderson, has been arraging these weekly events for one year and other than holidays, only one Sunday was missed, so you can count on this weekly outing. 

There is no cover for the AC Lounge, but they do ask for $5 for the model and at the bar its $5 U Call Its all night, their specialty drinks are very yummy! The event normally ends at midnight and from what I experienced, the group is laid back, non-judgemental and just there to draw, drink and have fun.

For more information or if you're interested to be a model, join the Facebook Group and contact Leia.

View from outside

Garden Window - Chinese New Year

Hey There:

One of the many things I love about my new apartment is the Garden Window. I've been adding different decorations according to the season and I'll be posting my garden window decorating ideas as the months go by. For the month of January I wasn't sure what to do as a motif since everything white and wintery doesn't really go with Southern California weather, so I decided to go for Chinese New Year which will be celebrated on January 23rd with the Dragon as the animal sign.

I had to be creative since decorations are not easily available in crafts stores like Michael's, searching on the web this is what I came up with.

Dragons:

This was done from a Google image search, found a Chinese New Year dragon mask I liked, printed it and attached it to a "body" made from red stock paper.

This dragon came from a www.CraftJr.com where they have a very easy Dragon Paper Craft with a printable template ready to be colored. It was very fun to make!

Chinese Lanterns:

I followed the instructions from www.EnchantedLearning.com in this case there's no template, just easy-to-do steps using scrapbooking paper to make the lanterns. I know they look a bit off, but I printed a small sign referencing the Chinese New Year just in case my neighbors wondered what the hell I was going for with the decorations.

Chinese souvenirs:

I have several Chinese items that I bought in Hong Kong or where brought to me as souvenirs from friends. I used to have this very cute little purse, but gave it to my niece. I also have a beautiful traditional dress bought in Hong Kong about 25 lbs ago, maybe next year I'll add it to the display.

And here's the final result, not too flashy but I think it still captures the spirit of the Chinese New Year.