If You're Going to Stare at Me, At Least be Subtle About It.

As part of a show I am taking part in for Herro Hachi, I decided to get a giant t-shirt made to use as my booth sign. I was going to make a YouTube video regarding my preparations for the show but because of some hilarious footage, I decided to change directions and make a "tutorial" instead.

My friend and I went downtown to catch up, go shopping, and eat and I told her I wanted footage for my video of someone looking at me funny because of my giant t-shirt. What I got was way more than what I expected. Hahaha! Since it was raining, I couldn't get the original footage I wanted which was of me walking through busy downtown streets w/ my giant shirt on. Plan B was to go into a coffee shop and just ask the cashier what he thought of my t-shirt. After I did that, I told my friend that I noticed there was a woman who had been staring at me for a good 5 minutes since I came in... she turned the camera on to capture it and the woman was so busy staring at me, she didn't even notice!

 

 

After capturing that footage, I took the t-shirt off and pretended nothing happened. I noticed three of her friends turned around and looked at me at the same time, then staring lady said "oh, she took it off" Hahaha!

But you know what... 

HATERZ GON' HATE! ;)

Look at the Snuggie... people laughed at it for a long time but now... you probably have one at home! haha!

Wearing the giant t-shirt started out as a joke for video footage but I must say, it's quite comfy. Hmmmm...

tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces // tumblr

My Life as a Cheeseburger Neeenja

Last night I had a dream. I dreamt that I was wanted and had a group of assassins chasing after me. For murder? For terrorism? Nope... for theft of a cheeseburger. I only remember some details since as you know, you lose almost all memory of your dreams when you wake up. I do remember that my friends parents hid me in their floor/secret hiding spot while the assassins raided their house. It was a pretty intense dream but sadly, i don't remember if that cheeseburger even tasted good and i don't know if i ever got caught for my crime.

What do you think my dream is trying to tell me?

top: neeenja pullover by me / herro hachi // neeenja headband: the black bow from my sister-in-laws maid of honor dress.

P.S - for the sole purpose of this blog post, i went to McDonald's to purchase a "burger" - it wasn't a cheeseburger though, it was a junior chicken burger.

P.P.S - now i feel sick so ya'll better appreciate this post. hahaha! jk ^_~


tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces // tumblr

Like an Episode Out of "Hoarders"...

  There's a bed under there, somewhere..... haha!

I hang my head low in shame as I reveal to you the state my bedroom was in for months up until last Friday. It starts off with "i've got so much to do...i'll put this sweater away later" until you eventually collect a mountain of clothing on top of your bed and you can no longer sleep on it. Haha! There was no urgency for me either because we have two guest bedrooms in our house that I could sleep in! Finally, with the help of my mom, I was able to pack and clean my room in preparation for moving and marriage - 2 MONTHS + 3 WKS AWAY!!! Eeeeek!

No, the rest of our house does not look like this, especially not my work area. I'm actually quite a neat person (hard to believe from that photo, right? haha) but I guess with packing and preparations, i slowly started neglecting the mountain of things that needed to be organized. Hey, at least you won't find any squished cats or 20 year old sandwiches anywhere.

Would your room be featued on "Hoarders" or in a funky home decor show?

P.S - The wait is over!!! Check out all my NEW RELEASES HERE! Use coupon code "NEWHERRO10" to enjoy 10% off!

Code is valid until April 3rd, 2011.

tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces // tumblr

You Get What You Pay For...

To date, I am subscribed to about 20 group buying websites (Groupon, LivingSocial, etc) . If you aren't familiar with group buying websites - they are websites that give you heavily discounted deals if a certain number of people buy the deal. Last January, my girlfriends and I bought a spa voucher for a hot stone massage + sauna package that is worth $160 but was selling for $29. We snatched it up right away and used the voucher yesterday.



We were supposed to get a total of 1 hour and a half of spa time including a hot stone massage and sauna but what did we get? 
A total of one hr of spa time and someone rubbing (not massaging) our body with hot stones. 
I've never had a hot stone massage before and i'm no expert on massaging but I truly feel like I could have asked a child to put massaging oil and rub hot stones on my back and I would have gotten the same thing. -_- 
I guess you get what you pay pay for... 
The only good thing about the place was that they have a Party Room. A huge room with a projector screen where you can watch movies, stations for manicures and pedicures so that was pretty cool. 

What was your worse spa/massage experience? 
P.S - Before you go, please check out Behind the Scenes photos from my Herro Hachi photo shoot yesterday (click here)! New releases will be up on Monday, March 28. :)



tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces // tumblr

Oh hai, i'm still here!!!

You know how on some days you say "i'm tired, i'll blog tomorrow" then when tomorrow comes, you say the same thing and before you know it you've been away for 2 weeks? Yeahhhh...

Anyway, this is what's kept me busy in the last two weeks...



Helped my brother and sister-in-law move
*mmmmmmmmm*
I finally found a workout that I actually enjoy and don't just do b/c I have to do something active... MARTIAL ARTS! Lately, i've been doing kickboxing, combat, and will be starting krav maga today.
3 months and 6 days until the BIG DAY. We're going to get our own wine made - it's cheaper and more personal... let's just hope it tastes okay. haha!
 And the most exciting part during the last two weeks? Kimora Lee wore the customized tank top I made for her!!! More info on my official website here. (to those of you who follow me on facebook and twitter, sorry for spamming you with my news and excitement! :P)



tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces // tumblr

My Night Job... Inspiration for a Giveaway!

For those who have been following my blog since last year, you'll already know all about this so you're welcome to skip ahead :)

Last April 2009, i took a walk during my lunch break and reflected on life (sounds so cheesy, but it's true. haha!) I had a great full-time job and was enjoying life but something was missing. I didn't feel fulfilled. I knew that hands-on creativity was more of my forte instead of working a regular "9-5" office job so I decided to do something about it. At first I thought that making handmade cards would be a great business so I ventured off to the arts & crafts store that weekend to stock up on supplies. While I was looking around in the paper goods section, my bf spotted a t-shirt printing machine and said "why don't you just make t-shirts? you're a t-shirt kind of girl." I brushed the idea off and proceeded to look for paper goods. Weeks later, something brought me back to the t-shirt machine and I ended up getting it, completely scrapping my idea of making cards.

I have a machine, i have some supplies, but what would I call my business? My brother, bf and I brainstormed together and started out with really cheesy, "try hard" names and after awhile we just got tired and started fooling around by throwing out silly names. My brother, in his best asian accent, said "'herro?' you should just name it that! Herro Kishi! Kishi because your name starts with a K!" We eventually decided that it sounded too much like Hello Kitty and that might create legal problems for me down the road. We kept the "Herro?" part and I decided on "Hachi" for the second part as it means Bumblebee in Japanese which has a personal meaning to me. That same week, I marched to City Hall to apply for my business license, set-up an Etsy shop online and began blogging. I've come a long way since, thanks to many of you!

I started out with just ONE item on Etsy! My first ever design was "Fluent in Engrish"   Since then, i've also been able to release an official website: 
www.herrohachi.com
thanks to one of my fave people/bloggers - Nikolett for helping me code/design everything!
Now for the GIVEAWAY part of the title.

Anne from LOLANNE was one of my first few customers back when I started and when I created a "Boy Neenja" she requested that Boy Neeenja have a girlfriend so "Girl Neeenja" was born. She's now hosting a giveaway inspired by the two + many many more! Thank you Anne for thinking of me for this giveaway :)

Enter her giveaway here!

tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces

Tell Me...

LESS THAN 2 MONTHS LEFT IN 2010!42 days (1013 hours) left until Christmas! Yes, i totally just googled "Countdown to Christmas" haha!
Looking forward to many things, mainly Christmas of course! I love this season - the sights, the smells, the new flavours at Starbucks, the gatherings, the food, wrapping presents, the reason for the season... i love it all! (but i must say that my least fave thing about the season is the lack of parking at the malls. grrrr!) 
In the meantime, i'm working hard in preparation for four holiday shows i'll be taking part in this season! (this explains the lack of blog posts lately) If you're local, i hope to see you come out to one of the shows! [view list of shows here] If I have enough time, I may even initiate a Christmas Card Exchange here in the blogworld - what do you think? :)
P.S - Find a "shop early for the holidays" discount code in my fortune cookie here! :D (For those of you who are new readers - i have a clothing line called herro hachi.)
What do you love the most about this season?

Foot Fetishes & More Scary Circles

  

I decided to take a break from the 30 Day Blog Challenge for the last few days because the topics didn't interest me ;P

I had a fun little weekend starting with watching Life As We Know It in theaters. It's the romantic comedy with Katherine Heigl & Josh Duhamel. It was a pretty long movie but I found it really enjoyable and at times, I was even teary eyed because of the story line. Overall, i'd give it a 3/5. :)

You're probably wondering what's with the FOOT FETISH title...Well, last Saturday was my mom's birthday so we had people over for dinner. There was a cute little 3 year old boy there who i've known for quite some time but last Saturday was the first time I discovered that this little guy has a serious foot fetish. At first, it started with a quick stroke of my foot while I was sitting down. Then it progressed to smelling my foot, caressing it, singing to it, talking to it, and just holding on to it... for about an hour. It was kind of odd but it was seriously the cutest thing. Of course I took tons of photos and even video but for the sake of protecting his internet identity (and so he doesn't google himself 10 years later and find this story, haha) - I just chose the photo where his face is blocked. DID YOU HAVE A FETISH AS A CHILD? 

Remember my previous post about my fear of patterned/clustered/textured circles? Well, it doesn't really apply to egg balls because they're yummy but yesteday, i decided to try the chocolate egg balls - it was a nice even shade of light brown in the photo on their menu but when I got it, I almost freaked out as there were CIRCLES WITHIN CIRCLES. *cringing as i type this* - I guess all they did was put chocolate chips in the batter instead of actually mixing it into the batter. Okay ... must change topics. *cringe*
 
CHRISTMAS IS APPROACHING! Yes, I usually skip over the excitement of Halloween and go right to Christmas. haha! For this holiday season, I am preparing to finally release Herro Hachi logo tees & hoodies/pullovers! Stay tuned!!!

Oh, P.S - my friend from HK has started her own business and is doing a contest for $100 gift certificate to her shop! Check out more details on her blog here: http://WMstyleblog.blogspot.com

Thankful.

Taking a break from regular programming (30 day blog challenge) to take a moment to give thanks. Here in Canada, it's Thanksgiving so i thought it'd only be appropriate to dedicate a blog post to it. :)






FAMILY - They are my support, my encouragers, my advisors, my teachers, my confidants...my best friends. Without them, i wouldn't be where I am today, they are the biggest blessings in my life.

HERRO HACHI - Wow. For those of you who have been following my old blog from the start, you know where and how my business started and what my journey has been like. (check out this post about my first attempt at making a shirt). This is what Herro Hachi has grown to today: www.herrohachi.com





I'm thankful for the people who supported me whether it was right from the start, the middle or just recently. I wouldn't be able to live my dream if it wasn't for your support.

FRIENDS...THE REAL ONES: What a lonely life it would be without friends by your side. Thank you for your friendship...whether we're "real life" friends or friends who met through blogging... and will hopefully soon meet in person *cough* asia blog meet-up when i'm in the Philippines next year *cough*

Thank you God for the roof over my head, the food on the table, the car i can drive to and from work, my loving family and friends, a growing business, warmth, laughter, protection, health, internet (hehe), and most of all... life.

What are you most thankful for today?

DAY 8 - A Song to Match Your Mood

I can't really think of a specific song to match my mood right now... what song comes to mind when you're giddy? (especially with my big announcement yesterday ;D), skippy, on cloud 9, excited, anxious, a little scared, but still excited? Along with that, I had a great photo shoot for Herro Hachi last Saturday to show case my new stuff!

Sneak Peek (check out the rest of the photo shoot pictures here)





Check out the rest of the collection in my shop: http://shop.herrohachi.com
What song would you suggest to match my giddy mood? :)

Look ma! Front page!

To new readers of my blog, Herro Hachi is a clothing line I started about a year ago. :) http://www.herrohachi.com
Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow blogger, Rebekah at the Urban Glamour Market I was vending at. She works for the Richmond Review (our local newspaper) and wanted to come and observe me in action and interview me as well. She told me a while before that she wanted to do a story on young entrepreneurs in our city so I was excited at the idea of having a small little section in the newspaper but to my surprise... I WAS ON THE FRONT PAGE! WHAT??? Also in the article are fellow bloggers and friends - Bunnie and Lemon Pie! Thank you so much for this opportunity, Rebekah! 
Read the online version of the article here: "Young entrepreneurs open up shop online to do business..."
Here are some fun photos of us from that evening! 
Photobooth: Le Studio Vancouver (I teamed up with them by supplying them with some of my speech bubbles to use as props!)

Bunnie & I :)

Rebekah & I... love that awkward turtle hand ;P

I just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me from the beginning, from the middle, or from just recently. It means the world to me... you have no idea! :)

That was the most exciting part of my weekend... what was yours? 

Habby Every Day!

definitely not going to miss the state of our guest rooms! This picture is actually when it was "neat" - it was worse a few days before i took this photo!
Our second batch of exchange students are leaving. It's a bit of a bitter sweet feeling. I'm definitely not going to miss their loud chatter, jumping, running, sometimes screaming and just being 11-13 yr olds. At the same time, i'm going to miss the way they all come out to greet me when i come home from work with a loud and cheerful "KEEEEEEEEEEMMMMM!!!" (Kym) and also their sweet and playful selves. I smiled when I read their farewell letters to our families. They had sweet, sincere words but best of all... it was all in Engrish! hehehe! 
"Herro? Habby Every Day!" 
They're going to be bringing many Herro Hachi t-shirts back to Shanghai... I wonder if anyone will clue them in on what "Herro?" is referring to? haha!
They like play with me b/c i am beautiful girl! hahaha! ;P

Official Web Launch

Ahhh, i've missed you guys! For the last week, Nikolett and I have been slaving away trying to get my official website up and running. After many sleepless nights, hair-pulling moments, and playing the waiting game - the website is finally up!

www.herrohachi.com


Do you see your picture there? I spy Maitai as July's Featured Customer! Anyway, have a look around, you may even find some discount codes to use towards your next purchase! ;)

Nikolett - I admire your patience and diligence with all those crazy HTML codes. I seriously look at them and go dizzy. I don't know how you do it. If anyone needs a blog makeover, she's your girl!

Alrighty, off I go to catch up on all your blogs! :D

What would you do in this situation?

Last week, My bf and I along with Claudia and Lawrence (Lemon Pie couple) went to a party called "Pink in the City" which was a Breast Cancer Fundraiser. In order to save money on gas and parking, we all decided to take the train downtown. In the train, Claudia and I were together against one wall while the boys were holding on to the pole in the middle of the train. 
Suddenly, Claudia and I saw a bunch of (perhaps almost drunk) girls taking a picture with my bf... and the girl straight up had her arm around his body! UHMMM EXCUSE ME! Me being a bit awkward and shy, I wasn't really sure what to do. Do i tap her on the shoulder and say "hi, that's my boyfriend".... Do i just stare at her? ... Do i secretly join in on the picture? My bf being a bit awkward and shy as well, he didn't know what to do either. haha! This isn't the first time it's happened... bf has looked to me many times to "save him" but i just kinda stand on the sideline thinking of what i could do... and by that time the moments over. hahaha! 
What would YOU do? 
p.s - check out "behind the scenes" photos from my latest herrohachi photoshoot! (FACEBOOK.COM/HERROHACHI)

Awkward Family Photos

At the beginning of this week, I decided to kill time at the bookstore during my coffee break. I ended up having a great laugh when I came across the Awkward Family Photos book.

It kinda reminded me of my awkward younger years. At the age of 6, I had to start wearing glasses (probably because I read in the dark, and played tamagotchi on the train constantly) and at that time, what was "in style" were the big huge circular eyeglasses. Not gonna lie, i was even a bit of a tomboy.

Check it out, i've even got the boy swag going on, sporting my big circle glasses WITH stings attached might i add! Those were to make sure I didn't drop them on ground if they accidentally came off. Check out the other girls in the background - cute, girly, mary jane shoes.. but me? You can't see it but I'm wearing boy black shoes.
Now it's your turn! Let's see a picture of you from your awkward years!
Don't forget - My "Live, Love, Laugh, EAT!" hoodies are 35% OFF until Tuesday, June 22! Come get yours here!

SALE ALERT! My Hoodies 35% Off.

I don't wanna bombard my personal blog with too much Herro Hachi related news but this news is too big not to share here!

I need to make room for more summer apparel which means a huge sale for my hoodies! 35% OFF - originally $45 USD, now only $29.25! (plus shipping and handling) Awesome? Yeah, i think so too. :)

VIEW HOODIE HERE.

new post coming soon - inspired by awkwardness.