Category — Wanderlust

The #1 thing I wanted to do in Japan was go to Puroland, which is basically the Disneyland for Sanrio characters. We made the journey to this special place in cute dresses and cake hats. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was. A flurry of RAW EMOTION.

We walked in at perfect timing, while the parade was going on. If I told you I CRIED would you think of me differently? I get so emotional baby. Was it sensory overload or my sissy la la-ness? You would have probably shed a tear as well…I mean look at this!

I’m posting this so you can hear my sobbing. WHAT THE?! No joke! What’s wrong with me??

One reason why I love Puroland is there was no drama trying to get a picture with a character. Um FUCK waiting in line and elbowing some rugrats (no offense kids) in the head trying to get a pic next to los Chip N’ Dales at Disney. At Puroland it was very easy to meet these furries. My Melody was my favorite when I was a kid! Is it weird that my first instinct was to go into propose pose? Marry me now!

How can you not cry at Puroland when you see things that are this ADORABLE?

I am about to photoshop this picture like those “Hang In There cats” so when I’m having a bad day I can look at this lil munchkin and feel better.

One of my favorite Puroland attractions was Hello Kitty’s House! I didn’t see this toilet though. Do you think some practical jokesters were taking dooks in it so they had it removed?

Me in her bathtub…

Look at this inviting fireplace..

Come, sit by me, just take a load off

Emi and I in her dining room…

Pretty much the face I made the whole time I was in Tokyo..

I can’t deal

I musn’t

I shan’t

I won’t

Okay if I must

Don’t DIE everyone

They have a Sanrio Character Boat ride which is just like It’s A Small World at Disneyland

I like taking pictures of other people’s pictures. Looks like a screencap from a Hugh Grant flick.

We also got portraits done that had our silhouettes looking at Hello Kitty’s silhouette like a staring game. They are pretty amazing.

The best was when we met THE QUEEN HERSELF!!!

More cute stuff

Writing wishes on paper stars…

Man I miss Tokyo.

• dress – Fairfax Flea Market
• baby blue bow – LouLou Loves You
• glasses – Metropark
• knee socks – Target
• cheap chinese mary janes that are the most comfy shoes ever yet fall apart after three wears – local shop

This outfit shot was taken at Kiddyland, a supersized toy store with each floor dedicated to practically every type of toy, cartoon and comic character in history! I found Monchichis in bunny outfits, sexy Hello Kitty bottled water and cute edamame keychains. I HATE how we don’t have anything like this store in the states.

peek a boo!

Lovely necklaces of sweet animals at a store in Shinjuku.

Anna Sui black liquid eyeliner is a gift from heaven!! I picked it up along with some cute ladybug knee socks and a couple of other things.

This calculator at Anna Sui was bananas. Again, do I smell a Craft proj?

Now THIS was insane: Forever 21 opened there in April and STILL to this day has a crazy ass line in front of it. People will wait up to an hour to get in!

I was never into “bag candy” until I went to Tokyo. Emi’s kept growing and growing with adorable accoutrements!

I almost set my own purse on fire at Vivienne Westwood because I left a little tag on it (STU) and tried to break it with a lighter. I swear my life is like and R-rated vers of I Love Lucy.

The FRUiTS boutique in Shinjuku had really cute stuff. I got this Gundam-inspired ring that comes in a set of plastic sheets with different parts, enabling you to construct rings in a variety of ways! The salesgirl, who was probably the RADDEST salesperson I met (which is saying a lot because practically everyone I encountered was extremely sweet) told us it was by a local shop called Dog. I’ve tried finding more information about the designer but haven’t been able to. Must be one of those elusive Tokyo brands! You could also make a plastic version of my favorite Vivienne Westwood ring!

Gundam ring flying over Shibuya

Whee! WHATTA NERD

Takeshita Street in Harajuku.

• dress – local shop
• Steve Madden wedges ( I left these in Tokyo as they have run their course! Any recs for a new comfy summer wedge?)
• heart sunnies – Ebay
• purse – Betsey Johnson
• mansion doorknockers – Fabuless! Thank you Tiff for telling me about this! Won’t have to go to SanSARS Alley for cheap doorknockies ever again!

Harajuku was a DREAM for me, especially fashion-wise. Bows, ruffles, and heart-shaped purses. My favorite accessory, knee-socks, are so commonplace you can buy them practically anywhere: on the street or in the subway station. Sadly, I never saw any sock garters in any of the stores to add to my collection. In Shibuya, I saw tons of girls wearing stretchy clasp belts with skirts and dresses, as seen in a few photos here. There were countless outfits composed of black leggings under dresses and especially denim skirts. Plenty of girls wear socks with heels. Shops that specialized solely in socks and tights can be found anywhere, selling every kind of sock you could imagine wearable with every type of shoe. The people of Tokyo rock that shit fo’ sho’. I just think Japanese people can get away with a lot more when it comes to fashion. JEALOUZ! Everyone had a style that came across as completely effortless and natural, yet incredibly chic. I’ve never been surrounded by that much personal style in my gawtdamn life. And not a flip-flop or Ugg Boot in sight. THANK THE LO’. That was the real culture shock!

Toof purse found in Harajuku!!

With a nice surprise tucked in!

Nate and Emi standing in front of a storefront with dangling dolls.

The McDonald’s campaign going on over there right now is pretty hilarious and cute.

Beetle versus Bunny! The gold beetle ring is a Cloven Hoof design and the black bunny was found among a bunch of other cute animal rings at a shop in Harajuku!

MORE CREPES MISS YOU MUCH

I REALLY MISS YOU MUCH

So bummed I never got a yukata to bring home. Next time! BTW, this is what the Claire’s Accessories employees wear in Harajuku. Yes,  I said Claire’s. Harajuku’s Claire’s beats all the ones we have in the States as you can imagine.

Frilly dresses in shop windows

Gold Kewpie!

More shopping adventure posts to come!

Emi spotted this umbrella and called me over to peep it while we were shopping in Shinjuku. JAWDROP. Is that an umbrelly made with glamorous acrylic nails????? Simply amazing beyond words. Craft proj, anyone?

AAHH I love it!!!

That’s the one thing we didn’t get to do in Tokyo: get our nails did. We looked into it though, and found a salon that was open ’til 4am. UM YES 4AM I SAYS. That means that shit is still open after bars close in L.A. What kind of dreamland is this Tokyo??? We were planning on going (late after karaoke!) but time and liquor flew and it was pretty pricey anyway. We estimated it would probably cost about $200 to get a sick set of nails done at the venue.$200 for something that lasts only a week or two? HALE 2 THA NO. But then our friend informed us they use special materials and these ferosh Tokyo nails would last a month or longer. REALLY? Kinda crazy.

Photo via La Carmina

Tokyo is the land of nail decor. You can find a smorgasbord of crazy nail decals and accessories anywhere you go. Naturally we stocked up, so you’ll be seeing what types of goodies we acquired in future blog posts!

I ate a lot of interesting things in Tokyo. FYI I’m not a vegetarian, not really a picky eater and above all that I like to be especially adventurous with cuisine while traveling. Even if I may VOM. WARNING: some of these things might make you VOM. Esp if you are a hardcore veggie.

God this beef was SO GOOD

Tonkatsu (pork cutlet with shredded cabbage) See that swoop of mustard? Didn’t know it was going to be so hot and my cheeks started trembling. We agreed it was the most traumatic thing I ate during the whole trip.

Noodles! (think this was Ramen)

Lots of Gyoza

Japanese Curry with Chicken Cutlet

Daikon in various ways (some kind of sea moss or something on the top here?)

Jellyfish (looked like grapefruit and was crunchy)

HORSE (taste was fine but the thought of eating My Little Pony was a bit unnerving)

Cow tongue ( I know you can get tacos lengua here in CA but I have this rule: Do not eat anything I can french kiss. I just imagine this tongue in my mouth swishing around and not in the sexy way. But I tried it anyway and after chewing this rubber for a whole minute and still wasn’t able to swallow it. I was fearful I was just going to spit it out, but I conquered! Eyes were a little watery. Thankfully I had a giant MUG of vodka to help it go down.

And lastly, Nato (fermented soybean with a sticky icky texture, mixed with mustard and some sort of sauce. Baby girl could NOT do this one: reminded me of a scene in Problem Child 2. Props to Emi who said it was similar to gorgonzola)

Now treats to cleanse your eyes…

Cupcakes upon our arrival to Tokyo (thanks Nate!) These were so soft and delicious.

Ramune!!

Cute donuts that came in a variety of toppings and melted in your mouth!!

Ice cream to cool us off at Ghibli! I had banana!

Daikon again! This time with ice cream (I prefer it this way to the sea moss tower)

Oh GAWD cross between an ice cream /snow cone. I’m in LOVE

ahhh let me taste the beers of your country!

My absolute favorite thing I ate in Tokyo. I had the BIGGEST sweet tooth over there btw. Crepes from Angels Heart in Harajuku!

Come to me cheesecake caramel delight!

And now I must go on a diet. Which is hard because you know how I missed me some tacos. Would you eat any of these things? Horse? Jellyfish? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?

I originally thought I would be live-blogging during my trip to Japan, but I was hardly in my hotel room and having way too much fun to even comprehend that I was indeed, in fucking TOKYO. The trip was planned in a major whirlwind: my friend Nate was going for work, flights were cheap around this time of year, so why the hell not? A flirty notion during a birthday dinner turned into a confirmed flight (um, only $474 round trip??) and das right SON, dis hoodrat and her putana-in-crime, Nate’s gf/my bff Emine’ (who does Cloven Hoof jewelry) , aka the Nisi to my Mickey (You can be Halle Berry because you are blonde Emi. THIS TIME) was about to put on some jet-setting chanclas and journey to the Land of the Rising Sun…

(crazy view from our room!)

It was all a dream, we used to read FRUiTS Magazine…and now we were there. In TOKYO?! SAY WUT? Where Hello Kitty and sushi and karaoke and everything kawaii was born?? We stayed in Shibuya (SHI-BOO-YA!) Unfortunately I didn’t have time to create a customized gold foil headpiece spelling out “Shhh..BOO-YA!” to pay tribute to this (0:33 thank you)… but there’s always tomorrow.

Here I am on the streets of Shibuya wearing a special Burrart airbrushed shirt of ME. Since I have red hair right now, it wasn’t too much of an asshole move because you couldn’t recognize it was me immediately..or does that make it EVEN MORE OF ONE? Anyway, I love the shirt so much. Pictures do NOT do it justice (not just saying that because it ME again I SWEAR) Have you gotten anything done yet by Diane btw?? If you do PLEASE send me a pic! I’d love to see what magic she makes for you!

• glasses – Metropark
• one mansion-sized gold doorknocker earring (the other one was hurtin’!)
• customized airbrushed shirt – Burrart Design
• skirt – American Apparel
• denim jacket – Converse
• bag- Betsey Johnson
• black moccasin booties – $5 at a local shop!

One of the places we visited was the Ghibli Museum (My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away) Sadly pictures were not allowed inside but I did snap a pic next to this giant robot!

When we were leaving, we noticed a large map of Inokashira Park where Ghibli was located… ARE THOSE SWAN BOATS I SPY??!!

The wheels in my head started turning as I thought: finally… I can recreate one of my favorite pictures of Bjork laying upon a pink swan…BEAUT!!

We walked up to the dock, paid 700 yen and were greeted by two menz.. then when I realized we had to pedal?!?  the swan boats… ourselves?!? the look on my face was apparently priceless, according to Emi. SCOOS ME for thinking this was going to be a romantic gondola type of situation!! (Guess I didn’t look at that map quite clearly.) Slapstick naturally ensued after a big cartoon-voiced “GULP” and beads of sweat formed on my brow. “We can’t swim! What if we fall out!” My Secret Vanilla Chai deodorant was hard at work due to thinking we were going to be swallowed alive by giant koi fish and after pedaling in two large circles we made our way back to civilization.

AHH! THE SLAPSTICK LIFE!! Well. It was beautiful!

Stay tuned for lots more about my Tokyo trip!

See, don’t we look like an ICEE?

BFF Karaoke + Morning After Saved by the Bell + Cotton Candy Ice Creams =  best Bon Voyage Party before I go to fucking TOKYO!!!!!

YA READ DAT RIGHT SON!! I know mang, it’s bananas and pretty much a whirlwind wanderlust dosage and I’m still tripping that I’ll be in Hello Kitty’s homeland in about 2.2. Expect liveblogging from inside of a gawtdamn cartoon world ’cause that’s how I imagine it will be. At least the way I plan on doing it. I CAN’T DEAL. I barely have had any time for my brain to register the fact that I’m actually going, and unfortunately I have to postpone putting up the cake hats up for purchase. I’m sorry boos!

Hopefully A.C. “Absolutely Charming” Slater can make up for it??

Jesus playing the guitar??

Sorry if I killed any boners looking like the Filipino female Jack Black in that disguise.

Have any of you sexykins been to Tokyo? PLE DEW let me know if there is something specific I should see! (Donchu know Puroland is already at the top of that list MOMMA!)

So I totally forgot to tell you about Coachella. Reason is probably because there wasn’t too much to tell! I followed my own advice and went after sundown, on the first night, just in time to catch Morrissey complain about the smell of BBQ and see a little bit of LOL McCartney. Everyone I wanted to see (Beirut, Girl Talk, Crystal Castles) played in Moz’s time slot. I didn’t even make it to the other side! I basically hung around the main stage and the beer gardens. And I can’t even do a simple Coachella outfit post because STU ME forgot my camera battery! So all I have is this phone pic of Thelma and Louise. SAW-RE!

Now the rest of the weekend was a lovely Palm Springs vacay. HEDONISM III.
ESCOOS ME. IMELDA MARCOS IS HERE

cochina puta alert cochina puta alert

SNUGGIE WIZARDRY!!!

And of course, the trip gave birth to my new webcomic, Sanders & Sanders.

Nothing beats a nice lil getaway with the BOS!

I spent several days in San Francisco to celebrate New Year’s Eve with my cohort-in-rojo, Miss Star St. Germain. I had only decided to go a week or two before…but last minute adventures involving Star and I seem to be a recurring theme, so I should stop fronting.

First off, I love San Francisco. I am still toying with the idea of moving there. And although I always had concern with the dismal weather (WHATTA BABY), I should be more concerned with turning into a full-fledged alchy! I’m already enough of a lush as it is, but here in Southern California we have to drive our asses everywhere. When we RAGE, we have to crash or flip a coin to be designated driver. So basically what I’m saying is FU SF’ers with your no cars and public trans. And FU too NY’ers ’cause that shit is the same over there! I’m just jealous because I have a huge car payment and crazy insurance and you guys are having cocktails every night. Maybe I will just move there and become an alchy. I would AbFab all over the place and you know this! GAWD. I hate all of you. Someone get me a job there already, I will just buy some new coats.

RAGE COLLAGE:

So I arrived the morning of New Year’s Eve, which was later spent running around to various parties. First we stopped at the wonderful Violet Blue’s house, where we reported live from the blogger bungalow. Us with the lovely ladies, Violet Blue and KumiMonster.

Later we ran around with Chaki and caused more trouble. Somehow in the night’s blur, I lost my hat that Dizzy Von Damn! made for my birthday a couple years ago. But a good NYE it was. At some point, a night was spent attending a toga party where I discovered the hottest new trend for all of us fashionistas…ROMAN SHIN GUARDS.

Gold heels + gladiator fashion = Hot New Shit for Oh-Nine, boo. You better work. See, this diva is not even fucking around. She is like,” Gladiator sandals? Bitch please, that is nothing. I am going all out in Roman armor to bring that trend full circle.”

Should Star and I open up a bar called “Clocks N’ Booze?” Because it’s always time to get your fade on, SON.

We then made shirts at Bang On to put ourselves on blast and wore them during our photoshoot with Kristin of Design That Kills…whom I LOVE. I’m so glad I finally got to meet her! She is a stylish gal with incredible taste and also an amazing photographer. I can’t wait to hang out with her again. Here is a cute valentine that Star made and a collage she did of some of the shots!

And the video she edited!

Design That Kills Photoshoot with Agent Lover from Star St.Germain on Vimeo.

Excuse the fifty-thousand mentions of the word “awesome” by yours truly. I was just so excited, people.
Look how good Kristin made me look!

Oh SF how I love you so hard. I miss Star so much! ‘Til we meet again my scarlet sister!

PS. Only a down ass chick will harmonize a ‘lil Tina T. on the fly witchu…

Untitled from Agent Lover on Vimeo.

I spent the weekend in San Diego again, this time at the Hard Rock which was SO much fun. Joan Jett helped me with my first outfit photo. This is what I wore on our little road trip down.

{Details}:

• forever 21 necklace
• red cardigan..local store
• target belt
• luella for target skirt
• black tights
• chinese slipper mary janes – downtown ventura

That old Luella for Target skirt is so tore up. It is about two sizes too big for me, was already missing two buttons, and by the time we got to the hotel another button fell off. I had a fantasy of it bursting apart like Zapped! but it unfortunately didn’t happen.

I’ve got a meeting in the ladies room. GAH!

{Details}:

Nubby’s red lipstick tee
black skirt and belt – H&M
red tights – Urban Out
black knee highs – Target
chinese mary janes – downtown Ventura

Last week I stayed at the W Hotel, which was very nice. I do like the Hard Rock better though. If you are looking for something hip and chic, yet more kick back, the W is for that. The beds were like fluffy marshmallow clouds (I MISS THAT BED!), the showers were very nice (super soft water) and it felt like I was staying inside of an iPod. The Hard Rock was comfortable too but it’s definitely the place to go if you want to party. It’s sexy, seductive and perfect for RAGIN’. However, if you are shy about the following: dooking and being naked, then it might not be the place for you to lay your weary head. The bathroom was right in the middle of the room with not-so-discreet glass doors that hide no sound.

Everyone will watch and hear you pee.

But you will watch them like a nerd ghost waiting in the wings…

That’s creepy and sick, I’m sorry.

Also I’d like to apologize for that weird ass video I posted…while drunk. WTF?! We were arguing about UB40 which is already lame first of all, secondly, Hex was thinking “I Can’t Help Falling in Love” was called “Fools Rush In”, which is an entirely different song so we were both confused. HOWEVER that actually proves I wasn’t really wrong after all. YAY. Right?!? Anyway, I will promise to only blog when I am in the right frame of mind from now on…IF YOU’RE LUCKY.

Das righ.