Couple happy things happened last week… got a used Canon MX320 All-in-one inkjet printer off Craigslist for $25, like new. The seller even gave me a free pack of 500 print papers.. super good deal. Happy since I can start printing paper crafts without having to pay a print shop.. also can print photos and stick them everywhere in the house. My photos on my flickr account got quite a few comments and people seem to like them a lot, which makes me happy. Also happy cause some of my tulip photos taken at the Tulip Festival turned out really well (thanks to the 50-200mm). Also happy since Wendy starts learning about photography with her new Olympus E-PL1. Happy because I figured out a way to construct a glass display case for my Howl’s Moving Castle Papercraft, which is to buy 5 16″x16″ photo frame ($9.9 ea), take the glass out and glue them together to form an enclosure. I bought the frames today and also a silicone glue, hopefully it’ll work.

Went with Wendy to the Skagit County near Burlington to see the tulip fields. We left around 7AM but then I forgot to bring some stuff for a few times and therefore had to drove back home to pick them up and wasted some 45 minutes. The drive down the States wasn’t too bad, around 1.5 hours excluding the line up at the border.

I think it was the last day to show the tulip fields before they “top them off”, which is to chop off the petals / head of the flower in order to prevent disease…etc. The remaining fields were still vast and colorful - red, orange, yellow, purple, white, pink…. so many colors. Wendy had a chance to try out her new Olympus E-PL1 camera, and I busted out my Zuiko 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 for some serious bokeh fun. This lens was extremely capable in the fields, more useful than my beloved Zuiko 12-60mm f/2.8-3.5.

We went to the Burlington Outlet for some shopping but then the place was kind of tiny, nothing much there so we just wandered for a bit and drove back to Canada. We walked SO much and were super tired. Wendy got some sunburn on her nose and face hopefully it’ll heal fairly soon.

Tonight is the first time since last year that I’m feeling warm in the house. 24.5C in the house. I guess winter is finally gone.

Finally, after ~3 weeks (~100 hours) of hard work, my paper craft is completed! woooo! It looks super cool (IMO) and I couldn’t stop looking at it, checking out all the details…etc. Spent an hour taking some nice photographers for it last night, set up 3 Ikea desk lamps, with some black cardboard for the background. It’s got tons of moving parts like the turrets, the mouth/tongue, the gears, the door/entrace at the back, and the “eyeballs”. The paper craft is very fragile and therefore it’s kind of scary when moving it around.. I think I need a clear acrylic or glass display case to store it, probably need to custom make one due to the awkward dimensions.. going to be pricey for sure, that is if I am able to find someone to make it for me… I’m going to re-watch Howl’s Moving Castle very soon, as the first time I watched it I wasn’t paying full attention and therefore wasn’t able to fully understand the story. I love you Hayao Miyazaki!!!!!

It was Wendy and I’s 9th year anniversary. We went to T&T supermarket and got a 6 pound lobster! It was so huge, I had to chop off both of its claws in order to fit it in my wok. I steamed it for ~20 minutes and it was done. It was really delicious, but the meat was less tender than I thought, I’ll try steaming it for a shorter period of time next time. Oh we went to Granville Island to pick up some fresh organic veggies, and made a veggie soup - I’ve put so much stuff into it….carrots, zucchini, red onion, mushroom, and tomatoes.

This week I’ve been working busily on my papercraft as usual, finalizing it now I think it’ll only take about 2 more days before it’s done. Today I was painting the white, exposed parts at the paper creases and joints, to make it look better.