FROM HERE TO NOWHERE

[itschoodee]

Alpaca Box For You! (‘I’ll pack a’ box for you...get it?)

First of all, this isn’t one of those unboxing videos or product reviews because the Alpaca Box isn’t a real subscription box service. It’s simply a thing I created to make sending college care-packages to my little sister more fun and special.

I LOVE receiving presents through snail mail but no one ever sends me anything (sad!), so I’ve resorted to sending gifts instead. I left for school when my sister was only 7 so I would send her letters, cards and fun things throughout the school year. Now that she’s in college and I have an income, I am going to start sending her small monthly care-packages. 

...so like an idiot, I made up a brand, Awkward Alpaca, represented by one very uncomfortable looking alpaca named Jerry, and a subscription box, Alpaca Box For You (or Alpaca Box for short). To make it more legit, I even set up a newsletter via MailChimp to send updates to my clients (well, 1 client - my sister), just like how a real subscription box service would:

As you can tell from above, the “Alpaca Fun Fact” is very creative. I’m fantastic at making up shit. 

I think the subscription box craze has been getting out of hand. Though I understand the desire for monthly surprises delivered to your doorsteps, most of these boxes are just full of things you don’t need but feel guilty tossing because you’ve already spent money on it. But my Alpaca box is awesome, handmade and full of sarcasm!

October Alpaca Box content

1 somewhat fancy hand-crafted item: 1 birthday item: I made a necklace from the stone my sister found by the ocean when we visited Maine in August, and a non-wacky colored Essie gel nail polish!

1 holiday (Halloween) item: I designed and made a Book of Life dead Manolo paper doll! 

1 snack item: Japanese peach gummy! Enough said!

1 bonus item: “Woodlands” playing card that I designed, so that she can gamble at school, obviously!

I’m hoping to keep this up but we shall see...

▸ Related: Design & DIY  |  QZEE.PRINTS Portfolio   |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

Woodlands playing cards (continued)

I have nothing more to say but just let me be a design-slut and show off some more :D

▸ Related: Design & DIY  |  QZEE.PRINTS Portfolio   |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

Woodlands playing cards 

Earlier this year, I got to design a deck of playing cards for Penguin Magic, which turned out to be the coolest thing I’ve ever done (ok, maybe equally cool as that 18 wheeler I decorated last summer). I can’t believe my luck and I’m not sure what I did to deserve this but I’m so glad the cards turned out so nicely!

The theme “Woodlands” (originally “Forest Dwellers”) came to me really easily because I’m obsessed with National Parks and being outdoors. It’s especially fitting now that I’ve moved to North Carolina. Also, my favorite color is forest green...so I changed the colors of the entire deck to shades of green. I can’t really go into details trying to explain this because I don’t know enough playing card lingos...so I’ll just let the gorgeous photos do the talking. 

Since the cards went on sale, I’ve been tagged in all sorts of social media posts by people who purchased and reviewed the cards. I had no idea that the magicians’ & card-collector’s community was so boomin’ and supportive. They’re pretty big on giving the artist credit, which is always very kind :)

Purchase Woodlands here! See an in depth review of Woodlands Apparently, you can do crazy things with playing cards!

More photos cuz I’m not done showing off!

▸ Related: Design & DIY  |  QZEE.PRINTS Portfolio   |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

That one time I did a very purple & sparkly design to cover the sides of an 18-wheeler...and they put it all together in one day! 

▸ Related: Design & DIY  |  QZEE.PRINTS Portfolio   |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

Moving

Somewhere in Tennessee | USA  At the end of May, I drove across the country to start a new life of sorts in North Carolina. Here’s to new beginnings and whatnot!

▸ Related: On the Road, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

Last day at the zoo 🐒

▸ Related: On the Road, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram 

[itschoodee]

Aquarium zen Soundtrack from the film Toni Takitani / トニー滝谷 by Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一)

▸ Related: Favorites, Travel |  Instagram 

[itschoodee]

▸ Follow me on Instagram!

[itschoodee]

Mars, is that you?

▸ Related: The Badlands Series, National Parks, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

Banff National Park - Calgary, Alberta | Canada 

▸ Related: The Banff Series, National Parks, Canada, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

Glen Canyon Dam - Page, AZ | USA

The Glen Canyon Dam was built to provide hydroelectricity and flow regulation from the upper Colorado River Basin to the lower. Its reservoir is the second largest man-made lake in the US - Lake Powell.

If you are visiting or stopping by the Glen Canyon Recreation Area, I recommend a tour of this dam because:

You get to have an inside look. Literally! You will be 30 something floors down, inside the dam!

You will learn a lot of really nerdy engineer stuff. The kids that were on my tour were super pumped to ride the crazy fast elevator and see the giant turbines. But I think they were also just exceptionally polite and good kids...

It’s hella cheap and quick 

Does it not look like the dam from San Andreas?? (Unfortunately it’s not the same one. The one featured in the movie is the Hoover Dam)

▸ Related: The Glen Canyon Series, National Parks, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

Bison herd at Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming | USA

Wildlife spotting is actually not as easy as you think. All the photos you see of American national parks feature amazing creatures but once you’re there, you’ll find that as much as you want to see them, these animals don’t want see you, like at all :P Unless you are a professional wildlife photographer, have bunch of time on your hands, or know how and where to find wildlife, your chances of seeing animals are significantly lower. 

Good news: Yellowstone is home to around 5,000 bison, the US’ largest population, which means it will be very likely for you to spot some! I was particularly lucky and was joined by a parade of bison in the middle of the road! And no, they don’t give a shit about traffic. The male bison (bull) can weigh up to 2,000 pounds! So in your efforts to take photos of/with them, don’t get too close! or call them fat! 

▸ Related: The Yellowstone Series, National Parks, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram 

[itschoodee]

Midwestern vineyard - somewhere in Indiana | USA

I’m getting pretty tired of this whole winter crap happening in the Midwest (living in Arizona and North Carolina definitely has spoiled me), so here is a throwback to a fun trip to a vineyard. Vineyards are practically everywhere and you can easily schedule a tour/tasting with the owner and get yourself some superb wine at the end of the day.  

▸ Related: On the Road, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

Lower Cliff Dwelling at the Tonto National Monument - Roosevelt, AZ | USA

The view from the Tonto cliff dwellings. Clearly, the Salado people had excellent taste for scenery and practicality, as the Salt River provided them with abundance of water year-round.

▸ Related: The Tonto Series, National Parks, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram 

[itschoodee]

Lower Cliff Dwelling at the Tonto National Monument - Roosevelt, AZ | USA

Amazing cliff dwellings (inside a cave!) of the Salado people, who lived there more than 700 years ago. Within this cave, the Salado built a structure of around 20 rooms that housed 60-70 people. The only entry into the structure was a ladder from the roof of the lower rooms that inhabitants lowered for their own people.

▸ Related: The Tonto Series, National Parks, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

☔ ️  Downtown Chicago, IL | USA

▸ Related: On the Road, Travel  |  Gallery  |  Instagram

[itschoodee]

Music & A Movie: Dreaming of the future with Jack (Tom Cruise) and M83 - Oblivion (2013)

I’m the biggest sucker for all things sci-fi. I don’t care if a movie turns out to be complete crap, if it’s sci-fi and I know about it, I will want to see it. No matter how much you disapprove of it, I will sort of like it anyway (screw your judgments!). I think it’s mostly because I want to see other people’s visualization of the future, the doomed fate of our planet and how much we’ve fucked everything up! I’m a visual person but I don’t have enough knowledge to think of all those things on my own, so sci-fi films help me visualize. It’s like the next best thing to having Neil deGrasse Tyson as your personal assistant. It’s lame but the CGI stuff gets me every time and I can’t help wanting to take screenshots of everything.

I think soundtrack contributes a big part to making of a good sci-fi film. Sci-fi soundtrack is my go-to listening when it comes to dull work because it makes everything more epic and futuristic.

Oblivion isn’t critically acclaimed or a box office super hit, but it’s got (not the worst of) Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman (!!), some gorgeous scenes and Grammy-nominated M83 scoring the soundtrack. I am more than okay with that.

▸ Related: Favorites  |  Instagram