And before I forget ... website!

I finally bought my own domain! This website just houses an online portfolio of my artwork. Check it out! If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

tanyab.me

'Asian' inspired salad.

Well, I haven't posted in a while, so today when I was eating dinner, halfway through I decided to take a photo. This is my favorite salad ever -- we make a huge bowl with my family and it ends up being two (or 3) servings per person. Totally fills you up and tastes amazing!

Picture doesn't do it justice at all. Here are the ingredients.

• butter lettuce (a good bunch)
• cilantro, handful (chopped)
• 1 cucumber (we used a Persian one -- a quarter of an English cucumber will do)
• corn (can be baby or normal, we used canned normal corn)
• 2 2x3inch pieces of Teriyaki tofu (we buy it from Trader Joes) OR you can use sliced pieces of chicken breast.
• 1 avocado
• 1 small can of mandarins
• crunchy chow mein noodles, handful
• a few slices of pickled ginger, cut in thin strips
• sesame ginger dressing (we used Annie's Naturals brand)

The instructions aren't that difficult. Simply cut up what needs to be cut up and toss the ingredients together. Feel free to add salt, pepper, or lemon along with the dressing. Enjoy! It tastes amazing, I promise -- and it's addictive.

Be my fan!

I now have a fan page for my artwork on Facebook! Go ahead and fan me if you'd like (please <3). I promise I won't disappoint!

Orientation -- what a day.

Yesterday was my USC orientation, and needless to say, it was BORING AS HELL. But insanely ego boosting. I've never heard so many compliments on my work in my life. I got my portfolio's reviewed by professors, and they were massively impressed. Bumped me up to higher level classes! Excellent! I even got to pick my schedule for the Fall, which is RAD AS HELL. I got some fantastic classes and I can't wait to attend.

I'm currently working on an online portfolio/website for all my pieces -- making it as official as I possibly can. We'll see how that goes. I have a feeling I have to learn Javascript and HTML all over again. Anyway, just a quick update -- more to come soon. Such a busy summer, I'm loving this. :)

Lots of changes and projects.

On Friday June 3rd, my grandmother passed away. Biggest heartbreak of my life -- I was so confident that she was going to live for a very long time. Thank goodness she isn't suffering any more, though. It was very bad. She's in a much better place now. <3 Coping is difficult, but every day it becomes easier. I just need to keep doing what I need to do. :)

This really effected the way I've been acting at home lately. For some reason, her death gave me the strength and maturity I had been lacking. I was building this up for months, but I feel as if this was what really helped change me. I'm so happy with who I am now, thanks to her. I feel years older, though I act the same around everyone. I know I'm going to break at the funeral, but it's okay. It's mostly seeing the sad people that makes me cry.

By next week, I'll be done with community college and on my way to USC! I am so insanely excited. Today I finished my final project. It came out way cooler than I expected. Click on it and it'll take you to the deviantArt page!

Hope I get a good grade. It looks amazing in person when printed out! I'd be so down to have this on a shirt. :) Totally going to invest in that. Til next time.

Overdrive, quitting, and organization.

It's the last few weeks of school. You know what that means? KICKING IN TO OVERDRIVE MODE. I've been working on my last few projects that I will have in this school. After this, no more community college! I'm so excited. I will be updating more once the summer gets here.

I'm really thankful for something that happened about a month ago. Honestly, it was like an intervention. No, I wasn't addicted to drugs or anything -- what I was addicted to was the computer. The distractions it offers. Specifically a website that I used to post on a lot (forums and such). After quitting, I've become a completely new person. I hope the people around me have noticed. Even if they haven't, I have! I've been super responsible, trying to get things done, being more organized -- and it feels great. I've even started to exercise regularly, something I found so difficult to do.

Lesson learned: the less distractions you have in life, the more you get done. It's so simple, yet it took me years (or perhaps the 'intervention', Ihatethatwordit'ssodramatic) to figure it out.

My skin.

Knock on wood, but lately my skin has been absolutely fantastic. I am sleeping earlier and spending less time on the computer. I think on top of that it's my routine. Or just simply put, maybe it's jtime for my acne to go away. Yes, I have the occasional break out the week before it visits (see what I did there?), but honestly, it's great. I'm really happy -- well, maybe it's because of that too! Because I am happy again and less stressed, more organized. Anyway, I just had to let this out. It's a big deal to me. I've always been self-conscious about it. <3