hello 2011!

Hello world!  I feel like I've been MIA from my blog for a long time, even if it's just been a few weeks.  Now it's mere moments away from being 2011 (a whole new year!) and I feel like I need to catch up on what's been going on in the last bits of 2010.

Things have really been topsy turvy lately.  I went from beginning to plan my new study schedule for the February Bar exam to go along with my crafting and Etsy-ing to interviewing for and getting a new job!  That came out of nowhere, for real.  So, that's where I've been the past few weeks, just adjusting to a lot of new things.  It's been challenging and stressful and frustrating at times, but it's good, too, and good to be earning my own money again.  We really needed it!  Although it's been a lot to take in, I'm going to look at it as another challenge and go into it with a fresh attitude and mindset for 2011.  Some day I'll look back on this day and think about how silly I was for feeling so overwhelmed.  It's just adjusting and becoming comfortable - I just wish it'd feel natural already, but looking back at my first job out of college, I remember feeling the same way.  So I'll try to work on some patience and keep an open mind.

Even in these few weeks, besides the job, a lot of fun stuff has been happening.  My sister bought her Disneyland annual pass and we went twice in the span of 4 days (and even survived a rainy night the second time).  After she flew home, Matt and I spent a lovely Christmas at his parents' house with family and friends.  It's always good laughs and craziness and this time was no different, especially when we encountered an interesting character at the bar on Christmas Eve that became completely smitten with Matt's mom's friend.  Yikes.  Definitely a story to remember.  And we got to meet up with some of Matt's dear friends and it turned out to be a lot of fun catching up.  

I got some lovely things for Christmas but I think I've gotten to the point where it's more about the time and festivities than it is about the gifts.  I didn't get anything major but it was cute to receive thoughtful little things, like handmade crochet takochu from my sister, a Smashbox makeup kit from Santa, a super cute monkey plush, a yoshi plush, and cute keychain and coin purse from Matt's grandma.  Now that I'm making my own money again, I can't wait to start paying off some of my debts that have accumulated.  Also, my goal (hopefully soon) is to buy my first DLSR camera.  I'd love to improve on my Etsy shop photos and also, I'd like to be able to take some nice photos just for myself.  Maybe for art around the house or just as inspiration for crafts.  My sister just bought her first one so I'm waiting to see/hear if it's great and hopefully I can pool some money together from my Christmas money and save some from my job and get one soon, too.

I've decided that this year, I will do the yearlong photo-a-day project.  I learned about this too late last year to do it so I've been waiting for the start to the new year to get it going.  I'm planning on taking a photo a day for the entire year, to keep a photo 'scrapbook' if you will of things that happened each day.  I'm sure some days won't be as interesting but I think it's a fun challenge and to look back on 365 days' worth of photos might be pretty cool.  I haven't decided if I'll post the photos on my blog or my tumblr, but I might do it on both.  Just a short entry each day.  I'm reluctant to go through the hassle of creating another blog and have yet another thing to maintain when I already have trouble with the ones I have now so I'll just keep it simple.  I'm excited and I hope you will be, too!

I'm not one for big new year's resolutions but I think I have some goals for the new year.  They're just general ones but I think they're good to keep in mind.  Like I already said, I'm looking forward to a fresh start and having more patience with things.  And I'm hoping to find a nice balance between work, studying and play so I can succeed at everything.  I miss crafting and wish I could expand on my Etsy shop.  I also want to make sure I sketch and write and take more photos...I have so many cool crafty mediums and this blog and a tumblr that need more attention and a lot more re-focusing and re-design.  I want to make 2011 great and am looking forward to a lot of great changes and growth.  I'm not sure where 2010 went but I'm sorta glad it's over because it was rough at times, but I hope 2011 has a lot of great things in store.  I'm ready!

Photo yearbook day 1 is coming up soon! :)

happy 11th and stuff

I have a few diff blog posts in the work of what's been up with me lately, but I need to hurry up and finish getting ready as today, bf and I are heading down to SD for the day to visit our animal friends at the SD Zoo.  It's the start of their holiday celebration Jungle Bells so they'll be opened 'til 8, which we love since all the nocturnal animals become really active by evening.  It's also our 4 year anniversary!  I can't believe it's been 4 years since we met and well, the rest is history.  As we always say every month, Happy 11th! :)  So, I'll have to save all the fun and different news for when we get back, but just thought I'd stop by and say hi :)

p.s. Traveler would also like to say happy holidays :)

etsy shop is finally open!

I finally jumped in on Wednesday and made my first Etsy listings!  I figured it was the start of the month and I needed to just go for it.

My pictures even turned out better than I thought.  I decided to use some scarves to lay my items on.  I think the all white background before made my camera go a little crazy but now, the textures and colors helped to make them look more interesting.  The hardest part of the listing was probably coming up with creative listing names and descriptions.  I tried to have fun with it and hopefully it worked.  You can check out what's currently for sale on the Etsy box I added to the right of my blog.  I can't believe I finally did it!  It's pretty cool.

Much to my surprise, as I was still listing, a dear friend of mine purchased two items immediately!  I was (and am) thrilled!!  It was so fun to put together my first order and take it to the post office - I felt like a pro.  I hope I get to do it more soon :)

I still have a couple of ornaments to photograph and list, as well as some jewelry pieces.  I'm waiting for a supply of fabric to come in (I think it's *finally* going to deliver today) and I'm looking forward to doing some embroidery on them for cards, maybe wall hangings (placed on homemade frames).  Tonight, I also thought about making crochet cushions featuring felt/fleece appliques of some of my doodled creations.  And I'd like to make some hair accessories - not sure exactly how or what they'd look like yet, but hopefully they'll be a combination of crochet, embroidery, felt, or organza.  Haha.  One day (soon?) I'd love to make my own crochet patterns as well so I can sell cute crochet things in the shop.  I love amigurumi and crochet scarves so we'll see what magic I can do!  I'm not sure where I ever was before I knew how to crochet...so glad I stuck with it and made myself learn.  It's so relaxing to crochet while watching TV.  Knitting will come one day, too, maybe next year?  So many ideas to dabble in and I never know where to start :)

I definitely feel more motivated now that the shop is open!  Doing listings is fun and I'd like to offer different items at different price points so the shop will be more accessible to people.  I know how I'm feeling the money crunch and I know a lot of my friends are, too.  I hope I can wake up somewhat early and get the photos/listings out of the way and then actually do some creative stuff in the afternoon.  Yay!

But to commemorate my shop opening, I thought it'd be nice to show the 8 items I listed as my first ever listings (I'm so happy the process wasn't so painful after all).  Here they are!  If you love any of them, 6 are still currently available in my shop ;)

'sisters are perfect'

Sunday afternoon, I ran some errands at Target with my bf.  While we were checking out, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on the neighboring cashier who was chatting it up with a female customer.  The two were having a discussion about the customer's daughters, two young, shy and possibly embarrassed little girls who were huddled together and desperately waiting to leave.  

What perked my ears was the cashier saying to the woman not only that her daughters were so cute and sweet, but that it was obviously they were close, because 'sisters are perfect.'  The cashier then proceeded to talk about how she had two sisters of her own and how they were close, though not by distance, yet nothing was better than having sisters.

This made me smile, because it made me think about my own sister.  I grew up for a bit of time as an only child and I always thought and felt it was so lonely.  By the time I was soon approaching my early teens, my sister was born and I was so excited to have a playmate.  But being 8 years apart, it was difficult at times to play board games and the like that were meant for kids ages 10 and up when your playmate couldn't even read yet.

Even so, I never felt alone and many times, we made up our own games--like playing school where I'd 'teach' her different subjects or pretending to go camping with a tent we set up indoors.  More importantly, we had our own array of inside jokes.  Countless times we'd be giggling about everything and nothing, and my mom would ask us what's so funny and we'd just say, 'nothing.'  To date, that's still our response.

By the time I left home for college so far away, my sister so was so young, not even having hit her teenage years yet.  By the time she reached high school, I was already all grown up with a real job and my own apartment, still living so far away from home.  Sometimes I feel like I missed out on so much not having been there and only hearing stories about everything in her life (not always even from her) and I felt so bad.  Like I wasn't there enough when she needed me, just to laugh or even to cry.

Then the unthinkable happened and fate stepped in and oddly enough, my sister ended up not only going to school in my same city, but at my own alma mater!  What are the chances??  Fate, you are a funny thing.  And let me say, it has been nothing but AWESOME.  We get to do all of the coolest things we always wanted to do, whenever we've wanted to do it, and best of all, I get to see and spend time with her bunches.  I feel so blessed that things worked out this way, and I think I never realized how hard it actually was being apart for all of those years when we were both growing up.  I'm happy that we've been given the opportunity to make up for lost time and that we haven't changed one bit.  Still as crazy as we used to be!

I've only been thinking about this more lately, with the way the past few months have gone.  The Fall semester has been so busy for her that we haven't been able to do as much together as we would've hoped and it's been sad and lonely at times.  Luckily we're able to talk daily and still share in the laughs and the stupidity that somehow finds its way into our lives, but it's just not the same sometimes when you can't physically be together.  I can't wait until her semester ends and she'll finally get a break to recover from this terrible few months and enjoy the holidays and super festivities!!

It's been a bizarre weekend.  One that didn't quite start off that well.  After months of waiting with anticipation, Bar results were released on Friday night.  Unfortunately, my name wasn't on the pass list.  It was really a surreal feeling to enter in my information to see if it did, and even though I knew I probably didn't do it wrong, I kept re-entering the information over and over again after the fact, thinking maybe there was a slight chance I screwed it up and maybe my name really was there!  Of course, I was only kidding myself and the past few months of living in ignorant bliss came crashing down and reality set in that yes, I had failed at something and yes, I would be studying yet again for the next few months only to do this all over again come the end of February 2011.  I'm not sure that it's really hit home yet or that I've accepted this fate, but I'd like to think I have some renewed faith, hope, and motivation to work hard and find my name on the February 2011 pass list when that time comes.  It's going to be a very long road ahead, but I know I have the support to help me through it.

When I found out my disappointing results, I was so happy that my sister was here.  Even if not physically at that exact moment, she was with me in spirit and talking to me through the entire evening.  My first mission on the road to recovery after this disappointment was to fill my head full of Hello Kitty and Sanrio goodness at the Small Gift LA show on Saturday in Santa Monica.  The show celebrated Hello Kitty and her fellow Sanrio friends for the Sanrio 50th anniversary this year and it was FABULOUS.  I was so happy that we all got to go together (my sister, my bf and me) as it was one of the first times in the past few months we've been able to hang out and just forget about all the crap in our lives.  And who can be unhappy when being filled with cuteness overload??  It was good and amazing therapy.

I'm looking forward to the adventures that await in just a few weeks once her finals are done.  It'll be good just to re-group and re-charge and think about things to be thankful for and get into the holiday spirit.  But just seeing those little girls today, hearing what that cashier had to say, and thinking about what an emotional rollercoaster this weekend has been made me feel really nostalgic and appreciative for all of the wonderful adventures, memories, and laughs we've shared through the years.

This is a picture of us from about a year ago or so, having our first ever sisters' day at Disneyland.  We went on a Thursday and were so excited to find the park relatively dead so we got to do a ton of stuff.  Actually, lines were so light that at times, we weren't even sure what to do with ourselves to fill the time, haha.  It was festive, magical, and just plain awesome.  And now that she'll be getting an annual pass this year, I can't wait for more awesome adventures and catching up on all of those years that I ever missed.

Remember 10 years ago when...

We had chocolate covered raisins

We were given a 'light bulb' plastic bag

You rolled your Radio Flyer car down the stairs

We built snow kitty

We were deflated, then inflated by TG Express

Your feet expanded from excitement

The lonely churro rotated slowly around

We always ordered extra crispies

You had some 'great turtles'

We rode California Screamin' 3 times in a row, hiding from mommy

We always (fill in the blank) like an asshole

We always had to check our slippers

We gee gee ja ja'd until the sun rose multiple times

Daddy collapsed into the pots in the kitchen

We discovered Cat Face

Daddy made catfish soup

We hid the Ikea snake repeatedly in mommy's bed to 'scare' her
We watched Baby Yun Zi grow up and fell in love with pandas

You got chicken soup :X

We meh yeah ((hand motion))

Thanks for always being there for me, spewbags.  Love you :)

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

Yesterday I took a trip to Michaels, which is always oh-so fun but oh-so deadly!  I was feeling down in the dumps but once I got there and saw all of the Christmas decorations up, I was psyched!

There's something therapeutic for me to go to Michaels (or any craft store) and just wander the aisles, lost in my thoughts and looking at all the crafty items surrounding me.  Christmas is my favorite time of year and I love the decorations, the magical feeling...yes!  There was so much to look at, I was in major crafty and idea overload.

I did go into Michaels with some specific ideas in mind (and a coupon, woohoo).  I've been thinking about ornaments a lot lately (fueled probably by the purchase of some super cute alpaca yarn sock monkeys, a wire reindeer, and a polar bear from Crate & Barrel) and have been wanting to make some of my own.  I collected pom poms, jingle bells, felt...and I was thrilled to see a ton of Christmas ribbons at 50% off!  I probably spent 20 minutes just combing those spools, looking for some fabulous finds.  Needless to say, I went a little crazy but I got a lot for what I spent.

I started making ornaments tonight and it's been so much fun!  I love reindeers a lot (I think they're my favorite motif for Christmas), so I sketched out this interpretation of Rudolph and cut him out of felt, accenting him with a red pom pom nose and a jingle bell.  It took a while to make him because of all the little pieces and the hand sewing, but I love him to pieces!  He's a little lopsided because I put the ribbon in the wrong place, so I think I might use that as an excuse to keep him for myself :P  Onto the tree he goes, hehe.  I can't wait to make more ornament friends!

I really need to finish up some ornaments and then take a bunch of photos so I can make my first Etsy listings.  I'm a little nervous to open shop, but also excited.  Gotta get a move on it!

watch out disneyland! we be a-comin'...

Living in LA for the past 10 years, I've been spoiled having Disneyland basically in my backyard.  During college, I was fortunate enough to have an annual pass and being that one of my good friends also had one, we went just about once a month for quality bonding time and memories I still cherish today.

My sister has always loved Disneyland just as much as me, and I was always excited whenever my family would visit LA because it meant we could squeeze in a day to go and have an awesome time together.  Ok, that's an understatement.  We are *CRAZY* about Disneyland.  Never would I dream that years later, my sister would also come to school in LA at my alma mater and we could go to Disneyland whenever we wanted!  

Today, it was confirmed that my sister will finally be getting an annual pass after her Fall semester ends.  I am beyond excited!!!!  This time of year is always a favorite of ours anyway with Christmas just around the corner, and Disneyland has an even more magical feel (if that's even possible) than normal.  My bf and I have been passholders for the past 2 years and I can't wait for her to come on board.  Being a passholder really relieves the stress of getting your full money's worth when you're planning for and paying for a single day ticket.  It's such sweet freedom to come and go as you please from the happiest place one earth!

There are so many things we love about Disneyland, it's too hard to even know where to begin a list.  Characters, rides, funny cast members, FOOD......I can't wait!  I wonder how many times we can go before the end of this year alone, and with her Spring semester schedule involving no classes on Friday, I think we'll be there a LOT.  I'm already predicting we'll be celebrating her 21st birthday next year there, too!  I'm totally going to have them give her a birthday pin, hehe.

In honor of the upcoming fun, here are some of my favorite pictures and memories from the past few years, including some holiday pics through the years.  Most of them were taken by me, but I think there are a couple that are my sister's.  She'll be getting an awesome new camera for Christmas and I can't wait for us to take some epic and awesome pics during the next year.  Enjoy!  And no doubt there are many more pictures, memories, fun headgear/headbands/santa hats, laughter and very full bellies ahead! :D

need to focus

Tomorrow morning, I'm taking this ridiculous ethics exam for the *third* time.  I need to pass this exam as part of my requirements for the CA State Bar and it's super annoying that I haven't passed it yet.  I mean really, how hard is it to think ethically?  And it's just a 60 question multiple choice exam (10 questions don't even count)...Apparently, it's hard for me!  

I haven't been able to focus as much as I would've liked.  I'd like to blame it on the 90+ degree weather the past few days in November of all things, but I think I've been unfocused about a lot of things over the past few weeks.  Apartment is as disorganized as ever, my shop still isn't open, I haven't reviewed a single law-related thing (to the point now that even studying this ONE subject feels like I'm reading and trying to learn a foreign language)...What the heck happened?  I really haven't been good about keeping a schedule and with so many ideas and thoughts swimming around in my head, I should've known better.  And with Bar results coming out in 2 weeks, I'll need to get myself back on track ASAP once I know my fate.  Besides that, I should be on track as it is now!

Having to study and ignore crafting has made me sad and I know I really need to find a happy medium between studying and crafting, if I have to re-study for the Bar again.  I need to be organized about my life!

Tomorrow will be dedicated to taking this exam in the morning and yet another USC football home game at night.  But Sunday, I'm planning on building my handmade light box so I can take better photos for my shop listings (jewelry is a butt to photograph, lemme tell you) and going through all of my crafting supplies to check out everything I've accumulated, organize things into bins, and plan out some ideas and get cracking.  Lately, I've had some ideas for some smaller plush, hair accessories, and ornaments - like for a holiday tree or even just for decorating.  Jewelry and bigger plush have higher price points for the cost of materials and the time it can take to make them, but I think offering some smaller things at lower price points will be fun for me to make and sell.  Easier, too!  I'm not planning on selling anything that's not already ready to ship - it'd be too stressful to list something and say it'll take me (x) time to fabricate and what if it doesn't end up looking like the photos?  I think it'd be better to say, this is what I have and I can ship it right out.  Especially since I'm anticipating a bunch of stuff being one of a kind, since I want to shake things up and have a nice variety.  I bought some fun supplies this week that I'm waiting to arrive and I can't wait to play around and experiment.

But for now, I need to prepare for this exam and leave the craft dreaming for tomorrow after the exam is over.  I am having serious craft withdrawal and maybe I needed this break to re-focus and be overflowing with ideas and motivation.  However, I will leave you with this, which usually brings a smile to my face and you know, on some days, you just really want to yell or scream at the top of your lungs for no reason, maybe just out of frustration with the world or yourself - don't you ever feel this way, too?

panda love

I love the SD Zoo pandas so much, and I was thrilled last week to learn that Zoo Atlanta's 13 year old panda Lun Lun was expecting a cub any day now.

Then, in the wee hours of the morning (5:39 a.m. EST) on Wednesday, November 3rd, Lun Lun gave birth to her third cub!  This precious photo was captured of Lun Lun cradling her cub and placed on the Zoo Atlanta site.  (Story here:  Zoo Atlanta - Giant Panda Born)  Momma and baby appear to be happy and healthy.

The Associated Press also circulated a fabulous video of the birth itself (Lun Lun gives birth to third cub).  Love the baby's squeaking and Lun Lun's growl!  But adorable that she craddled her cub so quickly after birth.  

After watching Baby Yun Zi grow up and admiring all of the SD Zoo pandas, it's interesting to see the differences between our pandas and Zoo Atlanta's.  Panda love and fandom continues to grow strong! :)

ring a ding ding

I love Etsy.  I love rings.  What better way to feed my addiction than with handmade beauties?

I've been so fortunate to meet some awesome and talented Etsians as I prepare to open my shop soon.  Love them all and love the fabulous finds I'm so happy to call my own!  Want to take a peek into my jewelry box?

From the lovely Jane of littlebugjewelry (littlebugjewelry.etsy.com).  Rings featuring rock crystal, pink amethyst, labradorite, citrine, rainbow moonstone and garnet.  All on hammered bands.  Sparkly, shiny, gorgeous.

From the lovely Monica of Moon Over Maize (moonovermaize.etsy.com).  Beautiful rainbow moonstone...look at that flash!

From the lovely Amy of ThirtySixTen (thirtysixten.etsy.com).  Love the flash in the labradorite, the double twisted bands and crown bezel.

From the lovely Madelynn of Garnet Girl Designs (onegarnetgirl.etsy.com).  This Rock Fetist ring is massive (3-4 carats)!  A beautiful emerald cut green amethyst.  Surprisingly lightweight but a gorgeous statement piece.

From the lovely Lara of Lara Lewis (laralewis.etsy.com and www.laralewis.net).  I've never seen Goshenite before but this 2 carat gem has a gorgeous sparkle, very silvery white.  Dainty yet sparkly!

Love them all, no?  I was trying to take pictures of my lovely necklace collection, too, but my camera battery died before I could do much.  I'll get to them soon!  Gotta show some love to my other obsession... :)  Stay tuned!

macro setting, where have you been all my life?

Today, I finally decided that it'd be a great idea to take some photos of the items I've made so I could put them into an album titled 'coming soon' on the Facebook page I made for my Etsy shop.  (Are you a fan yet?  You should be!)

I rushed to get everything set up before the sunlight disappeared and spent an hour just snapping random pics, figuring that something would look good.  I uploaded them later...and they were a mess!!  I was so disappointed and upset that I didn't have a better camera.

So, I did some research online and was really kicking myself for not having read my camera's manual way back when - now I'm not sure where I put it and the versions I found online only remind me that my model is already outdated.  But after playing around a little...I discovered...MACRO.  How did I not know about this all my life??  Granted, all the pics I ever take are random ones of me, my family, friends, animals at the zoo...but I always wondered why the pics of my crafts never looked great.  I just assumed it was that everyone must be using awesome and expensive cameras when really, it was my own fault for not exploring all the features my camera has to offer!  Go figure.

Now I'm actually excited to try taking some pics again with my newfound *magic* and hopefully, they'll come out looking great.  I'm not sure if the sunlight is doing it for me and I've noticed that the overhead lighting I have in the kitchen is pure white and true to natural light, so I might try snapping some pics under both conditions as an experiment and see which I like better.  I saw some instructions online on building your own light box using foam board, tissue paper, and lamps, but we'll see if I need to get so 'high tech.'  I just can't wait to take some pictures that are actually clear, sharp, and show off the lovelies I've created.  So even if I'm slow to arrive at the macro party that everyone's probably known about forever, I'm happy to be in the know FINALLY.

I am bummed, though, that I've taken so many blah customer appreciation photos for the lovely sellers I've purchased from and uploaded as part of my feedback for them.  If I had known about macro sooner, those pictures would've been a LOT better, plus I would've used webresizer to scale them down so they'd look awesome.  Etsy doesn't allow me to update those photos (which I wished it did because a few failed to upload properly and now my feedback has a blank photo attached to it, ugh).  I'm sorry fellow Etsians!  I truly love those items I purchased from you, even if I couldn't show you properly.  Good intentions, failed execution.  Total operator error - never jump to the conclusion to blame the machines, right?  It's usually the operator's fault.  I guess I've learned my lesson and I still owe some people customer appreciation photos for my newest purchases, so they will be awesome.

Here's a pic of my first attempt using macro tonight on a purchase I received in the mail today.  You have no idea just how excited I was that it came out so well.  I received this ring from the lovely Amy of ThirtySixTen on Etsy - double twisted band, crown setting, oxidized, 10mm high dome labradorite with a TON of flash...that I actually managed to capture with my little camera!

Gorgeous!  I can't wait to take pictures of my newest purchases from my lovely Etsy friends...and even go back and re-do some of the failed customer appreciation photos from before.  Even if I can't fix them on Etsy, at least I can pay proper thanks here, right?  Stay tuned! :)

welcome to the (common squirrel) monkey house

Growing up, I was never a huge fan of monkeys.  But since knowing my bf, his love for monkeys has rubbed off on me.  (What are the chances that he would've been born in the Year of the Monkey, Chinese zodiac style, too?)  Monkeys are so fun to watch!  Especially when they're running around and being playful.

My bf takes an annual trip for about a week in the fall to Arizona for Fall League, continuing on with his love of baseball.  I usually join him for the trip, or at least part of it, and this year, I went for a few days last week.  My friends think it's funny that the pictures from our trips are usually of baseball stadiums or zoos, but that's really mostly what we do!  Baseball obviously for him, and the zoos for me but I'm glad he's grown to love seeing the animals as much as I do.  We always have funny stories and sightings at every zoo we visit.

I'm not sure why I had never thought to look before but I checked out the Phoenix Zoo's website a few weeks prior and read about their amazing Common Squirrel Monkey Village exhibit.  Basically, it's an enclosure that you get to walk into (like an aviary) but the squirrel monkeys are running about freely and all around you--no barriers!!  I couldn't believe I didn't know this was there!  Needless to say, we knew we HAD to go and visit the zoo during this trip.

The exhibit didn't disappoint one bit!  My bf thought it would be an exhibit you walked into and the monkeys would be freely running but they'd be far away and you wouldn't be able to interact with them, but I was pretty sure (judging by my online research) that the monkeys would literally be right next to, above, and around you.  I was right!  We walked into the exhibit and there's a roped pathway but there were monkeys everywhere.  Running along the ropes, jumping from tree to tree...we got really close to some and the zoo workers just tell you to give them about 3 feet of space but you're free to walk around the exhibit and take photos, etc.  It was really amazing.

Although you're told not to touch or grab for the monkeys, I knew my bf really wished he could.  How could you not?  The squirrel monkeys are so little and with such cute faces.  It's sort of scary when they're jumping around the trees above your head--the branches swayed a lot, the leaves rustled, and there was such loud crashing when they launched themselves from tree to tree.  Sometimes it seemed like the branches might break or they'd slip and fall on you!  My bf found a tall bush that swayed a lot and when the monkeys were chasing each other, two of them jumped onto that bush and it nearly smacked him in the shoulder.  Secretly, I think he wished they'd miss or the bush would snap and they'd land on him, hehe.

We visited the exhibit twice during our afternoon there and I really didn't want to leave.  I was happy that they didn't hustle you out or you had to line up to walk through the exhibit, so we got to leisurely walk around, watch the monkeys, and take pictures.  We're planning a weekend trip to Arizona again in November and for sure, we're going to go and visit our monkey friends in the Monkey Village again!  If you find yourself in Phoenix anytime soon, go check them out, too!

my parents = adorable

Have I ever mentioned how adorable my parents are?  If you needed evidence of this: