Merry Christmas, Sendai!

It has been a hard year for my friends in Sendai, Japan. Things are looking up, however. Downtown is almost back to normal and the aftershocks are getting smaller.


Nothing can keep the people of The City of Trees down, though, and this year (as always) they went ahead with the Sendai Pageant of Lights. Here are a couple of pictures sent to me by my friend Mikie:

My Room

If I had money, I would buy all this stuff (except for the tiger rug) from Urban Outfitters so my really plain bedroom could look something like this.

Unfortunately, pretty much every single thing is sold out now. All I managed to get was the little blue blossom perfume bottle.

French Bulldogs on YouTube

Everyone knows that French Bulldogs are the cutest dogs ever - so here are some of the best Frenchie Bulldog videos on YouTube:

Dogs 101 (good information): http://youtu.be/K5KIqlISk9Y

The cute Fenchie trying to roll over (a classic): http://youtu.be/X0-Sv6YnxEc

The Frenchie teaching a baby to crawl: http://youtu.be/MfjvacT7SZA

And here is the cutest Frenchie of all... my Buddy sleeping while standing up: http://youtu.be/8OeUroTDAoQ

Chocolate for Vegans

I've been a vegan for over a year now and I'm loving it. Many people who ask me about it are horrified to hear that I can't have chocolate, but that is not exactly true. There are plenty of great chocolate treats for vegans. Here are three of my favorites:

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Crisps:

These look like chocolate Pringles and don't taste too bitter like some kinds of dark chocolate. The little crunchy bits are nice! Also, they are so rich you don't need to eat more than a few at a time. I keep them in the freezer.

Purely Decadent Coconut-Milk based Chocolate Ice Cream

I'm not a huge fan of soy ice cream, so this kind (made with coconut milk) is great. I use it to make a chocolate milkshake with vanilla-flavored soy milk and half a banana - yum!

Ghirardelli's Double Chocolate Premium Hot Cocoa

I make this with vanilla-flavored soy milk for a warm chocolate drink perfect for winter.

iPhone Photography

My brother got a new iPad 2 yesterday and was really taken with all of the camera features. It inspired my to try out a few iPhone photography apps. I tried Hipstamatic and IncrediBooth. Here are some shots.

Best Blog Pictures of 2010

This Blog: A Pictorial Year in Review.

Here are some of the best pictures I've used

in my 66 posts this year!

I took this picture! Isn't it cute? You can get your own Pocket Buddha here.

Sad Don Draper was a meme I could get on board with.

Daniel V. is too cute!

I got gold nails for my New Years 2010 manicure.

Yeah.

And Popsicle Monkey.