Two posts in a row bearing titles that begin with the word “happy.”

I couldn’t help but post photos of the shoes that I wore out last night. Yes, two photos of my shoes.

“What is happening to this blog?”, a reader might be asking themselves as they scroll down from one photo of green shoes to the next. The answer is– I don’t really know what is happening to it. The story behind the shoes is: Reagan picked them up for me last summer at one of the Bottega Veneta sample sales that she goes to. They have been sitting in my closet since then. I had only worn them once before last night. In fact, I had kind of forgotten about them. Then, last night as I was debating on what to wear out, there were the loafers blinding me with the green light that was reflecting off of that patent leather. Hahahaha. It was like destiny. Since I don’t own the green Rolie from the previous post, I had to rock some green loafers instead.

Now that the nonsense is out of the way. Let’s get down to brass tacks. As we all know, things are still not going well at all for the folks in Japan. There are a lot of bloggers who are doing this day of blog silence thing, which I think is cool. But, I have decided go a different route in acknowledging that I am still thinking and worrying about the Japanese. Similar to last Friday, I’m going to share some links that I found inspiring, relating to the events that are unfolding in Japan. Maybe someone else will also be inspired.

• This is probably my favorite one. An 85 year old woman escaped the tsunami by riding her bike to safety when she heard the warning sirens going off.
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 17
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 16
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 15
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 14
• Boston Globe Big Picture March 13
• Photos  from Operation Tomodachi– This is a Flickr set that the US Navy Published documenting their disaster relief mission in Japan called “Operation Tomodachi.”
• And finally, here is an article that the NY Times published about the initial 50 volunteers who stayed behind when the Fukushima Plant was evacuated. I feel like the facts in this story could very easily become a movie. I was very affected by the courage of these workers. I feel like their willingness to stay behind really epitomize the selfless solidarity that is associated with Japanese culture.

On a more lighthearted note, don’t miss the “Super Moon” this weekend. I’m hoping for clear skies on Saturday night.  Don’t get me started about how excited I am for GP on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

What up, interwebz? I just wanted to bring your attention to something that I thought was pretty cool. My sister who lives in Alaska is quite the seamstress. And, in light of current events is putting her skills to work for a good cause. Read her description of the project below, for the details:

I woke up this morning to a phone call from a concerned family member telling me about the tsunami warning. It quickly became clear that there was no real concern for the area where I live, but I could not get back to sleep, could not stop thinking of the people who woke up this morning to disaster. It really caused me to examine the fine line I walk between complacency, and compassion. I know that there are tragic things happening everyday everywhere in the world. There is no way for me to know about or know how to help with every one of them. But that is not an excuse to do nothing anymore. I thought of one tiny something I can do today:

My favorite fabric designer, Etsuko Furuya, happens to be Japanese. I have some small pieces of her beautiful fabric in my collection that I am going to make into zipper pouches and list in the “for Japan” section of my shop. For any of the pouches purchased from that section (or with “for Japan” in the title), I will donate 100% of the proceeds to the American Red Cross for Japan earthquake relief. If they all sell, I will make more for for the same cause until the fabric runs out…

Thank you!

Here is a link her her shop Bodhihandmade

The images below are a few of the items that she has made, which I lifted from her Etsy Page.

It is the 30th year anniversary edition Stussy “Acquaforce XXX” watch.  The triple X of course being Roman Numerals for 10, signifying 30. You can check the details on the Japanese Stussy site. According to Highsnobiety, these beauties will be available domestically around April 3rd.

Stussy is also awesome, because they cite one of my articles in their Wikipedia page. 

Pizzicato five. I can’t really remember how I first came across these guys (or should I say, this woman). I was randomly playing their record the other day though, and apparently Reagan has had one of their songs in her head ever since. The reason that is kind of funny, is because all of the songs are in Japanese. I’m not really sure how popular they are or were in Japan, but the “Made in USA” album (released in 1994 on Matador) was released domestically. The song I’m sharing is called “Twiggy vs. James Bond.” Play it now.

Sunday’s race was very exciting. The first two days of practice and testing at Motegi was done in the rain. The weather finally broke for race day, leaving all of the teams scrambling to try to guess what the best dry weather setup would be for the bikes. Rossi started on pole and opened up a bit of a gap, right away. It only lasted a few laps, however, as Jorge Lorenzo worked his way up the chain. There was a brief battle of back and forth passing at the front, but ultimately Lorenzo made his pass stick and was able to open up a bit of a gap. Pedrosa had a great race, as well. After being passed by Lorenzo, Rossi had to contend with Pedrosa, late in the race. Pedroso traded passes in corners 2 or 3 times on Rossi, before the final lap. Rossi was able to maintain his position in second spot, when they came across the line on the last lap. This is Lorenzo’s second victory in the GP class, his first at Motegi. Stoner finished up barely off of the podium in 4th spot, after a less than ideal start and a hard battle. Here are the full results.

There was some drama early in the race. As you may recall, Nicky Hayden suffered a very messy high-side wreck before Qatar, which required minor surgery. He is still healing from that tumble. In fact, they haven’t even taken the stitches out yet. At fate would have it, the GP rookie, Takahashi plowed into the back of Hayden entering a turn, on the very first lap of the race, Sunday. It was a nasty spill. Takahashi walked away, Hayden was taken out on a stretcher. It is said that Hayden will be fully recovered in time to race next Sunday in Spain.