Sally's Spa

Sally's Spa has to be the best 99 cents I've ever spent in the iPhone app store. I have literally spent hours and hours (with Lulu perched on my shoulder, hehe) on this game. I completed all of the levels within the first few days of downloading the game but now I'm taking my time going through each stage and replaying it for a perfect score.



I'm trying to figure out why it is I like this game so much. It's a time management game so I guess it naturally piques the interest of my "project manager" side. Or maybe there is something soothing about looking at a spa for so long, makes me feel like I'm in the spa? Or is it the cute, bubbly graphics?

Whatever it is, my left wrist is starting to hurt from resting my head on it as I play for up to an hour before bed every night.

West LA Outing

Today was my first "LA" outing since we moved out of LA. I have to say -- didn't feel much different from when we were living in LA, but I did notice traffic and inconsiderate parallel-parkers a lot more today than I did before.

First stop was Century City mall to pick up some towels I bought on presale about a month ago. They are the super, softest towels you can ever imagine. To save an additional 15% off, I prepaid for them during the Bloomingdale's presale and haven't been back since to pick them up.

After spending hours at the mall (unintentional; bringing a puppy that stops all foot traffic really slows you down in a mall) we headed to the Barrington Dog Park to kill time before picking up Aai from her work. This was Cora's first time at the dog park and she did pretty well! We went into the small dog area only and woke Cora from a nap to let her play. At first she was a little groggy and reluctant to play with the other dogs. After walking around for 10 minutes she started being more interested in the other dogs, quickly learning to sniff butts.

When it was clear she wasn't going to go potty, we headed out towards Santa Monica to pick up Aai at her work, Bergamot Station.



This was my first time in the paper store and I have to say I was taken aback at the variety of traditional/hand-made Japanese papers. There were so many different kinds, colors, textures and more. I was most intrigued by the natural papers made out of thinly sliced fruit.

After Joanna closed up the register, we headed to Fritto Misto in Santa Monica for a quick dinner. I had the jumbo ravioli for the first time -- prosciutto ravioli in a garlic cream sauce tossed with sundried tomatoes, caramelized onions and bacon. Max had the garlic shrimp black and white pasta (as good as I remembered it!) and Aai had the plain jain spaghettini in marinara sauce. This place never disappoints!

We saved just enough room for the creamy Tiramisu -- I'd say the best I've had in Southern California! (My fave ever is Steps of Rome in San Francisco)

I love this face!

Just heard a slight whimper from downstairs as I am sitting here writing in my blog and I walked downstairs to find Cora next to the screen door, whimpering to go pee! Just a minute ago she was knocked out under the couch but at 10 weeks she can already walk down to the door when she needs to go.

So proud. ~.~

Maximum Level Reached

I've spent countless hours the last several weeks playing Restaurant City on Facebook. During work, while watching TV, before dinner, after dinner, during dinner, at night... all hours of the day spent monitoring and managing my restaurant.





Finally, I've reached Level 27 -- the maximum level possible in this game. Not sure all that time spent was worth the miniscule wave of achievement felt as I earned my last $300 cash bonus for leveling up.

But what makes a game addicting? What makes it so powerfully engaging you remember to play 2-3 times a day? That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out as I design a Facebook game for one of our unsaid clients. Hint: it's for a product that just launched into the marketplace and by product I mean car. :P

This is the first time I've ever designed or strategically planned for a game, especially one that will have so much exposure. It took us several rounds of presentations to get the idea sold to the clients and so far I've built experience maps, prototypes, content plans and design specs for it. We are scheduled to release the design assets over to the developers next week and the game will hopefully launch sometime next month. Eek!

Good Morning

This is what I wake up to in the mornings. Super cute, but super annoying when by morning I actually mean 4:30am.