When I was a Middle School student at New Jersey School for the Deaf, aka Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf, my teacher told us that we were going on a field trip to visit a newspaper company. At the ending of the trip, the newspaper comapny asked us a question to answer so they could use us for their “Weekly People Poll” on their newspaper. The question was:

“If you could have a lunch with any famous person (alive or dead), who would it be and why?”

My classmates picked famous people like President Ronald Reagan, Babe Ruth…

Guess who I picked?

Her mother: Leia, tell me about your drawing here.

Leia: Uhh….A horse walking through the woods… my favorite horse.

I just can’t believe it — she’s only 3.

And yes. I customized the drawing pad for her. Does she loves horses? No kidding. She does. She really does. I never saw a little girl who really loved horses as much as Leia does. I swear.

And I think her parents know they will be in trouble when she starts asking for a real one.

Did I tell you that she’s only three years old?

Amazing.

Leia's drawing of a turkey

More drawings - a horse.

an artist at work.

Enjoy!

Take a peek at those “BEFORE” pictures:

Meet my little fan, Tavey – who got to watch me working few times. His two big sisters were away at the summer camp – knowing NOTHING about this “surprise” their parents had planned for them when they got back home.

Check out my “mini” shop:

Now, presenting you the “AFTER” pictures:

And the kids’ bathroom:

Here, you can see that I’ve added few cute drawings on the walls such as ladybugs, dragonflies & sparking stars.

I hope you enjoy looking at those pictures as much as I’ve enjoyed painting those murals!

Anyway, few weeks ago, one fan actually emailed me and asked me if I was doing anything recently. I promised her I’d fill her in. As for my recent work, I was honored to do  The Austin Betty ‘s “extreme makeover” by designing the blogger’s profile picture for her website.

Here’s the “before” picture:

Ready for the “after” picture? of course, you are. here you go:

Neat, huh? (I know, I know. Not like Tamara really needed the “extreme makeover” – she’s already perfect!) After doing this project for her, I am now hooked to her website – she fills you in about the latest fitness ideas, beauty tips, how to keep yourself healthy… and many more! Not only that, she’s my inspiration! Makes me want to take really, really good care of myself. Make sure you visit her website and read her stuff — she’s awesome!

www.theaustinbetty.com

and you can follow her on twitter!

twitter.com/theaustinbetty

It all started in few months ago when I got an email from this nice lady, Susan Giles from Deaf Action Center, Dallas – asking me if I would be interested in giving a presentation to deaf teenager girls. I was honored and said yes! Thanks to California School for the Deaf for supporting me to go on this trip. (Even I think my students were not too happy about me being absent for two days.)

As soon as I land my foot on the state of Texas for the first time, I was welcomed by this awesome lady, Heather Bise. She was so cool and friendly. She showed me around before we met Susan and other staff from DAC at this restaurant, Tex Mex for dinner. I enjoyed meeting all of them. They are a fun group!

Next morning, Heather picked me up from the hotel and took me to Starbucks. (Yes! I told you, she’s so cool!) Then we arrived at DAC’s Deaf Teen Leadership Summit for Deaf Girls, at Plano, Texas, over 200 deaf teenager girls came. I would say from about 15 different mainstreamed school around Dallas. “Ride Your Wave!” was the event’s theme. I loved it. There were some booths going on there and we had a lunch buffet. Then it was time for my presentation, which started after lunch.

I started my “Riding My Ride” keynote presentation with a picture of my family. I asked girls if they could guess which was deaf and which was hearing.

“All hearing, except you!”
“All hearing!!”
“Hearing family and you and your brother are deaf?”

one said, “I’m thinking that… all of your family are … deaf?”

Most of them were surprised when I said my family is deaf. The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter if we do not hear like most of people. Then I talked about two different languages: ASL and English (L1 & L2) and why we shouldn’t “measure” on how smart we are when we try to work with our “second” language like reading and writing English. I also explained some turning points in my life as a deaf person. Going to NTID/RIT and using an interpreter for the first time in a large sized class with hearing people was one of them. I told the girls about the people I work with at California School for the Deaf in Fremont because my students and staff taught me so many things about being deaf.  Here, I learned that we have to fight what is important for us – our people, our language, our culture, our education and our community. We cannot give up, period. If my students are confident and have goals – the girls should have them too.

At the ending, the girls had the chance to ask me questions. After that I was told to sit by the booth to sign the girls’ tee shirts but you know me, I couldn’t just sign. I had to draw. Yes, I drew over 200 small cute pictures on each tee shirt for those lovely deaf teenage girls. Lucky, my right hand didn’t fall out from my arm. All the girls I met — are so sweet and lovely!

What I learned from this trip was that it’s important to go out and meet deaf people, sharing information and connect with them. Deaf people from different states and they come from different backgrounds — they’re still my family.

Deaf Action Center, Dallas – thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to be your special guest for your annual Teen Leadership Summit for Deaf Girls. This is something that I will never forget.

“Do not give up, find ways. That’s what winners do.”
- Z from Surf’s Up! movie

*Pictures coming up soon!

Here’s an article from Plano Star Newspaper…. read more >

www.deafhoodyoga.com

Eavan signing "WITCH"

Eavan talking about how the two kids are sleeping in the house.

I got an email from Trudy Suggs about how her daughter loved reading my book, Handy Stories. I asked Trudy if she could take some pictures of Eavan reading the book. When I first saw the pictures, it melted my heart right away.

Eavan, thank you for being a fan – I hope to meet you someday soon.

For more information about the Handy Stories book or to buy the book, go to:

Gallaudet Press
Borders
Barnes and Noble

I found two new christmas cartoons that I really liked. Check ‘em out. 

Oh yeah, we didn’t forget our annual christmas cards – it’s just that they’re gonna be mailed out a little bit late. I could post ours here but I wanna do it after I get to mail ‘em out. Like I said before – hey, it’s better late than never. 

ho. ho. ho.