Totoro Mural!

As I have written many, many times before, one of my favorite movies is My Neighbor Totoro. So when I thought about decorating the room for our upcoming baby, my first thought was, of course, to create a Totoro mural. Now while I am crafty in several realms, muralist is not a label I apply to myself with any confidence. So I enlisted (okay, bugged until he agreed) my brother Adam to create a forest-with-Totoros mural for the nursery. Here are some shots of the muralist extraordinaire in action. Adam had to paint about 5 layers of white on Totoro's stomach, so it's taken a while to complete, but we're nearly there and I couldn't be happier!

Totoros Galore!

My husband John is one of the best surprise-gift givers I have ever encountered. He's not one to celebrate on predetermined days (we're not big on Valentine's Day around here, for example), but he'll often surprise me on a non-holiday with something really cool. Today is one of those days! The mail carrier rolled up around 10:30 AM with a big box from Japan. Whenever I get a box from Japan via John, I immediately suspect that a Totoro gift is inside. After opening the lovely packaging, my suspicions were confirmed. Not only did John get me a large, extremely warm Totoro blanket, he also bought the cutest Totoro apron and bag (see below). And there were two origami Totoros included in the box. I just found online instructions for how to make your own origami Totoro; check it out here.

The items came gift-wrapped (of course I saved the paper for re-use):



And, on top of the lovely gift wrapping, one of the items had an origami Totoro decoration:



The incredibly warm and lucky Clover Totoro blanket now gracing our couch:



My new bag, perfect for carrying books to school and/or groceries:



My new apron, which I absolutely love and can't wait to put to use:

Who is Totoro?

Totoro is a character from the Japanese anime film Tonari no Totoro [My Neighbor Totoro], which happens to be one of my all-time favorite movies. Only unjaded kids can see Totoro and his friends (two smaller totoros as well as a creature that's half cat, half bus). The movie also features Makkurokurosuke, little black sooty spirits that live in old dusty homes:



I have a habit of doodling Totoros in almost any setting, but my paltry, one-dimensional attempts are nothing compared to the awesome Totoro drawing that my friend Kagan whipped up as a birthday present for me:



Thanks a million, Kagan-- I love my new Totoro.