#life & #ootd & #haul: thanksgiving & black friday.

Hello, hello everyone !

I know it's been a while and I have a lot to catch up on, but here's a little update.

I hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving and had the time to reflect on what you are grateful for and the blessings you have received since last Thanksgiving. I hope you had a wonderful time spent with family, friends, and loved ones... and ate a lot of good food too.

My family & I celebrated Thanksgiving dinner the night before on Wednesday. Straight after my flight landed home, we drove to my cousin's house. We feasted on usual fixings--turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie--as well as other food like adobo, cream cheese rangoons, salmon, and salad. My cousins & I played hours of Heads Up! and watched half of Guardians of the Galaxy before we headed home.

On Thanksgiving morning, my mom and I went to get facials/upper body massage at my mom's friend's salon. I was so relaxed that I fell asleep for part (or most) of it LOL. She removed all my blackheads via steam treatment & pulling them out with some special tool. My skin STILL feels smooth almost 48 hours later from the treatment even after washing off the products with face wash, as I do every morning. After taking a family nap, we went to the casino down the street. We wanted to eat at the buffet for the special Thanksgiving menu, but the line was a 2 hour wait. We ate at the restaurant across the street.

This was a pretty delicious steak.

Thanksgiving #ootd

This morning, I woke up at 5am to wait in line at Sam's Club in hopes for an iPhone 6 64gb. The deal was $99 for an iPhone 6 16gb, $199 for an iPhone6 64gb, and $299 for an iPhone 6 128gb. So that's $100 savings compared to other places, especially since other stores did not offer discounts for the iPhone 6 64gb. LUCKILY, when I got there, the line was short AND there were still vouchers available for Verizon & 64gb. I was so desperate to get the 64gb phone that I didn't care what color. Gold was the only available color left. Although silver/white was my first choice, I didn't hesitate to take it. I'm so happy I was able to upgrade because my iPhone 5 was long overdue to retire (the right side of the screen was basically falling out of the phone's casing).

Gold iPhone 6 64gb ! I'm so excited. Featuring my sister in the background because she ruined my selfie ugh. $199 - $100 saved

While waiting to get my phone, I walked around Sam's Club. I saw an ad for riding boots on sale and did not hesitate to get them, due to the sale price and how cute they are.

Kenneth Cole Reaction Riding Boots. $29.98 - $10 saved

I also bought some socks for normal ankle/calf boots and for tall riding boots like the ones I just bought. Not pictured because it isn't anything special, hehe. Look out for them in future #ootds!

My dad went cray cray at Sam's Club. In addition to also getting an iPhone 6 for himself (which he wasn't planning on getting... he just wanted an iPhone 5S), he bought a 55" Samsung Curve UltraHD TV, a Keurig 2.0, and a new GPS. I didn't expect him to buy that much, since he said he was only going to get a new phone and "look" at the TVs.

After my dad & I came home, my cousin who is visiting for the long weekend came over. Then we headed to the mall to get our Black Friday shopping on.

My cousin, sister, and younger cousin on the way to the mall!

You know... I kept saying that I didn't "need" anything else on the way to the mall because I already got my iPhone and some boots so I wasn't expecting to buy too much, except maybe a pair of high-waisted shorts. But boy, was I wrong.

Oops.

Our first stop was Urban Outfitters. Their deal for Black Friday was 50% the sale price. I couldn't find the sale section at first so I was panicking. Eventually, I found it in the back corner behind this wall, and it was CRAZY. Too many girls in there, man. I tried on a few things, but ultimately came out with just one item.

(WARNING: I apologize for some of the coloring of the pictures. I edited them via VSCOcam & the colors looked different on my phone than how they appear on my screen, so the colors may not be true.)

Olive v-neck with thin black stripes. $4.99 - $5 saved

While I was at Urban Outfitters, I ran into my Grand Ading ! I didn't know she had family in Vegas. What are the odds that we were going to run into each other ?!

My Grand Ading ! Isn't she adorable ?! #imold

Then we went to the Disney Store since it was right next door. My little cousin was begging to go there to buy a Tsum. I am obsessed to no end with this game (& have gotten a couple of other people into the game, including my roommate & little cousin), so I happily helped him choose which one to get. He chose Donald Duck hehehe (I have a Chip Tsum!).

TSUM TSUM <3

We went to Forever 21 next and spent quite some time there. The sale room was TOO HUGE, I only bothered seriously looking at the first few racks because that's where the shorts were and I was too lazy to look at the rest. Besides, I wasn't looking for any more new tops. Their promo was an additional 50% off the sale price, but was only applicable until 2pm. We didn't know that so we were surprised when we checked out at around 3pm. However, they gave us the discount anyways because we argued about how the signs were not obvious enough + the employees we asked never told us.

High-waisted maroon corduroy shorts. $5.99 - $6 saved

High-waisted denim shorts with floral trim. $7.50 - $7.50 saved

Basic dark pink v-neck. $3.80

Basic dusty pink v-neck. $3.80

I really needed a new card wallet so this was perfect! $4.80

After eating at the food court because we were all grumpy, we stopped by Topshop. I wasn't expecting to find anything I liked despite the sale (buy one get one free sale items) because Topshop is pretty expensive in the US. Back in the UK, I went to a Topshop and everything--sale included--was much cheaper than the clothes sold in the US. To my surprise, I found two pairs of shorts that I really liked & fit me very well.

Mirror pic inside Topshop ft. my cousin, sister, and an untied moccasin lace. #ootd

Another pair of high-waisted shorts. $20

Yet ANOTHER pair of high-waisted shorts. FREE - $15 saved

We stopped by a few more stores but I did not get anything. Our last stop was at American Eagle; they had a 40% storewide sale. We decided that what our family is wearing for Christmas is flannel/plaid shirts and AE usually has a good selection of them. Although their selection was limited this time around, I found one that was cute & definitely wearable for the holiday season.

American Eagle Red & Blue flannel. $24 - $16 saved

As tradition, my family and I always get the new Just Dance game on Black Friday because it's a great game to play when our extended family comes and visits for the holidays. Sometimes it can get pretty competitive (I'm not very good or anything, but I somehow always manage to win... ;D). So we stopped by Target to pick up the new Just Dance 2015. As our luck would have it, we got the last copy there. It came with the game and a Wiimote for only $25--a steal, since the game alone is $40.

Just Dance 2015. $25 - $15+ saved

That's the end of my Black Friday shopping adventure. A bit unexpected, but pretty rewarding since I've been doing pretty well in school and needed some serious retail therapy (although I could've gone without all these things probably). In total, I saved ~$175, which is pretty good in my book ! Regardless, I am excited to wear all these pieces in my future #ootds !

We didn't pretend to walk for this picture. Nope. My little cousin in the background made it look more believable though....

#haul: when you walk into a store planning to buy one thing...

& end up buying a bunch of things because you could not resist.

That phenomenon (unfortunately) happens to me quite a lot! I will enter a store with my mind set on a few items to purchase or just "to browse," but will leave with more things than I originally intended to get and more money spent. It hurts my wallet and my conscience... but it feels much more satisfactory to buy things...

This especially happens to me at Target. There's this danger area right at the front of the store where all the items range from $1 - $3. These items can range from coloring books to tea lights to home organizers. I can never avoid looking in this area... and I almost never leave empty-handed.

I came to Target to get some eye primer. Target is the only store that sells e.l.f. cosmetics (that I know of). I tried this eye primer because I have oily eyelids and needed it to keep my makeup from creasing and in place. Some say it is comparable to Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion--I cannot vouch for this because I have never tried it, and never had to because e.l.f.'s eyelid primer works for me. And for $1.02 (which has increased by $0.02 since the last time I bought it... what blasphemy!), you cannot beat the price for the quality of the product.

I have only ever used the e.l.f. Eyelid Primer in Sheer, but I bought one of the "Pearl" kind to see the difference between the two. I bought three tubes overall because it was cheap, and I do not know when will be the next time I will be going to Target.

e.l.f. Cosmetics Eyelid Primer in Sheer & Pearl

Buuuuut... I wandered into that danger area and came out of the store and back into my roommate's car with some more things. Initially, I grabbed several more items, but I narrowed it down to the final things you see (which was tougher than it seems). Everything else I bought was $1 each, so I didn't go toooo crazy on the impulsive spending.

... oops.

The first thing that caught my eye was the roll of striped paper tape aka washi tape. If you could not tell from my previous posts, I am in love with washi tape and anything crafty (even though I do not craft often). I do not have any gold washi tape yet (I have a lot of blue & pink), so for $1--rolls of washi tape can be an average of ~$4-5 depending on where you get it--it was a steal.

Then I saw these "notecards," or blank cards. Whenever I give a gift to someone, I like to make a card completely from scratch (a blog post will be up later about this!); however, the process is time-consuming (and a bit messy!), and I always find myself rushing to finish the card because of the other things I have on my agenda. These simple cards (again, for only $1) are cute and can be customized with some ribbons, washi tape, or other materials so each card is different, despite having the same base card. I was torn between the one below and one with pink stripes and a pink envelope with white polka dots, but I ultimately chose the polka dots because it was more gender-neutral.

Next, I saw socks. I typically do not wear socks because I do not really wear shoes that require them. However, after getting my lab job, I need to cover up my body from chemicals and other hazards in the lab so I wear close-toed shoes a lot... and you can't wear sneakers without socks (well, you can, but that's kind of gross. I'm not judging though). Even if I didn't have this job, printed socks are a trend right now. They are cute with casual wear (or to wear around the house--I'm imagining oversized t-shirt, no pants, and patterned socks) and can add color & flavor to any outfit! I debated between the gray socks with the mint polka dots and the pink socks with gray polka dots, but my roommate's friend said the mint polka dots were "chill." Sound reasoning indeed.

After some rummaging, I found these gift tags. I typically do not attach gift tags to my gifts (that's what the card is for... plus, the person receiving it should obviously know it's for him/her?), so I grabbed these for creative and crafting purposes. You never know when you'll need a gift tag!

I grabbed these mini gel pens at the last second just because I liked the colors and I used to be obsessed with gel pens. Back when I was in middle school, my parents bought me a tub of 100+ gel pens, and I would use them for everything. I'm not sure if it was because of nostalgia or the price tag ($1!) that made me grab it, but I did. My roommate convinced me to get it because she said it would be useful for studying (which is true).

Although it is kind of a sin to buy things you do not necessarily need like I do, I am glad that this time around my impulse buy only cost me $9.78. I'd say it's worth it (plus, retail therapy is so cathartic; the feeling alone of buying things makes me feel so much better).

That's all I got this time around, but you can almost guarantee that the next time I am at Target, I will be buying more than what I came for.