#haul: i could drop so much money at this place...

Easter Sunday, my friend and I were trying to go shopping for gifts for our Kiwanis Advisor for banquet. Everything was CLOSED. I don't know if things are different here or I just don't remember clearly, but stores were never closed back home. I remember spending Easter morning at mass, then going shopping or out to eat with my mom and sister afterwards. So I was pretty surprised (and slightly frustrated) that everything was closed.

The only stores that weren't closed were Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, and Daiso Japan.

We walked around Barnes & Noble for a bit, spending most of the time looking at children's books. We were reminiscing about books we read as a child, how many of the picture books on the shelves we didn't recognize, and how much things have changed. It doesn't seem like the last time we picked up picture books and small chapter books for enjoyment was 10+ years ago.

After driving around endlessly and finally finding the gift at Wal-Mart (that would later be returned for a better one found when stores were open), we stumbled upon Daiso Japan. The Daiso here was closed for a while, but they reopened in another location, and I was so happy to hear that.

I was first introduced to Daiso Japan over the summer. I was visiting my best friend in OC, and she brought me there to kill time. Everything is $1.50 unless otherwise priced. They have everything from home supplies to school supplies to beauty accessories and makeup ! Plus everything is 349028430x cuter than your average Dollar Tree. You can see why I could drop so much money at this place...

Floral Hair Scrunchy, Mint Polka Dot & Pink Flower Washi Tape, and a Fish Pouch - all for $1.50 each !

I only managed to get these three items before my friend pulled me out of the store, even though I only got to look through half of it. I'm kind of thankful he did; I don't know how much more money I would have spent (although it would've been sooooo worth it).

The first item I got is a floral hair scrunchy. They had two or three different designs, but this one matches most of my outfits more than the others. Because of work & the weather is getting a bit warmer, I've been putting my hair up more than ever (plus it hides my second-day hair !). The scrunchy will make my ponytails and buns look cuter than with a normal black hair tie.

Next item I got is a roll of washi tape. I love washi tape. I never turn down the opportunity to buy more. I liked this pattern the best out of the ones that were available.

It looks like a fish when you pull the drawstrings !

The last item I got is this fish pouch. It was one of the first items I saw when I walked into the store... and I couldn't resist buying it. It's just SO CUTE. Currently, I am using it to hold my computer charger, mouse, and earphones for when I'm on the go, but it's a teeny bit too small. I have to find a different use for it, but it's a spontaneous purchase I definitely do not regret.

I want to use (some of) my first paycheck on a shopping spree at this place, and buy some more fun Asian things to cute-ify my life. I just love this store so much.

We'll meet again soon, Daiso Japan.

#ootd: i was in a rush this morning...

Hello again ! I'm here with another #ootd post.

I was rushing this morning. I had an hour and a half gap between my first class and my next class, and I didn't get the chance to shower before my first class, but I wanted to make a meeting I had half an hour after my first class ended (I hope that wasn't too confusing).

TL;DR or DU;DR (didn't understand; didn't read) - I had thirty minutes to shower, get food, and get to the meeting.

Was I successful ? Kinda... I was 15 minutes late to the meeting. But it wasn't too formal of a meeting so it wasn't a big deal.

Actually, I was kind of late to a lot of things today. After the meeting I had class, but I was 5 minutes late to class. Later, I went to my boyfriend's place to take a nap and eat some soup he cooked... and I was 5 minutes late to my next class.

I digress.

Because I wanted to look put-together despite being short on time, I came up with a simple outfit in the time it took to walk from class back to my apartment.

Shirt: Polo Ralph Lauren - Hand-me-down from my mom !
Tank Top: ??? - My cousin gave it to me since she didn't want it anymore.
Shorts: Papaya
Belt: Forever 21
Socks: Marshall's
Boots: Steve Madden

Two of my favorite pieces, the blue button-up shirt and the boots, are featured in this outfit. The blue shirt adds flavor to an otherwise very casual outfit, and the boots add grunge/heaviness to the airy feel of the graphic tank and shirt (plus, I had a class that ends pretty late and my feet get chilly easily so +1 for functionality).

These items (blue button-up/chambray shirt, graphic tank, black shorts, combat boots, and accessories) are very essential closet items so anyone can put this outfit together. It looks super cute and casual, but minimal effort and time is required to style it.

Remember to hype my outfit on Lookbook.nu :) Keep checking for more posts and more #ootds soon~

#ootd: for those weird cool, but sunny days...

Hi everyone !

It's the end of week one of Spring Quarter, so I still have relatively enough free time to lounge around on the Internet and do nothing (although I should probably do some physics or ochem homework...).

My boyfriend and I celebrated the end of week 1 by watching a movie ! This morning, we went to the local movie theater and watched Hayao Miyazaki's last film, The Wind Rises. I definitely recommend it, especially if you are a fan of his other works (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, etc.). It was very bittersweet, movie plot-wise and reality-wise. I hope that future Studio Ghibli films will be as great as the legacy Miyazaki has established.

Anyways, the movie showing was at 9:30am, so it was pretty early to be up. The weather said it was to be cool, but knowing San Diego, cool is... actually nice. It is also the first week of April and Springtime, so I thought it would be fun to wear shorts instead of pants, but I wanted to stay warm just in case it did actually get a bit cold.

Solution: sweater, shorts, boots.

Sweater: Fashion Q
Shorts: from thrifting. They were ugly jeans but I cut them into shorts. I liked the high-waistish feel of the shorts and the wash.

Socks: Marshall
Boots: Steve Madden

Because I didn't want bring a purse to the movie theater, I wore this jacket to hold my wallet and glasses. I love how this jacket makes everything look better put-together. I also love its functionality.

Jacket: Forever 21

This outfit is one of my better outfits I have put together since coming to college; although I've been more fashion-forward, I do have those lazy bummin'-it-in-a-shirt-and-jeans-or-leggings kind of days. This just happened to not be one of those days.

Like this look on my Lookbook.nu (: I look forward to posting more #ootds on here in the near future~

#life: *gasp* could it be ?

Could it be that I'm actually posting on my blogspot ?

Why, indeed it is.

Hello, blogspot universe. It's been almost seven months since I've last posted. Let's just say, reality has gotten a tight hold on me and wouldn't let me return to leisurely blog and update about my life/SMASHbook/everything else.

I wish I could've been better at posting some content on here, but you can only do so much when life throws everything else at you.

Anyways, a lot has happened in seven months. A lot changes. I've grown into an entirely different person than who I was seven months ago. Time really goes by fast. Here's a summary:

• I'm no longer eighteen, as it says on the sidebar. I'm definitely nineteen now. I'll fix that eventually.
• I've been reunited with friends here in college since I've last posted (summer is a dummy and living a state away is even moreso).
• My boyfriend and I have also been reunited, since we go to the same college and summer/distance kept us apart. I'm pretty happy with him and where we are.
• I've gotten two littles and an ading. I don't know how well I've been doing keeping relations with all three, and I apologize for that.
• I've gotten a lot of new clothes + spiffy things since I've updated... but have made no progress on my SMASHbook with A LOT more things to still put in. Oops...
• Winter Break was pretty cool. Spring Break was awesome (#reallycoolparty).
• I finished my term as Public Relations Chair for my college's Circle K. Ended the year with 3rd Place Outstanding Newsletter Award and a Distinguished Appointed Board Award. The past year's hard work was worth it.
• There has definitely been some ups and downs. However, at the point in time that this is written, I'm looking forward to all the ups that are to come and are ready to overcome the downs.

I can't really promise any consistent updates, seeing how well I've been doing the past seven months... but whenever I do get the chance, I promise it will be something worth reading.

#gettingcrafty: smashed potatoes !

(I may or may not be starting to run out of ways to use the word "smash" cleverly...)

It's been almost two weeks since I last touched my SMASH Book, but since I go back to SD for school in less than two weeks, I want to finish smashing in the rest of my stuff so I don't have to bring any of it back with me.

I finally did the front and back covers. I'm less than satisfied with how the front looks, but it'll do for now. I'll hopefully add more stuff and make it look more colorful (even though I love the color pink) and less bland.

Front. "There comes a day when you realise turning the page is the best feeling in the world, because your realise there's so much more to the book than the page you were stuck on." - Zayn Malik

Back.

 On to the pages ! This time... DCON Edition ! When I was in Key Club, District Convention (DCON) was always one of the events I looked forward to because you got to interact with Key Clubbers from all over the District. It was rare in high school to even meet Key Clubbers from other divisions (it makes it even tougher that I lived in Nevada and not California where most of the Key Clubbers are). In Circle K, there are many more opportunities to meet other Circle K'ers because there are more District events, so I looked forward to Circle K DCON because of meeting other Circle K'ers AND it's just a familiar event due to KC DCON. DCON is a lot of fun and I had a blast ^__^ Looking at this page brought back some good memories~

I added this pocket to hold the DCON Program.

I used the black and white paper ad for DCON that we got back at FTC as a background for the page.

All my cool swag I got from DCON. Thanks UNR, UCB, CSUF, OCC, Sac State, UNLV, and Capitol Division for stuff! :)

Under the HIMYM Tie (courtesy of UNR) is my room key ! I roomed with Charlotte, Lynn, and Jen Keli :D

I really like this spread because it's a perfect collage. It feels like it didn't take me too long to put this together since everything seemed to fall into place, but it probably did take me as long because of distractions... and I'm a perfectionist :P

Anyways, look forward to more of my SMASH Book pages in the near future ! Need to get this done before I go back to SD !

#hair: peek-a-blue/green !

I'm almost a week late posting this, but better late than never, right ?

On Labor Day, I got my hair trimmed AND decided to do something spontaneous. I got a peek-a-boo/under layer dye... in the color blue-green (which is now more green than blue and will end up being green because curse having dark hair ! But it's okay !).

Before

After

The "after" picture is directly after I got it dyed. I've washed my hair twice since I've gotten it dyed so it's starting to become more green than a blue/green/teal color. The process wasn kind of slow, but she was working on my mom's hair while I was waiting for my hair to do be done. She pinned all my hair except for the bottom layer to the top of my head, then had to bleach my hair first before she could dye it.

Bleach/hair lightener. My hair was this blonde/light brown shade that was really, really nice, even though it was unhealthy because it wasn't dye and just the hair lightener/bleach.

Blue dye ! Kind of wish it turned out this blue, but I do like the color I have. It's more subtle :P

The reason it's called peek-a-boo dye is because I can hide it under my top layers of hair when it's down over my shoulders, have it peek out when it's down over my shoulders (either slightly or completely like the "after" picture I posted above, or if my hair is up, it shows on the underside of my hair.

This was after the first time I washed my hair. The yellow light makes the color a bit distorted, but see how it shows through even though most of my hair is black ? :D

This was before I washed it for the first time, but look at the way the color shows when my hair is up !

In hindsight, I wish I could do this with a hot pink color because pink is my favorite color, but I do wear more neutral stuff and this green/blue color looks more natural with my clothes/my hair, so this was a good choice. If I do decide to dye my hair like this once it does grow out, I'm going to get a red or hot pink color. But I'm 18, still young enough to do "reckless" things, so I thought, "Why not ?" I've gotten a lot of compliments on my hair from my friends who have seen it, so I know I took a good risk.

I've only had my hair up or just straight down over my shoulders, so I haven't fully embraced the potential this color has; can't wait to experiment more with my hair and see how the color turns out !

#haul: labor day shopping adventure !

I wanted to try to do a haul video--you know, like the ones that famous makeup/girl YouTubers make--but I think I'd be really awkward modeling in front of a camera (& I don't know how to model !) and talking about what I got and why I got it. I'd rather just type it to save myself the embarrassment. Maybe one day I'll get over feeling awkward and just go for it x:

Anyways, this past weekend was Labor Day weekend, which is a giant shopping weekend because of Labor Day and End of Summer sales. As a natural shopping addict, I had to leave my girl cave to seek out the great deals... and it was totally worth it !

My shopping adventure started at an outlet center north of the Strip on Saturday (where my ex saw me pass by the entrance and asked if I wanted to meet up and say hi... but he left before I was finished buying my bag. Eeeek !). My best best guy friend works at Kate Spade New York in the stock room and gets an employee discount, and he told me that this weekend would be the best time to get it because along with the original discount the outlet holds from the original price, there is an extra discount because of Labor Day, and then on top of that, he has his employee discount ! So my mom bought two bags and I bought two bags. I absolutely love the black soft leather bag I got. Like I'm absolutely in love with it. The other one was already on clearance and still super cute, something different from my other cross-body bags.

THANK YOU, JAMES !

Then after church yesterday, we went to Town Square. I originally needed to go to buy makeup at M.A.C. and get my free pair of underwear from Victoria's Secret, but whenever I go shopping, I tend to buy more than what I need...

We stopped at Victoria's Secret first since it was the first store we came across that we needed to go to. Like I said, I was just supposed to get my free panty, but they were having a 7/$26 sale on PINK panties and I had a $10 off a bra coupon.... I love shopping, but shopping for underwear essentially makes me the happiest.

Five seamless panties, three cheeksters, and a bra.

After my sister got some Lollicup, we went to M.A.C. It was my first time ever buying face makeup, so the dude that was working there helped us out. I got a liquid foundation because I liked the coverage better than the foundation x powder combination. He also recommended the liquid one to me because he said that my skin was already so flawless and nice so I shouldn't need to cake on it (': He also put this really nice blush on me that complimented my skin tone, and my mom said I should get it. So I did. I also bought the finishing translucent powder because I sweat easily and if I don't set the foundation, then it'll look like I'm melting when I sweat.

Foundation, blush, finishing translucent powder.

We were on our way to Capriotti's afterwards to have lunch, but we stopped by Francesca's Collections, one of my mom's, sister, and my favorite stores, to take a look... and of course, came out with a few purchases. The first top is a nude-ish pink semi-sheer not-really-but-idk-what-to-call-it top with 3/4ths sleeves and it's kind of long and loose. I'm hoping I can use it for professional dress or more dressy-casual purposes. The second is just a short-sleeved semi-sheer same-material-as-the-last-one top with one of my favorite prints, chevron print, on it.

Look, I'm trying to model ! :P

We went to eat then stopped at H&M, NY&C, Bath and Body Works, and American Eagle, but I had no purchases. Passing by Abercrombie & Fitch, a store we never shopped at, we decided to go in. Surprisingly, I bought a few things. First was a cotton button-up with 3/4ths long sleeves. I couldn't choose between blue or gray, but ultimately decided to go with blue because I have a lot of gray in my closet. I got this blue striped knitted sweater because it was super cute and I thought it fit me pretty well. Lastly, I got a flowy floral printed dress... which I originally wasn't going to get, but it looked so cute on me... I couldn't resist.

The lighting is slightly off for this one... I don't know why x:

That was the last store we stopped at, since my dad was coming home from work. By that point, we walked the whole perimeter of Town Square, so it was a successful shopping and "exercise" day for the three of us. This will probably be the last shopping adventure I have for a while since Labor Day is the last shopping holiday/weekend before I go back to SD, where I rarely go shopping because I don't want to spend more money than I have to since college is very expensive x: I'm still super happy with my purchases and can't wait until I go shopping again ! :D