just.pandippo

today is never too late to be brand new

2012-02-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

i woke up this morning to a comment from an old co-worker on facebook:

Hi Pamada. Ahhhh! Because of you, I bought a pair that looks similar to what you posted. Couldn't spend $100 on shoes cuz I'm on a budget so I researched and found these. Bought black and medium tan.

Also since you inspired me to lose weight, I wanted to tell you I'm down 40 pounds and more to go. Hearing your success story gave me hope that it was possible to attain my goal. I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Hope to see you soon.

her comment was awesome because of two things: one, i got her to buy not one, but two pairs of adorable shoes. and two, most importantly, i really helped motivate her!

i've been skinny for most of my life. like one of those never gains weight, under a 100lbs, kind of skinny, but towards the tail end of college that all changed. it was a slow gain and i didn't really notice it at first because i was still fitting into most of my clothing. even when i started having to buy bigger sizes, they were size smalls, mostly 4's sometimes 6's - i didn't think i was really that bad off.

i don't want you to take away from this that being a size 4 or 6 is a bad thing. because its not. every body is different, and what is a skinny weight on one person, isn't the same as it is on another. what really mattered was that i wasn't healthy, and i wasn't proportionate to what my natural body weight should have been.

so i made some changes. a lot of changes. i changed my diet, i started working out. i learned to say "no" to certain foods. working out was difficult. i'm not naturally athletic, so i struggled with progress--i still struggle with progress. its taken me almost four years of solid running to be able to run five miles on a consistant basis. some people can do that after a month of training. its frustrating, but i don't let it shake me. i kept going at it, and five months later i was 30 lbs lighter.

that was five years ago. and i've told this story a few times since then, once of which was to my old co-worker sometime last year. i'm glad i made an impact :)

speaking of.. the only reason this picture is here is because i like how skinny i look in it. lol. i also really like this black and brown combination. i hate how flats cut my height in half (not that i'm very tall to begin with) but i do like the more urban feel the boots give to it.

this is one of those examples where "fashion" rules aren't always meant to be followed. actually, i'm more so convinced that the no brown and black rule was created because of men, who would wear all black suits with cognac brown shoes (i had an ex who did this), because other wise, black and brown can go together quite well. especially if its more of a tan and black? omg i love tan and black. i was obsessed buying all things black and tan during the fall season.

also, if you're wondering what shoes i'd posted on facebook, it was these Boutique 9 ones. i've been stalking them forever, waiting for the right combination of rewards, coupon and giftcards >.< lol i'm almost there:

photos taken by me
black poppy owl print dress, mossimo faux leather jacket, express hoodie, blue canyon boots, random necklace stolen from mother
innocent - taylor swift

modern day audrey

2012-02-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

i was going through and cleaning up/renaming all the blog labels when i accidentally hit the "Revert to Draft" button for a good chunk of my earlier art posts. i was just going to republish them with the old date, but thought maybe it be nice to reshare now that the blog is going somewhere (meaning, people other than bf and friends are looking at it lol). so i'll be sharing some old but goodies over the next couple of months. don't worry, this won't interfere with my january promise. i'll still put out at least one new creative piece every month. :)

this charcoal is really one of my favorites, and i often think of it as proof that i need to find some sort of way to quit my job or work from home. i created this about 5 or 6 years ago, after i desperately quit my job and was unemployed for a good (and scary) month. it really gave me the time and most importantly, the energy, to create something of this magnitude again. sadly, i haven't really put out anything of this caliber since then. i started something similar almost a year ago, but didn't really make it past the sketching stage. while i finished the audrey piece in a couple of days, the only reason i was able to was because i had the time. the reality of it is that the sketching took a good six or seven hours on its own, and then the charcoal piece was probably more than eight.

p.s. if you didn't know, that's natalie portman portraying audrey hepburn, both fantastically classy and amazing woman.

modern day audrey - charcoal on paper (18x20)

jason wu, i think i love you

2012-02-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

do you remember this post? where i jokingly said i wanted to take it all home? i didn't actually PLAN on taking it all home... it just sort of happened. ok? it just happened

i'm convinced my fingers must've been possessed by.. some.. fashion deprived ghost (wow, that's a stretch). that can seriously be the only explanation possible right? /sheepish-grin. it couldn't possibly be that i lost all self control and placed a bunch of orders online (and then another set in-store). right...?

i'm taking a bit of a gamble and banking on target actually shipping my items since i bought most of it online. half my packages have shipped already, so thats a good sign. i only went in-store to get a this dress because it sold out on me before i could check out. also, before you think i'm even crazier than i am, i ordered multiple packages because, as expected, target.com was having major issues. my cart kept dumping and things were selling out before i could check out. so as soon as my cart would hit $50 (for free shipping of course) i would check out. which is why i'll (hopefully) be receiving six packages soon.. and the bf will yell at me. or just be in utter shock and disgust. not sure which will happen first.

of course.. if everything doesn't ship, well then i didn't go off the deep end and spend an absurd amount of money. and i'm not totally insane. :D

my in-store experience was actually a lot better than my online one. my online one had me freaking out at a dinner party and becoming completely anti-social as i tried to check out over a t-mobile connection (and possibly threatening bf to hand over his phone so i could use it instead). and then yelling at my computer about how much i hate target and could they just let me buy my stuff? lol.

but yes, the in-store one was actually really pleasant. i got there around 6:30 AM, did a quick starbucks run, and then realized that there was no one there. oh crap. am i crazy? maybe this line isn't as popular as i think it is. i actually did a quick check on twitter and saw that there was in fact a frenzy going on. it just didn't seem to be at my location. so i held my ground and around 7:15 AM about 50-60 other crazies showed up behind me. i didn't feel as bad after that and it also meant i was first in line! woo hoo! oh, by the way, if you're ever doing one of these, get chatty - make some friends! i did with a couple other girls (one of whom had this gorgeous hot pink Celine tote, omg) and we helped each other out (grabbed sizes, watched items while the other was in the fitting room, etc).

i walked out with exactly what i wanted: the navy poplin dress, the black and white cycling dress, and the floral satchel. overall, pretty good experience! none of the horror stories i heard about missoni, and definitely nothing close to what happened in Miami. i still can't believe that corporate let those people do that. (youtube video here) way to care about your customers. in any case, i'll update more (and of course more looks) once i get my stuff in.

photos taken by me
jason wu by target navy poplin dress, forever 21 headband, franco sarto luxe pumps (similar)

there's a funny story about this package..

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

there's something awesome in this package. if you follow me on twitter you may have an idea of what's in it. if not, well... you're just going to have to wait to find out. but its pretty awesome, i assure you.

the package was scheduled to arrive on the same day as another package for bf. i can't tell you what's in that package either. bf would kill me, but something in that package did require a call to the police later on (scary, huh?).

so the day started off as usual. this was obviously before we both got sick and have been confined to the house. we were both really excited to get our packages, we talked about it all weekend with each other. we've been together long enough that we can talk about lame things like that and it still seems exciting. we also talk about how kaylee's dew claw has gotten so long that i'm pretty sure she can slit our throats in our sleep. see, seriously exciting.

in any case, bf got home before i did. i went to the gym like i normally do and then out to dinner with a friend. it was while at dinner when the excitement started. in a flurry of angry pings, bf let us know that his package was missing! i offered the normal suggestions like maybe the neighbors' had it, or maybe UPS accidently delivered it to the other neighbor's house (this has happened a couple times already). i was driving home at this point, deciding our plan of attack against UPS, because really delivering 3 different packages to the wrong house is just absurd right? and we should seriously complain. i never thought to ask him about my package.

i got through the door, gave bf a comforting hug, assured him we'll question all the neighbors in the morning, tear UPS a new one, and then ran over to the side gate to get my package.

wait. where is it?

i looked at bf, did you see another package today? no!?!? WHAT?! two packages missing? oh gawd, someone is going around the neighborhood stealing packages! we need to form a neighborhood watch! we need a plan of action. oh.. crap... the something needs to be reported to the police as missing!

now before ya'll think that i'm jumping to conclusions, you should know that less than a week before this incident our neighbor had items stolen from his SUV. we really do believe there is someone going around the area looking for crimes of opportunities, and two unattended packages is a perfect opportunity is it not? so we really did call the police and report the something as possibly being stolen. and apparently the police thought it was a rather serious matter because they were sending some officers over to the house to file an official report. of course my devious mind thought about throwing in the house on the corner who always parks in the red and almost causes an accident every day into the report, but i'm a mean sort like that.

about 15-20 minutes after we called the police, we got a knock on the door. thinking it was the officers, i quickly shut off a rather bloody episode of Sons of Anarchy and bf went to answer the door. SoA would've been totally appropriate thing for the cops to walk in on us watching right? actually, it was our neighbor.

holding both of our packages.

so yes, we had to call the police back and told them just kidding, the something wasn't actually stolen.

and yes, i really made an entire blog entry about my package and am not showing you the contents.

that'll be for another blog post.. :D if you haven't unfollowed me out of disgusting by then

<3

contagious

2012-02-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

does any one else find it ironic that i got sick the day after watching contagion? (which is a good movie by the way, definitely worth a rental.) i'm sitting here with a sore throat and a bit of building congestion. my head is seriously starting to hurt and all i want to do is crawl into bed.

but instead, i'm still at work. sigh.

in any case, while contagion may have inspired today's post title, and the fact that i'm sick, its a fairly good segway (because i say so) into how contagious fashion trends can be. i'll be honest, the whole tribal thing did not really appeal to me until recently--like really recently. i was digging through pacsun's 70% off blue dot sale (freaking amazing, can't tell you how much crap i bought) and i came across this fleece top. at first i was like eh, tribal, and put it down. but then i picked it up again, and put it down again and picked it up again... and eventually it just came home with me.

i'm really glad i did. i seriously love it, plus its fleece so that means it is warrrrmmm. bf likes to call it my "save by the bell" top (i pretty much dated both of us by revealing that fact), and i have to agree, its sort of has that crazy print that was so popular back then. fashion is just like that sometimes, there are so many different interpretations of a trend that eventually you may just find one that you love--never say never.

minus shoulder pads, never shoulder pads for me. i will look like a linebacker.

p.s... when purchasing a chiffon skirt, makes sure to pay attention to how the inner lining fits, not just the waist. >.< lets just say this skirt is ridiculous short and i risk flashing the world every time i wear. oh why didn't i buy it in a larger size?!hype this look on lookbook.nu

volcom space rocker crew, forever 21 belt, forever 21 hi-low skirt, steve madden carnaby boots, necklace stolen from mother

individuality

2012-01-31T14:15:00.000-08:00

when i was a freshman in high school, i got into a huge, huge fight with a close friend. she accused me of copying her clothing, her hair, her style. she started screaming at me in front of everyone. it was probably one of the most embarrassing moments in my life.

to be clear, i wasn't copying her clothing, or anything about her. my mom pretty much raised me in a t.j.maxx and that is where all of my clothing came from. my mom also bought and picked out all of my clothes at that time, and sometimes went as far as deciding what i would wear the next day. i didn't have much say in the matter. she was the one with the power--the money. not that i was going to admit that to the hordes of high schoolers staring at us. and yes, i was seriously an awkward teenager--really not popular. this screaming match, did not help.

the most frustrating thing, aside from the loss of friendship, was that i didn't understand why she cared so much. short of having your clothing all custom-made, i think its fairly impossible to expect someone not to own the same stuff as you. OMG, you have a Calvin Klein logo shirt! i have one too! you copying bitch.

you think i'm joking, but i'm not. this is really what started the fight. (self-analyzation here makes me wonder if this is why i hate logo brand t-shirts).

i understand the need to be an individual. everyone wants to stand out and be unique in his or her own way. clothing is a great tool to communicate that with, but just because someone owns the same dress or skirt as you, doesn't make you or your style any less special.

everyone wears things differently and i think a great example of this is the latest zara craze.

you know what i'm talking about. don't pretend like you don't.

yep. those.

the zara navajo print pants have been popping up on blogs left and right. they're actually on sale right now, if you're interested, for a ridiculously cheap price (although they're currently sold out online).

last week fashion infusion did a mini collage of seven different bloggers, herself included, all wearing these pants. and trust me when i say there are more than just 7 bloggers out there wearing them. although this isn't the first time this has happened, and it definitely won't be the last, i thought it would be a good time to talk about a fairly common issue around personal style and fashion, and how difficult it is to really stand out sometimes. i bet someone came across these pants, thought, "oh gawd these are fantastic! they're so unique!" and then later discovered about half the world seemed to own them.

what do you do when that happens? do you stop wearing them? burn them? or wear them proudly because, in the end, you still love them?

i really hope its the latter.

i think the most important thing to remember is that you bought the item because you love it. not because someone told you, you love it or that you should wear it (unless you're one of my guy friends, in which when they go shopping with me i have final say :X). if you really love a pair of pants, then wear them. these bloggers did. and they don't look like clones of each other do they? each outfit has its own unique look because of the bloggers' different body type and style. in the end your style is really defined by your personality, not necessarily by your clothes (gosh that seems like blasphemy to say on a fashion blog).

hype this look on lookbook.nu

p.s. this is may or may not be another dressember leftover outfit :X <3

photos taken by me
volcom lottie dot dress, forever 21 belt, cotton on socks, dockers jensa boat shoes

colette is so much adorable than bridget

2012-01-26T20:11:00.000-08:00

i'm so ridiculously full at this moment, its severely uncomfortable. i swear this happens everytime i have a team lunch and healthy wasn't really even an option (not that i wanted it to be). we went to the melt in palo alto and it was delicious. i would've taken pictures, but i didn't want my team members to think i'm any weirder than i already am.

oh! but i did manage to snap this.

that was my lunch. yep. you read that correctly. its a mac n cheese melt. pretty much nothing but carbs and some cheese on your plate with who knows how much butter.

it was all sorts of yum. the tomato basil soup was pretty good too, although i found it to be a bit on the tart side (which i like), so it might not fit everyone's taste.

we also ordered a s'more melt which was fantastic. i'm pretty sure i liked it more than the cheese melt. and it was a split order, so y'know, it wasn't THAT bad. except for the fact that we went to sprinkles cupcakes right after and i some how ended up taking home two cupcakes.

who am i? and when did i decide it was OK to eat all the carbs?

thank gawd for boxy sweaters like this one. hides all the winter squish. or should i call it cupcake squish at this point? i blame you anna, yes i'm talking to you and your damn yummy cupcakes. i use to hate these things! ugh.

if i ever have any hopes of getting back into my tight dresses i must start learning to say no!

and yes i wore these shoes to work. lol.

hype this look on lookbook.nu

also, please excuse the blog post title... lol i'm watching pan am as i write this (3 episodes behind) and am outraged at the moment at the recent plot development.

photos taken by kloo
roxy sweater, cotton on blouse, bullhead colored denim leggings, jeffrey campbell lana, forever 21 necklace

ifb roundup

2012-01-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

Making a Connection

Edited by: Fajr Muhammad of Stylish Thought

Can you believe that it’s almost February. Fashion week is right around the corner and that means that the IFB Conference is right upon us. The IFB Conference has opened so many doors and channels for fashion bloggers to connect and expand their *ahem* influence. Fashion week is another great avenue to network and work with brands, the media and other bloggers. In our fast-paced digital (and fashion) worlds, connection is key.

Check out this week’s Link a la Mode and connect with our 20 selected bloggers. Read their post, comment and build relationships that will last past fashion week and beyond.

SPONSOR:
Shoes at Shopbop: Frye Shoes, Yosi Samra Flats, See by Chloe Shoes, Tapeet, Ash Sneakers, Sam Edelman Sandals, Steven, Wang Shoes, Pelle Moda, Vanessa Mooney, Loeffler Randall, Dolce Vita Shoes & Hunter Boots

PLEASE READ IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE
If you would like to submit your link for next week’s Links à la Mode, please register first, then post your links HERE. The HTML code for this week will be found in the Links a la Mode group will be published later today. ~Jennine

i won't let you give up on a miracle

2012-01-22T23:13:00.000-08:00

its seriously bone cold lately. its getting increasing more difficult to not roll out of bed, throw on a thick hoodie, tnf jacket and my ugg boots - every day. i've been making extra effort to try and plan outfits before bed, because if i don't, that is what will pretty much happen. ugg boots, hoodie, northface jacket. everyday.

which is one of the reasons why i love these boots. over the knee, suede.. throw them over some knees and you're toasty warm for hours. the blazer from h&m is a knit, too, so it doubles as a jacket nicely.

also infinity scarves are freaking awesome. >.< i like to double mine as a hoodie when it gets really cold. lol, even though i'm sure it looks odd.

the great thing about reading so many fashion blogs is that it motivates me every day to keep going, and not fall into that comfort zone of hoodies and ugg boots. i think i need to start doing the same thing with my workouts. i subscribe to a few fitness magazines, but reading those before bed don't quite do it like a blog would. if you guys know of any great fitness blogs i'd love a recommendation! :) ~~or else i'll be spending my time at work googling new fitness sites to follow!~~ i mean, i'll be working super hard.

hype this look on lookbook.nu

photos by kloo
h&m blazer, cotton on scarf, true religion stella jeans, naughty monkey story teller boots
miracle - paramore

reset

2012-01-21T11:58:00.000-08:00

i think one of the most consistant beliefs across any country, religion, culture, etc, is the idea that with the new year comes new chances. reset, start over. on thai new years (which doesn't actually happen until april btw) we throw/splash/supersoaker water on each other as an act of cleansing. wash away the sins of last year and begin a new. we make resolutions to better ourselves. this year, i will do this. and this year, i will accomplish that. which is probably why, from january until about early march, i hate the gym.

i'm really not kidding. i hate it right now. its rather hellish with how crowded it is. i run outside even though its seriously freezing to avoid some of the resolutioners. i can't do anything about the climbing gym except keep my tongue in check and whoo-sa my way through yoga classes. its really been a challenge in itself to find the motivation to even go lately. i'm kind of convinced that the resolutioners have stolen all of my motivation and used it for their own.

i just want to be squishy little panda.

actually i don't. i wish the squish would go away and find a new home in someone else. too much holiday fun and travel, i just want to get my mojo back. btw, i don't really hate resolutioners. i think that its great for any one to want to be healthier and fit, and i really hope that most if you just started out you make that jump from resolutioner to regular. i'm just angry because it gives me another (lame) excuse to skip out.

i don't know what happened. this holiday was probably the worst i've ever been, i'm normally pretty good about keeping up my gym schedule and semi-maintaining healthy eating habits. but this year, i just ate all things and decided that three weeks on the couch was a great idea! oops.

if you are a resolutioner, or if you're a regular like me who got seriously squishy over the holidays and currently hates yourself, just somethings to remember.

bad work outs are a dime a dozen. they happen even to the best, but don't let them demotivate you. i had a fairly bad run today, could barely get 2 miles out because my legs were so tired. but i am not going to let that set the tone for my next run. its done, its past, and the next one will be better.
stop making excuses. too many one offs because an entire weeks worth of cheating. just put the cupcake down! (even tho they're seriously fantastic)
if you're new to working out, take some time to learn proper techniques and different etiquettes of your activities. i.e. if you've set the treadmill at such a fast pace that you can't keep on it without holding on to the handle bars, you are going too fast and need to slow down. or at a climbing gym, even if you fall on the first move its considered polite not to keep retrying again and again while other people wait for you to get out of the way.
don't let mean people like me discourage you. i'm sorry for all the dirty looks i've given to people in the past 3 weeks >.<

and while i'm on the subject of apologizing, this outfit is also another, seriously delayed dressember post. i think this was day 19 or 20? not entirely sure anymore.. /sheepish grin. this is one of my favorite outfits, however. i get made fun of every time i wear it because it resembles a school girl uniform, but how many school girls do you know that get to rock Alex+Chole x F21 earrings? (which are also now my new favorite pair)

hype this look on lookbook.nu

photos taken by me
express dress, h&m vest, random knee highs, steve madden saassi heels, alex+chole x f21 earrings

lei out 2012

2012-01-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

whats going on here? its an ultimate frisbee tournament. what the hell is ultimate frisbee?

you'd think that since lei out is an annual tournament the residents of santa monica would be use to this by now? and oh, maybe actually know what ultimate frisbee is?

to be fair, i didn't know what it really was until i started dating the bf. best way i can think to describe it is if football and frisbee went out on a date and had a baby, you'd get ultimate frisbee. yeah, i know baby after one date? frisbee is a lil slutty like that ;)

the tournament was a lot of fun (to watch, i don't play, i'm too uncoordinated to play, or throw, or catch, or walk). i wish the weather had been better, but there were warm patches, enough for me to stubbornly wear shorts most of the weekend. who the hell wears shorts in january? this girl. its the beach! the southern california girl in me doesn't know how to wear anything else but shorts, skirts, and dresses to the beach.

oh and apparently leg warmers. it got cold. i had to improvise ok?

did i mention that the lower bracket is called the beer bracket? and thats mainly because the teams in that bracket spend more time drinking than they do actually playing. which led to lots and lots of coffee throughout the day (i *heart* coffee bean)

M.o.M (Massive Octopus Meltdown) what the acronym stands for changes every year. don't ask what next years acronym is going to be... just know i probably won't be taking a picture of the logo

my favorite bandaid ever, courtesy of solestruck. kind of tempted to buy several pair of shoes from them just so i can get more bandaids!

this is what a layout looks like. kinda looks like it hurts (and why i would probably end up seriously damaging my face if i ever tried this sport)

who wears leg warmers to the beach? this girl

i'm not beauty queen, i'm just beautiful me

2012-01-17T18:18:00.000-08:00

there's an episode from how i met your mother (one of my favorite shows btw) that features a "murtaugh" list. its a reference to lethal weapon where the character, murtaugh, constantly says "i'm too old for this shit!" (but in true HIMYM fashion they say stuff lol)

i think i need a murtaugh list.

and i ~~think~~ know that sharing a small 2 bed hotel room with 8-10 people is on that list.

why am i sharing a room to 8-10 (drunk) people you ask? am i still in college and on some crazy road trip with my dormmates? oh! i know, i'm filming a low budget indie film and the entire crew is shacked up together to save on costs? or maybe.. just maybe...

i'm at an ultimate frisbee tournament and a team that stays together plays together!

yes. that's it.

except i don't actually play. bf does. and tagged along so that i could watch and relax and shop. obviously the relaxing part didn't happen. lol, but the watching and shopping did (oh boy, did the shopping happen). it was a lot of fun, despite my complaints of being sleep deprived (yet again) and almost stabbing someone on saturday night when a whole lot of them decided to return to the hotel room drunkenly loud.

yeah, i'm getting too old for this ~~shit~~ stuff.

i'll post some pics up when i get them processed/off the camera. on to the outfit!

so i'm a bit guilty of outfit posting delay. like.. on a severe level. this outfit was my original intent for bf's 1940's holiday party.

yeah, i know, that was like a decade ago (har har).

while i loved the ensemble (the colors, oh gawd the colors! *love*), it didn't quite work for the party, which is why i went with the other dress. its actually two pieces, and i won't lie, i really wanted to wear this purely for the back. its kinda fantastic.

plus the poofy skirt makes me look insanely thin. i promise you i'm not that thin. its the poofy skirt. must invest more into poofy skirts.

see? amazing back. the top, not mine.

hype this look here at lookbook.nu.

photos taken by me
motel via modcloth ochre doke top, modcloth bring a dress skirt, steve madden sarrina heels, tilly's necklace, new york & company, hot topic, and forever 21 rings
who says - selena gomez & the scene

1940's inspired leopard nails

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

i'm too sleepy to think of a cute title for this post. >.< this is the nail polish design i created and wore back in december for bf's 1940's holiday party. apparently in the 1940's it was really popular to have a polished nail with a left out white half-moon at the base and a white sliver at tip. i did my best to re-create that style, but of course i wanted to put my own spin on it.

it was also really common to coordinate your polish to match the colors of your outfit. i painted my nails when i originally thought i would still be wearing my leopard print fascinator. oops. it ended up being a happy oops though. i really love the end result (minus a few sloppy areas >.<). i don't think i've ever received so many results on my nails before either! and it was kinda a proud moment, too, to say that i created and painted these on my own, and no this isn't a nail wrap design.

please excuse the ugly climber hands the polish is on. climbing really, really screws up my skin :( just look at the pretty design and ignore the skin around it. lol.

on another note, some more exciting news

blogger now has threading for comments! what does this mean? this means i can finally reply directly to all your wonderful comments!! i'm so excited.. i felt like this was one thing really missing from the blogger interface and now it's here!
i was the first runner up in YesStyle's Holiday Party a la YesStyle contest! i won a $200 giftcard to YesStyle and have pretty much spent an entire day looking for things to buy.
i made the IFB weekly round up again! yay!!

Fresh New Start

Edited by: Collette Osuna of Statements in Fashion

Even though January is one brutal cold month in Michigan, it happens to be one of my favorites. It’s a brand New Year.....it’s the opportunity for each and every one of us to start with a fresh clean slate. What will you be taking on this year? A new hobby? Losing weight? Starting your own business? Bettering your blog? The ideas are only limited by your imagination, and I for one, cannot wait to begin this new adventure. This weeks links are chock full of awesome DIY ideas, product reviews, and ways to make yourself smile!

Have a fabulous month everyone!

THE IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP: LINKS À LA MODE: JANUARY 12TH

Pandippo: Sometimes a simple dress is all you need
Ethical Fashion Blog: What do you think about charity shop pricing?
Fashion is Evolution: How to make a clothing-tag specimen board
Fashion Moriarty: If you only buy 12 magazines this year
House of Jeffers: Not fitting in because of the way you dress
Letter Kay Blog: How to wear leather leggings
Life of a Recessionista: Products I can’t live without
Life Style Flash: Things I hate about shopping
Marionberry Style: It isn’t easy being green
Nadalyn Margaret: All about brooches
Over 50 Feeling 40: Journalism 101 for Bloggers
Paper Cloth: Things I learned from January J.Crew
Pretty Quirky Pants: DIY Beaded stretch cuff bracelet
Statements in Fashion: Twitter Tuesday: "Chuffed to Bits" for The Whitelist
Style Delights: Ten tips to be happy!
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i will never stop chosin' you

2012-01-11T16:46:00.000-08:00

hype this look here on lookbook.nu

safetysuit finally came out with a new album. <3 i'm so ridiculously happy! so far i love it. this song, never stop, is the first one that stood out to me. sappy love song i know, but its allowed!i wore this outfit shopping the other day. got stared at a bunch, mostly by old men who i'm pretty sure were trying to figure out if i'm a boy or a girl. on the flipside, i did get a lot of compliments, too. the boots were a hit, and how could they not be? they're kind of fantastic (and an addt'l 50% on clearance, thank you anna). and i finally got to fulfill my mission in life to wear a bowtie.

photos taken by me
cotton on shirt, claire's bowtie, blue anchor shorts, steve madden lorra boots
never stop - safety suit

january art: promises are meant to be kept

2012-01-10T09:59:00.000-08:00

when i first started this blog, the original intent was to share my artwork - the things i created with a pencil and paper, or needle and thread. but between work, my workout schedule (which admittedly is a bit extreme), and my personal life, i realized that i couldn't generate enough content to make a successful blog, which is why i decided to turn to this more into a style blog (that, and to stop talking about clothing/fashion 24/7 to my friends before they all defriended me). it's still about sharing the things i created, just with a different kind of media. unfortunately, the more and more i blog about my personal style, the less i focus on my art, and i really want to get back to it. its become sort of a catch 22, the more i do with my blog the more i want to do on a creative level, but the less time/energy i have for it!

so this is my promise. i promise to post at least one sketch, painting, craft, diy (etc, etc) a month. i originally thought maybe i should do this at least once a week, but given that i'm known to go months at a time without posting a sketch (or post something lame like coffee art), lets just start with once a month and if i can get more done, will thats just icing on the cake! (speaking of, i'm seriously dying for a s'more cupcake lately).

sides.. 90% of my sketches are about clothes any ways :P like this one! look at this chica sporting the famous blogger bun and some awesome alex + chole x forever 21 earrings. she's pretty darn hot, dontcha think?

the blogger bun - graphite & pen

liebster award

2012-01-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

2012 has really come off to a great start.

really. aside from the mass amount of squishiness i gained from over-holiday eating, i started off 2012 celebrating in one of my favorite (and happiest) places with my love, friends, and family! i also finally got converted at my company, and now am a full-time employee with real benefits and everything. the blog has been doing great! i've almost reached a 100 fans on LB now, and i'm gaining more wonderful followers every day <3 i really couldn't have asked for much more.and then.. this happened..

what's that you? its an award silly!

an award!? REALLY? yes really :) the liebster blog award was given to me by the wonderful jillian from boyishchic.

you can google until the end of days, and won't be able to find the origins of this award. believe me, i've tried. the google trail ends somewhere in 2007, but supposedly the award started out in germany. the word "liebster" is a german (which makes sense since it started in germany :P) and the literal translation of it means "dearest". its often used as an informal way to address some one in letters (most likely, love letters) - "mein liebster" (my love). wow look at this, this blog post is super educational as well!

this is such a cute little award. its meant for up&coming blogs who have less than 200 followers. just to recognize the hard work thats been done and that its appreciated and loved out there! thank you so much jillian!! this really made my day.

to keep the award going, i'm now asked to pick four blogs that i feel like deserve some recognition (and of course link back to the blog that sent me the award in the first place). kind of like the follow friday trend on twitter. so here goes...

	my feelings taste like cupcakes okay, yes, this is my friend anna's blog, but she makes... UH-mazing cupcakes. really. and she always presents them in these super adorable ways, so she really deserves a mention. she also makes cookies (the chocolate chip are my favorite), and hopefully will be branching out to madelines soon (ho hum). check out her blog, i guarantee you'll walk away feeling hungry and wanting a cupcake.
	urbaners urbaners is a photography site was started by my friend bryant and his friend alex. >.< it looks a lil biased because the last shoot i had with him is the most recent post, but i swear he has a bunch of other beautiful photos on here. bryant does amazing things with lighting. i just can't wrap my brain around it but he's really got a great grasp on it. if you ever get a chance to work with him, i highly recommend it! he just makes any one look amazing.
	love for lacquer this girl is a nail-a-holic if i ever met one. i really cannot imagine what her storage must look like because she has tons and tons of nail polish. great place to go if you're looking for a review and swatches. she also does tons and tons of give aways, so make sure you follow her closely!
	.kendall camat. i stumbled upon kendall's blog not long ago. she's got a great funky style that i love. very rock 'n' roll. not entirely sure if she qualifies as being under 200 since i can't see the amount of followers that she has, but i love her site and think you should check it out as well!

don't know if snow white's house is near or far

2012-01-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

hype this look here on lookbook.nu

i was a bit of a bad panda, and i realized i forgot to post the rest of my dressember outfits before i broke up with it. i wore this dress to the nutcracker. i really love the simplicity of this dress. i don't have any real urges to do much to it, other than throw on a pair of tights when its cold. its just perfect on its own.

sometimes simple is all you need. :)

photos taken by me
hot topic dress, asos heart tights, candies pumps
the best day - taylor swift

cat and mouse - part 02

2012-01-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

i discovered this (and when i say i, i mean bf) android app called paper camera and i'm kind of obsessed with it. i love how it gives everything this sort of artsy fartsy effect. if you hate it, i'm sorry. the blog my be plagued with it from time to time.

our weekend was pretty insane. we left a lot later than we should've and didn't get into LA until after midnight. but at least we got some great road trip food on the way. in-n-out.. you'll always have a special place in my heart <3

poor bf. woke him up bright and early so we could go run around a very, very over crowded theme park (and there was not an drop of alcohol in sight!). we didn't get to ride very many rides. most of the waits were over an hour and even though we got there mid-morning the fast passes were well past 6:30 PM already! it was still pretty awesome though. i loved all the holiday decorations, and even though we ended up waiting almost two hours in line of the haunted mansion, i think it was my favorite of all.

yes! thats right.. its nightmare before christmas themed out! inside was even more amazing - they completely re-did the ride.

and of course, everything looked even more gorgeous at night!

only 33 minutes left until midnight!

happy new year!!

cat and mouse - part 01

2012-01-03T11:14:00.000-08:00

hype this look here at lookbook.nu

happy 2012 everyone!!

i cannottttt tell you how tired i am today. its actually really difficult to write a coherent post right now. i apologize in advance for the awkward gibberish that is about to plague your eyes.

if you've been following the blog the past couple of weeks (although given how scarce the post have gotten, i don't blame you if you've cut and run) you know that i've been blabbering on about going to disneyland for new years eve. it was kinda amazing, and fantastic, and yet insanely horrible at the same time. i'll post more about it later once i get all the pictures ready, but here's one to show you how crowded it got.

i snapped these outfit photos outside my parents house early in the morning before we left. i actually woke up an extra half an hour early just for you guys! definitely feel special because me waking up before needed is a difficult, difficult task. i seriously couldn't believe how bright it was for 8 AM. its been so foggy and gloomy in the bay that i forgot that it can get sunny in the winter time when you live in california.

when i was originally planning outfit for nye, i knew i wanted to feature my leopard print jeggings. i'm so in love with them and have worn them so many times already its unhygienic. (you probably didn't need to know that huh?) i would say its kind of amazing they haven't made it into a blog post yet, but i've been such a lazy fat panda that its not.

what surprisingly ended up being my favorite item was my top. i'd randomly found this tank from express and it ust screamed out my name. i'm not normally one for sequins and lots of glitter. i like things those kinda of things to be more on the subtle side. which this top did perfectly. its got just a bit of sparkle to it, sequins sewn over an embroidered mesh, and a scalloped hem. i mean how much more meant to be is that?

and lucky for me, my carnaby's arrived just in time (for photos that is, i am not crazy enough to wear these 12+ hours at an amusement park)!

these are actually my replacement pair. the first pair i got had a nail in the footbed, can you believe that? thankfully the store i bought them from 2-day'd me a replacement to me, so they were back in my hands in no time! now i just need to actually wear them for more than 30 minutes ;)

photos taken by me
forever 21 lace cardigan, express embroidered mesh tank, bullhead leopard jeggings, steve madden carnaby boots

happy new years!!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

2011 shoes in review :) aren't they all so pretty?

i can't wait to see what pretty things will cover my feet in 2012! perhaps some jeffrey campbell night walks? oh i hope i hope :D

hope you all had an amazing holiday and end 2011 in a blast!!! now that the holidays are over its time to treat yourself!

<3

what are you doing new years eve?

2011-12-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

and i'm off! <3 spending the day with bf and the mouse.

packing for this weekend ended up being remarkably easy! just a sneak peak of the outfits i plan on wearing.. hopefully i'll have time to get a couple of shots in so i can show you guys later!

<3 have a fantastic new years eve! i'll leave you with just about the cutest lil videos ever:

alcatraz don't sound so bad, at least they have a hell of a fine merlot

2011-12-30T08:57:00.000-08:00

i've been dying for a reason to use the lyrics from "save me, san francisco" as a blog post title. its one of my favorite train songs, and well, i do live in the bay area, how can i not love it?! even more exciting, i not only have one reason now, i have two. the first reason is alcatraz, the second.. well you'll just have to wait and see (meaning, when i can function properly again), but i promise you there will be lots of pink.

Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) offshore from San Francisco, California, United States.[1] Often referred to as "The Rock" or simply "Traz", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal Bureau of Prisons federal prison until 1963.[2] Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of American Indians from San Francisco, who were part of a wave of Indian activism across the nation, with public protests through the 1970s. Later, in 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
you can read more about alcatraz here (and i highly recommend you do, alcatraz seriously has one of the most interesting backgrounds)

this is probably my third or fourth trip to alcatraz, which is more than what some native bay areans can say. i've been fortunate enough to come up here during several different times of my life, and i really love it every time i do. i think my appreciation for the island grows with each visit. there's such a huge contrast between the beauty of the bay outside and the harsh coldness inside.

even though i've been to alcatraz a few times now, this is the first time i ventured out from the prison and explored the surrounding area. this is also the first time i've ever gone to it in the middle of winter. and it was cold. seriously cold. i will admit this was one of my less fashionable days.

there was even an beanie involved.

see, this is me. and i'm cold. there's a scarf, a beanie, and fleece gloves. oh, and i'm also wearing sweater tights underneath my jeans, and then socks on top of that. i promise you that there was a really cute sweater underneath my north face midori jacket, but unfortunately, it never saw the light of day.

this jacket is special. its freaking warm, and it doesn't make me look completely like a marshmallow, unlike this one. it is also my white flag. me giving up my so cal roots and trading it in for a north face jacket. well, ok, not completly. its not a traditional kind of jacket you normally see everyone in the bay wearing - meaning, its not really practical for outdoor use since its "fashionable" and has that motocycle edge to it.

i got a new camera for christmas (<3 bf) in addition to a new phone (yeah, i'm seriously spoiledface this year). isn't it so pretty?

yes, thats right, its a canon powershot s95 >.< so spoiled. it also means that the quality of this blog is going to go up right? (um, sure). what it actually means is bf has now created an even bigger photography monster. this thing is pretty amazing. it very much has a what you see is what you get kind of result. i'm still learning how to use it, but it was so perfect for alcatraz!

this picture ended up being my favorite (especially considering the camera was dying when i took it). it came out exactly as i wanted it to, without having to tweek in photoshop. the rest i still had to edit, although a lot less than i usually do. i'm hoping once i get a good grasp of the camera's functions, no editing will be required! i'll still use the d60 for most of my outfit shots, but this is great carry around - it hasn't left my purse since i got it.

enjoy the rest of the photobomb and have a happy friday!!

photos by me and kloo
save me, san francisco - train

monday muse

2011-12-26T10:31:00.000-08:00

i know. >.< i missed last monday's monday muse. blame on the cold/sick. its hard to blog when all you ~~want to~~ are doing is taking a forever long nap.

last sunday, bf and i had the pleasure of attending ballet san jose's performance of the nutcracker. for those of you who don't know (because, believe it or not, i didn't), the nutcracker ballet is based off of the story of "The Nutcracker and the King of Mice" by E.T.A Hoffman.

its about a girl named clara, who, after hearing the tale of the nutcracker's curse from her godfather, falls asleep with the nutcracker doll in her arms. upon the stroke of midnight she awakens to the room around her getting larger and suddenly she is surrounded by an army of large mice! the nutcracker doll has disappeared from her arms and become life size! the nutcracker rallies up the toy soliders and they battle against the evil mouse king and his army of mice. just as it looks like all is lost, clara defeats the mouse king and saves the nutcracker from the defeat. hurray! the curse has broken and the nutcracker has regained his true form as a young prince.

the prince and clara ride away together on a magical sleigh through the snow forest to the land of sweets. the sugar plum fairy greets them, and is so impressed by clara's tale of heroism, throws a festival in her honor. the sugar plum fairy dances with the caviler (and this is where you go, omg i've heard this song before) with the most amazing dance that clara has ever seen. her night is perfected and complete as the court bid her and the nutcracker farewell.

the next morning clara awakens under the tree, with the nutcracker still wrapped in her arms.

i really can't tell you how inspirational i found the whole thing to be. there are all these little stories and sketches flying through my head right now, i just haven't had time to put them to paper. the dancing was gorgeous, and yes, the dance of the sugar plum fairy was probably my favorite. the ballet dancer they chose for the role was really graceful and i feel like she captured the essence of the sugar plum fairy beautifully.

ugh. and the outfits? so, so, so pretty. we were sitting in row 6 so you could really see all the little details in every single dress. i love how the costume designers take care to consider the under side of the outfits, since you do see a lot of it. like an all white dress, but a soft, yet bright pink tulle underneath. everything was so soft and delicate, so much tulle! and chiffon and glitter! i wish i could be a sugar plum fairy!

or, i'll settle for being one of the adorable little mice..

i hope everyone had a happy holiday!! looking forward to the final week of 2011 and celebrating the new year in.. wait for it... yes... thats right.. DISNEYLAND oh yea, i went there <3

happy christmas!

2011-12-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

hope you get everything you've wished for this year!

p.s. isn't my christmas tree just adorable? <3

from top to bottom, left to right:
jeffrey campbell lana, dv by dolce vita larena, steve madden sarrina, house of harlow pearl, steven by steve madden gemma, jeffrey campbell benched, kensie girl katerina, dv by dolce vita pura, chinese laundry drastic, madden girl ruffled pump, bcbgeneration besito, steve madden getreal, steve madden saassi, charles by charles david ladylike, candies black suede pumps, steve madden red peep toes, colin stuart strappy heels, etienne aigner chastity

**no shoe was harmed in the making of this tree**

it was only just a dream..

2011-12-23T08:45:00.001-08:00

i designed this for the solestruck x gala darling contest: what does your dream shoe look like? this is actually my first shoe design ever! i normally concentrate on clothing more, and never (surprisingly) gave much thought to shoe design. the contest didn't require you to draw anything out, you could've simply described, or hack-photoshopped something together. but if you've been following the blog for a while now, you know i love to draw stuff out. i'm also a bit of an over-achiever, and tend to bite off more than i can chew. although, i think i managed to ink and color this particular sketch out in record time.

so here it is! my dream shoe:

my dream shoe would embody everything i love about fashion. i would want it to be a unique, and simple, and at the same time have a touch of vintage and that impossible daringness.

i tried to design this shoe with that in mind. the body of the shoe resembles jeffrey campbell's night walk which immediately causes a "how the hell do you walk in that" reaction. i rounded off the edges to give it a more soft, almost classic look. i imagine the material to be made of a nice suede or a really soft leather. the scalloped edges and fleur de lis pattern would be laser cut to give the shoe a more vintage feel with the burnt edges. a light gold corset ties up the back of the shoe for a nice turn around surprise!

i can totally see wearing this shoe with a great spring dress and a chunky cardigan. le sigh.

hope ya'll have a happy holiday weekend! get fat and eat lots of presents! or vice versa ;)

just a dream - nelly

friday finds

2011-12-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

steve madden carnaby, memoi two toned tights

modcloth: hoot, skip, and a jumper, of green gables

and this wasn't something that i ordered, but had been sitting on my amazon wishlist for a while now, and because my friend is so awesome deserves a mention :) (also because they literally have my name on them makes them extra cool) ((don't think i could've used any more conjunctions there)) (((ohgawd i've gone into ~~double~~ triple parenthesis now, its starting to look like source code, someone stop me)))

steve madden pammyy wedge

happy friday all! <3

dressember - day 17: homeless

2011-12-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

i know. i know. i said i quit dressember, and i have. but we know how behind i was with posting and all, and i haven't worn a dress since monday actually. well, to be fair, i spent all of tuesday in pajamas sniffling and cursing dressember and the winter season. so today is actually my first official day of not wearing a dress and thus abandoning my dressember challenge.

this outfit is what i like to call my homeless person ensemble. its what i imagine i would look like if i ever became homeless and still tried to be fashionable (because it makes perfect sense that a homeless person would be wearing a pair of UGG Cardys and not have sold them off for food). i'm not entirely sure i could possibly be wearing any more clothing. oh no. wait, i can. i spent the entire evening in a peacoat on top of all of this. so yes, it is entirely possible for me to be wearing more clothing, and still be cold.

wtf.

not sure what i'm doing here. waving hi to the camera? is my left arm dead? possible its frozen off at this point. need new poses? yesssss.

hype this look here on lookbook.nu

so in my defense, the reason why i was dressed in 50 million layers, is because it was anna's birthday celebration and we would be spending most of it outside, in the cold, ice skating no less, and pretending to be impressed by the animatronics at christmas in the park. its been around forever, and i'm pretty sure the moving robots have never been replaced, but people still go every year. there are carnival games, and an outdoor ice skating rink. and food. yes, food. amazing, delicious, taste even better when you are starving food. i wish i'd taken pictures of the food. but i didn't. in fact, most of the pictures you'll see below are stolen from anna. why? well one, i was running late as usual and forgot my camera at home, and two i spent most of the time freezing and trying not to fall on my ass (ice skating, i'm not that uncoordinated when i walk).

birthday girl and all her presents! (and that includes the phone in her hand!)

see, bf is just as strange as i am. we're a perfect pair

oooh pretty decorations

more strangeness. not entirely sure we can take a straight picture

i made anna an honorary asian in celebration of the hello kitty christmas tree

double... sipping?

pretty birthday cake! oh and the birthday girl ain't bad looking herself ;)

group photo! it only took us 20 tries to get this :P

notice how i'm wearing my peacoat in every, single picture? sometimes i don't know why i bother trying to put together an outfit during the winter time.

photos taken by me, anna, and kloo
h&m peacoat, tulle snood, american eagle cardigan, hollister crochet vest, kirra ladder back dress, american eagle super skinny jeans, target socks x2 (yes x2), ugg australia cardy boots

dressember - day 16: dear dressember

2011-12-19T09:53:00.000-08:00

i'm breaking up with you, dressember. we're through. i just need some space right now. its not you, its me. well no, really, its you. you're making me resent my dresses. and i love all my pretty little dresses. but right now, i kind of hate them.

its cold. its so very cold, and now i'm sick. because of you dressember, i am sick. and i'm bored. i want to wear pants and skirts and shorts. i want to explore other options. dressember, you are just, too limiting for me. more importantly, i want to be WARM.

so i'm quitting you dressember. i'm sorry. i know we had a commitment, but i just couldn't see it through. this is for the better. in the long run, this is for the better. i still have a few more dresses to show you. from saturday to monday. and we can look at the dresses i'd planned to wear this week. but that'll be it dressember. i can't do it anymore.

i hope you'll forgive me.

<3 Pamada

hype this look here on lookbook.nu

photos by kloo
bgd speckled raglan, kirra cross back dress, luxe girl otk socks, steve madden getreal shoes

Hunger Games x Designers and China Glaze

2011-12-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

have you read the Hunger Games Trilogy yet? No?

GO READ IT.

and don't come back until you've finished it!

back now? GREAT! UH-mazing books were they not? simply amazing. so amazing that the first one (and hopefully the other two) is being made into a movie. i've heard rumors that the author, suzanne collins actually wrote the screen play, though i'm not entirely sure if thats true or not. i could google it, but lazy to switch tabs is preventing from doing so right now. :P

in any case, like with any greatly anticipated movie, there is a lot of hype surrounding it, and with the hype comes collaborations! no.. there aren't any kind of clothing collaborations going on, which i guess is OK considering i think everything would come out looking hunter or elf like. you can still wear this collaboration though.. because its with China Glaze!

electrify, luxe and lush, stone cold, smoke and ashes

harvest moon, riveting, fast track, hook and line

dress me up, foie gras, agro, mahogany magic

luxe and lush, electrify, and smoke and ashes are must haves. in that order. and possibly riveting.

instyle also did an article, reaching out to some of their favorite designers, and asked them what they pictured katniss' fire dress would look like. these are some of my favorite sketches:

BCBgeneration and Christian Cota

Christian Siriano and Nicole Miller

Rachel Roy and The Blonds: Phillipe and David Blond

the one by the blonds reminds me of phoenix from x-men. you can check the rest here at instyle.com.

all images are from instyle.com.

friday finds

2011-12-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

roxy boxy high low sweater, kirra drop arm banded bottom sweater

kirra zig zag crochet pullover, kirra waffle sleeved sweater

bullhead black leopard denim leggings, bullhead black denim colored leggings

with love from ca leopard tights, black poppy salya oxford

hot topic: skeleton hand, vampire fang ring

hot topic: lace suspenders, batman vinyl (batman has absolutely nothing to do with fashion, i just love him)

have you ever had one of those moments where you realized you were in some way very much your parents' son or daughter? i'm having one of those moments. when i was younger, and really until this day, my mother has had an obsession with leopard prints. i mean the amount of leopard print she owns is ridiculous. actually her christmas present is this top from romwe because of the chiffon print on it. i've spent so much of my life avoiding the leopard print because i sort of associated it to something an older person would like.

well... now.. you've seen my friday finds for this week. i've some how managed to accrue leopard print nails, denim leggings, tights, and even oxfords! and if i could have my way... a pair of SM Carnby-L or Annnie-L. >.< what happened!??!

i'll tell you what happened.

i am my mother's daughter. and this is just one of many wonderful traits i've inherited from her.

on another note.. i may need a colored denim legging intervention soon. halp.

dressember - day 15: circus stripes

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

this non-dress is another instance of me buying a shirt a couple sizes up, deciding it looks much better as a dress than a shirt. one of the downfalls/risks of making a decision like this is that material doesn't always agree with you. at least not when you want to wear a pair of tights with it. they clinggggg >.< oh gawd i spent the entire day just yanking on them to keep it down. of course this wasn't a problem when i tried them on in-store bare legged, thinking omg this such a sexy great top! i want to wear it as a dress!!
sigh. maybe next time i'll just stand in a corner some where and not move. btw, these are the free tights that romwe gave out a while back. they're kind fantastic. i was a bit iffy on them at first, but then once i tried them on, omg my legs looked loooonnnnggg. <3 fan for live. (i just wish i didn't feel like a sausage in them! they run small!)
p.s.. are you sick of my puras yet? ;)
photos taken by me
lucca couture high/low chiffon top, romwe.com tights, dv by dolce pura boots, ny&co bracelet

dressember - day 14: color pop

2011-12-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

i have to admit, as much as i love dresses, i am starting to get a bit bored wearing one every single day. especially because its cold. so i tried to mix it up a bit today. i threw a pair of paperbag shorts over my tight asos cut out dress. i promise i'm actually wearing a dress still. see..

hype this look here at lookbook.nu

i found these shorts at urban outfitters the other day, and i just fell in love with them. also they were 50% off so that just strengthened the love i felt. the color is so pretty, and i like the pop it gives to an otherwise all black ensemble. helps drag me out of my winter blues.

photos taken by me
asos cut out dress, sweater tights, dv by dolce vita pura boots, ny&co necklace

dressember - day 13: i bought an umbrella

2011-12-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

i bought an umbrella.
and it was a $1.50

it just made sense to buy it because of that. actually i bought the umbrella back during my girls day trip to berkeley. i really did just buy an umbrella so that i could use it 3 months later as a prop. i mean it was a $1.50, and if it was really raining, i have a feeling it would fail miserably.

but its cute right? and that's all that matters.

i've been having some trouble with my camera lately, and the lack of appropriate lighting, and well just being tired and a wee bit frustrated from taking so many pictures. so i apologize if these photos seem to lack a bit. i need to brush up on some of my techniques, or just resign/force to having bf take the rest of the dresssember photos. i don't do well without sunlight!

the best part of this outfit (aside from the beautiful yellow coat), is that i can finally show you guys my awesome etienne aigner boots! i've been stalking them for months at tjmaxx and finally resigned that they were never going to go on sale any time soon, and decided to buy them. but bf was stalking me, and surprised me by buying them for me! <3 he really is too awesome for words. i've gotten so many compliments on them already, one of my best items in my wardrobe right now.
we've been talking about where we want to go/do for new years and it looks like disneyland may be in the cards. ridiculously excited about it, especially since i've never seen disneyland during its holiday seasons and i've heard its absolutely gorgeous! throw in some fireworks and we're all set. minus the part where it'll technically still be dressember and i've never worn a dress to a theme park in my entire life so i have no idea how i am going to pull this off. i do however have the perfect dress for new years eve, but its so pretty and kind of delicate i'm not sure an amusement park is going to be an appropriate place for it :(
speaking of, just to prove i'm not pulling a fast one on you guys. see my dress:

photos taken by me
jack by bb dakota coat, h&m dress, sweater tights, etienne aigner chastity boots

should i give up? or should i just keep chasing pavements, even if it leads nowhere?

2011-12-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

i heard this song on the radio today and it really stuck a chord with me. anna will proabably be happy to hear that...this makes the third adele song i've grown fond of. it could just be timing..but either or i like it and it's now on repeat.

a couple weeks ago i entered into this contest that modcloth was holding. the top five designs get their designs created into actually products and their name on the tags. theres two rounds to the contest, and unfortunately i didn't make the first cut, but i still wanted to share them with you guys. i still love my designs and maybe one day when i learn how to use my sewing machine i can make then come alive by own means.

heartshower sketches - pen/pencil, photoshop
adele - chasing pavements

dressember - day 12: i want to fly away

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

yep, its another lazy day for me! but at least i'm sort of practicing my indoor photography? at a horribly high iso and unfocused photo. oh gawd how the site quality is gone down. i'm so sorry.

like how i totally missed most of my back here? what i really meant to show you a picture of is my adorable drafting table that i finally put together a few weeks back. it sat in a lonely box for almost 4 months before i put it (read: bf put it) together.

omg, what is going on with my hair here? see this is what happens when i try to take more of a daily shot. messy hair. horrible grainy iso. la la la.
the dress is cute though, is it not? and yes this is a dress. it is an incredibly short dress when worn by itself is constantly making my worry that a gust of wind won't come by and show the world my undies. i also may need to stop complaining about how cold it is considering i'm wearing jeans full of holes in them. :T

p.s... if you're wondering what happened to day 11 >.< i spent the entire day in pj's working on the blog.. no dresses required nor will the be tolerated. i like my big ugly sweats!

photos taken by me
forever 21 halter vest, kirra open back dress, ae skinny jeans, black poppy flats

dressember - day 08 and 09

2011-12-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

it got cold okay? like really cold. and i only have one pair of black sweater tights! so... please excuse the jeans under a dress look for the next few days. i don't do well in cold weather. i'm on the verge of quitting dressember all together i'm so cold :(
i also just wanted to say that i'm loving, loving, all of the comments that i'm getting lately! and i do read them all and will respond to them, too. i've just been insanely busy and really only have time to post and run right now! but thank you!! <3 <3 <3 on to the looks!!
i'm combining day 08 and day 09 because they're a bit more simple in style, i didn't have time to set up a tri-pod for day 09, and i seriously need to catch up.

day 08: i'm wearing green pants

would you believe i found this sheer dress at target? on clearance for like 5 bucks. its rather fantastic. it came with a slip, but i hate slips, so i'll probably be layering it with twenty million things. especially skirts and shorts. oh the possibilities are endless! however, since its freaking cold, i've paired it with my green jeggings from pacsun. these were very well stalked and sold out on me jeggings, and snatched up the minute i found them again -not- in my size. but its okay, you can't really tell they're a size too small right? >.<

also, aren't my house of harlow pearl pumps so pretty? they're my first real designer pair of shoes and they sparkle and remind me of the ocean. <3

day 09: i can wear flowers in the winter time

teehee. i got lazy. sorry. its really difficult to take pictures every day. especially when my day normally consist of 8 hours of work and 2-4 hours of gym. i normally feel to icky to take pictures by the end so i've been trying to lump everything together.

this is one of my favorite non-dresses. and by non-dress i mean i bought a shirt a couple sizes to big and wear it as a mini dress or a tunic. again it was cold, so i threw my red jeggings underneath and a sweater i picked up from cotton on. i'm kind of at a bit of a loss with my red jeggings. they've stretched out to the point where they're basically loose pants, but it seems ridiculous to buy a new pair? right? :T there is a high chance i'll end up buying a replacement pair, i just love the red jegging combination too much not to!

photos taken by me
day 08: converse sheer dress, bullhead jeggings, house of harlow pearl pumps
day 09: random shirt, cotton on sheer sweater, express zelda jean leggings, chinese laundry drastic wedges

dressember - day 07: imma seal! imma seal!

2011-12-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

hype this look here on lookbook.nu
omg. its happened. we've traveled back in time

>.<
can i make money off of this some how? oh, you need some sorta of engineered calculation? and proof? i guess delayed posting and being more excited about one outfit over another doesn't really count as time traveling huh? i couldn't help it. the 1940's holiday party dress and bryant's photos were really too pretty not to share.
not that i don't love this outfit. ha! great transition, no? actually i'd been eyeing this dress at pacsun for a while now, and when the clearance went to additional 50% off i jumped on it. i love the rust color and the shark bite hem. i love even more than its ruffled! and that its bit short to wear by its self. i'm pretty sure i would end up flashing the world. but is so adorable with these awesome emilio cavallini tights i found at tjmaxx. they are so ridiculously soft and the quality is pretty impressive. i love the sort of mod-deco feel to them.

photos taken by me
black poppy shark bite dress, nollie cropped pull over, emilio cavallini tights, dv by dolce vita pura boots, necklace stolen from mother

dressember - day 10: 1940's holiday party

2011-12-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

i'm skipping a few days ahead in dressember, which in a weird way catches me up and at the same time puts me grossly behind on dates still. but its okay, because you all will be blog bombed this week so that i can catch up. :P
so on saturday bf had his company's holiday party to go to. it was 1940's themed and took place on the uss hornet!! yes that is a WWII aircraft carrier. it was ridiculously big, but more importantly it was ridiculously awesome. i've known about this party for a while, and have been slowly (too slowly) prepping my 1940's outfit. my original outfit was overthrown when i discovered this adorable dress on modcloth.com. it was really too perfect. completely 1940's with a touch of modern (in other words, cut-outs!). i couldn't have asked for anything better. but no outfit is completely without accessories right? well, i found this adorable leopard print fascinator on amazon.com and after a not-so quick trip to the mall, i was complete with some lace gloves and an edgy pearl necklace from f21.

i even found a great lip color from mac that just sealed in the 1940's glam.

everything was seriously perfect. a little too perfect.
i should've known better. its was like the calm before the storm and then, all hell just broke loose. my fascinator didn't arrive. :( well UPS says it arrived, but it didn't, and for the life of us, we could not find it. which meant on saturday morning, instead of getting my 1940s beauty rest, i scrambled to the mall in desperate search for another leopard print fascinator. why did it have to be leopard print? well, because i'd already painted my nails to match! and i couldn't have it any other way.

of course i didn't find one. after wasting about an hour combing through all the stores i could think of, i finally resigned to the fact that i was not, in fact, going to find a leopard print fascinator and begrudgingly settled on this one.

okay yeah, it is beautiful isn't it? but you know how when you have something in mind, you kind of just get stuck on it and you don't really appreciate what you do have until much later? sue me i'm a perfectionist :P
that wasn't the end of it. the actual process of getting ready involved a lot of swearing and throwing around of things like a hurricane. one of the buttons on the dress had fallen off within 5 minutes of me trying it on (i know, i really need to stop eating so many cupcakes. >.<) and even though i'd had the dress sitting in my possession for almost two weeks, i didn't move my butt to sew it back on until 5 hours before the party.
oops.
and, yep, you guessed it. i couldn't find my sewing kit. oh gawd help me. it took me about 30 minutes before i could find it, and it was really in the silliest place. it was right where it was suppose to be. tucked away in the little drawer i had set aside for it. i'd looked everywhere i thought it would've been. on a desk, shoved in a corner, under a pile of clothing... the proper places to store a sewing kit. not the actual drawer i'd put aside for it. so silly. see? this is what happens when i try to be organized. disaster!
the next step was my curling iron. i got smart this time. i looked in the exact drawer it was suppose to be in first yes, i can be taught!
oh crap.
why is it not here? more scrambling. more cursing. i was this close to giving up all together, wearing a paper bag to the party, and calling it day. paper bags can be fancy right? i'll just.. throw a belt around it! luckily, for the rest of the world, i did manage to find it, and the world was saved from me attempting to make a paperbag look fancy. the iron was in its second home (yes my items have more than one homes, aren't they fortunate?). lessoned learned. stop being so darn organized and just leave items everywhere! (i can just hear bf cringing and crying now).
ok! we are all set to go right? yes? no! omg. curling hair. disaster.
i had this idea, this great picture in my head of how everything would look--from hair down to my (oops) unpainted toes. the unfortunate part, while i'm fairly good at everything else, is that i suck, suck, suck at hair. i mean you've noticed the absurd amount of posts where my hair is tied back in a bun, or a ponytail right? its because if you ask me to do more than that, it comes out looking like i electrocuted myself. in any case, i was about 3/4 of the way done before i realized i was starting to look like an asian version of orphan annie. panicked because it was about 3:15 PM when i realized this, and bryant was suppose to be coming over at 4:00 PM and i'm not even dressed yet, nor do i have a stitch of make up on.
so yep. i went back to to the trusty ol' ponytail. >.< you can never go wrong with a pony tail! especially if you cover it up with a big fascinator and netting. then it just looks fancy. so fancy.
the rest of the process went fairly smoothly. minus the part that i've just barely finished my make up, still in my pjs, when bryant and company arrive with a photography studio. but as you can see, everything turned out quite well, and i'm more than pleased with the results.
the photoshoot was executed in 30 minutes or less, that was pretty much all the time we'd had. but as you can see, it all came out fantastic! the photos look fabulous. bryant can make a paperbag look fabulous. actually, this is a great idea for the next shoot. paperbac chic! what do you think bt? hehe

we wrapped everything up and headed out to our glamourous night. i thought everything was in the clear until one of my falsies fell off and i had one last desperate scramble to get it back on. not entirely sure how i managed to get it to stay on so that it it lasted the rest of the evening, but i did. i survived the storm!

the best part of the party? aside from the ridiculous amounts of food consumed, they were giving out pairs of dr. scholl's fast flats. have you ever tried to walk through an aircraft carrier with heels on? its dangerous! i lasted 2 hours in my heels before i wore the flats for the rest of the evening.

hype this look here on lookbook.nu
i forgot to ask bryant to take a picture of my back (storm casualty), so i'll post a picture later once i get bf to take one.

photos taken by btruong
modcloth.com classic twist dress, hot topic lace gloves, forever 21 pearl necklace, icings by claire's fascinator, guess amelia lace pumps
make up: bobbi brown foundation, arden natural false lashes, make up forever aqua mascara, urban decay naked palette, stila in the light palette, bobbi brown gel liner in black, mac girl about town lipstick, mac spanking rich lip dazzleglass, mac love to shop lip liner

monday muse

2011-12-09T13:12:00.001-08:00

i want to introduce you to someone.

her name.. is Amber of Forever Amber

image from foreveramber.co.uk
and she is simply adorable. i think i love her.

i stumbled upon her blog when i was doing some research on dressember and i've been following her ever since. not only does she have great taste, and a shoe closet to die, she seriously has the cutest blog posts i've ever read. this one being my favorite. her posts encourage me more to write like myself and not worry that i'm scaring off my audience because i sound like a raving lunatic.

seriously. check her out. i think you'll love her too.

p.s. don't read her blog while you're at work. you're co-workers will think you're strange because your snickering and snorting trying so hard not to laugh out loud.

dressember - day 06: hello kitty

2011-12-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

ok. i swear i had pictures where i was looking a different direction... these ones just happened to be the best. >.< oops.this cardigan was the only article of clothing that i ended keeping from my splurge on the hello kitty x forever 21 line. i was pretty disappointed about it in general. some of the stuff didn't look as it did in the promo pictures (this cardigan included), and some just fit horribly. i did end up keeping all of the accessories i bought. those were spot on. and the overall feel of the materials for the clothing was pretty good (minus the raincoat, that was pretty bad). i do love this cardigan, even though i wish it was blue like i originally thought. the grey is an odd grey, its not really neutral so i'm having a hard time pairing the cardigan with something other than just jeans and a tank top. i'm glad it ended up working out really well with this dress, one of my better finds at tjmaxx (on clearance!)bf took these during our lunch break (yes, we work at the same company and yes, this is what winter has forced me into), and i think the pictures came out fantastic. i go running up here a few times a week and its really just amazing. minus the geese, that i'm fairly sure are going to kill me one day. or that white heron that tried to take me out last week when it took flight in front me. or the squirrels that like to play frogger as a i run across the path. or the paranoia that one day a golfer is going to slice badly and i'll have to dodge a golf ball flying at 30mph. aside from all that, really, really great place to run :P

photos taken by kloo
hello kitty by forever 21 cardigan, random dress from tjmaxx, charlotte russe tights, black poppy oxford shoes

friday finds

2011-12-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

modcloth.com: wing it on dress, jack rabbit and jill ring

asos butterfly chiffon dress, urbanoutfitters: sparkle & fade paperbag shorts (but in maroon)

urbanoutfitters: kimichi show girl shorts, sparkle & fade cropped funnel neck, lucca couture high/low chiffon, bgd speckled raglan tunic

tulle scarf, romwe leopard montaged black jumper

there were some other things, but they're no longer on the website! so you'll just have to wait and see ;)

dressember - day 05

2011-12-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

me: omg! bank account, this sweater is so amazing! i want it in another color!
bank account: denied.
me: but.. its HALF OFF sale price. it was only $10.00!!! it was original $59!
bank account: are you kidding me? have you looked at your spending lately. denied!!!

T.T why is my bank account so mean to me? sigh. btw the half off sale is an in-store promo only, its still almost thirty bucks online (although well worth it even at that price). if you have an urban outfitters near you, i highly recommend you go check it out. i won't talk about how much i spent, or what i came home with. :X

pictures taken by me
sparkle&fade cropped sweater, h&m dress, romwe.com tights, dv by dolce vita pura boots, ny&co necklace

the weekly round up

2011-12-08T11:16:00.000-08:00

Links For Your Holidays!
Edited by: Collette Osuna of Statements in Fashion
At the risk of sounding like a Christmas song, isn’t this the most wonderful time of the year?
I love hearing all the Holiday music playing in the stores! Trees are getting trimmed, gifts are being purchased, and people for the most part, haven’t forgotten the true meaning of the season. I’m taking some time over the next few weeks to re-vamp my closet, bake up some Holiday goodies, and make some new memories with my family and friends. However you may be spending the Holidays, be safe and keep the ones you love near to your heart. I will see you in the New Year!
THE IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP: LINKS À LA MODE: DECEMBER 8TH
Acquaallegoria: December dressing: How to rock a festively fug-a-licious jacket
Ambassador of Fashion: Village Style: Thrifting in NYC
Arash Mazinani: A guide for those wanting to buy clothes as gifts for Christmas this year.
Boyish Chic: Home decor gift ideas for the boyish chic fashionista in your life!
Coming Unstitched: How to be a really cute snow bunny.
Ethical Fashion Blog: Ethical outfit competition winners - some very stylish and sustainable ladies
Fact This Blog is Awesome: Quick Under Eye Circle makeup tutorial
Fashion is Evolution: How I made a belt from an old Dior keychain I never used
High Point Shoulder: How to dress comfortably & warm in the winter and still be chic
In Her Glam: Style inspiration from Ashley Davenport, Victoria Grayson's assistant on ABC's hit drama Revenge
Joyful Outfits: How to wear a denim shirt in the winter
Little Miss Makeup: How to do wedding makeup the modern way
Over 50 Feeling 40: Beginning to Process how bloggers can make a difference for small businesses
Pandippo: Killer heels and a necklace stolen from my mom
Pippa Holliday: Get out of bed hair - Bed Head
Statements in Fashion: Our Christmas Home
Synthetic Elegance: Illustrated holiday gift guide
The Dapper Bun: Outfit Of The Day: Decorating the Christmas Tree
The Frugalista Diaries: DIY Jeweled Collared Sweater
The Style Confessions: Three inexpensive yet glamorous red lipsticks from the drugstore
SPONSOR:
New at Shopbop: Boots, Ella Moss, Cardigans, Pants, Jackets, Wallets, Swimwear, Cut 25, Free People, WGACA, Sauce, Satchels & Tote Bags.
PLEASE READ IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE

If you would like to submit your link for next week’s Links à la Mode, please register first, then post your links HERE. The HTML code for this week will be found in the Links a la Mode group will be published later today. ~Jennine

whats that i see? did my post make it onto the IFB round up for this week?

it did!?!?! holy crap.

yeah. i'm excited. man, this has been a pretty good week. :) lots of feeling of accomplishment going on. which is great to have considering how thinly stretched out i've been feeling lately too. i can't wait for the holidays to be over, as much as i love christmas, there really isn't enough time in the day for everything! poor, poor bf feels neglected. and i'm sure the puppies do as well, considering kaylee ate two ornaments this week. i need to put aside a whole day for bf before he decides to eat one, too.

dressemeber - day 02

2011-12-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

YES! i'm almost caught up.

oh wait. this is day 07 isn't it? sigh. >.< it'll happen, i swear.i've been waiting for an excuse to wear this ASOS dress. thank you dressember! haha, but more importantly, lets talk about the shoes.

the shoes

oh gawd how i love these shoes. even more surprising? bf loves these shoes. they're insane, and they're so loud and yet subtle at the same time. i'll be honest, i did not order these shoes. i bought them on blackfriday during sole struck's crazy 50% off sale, and i ordered them in a distressed brown. imagine my surprise when i received a pair of zebra ones instead? and i wasn't too sure i could even rock these. i mean, i love a good animal print, but these are TALL (and insanely comfortable), so its a whole lot of zebra. (although i think of it more as a tiger print instead?). but now?

so.in.love.

i can't wear them outside yet. i'm still waiting to hear back from solestruck, since these are technically the wrong pair of shoes. and i really did want the brown ones. :T i think they're still busy from the sale because i haven't heard back yet, but we'll see what happens. i wouldn't cry if i just had to keep these. ;)

photos taken by kloo
asos cut-out body con dress, kirra cut-out tank, jeffrey campbell lana boots

its the little things

2011-12-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

LIKE MAKING THE TOP PAGE LOOKBOOK.NU

for the day.

ok. well..

its still early in the day >.< and.. its more like the second page of the top page for the day. but i don't care because i'm still there!! and trailing not too far behind willabelle ong of pale division. although i'm sure she'll leave me far far in the dust in a matter of hours. but! this is the most hypes i've ever gotten and i think i'm still getting some.

oh this is such a squee moment. /squee

dressember - day 01

2011-12-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

so if you're not like me, and you haven't been living in a cave for the past couple of years, it is dressember month. actually its been dressember month, but if you are like me, then you just found out about it yesterday. :P

what is dressember? dressember (obviously for the month of december) was an idea started by blythe hill as a personal challenge to herself. like all great ideas on the web, it caught fire and has now grown in this movement to bring back "dressy" dressing. its really pretty simple. wear a dress everyday for 31 days. you can repeat, but you cannot wear a skirt, unless its on top of a dress. you can pretty much do whatever needs to be done as long as you are wearing an actual dress. and yes this means you can tuck a dress into a pair of shorts (if you feel so inclined, or like me recently bought a pair of shorts that you are dying to wear), or over a pair of pants.

to be honest, this isn't a huge challenge for me. i tend to wear a dress every other day as is. actually, when i told bf about the challenge he asked if i even had that many dresses to wear and i just laughed. obviously, he's been avoiding my closet out of fear so he has no idea, that i probably have enough dresses to make this a two month challenge. :X

so why do it then? since i'm obviously behind (posting day 01 on day 06? yes! go pamada!). the challenge for me, will be in the photography. i suck at indoor photography. like you have no idea. so this will be a great challenge (and i'm sorry in advance for the soon to come crap pictures) to improve and learn on that skill.

even though i found out about this yesterday, i'm not that actually far behind! like i said before, i tend to wear a dress every other day any ways (even though its freezing right now), so i've really only missed a couple of days. what i am behind on is taking pictures as my "evidence". i hope to catch up by this weekend, and then get to posting an actual daily outfit.

p.s. confession time. i took this picture back in the beginning of november. BUT ITS OK. because i re-wore it (omg i know re-wore!?!?) on friday, so it still counts right? sigh. cheating already on day one.. this is not off to a good start.

photos taken by kloo
asos cold shoulder shirt dress, express sweater, express tights, mossimo supply co. boots

monday muse

2011-12-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

here is another weekly feature that i want to try out for the blog. to be honest, i'm not one to really, really follow a lot of fashion trends. i don't obsess and stalk when all the spring 2012 lines will release. i do glance at them occasionally, but for the most part, i like what i like and spend 90% of my time shopping instead. :X for all intents and purposely, this blog is mainly about my own personal style and creativity, opposed to fashion itself.

that being said, everyone draws inspiration from somewhere. whether you read a thousand fashion magazines, or you just need motivation for the day, something you read somewhere, makes you think, makes you want more. that is what monday muse will be about. inspiration. sometimes (more often than not) will probably pull from a blog that i've read, but hopefully it'll be more than that.

today's muse is MANGO loves Lookbook.nu! Mango x LB just put out a video, sort of a behind the scenes teaser for the five finalists for Mango's 2012 It girl:

its kinda amazing what blogging can do for you, and how many people you can reach with it. i'm sure none of these girls imagined they would be in the running for Mango's 2012 It girl when they started blogging--or even last year's It girl, Andy Torres of StyleScrapbook. i was going through some of her first entries last week, kind of taking a look at what she did right to get her as far as she did. it was really great to see that her blog started not much better than mine. sort of struggling along until you find your groove, your passion to make this an every day thought in your life. you just can't give up. no matter how frustrating it might be, at some point a door will open.

as for this year's It girls, this is a very, very big door opening. i think Camille Co is my favorite, and i've casted my vote. i love, love, love color. and the pop of the electric blue against the subtle sparkle of black is just seriously perfect.

i wish i could vote for Cosette or Lua too! Both of their looks were captivating!

you can see (and vote) the rest of the finalist at lookbook.nu.

start a new fashion, wear your heart on your sleeve

2011-12-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

ever buy a pair of shoes that, the minute you put them on, you knew the will probably be the death of your feet? but you kept them any ways because, well they were so darn kute? yeah, that would be these shoes. i'm keeping them (naturally), and i will make myself wear them until i'm crying in a corner or pissed off at bf because we're wandering for blocks around san francisco looking for the car and all i want to do is take my shoes off. i can't help it. i've been wanting a pair of shoes this exact shade of blue for ages, and i'm not giving them up! oh steve madden, why couldn't you have made the toe box just a bit bigger?

i'm realizing that i probably shouldn't have written that these are feet killer heels. i don't think bf is going to let me wear them out now. he's already tried to ban me from wearing heels when we go to san francisco completely! so lets just pretend that i didn't just tell the world that, and talk about the awesome necklace that i stole from my mother. i stole a lot actually. the last time i went to LA, i pretty much came back with a forever21 accessory store. i guess thats the great thing about fashion, and the most horrible thing for our closets. things always come back around.

photos taken by me
cotton on cardigan, h&m faux leather skirt, random sheer tights, steve madden sarrina pumps, necklace stolen from my mother
ever ever after - carrie underwood

friday finds

2011-12-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

so this may possibly be a horrible idea for a friday feature. actually, i'm pretty sure its a very bad idea. i'm going to be getting in a lot of trouble by a certain someone once this is all down in writing. (and severely judged by any of my friends that actually read this blog) but! this is part fashion blog after-all and shopping is a rather big part of fashion. oh, the sacrifices i make. ;)

friday finds will be a new weekly feature on the blog of what i've "found" at my front door during the week. in other words, all of the stuff i've ordered online (or sometimes in-store) that has made its way to my doorstep and makes boyfriend's eyes go @.@ during the week. on the off chance nothing comes in the mail, friday finds will just be a things i've added to my ever growing wish list.

*disclaimer: i don't actually keep everything that shows up. just most of it? O:) (unlike the f21xHK stuff :P)

so, here we go. the first installment of friday finds. a pretty good(bad) week because of online black friday and cyber monday shopping.

modcloth.com: classic twist dress, pep-lum talk dress

modcloth.com: candie cane cutie coat, stevemadden.com: sarrina blue suede pumps

urbanoutfitters: kimichi blue mesh beaded tank top, silence & noise strapless studded dress

solestruck.com: jeffrey campbell benched, jeffrey campbell lana

express.com: high waisted striped pencil skirt, anthropologie: button belted dress

tjmaxx: etienne aigner chastity boots (thanks to bf *heart*)

happy friday!

you're out of this world. except you're not green

2011-11-30T10:52:00.000-08:00

ok. ok. this is admittedly one the worst lyrics ever. it was written by my lover (sorry bf) justin timberlake and some how managed to stick in my mind thru the years - its that bad. but.. some what fitting for this post?

galaxy nails! (oh boy, horrible transition there, right along side with this lyric) i first saw them on the nailasaurus blog and immediately thought - omg, i have to do this. they're just so ridiculously cool. i just had to. the first attempt were a complete and utter fail. they were such a fail that i can't even (meaning i don't want to) show you how bad they were. what you see above is attempt number two, after watching this video by cutepolish. she kind of sounds like michelle phan don't you think? if you like polish designs both of those ladies are great to follow.

photos taken by kloo
nothin' else - justin timberlake

i was june, and you were my johnny cash

2011-11-27T10:59:00.000-08:00

note: when taking pictures, make sure the tripod/camera is actually level or you'll end up with a lot of slanted pictures.

i'm in so much pain today. i overkilled it with my workout routine, and now it hurts to move in all sorts of ways. someone remind me never to attempting running, abs&core class, climbing, AND cardio kickboxing all in one day again. on the plus side i feel rather skinny today, and even managed to squeeze into my unforgivingly tight, i think i bought you a size too small, AE super skinny.

btw.. have you seen the new katy perry music video for "the one that got away" yet? if not, you really need to. it'll make you slit your wrists in a depressing kind of a way, but its a great video and makes me love the song even more!

photos taken by me
h&M printed dress, american apparel otk socks, h&M blazer, dv by dolce vita pura boots
the one that got away - katy perry

happy gobble day!

2011-11-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

or really it should be happy OM NOM NOM all things day! but not for me. apparently this year i am celebrating thanksgiving dinner around thanksgiving, but not on the actual day. which is fine with me, because yesterday i got my pen replacement yesterday! and gave me time to ink and color in a new drawing for a contest i want to enter... and also prep for black friday! /evil laugh. oh the carnage.

on another note, this is drawn from items all from modcloth, minus the shoes. those are from solestruck. and they are as cute in real life as they are in drawing.

happy thanksgiving everyone! hope you're all getting nice and plump and enjoying time with people you are thankful for.

all this money can't buy me a time machine

2011-11-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

there's really something so pure about a black and white picture. if you recall the headshot photos i did a while back, this was the outfit that went with it. too bad the strap on this dress broke within an hour of me wearing it. and too bad i was out to lunch in a crowded dim sum restaurant when it happened. i'm surprised i didn't end up flashing everyone! (i'm pretty sure my friend was relieved that that didn't happen). sigh. sometimes the reality of h&m clothing rears its ugly head at you at the most inconvenient time.

i had the first set of a series of thanksgiving dinners on saturday. (there's about 3 more to come). and i feel so fat. hahaha, which i guess that means it was a success? we deep-fried a turducken (thats a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey) baked in 4 sticks of butter, and then deep-fried in 70lbs of peanut oil for about 10-15 minutes. add in all the generous sides that everyone brought, well no one was moving very well by the end of the night. i'm going to need to hit up the gym hard core to survive the rest of the week.

photos taken by me
h&m dress, ny&co necklace, candies pumps, pac sun tights
the one that got away - katy perry

yellow diamonds in the light

2011-11-14T15:28:00.001-08:00

i'll admit. i wasn't completely interested in the missoni by target line when it first came out. i mean its still a target line and i didn't think it would be worth the price... but now everything is 30-50% off, so of course i started peeking my little nose around and scored a couple of items! i'm actually pretty impressed with the cardigan that i'm wearing in this look. the quality feels really nice and i think they did a really good job with the line. i'm dying to have the rainboots from the kids collection, but the best i can find is a size one, and while i can get my feet in them, i'm pretty sure i'll have a blister after 5 minutes :P

on a bad note... i woke up saturday morning and the monster (kaylee) had chewed up the pen that goes to my intuos3. i really hope i can find a replacement today. i'm not sure whether i want to bbq her or deep fry her with the turducken we're having this year. /glares. i suppose it could've been worse. if she'd chewed up the cord that connects to the computer then i'd be looking at replacing the entire thing all together.. although.. i really do want an intuos4 >.< update: i'm going to be at least a week without my tablet now :(

photos taken by me
missoni by target cardigan, h&m lace, franco sarto pumps
we found love - rihanna

...and i believe that its easier for you to let me go

2011-11-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

bf hates this part of the song, but its actually one of my favorite lyrics. i love how it talks about the insecurities of being in a relationship and how vulnerable you are when you're with someone. especially when the person is so amazing, you don't know why they're even with you.

i'm saying goodbye to sunlight this week. its official. by the time i get home its now dark, and there won't be time for any afterwork shoots. i hate daylights savings. there is the option of getting my lazy butt to wake up early, but i have a hard enough time trying to get to work on time as is. :P i'm also.... getting lazy about my wardrobe. its really hard to want to put effort into an outfit when i'm two steps out of the bed. there is a very, very strong desire to spend the entire month of november and december in nothing but a hoodie and ugg boots. but at least then, anna will get her requested bunnie hug post.

p.s. if you get sick of these pura boots. i'm really sorry.. i can't stop wearing them.

photos taken by me and kloo
express stripped lace shirt and faux leather skirt, dv by dolce vita pura boots
arms - christina perri

gather up your tears, keep them in your pocket

2011-11-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

the lack of sun is so depressing. half the time i'm speeding home just to catch the last rays for some decent pictures. its a miracle i haven't gotten in an accident yet :P even then, i'm still having to up the ISO just to get the camera to focus. one of these days i should show you the amount of pictures i go through just to get a handful of decent ones!

i'll be in reno this weekend. whoo hoo for free hotels! i have no idea what we'll be doing - what do people do in reno that isn't gambling or snow boarding? oh i know! picture practice! >.< i'm going to be so annoying this weekend, my friends will LOVE me. but thats OK because i'm bribing (one of them, you guessed it anna) with cupcakes from frost cupcakes. their s'more cupcake is kind of to die for. this is on the condition it actually makes it all the way up to her and i don't eat it in the car first.

photos taken by me
express faux leather jacket, random dress, forever 21 belt, steven by steve madden geema boots
if i die young - the band perry

in the jungle, the mighty jungle...

2011-11-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

oh hi. what's this?

vinylmation lion king edition?

hell.

yes.

i want it all. but timon and banzi will do for now. until.. christmas maybe? (*hint hint*)

photos taken by me

i have died every day waiting for you

2011-10-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

happy pre-halloween! well it really is more like happy halloween since all the happenings are really going on today since actual halloween is on a monday this year! what is everyone being? i got super lazy this year and went bought a hello panda onesie. i kinda of love it. i hope it doesn't get destroyed in the city tonight. the best part is that i'll be warrrrrrrrmmmmm. first halloween EVER that i will be warm! haha!

this shirt was the first item (clothing wise) that i've really purchased from ASOS before and at first i was kind of put off by the material (its shiny) but the minute i paired it with my bright blue jeggings? omg IN LOVE! :) so its a keeper! plus i love the exposed shoulders... and then may have placed a few more orders while ASOS was having an additional 10% off on their sale items. SHH. don't tell bf.

p.s. christina perri is some kind of amazing isn't she? <3 <3 <3 i've had this song on repeat for almost 2 weeks straight now.

its a "behind the scenes" shot :P haha

photos take by me & kloo
asos cold shoulder shirt, ny&co necklace, bullhead jeggings, dv by dolce vita pura boots
a thousand years - christina perri

i have a confession to make...

2011-10-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

...i take an ridiculous amount of camera phone pictures. of which.. i think 95% of it ends up in anna's inbox. a RIDICULOUS amount. these are some of my favorites and are all of poor quality of course, given that my phone is almost 2 years old now makes the technology annnnnciiieent. as you can see a lot of it doesn't end up on the blog, which is why i wanted to share what some of my non-planned outfits are like.

in any case.. apologies for the photobomb! but its a friday and i can't focus on the things that matter--like work! (however, i am not bored enough to list where all of these items are from :P please, please don't ask me to.) the last photo is what i think is going to be my halloween costume, because i really don't look cute as a blonde.

oh dear gawd... i've joined tumblr.

2011-10-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

so.. i joined tumblr today.

i really have no idea what tumblr is. or what it's really used for. i kind of think of it as a giant twitter w/ pictures? although you can add pictures to twitter now so.. who knows! honestly, i joined because there was a give away for romwe.com, and well, i love romwe, so now i have a tumblr. if you have a tumblr, i hope that you'll follow me on there. i think, think, it actually might get updated more than this blog... as to whether or not it actually gets updated with quality items.. no promises! :)

on another note, i totally skipped my run today (which is how the tumblr happened, too). i've been in beast mode for one too many weeks in a row and i think my body is protesting. but i'm also kind of neurotic and sadface that i missed my run! i've been doing so well lately! ugh, set backs. i blame mondays. mondays suck. in addition to 8 hours of work, i normally run 4+ miles, rock climb for 2 hours, and then take a 45 minute cardio kickboxing class.. which normally goes about 5-10 minutes over with a round of ab work outs. its kind of exhausting just typing that! the good thing about skipping my run is that i have time to post tonight! my gbff gave me a pair of hello kitty vans for my birthday--they're pretty damn cool huh?

h&m bowler hat, american eagle cropped vest, express jeggings, hot topic hello kitty bow necklace, vans hello kitty sneakers

every beautiful thought's been already sung

2011-10-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

have i mentioned that cotton on is slowly, but surely becoming one of my favorite stores? because if i haven't, shame on me. their pricing is along the line of H&M and F21, actually sometimes its even better than those stores, but so far the quality of everything is a lot better. it gets even cheaper when they have their sales, and for the most part everything seems to fit me so well - and is SO soft!

i'm kind obsessed with the Selena Gomez "Love You Like a Love Song" song right now. its like a guilty pleasure, because i'm definitely past the age where i should love this kind of music, and i've been harassing my poor friends by telling them that i love them like a love song on a daily basis.

photos taken by me
cotton on long cardigan, h&m tank, cotton on skirt, steve by steve madden shoes
love you like a love song - selena gomez

if you listen, you can hear me thru the radio.. in that bright white noise

2011-10-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

the dramatic cat eye.

my normal daily make up routine involves a slight wing tip on top of a simple smokey eye, but i wanted to try and exaggerate the look and i absolutely love how it turned out. i also can't believe how much i lucked out in how well these turned out. this was my first attempt at taking a headshot, and i initially didn't think they turned out that well when i saw the camera preview. :) sometimes it just best to hold off the delete button and wait until the computer can show you.

psst. did you notice? i started adding in the songs that my post titles are from below. gotta give where credit is due, and it also lets you know my current song obsessions. ALSO. most importantly, over to the left, that little button that says "Google Friend Connect"? I would oh, so appreciate it if you would join. i'll love you forever if you do! <3

photos taken by me
make up: bobbi brown gel liner, tarte femme fatale palette
you make me feel - cobra starship

i hope that you'll catch me, cause i've already fallen

2011-10-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

<3 this post is for my amazing bf. <3 u.

who, out of sheer frustration at the number of loud prints and florals that i have (admittedly it is quite a lot), generously offered to add some solid colored items to my wardrobe. the catch, however, was that he had to approve of every item purchased. it led to some colorful arguments. haha, but in the end i got quite a few really good items. i put this one together for him, using nothing but solids! i can't guarantee that the rest of the items will be used so purely, but its a start right?

on another note, after several (and i mean several) attempts to get a proper make up headshot done, i've finally succeeded! unfortunately, the success came because it was super sunny outside. i still don't know how i'm going to accomplish this inside the house without doing some sort of crazy set up, but i do hope to do a lot more of these, and maybe eventually some youtube how-to videos. until then, i think i'm going to be restricted to weekend looks. poor bf. i hope he won't mind going out with me with extreme make up on. heehee.

(p.s. did you notice the huge amount of photos in this post? yes yes? great photo session day! again.. sheer luck. no talent actually building :P)

photos taken by me
outfit: h&m dress, sweater and knee highs, ?? combat boots
makeup: stila in the light palette bare, kitten, and bliss, bobbi brown gel liner black ink, urban decay ammo palette polyester bride and shattered, make up forever aqua eyes white, laura mercier lip base?, korres mango butter lipstick coral, mac fif lipglass pink venus
arms - christina perri

what do you mean i have to wake up?

2011-10-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

meet the world's most adorable shoe destroyer. yes, kaylee, i'm talking about you. i think we've lost in total about 20 pairs of shoes/flip flops to this little monster. but she is quite adorable don't you think?

photos by me

i heard that your dreams came true, guess she gave you things i didn't give to you

2011-10-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

seychelles: ampersand in burgandy

steve madden: haiiku in blue suede

dolce & gabbana: suede platform ankle wedge in black

SIGH. that is all.

someone like you - adele

a penny for my thoughts? oh no, i'll sell them for a dollar

2011-10-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

here is another instance of i took a million pictures, but this is the only one that came out good >.< oops. this one has actually be done for a while now, but i kept trying to fiddle with the other shots until i eventually just gave up. i do. however. really really like this shot. i'm chalking it up to i got lucky instead of any actual real skills developing :p

ae shirt, hollister crochet vest, ?? crochet shorts, black poppy oxford shoes
if i die young - the band perry

i'm the baddest baby in the atmosphere

2011-10-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

so, yes. this blog is slowly starting to crawl again. i'm sorry. it seems to happen every time i get involved with another art project (which i currently am at the moment). it just sucks up all my time and i put everything else on hold. the unfortunate art in all of this, is that i won't be to share what it is i'm currently working on - at least not for a while. so you'll have to settle for this sketch i did while waiting for REI's used gear sale to open up (which was taken with my crappy camera phone >.< sorry i fail so bad).

i have tons of things lined up in terms of outfit posts and what not, i just haven't had a chance to go through and edit the pictures yet. i can barely find enough time for this current project and i'm so out of practice, i'm just incredibly s l o w. its frustrating. actually, i'm not sure if any one else is like this, but i've hit the "frustrating" part of my project where i think its absolute crap and i want to abandon it. i seem to hit this point with any of my big art projects, and a lot of times i really do end up leaving it off somewhere. there's a 18x20 charcoal i started last year, and is currently sitting in the corner of the office because i'm convinced i've turned ryan gosling into an ugly big headed freak (how that is ever possible with him, i don't know). i do want to pick it back up again, and i think after this is done, and get a few outfit posts put up i'll drag out the ol' canvas and start cracking at it again.

just waiting - graphite & pen
you make me feel - cobra starship ft. sabi

didn't have an umbrella, so now i'm soaked in stormy weather

2011-09-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

berekely deux! these were all taken with a samsung p&s, because, well, i'm still iffy about taking my camera around this area. i'd asked bf to take me on a berkeley date a while ago, show me his college years and hang outs. it was kind of nice to just walk around the campus and see all the local placee. and of course, eat at top dog.

my favorite building was the theatre arts one (naturally). i just loved the architecture of it and vibe it gave off. my friend is convinced there is a ghost in one of the windows, but hey! ghosts need education too.

photos taken by me & kloo
h&m hat, express sweater, almost famous shorts, wet seal necklace, hot topic ring

i had the time of my life fighting dragons with you

2011-09-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

okay. FINALLY. got these finished last night. took forever considering there are only three pictures right? but what you don't know (well, i guess you now do) is that i stupidly took like 3 look shots in two days, all in RAW format, and was like skipping across the different batches. :P this look was my favorite of the three, so it made it out first.

strangely, i'm having issues with how picasa is uploading these though. i didn't have an issue with shots that were shot in just jpg, so i'm not sure what is going on. we'll see if have issues with the next batch.

p.s. is fall draining any one elses' wallet this year? :P

photos taken by me
abercrombie cropped shirt, h&m shorts & belt, xhiliration bag, soho lab wedges

cookies rule everything around me

2011-09-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

there's a place in berekely called C.R.E.A.M, which, you guessed it, stands for "Cookies Rule Everything Around Me". they have a wide variety of different kinds of ice cream and cookies to make into delicious ice cream sandwiches for you to devour. its a nice little concept, and the prices aren't too bad. ours were free, which is an even better price, thanks to Munch on Me.

so i've realized that even if you're in a public place, and it is perfectly legal to take pictures, people will still yell at you and call you mean things. or at least in the hippie town of berekely they will. i don't have a whole lot of shots from this outting simply because i lost the motivation to do much after getting yelled at twice. (one of which was by C.R.E.A.M) one lady continued to yell at me, and told me i had no class, even after i put the camera away and apologized to her! and i'm the one thats rude?

i actually went up to berkeley this past weekend as well, but left the D60 at home. i just didn't feel like dealing with all of it again. hopefully i'll get over this soon, and start shooting some more (in friendlier towns!)

photos taken by me

bring the desert rain clouds, fuck reality and doubt

2011-09-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

just a sneak. had a girl's day in berekely a couple of weekends ago. this ended up being my favorite shot, and the lighting mood doesn't really go along with the rest, so i decided to make this its own post.

much love to anna for standing there for 15 minutes pretending to look at things because i couldn't figure out the right camera settings :P (and for letting me dress her that morning haha)

photos taken by me

lately i've been stuck imagining

2011-09-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

this was my second attempt at marbling for my nails and i am so in love with the results. i'd had the idea to use clear polish as one of the rings, and i really wasn't sure how it was going to work out, but it came out exactly as i intended. how often does that happen!? and again, i'm sorry, you're stuck with a horrible quickly taken camera-phone picture as the end result. one of these days i'll remember. one of these days.

taken by kloo and me

urbaners

2011-09-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

i found this amazing dress a while back, that really could have no other purpose than to look pretty and take pictures in. oh i'm sure that it'll be good for some wedding i go to one day, but those aren't very frequent in my life, so the most sensible thing was to buy it anyways, and then bug my friend for a photo shoot.

we went trolling around downtown san jose at night, and some totally safe areas with bums and cockroaches, before we found the right kind of backgrounds he was looking for. apparently downtown san jose isn't full of little alleyways like we thought, although maybe that was for the best, haha. the wooden door of the church was absolute amazing, and so not splinter safe. and it was completely not sketch climbing on top of his shoulders so i can sit on a slanted window sill and cling on for dear life while he took this amazing shot.

this one, however, is my absolute favorite. and probably the only direct shot where i'm not making a weird face. i'm seriously convinced i'm camera-challenged sometimes.

you can see more pictures, and more of his amazing work here: urbaners.com the man is a genius with lighting.

photos taken by btruong
windsor dress, ny&co necklace & rings, candies suede pumps

she's just a girl who thinks that i am the one

2011-08-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

we went to a giants game on saturday, and i didn't have time to set up the tripod before we had to go, so i took some quick "self portraits" instead. mainly because i thought my outfit looked pretty bad ass and i wanted to share. it, however, was really not good for the SF weather. i was freezing. thankgawd for panda hats! :) and that we actually won a game? :X

i recently started shooting in raw, which means... its taking me a bit longer to sort through pics. this is probably the last batch of outfit pics that will be in jpeg. just bare with me >.< i do like all the different elements i can bring out now though. i spent an hour on thursday just trying to figure out how the hell do i even open the files on my computer, let alone edit them. and then an hour ooo-ing and ahh-ing at all the different functions available to me, before i even sat down to adjust one picture. i think i've done a total of two since, and i have like 3 outfits backed up? oops.a new store opened up at oakridge mall a few months back called cotton on. its originally an AU company from what i gather, and i'm totally in <3 with it. its got the cutest items, all reasonably priced, and so far, very comfortable! the great mall opened up an outlet store there already too! right across from the huge forever 21 and AE /faints. i've seen several, several items that i want to buy already. i just need a bigger wallet!oh! also, if you notice in the last photo, my hand looks a bit.. well.. grimy. and that is because i tried water marble for my nails for the first time, and its messy! and i took these photos before remembering to clean up my hands. priorities? i know. they turned out OK, but the black turned to a chocolate brown, probably due to the nude colored base i used. many toothpicks died in my attempt to figure out how to do this properly. i wanted to do it in honor of the giants, using orange, black and white.. >.< but it just didn't come out that way.

oh wells. trial number two will be on wednesday or thursday!

p.s. today's title is in honor of michael jackson, who would've turned 53 today, if you didn't know ;)

taken by me
cotton on t-shirt, american eagle skinny jeans, H&M belt, Tilly's necklace, Charlotte Russe ring

cover your eyes.. this may get inappropriate

2011-08-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

to tell you the truth, these didn't really turn out as well as i wanted them to. i was a bit out of my comfort zone (which is funny since i was with my family), and with people who aren't use to my photo obsession. i didn't really have the patience or time to mess with the settings as much as i'd like, and unfortunately my computer is really starting to just lose it, so correcting some of the exposures in photoshop has become very frustrating and time consuming.

sigh. but its okay! the food still looks pretty damn amazing i think. my photography sucks, and i'm sorry you have to endure it right now. but i'll get better. i promise.

the above photos were taken at my parents house. my mom made pad kee mao, which is one of my favorite dishes. i blame my noodle obsession on my mom. but its a delicious obsession to have. the photos below are taken at a resturant in Los Angeles called Prael. they make amazing "salad" kind of thai dishes. we ate everything family style, which means we ordered TONS. TONS. i got yelled at at one point to put the camera down and eat. so there aren't as many pictures, minus the breaks i took because my mouth was on firreeeee.

som tum (papaya salad)

om nom nom thai tea

fried nam (which is some sort of thai sausage :P)

condiments - thai standard!! a thai restaurant without this isn't a real thai restaurant!

um. crispy rice salad? i don't know the thai name >.<

taken by me

sometimes i wish i could go back to college (part 2)

2011-08-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

i've always loved the little shops in santa cruz, even though i can't afford 90% of them. before everyone arrived to the beach house, we had a mini girls day, got fat off of taqueria and then went shopping! :) unfortunately i couldn't use some of the pictures because i'm horrible at remember to check/change my ISO before taking a picture >.< i really need to be better about it. the bottom two pics here are adorable, but too grainy for my taste:

taken by me

she looked a lil too sweet.. so i had to rough her up a bit

2011-08-21T23:47:00.000-07:00

its late. i just got back from LA a couple of hours ago. lots of food porn to share. and a baby bump (my friend's, not mine). wanted to get this up really quick, since i took these right before we left. will post more later.

<3

photos taken by me
american eagle long cardian, abercrombie shirt, h&m shorts & socks, chinese laundry wedges, random bracelets from i don't remember

sometimes i wish i could go back to college (part 1)

2011-08-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

this past weekend my friends and i packed up our bags (and puppies) and headed down to santa cruz for the weekend. we rented this awesome lil beach house within walking distance pleasure point, which is the best place to go if you're just learning how to surf. the waves are pretty mellow, easy breaks to get through, and a lot of white water to practice on. there's also tons and tons of kelp that you constantly get stuck in while trying to paddle. this was my second time out, and even though i didn't stand up this time, i caught a few waves body surfing and riding them all the way to the end!

i highly recommend this place if you're ever looking to do something down there. the house had everything we could need or think of. the owners were super nice and let us check in early and check out late. location is just amazing. <3 i really can't wait to do it again! on another note, i'm finding with my pictures that for the most part, i'm very happy with my composures. i haven't had to crop a single one (minus the self portraits), but oh boy is the exposure horrible in like 90% of them. but that is where practice makes perfect right? i'll be in LA this weekend, visiting the parents and going to a baby shower. plenty of photo opportunities! (and to be mocked by my family i'm sure).

adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them

2011-08-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

while i was on vacation, i saw a girl from germany wearing a pair of overalls. and i'm not the biggest fan of overalls for adults, but this one she had on was particularly very kute, and i knew i had to own it. unfortunately, since she was from germany, the chances of that were probably more on the slim side.

flash forward a couple of months, and i'm doing my weekly browse around target, and what do i see? but a pair of overalls in front of me! okay, thanks dr. seuss, thats enough outta you. i'm not entirely sure if this is the exact same pair i saw, but if they're not, they're pretty damn close. and i'm totally in love with them.

in other news, i'm attempting to full embrace this blogger thing, and i just joined lookbook.nu and chictopia.com. i hope i don't end up embarrassing myself. or realizing that my fashion sense is complete sh*t and no one actually likes it but me. then again, i think thats how it already is anyways!

photos taken by me
xhilaration overalls, marc by marc jacobs sunglasses, express lacy bandeau, poof! tank, steve madden oxford wedge boots

the world is better with cupcakes in it

2011-08-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

don't those just look delicious? like amazing, water in your mouth, wish you could have one now delicious? cos they were. and i ate like 10 of them over the weekend. no joke. i had my very own birthday cupcake

and just for good measure. the beautiful baker.. you can find her delicious blog here.

and me! the fatty consumer. see the awesome nails? they match the cupcake liner quite well.

photos taken by me

splashes of color

2011-08-15T23:16:00.000-07:00

i had a slight freak out right before i went to the gym tonight. i realized i'd never taken a picture of my awesome nails, and i was about to slaughter them with a pair of clippers and rocks. so i orchestrated a mini photo shoot right out side of work with my cellphone camera. lol.

this was inspired from a park&cube post, however i didn't quite get the same effect that she did. mine isn't as well blended, and a bit more sporadic than flowing, but i really like the end result--chaotic and messy--fits me quite well, if i do say so myself!

photos taken by me

i'm just a pudgey platypus

2011-08-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

this weekend was amazing. still a bit worn from it actually. i spent most weekend taking pictures of everything, just trying to practice. bf wasn't with me for the first half of them so i'm fairly sure 90% of the pictures will be useless and over exposed.

this was done a few months ago for my friend. he's all obsessed with platypi so i gave him this kute lil create to play with.

pudgey - adobe illustrator cs3

yes, that is a bubble gum pink hat

2011-08-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

i promise you. the only reason why this sketch is in color is because i wanted to show off the bubble gum pink hat i bought at H&M.

yes. that's right. bubble gum pink hat.

and it has matching jelly flats. they're turquoise with a bright bubble gum pink bow. not to be worn at the same time of course. maybe? :) i heart it, and cannot wait for an excuse to wear it and show it off.

bubblegum pop - pen, pencil & colored pencils

another reshare

2011-08-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

taken from The Sea of Fertility:

Creative.

What I want to write here I guess it is more personal as it is to do with creativity as an artist and designer. And I guess this can be applied to everyone if they read this or if they like it.

Some time ago I saw a video of David Lynch where he was talking about Creativity. How it is so important to keep your mind fresh and active, not to loose your creative drive or to burn out, as with any of us this can happen and we become more and more frustrated as we try to gain back this creative impulse. Some of us loose it, and as said, it can be so hard to get this back. For many artist or designers this is the worst thing that can happen. No matter how good your technical skill is, without a active imagination you can not create anything that looks good or has any value from an artistic point of view. So, how do you stay active with your imagination and your creativity? One of the things to do is to let yourself be inspired by other artist, museums, books or be active in forums of art or fashion, communicate with people.

This is the main thing, as my significant other always reminds me. To connect with others that have the same passion and drive such as yourself. I remember a university my mind was racing always with so many ideas and images, of stories and things to draw and create. The lack of this interaction with other people that think like you and see the world as you do from an artistic sand point make you slowly loose passions for your own works and art. This is the worst thing that can happen. This can be applied also in music, or writing, any kind of field. This is so simple right? But, I bet we all forget this main rule. So go out and meet other such as yourself, as with me I would draw outside, go to fashion events, study art by looking at others from fashion, classical art, modern art, illustrations and poetry. Some people even have groups where they meet up every Sunday as Bobby Chiu in Canada, and draws for hours with lots of people hen they talk about art, how exiting and fun right? Another key word I just realized, make sure it is fun and you are passionate about it.

If you feel yourself loosing touch with the old creative self, that inner child that used to be so passionate and would love to draw, paint, e.t.c. As yourself then, what made it so amazing for you before , why did you start to love your chosen field of study or career? What moved you as a child or an adult to be possessed with lust for life and design? (in any of its various forms).

My point is, focus on what you love and do it fully, keep your passions and the lust for life alive.

We are here for a short time compared to the Universe. Our lives are but shooting stars across a dimly lit night sky. If you must burn, then burn bright and make every moment count.

its funny how many of these i'm coming across today. especially after last nights long conversation. i really like the part about how you need to surround yourself with people of similar interest. i guess that is wear the fashion bloggers come into play. when i need to save or budgeting i often have to stop looking at my favorite bloggers, if i don't, i just feel a constant compulsion to create new outfits, which for some reason can't be accomplished without buying a lot of things. hmm.

nancy zhang is one of my favorites because she does things similar to how i like to. see an idea, sketch out (or in her case create amazing illustrations) the outfit, and then wear it. normally the sketch or the actual wear it picture never make it to my blog. i just don't make the time for it. i need to stop making up excuses and start making time, real time, to balance out everything in my life. from puppies, to bf, to fashion&art, to working out. oh and i guess work has to go in there somewhere. even if its slow. i need to be persistant. i need to keep going, and not get distracted or disenchanted or even frustrated with my lack of progress. even if it takes me a month to finish a design on the computer, or 3 months to finish a charcoal drawing, as long as i keep doing it, thats all that should matter.

right?

stolen

2011-08-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

stolen from a friend's blog. this is so true. i was just having this conversation with bf last night, about how hard it is to keep up all the creative things in life when work and etc bogs you down.

i want to make efforts to post more, but its difficult. i make it difficult on myself. too many standards for me to get in that "creative" spirit. and then i'm dissatisfied by my lack of creative output. its an endless circle fueled by too little sleep.

naps are evil

2011-08-10T01:12:00.000-07:00

phone = the lazy panda's scanner. well actually in my case, its the sleepy panda's scanner. i accidently took a nap, and so of course i couldn't sleep, and didn't feel sleepy up until it was time to write this post.

le sigh.

oh well at least that means i can get 5 hrs in some how. raw sketch of an outfit i have in mind and will hopefully have pictures up soon as i 1) convince bf to take pictures or 2) bf teaches me how to set up the tripod and remote without breaking the D60.

several people have mocked me now for buying a pair of overalls from target but g'dammit they're kute! and i think i can totally pull them off without looking like a 12 year old. i hope.

(yes i realize the legs are severely disportionate, but a girl can dream can't she?)

overall, i hope this looks good - pen&pencil

forget your opponents; always play against par

2011-08-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

*snap, snap*

bf recently started taking up golf - a lot. lol. i took these the day he got his new golf set and wanted to play with them at the driving range near our house. got stared at a lot. some random girl lying all over the floor shooting pictures. but i think they turned out pretty well. the one with bf in the background is my absolute favorite <3

pictures taken by me

infected

2011-08-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

ugh. i'm horrible i know. but at least it hasn't been like 6 months this time? just four... /smiles sheepishly

i will admit, i've been bit by the photography bug. i've always found photography interesting, but well 1) it can be a really expensive hobby and 2) everyone and their mom does it right now. and i don't like doing things that everyone is doing. however, the mechanics and all the different attributes that GO into photography is fascinating. so many little dials and changes can make a huge difference. and then of course there is the photoshop side of things that i've always loved.

so yes, yes. i finally (with some of bf's pushing) picked up a nikon d60 and started snapping away. my first place of learning - california academy of science! there is currently an amazing exhibit going on - snakes and lizards! i love snakes (as long as they're tame and caged >.<) and been wanting to go to exhibit since it opened. originally we wanted to go to the SF zoo, but of course it was too cloudy and cold, so we treked over the academy of science instead! i'm in the beginner stages and love everything being super up close and completely abusing the bouquet effect, but hey! whatever floats your boat. we'll see if i ever get out of this stage since i've always been a nut for little details. bf has been teaching/helping me ton and being very patient my million of questions. most of the time i know exactly what it is i want to shoot and how it the frame to come out.. i just have no bloody clue how to do it. next steps? learning how to use a remote and the tripod so i can start up the fashion/makeup shots again :)

photos taken by me
location: academy of science - snakes & lizard exhibit

have i gone mad? i'm afraid so. you're entirely bonkers. but i'll tell you a secret. all the best people are.

2011-03-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

/Pots banging /Lots of Typing /Swear Words /Puppies Barking /More Swear Words

Oh.

Hi there. Well then.. Its been a while hasn't it? Color me embarrassed considering the last post I wrote was about 6 months ago and.. oh I said I'd be working on more art project didn't it?

Can someone just stamp a big fat FAIL on my forehead?

So, I WAS unemployed, and then I got re-employed? and then I got sick, and then I got more sick.. and then I moved in! yay heartshowers! which pretty much put all funlife activies on hold, and etc, etc ,etc excuses for days.

I'm sorry. It won't happen again (/fingers crossed behind back). The funny thing is, I did manage to work on some projects, I just really haven't had time to post anything, so I'm going to work my way backwards and start with the latest and greatest - my new pair of climbing shoes. Which b-t-w, were an awesome Valentine's Day gift, and possible my best creation in the shoe-art to date.

I'm completely obsessed with Alice in Wonderland. I'm not sure what it is, but considering these shoes started off being a powder blue it felt meant to be. It was a solid 3 or 4 hours of consistant work and a wicked Sharpie hangover the next day. But it was totally. Utterly. Worth it. <3

photos taken by kloo
lost in wonderland - sharpie permanent and oil-based markers on la sportiva: katana shoes

leave me with some proof its not a dream

2010-10-09T16:11:00.001-07:00

Oh.. I've been a bad panda. Been almost a month since I lasted updated. And funny enough, I do have stuff to update with.. I'm just being a bit lazy with the photo editing.

Sneak peak of some stuff to come that my friend is working on. Who'd a thought a closet door would make a great back drop?

photo by lchen
sound&matter dress, american eagle belt, american apparel two toned socks, madden girl heels

i'm just trying to find my place, but it might not be here where i feel safe

2010-09-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

We went to the California Acadmey of Sciences last week. Super fun place! We did the day time passes and Night Life and I ended up getting a membership since I plan on bringing my family back when the come up and visit on January. Admittedly the penguin exhibit was my favorite, and no, I have no pictures of them. Those little critters are quick! especially when there are five year old and glass between you and them.

Can't wait to go back! We missed the Planetarium exhibit, twice. Not sure how we managed to do that, but oOps. Good thing I have unlimited visits for a year now!

photos taken by kloo
abercrombie cropped shirt, express tank, express military shorts, pink by victoria's secret knee highs, sketchers boots, forever21 necklace

and if it ends today, well, I'll still say.. that you shine brighter than anyone

2010-09-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

From my sorority days. During this time period (as you can see from previous posts, too) there was a heavy influence from anime--particularly the MegaTokyo webcomic in my drawing style. I think this is the last of my reserve works and will have to put a greater effort towards updating moving forward. Or I need to start hacking into BF's computer and get pictures quicker. :)

Going to the Paramore concert next week - so excited! So of course, I've been listening to them none stop. Thank you imeem/MySpace for filling album voids.

i am a G - pencil

if only the world revolved around cupcakes and cookies

2010-09-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well here it is! :) Took me a couple of weeks but I finished the logo for my friend Anna's blog. My brain is a little muddled today, so I don't have much to say. Sleep deprivation doesn't suit well with me.

But I do love the logo. It's very Anna, and oh--go check out her blog cos her cupcakes are delicious. As in I normally eat 3-4 in one sitting delicious.

my feelings taste like cupcakes - illustrator/photoshop/intuos3

and the winner is.. candy's pleasure!

2010-08-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

Oh dear. Three fun outfits this past weekend and not a single picture taken. Shame shame on me! So you'll have to settle for yet another sketch. But again, better on paper than on the person!

It was Dollar Days at the Golden Gate Fields horse races on Sunday. That means $1 entry, $1 hot dogs, $1 soda, and $1 beers - yes that is right $1 beers. Nom. Berkeley weather was a bit chilly, and yet I still insisted on wearing an oversized shirt layered on top of a skirt and riding boots. (Layers, layers, have you noticed what my favorite thing to do in the world is yet?) I bet three times, and managed to win one race, and a whole fifteen cents to my depleted bank account. The winner was chosen purely on the awesomness of the horse's name - Candy's Pleasure. Really, how could you NOT bet on that horse?! :)

the winning ticket - pencil

sometimes it just looks better on paper

2010-08-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Goodness me - two updates in one day? I must be on crack. Just a quick sketch I did.. well right now actually. Consider it one of my 15 minute breaks here at work! Concept for an outfit I might wear on Saturday. I'd found this pretty little lace top at Abercrombie the other day and instantly had to have it! Why I had to have it two sizes bigger, I'm not sure. We'll see how it turns out, sometimes stuff just looks better on paper or in my head. But I think that may be due to the fact that I look a lot better in my head than I do in real life.

p.s.. did I mention we're going to the city (aka San Francisco) on Saturday? I'm freaking nuts. I know.

its not lingerie i swear - pencil

just trying to find the sun

2010-08-27T12:16:00.001-07:00

I did this a few years back.. Ok its been more than a few years.. for a website layout, back when I still had a website that is. Pre-Wacom days /Sigh.

Oh! Speaking of which. The logo for my friend's blog is almost done, and I'm super excited about it. Should be able to show it to you guys in a few days :)

untitled - pencil/ps3 colored in

lets try and not electrocute myself..

2010-08-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

My laptop is slowly dying - very slowly. Its probably been dying for over a year now, but now the screen is a bit broken. I can still use it, but unfortuantely if I turn up the brigntness to a normal level there's a high pitch whirling and *blep* everything goes black. So I'm sort of looking into getting a new one. I've actually been considering getting a tablet PC (darn you Project Runway) - and bf was nice enough to let me use his old Asus one.

Right now it only has a note taking program on it, but I was still able to sketch up something decent--and managed to electrocute myself twice since his house isn't grounded. I'm going to install Photoshop and Illustrator later and see what its like, though I'm still a bit hesitant cause generally tablet PCs aren't the best for graphic stuff. I might just need to get two? :X

untitled - tablet pc sketch

coffee break

2010-08-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

Or in my case.. tea break! But some how that just doesn't roll of the tongue quite right. Mmm. Give me a good ol' chai tea latte any day - iced, hot. Yum, yum. Though given the weirdness of Bay Area weather lately, I've been having to ask for it hot more often than iced. Where did my summer go?

These were taken in front of a darling little bakery across the street from my work. Cocola, I would marry you if it were legal.. and not weird. They seriously make the best desserts. Sadly, I was just on a quick break and no time indulge or take pictures of the deliciousness. Just a side tip: Most of you in the Bay are probably familiar with Cocola in Santana Row. Same company, but the one in Redwood City is their actual baking facilities and the prices are 10x cheaper. ;) Worth the stop by if you're in the area.

photos taken by kloo & me
aerie shirt, express sleeveless cardigan, pink by victoria's secret bandage skirt, forever 21 flats

you taste like glitter mixed with rock 'n' roll

2010-08-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

I like you a lot, lot.. think you're really hot, hot. Attended the Monster Ball on Monday and like a good little monster, I had to dress accordingly. I'd actually left the house wondering if I'd gone too far, but those fears were rapidly put aside by the time I arrived at the HP. Little monsters everywhere!! I've never seen San Jose dressed so inappropriately! It was awesome! and of course! Mama monster was awesome as well :)

On an odd note though.. While taking pictures someone asked us if we were taking photos for high school. Um, what kind of pictures did THEY take in high school? Cause my mama would've disowned me if I'd ever even thought about leaving the house like this!

pictures by kloo
express shark lace tank, anchor blue studded shorts, american apparel over the knee socks, madden girl heels, forever 21 necklace

attempts to be pretty

2010-08-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

It's awkward taking pictures - seriously. I don't know how other fashion bloggers do it. When a camera gets pointed out me, self-consciousness kicks in and an unresistable urge to make rasberry face just surfaces. How bf managed to get these were a miracle in itself.

photos taken by kloo
hollister dress, random over-sized lace tank, steve madden heels

just.pandippo

today is never too late to be brand new

modern day audrey

jason wu, i think i love you

there's a funny story about this package..

contagious

individuality

colette is so much adorable than bridget

ifb roundup

Making a Connection

THE IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP: LINKS À LA MODE: JANUARY 26TH

i won't let you give up on a miracle

reset

lei out 2012

i'm not beauty queen, i'm just beautiful me

1940's inspired leopard nails

Fresh New Start

THE IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP: LINKS À LA MODE: JANUARY 12TH

i will never stop chosin' you

january art: promises are meant to be kept

liebster award

don't know if snow white's house is near or far

cat and mouse - part 02

cat and mouse - part 01

happy new years!!

what are you doing new years eve?

alcatraz don't sound so bad, at least they have a hell of a fine merlot

monday muse

happy christmas!

it was only just a dream..

friday finds

dressember - day 17: homeless

dressember - day 16: dear dressember

Hunger Games x Designers and China Glaze

friday finds

dressember - day 15: circus stripes

dressember - day 14: color pop

dressember - day 13: i bought an umbrella

should i give up? or should i just keep chasing pavements, even if it leads nowhere?

dressember - day 12: i want to fly away

dressember - day 08 and 09

dressember - day 07: imma seal! imma seal!

dressember - day 10: 1940's holiday party

monday muse

dressember - day 06: hello kitty

friday finds

dressember - day 05

the weekly round up

Links For Your Holidays!

THE IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP: LINKS À LA MODE: DECEMBER 8TH

dressemeber - day 02

its the little things

dressember - day 01

monday muse

start a new fashion, wear your heart on your sleeve

friday finds

you're out of this world. except you're not green

i was june, and you were my johnny cash

happy gobble day!

all this money can't buy me a time machine

yellow diamonds in the light

...and i believe that its easier for you to let me go

gather up your tears, keep them in your pocket

in the jungle, the mighty jungle...

i have died every day waiting for you

i have a confession to make...

oh dear gawd... i've joined tumblr.

every beautiful thought's been already sung

if you listen, you can hear me thru the radio.. in that bright white noise

i hope that you'll catch me, cause i've already fallen

what do you mean i have to wake up?

i heard that your dreams came true, guess she gave you things i didn't give to you

a penny for my thoughts? oh no, i'll sell them for a dollar

i'm the baddest baby in the atmosphere

didn't have an umbrella, so now i'm soaked in stormy weather

i had the time of my life fighting dragons with you

cookies rule everything around me

bring the desert rain clouds, fuck reality and doubt

lately i've been stuck imagining

urbaners