Adoration

The Last

2010-01-18T23:07:00.002-08:00

Blogspot is the site to be, though I cannot, for the life of me, get rid of the awful spacing from copying and pasting from the other site!

http://citywink.blogspot.com/

Wow.. I need a header.

Hopefully The Last.......

2010-01-18T00:42:00.005-08:00

OK so I've resorted to Wordpress's's's's's's blogetery... I wonder how long I will last. So far, have no time to pick a theme or think of a header so I've gone super minimalistic. It'll do for now. Loading pictures via Wordpress is painly slow on my computer. I gotta upload them individually, then go to the media library to "input to post" individually (which means opening a new pop-up every time which loads very slowly) and then the pictures are too big because medium is too small and large is too large so I have to make it 80% of the original for every single picture. And then it's another chore to centre all the photos and not centre the text.. and as you can see, I failed in this department 'cause everything is to the RH side. Gosh.. I think I've been spoiled by Blogspot's supereasy navigation and all! Anyway, I hope to get used to this... I hope to figure out how to get my own domain soon. I keep thinking "blog-eatery" when I see "blogetery" lolll
Sorry for the large font, no, I don't think you're that hard of seeing. I will try to poke around the settings...

Here Goes...

2010-01-17T03:37:00.006-08:00

I want to get a new url name... suggestions? I'm thinking of something with "city" in it.
I like the "Read More" function for tumblr.
Resizing photos take up most of my blogging time...
They don't have 'centre' function.
You have to load your pictures on a separate site (like photobucket) and link the image url to post.
Still playing around with the themes. How's the one I have now as the most simplistic blog theme ever?? I don't even have a header haha
[edit] What? There's no comment function for tumblr? It's too much trouble to go get a Disqus account for this... humbug I gotta look for another blogger site...

Lover

2010-01-16T23:54:00.004-08:00

Quickly putting together a blog for tumblr. I think this will be one of my last posts on blogspot, so goodbye (unless tumblr suddenly fails to impress).

So earlier on today at Starbucks, I ask for an "Iced Vanilla Latte, light ice", as you can see clearly labeled.
I drank it fairly quickly.. but gee.... I wonder what a regular iced Vanilla Latte would be......

More than 3/4ths of it is ice!! I would have said something but they were really busy.

My uncle brought over a case of avocados and a case of my FAVOURITE FRUIT: PAPAYA!!!!!!!!!!!
SOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY I'M JUST WAITING FOR THESE BABIES TO RIPEN HEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHEHHEHEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEHE

2010-01-15T00:22:00.002-08:00

Thinking of my grad dress. It's not a big deal, but it's just fun to think about.
I haven't thought too much about it, but I'm thinking of going towards a non-black dress... and peeptoes. I don't want sexy so nothing form fitting all the way through.. but not really into cute, either. How about chic + classic? Yea I like that. Maybe a pretty spring colour. Flowy, possibly. Fun abstract floral, possibly. I like the colour of the dress above and the subtle, structural details of the bodice.

And would like to try a blow-out from Blo Hair Salon since I never know what to do with my hair and do not want to make it another High School grad (disaster) where I went last minute to some $7 haircut salon where the lady gave me curls that made my cheeks look wider and a 70's bang-do I undid at home and used some 15+year old product. :( Hope my hair will stay a good length by then. It should be a few more inches longer than it is now. Colour change is also needed. I probably have time for one more dye before the 'grad dye'.

Anyway, just random thoughts. More on it later.

Cetaphil Adoration

2010-01-14T16:39:00.005-08:00

I want to dedicate this post to Cetaphil. Ever since I ran out of it near the end of my stay in Korea (and I think, combined with the humidity my skin wasn't used to) and using other cleansers that were popular in the Korean market, my face broke out like crazy.. so much so, that I had acne.. which was sad 'cause I was 21! I know I know.. "adult acne" lol. It was awful 'cause it was red and bumpy (the worst part.. bad texture you can see through foundation) and full of blackheads that continuously came up so randomly and out of nowhere (yes, it was gross). When I got my facial at Skoah back in August, the esthetician commented on my "congested skin" which led to a whole convo on products etc. She really approved of my use of Cetaphil (which, at that time, I was almost out of and had only been using it once every 1.5 weeks).. and I can finally say as of about a month ago, my skin is back to what it used to be after using Cetaphil every night (like I had been before Korea) for the past 3 months. I would also like to think that my use of Lush fresh face masks (I think it's Cosmetic Warrior during the end of my 4-5 month acne battle.. it's for teenage acne-prone skin lol.. I felt olddd) and the Lush Tea Tree Toner really helped quicken the acne-rid, too.
Now, I just have scars left ('cause yea I touched my face..), but Bio Oil has really been helping to fade the acne scars. I slather Bio Oil on my face every night before bed and let it soak in so I hope I don't need to wear hardly any foundation anymore. Bio Oil makes my skin look nice and plump and smooth the next morning, too haha so Cetaphil and Bio Oil are my skin saviors.. Oh, and my skin is quite fond of Pond's Cream for dry skin, too. Soaks it all up like a sponge. Honestly, when I first heard of Cetaphil and how so many ppl raved over it, I didn't want to like it 'cause it was nothing special. It didn't lather up nicely and just didn't seem like it would work. Plus, the bottle looked horrendously generic and cheap and not very nice to have on the counter. Obviously having gotten past that, I now know that it is a fantastic cleanser that gets rid of all my face makeup super gently. My eye makeup needs eye makeup remover, though.. and Neutrogena's Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover has been doing a great job. So tadaaaa! Happy products. Now I know, the search for my "HG" (Holy Grail, as they say in makeup forums) cleanser is complete.
My whole body loves sleep.. so I'll go take a nap now...

10 Ways to Make Yourself Feel More Beautiful

2010-01-13T22:42:00.003-08:00

I really like this list. This isn't written by me. It's taken from my Xanga subscription to Lovelyish:

For 2010, instead of more New Years Resolutions to post, I've decided to write about a few things that have helped me better my life and resolve my old resolutions. So, without further ado, here are 10 things I've learned over the years and thought I'd share and perhaps "enlighten" some girls who need a minor "pick-me up"! (Boys, feel free to use this advice, as well. haha)

1. Clean up your life by getting rid of: Bad friends who put you down and neglectful boyfriends (princess complex is OKAY to a certain extent if you know you're a great gal and have a lot to offer..just don't let it get to your head!) And by organizing: your room, car, and any space you spend a great deal of time in. When you de-clutter your spaces, life all of a sudden feels much more peaceful. You'll be at peace with yourself and have a lot more positive energy!!

2. Invest in a bed with a comfortable mattress, a bed frame that best represents you and a comfortable goose feather comforter. You spend 1/4 of your life in a bed, so make it count for something! A bad night of sleep can make all the difference in the world for your next morning and day. Oh, and I wrote a previous entry on how I found my bed at a thrift store. For $35, I got a shabby chic bed that I re-sanded and repainted....HAPPY BED = HAPPY GIRL (in FACT--my mom just got me a new mattress and sleep is 10,000X more beautiful now---seriously!)

3. Organize your schedule with a daily planner. Not only that, but keep it neat. Even if you can write things in it that aren't relevant to work (a date with your girlfriends, lunch with your sister, etc) you'll feel at ease since you'll know exactly what you need to do in a day and how to have time to accomplish those things!

4. Take an extra few minutes to "un-frumpify" yourself whether it be with something as simple as lip gloss (nivea+mac lipglass in my case). Also, DO your hair, use a shampoo and conditioner that you love the smell of (I'm trying to find one that works and smells gooood!), and if you're going to use makeup---use better products (Totally agree!)---your face, after all, is something you have to live with the rest of your life so you'd better be using the best of the best on it. It's not so much a matter of vanity---but I realize one of the worst feelings for me is when you go somewhere and don't feel confident because you don't feel you look your best.

Everyone's "best" is different---for some, it might just be something as simple as letting their hair down which leads me to my last "un-frumpify" point. Spend the extra money for a good haircut. That extra $50 goes a long way!!! (A haircut every four months only comes out to an extra $10-12 a month! That's basically one or two meals of eating out per month). If you need a great hairstylist---please let me know if you live in the OC area---my hairstylist is the BEST!!!!

5. Flowers and Candles. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE candles!! I go around to a lot of boutiques/home good stores and smell a lot of them. My favorite scents are vanilla, white tea and ginger, and gardenia. There's something about candles that make you feel awesome even if you're in a pair of sweatpants and a tee at home by yourself! (Oh, but make sure your room is clean before you go lighting things in your room!) Oh, and make sure you blow it out before you leave the house! Also, flowers are a cheap way to feel beautiful as well (Flowers!! Love flowers!). Trader Joes has "Stargazers" (my favorite) that blossom into HUGE flowers and can last about a week and a half if you clean the water every other day! They look pretty and make you feel pretty for a few bucks. Why not??

6. Have alone time to veg out at home in your room, paint your nails, read a book, drink some hot tea---all while blasting your favorite tunes on Pandora. (Rejuvenation at its best!)

7. Read! Don't ever stop learning...educate yourself, achieve higher education! There are plenty of great books at the local bookstore. OR, if you want to save some big bucks, go to your nearest library. Sometimes they have a library bookstore where the books are a couple bucks each!

8. Learn to do everything in moderation---for me, it's eating. When I love the way something tastes---I want to horde it!!! That's hard for me to do because of my love for food, but one day at a time.....

9. Dress to impress yourself. (Yayyyy - life is too short to dress badly) It doesn't have to cost a lot to dress nice. I snubbed great deals and for me, personally, the key to the way I dress is choosing very solid colored pieces to mix and match over and over again. I don't buy things with a ton of patterns. Instead, I'll dress up my outfits with accessories---big earrings help, a fancy bracelet, long necklace. (Not all at once---though! You don't want to OVER accessorize) The worst is when you go out and feel frumpy, [see #4] so do yourself a favor and wear something that you'll feel great in! (take, for example, Reese Witherspoon!)

10. Make time for girls night out! I do this weekly (sometimes 2-3 times a week!) with my girlfriends and it's really paid off to invest in friendships with a few great girlfriends. They're the ones that will be there for me when relationships fail and have had my heart broken, the ones that you can laugh with endlessly, they're the ones that will give you REAL advice and most importantly, constructive criticism when you don't want to hear it. (Albeit, this takes time to develop. Fortunately for me, I've had the same group of close-knit girlfriends for the past 12 years!) (I do and will do more!)

Breakfast In Bed

2010-01-13T00:00:00.013-08:00

AND so the procrastination has begun. I've finally found a new blog host site (whatever you call it)- called tumblr. It looks awesome (and I hardly ever use that word unless it's followed by possum) and makes blogspot look super outdated. Tumblr even has a function where you can call in your post and have an audio-recording! How cool is that.

I like this shoe. It has nice proportions. Wish it came in nude. Platform pumps all the way.

So my tiny tiny bathroom singlet ensuite of the house I'm moving into has one of those mirrors that span the whole wall (really not that big) that I thought was only done in houses built prior to 2000... but I guess not.
Here's a way to make it more modern, though! Too bad my sink isn't in the centre of the mirror so I can't really do this.
I like the towel bar in the mirror reflection. I had no idea towel bars could be so pricey...Picture credit: http://citified.blogspot.com

This is pretty - paper flower wreath
Gah! Where did Alexander Wang get this mirror!? Perfectly ornate. The dresser is lovely, too, but it wouldn't fit in my room.
Glamorous shoe storage (drool)
Ih. Not keen on dusting my shoes...
Love full, luxurious drapes like these.
A framed fireplace!
I love ivory, beige, and white for rooms. This is too white and I'd like more substance near the desk area for me, but still glam... but after staring at it a bit more, I'm like it less and less...
I like this bedside book holder.
As of 2 days ago, my Gmarket order has arrived in Vancouver. Now where is it?
(Wow just quickly scanned my post.. sorry for the terrible grammar.. I will sleep now)

Finding a Balance

2010-01-12T17:59:00.003-08:00

Got an eventful weekend lined up, but starting to wonder if I really should.. I can sense some bad, lazy school habits starting up soon.. really need to coffee shop it up to read read read! It's where I concentrate the best. Got seven 20+pg articles and 4 chapters (62 pages) to read this week... and it's just the 1st week. Whoopdeedoo. Today, my Contemporary Capitalism TA added on discussion questions to hand in starting in 2 weeks. I gotta say I love taking notes on my mom's little netbook. It's so great for these 8:30AM classes where I can't really understand everything at the rate it's being spoken to me 'cause it's so early so I just write what he's saying word for word along with notes on the powerpoint and make sense of it later at home. Contemporary Capitalism tutorial today was interestingly small lol.. I've never had such a small tutorial before! Only 6 ppl (compared to 18-23 usually) so I'll probably get to get to know my classmates more than usual. Also means more participation needed. UM yea. Kinda interesting - first time in all my classes/tutorials that I'm the only Asian. There are hardly any in the Geo department, but I see about a handful in my lectures and around one or two more in my tutorials. Not like it's gonna change anything and I don't feel any different, but it's just something I noticed. In another way, it's kind of a shock, especially coming from Korea lol
Anyway, this Fri night, I have dinner + gonna watch Avatar 3D in IMAX (woot) bought advanced tickets so we can get in for sure. On Sat, I have lunch with one of my friends who just came back from exchange in Taiwan and then I have a going away party/dinner for another friend who is going to Australia for a while with some possible dancing plans after. On Sunday, I possibly have lunch plans, will do lots of packing (I already packed 1 box that seems like 1/3 of my closet.. wow if I can fit my entire wardrobe (minus outerwear) in 3 boxes, I'll be surprised and kind of sad), and am attending this Wedding Soiree thing that's apparently like a fake wedding receiption w/ 3 course meal + manicures + even a bouquet toss lol yay an occassion to possibly wear a Forever 21 dress I've had sitting in my closet for 2 years. In between, I will try to fit in some coffee/reading.. yea good luck to me. I have my first paper (out of 14) due next Thursday and I haven't had a full lecture on the material, yet.
I'm exhausted.. gonna take a nap... (it's 6PM). See you in a couple hours... and then I will have to read 4 articles (65 pages).

Way to Store Handbag #1

2010-01-11T21:53:00.004-08:00

I LIKE!

Great idea to use Ikea bookshelves in this way.

No dust and so nice to look at ;)

Small LV cake! Very cute

A Sing-Song Mood

2010-01-10T01:20:00.005-08:00

Watched Sherlock Holmes w/ B, D, Jason, Wennie, and Howard in Richmond last night. Pretty good, actually! I surprisingly thought Jude Law was quite charming, me not being a usual fan of his. There were a few moments where B and I were the only ones in the theatre laughing.. don't know if it's 'cause we were the only ones who understood the quirky part or got it, or if we were just nuts lol Saw Emily like 5 rows down! Wow... another coincidence 'cause I just saw her at the New Years party and I had no idea she would be there, either!
I was actually pretty excited to watch Avatar 3D, but it was sold out as usual.. hopefully one day soon! I hope I'll like it.
Then we all went to Jason's house to eat cheesecake. It was nice :) Don't often get to hang out together.

Had work @ the restaurant (only shift this month) earlier today. B, our friend Shogo from Japan, and my old coworker Helen (coincidentally know each other) and a bunch of their friends ate there but I didn't get to serve them. Had another excellent work night wooooooo :) I even got off a bit 'early'.
It's great to see how the hosts improve so much. At first, they're all "try hard, but don't really succeed" and some try to test out how much they can get away with and don't finish their job which is annoying for the people who have to deal with it the next day... then after about a month, they finally realize that it won't get them to being a server so they go over and above what's expected and they're really helpful, fast, and super fair about allocating tables.. and finally so reliable. BAM wow. Like today, I only had to clean 1.5 tables out of my 12 'cause they were just so on top of it.

Then after, I walked down to meet up w/ B + the group for a bit as they went to Cheesecake Etc. after (really don't know how they could still eat, but it sounded pretty yaaaammy). They had an old man playing on a keyboard. Dark, sleepy, candle-lit atmosphere that's pretty romantic now that I think of it but not in a chic way lol but I actually kinda like it. Maybe I'll go back one day and try their cheesecake.

Anyway, in a reflective sort of note, I guess I've been feeling really great recently 'cause of so many things. I feel like I'm finally getting to know myself more, much more comfortable and satisfied with myself and in my own skin - a more defined picture. Things have fallen into place - I'm graduating, I finally understand what I've been studying for the past 5 years (Geography) 'cause I was soooo confused before *** (big one!), I'm confident at what I excel at, I'm so much more independent in most ways (sometimes, comparatively, the thought of going to Seoul by myself - knowing absolutely nobody, not speaking the language, not knowing some of the customs - seemed intimidating, but right when I got there, I realized it was so very much doable.. and now, it's like "give me more!"), suddenly my love for fashion is being put into some use (and in a fun way, too), my style is evolving to something way more "me" than before (more coherent though still needs a ton of work.. I'm going from "liking" items I buy to "loving" them, and my "basics" wardrobe is almost complete!), after all these years, my truest friends are so clear (none of the "i'm your friend because I see you almost everyday" sort of thing) and they're fantastic (esp. 'cause they put up with me lol), my family is all happy and healthy, from packing, I'm able to get rid of things that have been weighing me down.. things that I know I should get rid of but haven't.. and just so many other things I can't think of right now that I'll probably think of later and want to add to this - I feel like I have a clear mind, now. Overall, I feel much more mature than even a year ago. I'm growing up, ma! lol I guess some other things that would complete the picture, so to speak, is learning how to drive, boyfriend, and a career.. and more traveling.. but those can all wait (except the traveling).
I'm happy with everything now.

That's Amore

2010-01-07T23:56:00.008-08:00

I've made a new rule that will keep me happier the next day:

No caffeine after 4PM unless I want to stay up the whole night.
Grumble sensitive to caffeine grumble...
Barista (hey, shouldn't it be Baristo since it was a guy? lol) designed a cute heart for me.
Caffe Artigiano > (x10) Starbucks coffee. Love European coffee.

(In Napoli where love is king
When boy meets girl here's what they say)

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore
When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine
That's amore
Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you'll sing "Vita Bella"
Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay, tippy-tippy-tay
Like a gay tarantella

When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fagiole
That's amore
When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet
You're in love
When you walk in a dream but you know you're not
Dreaming signore
Scuzza me, but you see, back in old Napoli
That's amore

When the moon hits you eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore
(That's amore)
When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine
That's amore
(That's amore)
Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you'll sing "Vita bella"
Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay, tippy-tippy-tay
Like a gay tarantella
(Lucky fella)

Right when I stepped outside my house this morning to catch my bus around 7:45AM, I was immediately struck by awe of the sunrise colours! I took a good 5 minutes trying to test my manual camera settings and capture the vivid colours but alas realized that only a dslr (that I did not have) could achieve such a picture.
I remember before Winter break, I saw this gorgeous grapefruit colour on my way home from school and wished to take a picture of it. Hmm I guess I call the colours from today's sunrise, Tropical Punch (minus the blue). Thanks for the picture, pollution ;)

Lalalalalalala

2010-01-06T23:45:00.006-08:00

For some reason, my mind has been feeling so light. It's a great feeling and it's the first time I've felt this way since coming back from Korea. I just feel like everything is good the way it is right now even though it's pretty much the same it has been. I have the whole world in my hands. I feel invincible and so content. There's nothing pulling me down or nothing that's making my brain stale. No worries. I'm graduating mannn!!!! I think this realization is making me feel this way. I just want a ton of time to do what I enjoy.

Packinggggg... getting rid of the little things I've kept, thinking that I'd eventually use it, but realizing I won't. My makeup collection is growing so nicely :) About a week ago, I got my package of Japanese cosmetics from GoodDealer.com. I ordered Jill Stuart loose powder blush in orange.. and man is it orange but I looove it haha It was the blush I was too chicken to buy in Japan so I got a brown instead.. so now my brown has a sister :) Also got my first lipstick from Shiseido's Maquillage line in some beige colour. The colour is nothing special but I'm happy it's not drying and lasts long and is smooth when applied. I like to layer it with one of my glosses and since the lipstick is a bit nude-ish, it helps the colour be more vibrant. I also ordered this gorgeous Jill Stuart lipstick but it was out of stock. Came with a few samples from Shiseido and Esprique.

I have about 5 or 6 items arriving from Korea from the brand Clio. B and I made a Gmarket order. Clio is actually pretty difficult to find in Seoul - I've only seen one little stand in a random run-down area near Olympic Park and I only bought a few pairs of false eyelashes (that happened to be my favourite ones ever and I'm saving my last pair..) 'cause we didn't have time to test out their makeup but I swiped my fingers over a few of them (haha yea I know, so hygenic) and was really pleased at their quality. Wanted to go back the next day but I didn't end up having time. Anyway, I ordered an orange lipstick that looks really beautiful in the provided swatch (yeaaa I'm really into orange, coral, and pretty nudes for makeup these days) and 2 pink blushes + 1 orange-peach blush.. and a glossypeach lipstick, too. Surprisingly made from Germany and you can't get these products anywhere outside of Korea.. don't know why.......

OH and I found my OLD NARS lipgloss hidden in my old Kathy Van Zeeland bag!!!! HUSPAZ! Now I have 2 in the same colour haha but that's ok 'cause the colour is very natural and everyday.

Can't sleep... thanks to a Spanish Latte I got at Caffe Artigiano at like.. 7PM gahhhhh. Gotta wake up at 6:15 tmr and it's almost midnight... no beauty sleep tonight oh no.

When's Spring a'comin'??

2010-01-06T00:22:00.006-08:00

I'm so done with Winter clothes.
Nothing new + fresh is coming out... xept I still would looove a fitted lace minidress

A list of items I would love for my Spring wardrobe:
- A fitted white blazer
- Chic trouser-black ankle pants
- A metallic sandal + some sort of wedge
- A fun or classic clutch
- A fun, bright bag
- A chic trench (eying some Club Monaco ones)
- Soft pink and soft-feeling cardigan
- Pearly things
- Trouser shorts (with cuff)
- More raw edge jean shorts
- Printed dresses
- Coral swimsuit
- Slim fit jeans
- Cute and pretty skirts galore
- A flowy white dress
Colours: soft pink, ivory, coral, gold, cool grays, and metallics

For makeup, I'm very attracted to orange, coral, peach, and nudes.
Love Rumi's look - I'm going to look into MAC paintpots for that sort of eye. A highly pigmented eye colour that goes on creamy but dries to an intense, vibrant finish. Long-wearing, colourfast. Creates seamless coverage without weight or caking. They have a collection of nude-styles that really brightensthe eye area so prettily.
Btw, exposed lingerie is a trend this Spring... like bra shirts that are worn on top of your shirt. They aren't actual bras that you'd wear on their own, particularly...
As usual, Suzie Bubble is on top of it. She's a good example of someone who obviously dresses for herself. This copper bra is from Topshop.
This next one was gifted to her from her Bf for Xmas. Stella McCartney Sofia Flashing Bustier.
That whole outfit is super trendy as pastel colours are also trendy for Spring2010... yet the way she puts it together softens the trendiness in a way..

Into the New Year

2010-01-05T11:57:00.009-08:00

Happy New Year, btw :)

For NYE, I attended a party at the Marriott Pinnacle downtown. Every year, A helps out with the event-planning for this company that organizes a big bash every NYE (among many other events throughout the year). Unfortunately, she had to work until 11:45 (though she was supposed to be off at 11) helping host and deal with people who wanted to buy last-minute tickets, but I got to hang out with her lovely coworker, Judy, for a bit. The party had a snow theme with the colours white, silver, and blue. They had bubbles and foam coming down from the ceiling to look like snow and they even had a couple snow cone machines where you can choose the alcohol. I tried Baileys for the first time. It's really good in snow cone form! Btw, now I wouldn't even say that I have a tolerance for alcohol. I don't know why, but after a few sips of wine or a shot of Soju etc., I get really red! I'm not affected mentally, though.. but being red is embarrassing enough... and then I get pale.

Anyway, there were a bit over a thousand people there - I would say a great mix of ethnic backgrounds and almost everyone was super Westernized. Mingled a bit - everyone was over 23 ('cause that's the min) except for us and maybe one other... there were some older people, too, which was interesting - they just sat and ate large quantities of dessert. Oh yea - it was a dessert buffet but I didn't end up getting any, and there were 3 rooms to party in. The first, main, and largest room was the typical club scene spinning top 40's, dance hits, and r&b etc., the 2nd room played older dance classics, and the 3rd one was a Jazz lounge with a Juno nominee singer and someone playing the bass or something. A and I loooved the Jazz lounge. We knew almost all the lyrics to the songs she sang. Country rooooooadddddd taaaake me hooommmeee and the atmosphere was just so relaxing and different from the other two party rooms. The singer was pretty darn good, too, and engaging.
Me (with a pearl face goin' on + can't keep eyes open), A, and Judy. Surprisingly the only picture I took that night!
haha I wore the same thing as I wore for Xmas w/ the family 'cause I wanted to get max holiday use. I wore it w/ a long thick strapped tank I got on the streets of Korea.
Bumped into Emily -- this is a neat pic w/ the "snow" coming from the sky and getting into my drink :)
Anyway, for the countdown, A and I snuck behind the DJ table along with other staff members and got a great view of everyone cheering :) A was given a hotel room at the Marriott so her and I slept over night there and ended up sleeping around 4AM, I think. The next morning, A woke up at 8 and we went downstairs and ate the hotel's buffet breakfast. It was quite pricey, but the food was actually quite good - especially for "breakfast" food I usually don't prefer.

Finally wore my Shu Uemura lashes for the first time. I really don't care for them. They're way too heavy and way too long for my small eyes so they make my eyes look so much smaller (as seen above) and I look sleepy. Plus, at $25, they're ridiculously expensive so it's a good thing I won't be wasting anymore money on them. Daiso lashes are good for beginners, but I find that they look a bit too plastic up close. I want to try out MUFE ones + I think MAC has some nice ones, too.
At around noon, A got picked up and I went to PC but it was closed 'cause it was NYday so I stayed at Starbucks for 2 hours doing nothing but drinking my Vanilla latte and some tazo tea thingy lol - I was half asleep. Nad and Dims picked me up and we went to the Polar Bear Swim down at English Bay! It was partially raining before and we were a tad late so we missed the big hype of everyone rushing into the water almost naked but there were still tons of people we had to weave through when we got there. This was the first time and I was too chicken to go all the way so I changed into my PJ shorts and went up to my hip. Nad dove in! She's a seasoned polar bear now ;) You can pick up a PBS pin after, but I didn't feel like I deserved it, haven't had gone in all the way.. but I said next year I will haha
Going in together :D
It wasn't as cold as last year, but when you go in the 2nd time, it's COLD I could hardly feel my feet when I got out!
haha Nad looks like she's trying to chase me out so I'm like gotta get away fast!!
I don't wanna!! Don't make meeeee! It's coooooldddd!Then, like it wasn't already cold enough, Dims drove us to La Casa Gelato known for their 235? flavours of ice cream and sampled like 8 diff types including Chai, Wild Fennel, Purple Yam, Apple Cheddar, and Mango Crystalized Ginger (I think) and I ended up getting Lavender. Nad and I thought that we'd be the only ones there that looked so scrubby, but there were actually another small group of ppl in their bathrobes ahha

I got dropped of at M's house 'cause she invited me over for a Greek, tomato lamb dinner (they don't make that style of lamb often) and I didnt know her whole family would be there and I looked like a salty, drowned rat so I wanted to change into something I threw in the overnight bag but then it had a gaping hole in the back so M's mom fixed it for me right before dinner and so phew. Then I played stuffed animals for a bit with her niece and I went home and then M and B came over to play games but we only ended up playing one game and watched a bunch of Korean Youtube videos of 2PM (kkk good looking bunch) and Bern slept over!

The next day, I was super hungry and ate a lot for breakfast/lunch. B left around... can't remember, 3:30-4? And then I got my stuff together and M gave me a ride to Nad's get together at her house where I made my mushroom orzo, this time, following the recipe perfectly and it turned out 10x better than the 3rd, 4th, and 5th time I've made it. Everyone seemed to like it :) I would say that it could easily become my signature potluck dish haha but it's super rich with the wine and butter and chicken broth.
Nad made a tiny turkey! haha it almost looks as small as a chicken! She wrapped it with bacon mmm lol and made this corn souffle that was yummy.
I also had fois gras for the first time in my life and I like it almost just as much as pate except pate has a bit more flavour. Fois gras is buttery smooth, though. We played this group card game called "Hearts for Everybody" (maybe they made that title up) - it's fun. We also all brought a gift worth $15 for the gift exchange game and I ended up going home with a nice red patriotic Olympic scarf. I contributed a $15 gift card to the movies and hid it in a phone book and got M to wrap that up lol. Other prizes was a red, Starbucks travel mug (also nice - I opened that intially but it was stolen from me), a Snuggie (looks like something Cookie Monster would wear when he got cold), and the game Clue. For dessert, we had meringues (didn't know they took 3 hours in the oven to bake!) and had Reisling (yumm). Btw, I'm absolutely terrible at foosball!

Had work on Sunday night, which was excellent.

I've been home for almost 45 min now and I feel like it's almost 5PM haha even though it's only 12:30PM. Had my first day of school - well, only 1 class - my 400-level Geography "Cultural Geography" at 8:30AM. Sounds interesting and quite harmless (ie, only 1 presentation (mine is the class right after Olympic break), 1 final paper worth 40%, 1 article to read per week, and 2 mini assignments). The prof is one of the best in the Geography department and he's funny too. I took Social Geography with him in 2nd year but I did not like Social Geo... I don't think I was mature enough for it at that time - that level of thinking. Human Geo was super new to me and I didn't really start grasping the whole point of it until last semester where I did fairly well. In first year, Physical Geography (weather, climate, earthquakes, natural disasters and hazards etc.) was the "fun" course 'cause it was pretty much a repetition from Gr 12 Geography, but as years went by, Physical Geo became the enemy 'cause it was full of GIS and soil science and cartography so most people switched to Human Geo. So many people expressed their hate for Physical geography this morning during introductions lol People also complained about having to explain to other people what Geography is all about. So many people think that it's about memorizing the capitals of all the countries in the world which is what a monkey could do.. and when we Geographers try to explain to them what it's all about, they get so bored haha 'cause 1. it's hard to explain 'cause it's not concrete and 2. we don't really understand what we learn, too. I think I'm finally getting at what Geography is about in my last term. Broadly, it's about understanding and analyzing interactions, changes across space, time and society, mapping the produced, contested, embodied, emotional, and representational spaces while considering socio-economic and politial dimensions (gosh I sound like a textbook). You see how ppl can tune out? The discipline is soooo not interesting to explain, but the content is interesting. One good thing about Geo is that the themes are super recurrant throughout all the courses with just a bit of a twist. It's quite a good discipline, you can apply it to almost everything you do and observe, and it makes you much more aware of how things came to be and of concepts and approaches to things but it's not necessarily easy to verbalize. They're training me to think a certain way, which is arguably how they teach almost all disciplines, except I think it's quite different, too, because others seem to be much more applied with their own terms and formulas.

Slowly starting to pack - got ride of all my old YM from 2003 and LOULOU magazines from 2005. I am keeping my 2007 Wish magazines 'cause they have some pretty good quality, timeless info in them and I trust their opinion regarding products. And I'm keeping all my Japanese ones, of course. I love Japanese magazines - I wish I could get yearly subscriptions to them!

Found out that one of the first friends I made at SFU during orientation in first year will also moving to the same neighbourhood I'm moving to! Her move date is 5 days before mine and I think she'll be around 5 blocks away. She's in Taiwan right now on exchange and is coming back in about a week and her parents bought the house while she was gone haha neat! I was trying to figure out how to get to school by bus... gotta start learning how to drive. I guess a good goal for 2010 is to get my N license lol.

Craving salmon sashimi from Sushi Town...

GRUMBLE

2010-01-03T02:46:00.003-08:00

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

So recently, I've been bragging that I only need to take 2 Geography courses and 1 "fun" course in order to graduate because that is what my student advisor told me when I visited her at the beginning of last semester.. but I decided to double check just in case and MY GOODNESS!! THANK GOODNESS I DID!!

Not only did I find that I was 6 credits short from the overall credit requirement for my major, I also found that I was 5 credits short from upper division courses (the 300 + 400-level ones). SO I realized that I needed to take, in total, four 300- or 400- level courses because they are 4 credits each and wouldhelp me fulfill my upper division courses, my overall credit requirements at the same time, plus a 3 credit course (which is my distance ed. Communications course). SO I went scrambling. In a way, this is the worst schedule I've had 'cause I have two 8:30AM classes (DREAD DREAD DREAD) and I'm going 4 days a week. I have Mondays off. I decided no matter what, I'll take that day off so THERE. I've e-mailed the distance ed. professor (Communications), requesting for him to let me take his class 'cause I'm 4th on the wait list and the class is full. It's my last semester so PLEASE! GUH I only need 1 credit from that distance ed. course!! Isn't that crazy.... BOOO

SO all in all, I'm going to DIE because of:
1. 5 courses (I really really wanted my last to be a slack semester.....)
2. The two 8:30AM lectures
3. The heavy workload from the 4 Geography courses (they are super reading + writing intensive!)
4. The 3 exams I will have in a row (May 24, 2, and 26th)!
5. 2 part-time jobs I might not have time for...
6. Moving @ the end of the month - a never-ending process!!! BUT perhaps it will take less time to travel to SFU which means sleeping in aaaaaaaaaah :)

But still................................. :'(

Big baby is sad. Super sad. Big tears are dropping like bombs... KABOOM
Cannot wait for the 2-week break....... CANNOT WAIT to GRADUATE!!!!!!

Update soon! The last few days have been fun. I've had no time.. and won't have time until Monday 'cause I've got a full day out tomorrow!

I Want S'More! hehe

2009-12-31T15:17:00.006-08:00

Great dinner, my fav homemade Sangria, games (I learned how to play Rummy, finally!), s'mores over an open fire, diva + candycane cupcakes by Cupcakes, sleepover, Greek-style omelette breakfast, & good company :D

My s'more with Max in the background, waiting for me to feed him (yea right).My favourite time of the day is when this mutt sleeps..........

Nice Monday

2009-12-29T00:32:00.005-08:00

I love make up, Chinese hot pot, and chatting with my friends!

Got a decent dose of all today :D

Went downtown for about an hour to return my Dior Airflash @ Sephora 'cause it stopped working for me but brought the wrong receipt (darn.. where did it go??). Sephora to me is like a candy store for kids. So many things to try.. I could spend hours there. Got Melanie a NARS blush in Dolce Vita which I love on her (it's a dusty rose colour) and am perhaps considering for myself too hehehe I really love NARS. Wanna eventually collect all their blushes. (Yesss I addoooooooreeeeeee blushes). Got myself NARS lip gloss in Chihuahua (a pink nude.. very natural) to finally replace the one I lost. Do I need another lip gloss? No.........course not.... but I'll let you know that I also have a weakness for lip glosses. Eyeshadows just don't give me the same high I get when it comes to lip glosses and blushes ehhehe. The SA tried some of the new NARS glow foundations on M and it looked absolutely terrific! Apparently the NARS labs spent 7 years trying to formulate this foundation. I'll try that once I'm done my Dior + Bobbi Brown, but man are they pricey!

Wore a couple of my new-ish items from my Zipia haul: a navy, wool, double breasted, gold-buttoned blazer ($55USD) and that beige knit snood muffler ($18USD). I was pleasantly surprised the blazer was warm enough to wear instead of a coat, today! It was around.. well, I'm not sure.. 4 degrees? Even though it's wool, it was not thick wool like a winter coat should be, but yes, except for my hands, I wasn't cold at all. When I first got it, I was honestly a bit worried I might never wear it or I would have to alter it because of the shoulder pads! They're in style again.. I really look like a football player I think lol so I tried to disguise it with the beige snood which also kept my neck nice and warm. I think I looked quite Korean today.
Then I met up w/ B and D to eat the Chinese hot pot I've been craving!
with cute Fish Tofu (we ordered it 'cause we didn't know what it was haha.. just fish-shaped tofu)
Nomomonomonomonom I want to eat it again next week!
Then we just hung out and chatted which was really nice 'cause we don't get together to do that often enough.

Thought this was so cute - my little cousin Erin picked out my Christmas present this year. She saw it in the Shoppers flyer and said that it would be perfect for me 'cause it's cute and looks like me. haha good job 'cause this is my favourite scent from the Harajuku lines. This is the limited Winter edition called "snow bunnies" in LOVE so the girl is wearing a scarf and her snow jacket.

Anybody heard/seen Annick Goutal fragrance in 'Eau d'Hadrian' or ''Petite Chérie' in and around Vancouver? I just know that they have it @ Nordstrom... I'm dying to smell it. I love it for its bottle and heard that it smells nice. Seems to be a mix of fruity and floral.

Oh Christmas :)

2009-12-26T12:42:00.013-08:00

No snow on Xmas this year :(

No decor this year :(

No hippo this year :(

My mom got more snowmen this year :(

But I like these new figurines. Pretty adorable.
But I got to see both sides of my family today (mom's side and dad's side) and got a few things in the mail.... :)

A few things that came in the mail:
My Nine West Elkies! Snakeskin, I love them. They're my Spring/Summer heels.
It came in the mail quite a while ago, but I got this pigrabbit for Bern for XmasAnd, a big surprise from the nonexistant "UPS guy"
where Nad POPPED out!!!!!!!!! lollllllll I already told all you readers about this already - go see her video on FB!

My brother + Mr. Snowman opening his iPhone clock radio thingy from Santa
MOM's SIDE
Open house @ my Auntie Elizas
Snacks Triton made me do this face...
"Eeeeeeee"
Gingerbread men decorating "work station" - my Auntie Eliza is so creative.
Kyle + Erin - Kyle gave me his to eat..... soo sugary.
Kristen + Shannon
Presents (Em got a black eye + 3 stitches on her chin from falling from a chin-up bar on Xmas eve)
My grandpa (gong gong) opening the ice wine we got him.
Jeffy showing Erin how to play Bop It!
My mom and her siblings + my Grents. Now my I can be fur vest buddies with my grandma. My cousin Emerald also has quite a collection of fur coats and vests, too!

Auntie Alda, Uncle Albert, Uncle Andrew, Auntie Sandy, Auntie Anna..

The women in the family minus my Auntie Liana.
The grandchildren
lol I think this picture is pretty funny -- some expressions
lol Triton...
Hoping someone else took nicer pictures..
DAD's SIDE
@ my Auntie Liz's house
She made this fabulous 10 dish dinner and everything was excellent!

Kyle brought his... I forgot what they're called.. something gon. They're balls and you have to roll them on the card it comes with.. and then...
Bam! It opens up!! The neatest thing... and there's special ones where you can connect them to make figures like the red one.
Kyle + Corey playing - actually, they're warming up to "fight" Uncle Dave after dinner.
My cousins Chelsea (Gr 9) and Nicole (Gr 7). Growing up so fast. Chelsea is taller than me now.. and Nicole is almost there... (wish someone taller took this pic)
Kyle + Corey
My dad's siblings + Gma -- Uncle George (w/ Auntie Winnie), Uncle Dave, Auntie Liz (Uncle Al was taking pictures), and Jackie top right (my cousin Jason's wife)"Kids"
My brother, me, Kevin, Nicole, Corey, Jason, Kyle, Gma, + Chelsea.
Cute Corey (4) playing with his new Bowser game on DS
Mom + her snowmen babies. She's a snowmom loll
Fixing them so that they're all looking at the camera...
Close enough
We had to take quite a few shots.. my head was always so big compared to hers lolAnd a family pic we don't take often enough where my mom kept on tippy toe-ing 'cause she felt short.

Thank you for all the thoughtful gifts :D
Merry Christmas!!

Last Few Days

2009-12-23T02:03:00.013-08:00

As part of my resolution to take more pictures... tadaaaa!

My new leopard scarf! Kind of loving leopard right now... in accessories, dresses, and wraps.

My eyes look partly glassy-gray in this picture - maybe a reflection.

Ohh and messy background....

I love Korean food.... + lemon sojux2

I am mich 3 and she is mich 1 (the original). Mich is short for michoso which means crazy in Korean. My mom is mich 2.

Fun night ^^
B&W pics sure mask redness...
Downtown practically 5 days in a row...
(Just wanted to note that this is the first year I have ever finished Christmas shopping (for the main ppl) more than 1 week before Christmas).
Trying on this horse-riding cape (so I call it) @ Zara. A bit too much excess material, but neat! I love capes.
M and her childhood Xmas bear that I named "Rico".We hardly have any pictures together, so here goes:
Love bright bathrooms!
But I don't like to be clawed...

I am zee master at zee fishie face
(and I'm getting much better at sel-ca). ^^

Prefer not to be poked, either. Thanks.

Can't Stop Thinking About...

2009-12-17T11:52:00.010-08:00

A black lace dress

[ASOS Lace Slash Neck Bandeau Dress]
White (lace) dress
A crisp, white waist trench for the Spring season
LV's Inclusion Bracelets in all colours possible
A floral printed chiffon or silk maxi dress (most preferably a non-cow like one)
THIS sequined dress O_O it's so perfect... I need to go shopping in the flea shops in Milan NOW!
A fun party dress like this
A 1.25 inch curling iron
These Hot Tools Professional Spring ones have great reviews and they're only $30USD!
But.. it's not ceramic nor tourmaline nor ionic... so you'll get results but more damaged hair.
Pretty luggage: LV Keepall 50 w/ Shoulder Strap hotstamped. This looks sort of honkin' in this picture, but it's just only 19.7" x 11.4" x 8.6" which is a good size for traveling.
Longchamp LM - wish it was bigger so it could be more of a travel bag.
Got my "something leopard" yesterday :D Thick leopard print bangle would be nice.
Black pants (thicker) that act like leggings except straight-legged..
And I need some shorts.

My holiday has officially STARTED! I even wish I didn't have to work so every day can be spontaneously free!

My Wings (I'm Free!)

2009-12-16T23:32:00.003-08:00

Valentino's sequined-embellished jersey top [$790 from net-a-porter]

My Party Necklace

2009-12-15T23:23:00.002-08:00

I love it - my favourite item from my last Zipia order ^^

Sweet Tooth

2009-12-15T00:47:00.003-08:00

Seriously.. love... chocolatee.
Sometimes, it's the first thing I eat in the morning now as bad as that sounds lol
And I crave it after dinner! Sometimes, I'd rather have chocolate than even eat a meal!
I don't know if it's because it's exam season... I seem to crave in hills.

But not any chocolate... gotta be decent quality like from Daniels or Ritter or Lindt or Brussels Hedgehogs or Japanese choco like Meiji or Ferrero Rocher etc. None of the Halloween candy crappiness. So no Hersheys either except for their candycane kisses.. not a fan of milk choco.. only dark. I've become picky, yet I've opened my taste buds to goodness mmmmmmm

Adore Zipia

2009-12-12T10:51:00.007-08:00

A couple nights ago, I dreamt that I was the photographer for Zipia and styled the girl's clothes... (loove Zipia's photos recently, esp. for their new Xmas occassion outfits. Feels natural + quietly fun and I like how they create the mood) so I will begin to invest in a dslr and my goal is... before my trip to Greece + Italy... but I don't know if I wanna bring it on the trip.

Some Zipia pics of their Xmas + Party collection that came out last night.
I believe the collection is called "Dude&Charlott" haha
Love this outfit! They don't sell the sequined bolero I don't think...
Hmm can't really get the same effect on this blog as on Zipia 'cause the pictures aren't as big nor clear.
This is the party necklace I bought from my most recent Zipia order.Really don't know why they took so many pictures in this sketchy hotel room, though...

Mirror Lust

2009-12-12T00:14:00.002-08:00

(but not for my room... maybe bathroom?)

Bring Out The Glitter!

2009-12-10T21:05:00.002-08:00

Nothing good on Zipia today but this picture.

Now I need clear, silvery, glittery nailpolish of all glitter-sizes!

Ombre

2009-12-09T10:48:00.008-08:00

Seriously.

Posting.
A.
Lot.

Just checked my exam schedule - not bad at all!
Tomorrow, it's from 3:30-6:30PM and on Tuesday, it's from 12-3PM!

Anyway, last night I was playing around with my makeup and tried some eyeshadow - probably the third time I've played around w/ eyeshadow in my life (I need a one on one tutorial man!!) and was thinking HEY this is sort of like the time...
... when B and I got our nails painted in the "gradient" way in Seoul! We were apparently donning one of the season's (Spring 09) hottest trends, ombre. Course, we didn't know it was "the" trend of Spring lol.. Also called "graduation" or "gradated", ombre is french for "fading colours/tones" and it comes and goes as a trend on the runways.
It was all over the Spring 09 collections:
(love the Herve Ledger dress on the left, above)
These 2 single pics are from Celine's Spring collection 09
I'd use this:More bold.. I guess it's hard for a guy to wear ombre if it's not in a tie or a shirt O_O
But for for those of you who think that wearing ombre is a bit too wild (though I don't know how).. or if you want to carry the trend another way, you can also do it on your nails like B+me OR you can do it for your hair!
Don't worry, it doesn't have to be as dramatic or as extreme as what you're thinking.
I'm sure most of you have seen this somewhere floating on the web - it's everywhere.
I kind of laughed when Who What Wear Daily sent out an e-mail titled "ombre" hair 'cause I was thinking it would be something like the picture above.. and then I laughed again at the pictures they presented 'cause if that is what is considered ombre hair, then I've been doing it for years now due to my hair not liking dye!
Of course, mine wasn't on purpose... but do half of the celebrities above look like they did it on purpose either? (Well.. maybe...) To me, it just looks as though they're letting their natural hair colour grow out, they had no time to get their hair done, they're waiting for the next trend to come out before they damage their hair again, or dying is suddenly too expensive for their wallets.

Other ways to wear it: the ombre scarf you've probably also seen... I'm indifferent about it
Oh and it doesn't have to be done on the same thing either!
This paint job is considered ombre, too:
So yea - lots of ways to wear the runway trend without looking too outwardly try-so-hard trendy!

Sadie...

2009-12-08T23:45:00.002-08:00

I usually talk about my human cousins. Meet my animal "cousin", Sadie. lol

She knows which side to take, warm, + leave hairs on (not my side!)
Loves her monkey! I mean.. bear... why do I keep calling it a monkey??
StttttrrrreeetttchhhhhhStaring intently........
So BLISSTHFUL after a good run ^^
She can barely keep her eyes open!

Yea she's an attention-seeker but she has a cute personality and is a good dog. Happy cousin.

AHA!

2009-12-08T00:05:00.002-08:00

Found a jackpot fashionblog. To me, a jackpot blog is one where I love all outfits (yea, every single one) and all of the pictures she chooses to share. I've been absorbing her pages for the past few hours.. and I still don't think I'm anywhere near done. Man she either must post a lot, or she must have started blogging since she was 15 or so! She's only 18 now, actually... Can't wait to show you in my next domain.. whenever that will be (well, hopefully sometime in December). Ah so inspiring! Great taste.

My ears have been SO COLD today!

TT

2009-12-07T16:27:00.007-08:00

I would say that I'm kind of obsessed with the whole "long 'n lean" bottom half look (not the twiggy look)... not just for me, but for everyone that I see.. especially in the winter.
Take this girl -- she's a perfect example of someone who can look short and stumpy but so tall and lean the next day.
Here is her "tall and lean" look - don't her legs look so slim?
(uh.. short much? gosh.. and then you see that a few days before, she wore the same outfit with a skirt and the cardi looks so short too lol)
But suddenly, she as thunder thighs.. or, just so disproportionate from her top half 'cause it's a lighter colour that it looks that big. I'm not against colourful bottoms, but in this case, I would carry the colour all the way down to her ankles and wear a heel 'cause the gray is like a thigh highlighter.. and hers aren't even that big.. but it looks so in this picture.
+ 50
And for this next picture, I was thinking, is it because of the angle of the picture?? How else could she have gained so much weight in the next picture? It probably is, partly, but I've decided it's more because of what she is wearing....
(I do like the top half of this next outfit).. I think she'd look a lot slimmer if she wore heels with this outfit.Anyway, not hating or anything. Maybe I'm crazy for noticing these insignificant things but that's what I notice on the streets. I like her and I kinda love some of her outfits (like the ones below) and she looks quite beautiful when she does profesh modelling and i'm super jealous of her full bangs - and I think it's so awesome possum that she's only 17 and just started outfit-blogging, but man can she gain and lose picture weight fast! ahha and if you think I'm the queen of neutral colours, i'm only a princess compared to her! She is the royal queen the first lol 'cause except for a couple accessories and that yellow moo-moo above, everything she owns is either black, white, or a shade of gray.
Anyway, waiting to see what Zipia will come out with tonight - 1 more hour!

Pump It Up... for Xmas!

2009-12-04T13:58:00.009-08:00

I'm done all lectures for this semester SO SO SO SO SO SO HAPPY!!!!! Give me the text, material, notes, info, and get me to take the exams and write the papers but don't make me go to lecture! Worked really well last night until 4AM to finish off the powerpoint for today's solo presentation. Don't know how well I did, but I did my best (I actually did) and, if what I had was what she was looking for, then I think I did pretty well.

Work tonight, lotsa big tables on reservation, gonna work w/ awesome team. I'm server 1, happy happy happy. I hope to serve a table of Angus Beef tonight! We just introduced it this week - priced quite a bit higher than regular beef though so it's hard to sell, especially for those people who come to Posh for its value.

Even though I did a Zipia order just last week, I still check Zipia every weekday after 7PM 'cause that's when the new stuff comes out. Yesterday, they came out with BUNNY HILL CLOTHES and they're SO NICE and CUTE! Since when did bulky snow clothes look so cute?
I guess I'm more excited 'cause I actually need a new snowjacket this year... I've had the same one since Gr 10.. 8 years! That's pretty good. But it's so boring and I blend in with the snow... especially with my black pants. Anyway, clothes to snowboard in is probably the one exception where it's expected that you look fat, baggy, and puffy so might as well wear bright colours!

Angora hair band thingy I love it - it's so 70's/80's (my mom had some)!
AOIFHAFJALKSJFSLF WEOIFJ WFIJFJ I'm so sad!! The pink snowboard pants (above, they have both subtle stripes and the pixel squares on them) are ALREADY sold out and they just put it in stock yesterday!!! They must have had some low quantities or everybody rushed to buy them 'cause it already made up half of the $300 order limit. GAHHH

IJLFJJFLSIFJSDLFHSDLFNDLFDLFID Another disappointment!! The yellow ski jacket I absolutely ADORED last night is also gone! It's not even in the out of stock list... what happened to it?!
You can't really tell, but it has super fat (like probably 5 inches), subtle vertical stripes all over.
SAD!

I mean, I wasn't going to wear them together.. I wanted to choose either or... more into the hot pink pants! Can't miss me now! I was thinking a green (can't decide which shade yet) coat w/ pink bottoms lol.. these colours are so Eastery.

I even like their bright "seasons pass" bag tag
Trend alert: These colourful puffers are coming back in style! I've seen it around Soompi on an Ulzzang.. can't remember. I realize I don't really look at the face of the person wearing the outfit often unless they're good looking.
oh found the other bright coat - on ulzzang Mikki

I WANT HER SHOES! They are so me!

I Just Need To...

2009-12-03T02:43:00.005-08:00

Wooooohoooo I exceeded my "goal" and pretty much wrote all of my powerpoint! I just need to incorporate what we learned in class into my powerpoint and I just need to make it all nice and fancy and I just need to decide what I'm going to say compared to what I'm going to leave in and I just need to find out if I have waaay too much info (well, I know I do..) gotta condense superbly! I'm so glad I chose to do this topic after changing topics like 4 times. So much info and it's interesting! Policy implementation to manage air pollution during the Beijing Olympics 2008. China is getting smarter. This makes me glad.

Starting to see that I blog excessively to procrastinate... way too many posts in the last few days for the little amount of time I thought I had. OK it's almost 3AM and I am soooooooo awake still - I can probably stay up for another couple hours. Haven't yawned yet!! I had 5 cups of strongly steeped tea. Pretty much the equivalent to a triple shot grande vanilla latte O_O. The sides of my head are a bit sore 'cause I used this tight headband to keep my bangs off my face. The hair stylist at Chura, Mark, who I adore 'cause he's funny + we like to talk about Japanese fashion and magazines, liked my bangs long (interesting, a few stylists have told me they like my bangs longer, too) and so he didn't even trim them even though I told him I wanted to when he asked me what I wanted done! I'm so used to them short... now makes me wonder if other stylists just cut them 'cause I tell them I want to have it cut. Don't really know which looks better on me. I guess long bangs doesn't cut into my face - perhaps gives a slimmer illusion? I do think it's less childlike.

I worked for like 3.13 hours today hah - sloooow Wednesday. Wasn't really worth going, but it was a nice destressor away from this presentation/term paper. Served a table of 6 and w/ the restriction of only allowing 4 "card" transactions per table along w/ some weird ways of paying, I somehow did not get the right amount of gratuity as I should have even though they were all very generous. Sometimes it's complicated so I make up solutions in my head of how it could be better.. of course, the solutions aren't very feasible and would never be used haha... I work Wed, Fri, and Sun nights for all of December except for Dec 24th, 25th and NYE.

I've been using up this IOPE Foaming Cleanser I got free from Aritaum in Korea. I love it - it foams up soo well and luxruiously, smells fragrantly nice, and takes off everything w/out drying. Cetaphil I love too, but it just takes everything off w/out being too drying... it doesn't smell good nor does it lather either so sometimes I feel like it's not doing anything.. but when I swipe a cotton pad w/ toner all over after cleansing, no makeup comes off! So it must do its job. ANYWAY, the IOPE Cleanser is also whitening!! I haven't been doing this totally purposefully, but I've been lusting over fairer skin in the winter so that my blushes turn up nicer and stronger. But, because I only use this IOPE Cleanser on my face, only my face has gotten whiter than my neck and the rest of my skin which is WEIRD. Now what??? Guess I should stop using it.. but it's almost done and I love the feeling :)

BED TIME.

What Yellow?

2009-12-02T23:22:00.003-08:00

I went through a quarter of the runway Spring collection from style.com (and trust me, that's a LOT!).. I was kinda late though 'cause the shows were from the end of Sept hah. Anyway, concluded that the 2 "new" colours for Spring 2010 = shades of blue (from royal blue to aqua.. not really the seafoam-blues) and neon yellow in all sorts of vividness.

I like looking at this hue? of yellow... but I can't imagine it (the colour) looking very good on many people... I think you have to be quite tanned to wear it or you'll look washed out.
This dress is from net-a-porter.... Burberry Prorsum (which, btw I LOOOOOVE their Spring collection!! LOVE LOVE LOVE! Except I don't remember seeing this dress in it. I'm indifferent about this dress.) hand-pleated silk-chiffon dress.

Anyway, the night is still early (11:30) and I have the skeleton of my powerpoint done - will finish half by tonight for sure!

Yoon Eun Hye...

2009-12-02T10:37:00.004-08:00

I love your hair in these pictures!

I've been drinking a lot of tea recently. Straight up tea - no milk, no sugar. Coffee's strength scares me if I drink it after 4PM 'cause I really can't sleep or have that whole "light" sleep thing going on which makes me exhausted the next day. I'm not very worried about my finals because I think I have ample time to study for it though I haven't been caught up with material since the midterm.. but if the finals are anything like the midterm, then I should be fine. Just more worried about this presentation (Fri) and paper (due Mon) that's worth 50% altogether for my China class. I'm trying this new technique that if I publicize my mini goals, maybe I'll work a tinch harder to actually get them done when I'd like them done. That having been said, I'm going to get half my powerpoint slides done by tonight and finish organizing my notes. I have work tonight though at 6.. but hopefully I'll be able to come home soon.

Currently loving: Ritter Sport Mint Choco + Cadbury DARK Fruit & Nut!
Currently wanting: Hershey Kisses in PEPPERMINT

&

CHANEL 247 "Haute Chocolat" (my Fall/Winter colour)
CHANEL 307 "Orange Fizz" (my Spring/Summer colour)
AND "Miami PEACH"!!!!

Topshop > F21

2009-11-29T00:24:00.005-08:00

... because I found more things I would buy! The prices are quite a bit steeper, but let's just pretend and see what I would get if I won the lottery, shall we? Either way, they're things I adore :)

so sequiny!! love the shape
Another!!!! Better for layering and wearing often... need!Cropped love - also sequined
I'd wear the cropped top with something like this (this dress is from net-a-porter, though)
Just 'cause I wanted a cowl neck, long-sleeved dress and this one has a zipper
Just plain cute.
Love chains against navy!
Aaah the back is adorable! It's like a deeep U but the straps are connected horizontally by three bows!
Looked really cute on the mannequin, not really in this pic. Wonder if I'm tall enough to wear it - it's so long!
Yea yea another basic.. but the material/texture seems kinda neat for this - it has silk in it.. and I'm thinking it'll look diff on me... not maternity-like as it does in the picture. The back is a mid-back zipper.
Quite versatile! You can club in it or you can add a ton of layers under and over to make it suitable for everyday wear.
I'd order a few sizes up so that the shoulders don't look so structured... well, it looks so funny on its own but it might actually look decent when worn.
Cute and lightly puffy!
A looser one than the one I have would be nice... in white, too!
Lookin' for some great trousers
Jersey snood!
These are PJ bottoms - sooooo cute
Yea.. still need this
A necklace! Cooooooooool
Cheeky bikini short in coral!
I like this - can't decide on the colour though.
I like the pink in this one but the gold is kind of dull in the picture.
wow I think I went through their whole website in an hour!

I've been on the hunt for a black jersey maxi skirt for a while now... not a very in-trend item so it's hard to find. I can think of a few ways to wear it all year round. Difficult to come across one that's flexible enough yet doesn't flare out too much. Straight down from my hips is ideal! How would I run away from a raccoon if one becomes vicious? I'd take very short but quick steps.
Anyway, all of these items would sure make for a more fun 'n interesting wardrobe.

Fingers Moved, Brain Didn't.

2009-11-28T00:37:00.004-08:00

I've been saving a lot of pictures lately and since I've been using all 3 computers/laptops, each machine has its own folder (actually.. all on the desktop somehow). Was hoping to start a new blog and show you all my so-called "goodies" in a neater, more exclusive way... hopefully will get a head start this Winter break. Gosh.. how busy will my Winter be! My last final is on the 15th and then I have availability for all days except Mon, Tues, and Thurs and Xmas Eve and Xmas day and NYE... wonder if I'll get a good schedule next month. On top of work, I need to start packing 'cause apparently the moving date is being pushed to end of January... plus, M is house sitting so I'll be helping with that.. plus I wanna go snowboarding and skiing at least 3 times this Winter break (well I guess I have until Feb-Marchish)... plus I want to see my cousins a bit more.. and of course friends, as usual! Oh yea - I guess I'll go get my L again... one less thing in the way of me getting my N.

And about moving, I sort of want to finish the structural components before I put in my "furniture" (haha.. I have no furniture, actually! My desk won't fit both style-wise and size-wise in my new room.. my bedside table right now is this super simple $5 white lacquered wood table that needs to go... and I might be getting a new mattress. I have no dressers at all... oh and my bookshelf also won't go style-wise.. so that's easy in a way). I want to custom-make (by myself... like me going to Rona and ordering wood and hammering them together and painting them and installing doors maybe and a light on the top shelf) a bookshelf on either side of my window.. and then I gotta find crown molding that matches what I have so far.. to hide the evidence of it not actually being a built-in..... and I also want to custom-make my own quilted headboard. Then I want to go treasure hunting for a french-style vanity and perhaps a fabulous bedside table that will add the touch of silver/gold sheen to my room... or some fancy pendant lighting... and I have ideas for some floor to ceiling drapes (subtley dramatic) that will cover a whole wall of the room - the window side... and to staple gun some trim squares and rectangles that mimic the crown molding. And accessory hunting will be so much fun 'cause I pretty much know what I want.. oh yea and I have to make a window seat cushion but I don't think I want to do the piping and all that so I might have to leave that to the professionals.. once I find the fabric. Thinking a neutral print for texture. Oh and a really fun wallpaper print for my closet would be.. well, FUN! Oh gosh.. need a full-length mirror too. And then I need to find some track lighting (Ikea will help me here) for the closet cause the 1 central lighting won't be enough light. I have a looot of junk - it'll be hard to distinguish the sentimental throwaways from the supersentimental ones... and hope things won't get lost in the move 'cause that will be terrifyingly sad. I don't like to lose things. I can't sleep if I know I've lost something.

Sort of thinking that a cute humidifier would be great for my dry dry skin (Koreans have such nice ones)... currently looking for a good winter cream.

Currently pretty addicted to karaoke... singing is so much fun, especially as a stress-reliever! No matter how bad I sing, singing on the top of your lungs is just so great (until it cracks) haha

Hoping to get one of those passport hard drives from Costco very soon and dump everything that takes up space (mainly pictures) from all the comps onto it. Maybe then I can see how fast our internet should be.

Went out for Disney on Ice today with B and D :) It was lovely! Costumes were super creative and colourful. I wish Donald Duck spoke a bit more clearly. This year, they concentrated on Cars, The Little Mermaid (my FAV!), The Lion King, and Tinkerbell. Love Minnie. Good seats, too. I think the next time I'll go is if Lilo + Stitch are performing or if my little cousins want to go... or my own children. So it might not be for a while.

School is teetering off thank goodness. Interesting content, this year, but going to class is almost equivalent to washing dishes. Hate it and won't do it if I know I can get away with it. I found a huge pile of books from over the years that were not buy-backable at the end of the year... so this year, I think I'll only get $20 for 2 books ahha! Gonna get rid of the others. Anyway, I only have 1 essay + presentation (together), 1 more discussion question assignment (easy), and 2 finals that are spread 4 days apart and then I'm DONE! This weekend is dedicated to my essay + presentation. Can't wait to graduate, Can't wait to graduate, Can't wait to graduate... 1 more semester!!

I think I've become a bit of a homebody ever since I came back from Korea! I mean, I still loooove going out and such, but not in a "let's go clubbing until 2AM this Sat" sort of out.. or even drinking much. Guess 'cause, to me, it doesn't even compare and it's quite a bit more expensive than in Korea.. and in Korea, I never wasted a day - I went out every day so compared to that, it seems as though I'm home a lot even though I only see my parents fully maybe two or three nights a week. Home is just somewhere I would rather be during the day.

Seriously have not been getting the best rest for over 2 months now. I've been sleeping very lightly and waking up at least twice everynight for no reason at all.

Reading blogs are dangerous. They test things out and then I want to try it... they wear things and I feel as though I must find it soon!

I "won" an ebay bid for Benefit's "Coralista" blush a while ago. And when it came, it was all cracked inside! Not a big deal 'cause I got it for super super cheap, but still. It's nice to have things intact. My mom said that's a sign that it's old 'cause all its moisture content has left... well ok, maybe, and also maybe 'cause it wasn't packaged properly and was thrown around a lot during shipment.. Anyway, I honestly thought that the packaging was super ugly as it came in this cardboard box.. and I have no idea what to do with the brush cause if I take away the plastic layer that separates the brush from the blush, then the brush would get super dirty. Maybe I'll just throw it away.. won't use it anyway.
** ANYWAY even though it was pretty cracked and even though I don't prefer the packaging, I love the colour! I only use a dab and it shows up so pigmentedly on my cheeks (hurray!) I mean, I'm not that dark or anything, but the NARS Orgasm blush just seems to give me a hint of pink with a lot of gold shimmer (which I like, too.. but not allllll the time).. my Shu Uemura one is peachy so it's very light and is better for a super natural look in the Spring... My Shiseido Maquillage Pink quad blush is pretty but it has fine glitter on it that I think is too much for everyday sometimes. I experimented with Jill Stuart's Powder blush and since it's in Sunny Tan, I'm using it for contouring rather than a blush. Oh but the Chanel blush is super super nice. I love it too - it's more red than coral, though, so I'm afraid to use too much. Since I think it's a waste of money to have things in super similar shades, I guess my next blush purchase will be a shade of orange! eeeehehhehe so excited. I thought I finished my makeup collection, but I guess I'll neeever be done!

Craving Chinese hotpot :D

It's my dad's birthday - Happy Birthday, Daddy!

I Tried...

2009-11-27T01:18:00.003-08:00

So I hear that F21 is gonna have a Black Friday sale tomorrow! Unfortunately, it also seems as though F21 is churning out their "won't-sell-as-well" items aka "maybe if customers see this on sale, they will buy it 'cause it's so cheap!"(IMO, of course) cause I can hardly find anything I would buy... nonetheless, here are my top 5:

1. Metallic Drape Skirt (17.80USD)
Front
BackIs that not fantastic or what!! It'll sure emphasize the butt, but it's soo cool.

2. Chelsea Ring Set ($3.80USD)
(You don't wear it with the bow...) - quite popular in Japan...
3. Oval Rhinestone Ring ($5.80USD)
Ok.. so I couldn't even find 4 things... and to think I was going to do a top 8 initially!

Beauty Snap

2009-10-21T20:41:00.003-07:00

I feel like I've found a treasure chest! Tons of great beauty blogs out there.

Here's a cute one *Notes from the Toothfairy* - she has a little giveaway happening with some lovely earrings and such :)

Darnit..

2009-10-11T14:34:00.001-07:00

Paris got a new pig as a pet before me!!

Princess Pigelette..... pssh

Go

2009-10-07T19:44:00.003-07:00

Been daydreaming about where I want to travel to next. Gotta think more realistic...

1. NY again for 6 days solely for shopping, eating terrific food, and catching a couple Broadway shows

2. HK for around 1.5-2 weeks - again, fabulous shopping and food... going up The Peak... maybe glamour shots again in China hehe

3. Italy + Greece (planned for next late September/October)... Greece for its culture, historic places, and food... and Italy for its high fashion and culture.. Pisa.. Milano.. riding scooters (more incentive to get my license before then (maybe even an international one??)

4. Japan - for 1-2 months to tour around the whole country... will need a LOT of money! Maybe I should try to teach English there... then I can visit Korea on long weekends, too!

5. London, Barcelona again, and the rest of Europe... overwhelming!

6. Panama Canal + Central American cruise? I just want a glimpse of what they have even if it's the touristy side... and cruises are a perfect way to do so.

7. Brazil... hopefully before or during the games!

8. Australia & New Zealand... might as well hit up both countries at once. Don't know anybody there though!

9. Taiwan and China. Not high up on my list, but I would eventually like to go.

10. Cruise to Russia and North Western Europe... and once I conquer most of Europe, I would like to go again just to backpack!

Plus many many more... man traveling is expensive!

The Literal Sense

2009-10-07T00:07:00.003-07:00

Trying to build a new blog but my html knowledge.. or lack of is not getting me what I want it to look like.. or even close to. Really makes me want to get a newer, faster laptop with photoshop and then I'll need a little intro on html.. currently very Korean-inspired. They have such a distinct style in their pop culture, the way they film and act, their fashion, and even the ways they take pictures! So fascinating.. Koreans and Italians seem to have the best handbag collections, too. Love it all!

I broke my little Anna Sui-lookalike mirror by dropping it. I'm not superstitious in that way so I don't believe I will be struck with the 7 years of bad luck.

Downloaded a bunch of the newer Kpop music this morning. Nothing too exciting came out since I left Korea. I got a hold of a bunch of the new girl groups.. there are so many now!
2NE1, Kara, T-ARA, f(x), 4 Minute, After School Ham... and of course the older ones.. SNSD, Wonder Girls, Jewelry, Brown Eyed Girls. I'm very impressed with T-ARA though! I have very low expectations from girl groups. Out of the newer girl groups, my 2 favs (by songs, I don't care much about the girls themselves) are T-ARA (they have this one girl with a really nice voice) and 4 Minute... After School is pretty good too. Catchy stuff. Kara.. I just don't get them or why they're even still making music.

I read this thread where Isak, a mixed TV personality host and ex-girl group member, talked about how strict these management groups are, what really happens to the money and why big artists are paid so little -- thought it was so interesting:

Isak on the Korean Idol World

“I fell through the cracks,” said the attractive brunette sitting across from me with her characteristic bluntness.

I first met Isak (real name: Ida Simmons) when I worked at Arirang TV and Radio, an English-language broadcasting station. The daughter of a Caucasian father and a Korean mother, Isak had previously been the member of an unsuccessful SM Entertainment act called Isak N Jiyeon. However, she managed to eventually parlay her bubbly charms into a successful career as both a DJ and VJ at Arirang Radio.

While Isak, who still has three years left on a ten-year contract, applauded SM founder Lee Soo Man’s ability to think outside of the box and accept a biracial Korean-American into his company, she also remembered the more suffocating aspects of being a K-pop entertainer in the earlier part of the decade. For example, when she lived with several other SM trainees in a dormitory-like setting, the girls’ managers devised a clever way to keep tabs on the talent:

“[T]hey were afraid that we would sneak out. They would put in a house phone for us, and we couldn’t call from our cell phones. We had to call from our house phone to our manager as soon as we walk[ed] in the door [to inform them] that we came in.”

Isak also recalled the strict no-dating policy at the time:

“No dating,” she said. “You get caught, you pay consequences.”

I asked her what the consequences were.

“I was threatened that if I didn’t break up with my boyfriend then I would be either cut from SM or not [be] able to debut.”

Ironically, Isak found that the no-dating rule could actually hamper an artist’s performance, especially since many K-pop songs were about the very topic that its singers were forbidden to engage in: love.

“They’re singing about love but they’ve never experienced love,” she complained. “I think that’s a very big error.”

Isak noted, nonetheless, that a lot had changed in the industry. While “just look pretty and dance” may have been the rule when she began her career, current K-pop fans expect a lot more personality from their favorite stars. Now, as Isak noted, “it seem[s] to be becoming a trend for celebrities to be dating in Korea… a lot of people were coming forward and being honest about their relationships.” And it didn’t stop there: entertainers like Lee Hyori would even appear on reality shows, doing things like going to doctor appointments sans makeup, allowing fans to become even closer to their idols.

The trend toward a more naturalistic and approachable depiction of idol stars, according to Isak, is a positive one, and she heaped a great deal of praise on 2NE1, a four-member girl group represented by YG Entertainment:

“I don’t think 2NE1 is the typical Korean pretty girl,” said Isak. “I think they’re the most beautiful girls in the world because they don’t have double eyelids; because they don’t have noses that hit the ceiling; because they don’t have that “entertainer” look that people have grown accustomed to.”

For all the positive changes that have happened in the industry, however, Isak had a warning for those who were dreaming of becoming an idol star: long contracts and hidden fees had not disappeared.

“They [the management companies] promise before you debut, ‘we’re going to house you, we’re going to feed you, we’re going to give you all the lessons you need. Do your best’ and then we think that that’s all free,” remembered Isak. She soon learned, however, that all the expenses that went into her upkeep, including stylists, salon visits, manager fees, food, and clothing, were deducted from her pay.

Young Kim, host of the Arirang Radio program “K-pop Zone” and former rapper for such groups as S#arp and Uptown in the late 1990s, noted just how little money one could make, even as a member of relatively successful groups: “I made about three thousand dollars in the seven months that I was promoting the [S#arp] album.”

Although Kim, Isak, and others I spoke with said that they believed conditions had greatly improved, recent legal battles and contract disputes (such as the one staged by three members of the immensely popular boy band TVXQ against SM Entertainment, their management company) suggest that something may be rotten in the candy factory. As one industry outsider told me with a knowing smile, “They work their kids hard.”

However, Mark Russell, a Korean pop culture expert, recently commented on his blog, the problem is actually not rooted in the management companies, but rather in the Korean music system itself. Having to train, house, and feed future stars whose success will ultimately have to recoup not only the investment in them, but the company’s investment in other trainees who have yet to make it or who simply fell through the cracks…the economic constraints of such a system are considerable, to say the least. Imagine, then, the costs that go into sustaining the thirteen members of Super Junior or the nine young ladies who make up Girls’ Generation.

More revealing was when Russell told me that, “[In] the late 90s, Koreans spent, depending on the exchange rate, somewhere in the neighborhood of four to five hundred million dollars a year on CDs and tapes. Last year, they spent 60 million. We’re talking about an 80% decline.” The steep fall in music sales could explain why over the years, K-pop stars have moved from being only singers to multitasking entertainers – unless you were writing your own music (and many idol stars do not), there just wasn’t that much money to be found in music anymore. Revenue would have to be generated through concerts, commercial shoots, and public television appearances. Meanwhile, selling talent overseas was no longer just a ploy by the bigger management companies to increase profits, but a financial necessity as the Korean music market continued to shrink.

There are big risks at stake for those investing in idol groups. These risks did not go unnoticed by Isak who understood her previous lack of freedom, stating that, “[We] are products. I know it sounds very bad, but we are products, and that’s why our companies…sometimes treat us like products.”

However, for all the financial risks the companies bear, perhaps the biggest gambles are still those taken by the talent in sacrificing their youth to achieve national or even international stardom. As D-Lite (Daesung Kang) of Big Bang put it, sacrificing “common things in life that we liked – walking around the streets, time to hang out with old friends, etc…” was something he knew h’d have to do.

Every idol star has gone into the K-pop game knowing the cost of fame. Behind the bright lights and their big smiles hides another truth, which D-Lite voiced in simple terms: “We all knew that we had to let it [their former lives] go when we decided to [join] Big Bang but, honestly, sometimes it’s tough on me.”

As I pondered the pressures of surviving in a shrinking Korean music market, I could only think, “It’s tough all around, kid.”

SOURCE: MTV IGGY, Seoulbeats
CREDIT: omonatheydidnt

Blah blah blah blah blah

2009-09-24T00:08:00.003-07:00

Spent about 30 min at Holts today, trying on their coats and jeans. They have Mackage.. and it was nice to just try them on without any sales person nearby. One thing I love about that store. I'm pretty much in between sizes for Mackage, which makes me kind of sad.. and for different coats, too which is weird. Like for the wool coats, I'm between a XS and S but for their down coats, I'm between a S and M. And none of the coats seem to be "the one" this season unfortch. But anyway, not much selection in coats at the moment.

For jeans, I tried on a bunch of $200+ jeans just 'cause I really wondered if they actually fit better than regular jeans. Conclusion: no, not really haha. I do agree that some of the material is much softer than regular $30-50 jeans, but other than that, the fit is pretty much the same. Ohhh the material on these Citizens black jeans were divine!!! So soft... I could use it as a pillow... Keep in mind that I only wear skinnies and sometimes straights. Though, I did try on this boyfriend cropped type that's super trendy this season. It seems really Japanesey to me.. maybe 'cause I saw it a lot in Japan and on Japanese people on the streets.
At first, I was really iffy and thought it would be too much material around my legs, but I was surprised it wasn't too bad. It's comfy too 'cause it's so baggy... almost like wearing sweatpants. Not something I'd buy though 'cause I don't really have any tops to wear it with.
I'm looking for a light, ripped jean that's in betwen a skinny + straight... preferably ankle-length, actually!

Got my hair trimmed at Chura~ t'was nice - I think I finally have someone to ask for next time I go there haha.. you know how they ask if there's a stylist I would want to request when I call in? I used to always say "doesn't matter". But now I have Emi! Cute name -- I remember I had a badminton teacher called Emi. She was pretty too. Why can't my first name be Emi instead of Emily? How about Emi with 2 "i's" -- Emii? hehe reminds of me Ebi.. Ebi sunomono... but anyway, she understands how to shape my hair and all 'cause her head is like the same shape as mine - very oval. lol

Btw, Nicole Richie is in Vivi's OCT 2009 issue!!!! Gonna get my hands on it... thanks, Ebay!

Work was good today for a Wednesday, though super slow for the first 2 hours... like I had a table of 1 and a table of 2 for the first 2 hours!! Then it really sped up around 8:30 and I had a few fun tables! But I guess because I'm able to spend more time with the tables, tips were quite decent so I am very satisfied.

I've got school "early" tomorrow. Somehow, 10:30 class seems too early.. I should have only stuck with 12:30+ classes! haha.. it's Tourism. The prof somehow makes such an interesting topic very dry... so I'm sort of wondering if it's even worth it to go... not to fear, I will go!

CANNOT wait for the weekend!

Winter Lust

2009-09-21T15:59:00.002-07:00

Chloe Wrap Boots are perfect.
Drool...

Grapefruit

2009-09-08T20:10:00.005-07:00

Ah this feels so good.. I finally have time to sit down by myself to do a few hours of undisturbed online browsing! I want to make a Zipia order... but I can't find anyone to do a survey in Vancouver.

My 1 class today was 15 minutes long..... (supposed to be 2 hours).

Found out that I only need to take 3 classes this semester (so I'm dropping my 2 distant-ed courses) and 3 classes next semester! (I only REALLY need 2 classes next semester but I have to take 3 because I need 1 more credit!! gahhh)

There's a Tim Hortons now in the West Mall Complex @ SFU! Yay for chili :)

Sadie feels BLISSthFUL after a good walk + playing at the park
I really want to shop.... maybe I'll go shopping tomorrow for a few hours :)) I need some sweaters, boots, coats, and a bag!

I have such a big sweet tooth these days... the cheeks are expanding.

Some pictures from Nancy and Tuan's wedding last Sunday!

@ Kirin Restaurant in New Westminster.
Our tableI love this picture of B + D!B and me! I wore my double U neck dress from H&M (U in the front and U in the back) and this pouffy matte pinkybeige skirt I got in Apgujeong :) Unfortunately, the outfit wasn't too photogenic. Mannn I need to dye my hair real bad... the colour is all gone.
1st dance as husband and wife

Extreme Fit

2009-08-22T00:43:00.003-07:00

I've been uploading videos on Facebook from my trip to Korea.. the longer videos take quite a long time and lag my brother when he plays video games around 1AM. He always comes up and goes, exasperatedly, "are you streaming?!" lol.. well, actually he doesn't say it loudly with the exclamation mark because he's actually very considerately quiet... and I think it's sort of funny how he says it 'cause he says it with a sort of smile yet you can tell that he's "mad". Sooo I compromised and he brought me up a cup of water and I stopped loading videos. Tadaaaa haha but then he lays down the rules: no uploading, no streaming, no loading of big pictures. Booo.. that doesn't leave me much to do as the blogs I read are full of pictures.

My keyboard is sort of deterioriating.. the buttons... and I've completely lost a key. I believe it was the Alt key on the right of my space bar... oh well... who needs 2 Alt keys anyway.

I saw on the front of a magazine @ Superstore in the check-out line that Kristen + Robert from Twilight are dating. hah.

Ah I just saw this on my Xanga subscription to Lovelyish! Knitted coffee sleeves! So cute, eco-friendly, and perfect for sipping that Vanilla latte during the Winter! The red + cable knit pattern is super cute, too. Cozy. Can someone make me a couple of those as an early Christmas present?? I can't knit for the life of me :( (wow these are selling for $18 HERE! aha they sell some very neat + creative things on that website!)

I'm also drawn to owl-ish things...

OH I found some things I can do online that won't bug my brother's game! Gn

"Last Fall, over 3 million people were brought to tears by the movie Koizora..."

2009-08-09T17:30:00.007-07:00

My brother introduced me to Koizora (aka. Sky of Love).

Hah - released on Valentine's Day...

Yes, it was cheesy/sappy (some say sappier than The Notebook).

It was sad.

It made me cry... a lot.

I thought the guy in it (real name: Haruma Miura, 90'-er) looked too perfect... very good looking... like Jun from KAT-TUN...
I love his character as Hiro... where art such a guy in the real world?!
Anyway, it's about the love life of this high school girl named Mika... it was first a mobile phone novel and then it became a manga and movie and 6-episode drama. It's semi-autobiographical (written by Mika).

Butchea, a pretty darn decent movie. I would watch it again.. but I sure don't wish it happens to me, though!
Watch on mysoju.com HERE.

Writing Sleepy

2009-08-04T00:08:00.006-07:00

So I'm trying to start a new blogsite soon. I haven't had any time to tweak it, but I hope to get it up and running before school starts.

It's been really relaxing ever since I've come back from Korea. Surprisingly, with the (zip) money I have, I've been shopping a decent amount. I've been mostly spending time with my family. I went to Saltspring Island with my family and grandma (she has been back in 30+ years.. ever since she came to Vancouver!) to revisit where my dad was born and raised.
Saltspring Island goats lol I named them Billy, Goat, and Gruff!
Thanks, goats.
They bend down funny.Where my dad used to skate --
Right outside Hastings House - some pottery art... the island sells a lot of locally made pottery.
Hastings House: such a nice little resort! I believe it's $500-600/night and you get your own mini cottage. Very very nicely kept.
(my mom's digi makes some odd greenish tinge pics)
This is their famous (expensive) restaurant! Apparently the best in BC or Canada or something.. many rich business ppl + celebrities take helicopters to Saltspring just to eat here. Chef's 5 course menu is $110.
Having a rock throwing contest while waiting for the ferry~ + then chicken fight kkkk
My mom and I went on a mini overnight trip down to Bellingham/Seattle. Nad and I went to Yaletown where StyleSpy held an event + we got goodie bags full of swag + discounts to some Yaletown stores. Someone I knew from my Taiwan trip a couple years ago from Portland, Oregon came up for the weekend. Her and her friend stayed at Bern's house so I tagged along to QE Park + Granville Island and then met up with them the next day @ the Night Market.
QE park:
I also house sat for the first time for my Uncle Andrew + Liana while they went to Vegas. It was more dog sitting than anything. Melanie slept over for both nights (and thank goodness, too! That house ain't so new... my mom grew up in that house and they renovated the insides, but still) and Bern slept over the 2nd night. I love dogs now that I got to dogsit Sadie (German short-haired Pointer). She was very good and we had some fun @ the park - I got me a bit of exercise, too! We watched 2 movies in the basement: One Week + Hairspray and played quite a bit of Rockband. I slept "under the stars" on my roofdeck, one night.
Waking up - sunshine in my face.
View downtown that morning.My bed.
Neighbours:I did the Grouse Grind yesterday (tortureeee) + went boating @ White Pine today. 6 hours in the sun man... I was so exhausted I took a nap for 5 hours after I got home.

I'm making dinner at home 3 times a week and doing dishes 3 times a week.. though it hasn't been happening much because I've been out at nigh. Actually, I got my brother to do dishes for me for a week as my birthday present haha! Speaking of birthdays, I didn't do anything for my birthday this year - I just didn't feel like doing anything, I guess. On the day of, I basically lounged around, talked on the phone, went out for dinner w/ my parents, and then watched UK's fireworks performance at Kits Beach at night. The next day was Nad's birthday - also near Kits Beach @ Hapa Izakaya. I watched the fireworks on Sat night, too. (I gave up trying to take a picture -- the fireworks were quite a bit nicer than this).
Kind of old news, but I'm (still) sad about Jon + Kate's breakup.... I almost teared when I saw last night's recent rerun episode (the kiddies' 5th birthday party) where Lexi goes up to Jon and he asks her which friend she invited to her birthday (Bradyn, I believe) and Jon's like "a boy.." and Lexi says she doesn't hug or kiss boys -- "only parents" she makes clear. And then she kisses Jon and tells him "I love you!!". I thought that was so sweet.. especially at a time like this during the breakup where both parents just don't seem happy to be there, in each other's presence. Jon seems to be needing a bit more lovin'. Btw, did anyone take a look at Kate's ring?? I only got a glimpse of it during one of the 1 on 1 interviews, but it's gorgeous and is definitely something I'd love.

Got my first day back to work tomorrow night and a facial appointment. Yayyyy~

Lustlist

2009-07-31T09:07:00.002-07:00

White ripped jeans (these are perfect!) - Jbrand carries really nice ones, too.

More versatile carry-all bags
An open-back sandal/heel + black wear-everywhere slimfit anklepants
More shoes in general -- booties (haven't seen the perfect ones yet) + boots (3: 1 leather flat + 1 over-the-knee, and one heeled)
Annick Goutal perfume (I don't know what it smells like... it's supposed to smell citrusy+a tad floral) but I love the bottle. Eau D'Hadrien... Petite Cherie?
Hot Tools Curling Iron 1.5"
Need!
Dior Diorskin Airflash Foundation (in 202 Cameo). Oh. My. Goodness.....
I think.. once I turn to this, I will never buy another type of foundation again. Love love love.
BOSE In-Ear Headphones
Amazing quality for in-ear headphones..... everything is crystal clear + these actually fit in my ear perfectly.
Wallet... haven't seen one I'd buy, yet...

July 24, 2009

2009-07-25T00:28:00.003-07:00

Something quick to fill out before bed...

I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments. What is it?
1. Produce: broccoli
2. Bakery: banana bread
3. Meat: chicken boneless and skinless
4. Frozen: shrimp
5. Other goods: canned salmon

Let's say we're heading out for a weekend getaway. Not too cold, not too hot location. You're allowed to bring 6 articles of clothing with you, shoes are a given. So, what's in your bag?
1. a sweaterwrap thingy
2. tank top
3. black leggings
4. white short shorts
5. cute blouse/throw on
6. a dress up/dress down "one-piece-eu" (dress)

If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day, what 5 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
1. how nice!
2. haha!
3. ... why... how ... what...
4. (Did) You know...
5. Really? Oh no!

Sweet, you just scored a whole afternoon to yourself. We're talking a 3 hour block with nobody around. What 5 activities might we find you doing?
1. Shopping
2. Sleeping
3. On the laptop
4. Playing the piano
5. Eating

We're going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it'll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?
1. penguins
2. white tigers
3. hippos... 'cause them uggggly

You're hungry for ice cream. I'll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?
1. mint chocolate
2. haagen dazs strawberry
3. pear gelato.. not ice cream, but still good.

Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what's in there?
1. cell phone
2. digital camera
3. ping pong panda card holder with my bus pass in it
4. KU agenda
5. hand cream from Skinfood

If you could go back and talk to the old you, when you were in elementary school, and inform yourself of 4 things, what would you say?
1. Less is more -- save your money.
2. Though I'm still getting the hang of it, learn to study earlier and do your assignments when you get them.
3. Hold onto every moment with family.
4. Things always turn out - you don't have to worry.

Change

2009-02-28T04:58:00.001-08:00

Until I come back, I'll be using my new site on Blogspot to document my student exchange in Seoul, South Korea!

http://seoul-sarang.blogspot.com/

Ready

2009-02-19T09:37:00.005-08:00

Only 1 full day left...

Bern looks so cute @ Dot. Desserts w/ each of the parfaits (5556 Cambie opening to the general public around March 2!)
Wow... defo time to get a new camera....
Watched Coraline w/ Nad yesterday -- we got the cool 3D glasses but the pics w/ took w/ them didn't turn out that well. Nightmare-ish movie w/ lots of things that popped out at me, but it was pretty cool. I sort of expected things to come out of the screen so much that I could touch it, but I think that would make a lot of people dizzy.

Some Posh girls
From Saturday -- we look kind of exhausted... it was a busy shift.

This is a nicer picture but I wasn't really ready... (so unlike me!! haha)I'm packing... trying reeeally hard not to bring too many clothes...

Twenty Five

2009-02-15T00:47:00.005-08:00

So there's this phenomenon spreading like wildfire around Facebook called "25 Random Facts About Me". I think everyone has been tagged at least once from this thing. Once you're tagged, you're supposed to publicly post 25 facts about yourself in a new Facebook note and then tag another 25 people (whom you are interested in learning more about and/or whom have not already been tagged). This whole tagging thing is seen everywhere now... this chain is super popular on YouTube, too. I like how personal it is and how much you can learn about someone you don't feel you know very well or are interested in learning more about. Plus, I like how you're not confined to "your favourite colour" etc. - the possibilities are limitless.
25 Random Facts About Me

I'm a bit OC when it comes to towels... I only use bath towels once and then throw them in the laundry hamper because I feel 'dirty' if I have to use it again.
The second time I was in the driver's seat, I (accidentally) ran over a crow. Ever since, I have let my L expire and hardly bothered to learn to drive was because I have felt my goal as a driver (to kill crows) was complete.
I really really want to go to the Britney Spears concert.
I want to marry a pilot.
In Taiwan, I once went out on my own for a couple hours while everyone was having lessons/dance practice and went into a hookah bar and smoked mango with a group of Taiwanese guys.
I have never sworn once in my life.
I have been on TV 3 times.
I used to be mean and nasty in the first half of elementary school... it was a wonder how I had friends.
I hate the smell of bananas (ew don't eat your black banana near me or I gag to myself and try to hold my breath and/or try to escape) and have only begun to eat them semi-recently.. and even so, I only do when they're in blueberry smoothies or when there's still green on the peel (not as stinky).
One of my biggest pet peeves are when people blow their nose when they aren't in the bathroom. Absolutely disgusting!!
I would wear one of these:
**
I have a secret crush on one of my coworkers and have switched shifts just so I can work with him.
I once (accidentally!) knocked my brother in the head with a baseball bat and he had to go into emergency + get 5 stitches.
I eat in my sleep.
The heaviest I ever weighed was 155lbs.
I think Richard Gere is the handsomest man in the world.
The real reason why my mom made me switch elementary schools to Tyee in Gr. 3 after going to Our Lady of Sorrows for 3 years was because I got detention too many times @ OLS... the last straw was when I was sent to the principal's office. Ever since, I've learned to be a good girl @ school.
I have more freckles on my butt than my face.
I've read the first Boxcar Children book over 20 times b/c I loved it so much and I've read this one version of Titanic (a 375 pg book) I randomly picked out at a bookstore 7 times. I even wrote down the page numbers of all my favourite 'scenes' on a post-it note in the back just so I could flip to it faster.
I have an obsession with the letters K and R
I've had chicken pox twice.
If I were to become religious, I would be a Buddhist.
Red is becoming my favourite colour
When I was 6 or 7, I stepped outside of the skytrain on a stop where I wasn't supposed to (I'm pretty sure it was Broadway). I still remember my mom's hands between the doors and her looking terrified with my brother in a stroller. Luckily, there was an older couple with white hair (from what I remember) that stayed with me until my mom came back to get me.
Only 10 of these are true.

Whew that was hard to think of 25 things!
You can guess which ones are true or not but I ain't telling you the truth ;)

Gratuity

2009-02-14T01:38:00.008-08:00

Well, Happy Valentine's Day =)

As expected, Valentine's Day @ Posh was mainly full of couples. Almost all of them tipped very well, which was nice, but I had a couple of "incidents". I've had this problem (well, to servers, it's a problem) a few times in the past and it just isn't right. As much as it shouldn't, good/bad tips make or break the work shift in terms of satisfaction and happiness for a lot of the employees. The money aspect contributes to part of the happiness, but to us servers, it's more of an unsaid pat on the back. When a customer dishes out over 20%, it's like they are telling us "good job, you were a great server" - a compliment and definitely a confidence booster in the work place.

We are paid a base pay of $8/hr so tips make up most of our income and definitely determine how much we earn. With this new tip structure, a percentage of our food and drink sales (separately) are deducted from our tips and are given to the bar, host, bussers, and kitchen staff... so even if we'd make about $150 in tips for one shift, for example, we would only get tipped out about $70-80 on a decent night.

Although it varies from country to country (and of course by industry), it is common knowledge that it's generally rare to tip in many countries in Asia... whereas in North America, a 10-20% tip is pretty much expected given that service is of a certain high quality. Yes, I realize that maybe the sort of service we're providing is just not to their liking, but that just doesn't make sense if a server gets 20% from one table and only 5% from the next. How much one should tip is not legally required, but it is considered unethical to tip so miserly.

Many people think Asians are terrible tippers, which does hold true for the most part. From my experience, there are different and distinct levels of Asian tippers. Japanese are the worst, apparently Koreans are pretty bad too... around the 5-10% but I haven't noticed, Chinese give you 10% max but usually hover around the 7-8% range, and Taiwanese leave about a 8-12% tip. Though we don't serve very many, the Filipino and Vietnamese also seem to hover around the 10-15% range... and just to give you something to compare to, a Caucasian/European person almost always tip between 13-30% (unless they are students).

But anyway, there's the problem... Japanese people are just not accustomed to tip ANYTHING in Japan. I've heard that if you even give them a dollar more than what's on the bill, they'd be practically bowing down to you. I consider Japanese people to be the worst tippers in that they don't tip at all. They give you everything on the bill to the penny. All this talk about tips may sound like I'm a money hog but customers should realize that when they don't tip, we, as servers, are paying out of our own pocket to serve them b/c we have to give money back to the restaurant! That in itself is just not right.

My "incident" was with this table of 3 (and previously a table of 7) Japanese people whose bills came out to be $69 (and $192) and they left me with no tip whatsoever. For the $69 table, I had to pay approximately $7 from my own pocket to serve them. That's almost an hour of my base pay! PLUS they tend to ask you for certain things verbally instead of filling out that order sheet so I was running back and forth from the kitchen to the table, giving things to them individually as they decided they wanted 2 more pieces of Shitake mushrooms. And then at the end, I think they feel bad for not leaving any tip or they wanted to show their gratitude in another way so they, with apologetic looks in their eyes, practically clean the whole table for me, maybe thinking that they'll make up for it in that way ............ no. It doesn't work that way.

If it weren't for tips, no one would want to work at a restaurant as a server. And it's not like we're giving them poor service - I'm proud to be working with happy + smiley servers who are amiable, helpful and polite, and who work quickly and efficiently - all to bring the customers with good quality service. There should be no reason why we should receive less than 5%...

No, I don't want to see a 10 or 15% service charge automatically added onto bills because that would definitely not make employees feel they need to work hard to earn their tip and our teamwork would definitely not be the same. All I want is for someone to force all Japanese (and apparently Korean) visitors to read a manual titled "Proper Customs While In Canada" and highlight certain parts to clearly outline what is or isn't acceptable. Anyway, I have more to say, but I'll end my rant here.

Here's a bit of a laugh:
I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty darn comfortable to wear whatever and do whatever around the house when it's just me w/ my family. This includes NOT closing the bathroom door (though I actually do close and lock the main floor bathroom door out of habit for some reason), when I have to pee. So I was on the toilet upstairs, when heard footsteps coming towards it with the same footstep-weight as my brother, but with more of a sock-shuffle (my brother doesn't seem to like wearing socks as much as I do). I'm curious so I crane my neck (while still on the toilet), trying to hear more... and it turns out to be one of my brother's friends (I've never met/seen before)! hahaha I wasn't actually embarrassed to be seen on the toilet in my Hello Kitty robe and teddy bear fleece PJ pants @ my knees and my pink underwear, but his expression was so funny! His eyes got really wide and his mouth formed an "o" shape and it really reminded me of a Cheerio and his hand flew to his mouth. He kept on apologizing "sorry" hahahaha I couldn't help but laugh. Now, I'm using the computer in the computer room in the main floor and just heard someone come upstairs and knock lightly on the bathroom door (for some reason the door was closed.. I think something is wrong w/ the toilet again) and the guy chuckled to himself as he was doing so. lol... great first impression too, eh?? I wonder if he's traumatized.

TOO CUTE I WANT ONE!

2009-02-10T20:49:00.001-08:00

Wonder Baby + Wonder Girls
**

Super productive day today:
Went to SFU to:
- hand in photocopy of passport
- get an ISIC card (mailed to me)
- get money a friend owed me
Went downtown to:
- hand in Visa application (to be picked up next Wed) + get approved
- exchange currency (found that Korea Exchange Bank under H Mart on Robson had the best rate + it was nice inside + the employees were nice too)
- bought another pair of leggings (my backup pair b/c I wear them a lot + used up gift card)
- got my bangs cut @ Chura
- got Shu Uemura cleansing oil samples (woot woot).. I'm actually running out of Cetaphil!

All that's left is to figure out some possible courses + pick up my visa + pack!!

2009-02-09T23:54:00.002-08:00

A couple cuties I get to see this Thursday:
Triton's wearing a wig.

Wanna See Some Magic??

2009-02-09T17:18:00.003-08:00

Disclaimer: This trick was performed without any visually enhancing technology.

Before:

2 hours later... w/ tons of boxing away, dusting, and vacuuming...
After:
The only thing that I took out of the room was my suitcase. My room has so much potential... so plain and boring now haha... oh well. It will be fixed up eventually... heheh I have so much floor space again! No more hopping!

Just Crazy

2009-02-09T06:12:00.007-08:00

I've been up, WIDE AWAKE since 4:30AM! I think it must be the result of those 14 chocolate-covered espresso beans I ate yesterday morning. Munch munch. I went to bed at around 12:30AM... what should/can I do at this hour? I feel crazy + I want to go for a light jog somewhere but I know once I start, I'm going to feel tired again.

ha it's currently snowing up at SFU (not like it matters to me) + I'm sitting here in shorts and a tank top like it's summer... it's not that warm either, I'm just crazy.

Ah only 5 more shifts @ the restaurant (Wed all day, Fri morn, Sat and Sun night) before I leave! I'll miss those crazy kids so much.. it was one of my fav. coworker's last day yesterday. We're getting some new ingredients... vegetarian beef, vegetarian chicken, seaweed (shall be interesting!), fishcake (yum), zucchini, baby corn, and 2 types/parts of a lettuce. Now how complicated would that be? That's just crazy! Even now we yell orders to each other to bring beef/pork trays to certain tables like "2 and 2 to B4". Now, we're going to have to say "3B, 5P, 2 VB, and 1VC" if we find that's the most efficient way... but either way, it'll take much longer...but I guess if you're a meat eater, you'd probably not care to try the vegetarian meat options... but sometimes I think they just like to try it out. I would.

I want to see Coraline (that 3D movie) in theatres before I leave!
And Confessions of a Shopaholic too (which I will see for sure).

Alright, I'm going to attempt going to bed again. My goodness I have over 10 drafts in my blog to-be-posted section. Will post eventually. Later on today I will be downtown to hand in my visa, buy some souvenirs, and get my bangs cut, and then I have a doctor's appt to get my Hep A shot (which I might switch to Friday instead).

Good friends are like stars.
You don't always see them, but you know they're always there.

(Parenthesis)

2009-02-07T00:24:00.006-08:00

I bought one of those pocket 2-year calendars (one with beach backgrounds) from Michaels for 33 cents the other day (you know, I walk there (1 block away) every lunch break and wander around for 15 min (yes, wasting half of my lunch), picking up a few things and never buying anything)... to organize myself so that I wouldn't miss another deadline. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by all the people I want to see and errands I need to run before I go! Today was rather productive as I went to get my prescription filled for my Hep A shot, ate a LOT of greek salad + H-dip in between + got my visa photo taken @ Costco (AH passport photos are on sale for $5 instead of the $14 I paid @ LD!!). Yeaaa... I'm pushing it by handing my visa application so late as I only have literally 2 weeks left (I'm handing it in on Monday!) and it takes 5 business days to process. It should be fine...

Anyway, the point of this is to say I've been quite busy recently (w/ dinners, lunches, a sleepover, babysitting, and exercise) which is why I haven't blogged half as often as usual (for all you who have cried "your readers are bored!").

My heart pounds every time my eyes skim over the day of the 21st on the calendar. I definitely have mixed emotions... I'm amazingly excited and am anticipating this whole experience in general and I can't believe I'm actually going on this trip I've talked about for soooo long but as the days approach being countable on both hands, I'm getting nervous... I'm going cold turkey from my comfort zone - no companion, no daily taken-for-grated interaction with family and friends, new surroundings, "new" language, new everything (except for music and food). I'm going in without expectations and I'm just going to be myself and see where things take me.

OH before I forget, I wanted to document my 1st (free) trial lesson of Muay Thai Kickboxing a few blocks away from my house (yesterday)! I would love to start doing it regularly - when I come back. I feel it today as the back of my legs, upper abs, and upper back are a tad sore. It's even more fun w/ a friend so I'm so glad I did it with Ashley. Go try it! The instructor was helpful in correcting my technique a couple times and he actually can be kind of funny too. The first bit was jumping back and forth with our fists protecting our face as we jab in different directions with all our might. And then we kicked as hard as we could and kneed our partners. Ab work out on mats (many crunches w/ legs off the ground). Then some half-burpies working our legs. Stretching. And we learned a cool defense sequence. Don't try to smooch me if I don't like you 'cause you'll be sorry!! It was such a workout -- I sweat so much! And it's different every time - you'll work on different parts of the body.

I've written more but I can't finish it right now... I shall post it tomorrow... or Sunday, rather, as I am pulling a 11:30AM-12AM double shift tomorrow @ the restaurant. I will be having a quick dinner there during my break from 4:45-5:45 so you're welcome to join me! haha

School Pride?

2009-02-04T23:41:00.004-08:00

Last week, a customer asked me if I knew what SFU's mascot was. I was embarrassed to say I had no clue/couldn't remember! Did you know? It's a Scottish Terrier named McFogg the Dog. Ah, now I can vaguely picture it in my mind... Don't know how I feel about that.

Majorly

2009-01-29T17:56:00.009-08:00

You know what's something I haven't done in a while?
Online shopped!

I'm still shopped-out for a while (ie. a few weeks)... especially for Winter clothes (though a couple more coats would be nice), but I'm never lust-out! Summer sandals... handbags... mmmmmmmm

I'm kind of disappointed - I thought the lines would come out with something different than the gladiator-type sandals from last year, but I like these quite a lot.
I think we'll be seeing a lot of pastel shades this Spring/Summer, which I don't mind except for pastel peach or certain shades of pastel orange... like Flintstone vitamins [shuh shuh shuh shuuuder]

Love this look
Blogger Childhood Flames - older set of pics but I do very much like how she wears this outfit.
I tried just saving only one of these pictures to show you but I just think I needed to post the set of three for the effect.
Just found out Daniel Henney is in Vancouver filming as Agent Zero for Xmen @ UBC. So handsome!! So happy to hear he signed a lot of textbooks/cell phones =D So handdssoomeeeee

Quite a few more things to do before I leave:
- Take another passport-type photo for my Visa (will only take 5 days to process)
- Travel clinic (maybe tomorrow...) to get shots.. make appt w/ doctor to get my Hep A shot.
- Find out if I've got the dorm.. if not, look for an apartment ASAP
- Figure out which courses I'd like to take + see if they're transferable (will do that this wknd)
- Buy souvenirs
- Buy my favourite snacks to bring
- Currency exchange
- Give SFU a copy of my passport (by hand! gotta trek up...)
- Get an ISIC card from SFU
- Pack, of course
- Find my camera cord!
- moreeeee

Things That Go Vroom! Or Putt Putt....

2009-01-26T22:03:00.003-08:00

Today, my brother and I treated my grandparents to Dine Out at Joe Fortes. I love listening to my Gong Gong (G-pa, mom's side) talk haha he's so animated and enthusiastic in his own way. He was telling us how he's planning to buy a Lexus SUV (my favourite car) and I told him to get the cream one - the champagne coloured one 'cause then it'd be exactly the one I like. For some reason, I think he thought I said white or something 'cause he exclaimed, "NO! That colour is for pimps!!! If I drive that car in that colour, people will think I'm a pimp!" HAHAHA we all died laughing!

And then I found out that when my mom was 16, she wanted a Porche... (1974 Porche)
but instead, my Gpa bought her a Pacer (or a "ham" as my Gpa called it... my mom said it looks like a fish bowl. She called it a lemon b/c it was yellow and functioned like one). I can see why she was so embarassed to drive it!

Pssssst

2009-01-25T23:36:00.004-08:00

Just wanted to let you in on my new online crush........

Matt Koval on YouTube!

This guy is so talented. He's a filmmaker from Cali and produces quality short vids. He's also a great story-teller and pretty good looking to boot. Most people say they can't stop staring at his green eyes but for some reason, I'm more into his teeth ha. I'm supposed to be quantifying evaluations but I just spent the last 45 minutes watching his 13 YouTube video clips... and even re-watching a few! Here's a couple sample vids of what he does - he actually produces a variety of different types of videos: stupid funny, stories, PSAs, Just-So-You-Know ones... etc. etc.. I recommend every video!

Stupid-funny: The Fuplers (said FOO-plers): Thalad Drething
(Like the well-known YouTuber Happy Slip where one person plays multiple characters)

True story: Jack Nicholson's Elbow

Serious: Tenth (an aspect of 9/11)

Intimidation

2009-01-23T01:25:00.007-08:00

For lunch, I basically only have 3 restaurants that are close enough to eat at within my 30 minute lunch break: McDonalds (the closest), Quiznos, and Tim Hortons. I'm ashamed to say I've actually eaten at McDonalds 3 or 4 times within the past month because of this! I work at that location twice a week and I'm very much a variety-girl... but I almost always get the Chili w/ a whole wheat country bun at Tim Hortons for $3.99. Cheap, healthy, and good. On the day I don't have Tim Horton's and I don't feel like eating at McDonalds, I head to Quiznos, which is right next to TH. However, I never end up eating there because I'm always intimidated by the customers! They are always all full-grown males! Plus, the path I choose to walk there (cutting through the parking lot) combined with the set up of the tables in the restaurant and the floor to ceiling glass windows increases my level of intimidation. I feel like a caged animal (except I'm actually on the outside). It's definitely an unfamiliar feeling to me... even as a server where I've served such a variety of customers including large-group tables filled with 10 huge males, 4 of which were tattoo-covered, bald-by-choice Caucasians in leather!

I read a Soompi thread quite a while ago on people who were intimidated to shop/eat at a store/restaurant for various reasons such its connotation, the kinds of clothes/products they sell, or the kinds of people who work there. They mentioned stores such as Abercrombie or restaurants like Hooters (lol). I couldn't understand it at the time, but now it's totally the type of customers Quiznos happens to get at that particular location! Next time, I'm going to suck it up (and get take out haha) and I will remind myself that I will be greeted warmly by one of the older Italian employees who is such a sweet, smiley woman.... and because Quiznos is healthier than McDonalds and other than the Chili or their bland club sandwiches, TH is full of junk.

Have you ever felt the least bit intimidated at a store/restaurant? Of certain people?

Clothes Shopping Ban In Effect

2009-01-20T00:40:00.004-08:00

I'm finished clothes-shopping in Vancouver until July 12th! haha
Yesterday, Nad's family + I went down to Westfield Southcenter. Nad and I spent around 7 hours in the mall. which wasn't enough time considering the huge-ness of the mall! We got there around 10:30 (mall opens at 10). For lunch, we decided to go to this cheap sushi restaurant my Aunt told us about called Sushiland and boy was it a mistake. It's like the chain Genki sushi where you sit bar-style and food comes around on plates on a conveyer belt and you choose which ones you'd like to eat. Each plate corresponds with a certain price from $1 to $3. Sushi was mediorcre with the bean curd wrapped rice thingy and the eel being my favourites. The $3 tasted funny - soft shelled crab roll + seared tuna sushi. There was a 15 minute wait (pretty busy.. had to sign in yourself!). There were only 2 or 3 Asian employees in the whole restaurant... all the others were Caucasian or Spanish and one of the girls couldn't even pronounce Agedashi...! Butchea, it's generally pretty cheap but Nad and I ate a lot so the bill came out to be $21USD. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have some of the menu items I saw on their website like $3 udon bowls.
Anyway, enough about that. Back in the mall, we scoured F21. I ended up getting this thick knit scallop cardigan in a weird gray-purple colour, a cheap black tank, and a $16 knitted pencil skirt from F21, 5 pieces of underwear + a pair of navy blue stockings from PINK (Victoria's Secret), a bra from Victoria's Secret, 7 pieces of underwear ($1.90 each!) + sleeping shorts from Gilly Hicks (massive sale, IMO!), black Kensie mini triangle/diamond stockings and a Mint Julip face mask from Fred Meyer. The only other thing on my list that I didn't get b/c they were sold out was my Le Pliage Large Longchamp bag from Nordstrom...
SA buffered my pinky and tried to sell us some expensive hand cream/nail thingy set, I ate Red Mango's pomegranate yogurt w/ blackberries, and had some sweet tea.

omg My underwear is so cute! lol

"That's What She Said......"

2009-01-18T23:01:00.006-08:00

lolol Xiaxue's blog is so entertaining!

-It is not a crime to prance around pretty with make up. It is a crime to let urself remain ugly when u can make yourself look better.- Xiaxue

Schedule this week:
Monday: States Shopping
Tues: Work @ JH + Work @ home (evaluations)
Wed: Work double shift @ Posh
Thurs: Work @ JH
Fri: Work @ home + get shots + Dine Out @ Sequoia Grill
Sat: Work @ Posh (night shift)
Sun: Work @ home + Grandma's for dinner
Mon (26): Dine Out @ Joe Fortes

I work a lot... need to fit in more family time.

Kiwi Blush

2009-01-18T01:52:00.003-08:00

haha Youtube.
I found a series of episodes called Xiaxue's Guide To Life. It's about this girl named Wendy in Singapore and she just... does stuff and it's all documented!
She gets her tongue pierced (shudder!! I can never do this! I actually watched the whole thing...), shows you how to clean the house, gets a tattoo, tries DIY home remedies (egg white mask and mayo hair conditioner), shows you how to bling your gadgets (I want to crystallize my phone now!!), goes to a fish spa, shows you how to put on fake eyelashes, teaches you how to furnish a princess room (lol)... kills a live crab to cook (how INHUMANE!), and tries to lose weight via acupuncture... among many many MANY other things.
haha she's funny! Talks a lot and kind of hard to understand! Singlish..
She's actually a celebrity TV personality and blogger too! www.xiaxue.blogspot.com

Served such a nice and polite group of 8 Koreans last night =) 7 guys and 1 girl. I think they were 19 and all the guys were gentlemen aww it was so enjoyable! Even a couple co-workers told me they really liked that table and came around often just to check up on them even if it wasn't their table to serve. You know, I think it's part of a customer's job to just be kind and courteous back to the server. Yes, servers are paid for their job to provide the best possible dining experience no matter how badly the customer treats them and I'm proud that everyone I currently work with does that, but we, as people, react. We feed off the way customers respond. I've seen it happen and I do it too - even if the customer is being a total ick (which is quite rare), we try our best and treat them as if they were having a great day but we don't want/feel that they deserve any extra bit of service (though we do do it). For happy customers, the servers go beyond and want to do even more for their customer. All you have to do is be positive and polite and, unless the server is an ick him/herself, you will get an even better restaurant experience.

Tips Reflect Service

2009-01-16T21:47:00.004-08:00

OK well to be blunt, Hells Kitchen was pretty disappointing in almost all aspects and unless they get their act together, I don't think I'll ever go again.

Nad and I went for their Dine Out dinner earlier today. Hells Kitchen seemed to have one of the best menus under the $18 restaurants and I had heard pretty good reviews from word of mouth. The restaurant itself is casual, a tad quirky with the lights, and Abercrombie-dark with a lot of durable leather, wood, brick, and red. The hostess had a "trainee" vibe to her and didn't seem too confident or experienced which sort of made a temporary first impression on me. Nad had made a reservation online for today except it didn't seem coordinated with the restaurant because they had no clue we had made a reservation. Wasn't much of a problem as the restaurant wasn't full. Soon enough, we were seated in two low dark leather and spacious bucket chairs.

The server came by promptly and asked us if we knew about Dine Out and showed us where it was in the menu and quickly explained the drink special. There's three choices for each category: appetizers, entree, and dessert. Very simple and straight forward - one read through and you've memorized the whole thing. Nad and I planned to share everything so we ended up getting a poutine (which the server pronounced poo-tin) and chowder as appetizers, 2 pizzas (all three entrees were pizzas), and a tiramisu and a creme brulee for dessert. I also ordered a glass of Riesling which the server poured from this small open-mouthed glass into my wine glass in front of me which was a nice touch.

Our appetizers came out... a salad and chowder... no, we didn't order a salad. Sorry! She quickly turned her heel and a few minutes later she came out with the correct appetizers. Said something about the kitchen losing our order which was sort of understandable 'cause that has happened a couple of times at my restaurant too (though I don't understand HOW...) I enjoyed my chowder - they served a good-sized portion, it was hot, it had a ton of ingredients in it all chopped up perfectly, it seemed fresh and it had seafood. The poutine was alright. I always picture the NYFries version of poutine and this one didn't really look like it. It was a bit plain and starchy + filling -- too much potato, I didn't see any gravy in it/needed more.. less soggy, more crisp... but there were bacon bits.. not enough melted curd. The server came around and asked us how our first bites were... I didn't even touch my chowder yet and I think Nad was eating her first bite of poutine... It's... good? I guess?

I guess it's a bit different than most restaurants because the pizza needs to be served hot out of the oven, but it felt a bit rushed when we were about 1/2-3/4 finished our appetizers and she asked if we wanted her to take it away to make room for the pizza since it was ready to deliver. Uh no.

We cleared space and got our pizza. The pizzas were of decent size - thin crust. They tasted OK. I don't know if my tastebuds are wacky but they were both on the plain side. We finished half of each pizza and had them packaged separately. Then the server asks us if there's anything else we'd like and we're like "no, we're good". We were just waiting for our dessert. A minute later, she comes by to give us the bill.................... what?! Where's our dessert?? How can you forget something like that? So sorry!

A guy come by holding 2 plates of dessert and sets down the creme brulee and a cup of brown stuff he initially said was mousse and we're like "we ordered a tiramisu" and he quickly said "oh, I meant tiramisu". Nad was already skeptical. I take a spoonful... lo and behold, it's chocolate mousse... Sorry! So we told the server and she let us keep the mousse and came back with the tiramisu (the chocolate mousse turned out to be much better than the tiramisu which we found to be semi-tasteless and dry). They didn't even use real whipped cream. Nad's creme brulee was good. I found the presentation of the food to be pretty decent, though.

So after all that, I gave the server the benefit of the doubt... maybe she was having an off day... maybe it was her first time serving with the Dine Out menu and forgot because people usually don't order dessert... but still. Even though she was polite and apologetic, she didn't come across as very genuine or aware... I felt as though she just said things because they were routine, not because she actually meant them. When Nad was away from the table, the server came by and quickly said, without even looking at "us", "How are we doing here girls?" (plural? It's just me sitting there...) and before I can even answer, she says "here's the bill thank you" in such a rushed tone and leaves. Gee thanks for waiting for me to answer! She should know that service should be good until the end. The end is what customers remember the most! Her tip definitely reflected the service, not the food, though the food tip wouldn't be fantastic either. I wasn't impressed. I don't think so many things have gone wrong for me at a restaurant before and I haven't had a bad restaurant experience since going to Sauce in Victoria (the servers were dumb and rude). I feel compelled to post something on dinehere.ca...

Food: 3/5
Service: 2.5/5
Value: 3.5/5
Ambiance: 3.5/5

FYI: They don't provide Dine Out for parties of more than 4 people. Ridiculous!

Sharp

2009-01-16T12:11:00.003-08:00

Got my Coastal Scents order today!
I haven't tested the brushes yet but they're soft. I'm happy with the gel liners. They go on smoothly and they're both rich in colour (you only need a tiiiiny tiny amount)... and they don't come off with just water. I haven't tried it on my eyes yet. The only thing is that the black sort of stains my brush!
The gold has a bit of finely milled sparkle in it!
My Hello Kitty robe!
Hells Kitchen for Dine Out tonighttt! More photos to come.

ZZzzzzzz

2009-01-15T16:44:00.010-08:00

OH MY I'm worn out. Too much work (fun), too little sleep. I'm happy to get a day off tmr... xept I brought work home with me sooo no rest, really! So foggy yet dry - I had to cream my hand so often today b/c of the dryness in the office and b/c of all the paper I was handling. Too zzzzzz to write... so as I promised I'm bringing my digi around everywhere... and here are some of the results!

A couple pictures from my States trip:
Jessica Simpson shoes @ Macy's -- elastic strappy front and full zippered back! Kinda cool.
My Auntie Sandy with those dog bags.................... they do fit well under the armpit, though!
@ Trader Joe's... which is like Capers - a lot of it is organic and healthy... but cheaper -- cashiers
Oh yea, Nad -- we saw Miss Becky here! She has short hair now but still very recognizable!
At every aisle end there were these sorts of displays... and their description made me want to buy every one! I ended up getting 3 items from the 10 displays.
@ work, waiting to be cashed out... Henry dans camo haha
Syrups
Yinny and I labeled them! So cute, eh?
I wrote this! Chao mei = strawberry.
Here's a few pictures from Celebrities on Tuesday with Artemis and Devin:
I'd totally go again! Except, well, later in the night when the music gets better.
Being immature... hehehehhe
After a freaky lady ruined our first picture...
A + me aw!
I'm such a tea-addict these days... my teeth are yellowing. Dentist this Saturday!

Days

2009-01-12T23:54:00.003-08:00

I should be in bed right now considering I have to wake up in 7.5 hours but I might not have time to post something until Thurs night 'cause I've got work tmr in N. Van and am most likely going out tmr night and then I'm doing a double shift on Wednesday so I'll be at the restaurant from 11:30AM-11PM w/ 2 hours break... and then on Thurs, I'm working in N. Van again!

Quick recap of today: Hung out with my mom and aunt today -- aunt decided she wanted to go to the states (she lives in Richmond) so we went down! How spontaneous =) We just hit up Ross, Costco, Bellis Fair, and Trader Joe's. The sales were pretty amazing. I ended up getting a Hello Kitty print robe (so soft! So flashy!) from Charlotte Russe (I didn't know they've actually been in BF since June! I'm sooo disappointed though... their stuff looks so much better in both design and quality online than in person. It's like Wetseal + Anchor Blue... xept (may I say) worse in quality??) for $6.99 (STEAL! My aunt got a top there for $4!), a supersoft light wool-like gray long A&F Evie Cardigan for $28, Bio-Oil and Maybelline XXL Extensions mascara (based on one Youtube review I watched 2 days ago... accidentally got Brownish-black instead of blackish black ooopsss... here's for the more natural look hehehe...) from Rite Aid. We bought a lot of groceries too!

Eek laptop battery is gonna die in 30 seconds!

Combination

2009-01-10T23:05:00.007-08:00

Polyvore

Hm you know I write all these posts on random topics but I just end up not publishing them in case the content might offend or be hurtful to someone... then I try to cut it down but then it becomes a "what's the point?" post. I guess that's why I just blog about such superficial things a lot -- it's fun for me and it's easy! I think I'm pretty careful to watch what I say about 90% of the time... but then I realize that those who don't care as much and actually state their opinions -- they sure are interesting and attract a wider range of people, but they are also prone to anti's. It's very rare to have it all.

So picture-less... hmm I'll start using my digi starting tomorrow!

Anyway, I bought the limited edition 2008 Juicy Couture snowflake earrings off Revolve Clothing online for 30% off the regular price... so it was $39USD which converted to $49.23CDN. When I received it, I thought it was pretty cute but I didn't love it and it sort of didn't suit me so I luckily sold it on Craigslist for $50. I'm meeting the girl tomorrow. I think she's getting a pretty good deal considering they're $65CDN @ Blue Ruby and sold out across the city!

Today was quite stressful b/c I realized 3 hours before my bank closes that I needed to pay my damage deposit (required to apply for dorm) for Korea Uni by TODAY! Like, they needed to receive the money today or else I don't get a dorm! Eeeeek so I wired the money (which took foreverrrrr... slow not-so-bright bankers omg) but they won't receive it by Wed (at least 2 business days)... I'm crossing my fingers that KU will still accept it even though it's late and I will get a dorm. I sent them an e-mail explaining... At this point, I'm not picky who I'm gonna dorm with... I just want to live in the dorm! Never again.. I've written down all my due dates!

Certain things always seem to happen when I least expect it... maybe I should just stop expecting... then life will always be full of surprises! How nice!

Slushy snow today... are you kidding? In spite of the weather, I've compiled my Spring/Summer wardrobe lusts!

An everyday bag around this size (Andrea Brueckner!!)
Chloe Paraty
The waist belt-version of this Miu Miu patent leather cuff
More shorts! These shorts are soooo cute! I'm looking for some satin-y types... and of course I love them cuffed.
These Tory Burch Emmy sandals from last year I need to replace my dying old gold ones... her styles aren't very nice this season...
Picture from Ebay
Sunglasses
I don't expect to fit in a lot of the bottoms in Korea (they cater towards curve-less bottoms and goodness knows I have some hip and butt!!) and shoes (largest normal size is a size 8... i'm half a size larger than that!) so I think I'm going to have to bring all I have and purchase here... we'll see. Don't think shirts/dresses will be a problem and hopefully skirts shouldn't be... 'cause they have cute skirts!

Untitled

2009-01-08T19:24:00.002-08:00

I just had a flashback to when I was 5 or 6 years old... somewhere around that age. I remember sitting on that purple-y couch in my TV room, sitting between my mom and dad while they were watching TV, practicing how to tie a bow with a long neon shoelace (it must have been either yellow or pink) on my Minnie Mouse slipper... over and over again. I got the hang of it pretty darn quickly! My unconventional way...

Chao Mei

2009-01-08T00:18:00.005-08:00

Today, I got some downtown street artist to draw me:
It was so weird holding that pose... so many people watched... I felt like a zoo animal.

hehe just kidding -- if you looked closely, you can see that there's some girl's legs where I'm supposed to be sitting. It's from this site called PhotoFunia where you can choose a setting and then upload any picture. Tada!!

Look! I'm on the cover of Vogue!! LOL... I'll be lucky if I sell one copy...

Gee Gee Gee Gee Baby Baby Baby

2009-01-06T20:44:00.004-08:00

Right now I'm sitting on my livingroom couch, cross-legged, the Christmas tree lights being my only source of light aside from my laptop, snuggled up in a new luxurious plush throw from Restoration Hardware (I cannot express how much I love that store! That and Liberty are my absolute favourite interior furnishing + decor stores! I saw this one large glass coffee table at Liberty the other week... it was perfection but stood at a ridiculous $3,800 or something like $289/month... anyway) that I couldn't resist NOT buying and I'm so glad I did. It's the softest thing! AND it's in silver sage which, I've decided, is gonna be the "colour" in my room. So silver sage and cream, basically (with touches of gold and silver) and some dark brown to heavy the room, if you know what I mean. I couldn't decide between silver sage and eucalyptus (basically a darker silver sage) but I realized it's a bit easier finding a darker shade than that shade of silver sage. I'm going for that luxury hotel room look.

The idea of teaching English in Korea has been lingering in my mind since first year. To me, teaching, in general, is not something I see myself doing because I think it's something you should have interest and should sort of have an expertise in... and I never seem to learn something so well to be that good in it... well, I'm sure I can teach Grade 2 math but I have no interest in that whatsoever. However, English is different - it's something that's natural to me - something I've grown up with. Compared to non-English speakers, I am an expert! Ever since I heard first hand of an SFU student (she's Chinese + has a bit of an accent) teaching English (for $50USD cash/hour) last Spring during her exchange in Korea, my interest in teaching English sparked yet again (though it is illegal...). Yesterday, I found this girl's blog on Soompi that was about her thoughts and experiences of teaching English in Korea. Her Soompi alias is Ginger and she's got a BA in English Lit, is 23, and is full Korean but adopted when she was 3 months old by 2 Italian laywers from West Virginia. She's an engaging blogger and honestly tells all - the pros and the cons of teaching. I think this post titled "My Official Teaching English in Korea Information Post" is helpful and excellent for those curious about what it takes and what is involved.
Anyway, I think teaching English there while I'm studying would sure bring my experience to a whole other level, but I don't think I'll actually take time out of my day to search for a job... though getting paid good money to babysit a kid just so that he/she will be exposed to English at a young age sounds really fun to me! Talk, play, love!

Uuuuummmm first day back at my other non-Posh job today =) Well, it was actually =( getting there -- took me 1.5 hours when it usually takes me 45 minutes MAX. But my coworkers, 2 older women (40+) are funny and real lovely to work with.

I want to try so many Dine Out restaurants this year.. there's so many to choose from! But they're all in the $38 category and I don't have the money to try... indulge...

My title is from SNSD's new song, Gee. My goodness it's such a catchy song! Their MV is annoyingly cute but I love it. I can't differentiate their voices though.. they all have the same high-pitched voice!

My brother and I are going to do charcoal masks together now. I stocked up on some at Daiso the other day (finallyyyyyy - always seems to be sold out!). Here's to good skin! [Clink]

New Found Love

2009-01-04T21:35:00.005-08:00

I decided to skip the stress of making resolutions before the new year because if I were to improve myself, I'd be more likely to follow through when I was inspired rather than making resolutions 'cause it was the time to do so.

SO I've thought of a few so far:
1. I resolve to think carefully over every purchase. Just because it's on sale doesn't mean I have to buy something. Just because it's trendy and would go great with my wardrobe for this season, doesn't mean I have to buy it. I want to make sure that clothing purchases are investments, not money tossed away. I find that about half the time, I buy things just because I want it at that moment (like my ankle boots -- after looking over my scary Visa statement, I've decided to return them). I use new purchases for about a week and then they're forgotten about.. and I realize as much as I want something at that moment, give me 3 weeks and I wouldn't want it anymore.
2. Take better care of my hair. I don't know if it's because it's Winter or if it's because of the products I've been using, but everyday seems to be a bad hair day that needs a LOT of fixing before I leave the house. I found Shiseido Tsubaki conditioner @ Aberdeen today for $12! I know I can get this in Korea for half that but my hair cannot be condition-less until then. It's the re-fill version (a package, not the container) - that's why it's cheaper. I hope it's as good as ppl say it is. I also have a $15 off any purchase coupon @ Kiehl's valid anytime in January so I'm planning on getting their Olive Fruit Oil Deeply Repairative Hair Pak. Tons of great reviews for that product on Makeupalley.
3. Start caring about shoes. My shoe collection is a bit disappointing. I have more black heels than anything else. Vancouver has got to be one of the worst shopping cities for nice shoes. It's so easy to buy cheap, poor quality shoes. Gotta think investments...

I'm envious of her black Tommy Hilfiger cape!!
More cape-ness from LuluForget LV, I'm all about miu miu now.
Miu Miu has revived my love for handbags!!!
I'm in love with this bag! It's really not as square -- this is what it looks like when it's stuffed. How come I can't find the model anywhere online...Where are my black stockings?! Ever since I put them through the wash a month ago, they've disappeared!

Kisses From Everyone

2009-01-03T21:00:00.006-08:00

Coastal Scents haul! I was very impressed with the quality of the last couple of brushes I bought (the badger blush and the badger angled contour brush for less than $7 each.. and they pick up colour like no tomorrow!) so I decided to finish my collection of necessary brushes.

9 things for under $40USD!
6 brushes (less than $4 each)

Angled eyeliner, 3 eyeshadow brushes, eyelash separator, and a foundation brush.

+ 3 potted gel liners in true black and 24K (they were having a sale - buy 2 get 1 free, $7 each and apparently even better than MAC Fluidline that retails for $18, though I must say MAC has more gorgeous-er shades and colours).

13 rich in color Gel Liners have arrived, these apply with ease using an angle liner brush. We were sure to pass out samples to several of our testers who have used these for 2 months. Application is easy, has the ability to design and be creative, lasts all day without smudging or creasing and are highly pigmented.

Pursebuzz's swatches look nicely pigmented. The black looks very black and the gold has a nice metallic-ness to it. I wanted a purple but their deep plum looks too watery for me and Grape Vine is too light metallic.. not very me. It's too bad Turquoise is a matte.

Don't expect to be disappointed in this order considering all the great reviews from their site.

www.coastalscents.com

Booked my flight today via AirCanada non-stop! I'm leaving Feb 21 and coming back July 11th. How sweet, my Grandpa wants to take me to the airport to see me off =)
Gah though... homesickness might kill me. I wonder what's worse - homesickness or the feeling from a breakup? The latter is definitely longer-lasting, I hear.... just gotta get over the first few days. Doesn't seem like many people have felt homesickness before. I'm strange in that about once every 2 years, I'll feel so homesick even though I'm in my own bathroom in my own house and I'm not going anywhere that I'll even start crying. Good thing is that orientation is the day after I arrive so I'll be pretty busy I hope... and not jet-lagged!

3 things I'm most anxious/scared about:
1. Homesickness
2. Getting transferable credit for my courses
3. Language barrier -- gotta practice/learn some everyday!

I have a headache.. the one that just pounds once in a while on the top right side of my head, gotta sleep...

Commencement

2009-01-02T01:48:00.006-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

No time to update now so I'll leave you with DBSK's new MV - Bolero
**
And Junsu + Taeyang's (from Big Bang) piano battle (Dec 29, 2008) in SUPER HQ (if you click on the link and choose "watch in HD" [I'm addicted to HD!])!
The stage looked amazing. I wish I was there!
They sing 2 English songs - I'm pretty impressed by Taeyang's English.
**

Lopsided Oreo

2008-12-29T19:14:00.008-08:00

My mom bought 2 webcams today! They're Microsoft LifeCam VX-3000 and I say they work well!

My brother's Daiso owl named "Chris".
When my mom is frustrated with my brother, she takes it out on this "Chris". It gets squished like this:
It looks pretty loved.
Owl-phone Owl-lo?? ahhahaahaha! I'm so clever
Anyway, yesterday I went out for Kfood w/ part of the group + Nad and Jess @ Dae Bak Bon Ga on Robson and then we sang K in the back =) I like that K place -- they have a pretty good selection of songs, it's pretty inexpensive, and 95% of the subtitles are in proper English!

Today I got my hair trimmed 1 inch and dyed at Chura. Not much of a difference in cut except my bangs are a bit shorter. Kenji cut and dyed my hair -- he's cute! He introduced himself and then asked me what I wanted done -- I told him just a 1 inch trim and a dye to some sort of brown.. I asked him if he thinks I should go lighter or darker and he said lighter... and after that he never asked me any questions or confirmed anything related to my hair with me which was kinda "whoaa" but I trusted him... he dressed well. There was this very cute dog there!! Bobo. So tang wha too! Makes me want it. It just sat in its owner's lap while she was getting a bunch of treatments done to her hair. Anyway, they rinsed my hair and then he just started cutting it and was done quite quickly and then he blow dried it. Throughout the whole process, he handled my hair so gently at one point I thought it was because he was inexperienced and new.... lol.. 'cause in the past, the other hairdressers did things so quickly and expert-like in my opinion... like pulling my hair out at different angles to achieve different types of layers... and then Min pulled up the dye-tray and they both started dying my hair and I had no idea what shade they were dying it! In the past, they would show me the colour book and would suggest shades. I asked him and then he said a dark brown (but he said light brown before?) -- oh well. The dying process took hardly any time either because I was dying it darker... then they shampooed and conditioned and he took a loooong time blowing it out nicely and put a couple of products in my hair that smelled good. I don't think the dye gradiant is as obvious anymore since the top grew out, but you can tell that my ends are a bit darker than my roots. Did I mention he was cute? ;) Always smiling.

My dad gave both my mom and I Foot Duvets from Restoration Hardware for Christmas. I love them!!! They're so cozy and they keep my feet perfectly warm. They're on sale now for half price! $10USD per pair! Go pick them up - I'm going tomorrow before work. This is a cute set - a bear, a super soft throw, pillow cover, and 2 sets of foot duvets. There's different colours too like silver sage, dark gray, red (the one I have), chocolate, tan, caramel, and ivory.
I bought ankle boots today! Finallyyyy -- except they're from H&M and not real leather but at $60, they're not too expensive either for such a trendy thing. I've been looking for black booties with the gold zipper for so long and all those shoe stores (B2, Browns, Town Shoes, Holts, The Bay) don't carry decently nice ones for under a grand! So taadaaa

Haha This is just funny -- an improvized song by Justin Timberlake, Wayne Brady, and Brian McKnight.

4 More

2008-12-28T00:37:00.007-08:00

I've compiled a mini wishlist for me to get myself (hopefully before I leave):

1. Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder [$229USD]

www.theflip.com

World's smallest and most compact high-def camcorder! 60 minutes of video, 4GB built-in memory, USB connected, super slim and sleek, features digital zoom, and the Flip-out USB arm plugs directly into your computer.
Tons of designs! Here's my favourites from the site:
The best part is that you can design your own by uploading your own photo! I love these things. Free shipping within the US too!
If you only like the classic black, you can buy it off Amazon for $209.

2. Hot Tools 1.5" Curling Iron
3. Deep Steep products (love!!)
4. Longchamp Le Pliage in Red/Raspberry/Yellow/Navy
So light, compact, can fit everything but the kitchen sink, and portable!

Trying really hard not to buy anymore clothes or makeup....... 1.5 more months... I can do it!

1 States trip... Gilly Hicks... Deep Steep... Nordstrom... that's all I need!

Happy Holidays

2008-12-26T19:41:00.021-08:00

Location: same spot as my Fall picture -- this street is so pretty all year round!
Credit: M

I finally have a bit of time to post! The past few days have been super busy.

On the 23rd, M planned a day just for me! We first went sledding at Burrardview park and went down this man-made snow ramp omg that was so much funn!! Then we changed into our PJs and robes and attempted to play Christmas songs, ate a full Greek dinner complete with homemade sangria (!), ate a super yummy chocolate brownie cheesecake that M made, talked (of course), and made stove-top smores (Yea we roasted marshmallows on the element) =D kumao!

On the 24th I had to work. A lot of large group reservations canceled but the customers were great.

On Christmas day (Merry Christmas btw!), my parents woke my brother and I up to open gifts which is a first! haha In the past, I get up first, lounge around, my dad wakes up and starts on breakfast, and then I have to drag my mom out of bed and my brother wakes up soon after that. My mom got a telescopic back scratcher from Restoration Hardware... which she's very happy with -- a step up from a toilet seat! ahha... a running Xmas joke. My extended family Xmas plans were canceled the night before due to snow but at 2PM, my Gpa called and wanted to get together so everyone made it for dinner at King's Fort in Richmond (Chinese food but not really a fan of the food though service was good). Before dinner, my family visited my mom's maternal mom's brother in the hospital -- he only has a predicted 24 hours to live (colon cancer/liver cancer) except, well, it's been over 24 hours now and he's still awake and comfortable. It was the first time I met him and my mom hasn't seen him in over 24 years (my mom's maternal mom passed away when she was 16). After dinner, my family visited my dad's side at my Uncle George's (in Richmond) where we ate dessert and swapped gifts. Chelsea (my cousin -- she's in Gr 8) is so tall now! She's my height! Corey was soo heartbreakingly cute as usual though not as talkative. I got to meet my cousin Kevin's new gf really quickly before we had to leave to go back to my mom's side at my Auntie Sandy's house for more dessert and gift-opening. Chaotic, I tell you! I'm so glad I got to see both sides this year. You don't know how good it is until it's gone... so having family dinner canceled this year made me realize how incomplete the whole Christmas season would be + how much I'd miss it. It still wasn't the same though b/c we ate out for the first time, but at least we were all together.

Some of my favourite pictures of the night:

Triton-baby's scrunchie face.
Kyle-baby
Kyle-baby trying to hide from me
Erin and Emerald play so well together
Emerald was trying to scare Tri and Goo.
Girl cousins -- Kristin, Em, Erin, and Shannon
Triton's favourite Xmas gift -- a custom-made lion's head!

Not the best one, but it's the nicest one my mom took -- all the cousins + g'rents.

This morning I woke up at 6:30, only having had 4 hours of sleep, and met Artemis to go Boxing Day shopping downtown. We spent most of our time at Aritzia and Zara. I got a black cardigan and a black seamless sporty-ish racerback tank for myself from Aritzia. The sales weren't fantastic but at least the crowds weren't bad at all downtown. The bus couldn't make it up the Renfrew hill on the way home so I had to walk the rest of the way w/out a hat or umbrella... I cannot wait for Spring! I want to buy sandals and wear my shorts!! I think I'm just grouchy 'cause I need my haircut...

Don't hold onto your past. There's a reason that it's not coming back.

If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it.

Finally uploaded pictures from my cell:

Posh's Xmas decor - before opening for dinner

I found a stash of my maternal Gma's fur coats. Since it's politically incorrect to wear them, I don't think I'll ever wear them outside, but they are warm and this particular one is cute and lux so I sel-ca'd w/ it. My arms aren't long enough to get a full length shot, but it's sort of like a cropped coat with bell sleeves.

Laptop is being v.v. annoying... it keeps crashing/freezing on me! Must clear space and finish making CDs for my dad...
And gah I'm so tired and have a sore throat... missing out on Steven's party!
Whaat it's supposed to be 7 degrees tomorrow?

Giving Chances... & Double Chances

2008-12-23T01:06:00.007-08:00

Haven't been bringing my digi around... I should though - so I'm relying on other ppl's pics.. and since I've been hanging around my Posh coworkers a lot recently having just worked 4 days in a row, I thought it'd be most approps:
@ Boss -- don't know why Frank looks that way.. that doesn't even look like him.

We're getting bundled up to face the snow... self timer with Wellsie who just wouldn't smile.. guys.. where's Scott?

I've come to the conclusion that some guys just don't photograph well.
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I cannot express HOW much I hate it when people don't bother befriending someone or even giving them a chance to show them what they're all about because of how they look. Don't they know that a lot of the time, the person knows how they compare and are already self-conscious about themselves? Don't they know that some of these people need to be persuaded to even get out in public?! What is so hard about giving people a chance to tell their story? Why do you mock them when you don't even know their name? I am shocked, I am in awe, and I am truly disgusted.

On another note, I guess we sort of gravitate towards befriending or acquainting ourselves with certain people because a lot of the time, you will find a group of friends all to be on the same level of attractiveness. The good-looking people flock together as well as the not-as-goodlooking ones. It's just interesting to observe.
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OOo apparently there's going to be a piano battle between TaeYeon from SNSD and Junsu! And there's also a dance off between JYP and Rain! Rain, before he became an independent artist, used to be under the JYP management. Much anticipated!!

NEW SONG!
Lee Hom - Heartbeat

This guy will forever remind me of Taiwan... love love
lol one of my coworkers said he used to work out at the same gym as him back in Taiwan.

Shift Change

2008-12-22T00:45:00.002-08:00

So I just registered for a dorm on the Korea University campus @ CJ International. I chose a double... meaning I'd be sharing a room with someone. I really hope it was the right decision and I get to live with someone decently compatible with the way I do things. My Auntie Sandy convinced me to choose a double... but she also suggested that I lay some ground rules within the first week which is pretty smart I guess if the buddy is the type to follow through. I got to choose some other things to sort of narrow down my choices but the only thing I chose was that I wish to be roomies with a non-smoker. I want this to be so random - I really have no idea what's going to happen or who I'm going to be paired with. Other options were "I study in the morning, I go to bed late, I study in silence, and I want to be roomed with a local Korean buddy" - all of which I chose "no preference". I guess if worst comes to worst, I'll try to switch with someone with a single room and give them the $400 extra.

The snow is kind of cool 'cause I've got snow boots and can actually stick my WHOLE leg into the snow at once! Work today ended quite early -- like yesterday, there were a decent amount of people in the beginning and then it just suddenly died. I really only served 6 tables (compared to 15-20) and got off at 10 (would have gotten off at 9 if that one table didn't take their dear time!). Such a workout though... the snow, I mean. G and I decided not to take the bus so we trudged all the way up from Renfrew Stn. Anyway, tomorrow I think I'm going to just suck it up and go downtown to pick up some last minute Xmas gifts for family and then head to work around 6. Maybe I'll even eat @ work as I'm craving sukiyaki again... even though I just ate there 2 nights ago... and then a few nights before that too! ahaha... but veggies, yay!

Scratch

2008-12-21T11:17:00.004-08:00

Guh talk about unfairness in the workplace. There's this relatively new girl - let's just call her W -- she's only been here for 3 weeks and has only worked day-time shifts (ie. not as busy shifts) as a busser and host. There's also F and R who have been hosting and bussing for longer than W has. F has been here for more than a month and has mainly worked night shifts and he works really hard and is an awesome host. The boss says F is going to start serving soon. R is both serving and hosting now (she only just started serving a couple weeks ago) but she's been here like 2.5-3 months and is also an awesome host (like, really good!). The unfair part is that W is starting to serve already and F hasn't even started and F has been here longer and has worked more shifts -- esp. night shifts. Also, apparently W bombed her first and only night hosting shift and it wasn't even a weekend! How it works is that you're supposed to have MASTERED hosting before you serve. The boss made it very clear. Now how fair is that? I don't mind W -- tbh, I've only met her twice and haven't even seen her work but from my impression, she's nice. She's also mixed (but a bit of a butterface) if that has anything to do with why she got promoted so quickly.. and the fact that she's a girl... I think maybe the boss thinks girls sell more + get better tips... I don't know.. it doesn't affect me but I just can't seem to shake this from my mind. I'd be pretty annoyed if I were F or R especially because they've proven to be quite an asset to the company.

I've run out of my decent conditioner! Noooo now I don't even want to wash my hair... this weather...
I need to buy some good body lotion and more hand lotion (Glysomed is surprisingly good (and cheap!)! I think I bought a bad batch last time.. will give it another shot)... I'm cracking all over! I also need eye cream!

Painted my nails red for Xmas! Apparently looks fake =( OPI nail polish is amaaazzinnnggggg though-- I did 2 coats + 1 coat of Sally Hansen top coat and they don't chip or scuff up at all! Even after I have to use my nails to scrub oil off tables! Amaaaazzingggggg

Ah... so glad there's no more school! 2 weeks ago on a Sunday, I'd be thinking "Hm.. I should do my homework due tomorrow since I have work tonight... but then I have to shower and stuff so no time".. and then when I get home, I realized I have to stay up a few more hours to do my homework! But not anymoreeeee I'm free! I only have Xmas things to think about. Deck the halls!

Found another Chictopian I love love love! Style4style.
She wore this to her first day of school! lol
Great outfit
I need this blazer..... but it's vintage booo
Don't do converses though... wish she wore ankle boots/heels of some sort
Trying to find that LaRok skirt...
So pretty her hair here is perfect!