casual work

Thank goodness I work in a casual workplace! I don't know how I'd survive if I had to wear formal work attire. Suits and jackets make me feel butch and old, and I've decided that I'll have many many years to be old and stuffy so I'l save that stuff for later.

Casual also isn't an excuse to not iron my clothing... bad bad Sophia!

Gap top (6-7 yrs ollld)

Banana Republic skirt (has pockets! yay!)

Nine West pumps

H&M dress

Forever 21 belt (looking at this pic, I realize a skinny belt would've worked better, except that I don't own one that fits the small of my waist >_< )

Cinderella of Boston shoes (my walk to work shoes.. I walk 0.8 miles each way!)

And my usual all black ensemble w/a nonblack top thrown in (oooh soooo creative Sophia..)

H&M striped tee

Forever 21 skirt

yesstyle.com cardigan

Nine West kitten heels

There is a French woman in my office who dresses impeccably. She wears Hermes scarves, and uses Hermes scarf rings (http://bit.ly/9dZliL). I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THERE WAS SUCH THING AS A SCARF RING! She just looks expensive! But as far as her clothing goes, you know the crazy part? She wears mostly Gap and H&M! Leave it to the French to turn cheap clothing into something fabulous and chic. If that ability was for sale, I'd buy it in a heartbeat!

travel + food

I've only been to 3 countries outside the U.S. ~ Canada, Japan, and Korea. Was browsing through some photo albums from those trips yesterday and realized how much I miss those countries :( Having 2 weeks of vacation a year REALLY REALLY sucks. To all of you out there who are still in school or don't have to work~ I encourage you to treasure your time and appreciate the freedom you have to control your schedule. This is something that most people won't realize until they lose that freedom ...

Where have you traveled to, and what are your fondest memories? I think it's so fun to share these experiences with people who have traveled to similar places. It's hard to explain to people who haven't traveled, and they can't understand your enthusiasm or what's so great about another country. For example, I find Asian street food quite exciting, but someone who hasn't experienced it would find it lame and boring. Again, it's one of those things you really have to experience for yourself.. no amount of words and pictures can explain.

I miss the sights and sounds and culture of the places I visited. It's really so wonderful to experience the things other countries have to offer, and I love seeing how people there do things differently. In the states, there is definitely the mentality that the way we do things is the "only" way and the "right" way. I don't like this mentality. I know that people everywhere are ethnocentric, but I believe that the U.S. is one of the few countries that actively imposes their lifestyle on others. This is something I won't delve into as I'm not qualified, and it's a fairly touchy subject...

Anyways, one of the things I miss the most? FOOD! I know I know, you probably hate it as much as I do when your friends say "Food tastes so different when you have it in other countries!" What sucks is that they're absolutely right!

the infamous "Japadog"

Kyoto

freshly caught fish in Japanese seaside village
(I'm so sorry, I can't help but snicker a bit when I hear people in San Francisco talk about how "fresh" the sushi is at a restaurant.. they really don't know what "fresh" is!)

blowfish

lovely presentation

breakfast sandwich from street vendor

homemade kimchi stew
this kimchi was fermented for 1 year

home cooked meal

samgyeopsal

pancake egg

delicious sweet potato drink

our "wappeul" sandwiches

finally..

got a haircut I like!

I'll copy and paste my yelp review for the haircut I got today:

"You know what I hate about yelp reviews for hair salons? I'll come across a raving review, only to find the reviewer has NO pictures, or they have fugly pics that do the salon more harm than good. WTH! (And admit it ladies ~ you totally DO want to see pics of clients when you're researching salons!!)

That is why I will be a good reviewer and post ACTUAL HAIR PICS. Pictures speak louder than words, so rather than drone on and on about how utterly fabulous my hairstlylist TIM is and how he gave me the LAYERS I've been dying to have all my life and how he gave my hair tons of VOLUME just like I asked for and how he kept the LENGTH of my hair as promised and how he gave me an awesome blowout to last the weekend.... just look at the freaking pictures ok? ;)"



Choppy layers? check!
Volume? check!
Cut off dead ends and keep length? check!

I only write yelp reviews if I REALLY like a place, or if I REALLY hate it.. clearly this was a "like" situation :)

p.s. i'm wearing a Michael Stars "one size fits most" sweater.. guess I'm a size "most" now!

petite fashion challenge #1

PFC # 1 - "Do a Petite Don't"

Jean from www.extrapetite.com is hosting this fun, on-going challenge for petites! So if you're 5'4" and under, come join in the fun!

Here is the first of many:

The Challenge:

Create an outfit for weekend brunch with your girlfriends. The outfit must include one garment that is typically notorious for being a petite "don't." Such garments include: dresses, skirts, or pants that hit at the scary mid-calf length (not cute, cuffed jeans...I'm talking real capris) or below the knee, maxi dresses, full A-lined skirts, or wide-legged pants.

I actually don't own any of the "don't" on that list.. but my sister has 3 maxi dresses! And they're totally brunchwear... if we were in SoCal!! I'm wearing the maxi from Express, and she's wearing the maxi from Forever 21

front view
(partially obscured by needy doggie who can't be ignored for more than 5 seconds!!)
side view

guest appearance

I'm 5'1", and my sister is 4'11". As a petite, I suppose I should feel small compared to other people... but when I stand next to my sister I feel like a broad shouldered giant! My mom is even shorter, and I tower over her...

After reading all these petite blogs, I would think that it's nearly impossible to find decent clothes for petite frame. But, my sister extremely petite and she is one the most well-dressed people I know! Her work outfits and her casual outfits are incredibly stylish, and fit her so well! How is it that I'm 2 inches taller and can't dress as nice...

Anyways, the reason I think these maxis work ~ my sister has a good eye for picking clothing that fits well. These dresses drape fairly close to the body, so they don't hang like mumus. I think one could go wrong with a maxi by buying one that billows out from the chest and creates a tent-like effect, rather than pulling in under the breast to fit against the body, creating a slimmer silhouette.

In my opinion, there are some things that are a universal "don't". In general though, I think everything is a "do", as long as it fits your body well, and proportionally. Ill fitting clothes looks terrible whether you're 6 feet tall or 4 feet tall.

Also, wearing clothing that comes dangerously close to exposing your coochie is a don't for all shapes and sizes. Ladies, please remember to keep the cochie covered, ok?

isn't she lovely

looks i'm digging (or what I'd rock, if i could):

ew. obviously jk about the last one. i hope you at least know that much about me :)

*all images from google or lookbook.nu

now i'm feelin so fly like a g6

A wonderful night with my favorite sister was spent at RN74, Eve (for oh .. all of 3 minutes!), and Harlot. And a big yay-uh! when dj man played F.E.M. "Like a G-6" minutes after we requested it!! Gettin' slizzzzzuuurd

my faaav earrings from Charlotte Russe! thesusyness owns 'em too, but I believe hers broke :(
And, any other non-pierced ladies out there? I bought a pack of like 250 clip-on findings and just switch out the regular pierced findings.

(almost) Snooki hair

Guess dress (from hautelook? or gilt? i forget..)
Gucci purse (zipper pull ripped off.. only used like 10x too...)
GoJane.com shoes. They're fleece lined heehee :)

My yoga mat! Which I have not done any yoga on yet.. But getting the mat was the first step, right? Baby steps..

whoa there! heh i was actually kinda falling over when i took this :o
that's very Snooki-like isn't it?

Nabi nail polish!! I discovered this Korean brand of polish a year ago, and I just love how cute their logo is!
Very inexpensive. They're like the NYX of nail stuff.
http://www.nabicosmetic.com/nail/nail.htm

Do you know what I love about blogging? That I can say and post anything I want. It's my blog. A blog with no rhyme or reason. Because I'm not catering to a specific audience, I don't need to edit my words, edit my pictures, censor myself, or present things in a particular way. I don't have to format the layout. I don't have to pretend that I don't like taking pictures of myself. I pretty much put myself out there and have tried to be honest to myself in posting what I want rather than taking into consideration what readers/viewers might want to see. I rather enjoy it :) Someone asked me how I find things to blog about.. and I was caught off guard by this question. As you all know, my blog is very incohesive, as it's more like a picture journal than anything else. And then I thought, what do I blog about? Well, I blog about me. And that's pretty much all there is to it! Lots and lots of me here :)

And I want to add ~ I am so very glad that some of you have joined me in my little blog adventure. I enjoy hearing your voices and your opinions. I've always liked conversing with all sorts of people, and blogger has been another avenue for me to get to know some lovely folks. I love catching a glimpse of someone's personality behind their comments. From a mere sentence I can feel someone's compassion, self-deprecation, curiosity, censure, approval, warmth... For 2 days, I considered closing this public blog and just maintaining my privates ones. But, if I did that I would be missing out on so much!

heart on my lips cont'd (bon voyage v)

You may (or may not) be wondering about the uncharacteristic makeup, nails, and outfit.. well Sunday came the day for us to bid adieu to our friend V http://cupcakesandtorts.blogspot.com/ as she leaves our fair-weathered city and heads off to Beantown for school. The theme of this bon voyage party was to come dressed as V. What does that mean? To quote the invite from her sister, " PLEASE COME TO THE PARTY DRESSED LIKE V. May I suggest polka-dots, stripes, any thing with ruffles, daytime smokey-eye makeup (I can really keep on going, no head-to-toe leopard print though, my boyfriend has dibs apparently)?" Oops I missed that last part b/c I def did the leopard print!

So I unleashed what little creativity I have and came up with:
Darn lighting.. can't really see the heart.. V do u remember when u showed me the pic of the heart lip and mentioned something about wearing it to work? LOL only you!
If I remember correctly, V is the one who introduced me to false lashes!
color contacts? check
false lashes? check
daytime smokey-eye? check
animal print? check check check!!

*V ~ this post is for you, b/c I'm sure you don't remember what all happened on Sunday, but I want you to know how much I was thinking of you as I prepped for the party! I hope that you find super awesome friends in Boston but never ones that will replace us :) *

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I'm wearing my newest circle lens ~ G&G GBT grey. These are VERY obvious color contact, so def not for you " I like natural looking contacts that are a dif shade from my real eye color but i'm totally fake b/c wtf asian has anything other than BROWN eyes" contact lens wearers. I'd recommend them for Halloween or something haha. My dad was super freaked out by them and kept saying I look like a vampire! I will reserve these for night time use...

heart on my lips

This was fun and easy to do. NYX Circe all over lip, then use a brush to draw on the ♥

Used Angie's genius idea to use eyeliner for the black part! http://pandaphilia.blogspot.com/

Here's a link to her very simple and easy to follow tutorial: http://pandaphilia.blogspot.com/2010/07/polished-spot-on-leopard-print-mani.html

OOTD for casual Saturday lunch. These Nine West pumps haven't seen the light of day for a good year now.. time to bring 'em out! And my faaav jacket from Korea :)