Birthday Gets! (super-belated)

Hello all!  Because I am forever late to the party, I'm only now getting around to showing you what you what I got for my birthday, waaaaaaaay back on February 28th~  Really, I've been meaning/wanting/needing to make this post for awhile now, so I figured I'd better do it before it gets any later than it already is.  XD

I took myself shopping on the afternoon of my birthday, after a lovely morning with birthday doughnuts, extra sleep, and video games.  My store of choice was a local store, since I was hoping that I would walk out with some amazing deals on great pieces.  And you know what?  I did!  Here's what I got:

Cute striped dress! Super on-trend for spring. Brand: one clothing.

Black peep-toe pumps from Madden Girl by Steve Madden. These were a steal at only $15.99!

New jeans from Old Navy. They were having a $19 sale, and these fit so nicely, I just had to get them!

And here's my makeup for the day (sorry, I didn't take an outfit shot as it wasn't anything special, just comfy for trying on clothes):

Lol, blurry MySpace style photo~ Wearing a black cotton tunic, and a  crown necklace from F21. Diamond Lash  Glamourous Eye uppers, and I THINK I had on Princess Eye lowers, but I'm not sure anymore. XD

After the shopping, I went to Red Robin to have dinner with N, who was super-awesome to meet me on her way home from work to spend at least part of my birthday with me, which I really appreciated, as I love making as big a deal as I can out of my birthday.  But unfortunately, I was too busy gobbling my delicious chicken dish to take any pictures of our food, or even the milkshake that N bought me in honor of the day, fuuuuuuu~  However, it was all wonderful, and a great ending to an awesome birthday, so I'm happy!

BUT! There's one more present I got myself, and that is something I've wanted for a VERY long time:

Can you guess what's in the box???

That's right! I got my first pair of Jeffery Campbell shoes! I chose the classic Lita boots in taupe suede. They're sooooooo gorgeous in person and I LOVE wearing them so much, OMG! Here are some photos:

My lovely Litas! I ordered them from Nordstrom; so lucky to find them in my size and in the color I wanted!

Side shot. Super-cute, aren't they? I can't wait to do Fall coordinates with them~

The Litas had to disappear for the summer, since it's been so hot in California these past few months (would've been crazy to wear these in our 100+ degree weather), but I'm so ready for the weather to cool down so I can wear them again! I was afraid they might look a bit awkward on my huge feet (I wear a size 10 >_<), but they look great! And I love the extra height these give me! If you're thinking of getting a pair, GO FOR IT! I can't wait until my budget allows for another pair~ :3

Anyway, hopefully there will be a coordinate or inspiration post coming up in the future, and maybe some reviews soon, so please look forward to it!

Until next time~

Some Things Lately & Weekend Coordinate

Hello-lo~ I just thought I'd do a quick post to make sure my blogging ball stays in some kind of motion.  This is a bit later than I'd planned, but hey! It's another post in the same month, right? Right.  (Nevermind that it's been two weeks since my last post) ^  ^

Anyway, last weekend, I met up with two of my besties for some shopping and yummy food!  I really didn't know what to wear, as I wanted to be cute and comfy for the day.  This is a modified version of what I ended up wearing:

Black shorts: Banana Republic
"Ethnic" print top: Agenda
Coral cardi: Mossimo Supply Co. (Target)
Shoes: Converse (Chuck Taylor All-Star hi-tops in red & black)
Bag: Liz Claiborne

I was originally wearing my Litas (more about them in another post!), and my hair down, but as they day went on, I switched shoes and put my hair up into the cute side bun. I'll probably do a variation of this coordinate at this point.  ^  ^;;

But that day, N came by my house to pick me up, and we ended up going to Rolling Sushi in Rancho Cucamonga for lunch, which was sooooooo delicious! I don't know of any other sushi restaurants in my area, but I'm always really happy with what I get at Rolling Sushi~

My spicy tuna rolls! One of my favorites~ But this time, the plating was a bit off or I took a bad shot.  XD

N's lunch set combo! It came with miso soup,  4 pieces of sushi, 4 pieces of sashimi, and  an 8-piece California roll~

I forgot to take a photo of my chicken teriyaki roll (yes, it's really good, I promise!), and the chef gave us these lovely extra, on-the-house chicken (or was it fish???) tempura sushi bits that were fried to perfection. DEFINITELY recommend Rolling Sushi if you love sushi and live in the area!

After lunch, we ran to Victoria Gardens and shopped around for jewelry in a few shops, including Claire's before we met up with our friend Ri, who is always fun to hang with.  N and I went to Coldstone Creamery to get ice cream and a milkshake for me~ Then we all sat down and talked... politics??!?  That was interesting for me, since I've never had an interest in politics before, but this year's Presidential race has finally roused my interest.

We wandered around a bit, and ended up in Windsor so Ri could try on some stuff. I saw a purse I REALLY liked there, since I've been on the hunt for a giant bag to take to work so I wouldn't have to carry two (sometimes more, oi -__-) bags to work anymore. But I didn't buy it.

Then the three of us ended the night with dinner at Cheesecake Factory! It was all kinds of yummy~ I got the Factory Nachos with spicy chicken (I was so happy because I'd been craving them for weeks), but sorry I forgot to take a photo of them, lol, what a bad blogger I am~ XD  I will instead spam you with a couple photos from when I went out to brunch with my siblings at the same Cheesecake Factory about a month ago in honor of my little sister's birthday:

My sister's cafe latte or something coffee drink. It was HUGE, and yes, that IS a pile of whipped cream on top~

I spotted these on the menu while browsing for what I wanted; definitely need to try these next time I'm out with the girls! Don't they sound delicious? :3

My wonderfully gorgeous and absolutely amazing French toast! It's on the brunch menu, and definitely worth a try!

But I also for sure recommend the Cheesecake Factory in Victoria Gardens too, because not only is the food really good, the service is always excellent!  For the birthday brunch, they were really considerate of the fact that my sister and I had with us three children aged ten years and under (one with a VERY picky & particular appetite), and they even brought the little sister a complimentary birthday ice cream, complete with sprinkles, a song, and a pink candle! Can't get much better than that~

I hope you have a lovely Sunday! Do something nice for yourself, and enjoy it! I'll be really busy today with school assignments and getting ready for work tomorrow, but I hope to have some time left to comment on my favorite blogs today... you've all been so inspirational to me lately, I've gotta show some love~

I have a few posts lined up, including a review or two, so let's see if I can keep the blog ball rolling, shall we?

Until next time~

Going On Hiatus

Signing off for now!  But don't worry; I'll be back.  ^ ^ Image from Universal Doll.

I just wanted to officially announce that this blog is going on hiatus.  I don't know for how long, but I hope that when I come back, I'll be more inspired and further along in developing my style than I am now.  There are a lot of things going on in my life that I need to be focusing on as well, so when things calm down and I'm making at least some kind of progress, I'll be back.

Thank you to everyone who read and commented; hopefully you'll come back when I do!  I'll still be reading and commenting on all the lovely blogs I read and looking for more to add to my list.  Hopefully this break will be just the jolt & recharge I need style-wise.

I wish you all a happy spring and much luck in everything you do!

Until next time~

Around Town II

Hello! I wanted to post today, but my thoughts on what I should blog about are so jumbled up right now, I'm not really sure what to post.  I want to do more personal style posts, but I'm only now just getting a hold of resources that will help with that, so please bear with me!  I'll do my best to show things like makeup shots, outfits, and gets as soon as I can~  Actually, I have some photos for a gets post, including some things I got for my birthday last week, so look forward to that in the near future!

Anyway, I've got quite a backlog of photos building up of pictures I take while I'm out and about on just normal days, so I thought I'd share a few more of them today!  Enjoy~

A bent streetlight I saw on my way home from work this past summer.  How did that happen???

A shot of a lovely sunset taken from the parking lot of the shopping center I go to when I need a Target.

This bumper sticker made too much sense for me not to capture it for keeps. ^  ^

Cute boots at one of my local Forever 21 stores

A beautiful cloudy sky on a November day

One of the parks near my neighborhood on the way to the public library

A very pink car I saw at the Victoria Gardens shopping mall upon leaving Jamba Juice.  XD

That's all for now!  I do have more photos from around town, but those will be another post, so hopefully that's something else to look forward to.  ^  ^

Until next time~

December & Early January Photos

Hello and a VERY belated Happy New Year!  I hope everyone has had a lovely January thus far, and that the transition back to work after holidays wasn't too bad.  I was actually SUPER-busy this past month, with work and going around, so I never did find or make time to blog again since my last entry.  >_<  Until now, that is.  ^  ^

Anyway, I have some photos to share from early December until now, and I thought it would be a fun idea to share them to get myself back towards a blogging mindset!  Enjoy~

This is the old drink menu from the restaurant inside my local Gameworks.  I went there with a couple of friends towards the middle of last month, and we were bummed to find that they'd changed the menu, and our favorite ice cream drinks were no longer on the menu. :(  But our server assured us that the bar could make the drinks as long as they had the ingredients, so my friends got their drinks, and then I discovered that the old menu was hiding behind the inserts of the new one.  Good thing I'm so curious. XD  I took the picture so we'd remember exactly what was in the drinks~

My sister's Christmas gift~ She doesn't usually ask for much, if anything, so when she said she'd be thrilled to get this, of course I obliged!  She's done SOOOOO much for me, and I was happy to gift her with something she likes and wouldn't normally get for herself.  ^  ^

Then about a week and a half before Christmas, my bestie AJ's parents dropped by our house to drop off this lovely jar of holiday chocolates and hot chocolate mix for me!  I was so surprised and touched to get this; and being the big lover of sweets that I am, I and my siblings have since made short work of this offering.  XD  The pretty jar is now going to house my spare change.  ^  ^

Holiday Wishlist & A New Project

Hello again!  Happy December~  Have you got any Christmas shopping done?  I've been super busy these past few weeks with work, studying/worrying about the JLPT I took on Sunday, and with getting some very important paperwork in the mail that I really haven't found time to blog.

But now that I have the major stuff done, I'm happy to get back to posting!  And what better thing to post about than holiday wishes?  ^  ^  But first, random outfit shot from the end of October:

Navy cardigan from H&M, black skirt from Target, dragon pendant from Black Mineral Market; dark brown mouton boots, black belt, and black top are no brand.  Previously posted wig from eBay on my head.  ^  ^

Now, I've been seeing wishlist posts popping up on my Twitter and Blogger Dashboards, so I thought it would be fun to put one together for myself!  I'm always wanting (or needing) something, and it was a fun challenge to just focus on the things I really want to see under my tree this year.

Anyway, here it is:

Clockwise from bottom left: Patterned tote by Smoothie (YesStyle), Jeffrey Campbell Lita boots in black leather, Riley Tall Slouch boots by Lower East Side (Payless Shoe Source), Black Toggle Jacket (Torrid).

Nice and small, right? :D  Except for the Litas, all of these are reasonably affordable items that would be wonderfully useful and stylish to boot! Hopefully my Santas will be kind this year~

And there's something else I'm up to for the month:

I was inspired by Sara Mari and Mika-chan to do this project, since I thought it was a great and useful idea.  I always have a lot of things I need to do or want to do, so I'm hoping to use this as a way to get on track with some of those things and end this year on a productive note.  ^  ^  My list is as follows:

1) Recycle my old laptop

2) Clean out my Internet Explorer favorites

3) Donate uneeded/unwanted clothes, shoes, and toys to charity

4) Save money!

5) Start and finish "Project Calendar"

6) Finish at least 3 drawings from my Drawing To-Do list

7) Do my makeup Gal-styled more often

8) De-fuzz cardigans

9) Do embroidery for PSP case

10) Make more time to study Japanese regularly

11) Put together a Christmas wishlist collage

12) Get rid of unecessary paperwork/receipts/trash/clutter

I think I'll borrow Mika's idea and stick this in my sidebar, just so I can be reminded of it as much as possible.  And if you like the idea, you can head over to the original post at Hello, Friend, read about how the project was started, and learn how to get started yourself!

Also, please feel free to follow me on my Twitter!  I'm looking into starting a Formspring account next year, but in the mean time, you can leave me a comment with your questions, if you have any.  XD  Hopefully I'll be posting again soon, maybe with a fashion post; we'll see.  But in the meantime, stay warm and cheerful!

Until next time~

Around Town I

Good evening!  I'm late this week with posting(and I missed last week, buuu~), but I *am* trying to be better about that. Only one day late isn't too bad.  ^ ^
But I've done some tweaks to the blog recently; I changed the layout and made a new header today, and there are some social media buttons added in the sidebar, so please feel free to follow me on Twitter or read my geekery on Live Journal, if you so desire!  Oh, and I added a link to my Ameba/Ameblo blog as well, but there isn't much there yet.  ^  ^;;

Anyway, I thought that today might be a good day to share some of the photos I amuse myself by taking whenever I'm out and about town, either running errands, shopping or on my way to and from work.  I don't have an actual camera yet, so for now, 99% of my photos are taken with the camera on Haruka (my LG Quantum Windows phone).  I don't always remember to fix the settings, so some of them might be a bit grainy/unfocused, but I hope you enjoy them anyway!

Beautiful clouds in a summer sky on my way home from work one day.

Starlight (Rainbow Brite's horse) pillow-pets at Spencer's Gifts

Cute varsity cardigan coordinate at H&M in September

Lovely flowers blooming over a backyard fence in my neighborhood

Oh, and before I forget, THANK YOU to everyone who's commented and followed this blog.  I hope you'll keep reading, and I'll do my best to make posts that are enjoyable to read!

Until next time~

Belated Halloween & Hair/Makeup Shot

Ahhhh, I'm late posting this week, but Happy Belated Halloween! How was it for you?  Did you get candy or go to a party?  I went to spend the evening with a very good friend of mine and her family.  Since I've never really celebrated Halloween or anything like that before, it was lots of fun to help decorate and hand out candy to all the adorable trick-or-treaters that came by!  I dressed up as a witch for the day, but alas, I forgot to take pictures of my costume.  TT-TT  But I did take one of my hat once I finished it!

Behold, my custom-designed & made witch hat!

I was very pleased with the way it came out!  Basically, I sewed on some striped ribbon around the crown, and made a pumpkin pin to go on the front. But the felt pumpkin and the feathers had to be glued in, since they wouldn't stay on otherwise.  XD  And maybe next year I'll get a more elaborate dress and jewelry so I can use this hat again.  :3

New Make-Up

It's been almost three months since I last posted... oops. I can only apologize to anyone who's been reading my blog, and say that the last two months have been interesting, since I was on a new job assignment that was kinda special... fun, but kinda special.  Sorry guys~

I hope to work out a schedule that allows me to blog more soon.  It still needs time, but it'll get there.  ^  ^

So! I thought that a little post today would be fun~  I have a habit of picking up makeup that I think will be fun to try.  That and I *love* mascara, so check out what I ended up getting awhile back:

Eye makeup! Seriously, you can never have enough.  XD

Maybelline Volume Express One by One mascara and two Wet 'n Wild liquid eyeliners, one in Turquoise and one in waterproof Black.  I've only swatched the Turquoise liner, but I wore the black for a day and I did NOT like it.  I wish I could take it back, but I guess I'll have to find it a new home.  However, the turquoise actually shows its color on my skin, so I can't wait to try doing a look with it!  I also need to try the mascara, and hopefully I'll be able to get reviews up for them at some point.

Also, I got my hands on some Diamond Lashes!  They were purchased from the lovely Mika-chan of Glamorous Sky a few weeks back.  Here are the lashes:

Diamond Lash Glamorous Eye

Diamond Lash Princess Eye

I'm so excited to have added these to my collection!  These got to me really fast, less than a week after I'd purchased them, and Mika was really sweet and helpful.  She has some cute items up on her sales blog, so be sure to take a look! ^  ^ 

I did a little test of the lashes to see how they looked, and I think it came out okay-ish:

Close-up of of my eye. Glamorous on top, Princess on the bottom.

I took these photos after I got home from my little sister's birthday dinner, which was the same day I got the lashes in the mail, so please pardon my under-eyes.  ^  ^;; I think I forgot to put on lower liner, but I'll remember for next time.  ^  ^  I love how these pop, so I'm determined to make them work on me the way I want them to.  I'd better get to practicing, huh?  XD

Until next time~

March 2011 Egg Magazine Bag Check + My Bag Check

Hello!  This is later than I meant it to be, but I'm happy that this post is finally finished!  What's it about?  Well, the March issue of Egg magazine featured a very interesting article:  the infamous Bag Check!  If you've never heard of such a thing, a bag check in this case, is where the models show the contents of their purses/handbags.  I *love* this kind of article; probably because I think the things you carry around in your bag on a daily basis say a lot about you.  So I'm going to show a couple of the bag checks!  Oh, and please note that while I did my best, I'm not 100% sure I got everything I outlined from the articles correctly, so if I managed to get something wrong, I apologize in advance.  ^_^;;

~ Bag Check #1 - Nemoyayo ~

First up is Yayoi Nemoto, aka Nemoyayo!  According to the article, Nemoyayo is usually okay with just her phone and some other small things, but when she goes out she takes her necessities in the black handbag she's pictured holding on the right, which she bought in Shibuya 109.  Highlights among her belongings are the Chanel wallet and keycase, the Mickey Mouse schedule book, and her two cell phones.  One of the phones is an iPhone that she uses for work and for music!  And I *love* the cute Duffy strap; I need to get myself one of those someday~  It's too cute!

~ Bag Check #2 - Mami ~

Next up is Mami!  She carries a very popular and stylish Chanel handbag, and it's always full of things, weighing in at 4.0 kilograms (that's nearly 9 pounds!).  Key points among the contents of her bag are two pairs of sunglasses, a shiny white Nintendo DSi for when she gets bored or has to wait, and a "brush set", which is a travel-size toothbrush and toothpaste set she uses after eating out.  Plus, check out the three makeup cases she carries; one is for eyeshadows, another is for base makeup, and the third is for other cosmetics.  Now that's dedication!  Oh, and gotta love how she's got the great Chanel wallet, like Nemoyayo, to match her bag!