Time Twister

I'm from the generation that is the last to remember the 90's. You know, ill-fitting flare jeans, short tops, feathered hair, color-changing lipstick, ring pops, stick-on earrings, bop-it, Furbys, Beanie Babies, fanny packs, The Spice Girls, and those good old 90's cartoons: Rugrats, Sonic, Doug, Recess, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, The Pink Panther, The Magic School Bus, Ahhhhhh!!! Real Monsters!, and the influx of 1995 Japanese cartoons like Tenchi Muyo, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and of course Sailor Moon. The 90's was an odd, yet great time to grow up as a kid watching your cousins run around in neon-colored mismatched track suits. But this outfit drew from the 70's. I must admit I was skeptical when I saw that the flare jeans trend was coming back; all I remembered about flared jeans was wanting to stay as far away from those ill-fitting, heavy 90's flare jeans as possible. However, once I saw these skinny flare cut jeans at GAP, I knew I had to have them (plus they were on major, super, unbelievable sale). So I figured, if I was embracing the 70's flare, might as well go all the way with a shrunken striped sweater top and my go-to clogs, then a modern twist with a pair of golden double-hoop earrings. Wearing skinny flare jeans with heels makes your legs sooooo long and I loveeeee it!

Silver Summer Giveaway!

I was lucky enough to win Jessica Wu of Fascination Drop's Silver Summer Giveaway! Imagine my excitement when I saw that I was the lucky winner on her blog! This is the first giveaway I've ever won, despite having applied in tons of giveaways. I received the package a few days later and took photos of every step of opening it. Everything was wrapped so nicely in individual tissue paper and she even included a handwritten note and a Cynthia Rowley Resort '12 outfit bookmark that she drew herself! Jessica is super sweet and really talented (she plays piano, dances, and draws/sketches), so you should definitely check out her blog.

The cuff and necklace are unlike any other jewelry pieces I own, so I'm especially excited to incorporate them into an outfit. Keep an eye out for a silver summer-inspired outfit post!

A Little Piece of Heaven... macaron style.

As I walked through the plaza surrounding an asian super market in the middle of Garden Grove, the last thing I would expect to see is a giant colorful sign advertising "French-style macarons". I was shocked, surprised, and giddily excited. I've been nearly religiously following the Emboîté macaron blog run by my cousin and his girlfriend, and I've been lucky enough to try their Chai Tea macarons over Christmas holiday, but I've never seen a store sell macaroons. So low and behold, imagine my supreme happiness when I saw that this tiny little asian bakery (run by the sweetest old woman) sold 11 different flavors! Among the choices were tangerine, orange blossom, taro, coffee, earl grey, hazelnut, passion fruit, raspberry, caramel, chocolate, and coconut. Each macaron was $1.75, and $1.50 if you bought 7 or more. Despite the relatively expensive price, I caved and got a single coffee flavored macaron (one of my favorite flavors in existence, I'll take a cup of coffee, coffee ice cream, coffee cakes, coffee cookies, coffee toffee, chocolate-covered espresso beans, espresso brownies, coffee-anything). Let me tell you, it was one of the happiest, most blissful food experiences I've ever had. It was completely and utterly delicious and I enjoyed every morsel. The macaron cookie had a semi-firm touch and a chewy, soft texture with adorable little feet. The coffee filling bursted of pure coffee flavor in its creamy texture. It was seriously perfect. My moment was only interrupted by my brother yelling, "IT'S ONLY A $1.75 MACARON! JUST EAT IT!". But no, my first macaron experience was perfect in my eyes. I know understand Emboîté's fascination with macarons. I definitely need to go back. And yeah, this single macaron was worth my mini photoshoot.

Fashion + Food

Lately I've been pondering my purpose in this blog. I started it off because I was passionate about fashion and I felt the need to be able to post my opinions and showcase my sense of fashion and how they translated into daily wear. However, I've gotten a bit bored with the content I include with my photos. As of now, I've been frequently updating with outfit snapshots and inspiration collages. If you read my blog often enough, you'll see that I like buying clothes, I like hunting for bargains, and I'm happiest when I get to coordinate an outfit around an amazing steal. But I want any readers I have out there to also know that I love baking and I'm a nut for eating healthy. I'm also immensely studious, I like wandering around to find new and charming places to eat, and I find that digging for books in book-offs and $1 book stores fills me with as much satisfaction as finding a noteworthy piece of clothing amongst piles of sales (I went to two Marukai markets and another book-off somewhere in Torrance so keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming post!). So I've decided to document my much-loved recipes and my new baking endeavors, as well as my go-to meal options that I find both healthy and satisfying. I'm quite excited to attempt cranberry orange/lemon scones, lemon meringue cupcakes, raspberry or hazelnut chocolate macaroons, and chocolate raspberry shortbread.

I'll leave you with a picture of my ideal Sunday brunch, a homemade strawberry banana smoothie and a piece of toasted baguette topped with nutella.

Ripples in the Wind

I finally got a chance to take some pictures during my visit to the Cerritos Library. This is by far one of the most gorgeous libraries that I've ever been to, and it's surrounded by the Cerritos Sculpture Garden, an amazing water fountain, and lush greenery. I'm wearing a beautiful Alythea camel-colored long tail skirt that I got for my birthday from my close friend Rachel. I paired it with a vintage crochet top and pearl hairpins, earrings from Banana Republic, my go-to Report clogs, and a jaw-dropping Christian Dior handbag that I received from my parents for a birthday/graduation gift! It's absolutely stunning; close-up shots coming soon.

Cool Shades

Foreign Exchange boxy rust tee, PacSun denim mini, straw boater hat from a random boutique, gifted F21 owl necklace, Steve Madden gold tone sandals

Snapped these photos over the weekend at a park in Cerritos. I was searching for different backgrounds for my blog and I remembered this park from my childhood. When I was a kid, I used to go to the pool for swimming lessons at this park so I remember running around this park afterwards as I waited for my mom. It was nostalgic to walk around this park and discover all these great places for photos: textured trees, brick walls, and nicely shaded trees.

Japanophile

Foreign Exchange coral polka dot top, Express black skort, vintage pearl hairpin, Xhiliration black gladiator sandals, Tokidoki "Inferno" cross-body bag

  

Though people tend to change and develop their personalities and preferences as they grow older, there are some loves that never change. Today, I went out with my aunt and cousin for a day of rummaging around Costa Mesa's japanese shops and consignment stores. I brought along my camera, but I was experiencing too much glee to be bothered with taking photos, sorry. Our first stop was Marukai Market! It was filled with all kinds of snacks and foods imaginable, from Japanese to American, it really made me wish I lived closer to this market. There was a whole Hello Kitty section that made my cousin go craaaaaaaazy, especially for the pencil cases for which I learned she has a special love. What astounded me the most was the market's beauty selection! They had a huge selection of beauty products, from mascaras, eye shadows, eye liners, false eyelashes, lipsticks, glosses, and blushes to hair products, nail polishes and nail deco. I had recently fallen back into looking at asian blogs, like nanarabu and instantmint, so I was curious about the DollyWink products and low and behold, the market had them! I was sooo very tempted to buy a few products to test out, but I'm not a big make-up person (as I heavily value sleep), so I decided to do a bit more research and make another trip to the market. I left with a pair of Eye Noon false eyelashes that I plan to test out soon, and headed off to the Marukai Book Off! This store FLOORED ME; it was filled with all kinds of books, novels, manga, DVDs, and CDs, ranging from Japanese to American. I think we spend over an hour in there and I came out with 3 novels and 2 fashion magazines for less than $5. We stopped in at Kinokuniya Bookstore next, a Japanese bookstore that was again filled with Japanese manga, how-to books, all kinds of magazines, anime, plushies, coloring books, t-shirts, and anime figurines. I almost exploded with glee at the selection of Rilakkuma products. Rilakkuma is my favorite Japanese plush, but I forced myself to think rationally and not buy the $30 stuffed Rilakkuma or the $30 Hana Yori Dango Finale DVD (I want it.... HYD is my favorite Japanese drama, never before have I felt so much joy nor shed so many tears over a TV series). In the end, I left with the July issue of Jille street snap magazine, though I kind of regret not getting that Rilakkuma honey and pancakes folder... To finish off the day, we hit up Deelux Clothing where I still slightly regret not getting that $15 used Theory sweater (my excuse was that I didn't want to dry clean it), Acapulco for a delicious Mexican lunch and fun coloring time with my cousin, and Crossroads Trading Co. which is seriously HUGE. I didn't buy any clothing that day and instead ended up coming home with books, magazines, and my first pair of false lashes.

I've been wearing these bracelets a lot lately. I've developed a need to have some sort of bracelet on my wrist, or else I feel pretty naked. So I went through my collection of self-made woven bracelets and found these three woven out of cool blue colors and decided to pair them together. The last picture is of a few of my most recently used lipsticks and lipglosses.

Turning Tides

 

Express white burnout tee, GAP tribal shorts, vintage pearl hairpin, self-made woven bracelets

Happy Birthday to my little brother Alex! :) Today was my brother's special day so we took him and a bunch of his friends to Huntington Beach with loads of pizza, drinks, and chips. The natural lighting is AMAZING at the beach, I couldn't believe how great everything was lighted. Before I took off, I got a chance to snap some quick outfit shots, mainly to showcase my new GAP shorts that I got the best deal on. Yesterday, I was at the mall shopping for a gift for my brother. I went inside GAP at my mom's suggestion and came face-to-face with one of the most amazing sales I've seen all year. It was markdown after markdown after markdown plus addition 50% off all sale items! I got these mint, black, and white tribal shorts, a 70's-inspired flouncy denim skirt, and the most comfortable skinny flared jeans at unbelievable markdowns! Everything I got... was less than $10 each. I almost died of satisfaction MUWAHAHAHA. I love shopping and feeling utterly triumphant without a hint of guilt.

the sweetness of summer

Foreign Exchange boxy rust shirt and cream crochet lace shorts, Payless Alice + Olivia pink oxfords, American Apparel "Office" nail polish

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the femininity and comfort of this outfit. This is debut outfit of my crochet shorts, which I know will be a definite summer staple. I wore this out on a shaved ice date with my boyfriend and my brother and his friend at Guppy Teahouse in the last few days of June. We ordered a small strawberry mango shaved ice and it was enormous! The four of us barely finished it and we were stuffed. That shaved ice is ridiculously addicting. It's the most delicious combination of finely shaved ice, condensed milk, and fresh fruit, and there are tons of different combinations. Can't wait to go back :]