NYE Resolution Post

Cliche, I know, but I just wanted to make a list of resolutions for 2011, that I can hopefully start working on right away!

o Start doing regular cardio and lifting again once I get back to school
o Make the most out of the spring semester
o Get a job/internship/some summer plan that does not involve my current job, because I think I've outgrown it
o Learn to cook more diverse foods
o Learn to do my makeup better

We'll see how it goes, eh? My NYE is going to be a busy one, just about to head off to noraebang / karaoke with friends, and then a party that will be mostly confetti, silly string, balloons, and a 'party canon'.

What are you doing to kick off 2011?

Holiday Food Post!

Just some quick snaps, since I was out of town for the holiday, we had our official Christmas Dinner last night. Doesn't that look good? Luckily I can't take credit for it (because I would wreck it... I'm really bad at cooking meat :|)



Me just being really derpy. In the first pic, it looks so small right? That thing is the size of my head = w=;;;; And it was very tasty.

Stay warm / cool / safe, everyone!

Belated Holiday and Sacred Night

Opening your day: teaser pic of Lief's new work "Sacred Night" aka "Shut up and take my money" Glad I passed on regimental stripes so I can get this when it comes out, yes yes.

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a good time, and everyone who doesn't also had a good time. Good times all around! The high point of my holiday was the Doctor Who Christmas Special which was amazing, and I am a huge nerd. I was also in Atlantic City to see my relatives on actual Christmas, which was interesting because neither my sister and I could gamble and/or drink so we just kind of sat at the pool and chilled out. Which was pretty nice, all in all.

New years is just around the corner! Got any fun new years plans / traditions?

Omlette and toast

Weirdly I have less time to blog while I'm on break than not. Weird, huh? And since my taobao order got delayed 2 weeks (one week ago) (wtf, R-series), I will technically be following my "no more lolita until 2011" deal I made with myself back in Sept/Oct. where I spent a little too much. Moving onwards...

Pictured is breakfast last sunday- spinach (with onions, mushroom, and cheese) omlette and toast. Spinach and goatcheese is actually my favorite kind of omlette~ It's nice to be at my parent's place, because we have a gas range <3 Which is amazing and so much easier to cook with than on the electric range in my apartment (;_;)

Leftovers (not food, I promise)

A couple odds and ends fashion (I use this term loosely) related items. Here is my converted bow that originally went at the neck of my St. Claire OP. Using the pin backing, I slipped it on a plain black headband I have. No this is not omfgcreative, but I just wanted to mention I cannot bring myself to actually pin it on the dress itself. It leaves holes!! I dunno, I never liked how big the holes were left by using those kind of pins. I'm now considering getting a strong magnet backing, but I heard even those run the risk of having the object fall off. In the meantime, cute matching headbow! (I have no outfit shot of when I wore the whole deal to my Ballroom Club's holiday party, w/e)



And here are my new winter slippers! I finally switched from my summer slippers, after picking these up at Target. I think they are really really cute, and they are hella warm to boot.

How do you keep your feet warm in the winter? Slippers? Socks? Keep shoes on at all costs?

First Snow!

Just wanted to show a snap of our first serious snowfall. All the kids got out of school 2 hours early, and I got out of work 1 hour early! Snap taken at my work, which is a small home office where I do data entry / management. So yeah, after a very precarious 1.5 mile drive back (thankfully I live super close to the office), I shoveled out our driveway for my mom who isn't back yet, and then settled in for an afternoon of snow watching.

I've always seen snow, every winter, for my entire life. I wonder what it would be like not to have snow any time of the year. True, it is pretty inconvenient, but its so pretty! But a bitch to drive in, that's for sure.

Do you get snow where you live?

Chesnut Curls Wig Review

I ordered a "Chestnut Curls Long Wig" from Ramen Stand shop on livejournal. It operates on a rolling group order, meaning that when the quota fills up, they make an order for the wig. I got mine a couple weeks ago, but it was mailed to my parent's home so I only got it today when I got back for the winter holiday.


Here's the color under natural (albeit it was overcast) light. It's a much darker color than I anticipated, just about a shade lighter than my hair right now. However, this turned out to be a good thing because I had the sinking realization that I would probably look really bad in a light brown, given my skin tone (;_;)


Here's what it looks like worn. Crappy mirror/phone combo, but you get the idea. The curls are less full than the picture (which I also expected, because that picture is an ad for Gabalnara, which this wig is not) but the fibers were soft and I don't think I'll have to do a lot of work trimming the swept bangs.

I really wanted a long curly wig because I don't think I could curl my natural hair on a regular basis, especially if it ever grew out that long, OR deal with it if it was permed. That's really the true convenience of wigs, and now I'm more tempted than ever to give my real hair the chop. Maybe after I collect a few more wigs, haha.

Price: 4.5/5 - I paid 33USD+shipping, which for a new kanekalon wig is not bad. The quality is better than ebay, and the price difference is about even.
Quality: 4/5 - I'm please with the overall quality of the wig, soft fibers, not a shiny mess, holds the curl, and for the price, not a bad deal
Accuracy: 1/5 I decided that this would be better as a separate category. The stock picture is really not the wig at all. I went with it because I assumed that the picture would be "something like the wig", based on the fact that the picture was from gabalnara. And while it is indeed "something like the wig" (long, curly), it is NOT the same thing, and people who thought they were getting the stock picture would be sorely disappointed.
Communication: 4/5 - very quick communication, except for the fact it was sent to the address attached to my paypal, when I had previously sent an email asking it to be sent to my apartment. No harm done, but it would have been nice if that request were remembered.
Overall: Maybe a few months down the road I'll get another one from this shop, if they have any cute short styles. In the meantime, I'll keep contemplating what to do with my own hair, lol. Also, I'm not even sure when I'll wear this, but maybe on the first day of classes next semester?

Lolitas and fashionable people, do you own any wigs? Do you wear them often? Or rarely?

Holiday Cookies

The other day my friend Ellen and I got together to make holiday cookies, except the only shape cutters we had were the ones I used for my bento stuff. We did have holly sprinkles, so with a little creativity and patience we made some interesting looking cookies, haha.



They were a simple rolled sugar cookie mix, except they resemble shortbread because I didn't roll them out thin enough. Hopefully, over the break I can make and decorate cookies proper. It's so much fun (but very, very time consuming). Yay! I have my genetics final tomorrow and I'm going to die.

Raspberry Dark Chocolate Ginger snaps

Pretty simple way to make some awesome tasting cookies. One package of gluten free ginger snaps and melted ghiradelli dark chocolate chips and a teaspoon of raspberry extract, mixed and coated well and stuck in the freezer for a couple hours. Warm to room temperature, or enjoy chilled! Bittersweet, fruity, gingery, and crunchy.

On that note, just wanted to remind everyone that I visit all commenters and leave clicks+comments and follow back followers, just to show my appreciation. Plus, y'all have interesting blogs!

Confession: I'm not southern, but I really like the word "y'all"

Hope you guys had a good Monday!

Give Away Mention Page

Giveaway Mentions! (Is anyone else horribly unlucky and has never won one of these, like me?)

http://www.finding-tokyo.com/2010/11/new-year-giveaway/

http://universal-doll.com/2010/11/mitsus-favorite-things-giveaway/

http://momo1982.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-first-giveaway.html

(W)International Lolita Day 2010

Celebrated my first winter ILD by dressing up~ Rundown:
Skirt: Baby
Blouse: Yolanda
Socks: Innocent World
Hairpiece: Handmade by someone else

Pretty basic, I love this skirt to death and really should wear it out more. For lack of company as well as an excess of finals coming up, I went by myself to my favorite bakery/cafe/lunch place, Hot Cakes, and got a quiche and early grey and studied for my Japanese final this Monday. It was quite nice. Also, this morning before I got dolled up I cleaned the whole apartment with my housemates. Our floor was getting really grody, so it was definitely much needed. In addition I abhor showing a messy room in pictures, so I knew I had to clean up ;D



Make up shot. Make up is really the bane of my existence. I have to practice contouring more (getting a good brush would be a nice start) and I'm cursed with hidden monolids... meaning that most of the time, eyemake up just kind of disappears when I have my eyes open, hence the closed eye shot. I'm not big on falsies and I didn't even put on mascara because I find with my uncurlable eyelashes (this list of grievances is getting really long) the mascara just ends up on my face and its generally unpleasant.

But I tried! And I'll get better, in time. In the meantime, does anyone have any links for people with really asian eyes (ie me?) It's been killing me, but I won't resort to eyelid tape/glue/surgery.

Lolitas, what did you do (if anything) for ILD?

Innocent World Beatrice Reserve

New up on IW's reserve page is the "Beatrice" series... That sound, kind of like a dull thud, was my jaw hitting the floor. It's like a gothic print with a classic color scheme, and I'm absolutely dying over it. There's a skirt, JSK, and long JSK version of it.



There's a second, nerdier impetus for how much I want this dress, stemming from the name perhaps. From the Beatrice archetype in history, including Dante's Inferno, to stranger, modern incarnations of the name, like The Golden Witch Beatrice, it's a name that I admire and adore.

Also check out how GORGEOUS these socks are. I'm generally a proponent of solid color socks or tights, but these are just too pretty.

Since I said I'd hold off on Lolita for the rest of the year (and failed miserably, see incoming winter JSKs from R-series) I'll wait until the pieces show up in the store itself, probably mid January. Hopefully, I will be working again too that month so I don't feel as bad.

But please, don't let it sell out on reserve! D: Lolitas, want to weigh in on how popular this series might be?

Damn you Innocent World, holding my heart (and wallet) in your clutches.

Winner Announcement!

As it is now technically Friday, I thought I'd announce the winner of my first giveaway.

According to my friend, Random Number Generator, 8 is the winning number, which corresponds to HSP, congratulations! I hope to have another giveaway when I hit my next milestone, 200! Thanks to everyone who participated.

TGIF.