Spontaneous Me

Playing: THE ARCHETYPES-MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS
Reading: Orange Coast June 2012

Hello everyone! It's so boring doing the same thing everyday and going through the same routine too, so I decided it's time for me to come up with different things to do everyday.  Yesterday, I just sat outside, photographing the bunnies in my yard that I've named Peter and Benjamin. I've been trying to get a photo of them for quite a bit of time now because it's hard to see both of them in my yard at once. I tried leaving out a carrot for the two of them and came back two days later only to find it covered in slugs. I had my brother deal with it then...The bunnies are so adorable and I like how they just sit on my lawn, munching my grass, all the time.

Over the weekend, I skipped reading in the morning to cut up travel brochures and magazines. I thought I was going to make a scrapbook of all the places I want to visit, but lately I've been thinking I should make a collage for my bedroom wall. But then I would have to take down my band posters and I'm not sure I'm willing to take those down for photos of the world. My binders are already stuffed with travel photos and different fashion campaigns plus musicians, so I'm not sure what I should do with my extra clippings.

Two weeks ago, I was reading about how Sally Hanson did some collaborations with different designers to create new nail colors, so I ran off to multiple drug stores to hunt them down late at night after less than a minute of thought. I copied down the names for Alexander Wang's collaboration from a year ago, so I had the wrong names and panicked, thinking I would never find them. Then I realized I had the wrong names, so I had to look up the new ones. I ended up buying Prabal Gurung's Loves Me Not and Barely Bluebell plus Alexander Wang's Parchment and Petrol.

Part of my plan to be more spontaneous is to not worry about consequences too much. I decided to run off to see the dolphin that got lost in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve a week or so back instead of worrying about when I would have time to do my homework.  They think the dolphins got bullied into the wetlands, so I feel bad for the dolphin, but what could've it have done to piss off so many other dolphins?

Also, a part of my spontaneity plan is just going wherever, whenever I feel like it. I was in the mood for cupcakes, so I drove down to Sprinkles to get some and that was that. After taking a bite from them, I kind of wished I went to Casey's instead, since I really prefer their cupcakes over Sprinkles, but Sprinkles seemed like what I wanted at the moment. Maybe I shouldn't be too spontaneous and rash. I should at least give myself time to think through my decisions. If I did that, I would've been very content with my Casey's Cupcakes instead of slightly upset with my Sprinkles cupcakes...Hmm, I obviously need to work on my balance between spontaneity and thoughtfulness. Anyways, before I make this post too random and weird, thank you for reading!

State Testing is Done!

Playing: Major Tom-Peter Schilling
Reading: Neil Patrick Harris Wikipedia Page
Do any of you have to take standardized tests issued by the state? For me, I spent last week taking all of the CST's and STAR's, which are both California state exams. The problem is, the tests are too easy for most of the students in my school district and especially for me. They're almost a joke at my school and to be truthful, we make fun of the CAHSEE a lot. For example, after a tough test, we will say jokingly, "At least it wasn't as hard as the CAHSEE!" For the five exams I had to take, they gave me a total of nine hours split up into three sessions, but I only spent four hours actually taking the test. Then we're not allowed to do anything after the test because it might lead us to cheat, so we sit there with nothing to do and then the test administrators chastise us for getting antsy. It's stupid to force us to stay once we finish the test. It's also appalling what the education system is like in the USA, if it's true that a good chunk of the people taking these tests actually fail them...End rant.

After one of our testing days, I went out with Tiffany, Christine, and Tina to hang out and just go around doing whatever we felt like. We stopped off at Starbuck's to get drinks plus lunch for Tina and me. I like giving stores fake names, when they ask for it, so at Starbuck's, I'm now officially Mercedes. Next time, I want to be Celia Bowen or Asta, who are both from books that I've enjoyed.

Left to Right: Tina, Christine, and Tiffany

We then went to an Albertson's to get lunch for Christine and Tiffany, so we decided to eat our lunches inside Albertson's because real hipsters like hanging out inside of super markets. Known fact. Not really. Deal with my sarcasm, please.

We walked around Marshall's after lunch, looking for a red or white dress for me to wear to Ghazal's Fire&Ice themed birthday party. Also special about that day was that Tina and I agreed to wear our Cole Haan oxfords, so that we could kind of be twinsies together. No, my legs aren't abnormally muscular or fat. Tina is just very skinny and happens to weigh as much as a mouse. In other news, Christine told me my feet looked like cotton candy.

Once we were done looking through Marshall's, Tina took us to Styles For Less to shop for herself and to continue my hunt for a dress for Ghazal's party. Tina left with a pretty, Grecian style, white, chiffon-like dress that she'll be wearing for Latin's Toga Days at school instead of a bed sheet from now on. Most stylish ancient Roman that looks Japanese ever! Afterwards we wandered over to a drug store to look at the nail polishes and to look at how outdated this particular drug store is. It's like stepping into the 1990's, only kind of depressing.

Even though I didn't find a dress that day, I did find an inexpensive blazer at Marshall's that's very Beetlejuice in my opinion. I've been looking for a black and white striped blazer for awhile and this was the first one I found at a decent price with acceptable quality. I need to add some more interesting pieces to my closet instead of just solid colored clothing. I also like the bright pink lining because it looks like something Mondo Guerra would do.

Oh and here's a bonus photo. Read what it says, I'll wait. I love the Engrish mistake made here and how this was not at a foreign market. I usually find this type of stuff at Asian and Persian places, but this is a great example of what I was ranting about before. The American school system. What you gonna do?

Daiso!

Playing: What We Had-The Drums
Reading: Artemis Wikipedia Page

Over the weekend, I visited a Daiso with Sophie for some quick, inexpensive shopping and as a getaway from studying. I'm really glad that Daiso is expanding across the USA because it's like a 99¢ Store, only with goods that I'll actually use and it's always clean, even if it gets messy. I also like how all of the employees are friendly, super helpful, and can speak English.

I've been so tempted to buy a new pencil pouch for myself because mine is so dirty right now and covered with ink stains, but I restrained myself. With only one more month of school, I can definitely wait for summertime to come, when I can wash my pencil case and wait for it to dry. However, Daiso has some really cute options! They have cute, strawberry shaped bento boxes and ice packs shaped like baby ducks too.

They also sell cheap, gyaru style makeup there, which doesn't really excite me. I don't wear makeup at the moment, so this photo is pretty much just meant to show you a tiny bit of what they offer. Sophie bought a pair of eyelashes there and she seemed pretty satisfied with them. Ask her for opinions on the overall quality?

Daiso also sells candies, snacks, and various ingredients for Asian cuisines. I really like their candy selection and so does my chemistry teacher. In fact, I bought a bag of blueberry candy for myself and for him. We like to exchange different candies with each other, so it's a pretty interesting teacher-student friendship right now. It's great to see that Daiso covers both of our sweet tooths though!

My parents like the wall with all the mugs and plates because they really want to get rid of our dishes, bowls, and cups that we've had since the 1970's, but they don't feel like spending a lot. I'm hoping they'll go for something really modern or all white, but they'll probably go for something traditional. As you can probably tell, Daiso just sells a tiny bit of everything, even inflatable boobs, which my friend, Erika, bought for her boyfriend.

No shopping post would be complete without a photo of what I bought, right? I bought one notebook to use for my journal and one as my travel notebook along with some fluffy yarn, pretty lace, tasty candy, cheap sticky notes, and some lotion. The leopard print pouch I got to use as wrapping for my friend, Parmida's, animal print themed birthday party. Also, I bought something crazy like 16 cans of pineapple-coconut water, which I like to drink after school. Sophie told me she thinks, "I buy all my food in bulk." That's not true, only the stuff I like. I've already made some super adorable pop-kei/fairy-kei looking bows using the yarn and some buttons I bought at Joanne's Fabrics plus I've started to fill out one of the notebooks.

Have you ever been to a Daiso before?

Confirmation

Playing: For Reasons Unknown-The Killers
Reading: Vogue June 2012 (Yay for the Olympics!)

On May 19, I was confirmed in the Catholic faith. After two years of attending late, Confirmation classes on week nights, I finally was confirmed along with so many of my amazing friends. It's truly a great feeling to finally go through this sacrament after so much preparation. Before our actual mass, where we got confirmed, we had to listen to instructions on how to line up, which we understood as, "Please take as many photos now as you want!" So here I am, from left to right, with Clare, Daniela, Krishan, Nissa, me, and Chelcee.

Left to Right: Me, Chelcee, Krishan, and Sara

During the actual lecture on how to behave during mass, Chelcee pulled out her iphone to take more photos.
We had a hard time squeezing all four of us in the photo, so I had to sit on Chelcee's lap and then Sara could finally pop herself into the photo. I'm not really sure what they talked to us about because well, I wasn't really listening, but I didn't mess up during mass, so I'm assuming I followed the instructions.

After mass, I took more photos with everyone and my dad greeted me with a huge bouquet of roses, lilies, and astromeria lilies. Unfortunately, all the incense and the chrism from mass gave me a bad headache, so I had to go back home quickly to wash off the chrism and take some Motrin. The chrism's smell really knows how to stick to you. I was rubbing my forehead so hard to clean it off, I actually cut myself...

Once I was done changing into normal clothes and washing the chrism off my forehead, I went off to Todai with some family friends to celebrate my Confirmation. My dad always tells me not to get the udon at buffets because noodles are cheap and "we need to get our money's worth." I still get the udon though and I like it every time. However, I hope we did get our money's worth because I ate quite a bit of seafood that day!

The desserts are only alright at Todai, but they're so nicely presented! The Japanese always make all their food look beautiful. If you want further proof, check out FuckYeahBentoBox, which is full of amazing bento boxes and bento box ideas! However, I've noticed that sometimes Asian pastries aren't as delicious as their European counterparts. So do you choose beauty or taste? I almost always choose taste over beauty. If you ever go to Todai, I do not recommend the matcha green tea cake with red bean filling. It's really odd tasting and Jaren, who was there with us that night, said, "It looks like Yoda's dandruff." So there you go, Asian desserts are beautiful yet bland in most of my experiences...

A photo I stole from Sophie's blog of me studying for the AP tests with my new, black hair!

By the way, did I mention my hair is "Back in Black" now? I asked my hair stylist to dye my brown hair back to my natural color, but she made it a really fake, inky black like a raven. I like it though. It reminds me of my "punk" days and I like looking hardcore. The inky black emphasizes how pale my skin is, which apparently Asian guys dig (according to my guy friends). However, my friends, Shayan and Sagiv, have been arguing over which hair color they prefer on me. I walked in with black hair and Shayan screamed at me, "No, your hair is black! Dye it back now!" And then Sagiv yelled back, "No, I've been telling her to dye it black now for over a year!"

Have you been Confirmed? Also, what hair color do you like the best?

The World's Cutest Music Videos

Playing: You and I-Ingrid Michaelson
Reading: Outburn 37
I've been listening to "You and I" by Ingrid Michaelson  for most of today and it's just such an adorable song. Listening to it inspired me to compile a selection of some of the cutest music videos I know of. All sorts of different types of cute, so hopefully you'll find something you like.

It's really cute to see Carly Rae Jepsen fall head over heels for a new guy and to see her try so hard to grab his attention. Also, the whole singing in a garage has this seriously cute teenage-garage-band vibe. Plus, she's so pretty and darling looking that you'd think she'd definitely get the guy until you see the end...My friend, Daniela, said this depicts how she feels about the guy she likes except for the last bit.

Katy Perry's over the top music video for "California Gurls" is perfect for all dessert lovers and reminds me of last summer, when all my female Facebook friends were titling their photo albums CALIFORNIA GURLS, thinking they were clever for using the song to depict that they were living a very Californian lifestyle. Other than that laughable incident, I really think Katy did a great job, making a super cute candy land for all of us lovers of all things cute. Right down to her pastel hair and cotton candy cloud. Here's a warning to all of you wanting to visit California, not all California girls wear candy dresses.

My friend, PJ, introduced me to Marina and the Diamonds, since he was singing this song during PE. Since then, I've fallen in love with how this music video forces so many things that I love into less than four minutes. Beautiful chandeliers, pastel retro clothes, big dolly lashes, and heart shaped beauty marks? Can it get any cuter? Also, really digging the 90's girl power feel of this music video.

Kerli's costumes in her "Walking On Air" music video are the best and I love the lolita, ballerina feel to all of them. It's the type of creepy cute that I appreciate that's shown in this music video with the big eyed doll and the house's decorations. It has this intense, dreamlike quality that I love. If you're not into stereotypical cute things and like Tim Burton, then this might be the music video for you.

If you love cute, Japanese things, then you've probably already heard of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Her music videos are always super creative, weird, funny, and just plain cute. I think her "PONPONPON" video is cuter, but I've already shared that with you over the summertime, so that's why "CANDY CANDY" made my countdown instead. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu leaves me with this important question, why is J-pop less popular than K-pop? Maybe J-pop is too weird or maybe it's because K-pop reminds us of our favorite boy bands and girl groups from the 1990's. Which do you prefer, K-pop or J-pop?