The Month of Love: April

Hello all! How is everyone hmm? ヾ（▽＾　　）ゞ ドウモ

Once again, I am practicing natural otona make for Spring/Summer! I don't know if I can handle large layers of makeup during the heat..

オメデト-♪(ﾉ⌒∇)ﾉ*：・'ﾟ☆｡.:*:･'ﾟ★ﾟ'･:*:.｡.:*:･'ﾟ:*:･'ﾟ☆

This month has been super eventful for me. A friend I have known for over 10 years finally got married and I was able to attend as a bridesmaid. It was such an honor! The whole event really had me reminiscing on how we met and how we came to who we are today. I cried. A little. Many littles.

Bridal shower gifts were journals to document their adventures together!

We looked into bridemaid dresses very early as I wanted to clear it off her plate before the chaotic stressful parts come into play (renting location, guestlist, etc.). As posted in my previous post, this is what each bridesmaid wore:

I know the quality is not fantastic, and I am not doing this dress justice, so here is an image of a model wearing it:

To keep us all feeling safe, we found out this dress actually has pockets so we can have our phones with us.

Thank goodness.

Along with this newly-formed bond, this has been a month of food for me as well. I have noticed that I have been cooking more often. The occasional times I do go out to eat would be for a group hangout of some sort.

Here are the food things I have had this month (I have it organized for you!) :

Japanese

     

Sushi from Fat Fish

Mochi from Japantown mall during Cherry Blossom Festival

Korean

Kimchi stew with Korean sides!

Taiwanese

Minced pork over noodles in soup from Liang's Kitchen

Burmese

Tea leaf salad

Papaya salad

Garlic noodles

Coconut rice

Thai

Pineapple fried rice

Mango salad

American/Fusion/Other

Organic frozen yogurt from Blush

 Oyster shooters from different states

Omelette from Foreign Cinema

Two of my friends from SoCal came up last week for a visit, giving Stef, Obiwon, and I a reason to go out to get food and see daylight. So.. speaking of Foreign Cinema, I have been trying to go to this restaurant FOREVER. The difficulty in this is the fact that they are always, and I mean always booked. Reservations will have to be made at LEAST a week in advance, otherwise you may wait some time to get seated. Fortunately, we were able to get seats after 45 minutes of waiting.

The omelette I ordered initially tasted somewhat generic, possibly due to the plating not as decorative as the other dishes delivered to our table. After the first two bites though, I realize that it was a FANTASTIC omelette. I could taste each ingredient individually, and the texture was slightly creamy and slightly cheesy, but not overdone. I was very satisfied, and so were the others.

And now onto my homecooking!

Minimalist. Egg on garlic pasta.

Porridge with over-easy egg and stripped chicken with ginger sauce.

Olive oil garlic toast with baked salmon.

Wallet egg over pasta and kale, drizzled with garlic olive oil with a pinch of thyme.

     

Sandwich made of avocado, egg, tomato, smoked turkey, kale, and sprinkled with rosemary, salt, and pepper. 

Mini mixed fruit bowl.

Honey and soy milk pancakes with fruit.

After some cooking, I realized I really like eggs. I should stop eating so much of it lol!

So earlier I mentioned going to Foreign Cinema, a wonderful restaurant in San Francisco. With this long awaited dining experience, I have been meaning to take a new pair of raw denim I purchased to get hemmed.

This time it was expensive.

I spent $400.

Four

HUNDRED

DOLLARS

Personally, I told myself my A.P.C. Petit Standards would suffice, but a pair of my Levi's (which I have owned for 5+ years) are degrading on me, and so I need a replacement, preferably something sturdy. They had this comfortable feel about them, probably because they were straight and not skinny fit.

And so I went to Self Edge and looked around. I knew what fit I wanted and how heavy the denim would have to be to satisfy my need: 12 to 15 oz, slim straight from mid-thigh down, mid or classic rise, minimalist (minimal design on pockets), selvedge, and raw.

After going through 5 recommended pairs by the store manager, he knew what the perfect pair would be.

Self Edge x Imperial (SEXI14)

Imperial is an Australian brand using Japanese cotton. For this particular collaboration however, the whole thing was manufactured in Japan.

For quite some time, I had problems looking for raw selvedge denim for women; it seems like the sizing is always for men! However, the store manager told me the Japanese denim sizing is much smaller, and that is why I could never see my size available! I am a size 25, and I got SEXI14 in 28.

These are unsanforized denim. This means they did not go through the process of sanforization, which essentially pre-shrinks the denim. So for my size 28 SEXI14, I actually need to shrink it down a size by soaking it in warm and/or hot water. Yup, I bought this one size up.

After soaking for 30 minutes, I let it hang dry outside.

And so how can I justify my purchase? I have gone through many years of buying items of lower quality so that my wallet does not make me guilty, but as I got older, I realize some things are worth the investment. I can truly say I have not bought a single pair of denim since my Petit Standards (with the exception of this new pair), and that makes me happy. Many people argue that they have jeans that have lasted them years, and to that, I have to say they don't usually look and feel as good as the first time they were worn.

I still feel guilty about this purchase, but when I wear it, I am content.


Since we are on the topic of clothes, some coordinates are to be shown!

This is a transition outfit to Spring. The weather just started to get warm, but not warm enough for shorts just yet. I love the symmetry trend going on right now, and so I snagged this floral top at H&M to give some contrast to my black trousers so that it wouldn't look as formal.

Probably more of a Mr. Rogers look than anything else. I enjoy the minimal boy-ish/mori-esque/preppy look a lot since I have so many button-up blouses and cardigans.

This style is something I would be caught wearing often. Androgynous-esque otona? Zara button-up, Forever21 necklace (given from the bride *u*), vintage belt, Cheap Monday black skinnies, and Taobao booties.

A simple casual look. I am actually not a fan of the high-low trend, but this dress was so perfect since it hits past the knees (as opposed to the other high-low dresses being much higher..), but still elongates. If I wore heels with these, I would look freakishly tall! Forever21 dress, leather bag gifted from China, Heat-tech socks from Uniqlo, Clark's Original Desert Boots.

Completely random, but one day, I decided to take Talon out and have him sit on the floor next the the window with me so that we can watch the day pass.

I will end this entry with a lovely clear view of San Francisco from Twin Peaks when my friends came up: