May, June, and Birthday 2013

Hello all!

( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ ﾀﾀﾞｲﾏｧ

I know I have been lacking on posts, but that is because I left my transfer cable/charger for my smartphone at my home in LA! It has been a whole month (or more) and now I am FINALLY uploading.

Truth be told, I have not been taking that many photos. I have been trying to take in everything as it happens and not worry about documenting everything all the time..

HOWEVER, I do have a few photos!

And yes, my birthday was last week! More on that later though.

Food and Travel

So the company I work for finally finished a long and tedious project that everyone had been slaving for until last month. To thank us, they provided us with food trucks!!

We had the Falafel truck, Chairman Bao, an Indian truck, and the Creme Brulee truck! The food was so good...I did not take all the photos because I was busy devouring everything.

Daikon on pork belly with sauce wrapped in bun

Garlic fries with lime

Falafel sandwich

Super delicious!! I should have kept eating the fries the whole time. Haha.

MORE FOOD!

Also occurred last month, I went to New York for the VERY FIRST TIME!! Funny, majority of my photos pertained to food!

Tapas from Caracas

These were amazingly delicious. Do not let the amount fool you, they were quite filling and rather large in size!

The biggest thing I wanted from New York was really to watch Phantom of the Opera as it has been on my list of must-watch musicals since... forever. I finally got to watch it in a lovely house. Here is a vertical panoramic of it:

I was dead center and had the best view. I was super excited!! It was a fantastic show, and I recommend this to EVERYONE!

Had delicious food afterwards at Kenka! Definitely difficult to find since the name isn't written in English..

Outside the restaurant

Inside restaurant

The beer is like $12/pitcher of Japanese beer! If you are not a beer person, try their mixed drinks. My favorite is Kenke Cooler (lychee flavor mixed drink!).


NOW onto my birthday..

Birthday.

I was surprised and taken to Catalina Island for the day! I highly recommend this to everyone as it is FREE entry (ferry) if you go on your birthday! Along with that, a lot of the other activities are free as well!

First thing's first. I needed food in my stomach:

Eggs Benedict

I have a weak spot for Benedict and Florentine. It's impossible for me to not order it if it is on a menu.

And then on to another thing I have been wanting to do for a while..

Yes, I went parasailing. 600 feet up in the air.

Of course, it wasn't that bad since I have done skydiving before! （￣ー￣）

Snacked around and walked and bummed and NACHOS!

After a long day, I met up with some friends at a relatively new tea house called Macchiato.

Things.

A few things I have received as a gift and/or bought recently..

That happens to be navy. I have a love for the color, and forget how much of it I really own. Now I have two regular go-to bags in the same color. (ノД`)・゜・。

Fjallraven Kanken backpack in Original size and Navy color (bought)

     

A navy Michael Kors convertible clutch/shoulder bag/crossbody bag (gift). This is probably the most versatile bag I have had in a while as there are so many ways to work with this! Comes with an extended strap if I want it to be a crossbody.

If you follow me on Facebook, you might have found out that I also have recently purchased a gently-used SEWING MACHINE. I can finally get into making the items I have been eager to own!

OOTD's

Let me start with my exhausted face. I apologize for the lack of makeup!

My bangs finally started to grow out, and since the summer is normally hot and sticky, I am trying to grow my bangs out and try different styling.

My girly Gyaru-esque look for Fanime:

H&M, ASOS, H&M, Taobao, Jeffrey Campbell, Michael Kors (my new bag!)

 Quick on-the-go Otona-esque look:

Tobi, Zara, Karmaloop

H&M, Theory, Sperry

 Mode-esque

Forever21, Rayban, Taobao

?? boutique, H&M, Shoemint

Pre-owned men's cashmere sweater, APC, Sperry, Michael Kors

I have much to blog about. Do wait for more! ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉｲｯﾃｷﾏ-ｽ!

The Best Gift to Give

My boyfriend made me, as a belated birthday gift, a bike. He purchased the parts online and/or bought some at a bike shop, and for several months, manual labor was used to create a beautiful white beach cruiser with a leather seat and black basket. Lovely, but why a bike?

Because I cannot ride one. My boyfriend said he'd teach me, and to do so, I would need a bike. So somewhat secretly, he had been building this magnificent steed of mine up north, and surprised me when I went to visit him. Though it was epic fail because the seat was not stable, I was happy with all the effort he put into making me a bike on his own. That's love.

To match his efforts, I had to recollect all the small things I noticed that he liked but never purchased. Though his birthday gift comprised of many parts (I go all out, and so there goes one month's paycheck), I finally settled on making him, for his main gift, the backpack he had been longing for: Timbuk2's Hemlock. Here is a photo and a videoclip of the backpack.

My semi-futile attempt at replicating:

Made a replica of Timbuk2's Hemlock backpack for the boyfriend's birthday gift. Fully lined with a waterproof interior with a notebook protector/divider. Outside-front pocket has interior organizer, outside-side pocket for water bottle stash. Made of ballistic nylon; this means heavy-duty peeps. Double-stitched for reinforcement. 100% waterproof. The only thing I decided not to add was the utility straps for accessories as it seemed more of an aesthetic for my boyfriend since he is not likely to utilize them. Took me two weeks to make, mostly because I had to draft the pattern on my own and try to figure out how to make everything lined without having it look overly done.

My boyfriend loved it. I am considering doing my own designs now!

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