Spring warobe additions

Sometimes it takes me a season or two before I adapt the hottest trend, because it is daunting to try new things! Like the skinny jeans, it took me almost a year before i was brave enough to trifle in them cigarette legs, and I've never looked back! And tights/legging, I thought the whole thing was tacky, but look at us now! It's an essential in our wardrobe. Trends come and go, so don't splurge on a trendy piece unless you think you can work it into your everyday wardrobe.

Maxi Dress
By now you must have seen maxi dresses taking up racks at the shops! Last year's comfy maxi trend is still hot for this summer. Don't be wary if you're short, maxi dresses actually make you look taller! Just try to be careful not to choose a overpowering piece that may swallow you. Also, try to piece interesting jewelery or a belt, so you don't end up looking too plain and maternal. I finally got myself a plain red maxi, and can't keep my eyes off maxi dresses in the mall! I saw a nice turquoise one today, and I am planing to go try it on this week.


Heidi Klum looking maternal and sexy!

Denim Jacket
Denim has come back in a big way, and a denim jacket is a chic addition. Many have seen paring the jacket with girly floral dresses, or denim over denim! Personally, I had one or two denim jackets when I was in elementary school, and I am not ready to venture this jacket just yet. It is really not my style. Denim jackets give me a sense of more free-spirited style, and my style is uptight! Bahah.



Romper
I wanted to get a romper two years ago, but when I was brave enough to try it on, I felt like a 2 year old. baahaha. But the fit was awkward, and I was apprehensive about going to the ladies room with a romper! So this time around, I was shopping frequently at XXI and when I saw my romper, last one in the store, I had to get it! Impulsive, I know :)


This is not my romper, but sure is cute with the pockets and all!

Belts + Scarf
I never thought I'd be loving belts, but I really think sometimes a belt just puts the finishing touches on an outfit. This year it's all about the skinny belts that sit at your natural waistline. I am also in love with silk scarves. I am not sure if it is my maturing age, but I love scarves! Silk scarves are usually worn by more mature women, but this year you can see that scarves are being worn by the younger crowd too. Sometimes a simple knot around the neck really embellishes a simple outfit. Or you can choose to wrap it on your head like a headband, which is my favourite! The scarves and belts adds a wad of feminine energy! Lady like attire!


Nicole Richie rocking some scarf!

On to sadder news, I've officially taken down http://chenannie.com since the domain expired as of yesterday. The days of being a designer with an online portfolio is over. :(

Source Code

Source Code ★★★ ½ ☆
I know I haven't done any movie reviews since No Strings Attached. Here's a movie I saw a few weeks ago. Source Code: starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan. The basic storyline is, a soldier is on a mission to find out the bomber of a Chicago Train. Although everyone on the train is already dead, the soldier is under some new military technology that allowed him to go back to 8 minutes before the train exploded as one of the passengers, and find out what happened. It is like a type of time traveling but not. The concept of the movie derives from the idea of computer programming, source code, where programmers can essentially understand and modify the program. To put it in simple terms, an iphone app is a program that runs on the iphone, but to understand how it works and to modify this app, one would need to use the source code and change the coding.

Like the app, the soldier needs to go back to the event, and try to figure out who's the bomber, where's the bomb, and so forth. I will not spoil the ending for people who have yet to see this movie, but I have to say the movie was pretty entertaining but I wished the ending was better executed with thorough explanation and justification, because it didn't seem legitimate.

All clogged up?

If you've been paying attention to your face, you may notice sometimes it changes! BAHAH!

So, for the longest time I had combination skin with oily tzone. After a couple of years into university, I had wonderful skin! Not too oily and only the occasional pimple! Although I've never had major acne problems, I always battled with my own fidgety hands. I was my own skin's worst enemy. I loved to pick away at my face, any chance I got at squeezing some whiteheads/blackheads, I was ecstatic! I went through a couple of rough patches when I decided staying up till 6am and drinking 2-3 cups of coffee was a good idea. My skin was screaming for help. So I stopped that lifestyle. Recently my skin has become more sensitive. The cheeks are drier than usual, and the bumps.

Let me tell you about the bumps. They are like clogged pores on my forehead and my chin. Slight round elevation that are not red, nor white, just bumps everywhere. The first time it happened I attributed it to stress, but 3-4 months went by, and the bumps did not go away but had worsen! I was in a panic! By a coincidence, I saw in a clinic waiting room, in a magazine it had mentioned a toner which was good for acne prone skin. So I went and bought it, along with some benzoyl peroxide. I had been using salicylic acid acne cream for the longest time with no noticeable results, so I decided to try benzoyl peroxide. I also read that benzoyl peroxide worked well together with glycolic acid from the toner! And just like that, my bumps went away in a matter of days. It was clear skin again. I couldn't believe it! Later my friend told me that mineral powder made her break out in bumps too. So I stopped using my mineral stuff! I had been bump free for almost a year, but just about last month, the bumps came back! I hadn't been using the toner and had major red patch reaction to my benzoyl peroxide. It could be the change in weather or the heavy night cream, or the new makeup I had been using. Anyhow, I went to shoppers and picked up another bottle of Neostrata's toning solution! When the toner is used in combination with the benzoyl peroxide cream I don't have such a severe reaction! Weird! I've been using the toner for about a week now, and my bumps are down to 10% :) It is always difficult to find the culprit, but I'll watch out for new products I use.

Hello clear skin, here I come :)





These are the two products that got rid of my bumps. YAY!

Lactose Intolerance

So, a couple of weeks ago I had a huge farting session. The whole evening I could not stop making stinky gas. I thought it was incredibly odd, since I did not consume any beans or gassy vegetables. As I started to track back my diet, I found I had a Starbucks caramel frappucino just hours before my fart fest. I immediately googled, and I attributed it to the coffee beans, because apparently coffee makes you gassy too. Although I've always had coffee, and never had gas like this before. I just figured that the frappucino was made from BAD COFFEE BEANS!

Tonight, I am having the same kind of gas symphony. I instantly recall the last thing I ate, a bowl of cereal. Milk. I googled, and it appears that farting is a lactose intolerance symptom. I can't believe I am lactose intolerant!? Diary?! My favourite! This is my Asian ancestry fate! It is inevitable that I cannot tolerate diary! My people didn't eat it! Please don't let this mean I have to turn to soy milk now, that is the death of me!

Turns out it was not the coffee beans, but rather the amount of milk and diary in that frappucino! I am bloated and farting a lot right now, so that is the reason why I am not yet in bed. Toodles for now :)

insensitive

Lately, I've been feeling like nothing I say is ever the right thing, or the appropriate thing. Growing up, I was always a bit of a joker, someone who made slurs, and clever blows at people. This type of lowly comedy brought us laughter because it was not too serious. Perhaps it is true sometimes that these jokes may be taken too far, or push the wrong button, here I sincerely apologize for my lack of sensitivity and ignorance to understand the magnitude of certain sensitive situations.

Many jokes have been made at other people's expense, and I understand a joke is not funny if I am the only one laughing. Perhaps I was a bit of a bully growing up, but it was merely my way of bonding with friends. My intentions were never to hurt anyone's feeling nor to drive a wedge between people. I am beginning to understand that many situations are delicate and should not be an opportunity to crack a joke. Words may be words, but they do hurt, especially coming from a supposed friend. I apologize again if at times it felt like I was attacking people's character.

My perception had always been that because we are friends, the jokes and the making fun would get a free pass and we would have unlimited access. Boy, was I wrong. Despite how close, or how distant our relationship may be, targeted words always hurt. However funny the "joke" may have seen at the time, they were purely cruel and hurtful when processed. I am sorry if it felt like I was an enemy instead of a friend.

I know saying sorry doesn't mend anything, or change anything, but I don't want to lose friendship over this ordeal. I know my biggest flaw and downfall is my quick mouth. I will try to eliminate the unnecessary remarks and comments that are mean-spirited. I don't want to be remembered as the girl who lost her friends because she liked to make sarcastic remarks. I hope all of you can find it in your heart to forgive me, because I was truly unaware that my words had hurt the ones I care about.

I am not a terrible person, but lately I have been feeling like an asshole. I hope the next time we laugh, we are laughing together.

Maxi dress

I've recently fallen in love with maxi skirts/dresses. I realized they are super comfortable and makes me look super tall. Some may argue that they lack shape and style, but who cares when you can hide them muffin tops! Muahah!

I am hoping to snatch up a chiffon skirt soon. This one is from American Apparel

Manic Monday

Over the weekend, Nick Lee was kind enough to provide me a cellphone to use for the time being. I shall see in the near future if I am ready for a new phone, but now I am grateful for friends who have 3G phones lying around the house!

I also found an unlocking guru Rakesh on craigslist! He does all kinds of unlocking from almost any carrier! Here's his ad on craigslist! http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/mob/

He only charged me $8, and the service was really quick, about half an hour and he sent the unlocking codes to me! Unlike those shops in Aberdeen, demanding a price of about $30-50 and 3 hour wait time. Herro?! Unethical!!! Anyway if you need unlocking, Rakesh is fast and cheap! You can call him at 604-889-6150

Anyway, this Sunday was another epic sunday! Got a new haircut, a birthday dress, and a working phone! This is all very exciting. Also, the playoffs start in a few days! Time to get that canucks flag up! I am participating in my first hockey pool this week. I am sooo nervous! Wish me luck :)

I need to add more photos to my blog, it is starting to look dull!

Dilemma solved

So, by now you've heard about my sad news of a broken phone that is being charged by some stripped wires. My crappy LG keybo finally gave up over the week, and I am sustaining its life by powering straight to the battery.

I guess it was almost time for a new phone. Although I was less than ecstatic about a new phone. The idea of a new cellular mobile was intimidating. The fear of becoming a phone zombie, a hefty data plan, and touchscreen, were holding me back from wanting a new phone. I was torn between getting a new phone or downgrade from my current phone. Downgrading seemed like the logical choice, since I use my phone for the bare minimums composing of text messages and talking. I really didn't need all the fancy google map and angry birds. On the other hand, downgrading also meant I needed to fork up some money, about $100 just for a crappy phone. Whereas, I can get a spanking new smartphone for about the same price (with a 3 year relationship, of course). I was beginning to feel that if I don't jump on the smartphone bandwagon soon, I would become a senile and obsolete old maiden!

So, I eventually thought I should get an iPhone4, since it is pretty simple to use, and I've already familiarized myself with the iPhone3. I was researching some phone plans and came to a conclusion that I was not ready to pay $60+ a month for services that I'll probably won't use. A phone is a phone. I remember when things were simple, now it is so complicated and nitty gritty. I hate dealing with phone companies, because I feel like they are always out to get you and your money. It is impossible to outsmart the companies, unless they are willing to be completely transparent about their operations and tell you how much a text message actually costs (it costs the company almost nothing to send a text, yet they charge you what 15 cents?) Anyway, I am sure everyone has had their fair share of frustrations with cellphone companies.

Below is the evolution of my dilemma solution
1. Get a new phone from Koodo!
2. Realized koodo has poor phone selections, get stuck stressing about phones.
3. Say byebye to Koodo and get with Fido
4. Get a crappy phone from Fido for free!
5. Get a crappy phone from Koodo for $100!
6. Get a better phone from Fido
7. Get the iPhone4 and be really cool
8. Keep using broken LG and wait for iPhone5
9. Get an iPhone4 and use cool apps like calender in place of my agenda
10. Checked out rogers, telus, fido, mobilicity, and realized how much I love Koodo
11. Hating on expensive data plans
12. Get an iPhone4 with no data, and defeat purpose of a smartphone
13. Feel sad about having an iPhone but no web capabilities
14. Checks Koodo website for sim card capabilities
15. Finds out Koodo has sim cards! Smiles! Looking for old phone as replacement :)

In the end, I realized that Koodo sells sim cards, so I can just pay $10 and find an unlocked old cell, then I can use it for now :)

I am really happy I found this! I didn't want a new phone for a lot of the reasons I listed above, but most of all, I was not mentally ready for a new phone. Smartphones are scary and so are the data plans. I don't really need all the fancy stuff! I am just glad that koodo now has sim cards. Yay dilemma solved.

Sakura Festival

Yna, Yohei, Tien, and I went to the Sakura festival over the weekend. It was held at the VanDusen Garden on Oak Street. It was really cold that day, and terrible time to be at the botanical garden. It was too early for flowers! Nevertheless, we got some awesome photos.


I am a willow tree


I am a bamboo

So, after the garden, Tien decides he wants an iPad2. Then we began our search over town for the limited supply of iPad2. I called more than 40 places, and got denied so many times. Also got fooled into some false hopes! But nevertheless, found ourselves an iPad2 in Langley! 4 days worth of searching and waiting! Hardwork does prevail!


iPad2 :)

Also, I made a mini purchase at Oakridge Mall on sunday. A plain black skirt from Aritzia! Good for work and everyday wear. I am wearing it as I type.

Last but not least, some sad news. My LG lame phone has been acting up weird lately, shutting off on its own more frequently. Almost everyday. Today it finally gave up. I was trying to charge it, but nothing happened. I googled, and found out this was a common problem with my LG phone. I was sad, since I was not ready to get a new phone, and along with all the fancy dataplan. I was also not ready to get a crappy phone, and be stuck with it for another 3 years before I upgrade. I found myself in a dilemma. That's when I turned to youtube. I found that I could strip the charger wires and charge the phone battery directly! Hopefully this will work for a few days as I figure out my next phone plans.


exposed wires!


Oh look, it is full bars :)

A conversation about love and marriage

Frank Sinatra said, love and marriage, they go together like a horse and carriage!

Lately there's been talks of marriages, divorces, affairs, and the likes. It is true that society nowadays have higher divorce rates than ever, is it because there are too many temptation? People no longer take marriages seriously? Have wedding vows lost its sacred meaning?

In a society that preaches free will, self indulgence, and living in the moment, it is easy to lose perspective on things, especially value.

People may have valid justification for their affairs, but when it comes down to it, they are not honoring the vows they made. Vows are plain and simple
"I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live."

If people understood the magnitude of the vow, and honored it with the greatest respect, there would be no heartbreak.