This Summer is the Summer it all changes . . .

Hello everybody! I just thought I'd make a quickie post today, and save my concert pictures for the next one, since writing up a thoughtful report will take longer than the time I have now.

So I decided this summer is going to be my summer for reform. Let me explain.


I really want to put my health first this summer and change a lot of things around so its better for me. I'm starting by trying to fix my insomnia. Now, I know I'm not a doctor so I can't diagnose myself, but judging from my symptoms and how long I've had them, I'd say this pretty much sums it. I wake up periodically, I can't fall asleep right away, I only sleep a few hours, and I feel groggy and terrible in the morning (also my back feels sore). I'm trying to fix all that I can on my own before talking to the doctor, so I'm doing a bed reform.

I've also purchased a month long rock climbing voucher off of Living Social! Yes for rock climbing and yoga! I convinced one of my friends to buy one too so I have a belay partner! I'm super excited!!


Now, on to random pictures of late:


My first pineapple Chobani. It's SO GOOD. I just ate it walking the streets. I love greek yogurt so of course, no surprise that I'd like this. I highly recommend it!


Vegan chocolate chip cookies my friend Lesley made! They were AMAZING. She baked them for the concert, so I should've saved this picture, but just look at it's delicious baked goodiness!


I got this tea when I was on my lunch break. I would've ordered food except I had some already, so I just got some jasmine tea. I forget how good jasmine tea is . . .


Sorry this picture doesn't look so appetizing since I bit into it, but a chicken pesto panini from a random deli on 23rd. I don't know if I've really had a panini before this one, but they're really filling.


I purchased this recently at the Anna Sui store! All the Look from London tights/socks in the back were half off, so I had to get these. I mean, yellow and polka dots? Très bon!


Finally, I went to the "Biggest Ever Sale" at Urban Outfitters yesterday. They actually do have a bunch of things on sale that were great. I mean, brand new ten-hole Dr. Marten boots for $40 is a pretty good deal. But I got myself a pair of pants since, well, I apparently have way too much funky clothing for work and I'm in need of pants. Cool wash, right? It was on sale for $10~


Now, I gotta get off if I want to go to school before work (ugh, paperwork). I'll see you all later!

I listen to bees and butterflies

Yesterday, I met up with my friend Ana for a photo shoot. The weather melted my face away, but everything else seemed to work quite nicely.







I contemplated showing the face one because it's not really part of the shoot, but thought you might want to see what the top part of me looked like.

Tomorrow I plan to go to a concert of this band called The Empires that my friend is really into. I mentioned them before on the bloggy, but now that I'm going to a live of theirs, I can experience them in the real and report back !

I also plan to go to two other shows later on in July. I swear, concerts will devour my money the way Giada is devouring beer nuts behind me on the Food Network (extra points if you know which show I'm talking about!)

Now for something random. My breakfast:

Kinda like a yogurt parfait with apples, strawberries, pb, and cinnamon toast crunch.

And for something new: I cut my hair.

No pictures yet since I pretty much hate the bangs. Really, they just kept cutting and cutting. R.I.P. poor hair. Anyway, I'll style it well and maybe then we'll see if it looks presentable enough.

For lack of better things to end this with, au revoir everyone! I will post again soon!

A Food Adventure with a side of Art

Hey guys! What a lovely Saturday it is. Of course, it's going to be a killer day weather wise (88 degrees!), but I'm hopeful. Today I'm going job hunting with my friend. We're basically starting down and going up. If I'm up to it, I may join her for a concert later, but if not, just expect me to go home and sleep! I've written another set of goals for June, and one of them includes sleeping earlier. Hopefully that gets accomplished!

This morning I had a lovely breakfast of Fage Greek Yogurt + honey and a banana.

I also added raisins to that. (Note: I found Fage on sale at Westerly for $.99! That never happens . . . I love Westerly)

Okay, so about yesterday. It all started out with a text to my friend Lesley, asking if she was free for some good ole Moma hoppin' and possibly shopping. Eating wasn't really on the agenda initially, but OH MAN, I should always know that being with friends who are also foodies will ALWAYS lead to food.

I started off with this bad boy.

Yeah, I don't really do iced coffee, but on a blazin' day like yesterday, it hit the spot. I may or may not have had a donut with that.

After meeting up with Lesley and her sister and her friends in the Upper West Side, we decided it was only fitting to hit up Urban Outfitters. And of course, because we've been talking about going to the Lite Choice forever and Lesley just happened to have a phone with internet and she just happened to check their twitter and see that there was a bogo special for bars, we had to go. And go we did.

It was sad to see there was no almond butter left, but ah well, I never say no to frozen treats.

Buying retail now is really a challenge for me because unless it's really worth it, I tend to think I can make it for myself. Or thrift it. So nothing was bought at Urban Outfitters.

OH WAIT, but you know what was HAD at Urban Outfitters?

I call it the monster, otherwise known as a cookie from Levain. I remember seeing this insane monstrous cookie on Throwdown with Bobby Flay months ago and I've been dying to try it ever since. Well, we were in the area, and Lesley's sister so kindly got us one, so we split the devil.

COOKIE HEAVEN.

Well, after stuffing our faces with sweets galore, we knew the only thing left to do was walk all the way to the Moma in the crazy weather. Yay, sore feet.

After getting to the Moma, we split into two groups and wandered around.

They had a weird curtain projection, so of course, everyone was taking pictures in front of it including us.

Lesley had a museum report so off we went to look for the gallery she was told to visit. We seriously went on a wild goose chase cause we couldn't find the Irving Penn gallery at all, until someone told us the gallery was actually CLOSED for a temporary memorial. Fun.
Well, some of the stuff was apparently upstairs, so after fooling around, we went to the third floor for some photographs.

I saw some Cindy Sherman which got me excited (since I actually know who she is). Although some of it got me a little annoyed because I feel like it wasn't really worth putting in the museum, or rather, the artist was banking more on their name than the quality of the piece. Just like my art teacher said, "Just because it's in a museum, doesn't mean it's necessarily good."

Well, we were all pretty exhausted after walking around the museum too, so we went downtown for some eats. Let me tell you, the village is PACKED after 7. We gave up on two places, and only when we say Hummus Place did we sit down to eat.

My Hummus Fava.

The decor was nice and I was kinda in love with the little hand wash station in front of the bathrooms. The service was also cheerful and polite, so no complaining there. I think the only thing may be to have a little more variety in the dishes, just because I didn't really expect my dish to be a plateful of hummus. Good hummus, but a lot of hummus. And beans. Everyone cleaned their plates well though, so me thinks this was a success!


After the meal, we all headed to the train, stuffed and tired.
When I got home, I blended myself a smoothie for today and went to sleep. I think I'm going to go and actually have that smoothie now.

I hope today will be as slammin' as yesterday was! Good day everyone!

Yogurt, Picasso, and Robbers

What a glorious morning it is to be able to enjoy some of this.

Yogurt, bananas, chunks of energy, and fiber one cereal. I guess nothing tops the combination of bananas and chocolate.

So I recently discovered this cool band, Robbers on High Street. Check 'em out!



The video's not a music video (I don't know if they have any?) but actually just my favorite song by them called Love Underground.
I was checking out their site for some tour dates, and saw a lot in NY (mainly Brooklyn). I wondered why, and after looking them up on wiki found out that's where they're from/situated. NEAT-O. More opportunities to see them live! I'm excited!
They're playing on June 12th, and when a ticket's $8, well, that's not really a compromise. Time to harass my friends to come along~


And now for something unrelated, I went to go see the Picasso exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art recently. Picasso has been one of my favorite artists for a while, and partially one of the reasons I decided to go to a fine arts high school (glad I did!) And this is a great exhibit for people who don't know Picasso as well as people who do, because it focuses on some of his lesser known periods. You can also see that he was not only into cubism, but did some fairly realistic stuff along with cartoons and scribbles.









I really need to go back and look at everything closer (not physically of course, considering that accident a few months back)!
There's also an exhibit, American Woman, which looks at fashion trends of past decades. I feel kinda bummed they ended it at the 40s because a lot happened afterward, but I hear the Brooklyn museum has an exhibit called American High Style that's a collab with the Met. So if you're feeling deprived (don't get me wrong, the one at the Met is great), consider going there! I know I will before it closes!


Tomorrow I'm going to go see Jukebox the Ghost (that band I saw with Tally Hall a little while back) with Free Energy! I checked them out on Myspace to get myself prepared and they're good too! Going to concerts is becoming dangerous for my wallet . . . But expect a concert update from me next time!
Good day everyone!

Chocolate, oh how I missed thee!

Good morning (afternoon?) everyone and Happy Easter! I know some of y'all are going to do some fun things today (egg hunts, parades, awesome supper, etc.) I look forward to hearing what everyone did!


So I being a nutter thought that Lent officially ended today (but it actually ended yesterday). None the less, as soon as my clock hit 12, I had myself some well deserved CHOCOLATE.

I'm pretty picky about my chocolate and I like it dark, but this one hit the spot. Milk chocolate with almonds . . .

I also managed to clip some coupons (which my friends make fun of me for since I'm not even living on my own and I grab sale papers . . . but I love saving on food!)

I think I went to sleep at that point. Then I awoke to a glorious breakfast of yogurt and organic fruits!

That red topping is my favorite cherry preserve from Swiss brand Favorit! I love tart or bitter flavors, hence why I tend to like marmalade and lemon/cherry flavored spreads, so this one sure hit the spot. This was atop bananas, pears, and grapefruit.


Recently I went to Brooklyn with my friends Carla and Crysbel to test our luck at Beacon's Closet in Williamsburg.
I had to check in my bag (which had my camera in it!), so no pictures of that little escapade. Carla did walk away with a cute top for $13.

However, I found something even more interesting on the way back to the train station!

No, not the man wearing a leather jacket in near 80 degree weather. But the cool church with onion tops. My aunt owns a church in Japan, but I think this one beats it.

Then I handed my camera over to Crysbel (who is now becoming a regular photographer of my outfits) and made Carla pose with me.

This photo says . . .

"Yeah, we're having fun!"

And this one . . .

Me: "I schooled this punk for breakfast!"
Carla: "Rawr, soiled again!"
At this point, I started to talk about the wonders of blogging because I can make myself seem so much more cooler than I actually am (example being this whole blog 8D)

Outfit rundown:
-Yellow flower hair accessory from H&M
-White shirt (that has a secret hood) from a random store in Flushing
-Grey tank top underneath from H&M
-Yellow biker shorts from Uniqlo
-Yellow Backpack from Uniqlo (I also bought a yellow sweatshirt from Uniqlo on this day so this just reveals my penchant for yellow things from Uniqlo)
-Vivienne Westwood tights!!! (you can't see it well but my tights are actually covered in orbs!)
-Turquoise cardi from Urban Outfitters
-Boots from Payless

This is an extra shot that I had to post because! because!

Crysbel looks like Michael Jackson. And later we passed by a store playing Billie Jean so I think it was fate!

Any shenanigans that went on the rest of that day have been undocumented, however, I will say that there were many of them.


On a totally different note, I finally watched 5-Ingredient Fix this morning!

It's one of the newer shows on Food Network and the host is Claire Robinson.
I've been wary of newer Food Network shows because I'm such a big fan of the old favorites, but since I'm on vacation and have some extra time, I decided to give this one a whirl. It's actually pretty good! I really feel like making the dishes because of it's simplicity and short grocery list. Plus, Claire seems to be a nice host.
I did some googling for images and I also found out she has a french bulldog named Newman! I'm a sucker for dogs in general but I actually LOVE french bulldogs! They're one of my favorite types of dogs.

Here's Newman:

image from foodnetworkhumor.com

Really adorable.

I think now that I'm all full of fuzzy thoughts, I'm going to go do some cardio exercises! It's also becoming great weather for my long walks across the Queens bridge and back, so posts on that may come up as well!
Tata for now~

I'm feeling pretty good!

Hi everyone! Today (or right now), I'm feeling GREAT! I don't really know what it is, although I have an inkling it's the weather! After a week of downpour, these past 2 days or so have been A-MAZING. I hope it continues, because it would suck going back to school under grey skies.

P.S. Is grey spelled with an "a" in-between, or an "e"? I've seen it both ways . . .

So my camera is back . . .

And I managed to photograph breakfast from a day or so ago? Sadly not the french toast but it was still good!

I believe it is strawberry season. I got a box of these for $0.99 at Chelsea Market! SCORE! I think I seriously need to live there because Food Network AND NY1 is there. I mean, think about it, that's like breathing the same air as Bobby Flay AND Pat Kiernan! (although I am a bigger Alton Brown fan)
Oh, but back to these strawberries, yes . . . they were good. I think I'll go get some more today!

If anyone knows me, they know I carry around tea bags. I recently stocked my little carry around stash . . .

Highly recommended for tea lovers.

Then I've recently been eating this a lot:

I love dried fruits in general, and prunes are delicious! I love them in oatmeal or on its own.


Yesterday I helped my mom clean up our other apartment in Brooklyn (the one we rent out). There was a guy that stayed there for 7 months recently, so we were cleaning it up for the next person that was coming in from Africa (cool beans!)
Anyway, the guy left some goodies in the pantry:

Whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and cooking spray! Haha, you can probably tell I was excited since this kinda food is right up my ally. That, and I find groceries are just the best gifts. EVA.



To keep up with this food trend, I went out to Flushing with my friends on Wednesday and had some food at this place called West (?) Normally I remember names of places, but we were hungry and just chose a random place. The food and service were all pretty average so there's not much to say, however, the pricing was good!
This is my chicken katsu-don.

Lastly, a outfit coordinate from me:

I look really shocked for some reason . . .
-H&M grey (again this word!) Cardigan
-Urban Outfitters graphic t-shirt
-Random jean shorts
-F21 plaid tights
-XOXO boots
-Peace Now Spider Necklace


Oh! And for all you NY-ers out there who may or may not be planning to go to Soho this weekend, from today (April 2nd) to the 4th, Topshop is having a 1 Year Anniversary Celebration!

Basically what's going down is the store, after opening it's doors last year in April, is doing a celebration to commemorate this event. They're having giveaways, photo-ops, cake and tea (yum!), live music (I suspect djs), and if you spend $100, you get a limited edition 1-tank (shown above).
It might be cool just to check out all the hullabaloo. I'll be around today actually taking a break from school work and doing something fun for once so maybe join me?

Have a good day everyone~

Feeling a little pink and curly?

Hey y'all! Today is Sunday which means tomorrow is Monday which means school again (oh, the vicious cycle). Today I plan to go to school again to finish up my jacket for flat pattern class.

Yesterday I got some lining for my jacket in sewing, but not having the minimum for using my card, I had to grab a few other yards of fabric. One for a future skirt, and another for my flat pattern final!

My outfit from yesterday:



It was HOT yesterday. Seriously, walking under the sun, I slightly regretted wearing a long sleeve shirt (given I was only wearing a blazer on top). However, NY weather likes to play games, so of course while watching NY1 this morning, I was hit with the realization that it would go back to cold weather this upcoming week. FUN.

-Blazer from Buffalo Exchange (but from H&M, just like the dress I posted before)
-"I had a session with a guitar player" raglan shirt from Uniqlo
-Old pair of overalls
-Pink tights from H&M
-Random necklace you can't see [tears]
(also, all those books in the corner? Just a portion of my dad's books. But he has more cooking magazines)

I also went to yogurt station in St. Marks yesterday with my friends (after some pattern making)



HOW I MISS THEE FROYO.
Of course to keep with my good little trend this month, I topped it with fruits, nuts, granola, and yogurt chips. YUM.

On a totally different note, I realize I never talk much about make-up and cosmetics here. I will tell you right now, I LOVE make-up. I love the natural looking stuff for everyday wear, but I dig the crazy avant garde makeup for photo shoots and personal projects.

Lately I've been coveting matte looks for the eyes and pink blushes. Is this Spring's influence?

PERHAPS.

For a while now, Ive been wanting to try Benefit's Benefit to Go set from Sephora.

The main reason for wanting to try this out is the Posietint. For the original price for a whole bottle ($28), I could try this sample out, along with 3 other products. Now, the samples are VERY small. But for $10, I think it's worth it. I mean, they're small enough to take with you (hence the go part) and you get variety. The high beam also looks promising.


I also really need an eyelash curler. And of course, what product first comes to mind when someone says that?

Oh Shu, how I want you in my makeup bag (actually, my bag is pretty full and you won't fit, but I'll fix it up so you can).
All my money is currently being used for fabric and school supplies, but someday, I will own you! SOMEDAY!!!


As a final note, I have something exciting to introduce to you guys in the upcoming week! I need some time to write out a full post, but be on the look out for it! I'm off to go to school now, but I'll see you guys soon!