Sakura Dreams

Ok, so I've been meaning to post this for the last 2 months, but this crazy thing called life kept making me push it back, until I forgot about it completely. Anyway, thanks to sweetheart fashion, I've been able to discover this great online discount clothing store called Sakura Dreams. Most of you have probably already heard of it ages ago, but since I'm usually late on things like this, it's news to me!

Tea Time!!

Here is a little known fact about me: I love tea sets, and I actually collect miniature tea sets, who'da thunk it! Like all little girls, I love playing dress-up in my mom's clothes and having tea parties with real friends, imaginary friends, and stuffed animals. It wasn't until my aunt bought me a 25 piece porcelain tea set when I was around 9 years old, that my true love of tea set started. The tea set was white, with pink flowers and green checked ribbons painted on it, and because it was porcelain, and not plastic like my other tea sets, it made me feel like a real little lady. This was also around the time that my parents began frequenting antique stores, which is where I first discovered miniature tea sets. As I got older, my Victorian sentiment, which has been growing in me since I was younger, made me enjoy tea sets with a whole new passion.

Hello Kitty Fuzzy Babba Slipper Socks!!!!

Happy Saturday everyone!!!

As you can tell, I'm in a super good mood today! And why? Because my Hello Kitty Fuzzy Babba Slipper Socks finally arrived (they actually arrived yesterday, but I'm still excited about it)!

My mom saw these on the Sears apparel website (I know Sears sells thing other than tractor, it's crazy!), and when she showed them to me I had to have them. She actually thinks my love of Hello Kitty is a little childish, and can't see the attraction of it to someone who is 23 years old, but this time she went on ahead and humored my little fancy by buying them for me. I was a little unsure what size to get because there was no size chart on the site, but I ordered a large anyway, which was a good thing because the slippers fit perfectly. We weren't even sure if the order went through at first because there was some problems with the website checkout, and we had to go through customer service to complete the order. Then the slippers were delivered a couple of days late, but it was totally worth the wait!

The slippers have this super soft fleece-like lining which makes you feel like you are walking on air. The outside is also made of a soft, black faux fur for added comfort, and the buckles have these cut little pink buttons to help fasten them in place. Alos, unlike most slippers I've seen, these have little rubbery bumps on the bottom to keep your feet from slipping on hard floors. Like I said earlier, I'm glad I got the large because the small/medium would have been way too little (I think the sizes run a little small anyway), and I probably wouldn't have even been able to put my foot in, but this size fits my feet perfectly! These slippers are so nice and cute, I almost don't want to even wear them and mess them up!!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips

Since I've dived head-first into the exciting world of nail strips, and, as you all know, I completely swear by Sally Hansen products, I decided to try out Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. This post is basically going to be a review of how the Sally Hansen product compares with the Funky Nails, which I reviewed here. There is also a post on CurlyGirl Beauty reviewing the "Frock Star" style, so check it out if you want to learn more!

Big Hair

I have always had a fascination and love for big, puffy, curly hairstyles (must be a Southern thing)! I don't know what it is, but big hairstyles always remind me of a strange mixture of regalness, coyness, and childish cuteness. I try not to use hair extension myself, but when I do create a curly hairstyle I always feel like the perfect little princess (so what if I am a little old for playing dress up). Curls are also great for adding a little sexiness and flirtatiousness to any occasion, and can be easily dressed up or down. 

The world of high fashion practically reeks of big hairstyles. Every time I see a fashion magazine with some of those fanciful locks, I always think, "I could totally recreate that style and pull it off even better!" Of course, if I did manage to recreate it, I would just look ridiculous walking around like that, but it's still nice to dream a little! Here are some big hair pics that I found that I'm adding to my "if-anything-were-possible-and-could-actually-get-away-with-this" style wish list. Actually, it was unbelievably hard to find pictures of big hairstyles, so I couldn't get as many pictures as I wanted.

Book Shopping

There are only two things that I like more than clothes and fashion: computer games and books.

On Tuesday I actually got a chance to do a little book shopping, which is something that I have not done in nearly a year since I graduated. I had an appointment near the campus bookstore, and since I had some time to kill before my meeting, I decided to go in. At first it was a little weird going into the bookstore, and not have a course book list to consult. I remember thinking in the back of my mind "Well what should I get since I don't have any required class books?" So, instead of going on the second floor where the coursebooks are, I stayed on the first floor for the first time.

Naturally, I headed straight for the section labeled "Fiction." I didn't feel truly at home, though, until I found the 19th and early 20th century fiction books. This doesn't mean that I absolutely hate contemporary and modern literature (in fact some of the best books I've ever read have been written within the last 20 years), but, at least in my opinion, contemporary and modern literature lack a certain kind of aesthetic style. Literature now seems to be so blunt and straightforward, and not as lyrical and veiled as it was a hundred years ago. This actually reminds me of when I took a history class on the rise of the bourgeoisie in Europe during the 19th century. The entire course was based off of 19th and early 20th century novels. At the end of the course we had to read Rabbit is Rich, and I must admit that after reading things like Pride and Prejudice, The Red and the Black, and even Germinal for nearly 4 months, everyone in class was pretty shocked at the bluntness of Rabbit is Rich...

Anyway, back to my actual topic. Not having a list of required books that I needed to buy, I began doing something that I hadn't done since high school; I started to read the back cover of books to see what they were about. I know, amazing, isn't it!!! I saw a lot of Jane Austin, but as much as I love her strong female characters, and that smexy jerk Mr. Darcy, I didn't feel like spending money on any of her other books. I did see The Woman in White right next to Jane's navels, and completely fell in love with the plot of mystery, intrigue, madness, and an evil count, so I had to buy it (Also, I think there is a Hidden Object Game based off of this novel, or maybe they just borrowed the title).

I also saw The Secret Agent, but almost didn't buy it because it was written by Joseph Conrad. Although this is supposed to be one of his best novels, I've had to read Heart of Darkness, not once, and not even twice, but three times, and every time I hate it even more (and yes, I also hate "Apocalypse Now"). Most people get all antsy with Heart of Darkness because of the inherent racism in it, but honestly that's to be expected, considering that the book was written in the very early 20th century (it really annoys me to no end when people judge things in history based on modern day ideas and concepts instead of looking at the historical context anyway). What bothers me about Heart of Darkness is that it is boring as I don't know what, redundant, and badly written plot-wise, even for a guy who could barely speak English when he wrote it. However, the theme of anarchists blowing up things left and right has always been a subject of interest to me (heck, I've been studying imperial Russian history for the last 4 years), so I bought it too.

I would have also gotten The Map of Time, a time traveling steampunk mystery novel featuring H.G. Wells as the main investigator (a little reminiscent of the move "The Time Machine" from what I gather), but it was $16.99, and I was already spending $20, so decided to be all cheap and just get it from the library instead.

International Lust List

Alright fan girls, get ready for all manner of sexiness!

Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's a general "Monday" thing, but for the last few weeks, I've been having very pretty pissy Mondays. Not that anything particularly bad has been happening, but I've been having a down-and -out feeling about my life in general (I know, so emo). What better way to combat those beginning of the week blues than by looking at super sexy men! This is my list (in no particular order) of the sexist male celebs from around the world.

♥ Zac Efron (American Actor): After breaking up with Orlando Bloom back in high school, Zac and I have been going pretty steady (still waiting on him to leave Vanessa though). I seriously question his acting ability, so I've never actually seen any of his movies, but he does make for great eye candy nonetheless.

♥ Jared Leto (American Actor and Singer): Jared's been a personal favorite of mine because a) he is actually more than a pretty face and can act pretty well, and of course b) he's super cute. Not really a big fan of 30 Seconds to Mars ,other than "Bury Me" (I can't help but feeling they are sort of a knockoff of The Used). Come to think of it, there was a guy in my second year Russian class who looked a little like Jared Leto.

♥ Alex Petyfer (British Actor and former model): I don't actually remember when the first time I came across Alex was, since I've never actually seen any of his movies.

♥ Takeshi Kaneshiro (Japanese-Thai Actor): I first saw Takeshi is House of Flying Daggers, which is hands down one of the best movies ever!

♥  Dave Navarro (Spanish-American Guitarist): I had never actually heard of Dave until he married Carmen Electra, but he was pretty famous before then playing for Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and then Jane's Addiction.

♥ Vladimir Ivanov (Russian Model): All the more reason to perfect my Russian!

♥ Ben Barnes (British Actor and former Model): He was basically the only reason I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian all the way through (I thought it had a super weak plot, especially compared to the first movie). He was also the only reason I watched The Picture of Dorian Gray at all, except also to see Collin Firth be a bad guy.

♥ Taylor Kitsch (American Actor): I don't usually go for buff guys, but every since I saw Taylor as Gambit in Wolverine, I've made an exception.

♥ Jin Akanishi (Japanese Singer, Actor, and Idol)

♥ Zack Fair (Final Fantasy Video Game Character): So Zack isn't exactly a real person, but he is definitely one of the hottest video game characters ever, even if he wasn't really a character in Final Fantasy VII.

IKEA Anyone?

By evening after my last post, I was feeling all pissy again over that very distressing Career Services experience (I really need to not let stupid stuff like that bother me). Anyway, whenever I get angry or upset, I also listen to music, depending on my mood. This time I put on my headphones, turned the volume way up (to expedite the deafening process), and listened to "bad" songs to get back at the world, like "Poker Face" and "I Kissed a Girl" (I know, I'm such a delinquent). Of course, no me-against-the-world mood is complete without some emo music thrown in, so I added a few classic Fall Out Boy songs (their songs always remind me of high school, for better or worse), the Verve, Weezer, Everclear (although I guess they would be more angry post grunge rock than emo) and Oasis to the mix.

Today, though, I went to IKEA with my mom. Despite being in my 20s, the age group that usually worships IKEA, I had never been until today. Thanks to Philadelphia's wonderful transit system, we had to wait on the bus for about 40 mins, then ride two buses for nearly an hour to get there and then the same amount of time to come back. The IKEA is actually in a seedy looking part of the city (as if most of Philadelphia isn't seedy looking enough) that is full of strip clubs and dilapidated warehouses next to the Delaware River, so it is actually closer to New Jersey than downtown Philadelphia.

Once inside the store, though things got a little better. I'm not really one for household/furniture shopping to begin with, so I wasn't too enthused about the whole thing, but more curious to see what all the fuss was about. Put me in a clothing, shoe, or accessories store, and I'll go crazy. But put me in a furniture store and the whole time I'll be bored to death. Of course, we got lost in the showroom area, but we found a lot in the marketplace area, and actually bought more than we had expected. Well, my mom bought more than she had expected, and bout a set of chocolate brown mugs with saucers to go with my lime green tea kettle, and some Swedish Milk and Hazel Nut chocolates.

We also went to the restaurant, since I had heard that the food was really good there. I decided to order the Swedish meatballs and mashed potato combo meal because Swedish meatballs happen to be the best thing ever in my book (well close to the best thing ever at any rate). The mashed potatoes were the homemade kind using real potatoes, and where very good, as was the gravy on the meatballs. However, the meatball themselves were not even made of real beef, but that processed crap they give you in school cafeterias. Overall, I give the food a 4 just to be nice, and my general shopping experience a 6. My personal view of IKEA from this experience is that it is grossly overrated. I think people go on about it so because that is the way IKEA is advertised and marketed, so people just do what they are expected to do.

Update to "Bittersweet Goodbye"

I hate cherries, but I needed a picture of something

There's no better way to dampen your spirits than a nice little visit to your campus Career Services!

So, as you know from the last past, today was my last day at my job. It was pretty emational and full of hugging and and kind, parting words. I was even given a little gift bag: a Lauder c bag (always good to represent), a very good quality Lauder water bottle (can never have too many of these, and this one was way better than the cheap ones the university hands out to undergrads at events), a Lauder black leather traveling wallet (for carrying your passport, money, ID, etc when you travel), a 2 GB USB drive, and a personalized card form one of our coordinators, whom I became great friends with (I admit that I did get a little misty in the eyes when I read it...and I promised myself I wouldn't cry!).

All was going well, until I had my appointment with Career Services after work. This was my first trip to Career Services in almost a year. I actually had decided to not go back after my last visit, but had recently quite accidently got in contact with one of the counselors (long story), so I felt abligated to make an appointment. Honestly, every time I go to career services I feel defeated and depressed, and this time was no exception.

The career councelors like to fill your ears with a lot of empty talk that only wastes valuable time, especially since all apointments are only supposed to last 30 min, no matter what. The counselor I talked to today had a generally defeatest attitude throughout the whole meeting. I began by telling her that I was looking into working for universities, to which she replied (paraphrasing a bit of course) "Well universities don't really like hiring people who have graduated in the last year or so because of student confidentiallity. Actually we had a lot of graduates from 2011 and 2012 apply to our last position, and we didn't even look at those applications." Wow, talk about being encouraging! Although this maybe true, to tell someone this is basically saying, "If you're a recent graduate, don't even bother applying because no one is even going to look at your application." People are often frustrated and discouraged when they go to Career Services in the first place, so the job of the councelors should be to encaurage as well as give advice, not crush any glimmer of hope that person my have at finding a job. Basically, all she did was go over my resume and a cover letter and give me some formating suggestions, which are, of course, always important, but that anyone could have basically given me. Of course by the time she finished doing this, our 30 min were up, and the little advice she did give me (to keep doing informational interviews), was something I had been doing for the past 3 months now.

I'm not saying Career Services is a waste of time, but I have gotten a billion times more great, applicable advice and tons of encauragement in the last 3 months from my supervisors and other administrators than I had gotten in nearly a year from Career Services.

Sorry for this rant, but I just had to get it off my chest, and now I feel all happy and wonderful again, and ready to enjoy my Friday!!!

Bittersweet Goodbye

This picture has nothing to do with my post, but it's cute!!

Today is my last day at my job at the Lauder Institute. This is a very bittersweet parting for me, even though I knew it was coming. On the one hand, the job itself was actually quite boring, and I absolutely hated lifting those huge water jugs to refill the water cooler, not to mention that I'll be out of a job for who knows how long (can't imagine there is much of a need for temps in the summer at a university). On the other hand, I now have more time to thoroughly devote to my full-time job search, and wasting massive amounts of time writing my blog networking. Originally, this was a part-time temp job that was supposed to only last for two months, from the beginning of April to the end of May. However, I was asked to stay on another week, partly because they needed the extra help for an international education conference that's going on this weekend, and partly because they just liked me so much =^_^=

Although Friday was my last day, the office had a special farewell lunch for me on Thursday, since our managing director wasn't going to be in on Friday. The food was delivered from Gia Pronto, and everyone from the office ate with me in the conference room/lobby area. Despite being across the street from my former dorm, I've never eaten there before. We ordered pesto chicken, prosciutto and mozzarella, vegetarian, and turkey and ham paninis, which was all very good (I'm sure I ate way more than I should have!).

I've become very close to almost everyone at the office, and even though I've only been working there a little over two months, it feels like I've been there forever (heck, even the UPS and facilities guys knows me)! Not only has everyone been super friendly, they have also helped me with my full-time job search. When I graduated last year, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do, but many of the people at my job introduced me to people and resources that I would never have found out about on my own, which have given me a better understanding of myself and my career goals. In fact, just working at the Lauder Institute, and in its international environment has made me want to use my language and culture skill to pursue a career that deals with some aspect of international "stuff" (not sure exactly what yet, but it's a start, and much better than where I was 3 months ago)!

The last part-time job I had didn't end too well, mainly because my supervisor didn't exactly take much of a liking to me (topped off by the fact that she obviously wasn't much of a people person anyway). Even there, though, I made invaluable friends and professional contacts. Despite this, the experience left me feeling like a complete failure, even though I wasn't at fault. Working in the Lauder Institute, though, has helped me regain my sense of self, and has even given me new confidence as my goals become clearer. I have to admit working at the Lauder Institute has definitely been one of the best work experiences I've had in my long 5 years of working and interning, rivaled only by my 4 year job at the IT office at the School of Nursing. I will certainly miss everyone at the Lauder Institute!

Funky Nails!!!

Funky Nails Applique 12 designs kit

A few weeks ago, I decided to buy the Funky Nails kit on nomorerack.com. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Funky Nails, they are the fashion nail applique polish which feature various designs and patterns. I usually don't buy into the "As Seen on TV, Easy to Use" stuff, mainly because it rarely works as well as it's advertised, if it works at all. But in this case, I liked the designs, and the kit, which comes with twelve nail designs/patterns, was only $6.99, so I thought the least I could do was try it out.

Since I was planning on wearing my red dress with white polka dots to work on Wednesday, I decided to use the red and white nail applique set. I would have used my red nail polish and white mosaic effect, but the red nail polish sometimes stains my nails. First thing that got to me was that the picture instructions, and the written instructions on the back of the box are different, and can be a little confusing if you're paying close attention.

The first step is to clean your nails.Then you have to trim the nail applique set to fit you nail size. After this you soak the nail strips in water. The best thing to do is to soak the strips until the nail applique starts to come off by itself, otherwise you may tear it as you are remove it from the strip. After this step, all you have to do is put the applique on your nail, let it dry, and then put on a top coat for extra protection and shine.

The good thing about the Funky Nails, besides the cool patterns, is that there is no mess as with liquid nail polish. Of course, the nail polish itself doesn't have to dry, but you will have to let the applique dry on your nail after soaking in the water. The application on the applique takes a little practice to get it to fit on your nail perfectly, and without bubbles or wrinkles. After wearing the applique for a whole day, even with a top coat on, the applique had started to peel around the edges of the nail.

Obviously, the applique is not as durable and long lasting as liquid nail polish, and can be a little difficult at first to apply. However, because of the fairly quick application process, and the great designs, Funky Nails are really good if you have a particular outfit you want to match your nails to, or a special occasion that you are going to. This way you change your nail color easily without going through the trouble of using regular nail polish, or false nails.

Memorial Day Cleaning

Spring Cleaning Time!!!!

I've always had a love/hate relationship with weekends and other scheduled days off. On the one hand, it's always good to have time off from work/school, and there are certain things that you really only have time for on the weekends (shopping, going out with friends, etc.), but on the other hand, weekends and holidays are outstandingly disruptive to the normal flow of life; everything is either closed all day, or closes early for half the day. This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend, and since everything was closed all day, or closed early, I decided to do to much needed, albeit very belated, spring cleaning.

My plan was to go through all of my stuff, and switch out my winter clothes for spring/summer clothes, and get rid of everything I'm not using (e.i. things I hadn't used in more than 2 years). It's very hard for me in general to get rid of anything because I attache sentimental value to just about everything. For example, I had some tie-around belt that I hadn't worn since I was in middle school, but I never have been able to get rid of them because my mom was with me when I picked them out, so now they remind me of her. Then there are the clothes that I can still wear, but have been saving until I can find that perfect top, or skirt, to wear it with. I've suckered myself into keeping soooo many things thinking like this, knowing deep down inside that the chances of me wearing whatever it is are close to nil. All in all, I did actually manage to part with a lot of my stuff, and even freed up one of those 4 gallon plastic storage bins!