Updates, Disney Store Princess Dolls, and Photostories (Very Lengthy Post)

Hey, hey! It's been a couple of months since I've posted anything, so I decided now is as good as ever to write something. Blogging is definitely one of those hobbies that it's easy to slip out of, but once you've away from it for a while, it's difficult to get back into.

It's not that I've lost the inspiration to write, but other things have taken priority in my life. If you have been a longtime reader of my blog, you'll notice that one of those things is my dolls. I have always played with dolls, but for the past couple of years, I've really become "serious" about it. I'm sure most people won't care, but I plan on doing a post about my doll collecting.

Anywho, I wanted to give people on update on my life over the past few years, and then move into doll related stuff, so if you don't want to read about dolls, you can stop reading after the next two paragraphs.

As some of you may know, I recently moved to Baltimore, MD for a new job. My previous job was one horrible experience after another, I didn't fit in the culture, it was frustrating and stressed me out, and I felt like a failure because nothing I did seemed to be good enough. My former supervisors were very passive-aggressive in that they would say I was doing a good job, but then at the end of the year during performance appraisal, they would bring up all the major things I was doing wrong and tell me that if I didn't do better, I would lose my job. They were also significantly more lenient with other employees than with me. I don't like dwell on that experience, so if you want to know about the nitty-gritty, you can read my past posts.

I currently have a job that I love, and am in an environment that I feel that I fit in and am appreciated. Frequently, the people I work for praise me and thank me for my hard work. The praises doesn't inflate my ego, but it does make me feel that what I'm doing in being appreciated not only as a worker, but also as a human being, which to me is very important. Despite things going so well in my work life, my personal life hasn't been too great. I don't want to say that I've been depressed, but I have been down-and-out for the past 6 months. As bad as it may sound, my job and my dolls have been the only things giving me even the slightest bit of enjoyment. Actually, I think I may be suffering from light derivation. I had a little mini breakdown Saturday when it was cold and started to snow (yes, snow in April!), but the sun came out a few hours later and it was sunny for the rest of the day and all day Sunday. By the time the sun came out on Saturday, I wasn't feeling as distraught. Hopefully, with warmer weather and more sunny days, I'll begin to feel better.

The Return?

Hi Guys! Wow, has it been a while since I've been on Blogger!

I honestly meant for this to be a short break from blogging that would only last during the Summer, but that obviously didn't happen as we are now well into Fall.  As much as I love to write and engage with other bloggers, though, it has been very tough for me to come back to blogging. I'm sure most bloggers at some point feel this way, like blogging has become more of a burden than an enjoyable hobby.

This little break really made me realize how much of a strain my blog had become for me. It was all "gotta catch up on the latest posts," and "gotta put up new content." It was more of a chore than anything. Now that I've had time to step back and enjoy life without my blog, and I have been able to really assess my feelings about it.

For me, I feel that I am no longer able to express myself through my blog, and I'm not sure the direction I want to take now. In general I feel that fashion and beauty blogs are a little superficial. No offense to any of my fellow bloggers out there; I am an avid reader of a few fashion and beauty blogs and find their posts very enjoyable and informative. However, the majority of the fashion blogs I follow I never even visit simply because their posts are entirely high fashion/designer oriented. I don't think there is anything wrong with that at all, but for me, it is not at all something I'm interested in, and, for my tastes at least, there is no substance to such posts. My opinion holds true for most beauty blogs out there as well.

Whenever I tried to do fashion or beauty product posts, it always felt so forced and fake for me. I don't mind sharing a few products or outfits that I really like and would recommend using, but to consistently do this is a strain to me.

I think part of my problem is that I try to pigeonhole myself into a certain "niche." I know there is a lot of advice out there on "creating your personal brand" and "finding your niche," but this all seems more like a hindrance to my blog. This advice is great if you use your blog as a way to advertise your business, or if you want to attract sponsors. I started my blog as a way to continue writing after college and to keep myself preoccupied while I was looking for a job. Of course, when I was jobless I thought about trying to create revenue with my blog. Ultimately, my blog is a personal blog, where I want to share my personal thoughts, ideas and interests, regardless of how all over the place they may be.

Lately, my main pastime has been my dolls. I joined BFC (Barbie Collectors Fan club) this year and have been able to find and connect with a great community of collectors on Flickr. I've also found several blogs devoted to dolls that I have began following. My dolls have always been a big part of my life since I was four years old. They've helped me through some distressing situations during my childhood, and have become the only creative medium where I can unapologetically express myself. But as I got older, I've always felt a little weird telling people that I still play with dolls. However, being exposed to other adults who have the same passion has actually made me more open about my collecting. Seeing what other people do with their dolls was one of the things that led me to publicly share my doll pictures on Flickr (which you can check out by clicking the "See My Photos" button in the sidebar).

Regarding this blog, I want it to be my one and only blog, but as I mentioned, I'm not sure what direction I want to take with it. Right now, I use Flickr to post my doll pictures, and this totally works for my needs. I have been toying (no pun intended) with the idea of creating doll stories since I basically do this anyway when I play with my dolls. If I do ever go this route, it will be in the future, and not anytime soon (I need to get over my fear of rejection/criticism before I start posting any stories for the world to see). Since the majority of my time and resources go to my dolls, I would love to post some doll related things on my blog, but I don't want my blog to only be about my dolls. I also don't want to have to deal with posting the same content here and on Flickr, so I want to avoid strictly photo only posts on my blog. That being said, new content is on hold until I can figure things out.

Sorry if this post turned into a rambling mass of text, but I wanted to make you, my readers, aware of what's been going on and why I haven't been posting. As I've mentioned before, I have a serious problem with people dropping off the face of the blogsphere without a word. I believe if you are busy, then say so. If you are quitting, then say so. Don't just leave people hanging and wasting their time checking for new content that will likely never come. Also, I hate being fake. I do a lot of keeping my thoughts and opinions to myself so as not to rock the boat as it is anyway, but I don't want to have to do this on my own blog. I want to let everyone know how I feel my blog should be going forward so it can be more true to me.

Conversations With My 13 Year Old Self

I know I'm Not Dead is nearly 10 years old now, but I just heard this song a few months ago and I am absolutely in love with it! It's crazy for me to think that I was thirteen thirteen years ago! Now that I'm at a halfway point in my life, this song made me think what it would be like if I could give advice to my thirteen year old self.

Those preteen years are tough for everyone, but it's seems that me with my awkward self always have it hard. Here are some words of wisdom I would tell the thirteen year old me:

1. Thirteen years from now, you'll never see all of the popular kids you try to be friends with again, so who cares if they like you in middle school.
2.  It's better to have three close friends than 50 friend you barely know who aren't there for you when you need them.
3. You can't please everyone, so don't try. Only those close to you really count.
4. Making mistakes aren't the end of the world. Learn from those mistakes.
5. Enjoy being thirteen without any responsibilities, a job, and bills to pay!
6. Don't worry about all of the Barbie dolls you can't afford to get, you'll get those and more when you're older.
7. Don't try to be someone else. It never works and the people who can't accept you for who you really are aren't worth the trouble in the long-run. 

What would you say to your thirteen year old self?

Keeping Things In Perspective

I think this is the first real post I've written in a while for this blog. Sorry to say, I've been having so much fun with my Barbies, that I've been doing a lot of writing for Dolli Luv, but I figure my other blog needs some love too. Also, on a completely unrelated note, "faux" is totally a word, and I know it is, yet it is not in Chrome's dictionary of words.

I've been giving a lot of thought to where I am in my life and where I want it to go. Of course, most of the people I went to college with are doing great and wonderful things, like working in FIRE (finance, investments,and real estate) fields, and... well that's pretty much it. At Penn, if you don't do one one those, then you're weird. So I'm weird. The alternative for those in non-FIRE fields is to go to graduate school.

Working at Career Services strengthened my resolve to not go to graduate school until I am sure of where I want to go in my career. While at Career Services, I saw a lot of success stories, but I also saw an a good bit more not-so-successful stories, especially with graduate students.

Now don't get me wrong: I don't think going to graduate school is a complete waste of time. However, I believe you should keep things in perspective when considering a graduate program.

It is important to know that graduate programs are the main ways that universities and colleges make money. This isn't a bad thing in itself, but it does lead to the development of programs that may be essential useless to the students, but are on a popular or trendy subject that will draw in a lot of people just to get the money. We see this a lot. People who have gotten degrees in Positive Psychology or Chemistry Teaching, but can't get jobs

This can be seen with a lot of programs that are geared towards international students. They are lured into these programs with the promises of studying and then working in the US, only to graduate and found out that it is very hard to get a job in the US as a non-native, especially since employers have to justify why they hired a non-native over a US native who applied for the same position.

Now, I understand that the advisors didn't want to upset and discourage students, but I found it very troubling that (at least to my knowledge) they never brought up this legality in any of the advising meetings. They could have at least said something like, "Because employers hire international candidates based on if they can perform better than citizens on the job, you have to present yourself as the best candidate for the job," instead of just saying, "present yourself as the best candidate" and then leaving it at that. I always felt this was completely unfair to the students that they were given the same advise as citizens, but their job search was so totally different.

Secondly, we see a lot of graduate students who can't get jobs due to their lack of work experience because they decided to go straight from undergraduate to graduate school. There are some career fields where this fine, or even required, but many jobs requires at least a few years of work experience. Take for example nursing. I lot of nurses go straight to graduate school thinking "having a masters will help me get a higher paying job". But then they can't get hired, or have to start out at an entry level position because they have no experience. Honestly, who is going to hire a nurse with a masters degree who has never actually done anything medical related, except during clinicals? That would be like a trucking company hiring drivers who have never driven outside of driving school.

Without being able to get hired with just one master's degree, some reason, "well, if I had another degree, then I would be even more attractive to employers." And this cycle keeps on until they owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, and are still out of work (this is no joke, I have seen this first hand).

Big News!

I'm not sure if any of you have noticed, but I haven't been around in the blogging world as much for the past couple of weeks. I've been super busy with a lot of major life changes. The biggest of which is *drum roll* I have a new job in Baltimore!!!

That's right, not only do I get to leave my current job, but I finally get to move out of Philadelphia after being stuck her for three years after graduation!

As many of you know, I have been having some issues with my current job for the past year (such as here, here, and here) so it is a huge relief for me to finally be getting out of it for good. With my new job there are no unreliable student workers, no contact with students, no programs or career fairs, very few phone calls, and no daily appointments to make.

It was very odd to me that my supervisors were genuinely surprised when I told them that I had found another job and gave them my two weeks' notice, especially considering all that had been going on this year. I still can't believe they thought I was going to stay in this job! Since April I had pretty much stopped pretending that I even cared about my work, and I was so sure they suspected that I was looking for something else. But apparently, they were oblivious to everything!

However, when I told the other people in my office, most of them said that they saw this coming and could tell that I was ready to leave. What a stark contrast!! Just goes to show you have in-tuned bosses are to the goings on of their subordinates.

The second big thing is that now I will finally get an apartment of my own! That's right at 25 years old, I will finally have my own apartment!! I'm super excited about this because now I get to create and decorate a space that is truly mine.

I won't be around the blogsphere as much after today since I'm moving this weekend and I'll be getting settle in at work and all, but I will keep some posts going thanks to Blogger's  post scheduling feature.

10 Things I'm Grateful For

It can be a challenge at times to focus on the good in your life when it seems that everything is falling in around you. I'm in this particular spot right now, what with all the problems I've been having at work and then my job search not going as quickly as expected. Even with me feeling that I'm at my second low point in the past 3 years, I've been trying to focus on listing things that I am grateful, and not focusing on the things that I wish I had, but don't.

I was reading somewhere that the best thing to do is to make a list at the end of the day of 10 good things that happened to you, and/or 10 things you are grateful for. This way, no matter how bad your day was, you will at least end it on a positive note.

Below is my list of thing that I'm grateful for, in no particular order.

1. My life. 
Even though I may think about how I hate my life and it seems like everything is going wrong for me while things seems to magically work out perfectly for everyone else, I wouldn't dream of seriously ending it all because of one bad day, or even a bad year. The thing about being alive is, that each day is different, so you never know when things might turn around, and when you will have the best day of your life!

2. My Cat
It may sound weird to some, but I am very grateful to have my cat. I've had her since I was 6 years old, so she's about 19 years old now. I've known my cat almost as long as I've known most of my family members and I can't imagine not having her. Not only is it comforting to rub her, but when I think about all the tough and uncertain times we've been through together along with my family, and how, against all odds and probability, she's here with me now, it gives me hope for the future, and that things will eventually work out for the better. (ha, I just realized this is a very comma heavy sentence!)

3. Frozen Cappuccino
I LOVE FROZEN CAPPUCCINO! Maybe it's the combination of coldness and the high caffeine content, but whenever I am in a slump at work, I can always rely on a frozen cappuccino to offer that little pick-me-up to get me through the rest of the day.

4. My Job
As much as a whine and complain about it I am grateful to have a job, after all I have bills to pay and things to buy. I'm grateful for the one I currently have because, through my many failings and set-backs, I have actually learned a lot about myself and what supervisors are looking for in an employee. Also, my supervisors, although they are super nit-picky in my opinion, they do continue to keep me working long enough to pay the bills.

5. Clothes
I know this one may sound a little materialistic with all of the other things being family and pets and all of that other warm and fuzzy stuff, but my clothes have a special place in my personality. What I wear is a direct reflection of me and my personal style. My outfits are also a reflection of my mood, and can give me that added boost of confidence to make it through the day. For example, when I know I'm going to have a not so great meeting with the bosses, or when I just have to look my best for an event, I can always rely on a well-planned outfit to give me that extra boost of confidence I need to get me through the day.

6. My Barbie Dolls
I know, I'm 25 already! But my Barbie dolls are a big part of me. Like my cat a few of them have been with me through thick and then, and a lot of not so great periods in my childhood. Growing up poor, it was a big deal for me to get a new doll, so I made sure I took very good care of the ones I had, and still have most of these to this day, some 20 years later! To me, my dolls not only represent my childhood, but they give me a chance to create my own reality, even if it is only for a few moments.

7. Family
We all complain about our family, and we all would much rather be without them, but when everyone else in the world has turned their back on you and thrown you to the wayside, your family is there to take you back in with open arms (well, hopefully this is the case!). My family accept each other no matter what, and whenever, I am down and out and don't want to be bother, someone from my family gives me a call out of the blue, and after everything is said and done, I'm always glad they did!

8. Music
It may sound cheesy, but a lot of songs have helped me get through tough spots in my life. When I was out of full-time work for almost a year and a half, this line in Firework "Maybe a reason why all the doors are closed, So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road" kept my spirits up while I applied for job after job.The saying that music is the language soul is so true. There are so many songs that hit on emotions you feel that you don't even know how to describe!

9. Chocolate
You know how us women are; we gotta have our chocolate! Sure, there's all that stuff about how chocolate mimics certain hormones and all, but it the end it boils down to the fact that it's just so good! And eating something that tastes good makes you feel good! And eating something that isn't the healthiest thing in the world when you're upset makes you feel even better!

10. Prayer
When life has you down and you don't know what to do or how you will make it out, it's good to have a higher power that you can always turn to. As a deeply religious person, praying has allowed me to release all of the fears and doubts that I could never express in words to another person.

T.G.I.F.!

...Which of course everyone knows means Thank God I'm Fabulous!

I hope everyone has been having a great summer! For myself, I've been having a good, but very busy summer. In fact, I don't think I've even logged into Blogger more than twice since June, let alone ready anyone else's blogs! Not that things are settling down in my personal life and at work, I will be able to get back to making at least somewhat regular posts.

I'm certainly looking forward to the long weekend, and (finally!) some R&R!

August Update

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! It's seems like the summer is always the time when I drop off from blogging for a bit, but that may be because I'm doing more outside of work and have less downtime. To be completely honest, though, it was very liberating and refreshing not to be on my blog for a month, or even read other people's blogs. Now don't get me wrong, I love y'all, I really do, but everyone need s a break, even from the things they enjoy.

I've been mostly busy with traveling out of town, and I've also started on that job search I mentioned a while back.

Part of my traveling included the first vacation I've been on in three years: Virgina Beach!

Letters From My Past Self

I recently dug up an old journal that got in college to help me sort out my thought during this transitional phase of my life while I'm on the go. I was flipping through the first few pages when I found the journal entries I had written when I got my first part-time job in 2011 (too bad I wasn't blogging then!). After the last entry was a whole page where I had written "Get a full time job by end of August" all down the page. It's funny because not only do I not remember writing this, but it totally came true. On August 31, 2012, I started my first full time job. And on the next page, I am going to write "Get a full time job in another state by end of September." Let's see what happens!

I don't know about you, but it feels sort of surreal to me when ever I read things that I've written long ago. I t feels like I'm reading some else's writing, but then I know every emotion and detail they are describing.I usually tear out the old pages of journals when I reuse them, but this time I decided to keep the previous entries in. See it as my way of reflecting on the past and using it to help motivate me for the future.

Looking Back: 3 Years Ago

Picture from allposters.com

May 19th this year is Commencement. I was a little surprised to realize that my commencement happened three years ago to the date! I wrote a post last year about my perspective on things since graduating, so this year I decided to do something similar.

I left the Commencement ceremony excited and full of hope: I was brimming to the top with the naive belief that finding a job would be no problem for an Ivy League graduate, and I was super excited that I would be leaving and never having to come back to Penn again. Now, it's not that I hated college, but for me it had accomplished it's goal; I had my degree, which was what I went to college for, and I was done.

Flash forward 3 years, and it took me a year and a half to get my first full-time job, which is getting really old, really fast. I'm also still stuck at Penn which is getting worse everyday because I still have to deal with student issues, student events, and student life in general, which were the things that I was so ready to get away from. I feel like I'm stunted in some way by still being surrounded by students and the same environment that I should have left behind three years ago. I feel like after graduating 3 years ago and at 25, someone has hit the pause button on my life, and I'm going nowhere, just standing still in time. (Honestly, I have no idea how people manage to work in higher education for more than 5 years, let alone 30 or 40?!)

Looking back on the past three years, I wonder was it really worth it to go to Penn in the long run. I wonder how things would have turned out if I had went to UGA instead (I would probably have been dragged into my family's drunken drama there, though), or any other school.

My Summer Or How I Managed to Survive the Past Few Months

I was originally going to leave the title of this post as "My Summer", which sounded like those papers they make your write in elementary school about your summer vacation that you have to read out loud to the class. But since I 'm an adult now, I thought I'd spice up the title a little, not to mention that "My Summer" is a little misleading since it may invoke images of traveling and having fun with friends and family and all that good stuff. Not to say that my summer was bad, but it certainly didn't include any of the usual summer activities. Just a little warning: this post is VERY long with lots and lots of reading (this is what happens when you haven't written anything in almost 3 months).

Boo: The World's Cutest Dog

Last month, my mom and I were browsing Amazon.com when I saw the cutest thing ever; Boo! Well, it was actually the plush version, but it was so cute that it made me buy it right on the spot! Not being a Facebooker, I had no idea what Boo was, so I looked him up and found this video (I know, I know: as usual I'm a little slow on the uptake). OMG, this dog is way too cute to be real! At first, I honesty thought he was fake because no dog should look like a stuffed animal, but I saw him moving on the video, so I thought he must be real. When my Boo arrived from Amazon, I almost hit the floor; the plush one looks exactly like the real one!! I stood him up on the floor and my mom came in actually thought he was a real dog! This is great because I was actually thinking of getting some kind of cute lap dog, but didn't want to go through the trouble of taking care of one (ok I admit it; I'm not a very responsible adult). Now, with my Boo, I can have the best of both worlds; the super, cute and cuddle small dog perfect for an apartment, but without all the pooping and having to take him out everyday!

Fall

Fall happens to be my favorite season ever; the crisp, fresh air, the vibrant orange and red leaves, the total absence of allergens and pollen! For a lot of people, Summer and Spring are the best because you can wear cute outfits that show a little skin. For me, Fall is great because it gives me a chance to layer clothing, and wear tights and boots! I actually like wearing sweaters, and sometimes feel that there is more variety in sweaters and cold weather accessories, than with what you wear during warmer weather. When it comes to work attire, Fall and Winter have it best. Most of your body is covered when it's cooler, so wearing things that are work appropriate aren't usually an issue. However, in Summer, you ending up bending so many dress code rules just to stay cool, you practically break in half!

This Fall, I've made a little fashion "to do" list:

• Wear more skirts (this is a general habit I'm trying to get into anyway)
• Work on layering skills
• Get more blazers (blazers are wardrobe essentials that can be dressed up or down)
• Brighten up my wardrobe (with Fall and Winter being usually very dreary seasons what with the cold weather, diminishing daylight, and snowy, adding a splash of color to your outfits can be a very uplifting experience!)

Also, this post gives ma a chance to make use of my brand new Polyvore account! Below are to a couple of my first sets I've created for a Fall look. Sorry this set is so plain, but I didn't have time to make it all fancy and done up (why can't there be at least one extra hour in a day?), but maybe next time!

Thick Walls Make Good Neighbors

Obviously, I don't have good neighbors, or thick walls for that matter!

Actually, my neighbors aren't really bad, but their noise level could do with some adjusting, and I'm probably one of the few young people out there who don't like loud music, especially when it's not my own. Over the summer they played their music excessively loud, literally, all day long from about 8AM to after midnight (I think it was mostly the guy who lives there with his girlfriend)! A lot of times, there music is so loud that I can hear it distinctly through two rooms, a hallway, and two sets of walls into our living room, and last night their music was actually making objects on our kitchen counter vibrate! With their music being that loud in my apartment, I can't imagine what it actually sounds like in theirs. I mean, I don't know how they are not completely deaf by now!

The biggest problem with all of this is that their living room wall is also our bedroom wall (I wonder what brilliant architect came up with that layout), and their sound system is right behind the bed! There have been times during the week when I couldn't sleep for hours because of their music, and I don't even bother going to bed before 2AM on Friday nights (luckily, I don't have to get up early). Sometimes banging on the wall works, and sometimes it doesn't, but outside of this their is nothing else I can do since my mom won't let me ask them to turn the music down. Oh well, I have always been kept awake by other people's noise: it's either hearing my neighbors arguing and breaking stuff all night, or sharing a bedroom wall with people who have loud, crazy sex for hours on end, or people playing loud music until the wee hours of the night. Guess that's one of the hazards of apartment living!  

10 Things That Make Me Feel Old

It always amazes me how fast things have changed since I was a kid! I remember my mom telling me about how they had 8-tracks and records in the 70's and then cassette tapes in the 80's, but in nearly the same amount of time, I've seen the transition from CD's to MP3's to iPods, to iPhones, to iPads, and who knows whats next! Of course progress is good and almost always needed, but as we find ourselves in the post-modern, postindustrial, post-information age, we must seriously ask ourselves "What's next?" I mean is it really a good to have new things popping up soo fast, and by the time you finally get the top-of-the-line-whatever, something else comes out that makes it obsolete (but I guess that's the whole point of a consumer economy)?  As far as technology goes, I like to keep it simple myself. I had a basic cell phone that could only make calls all throughout high school, and halfway through college. Anyway, it boggles my mind how many kids growing up today have no idea what a VHS tape is, or a beeper. Now, lets take a little trip down memory lane, and have a look at the top 10 things that make me feel super old compared with these young'uns  today and their fancy iPhones.

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.

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!

Life After College

*Warning: Very Image Heavy and Wordy Post*

 

May 19th officially marks my one year graduation anniversary! The only reason I really thought about it was because I'm still working on campus and graduation is only a week or so away. All the talk about graduation and events that's been going around the office where I work got me started thinking about how my life has changed over the last year. Honestly, the changes I've experience since graduating college have probably been unconventional, compared to most people's anxieties after college.

For me, the biggest adjustment I've had to come to terms with has been the lack of order, or structured progress that my life now has. This isn't to say that I feel that I feel that my life does not have purpose or meaning, I just feel that it is not progressing towards any particular plan. Every since I was about 4 years old and in Pre-K, my main goal in life has been to make it to the next grade; get through elementary school and go to middle school, get through middle school and go to high school, get through high school and go to college. Now that college is over, and nothing is really planned out for me, I really have no idea what to do with myself.

Tax Refund Fueled Shopping

I just spent my tax refund rather wantonly on clothes about a week or so ago, instead of using for something responsible, such as saving up to possible move out on my own. Part of my spending enthusiasm stems from the fact that this was my first tax refund, since this is the first time I had made enough money working to actually get a refund (my previous jobs had been as a student or through unpaid internships), even though it wasn't a large amount.

I went shopping planning on buying a pair of shoes and one dress, but nearly $200 later, I had accumulated some great additions to my wardrobe. First, I went to Call It Spring and immediately saw the kind of shoes I have been looking for for the last 6 months at least. I've been trying to find some blush/beige shows, but all the other ones I've found were $50 and up, and I have a problem spending more the $40 on shoes, even if I can easily afford it. These were perfect and were only $39.99. The strange thing about the shoes is that the pair that fit me perfectly were a size US 7, but all the other shoes I wear are a size US 8.

Next, I went to Body Central outlet store to see if they had a dress I saw on their online shop, because I couldn't tell how it was shaped in the picture, and I wanted to try it on. The Body Central outlet store really isn't may favorite. I mean, I absolutely love the Body Central online shop (that's actually where I get most of my tops), but the physical store has a completely different style of clothing, which isn't at all my style. Unfortunately, the dress wasn't there, but I did find this white lace long-sleeve bolero jacket.This is a close up of the material, because for some reason the full shot of the jacket was super blurry and didn't come out right.

The bulk of my clothes came from West Seal, though. I had always heard of Wet Seal, and had seen it in malls, but I had never been impressed with the clothes that were on display enough to actually go inside. I only went this time out of curiosity. If you've ever been to a Wet Seal store, you'll know what I mean when I say that they have a very...different. Overall, I can't see myself buying more clothes from there, although I did find a white lace tube top that I can wear to work under a blazer, two leopard print and lace tanks, and two sweaters that were on clearance for $3 each. 

The good thing about living above the Mason-Dixon line now is that you can wear sweaters in May!

The bulk of my money was spent on this super chic, yet vintage-inspired dress from Venus. The dress is usually $59, but I was able to order it during the one day Cinco de Mayo sale for $47.