now I'm feelin so fly.

A classmate of mine told me today that I look like I'm from Far East Movement. It must be the jacket and the being-Asian,though half our school is Asian. This is how my hair looks after I blow dry it. By the time I wake up in the morning, I have strands of hair sticking in different directions. Do I look like a boy?

I took this picture yesterday night after getting my new jacket and thought ohsnap I look like I have Bieber hair. More singer/artist reference!

Puma windbreaker, NYDJ jeans from Nordstrom Racks, my friend's sister's Nike Dunks.

It's been a while since I wore jeans! Jeans seemed appropriate today, though. I wore my Ecko sneakers today, but swapped shoes with my friend, who was wearing her sister's shoes, because they matched my jacket. Jealous! I want my own pair of Nike's. Still saving up for that swacket.

There is a pair of Nike's that someone is selling for pretty cheap, but I'm still deciding if I can justify spending any more money this month (or next month. Oh dangit the flea market is on Saturday). I almost bought this pair at Thrift Town the other day. They look really new in the picture, but they're pretty worn in real life. They were around my size, and $10. While $10 isn't too bad for shoes, they were too worn to be $10 and no discount (I'm so cheap). Maybe I'll save up for those Nike's too.

7:30! Going to sleep early today.

Love, Kai

my face is freezing off in sunny california.

shirt from Forever21, shorts from Taiwan

This morning was the coldest it's been pretty much all year. It was 32°F on my way to school. Normally, the temperature stays at a 40-50 range and doesn't drop that low. I'm extremely sensitive to cold (strange because I used to run around in short sleeves without a jacket in the winter all the time in elementary school an didn't think it was cold) and my hands are almost always cold. I'm afraid to wash my hands because the water in the restrooms are so cold, and if I wash my hands, then they don't warm up afterwards. I need to buy more hand sanitizer. I'd like to go to an east coast school, but I don't know how I'd fare with the climate there.

I wore my old favorite shirt that's been sitting in the back of my closet for months. I don't remember why I haven't been wearing it. Also wore shorts today because I can't stand wearing pants. Bad habit for the recent change in weather.

I can't believe how often I'm posting new clothes. Maybe this isn't a good thing. I received the second part of that Puma order in the mail. Jacket!
It's probably not hard to tell. It's from the mens' section. The selection in the womens' section consists of tight fitting pieces, which I dislike with a passion. That's why I buy smalls in men. Oh, also because my little brother likes this one so we could share.

My first thought when opening the package was I can't believe it's so light. My second thought was I can't believe it's so thin. And my first thought when trying it on was I feel like I'm wearing a garbage bag. I even thought about returning it. But before that, I had to let my brother try it on. When he did, I was fully expecting him to dislike it. Instead he told me he loved it. I asked him why, and he responded with the material is so cool, it feels like a trash bag!



picture from Princess Mina. From left to right, Oh Cabana Boy, Shine, and It's Up to Blue
I went to Ulta yesterday for the Seventeen magazine free Orly Nail polish offer. The colors that they were offering were Shine, Oh Cabana Boy, and It's Up To Blue. I'm not a terribly big fan of any of the colors, but if I had my pick, it would have been Shine. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived at the store, there was only one bottle left on the shelf.Looks like someone spilled another color on top of it. Oh Cabana Boy is an outrageously bright, hot neon pink. Not exactly my color. Funny, I took a survey a couple days ago for a Secret Santa, and one of the questions was "list things you don't like." I put down "tight clothes and neon nail polish."

I was hoping to buy All Hail Mcqueen at Ulta too, but I walked around the store four times and could find it. A sales lady must have seen me wandering around helplessly and offered help. I asked her about the nail polish, and her manager told me that they didn't carry Butter London items in stores. Looks like that'll have to wait till after the holidays.

Last thing. Yes, another thrift store. Thrift Town this time! I found a 100% Banana Republic leather jacket which I would have loved to have, but it was two sizes too big, and I didn't want to pay $20 for a jacket that I probably wouldn't wear.
American Eagle crochet lace bolero! This cost me a buck.
Skirt! This one was $3. It's kind of an awkward length. But it's a nice floral print and I can't resist those.
Velvet floral elastic waist mom pants! Velvet is a turnoff for me. It used to be my obsession when I was in elementary school. I can't stand it now. And yet, I had to get these pants. It must be the floral print thing again. This one was three bucks also.

Oh snap it's past my bedtime and my hair is still wet.

Love, Kai

black friday is not my day.

At midnight of Black Friday, I was at the mall, just for kicks. I didn't have anything in mind to buy, but I wanted to go to H&M to check out their $5 deals. Turns out, it's not so great. There were a few racks of $5 items, a few with $10, $15, and $20. There weren't any more sales than there were last week, when I was in San Francisco. Despite the lack of real sales, the lines for getting into the store ran a whole block down.

Forever21 had some $7 denim and cardigans, and buy one get one free on sale items. Nothing special, but the checkout line would have taken an hour or so to get to the front. I wanted to get some leather pants and a motorcycle jacket, but I'll wait to buy those on a normal not-crowded day. Wet Seal had 50% off the whole store, which was pretty good. The problem was that they were short staffed; one and a half cashiers were there. My friend who lined up pretty close to the beginning waited in the check-out line for an hour and a half.

I did make a couple purchases. One was a Hello Kitty t-shirt at Hot Topic. I went into Hot Topic for my baby brother, who wanted Invader Zim/Adventure Time/Harry Potter items, all which weren't on sale. I bought him a character gift card instead.
It retails for $22 and on sale for $10, but what I was really after was the Lady Gaga poster that they gave out with the purchase of the Hello Kitty t-shirt.


The other thing was a flower hair clip at Claire's.
The color matched the H&M dress I bought last week, so I thought about getting it to wear together. Personally, I'm a take-my-time browsing kind of shopper, so Black Friday isn't my day. Though it's fun to join in on the madness once a year.

Love, Kai

I like sales.

Today was 50% all clothing items at my local thrift shop. Lately, Goodwill has not been having very good sales (generally, 20% off the items that have been sitting around for a couple months unsold).

I bought this blouse for $2, originally $4 before the sale.

And these bottoms, which were also $2 after the discount. These are pants, but it looks like a skirt because the pantlegs are so wide.
About Black Friday shopping. I'm most likely not going, but we'll see. Last year was a bit chaotic. My parents woke up really late and by the time we arrived at the mall, finding a parking space was near impossible.

Remy and Apollo are being adorable. I bought them a little nest last weekend because they've been trying (unsuccessfully) to make a nest. I stuffed the nest with nesting grass, and they kept taking it out and tried building it elsewhere. I finally caught Apollo using it today, but he jumped out as soon as I whipped out my camera. So now they're just sitting there, looking cute.


Love, Kai

lanvin for h&m.

I wasn't planning on making a post on Lanvin. I steered away from updates and pictures of the line because I knew the prices would not be within my affordability range. And I was right. But there was a particular dress in the window of H&M that caught my attention. If you're guess is the one pictured above, you're right! Just look at that incredible flounce of tulle. Kind of reminds me of Betsey Johnson.

The line was released on Saturday, November 20th in 24 stores around the United States. The one I passed by was one of the few. But because I had been in a hurry (for the Angelic Pretty opening that was going on at the same time), I hadn't given it a second thought. I did manage to snap a couple pictures of the front of the store, that I took from across the street.
Actually, it was the red tulle dress that had caught my eye first. I mean, it's a huge puff of bright red and kind of hard to miss. That was my first thought. My second thought was ohsnap I would love to have that dress. It comes with a $250 price tag. This goes on the list of things I would love to have, but that swacket is my first priority.

Right, now my thoughts on the line.

photos from Fashionology

These are my favorite looks from the line. I adore the bottom right one, but I feel like it wouldn't be too difficult to find similar pieces at Forever 21.


photos from Stylite
That dress! As much as I like it, I can't justify spending $250 on yet another dress. I'll stick with buying different colored high quality petticoats instead.

Maybe it's the red leopard tights, but I'm still getting that major Betsey Johnson vibe. Which isn't a negative thing per se. Just too clashy for my liking.
I am a fan of prints, but too print-oriented is chaotic. The tights on the right, I'm really digging.


photos from Fashionista.com

The last two, I really like. The left dress for obvious reasons (or because it is the same dress in a different color than the grey one, if it's not-so-obvious) and the right one because of the ridiculous amount of ruffles.

Thoughts overall: I'm not extremely tempted. Aside from the grey (and red, I suppose) tulle dress, nothing really stood out to me. I'll most likely skip out on making any purchases, aside from maybe a lipstick or a pair of tights.

Love, Kai

am I crazy?!

coat from Taiwan, turtleneck top, Sechuna cat sweater, and tweed skirt thrifted.

Yes, today was cold. It was windy, rainy at times. And I received several "aren't you cold?" and even "are you crazy?!" questions throughout the course of the day. Yes, I was cold, but I'm cold everyday when I'm outside. I think they're referring to my lack of pants and wearing a skirt. Actually, I'm wearing a pair of nude tights. It's not that obvious, I suppose.

A package arrived in the mail today! It's an order from Puma. In sixth grade, Puma was my favorite brand (I was self dubbed Puma girl) and my dad remembered! He asked me to look through the sales section on Puma, because there was an additional 30% off on sales items on their site.
The shipment was broken into two packages. I ordered two t-shirts from the World Cup in Africa collection and a jacket. I haven't received the jacket yet. The shipping for this package impresses me, though. The order was made late at night on the 19th, and it's here already.

It's rainy today, so mushrooms have started popping out. I'm no mushroom expert, so I have no idea how to identify them. If anyone has a vast knowledge on mushrooms, I'd like to know what this is. This mushroom is medium sized, if that helps any.My brother is terrified of mushrooms. When he was even younger, it was pinecones (which he is still afraid of-just not as much as before). My old room didn't have a lock, so if I wanted to keep him out, I'd leave a pinecone in front of my door and he'd steer away from it.

Love, Kai

I wish I had the day off tomorrow.

vest and necklace from forever 21, Esprit track jacket from thrift, wisp top from Juicy Couture, GLB skirt, Aritzia leggings.

Today's outfit. Every time I wear this skirt, I manage to get it snagged onto something. Most often the rolling chairs in yearbook class. I'm really diggin' this top. It makes me wish I bought a white one too, even if it was kind of short.

The elementary and middle school kids around here have the whole week off, starting today. I still have tomorrow and Wednesday before going into break. Those lucky kids.

Finally got around to getting my nails done. I don't know how I do it, but I always manage to get hair or lint into my polish.

Oh, that's right, I almost forgot. I made a facebook page for my blog. Blog updates will go there too, for easy following.Modern Princess



Love, Kai

swacket.

It looks like I'm almost at my photobucket bandwidth limit, so I'll be using not-photobucket for a while. Anyway, here's a short story. While in San Francisco, I passed by a shop with a mannequin wearing a T-shirt with a bug eyed heart on it. I thought well that looks familiar but couldn't think of why, and left it alone. It wasn't until I arrived home that it was the PLAY Comme des Garcons logo. I looked up the shop, in hope of it carrying more Comme fashion, and ended up falling in love with something else: the swacket.


photos from Harputs of San Francisco

This is a swacket, the which can be worn is an endless number of ways. It goes right next to jeans and Docs in my list of most versatile pieces of clothing. It is sold at the Harputs Union store in San Francisco or online on their website. The one pictured above is the Black Nylon Swacket, which retails for $375. If I can earn an additional $200 before the holidays, I'm going to consider getting one for myself. This thing is incredible.

Love, Kai

backstreet boys were on tv today but I was too busy working on my essay to watch.

For the record, I'm still a Backstreet Boys fan. I just finished my essay, and it's 1:30 now. My posts are getting later and later.

This post is about recent purchases. New holiday bags arrived at Juicy Couture boutiques just yesterday. They're pretty darn cute.It looks more off-white in real life, and the hats that the dogs are wearing are metallic red.Here's my Juicy purchase.I'm obsessed with this cut. I have two other tanks with a similar cut, and almost bought another one a couple months back, which I regret not doing.

I made two purchases at H&M as well. It's my first time buying from H&M; despite being affordable fashion, it's too pricey for my liking. I've walked in several times, coveting and trying on pieces that I end up placing back on the racks. I imagined this time to be the same, until I passed by the tiniest sales section. The red tags that were labeled $10 caught my eye. And I'm so glad they did.
This has to be my favorite purchase in a while. My favorite shade of pink, ribbon ties, ruffles? Gosh, it's a match made in heaven. For only $10, marked down from $30!

I bought second dress, which I nicknamed the calamari dress.
Live calamaris are some kind of adorable (I guess they would be called squid. It's different in Chinese). I saw them in an aquarium in Taipei, which later closed down. They were really small and floaty and remind me of this dress. This one was marked down to $10 from $40.

Love, Kai

Angelic Pretty San Francisco.

Urban Vibe tank from Wet Seal, kids boots from Famous Footwear, Betsey Johnson bag from Nordstrom Racks, crochet lace tank and cardigan thrifted, pants from Taiwan, Juicy Couture necklace

Pouring rain in the morning, and again at night. Luckily there were blue skies throughout the afternoon so I didn't have to worry about the rain too much. I went to San Francisco today for the Angelic Pretty opening. I almost wasn't going to go because my parents were busy babysitting my brother and his friend plus his friend's baby brother. Which I didn't quite get because my brother is in 6th grade, and his friend is mellow-not the rowdy type that gets into fights at friends' houses. This morning I told my mom that I was thinking of going to Union Square by myself, and at that point, she called my dad over and told him to take me instead. So I ended up going. I should have taken some pictures of Union Square too.

Because I wasn't anticipating on actually being able to go, I was left with 20 minutes to get ready- 10 minutes in which I spent in the shower, 5 minutes getting dressed, and 5 minutes packing up. 20 minutes isn't enough for me to choose a dress and coordinate to wear, style my wig, and apply makeup. Not wearing lolita to a lolita based event made me feel kind of uncomfortable.

I love being in San Francisco. I pass by this building all the time when I'm on the bus, and never got a clear picture of it. My dad dropped me off in the city today and let me off on my own, so I went and took a picture.

There's also a Juicy store that I pass by all the time and never get to go in. This one was probably the most impressive Juicy store I've been in. It has a main floor and three additional floors above it. If I remember correctly, the floors are labeled at main floor, first floor, second floor, and third floor. But really, it's 4 floors. The first floor carries Bird item and the third floor has a kids' section.
Juicy has been having a lot of sales lately. I've received several 30% off coupons in the past month or so, and they've been having their 40% off sales items sale recently too. I wanted this top in white, they didn't have it in the size I wanted. I like it longer, like the grey one, but there weren't any left in white. I ended up getting the grey one. This one was one of the sale items; retailed at $70s' range, on sale for $30, and then additional sale lowered it to $18. I sort of wish I bought the white one instead already. Goshdangit.

I stopped by the Angelic Pretty/Harajuku Hearts shop a couple times before lining up. The first time before lunch, but the line was too long and I hadn't had breakfast yet, and it was already past 11. The line wasn't very long by the time I started lining up, but the store is small so it was still a long wait. While waiting, there were people staring, taking photos, cars coming by who slowed down to take pictures, admirers, and haters (haters gonna hate). I suppose it's not often that most people see so much poof and frills gathered in one place.
I wasn't sure if pictures were allowed, so I only took one, which turned out to be a blurry one. Apparently there was a 'no photos' sign at the front. Whoops. I was kind of expecting everything in the store to be bought off by the time I got in. There weren't that many items in the store when I got in, but I couldn't tell if that was because of the store size or because it all sold.

I made a small purchase for the sake of buying something. Oh, and asked for pictures with Maki and Asuka, designers for Angelic Pretty.
The last time I got pictures with them, earlier this year, a photographer took it for us and charged us $10 per photo. It was one of those that were developed on the spot and wasn't all that great quality.

I bumped into Asuka a few minutes later and asked to take her picture, since the lighting inside wasn't the best. Accidentally cut off her feet.
Maki came out not long after, and I thought I might as well ask to be in the picture with her. I really really wish I dressed up. They're so photogenic.

Love, Kai