hard at work.

These past few weeks have been dedicated mostly to my FIT portfolio. I guess I've posted bits and pieces of my work, but since it hasn't been much, I'm making this post to showcase a few of my favorites.

Yesterday wasn't the best day. I caught a stomach bug early in the day and rested for three class periods. Then after school, I went to look for fabrics to cut into swatches. I chose out $30 worth of fabric in 0.5 yard increments. But at the cutting counter, and the computers and price scanners were out of order so the lady at the counter had to hand-write all of the fabrics and prices. She did her math wrong while calculating prices and it made it really difficult to make the purchase at the counter. Also, I was supposed to call my mom after I was done shopping, but I accidentally grabbed my iPod instead of my cell phone, and couldn't make the call, and ended up waiting for her to realize I couldn't get home.

The ones I like are mostly the later ones; it took me a while to start getting the hang of it. At first, I was planning on not drawing faces, but after coloring everything in, I thought no faces looked weird, so I drew them in afterwards. Bad move. I'll have to photoshop those faces out.
I think this one was the last one I finished. Tiered dress and bubble vest with a floral print hood.

Here's one that I didn't like very much originally. I had designed it to be a white deconstructed sleeveless dress, but then I found some mesh in my room, and decided to make it black instead.


For this one, I wanted to use nylon for the fabric. But I couldn't afford to get the nylon at the fabric store, and opted for cotton instead. Boring. But half the price. Features a zip up galaxy print hood and fastenable cowl neck.


Right now, I'm working on the sewing portion. I started sewing in 6th grade, but haven't improved at all since then. I busted out my sewing machine for the first time in years this week. Fabric is expensive, especially nice materials. So I used the cloth from old pieces of clothing to sew. I sewed a pair of pants out of an old oversized skirt.
Droopy butt pants yayy. My favorite.
Depending on what else I come up with, I might show more designs and pieces in later posts.

Today I went to Barnes and Nobles to use my coupon. Magazines are never included in sales, though I wish they would be. Some magazines are much more expensive than books are. I wanted to buy the Spring/Summer 2011 runway report, but the issues were all bent up and cost $40, which is more than is in my pocket. I opted out for Vogue Italia, which included a Fashion Show report.
I regret getting it, a bit. This report left out several designers that I wanted to see, including Alexander Wang and Tao Kurihara. Just a bit disappointing, for $17.

Since I couldn't use a coupon on the magazine, I got THIS.
It's Colors for Modern Fashion by Nancy Riegelman. I wanted to get 9 Heads some time ago, but hadn't had any luck with finding a copy, so I decided on getting the second best option. The coupon was 50% off, so this became $34.40. It would have helped if I had a guide before I started my designs.

Back to work.

Love, Kai

vivaglam gaga is back.

Another thing for me to look forward to next month! The first thing I'm looking forward to is finishing the last of my college apps.
The first Vivaglam Gaga lipstick for MAC was released about a year ago alongside Vivaglam Cyndi. I'd never bought a lipstick before, and the light pink isn't quite the type of color I would wear. Nude colored lipstick is the only color I'm willing to use.
But you know. If it's Gaga lipstick, I had to get it. Here's a picture I took of the first Vivaglam Gaga from last February.

Vivaglam Gaga II will be released in the US on February 17th. I'm particularly excited to buy it this time around because Vivaglam Gaga II will be a nude color!
I'll be running off to the mall just for this next month, no doubt. Information courtesy of Temptalia.

Love, Kai

an award for me?

I've been given the Stylish Blogger Award by Marlena of Self Constructed Freak! She has been supportive since day one, my first post. She's also got mad style, so I've been a fan of her since I started blogging.
I'm to share seven things about myself, so here we go!

1. I need my sleep. If I don't get at least nine hours of sleep (10 would be ideal), I would be dozing off for the rest of the day. That's why my bedtime is set at 9pm.

2. I prefer cold water over any beverage. When I was little, I loved to drink juice, before my mom told me it wasn't healthy. And then she said the same thing for soda. And coffee. And milk. So I've gotten in the habit on not drinking anything besides water.

3. I am a Pokemon master! In the games, I've collected all 493 Pokemon, before the new generation was released. The only thing I have left to do in my game is to get 100 consecutive wins at the battle tower, which I don't have the patience for.

4. I went to the same preschool as Jason Wu. Yes, the Jason Wu. Not at the same time, because he's older than me. But we had the same principal, and it was that principal who encouraged him to pursue fashion and move out of Taiwan and study in a foreign country. Honestly, she's the coolest principal in the world.

5. My sport of choice is DDR! I'm not pro by any means, but I'm not bad either. My brother, though, is pretty good. He memorizes steps and then does them backwards and dances on all fours. Yeah, no. I can't do that.

6. I love birds! I love all animals (insects excluded, I'm sorry! I tried hard to like them, but they still freak me out), but I love birds in particular. My intended major when I was a freshman and sophomore in high school was ornithology, the study of birds. My 10th grade chemistry teacher convinced me that I'm the art school type.

7. I collect vintage items. I have a ton of old books with pretty details that I'm afraid to touch because I think they'll break if I open it. I also collect teacups even though I don't really drink tea. And also vintage Avon bottles. I love collecting them because it is a fairly inexpensive hobby. A lot of elder people used to collect them in their youth, and sell them off now at garage sales for about a buck each. I would collect modern perfume, but I can't afford that stuff.

I pass this award on to the following seven people!

1. Coco from Muffin Top Baby
2. Britney of Flow Disruption
3. Savannah from A Witch's Style
4. Kar-Yan's Dear Kar-Yan
5. Holly of Covetous Creatures
6. Sophia of Maroon Sparrow
7. Julie of SmileySquid

I got my class sweater this week, completed with my name personalized on it. Oh, here's a bonus trivia, just for kicks. My middle name is E. Just E. Because my parents didn't think about it beforehand, and thought of placing a filler middle name until they decide on one. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to get a name change. I'm changing my middle name to Kaiami eventually.

I got zero hours of sleep last night and was knocked out as soon as I got home. I just woke up a while ago from a 6 hour nap. I probably would have slept till tomorrow if my mom didn't wake me up to do homework.

Love, Kai

just your average garden gnome speciman.

Wearing a hood makes me feel like a garden gnome. I've never in my life seen a garden gnome before, not including ones from cartoon television shows from my childhood.

It has been particularly sunny these past few days. Or week. And so I opted for outdoor pictures today. Picture quality is so much better outside compared to inside.
I wanted to wear that military jacket I have, but it's a bit too small to wear with my sweater. If there's anything I learned from having a swacket, it would be that snaps are extremely useful. I noticed several snaps on the jacket and put them together to make it a slingy cape thing.

Sechuna cat sweater dress from Savers, Military jacket received as a gift, hooded T-shirt from Miramar in Taiwan, grey HUE ribbed sweater tights, Victorian Flowers Doc Martens from asos.com

It's been kind of a really long while since I've worn these tights. Sweater tights are nice for the winter, but way too warm for any other season.

I'm five hours short on sleep from staying up to work on my FIT portfolio. Somehow, I spend more hours deciding on what color to make things rather than actually drawing or coloring.

Love, Kai

prices on the rise.

I thought it was Saturday, but then realized that I'm internally a day behind. Man, that's a terrible feeling. I wish it were Summer break. I've been sick these past few days, and have been dressing in pajamas and lazy clothes every day.
I was coloring my design yesterday when my grey ran out of ink. I went to the store to buy a new one, but they didn't have the same shade of grey that I used to I had to buy a different one. Bummer. Considering I already started coloring. A new marker costs $6.50.

And then on top of that, I ran out pages in my sketchbook so I bought a new one.
I still have the sticker price on my old one, so it had me facepalming when I saw the price difference. Here's my old one.
Here's my new one.

Result of the dollar-yen ratio.

And then on top-top of that, my pencil pouch spilled at school, and somehow the only item that's missing is my favorite expensive pencil. What?! That one was $12 while the rest were only a buck or two. That's bad luck for me. I don't think I can afford to get a new one anytime soon. Maybe I'll stop buying expensive pencils because I've already had at least five of them lost or stolen.

I really need to finish this portfolio in time. Extension, please.

Love, Kai

bad hair day.

I tried to curl my hair today. Bottom line, I need to stop trying to curl my hair. I can't do it. I don't throw on hats on bad hair days. Hats look kind of unflattering on me and hat hair just makes bad hair days even worse. So today, I just threw a wig on instead.
I need to invest in more of these things. Hair and makeup are two things I fail at. Which explains why I don't really wear makeup or do anything special with my hair. Low maintenance.

Top from Tokyo Fashion Co in Taiwan, dress from H&M, tights from library donation, Doc Martens from Asos, necklace from Angelic Pretty

I need more wigs, seriously.

I got my full 12 hours of sleep yesterday, but will probably have to pull a few all nighters to finish up my college hometest and all that jazz. Can't wait till that's over with.

Oh also, I'm sick.
And there was a lizard and a rat in my bed in my dream last night. Extremely realistic dream. I woke up thinking it really happened.

Love, Kai

turn it up.

Fun fact, I really dislike loud music. Not necessarily loud as in like screamo, but loud as in blasting out the speakers. Another fun fact. That's probably why I don't like dances. I've been to one dance in my whole high school career, and that was the Yearbook dance, because I'm in yearbook crew.


Jacket from Puma, Fanny Pak T-shirt from Kenya Dance sales booth, H&M pants, Ecko sneakers, Skullcandy headphones.
Skullcandies look pretty cool, but they're not very comfortable. I keep twitching while I wear them, which explains why I haven't worn them since I bought them. Here's an awkward closeup. Sometimes I wonder why I smile like this.
I think I bought the red ones because they were on sale. And also my iPod is red. I wanted the black and gold ones though.

It's only 6, but I think I'll try to go to sleep now. I stayed up for hours last night working on Japanese homework, only to find out today that the substitute who passed out the packets gave us the wrong ones. Which is why I didn't understand any of it. Sometimes I regret being such a hard worker.

Knocked out.
Peace, Kai

did someone say free money?

I bought a scarf last month from H&M, and the cashier threw in a $5 gift card to use for the new year.I'm all too familiar with this sales trick. Give a promotion > lure customers to visit even though they don't really need to > get them to spend more money. It really does work. I'll admit, I wouldn't have gone shopping if H&M didn't give me this card.

There were some pretty good things in the store when I visited. There's a new activewear collection that I'm really digging. I took a couple pictures on my camera phone. The pieces are all dusty pink/ black, a color combination I really like. I'm getting into activewear.

There was a coat that I sort of wanted, but even in the small, I felt sort of like I was drowning in it, so back on the shelf it went. Shame, because it was originally about $100 and marked down to $20, plus my card would have made it $15.

Anyway, I bought pants. I couldn't decide on which pair so I got two. They're both way too big on me. Safety pins to the rescue. These were the pants that were in the window of the San Francisco store two months ago. The same ones that I passed off because they were $35 and over my price range. Haahhg. I got this pair on sale for five bucks. Seriously.

Here's the other pair I got
Ditzy floral print mmm. They look like PJ pants if I wear them long. This is another pair that I saw in the store and passed on before. This one was marked down to $15 from $35. Which isn't as amazing as $5, but hey. Not bad.

Also grabbed a bag of brooches. I should have picked a bag out more carefully.
I don't know why the cameo brooch is upside down. The key brooch is defected and doesn't close. I chose this bag because the bow is tied nicely.

Totaled up to be $20. I was planning on $10 at most. Spent more money than planned. H&M marketing win this one.

Love, Kai

if I were a boy.

Yesterday, I attended National Portfolio Day in San Francisco. I had been planning on going to sleep early so I could look plenty awake in front of the college representatives. But I couldn't find glue, and spent the whole night looking for it. And went to sleep at 5am, and woke up at 7am. So sleep deprived.

There's a loose hair in my peripheral view and I keep thinking it's a spider. I've lost count how many times I turned already. I can't find which strand of hair it is.

I picked up the February issue of KERA magazine, featuring Neeko and Takeru on the cover.
Though I try to get an issue every month, I've missed a ton of issues from last year just because I couldn't dish out the money.

I loved the makeup section in this issue. "Boy makeup." Boystyle Midori! Midori is the cutest person in the world. She's my idol. It'd be my dream job to be a KERA model.
Here's another spread with Yura(left) and Re:NO(right). I thought Yura was Akira in the picture.And here's one with Runa-Luna.

I see a trend. Boystyle makeup = wig + nude lipstick + black eyeliner and BAM. I sort of tried to do it. I can't apply eyeliner for my life.
This hair length is really difficult to manage.

Love, Kai

cold stone wont give me my free ice cream.

How disappointing. I went to Cold Stone to use the free ice cream offer they sent me, and the lady there wouldn't give me ice cream without her boss' permission and sent me home. And I was looking forward to it too. I'm just getting over it. Went back home and binged on Trader Joe's ice cream. Trader Joe's mint tastes pretty bad.

I wore my sweater with all the holes today. It's hard to find a day that I can wear it because it's been cold outside. Today was fairly sunny.

sweater from Salvation Army, Sex Pot Revenge necklace from CDJapan, Docs from asos.com

I really like this sweater. The kind of dark colored, comfy oversized stuff I have more than enough of. Holy sweater!
All the holes makes it feel like I'm wearing a sleeveless top. That's what layering is for, yeah.

New polish! I don't usually like to wear shiny colors because I keep picking at it and it's hard to remove even with nail polish remover. But I saw a friend wearing a similar polish and had to try it out when I saw it in the store.
It's Sally Hansen in 'Strobe Light'. Kind of a pinkish glitter. It looks nice as a topper above another color.

Love, Kai

post mcqueen.

I almost had pictures to post today. I took my camera to school so I could take pictures before I get home and it's too dark. But when I turned the camera on, the screen wrote in big black letters no memory card. Fuuuuuu

So I'll write about Spring 2011 Mcqueen today since I was finally able to save the pictures from the collection. Mcqueen was my favorite designer, and after he passed away last year, I wasn't sure what to expect for his line. At first, I was a bit iffy that someone else was going to take over for him. I was one of those people who wanted Fall 2010 to be the last of Alexander Mcqueen. But after seeing her work on the runway, I think it's safe for me to say that Mcqueen is in good hands. Props to Sarah Burton.

Here are my picks from the collection.
I had been skipping through, unimpressed, until I saw this one. Love this one. Black opulence is a winner.This one might be my favorite from the collection.

Some of Lee's flair is still there. I do miss the theatrical aspects and him walking down at the end of the show, though.


I've been working on my design hometest for FIT recently. And I have to admit, this is the first time I've legitly done design. Before I started on my hometest, it was just doodles of clothes I'd like to have. I don't even know if I'm doing this right. Gosh, I hope I get this done in time. Back to work for me.

Love, Kai

hear me roar.

The sun sets so early now, it makes it hard to get pictures. Since it's dark when I leave the house, and dark when I arrive back home. Here's one from a couple days ago. Freaking. Love. This. Tank.

tank top from Seibei, Jacket from Puma, pants from Taiwan, Buster Brown boots.

BAM! Dinosaur.
It's pretty big. I guess that's what I get for grabbing the L from the bargain bin. But it's all cool, as long as I have a shirt underneath.

Dinosaurs are one of my favorite animals. Dinosaurs and birds, I think. Really, I like all animals. But birds and dinosaurs in particular. I think I was also pretty well known for liking pandas.

Here's a thank you to Thrift Town, who featured me on their blog (how did you guys find me? It's like magic)! Thrift Town is a really great thrift shop. As much as I love Goodwill, their prices are high on the rise. At Thrift Town, I can find some really great deals thrift store. They have a different sale every day! The American Eagle cardigan I wore one post down was only $0.99, even without a sale! Since I don't live nearly close enough to visit regularly, going to Thrift Town is an occasional treat.

I was nominated into the Senior Hall of Fame this year (or um. yesterday, I guess). I think this comes at a surprise, because I really am the type of shy girl who is too scared to look for a partner in group activities. I didn't think anyone knew me. It will be the first time I'm in the yearbook besides mugshots (and pictures my mom took for the elementary school yearbooks, but those don't count)! Thank you, class of 2011!

Can't wait to graduate.

Love, Kai

when spring comes.

I wish it were spring now. I don't have enough outerwear for winter. And I don't fare well in the cold. I wore this outfit yesterday, paired with my grey cardigan and rolled up jeans.I bought this dress recently online. It's some Japanese brand. It doesn't have a tag on it, but I think it might be Wonder Rocket. Don't take my word for it.

Dress bought online, ichioku. American Eagle crochet cardigan from Thrift Town, scarf from H&M, ripped cardigan worn as scarf from Goodwill, shoes from Taiwan.

I really like the look of all the fabrics together. This is the most white I've worn in a while. I tend to steer away from wearing light colors, but at least half of my closet is composed of white, creams, or light pinks. These bracelets are from Forever21. They came in a set of 7 bracelets for $10. They're mostly different styles, so I can wear them with different outfits. Go versatility!

I received this brooch in a box of things my mom didn't want, a long time ago. It had been under my bed for a while, until I took it out and started playing around with the things she gave me. There were a couple more brooches she gave me (one I forgot to take of my sweater and broke in the washing machine, woops).

I bought these flats in Taiwan, at a store in the underground mall. They're my first pair of flats. Flats are cute, but I don't find them particularly comfortable, and I can never find a size that fits without being too tight or too big. This pair falls off when I walk. But they were three dollars and they're cute, so I had to get them anyway.

Second day of school and I'm knocked out.

Love, Kai