shoe craving.

Yesterday I was planning on going to sleep early, but a shoe caught my eye and I ended up spending hours and hours looking at shoes. I came across Asami's blog, and couldn't stop looking at all of her shoes. Originally, I was going to spend my graduation money on a pair of shoes for college, but ended up pooling it in for a digital SLR camera. So if I get new shoes now, it would be a splurge.

Here's my compiled August wishlist. I'm using pictures instead of my usual drawings because I've been drawing and posting a lot on my main tumblr recently.
I want pastel shoes!! I find that I'm sort of a matchy matchy kind of person and so I tend to buy shoes in black, white, or brown so that I'd be able to wear them with anything. So I never have a chance to buy cool colored shoes. Pink and mint are my two favorite colors.

Lately while doing college packing, I found out that I don't really have that many pairs of comfortable shoes that fit. Besides my Doc Martens, nearly all my shoes are too big or too small. Most of them have been around since middle school. So I'm searching around for nice sneakers for everyday wear.
I want to get all-around (including the sole) pastel pink Nike dunks, but it's kind of a reach if they're not making them. I shopped this pair so that I could kind of get a feel for it.

I need to stop looking at shoes until I have the money for them. Either that or Forever21 needs to stock some new ones that I like.

Love, Kai

the only doctors i'd be willing to see are dr. martens.

I wear my Docs more than any other shoe, so I've been thinking of investing in another pair before I go to college. Lately, I've been looking out for styles that I might get. Some time ago, I searched up galaxy doc martens, and these came up.
I was dying for them to be real. If I'm not wrong, fallie shopped them. When I was still in the galaxy docs mood, I shopped a pair of my own. Gosh would I love a pair of galaxy docs.I've been contemplating getting some materials to paint my own pair.

On the Dr Martens site, the pastel ones also stole my heart. They're all so pretty. I would love me a pair of pink ones. Maybe those mint ones, too. Pink and mint are two of my favorite colors.I don't know how much I'd wear pastels, though. As much as I like looking at them, chances are I'd only be admire them in my closet instead of wearing them out. So I was considering buying these buckles ones. They have a zipper on the side, unlike a lot of the other docs. My docs take a pretty long time to get one, so a pair with zippers would be convenient.
Knowing me, florals are always on the list. These two pairs were out when I bought my first pair. I was also thinking of these two pairs, but went with the Victorian Flowers instead. I don't regret it.
I found this pair on etsy. I wish I bookmarked the seller, but I didn't. I can't remember who was selling them. Typography shoes, mmm.
If I can find a pair of old docs at a thrift store, then I'll DIY them. Though, I've been looking for old docs for the longest time, and I've never come across a thrift store pair.

Love, Kai

sweatshirt thursday.

I have a love-hate relationship with my hair/hair color. The last time I dyed it was January, I think. It looks alright indoors for the most part, but I get that orangy tint under the sun. I tried to cancel it out with ash dye, but it didn't work.
Also, my hair does that flippy thing when it gets to a certain length. It looks alright on the left (your right) for the most part, but the other side has a mind of its own. When I go to Taiwan, all the girls my age have perfect hair. I don't know how to do it.
Yeah, so about today's outfit. My friend Sabrina has what she calls "sweatshirt Thursdays." It's like casual Fridays except with sweatshirts and on Thursdays. So today I wore my GTFO sweatshirt that I just received on Tuesday. GTFO is an acronym for "Get the Funk on," a dance crew that consists of some kids at my school. I figured I should show my support so I bought one. Sweaters are always nice, anyway.

GTFO sweatshirt, plaid shirt from Goodwill, jeans from some store in Japan.

It's not very noticeable, but I wore it with my plaid shirt.
I wore them with my plaid Converse, but they were outside so I didn't want to go out to get them. I had a huge plaid phase when I would only buy black clothes and plaid clothes. Especially red plaid. I hunted down those plaid Converse. They weren't even the type of plaid I liked. I would have liked these back in the day.This reminds me, I was looking for Docs a while ago and stumbled upon these on ebay. I grew out of my plaid obsession a while ago, but these were tempting.

picture from ebay
They weren't my size, though. I don't remember what size they were, but they were kids size. I think I'm making a Docs post soon.

Love, Kai

I am not a shopaholic.

Admittedly, I probably spend more money than anyone else in the family. But that's a given. No one else buys clothes. I was accused of being a shopaholic today for making 'several' purchases in the past week. Wearing a couple of them here.
Obey t-shirt and Docs from Buffalo Exchange, padlock chain necklace from Sex Pot Revenge, freebie donation tights.

While I was in LA, I passed by a Buffalo Exchange store, and thought it looked like a thrift store and wanted to go in, but I was in a hurry and wasn't able to. Coincidentally, I stumbled upon another one while I was in the OC.

After passing by the LA one, I looked for some reviews, and it's a pretty mixed bag. Personally, I really like the store. Because I was on my way to the airport when I passed by the shop, I only had about 20 minutes in the store. If I were at Goodwill, 20 minutes isn't nearly enough time for me to find something I like. I was surprised how quickly I was able to find things I liked at Buffalo Exchange. The clothes are screened and hand picked, so there were a lot of good pieces being sold. The catch is the prices. The prices are reminiscent of what you would see at Forever 21. Which isn't too bad, really. Though everything is secondhand, it all looks pretty new and free of rips and holes.

I left the store with two items.
An oversized Obey Clothing t-shirt and
A pair of vintage Doc Martens. They're design number 2071047, not the well known 1460 with yellow stitches, so I hesitated a little. But they're made in England and extremely comfortable and fit perfectly, so I could pass them up.

The total for these two items came up to be around $35, which is a lot more than I would spend at say, the Salvation Army. But I wouldn't mind visiting every once in a while as a treat.

On my last trip to Goodwill, I saw a pair of Dolce Vita Target shoes that I wanted, but were three full sizes too big for me. I planned on searching for them on eBay, but ended up not having to. They're on clearance on the Target website for $12, or $18 after shipping and tax. Bomb! New shoes under $20.


And the last of the purchases. I've made three separate trips to three different Kinokuniyas in the past week. I've now been to all four locations in California! Now I know price differences and that kind of stuff.
I was really surprised to see that the Los Angeles store had airmail magazines, and swoop up the April issue right away. I was so excited to get it because Midori is this month's covergirl. In the San Jose store, magazines take about a month to arrive, so I always get my issues a month late. I later went to the Costa Mesa location, which also had the airmail magazine, except a dollar cheaper. Ffffffff. And then saw that their Japanese manga were $1.40 cheaper. Fffffff. Japanese manga is expensive now, man. I might as well learn to read Chinese so I can buy Chinese manga and actually read it.

Oh wait, I lied.
I also bought more Seibei shirts yesterday. Couldn't help it.

Love, Kai

simply smashing: a cinderella (photo)story.

About a week or two ago, I had the idea to make a shoe. Not a wearable shoe. One made of smashed glass. And that I did.


I went to Goodwill and got $10 worth of glass to break. I've never broken glass (on purpose, at least), so I was a bit wary. I decided to put on gloves, take it all to the backyard, and smash it all in ziplock bags with a hammer. Glass is hard to photograph.
I'm pretty sure I scared the neighbors. I mean, I would be pretty scared if I heard continuous glass smashing near my home.

After getting all my glass pieces, I started putting them together with hot glue. It's all kind of just random pieces, and what I get depended on my luck when smashing it.


When I started, I wasn't sure if it was going to work out or not. But it started to take the look of a shoe after a little while.
I hadn't been planning to make it able to stand on its own, but the large bottom pieces from the vase allowed it to.

This shoe does not photograph well. Glass doesn't photo well to start with, and if I add flash, all of the gross opaque glue parts are really apparent. I wish hot glue would be clear and pretty.

I had my brother Sorestian photograph it for me. We did an at-home photoshoot while I held up poster boards for the background. I took a few of my favorites for my blog here.




Which picture do you like best?

And here's some meaning behind the shoe. High heeled shoes are beautiful, but wearing them exposes the wearer to harm because it puts the foot in an unnatural position. This parallels to the beauty of glass, and how stepping in it is harmful. You know, I wish I were better with words.

I still like high heels, by the way.

I hope you guys enjoyed this crafts post, and Happy New Year! School is starting again soon.

Love, Kai

you win some, you lose some.

Took my last final today in Economics, and scored my A! Received a B in literature class, though, so. Whoo onto applications.

I didn't want to wear pants today, but it was too cold to wear a skirt. And I can't find my tights. So I wore my skirt-pants. Bad idea. I ended up tripping over myself all day. It might be a good idea for me to stop buying maxi skirts (or maxi...pants in this case).

Thrifted cardigan, Forever 21 necklace, mom's old broach, DIY watch necklace, thrifted cardigan worn as shawl, thrifted skirt-pants, Mudd shoes from Famous Footwear

I used to wear this netted cardigan a lot, but I threw it in the washing machine and it ripped a huge hole in it (well, the whole thing is made of holes).

I changed my pants after I arrived home so that I wouldn't have to continue tripping all over the place.


I did a little bit of thrift shopping after school today. Today's sales included $2 shoes! Some of the shoes were priced at $10 before so it was a good deal for those. But all the shoes that I liked were already $2.60. Saving $0.60 is still pretty good I guess.
Ended up just buying one pair. These are a little too big on me (or a full size. Maybe that's pretty big). But nothing a little sewing adjustment can't fix.
Gigantic netted sweater! I'm not sure how I'm going to wear this one. It's not very warm, but I guess that was obvious.

And yet another oversized cardigan. It's pilling pretty bad, but I'll fix that too.

Three things for a grand total of $6.50!

I think I'll start catching up on my sleep. I'll go to sleep at five. Got to wake up at 3am tomorrow, so no sleeping in for me.

Love, Kai

merry christmas to me.

MY SHOES ARE HERE! My Doc Martens Victorian Flowers! They are an early Christmas gift from my dad. I told him that they can last for five years of regular use, so he's expecting me to not buy shoes for another five years now.

I had set my heart on this pair, and was heartbroken when the black ones were taken off the Docs website. I wrote an email to the company and was told that there would be more coming in sometime in February, but of course I didn't want to wait. After checking several websites, I was only able to find the brown/taupe version, preorders, or ones that weren't in my size. That's when I got a 20% off coupon code from Teen Vogue for Asos.
And behold, my most expensive pair of shoes.
I searched the website, and they had them! Choosing the size was the hard part, since I couldn't try them on. In most cases, I'm a size 7.5. In Ecko sneakers and Etnies, I'm a 6.5, and in Nikes and Forever 21 shoes, I'm more of an 8. My best bet, I thought, would be 7. The reviews about Docs running large were right. They're a little bit big on me, maybe a size or half a size too loose, but nothing an insert can't fix.

And now for the break-in process. I'll wear them for a week straight and hopefully they're adjust to me feet by then.

Love, Kai

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

and thank you, daylight savings.

When I started my blog, I could take pictures at 6:30 and it would still be bright enough for the photos to be decent. Recently, I've had trouble getting good lighting when I get home from school at 4pm.


Oh right, I got a haircut yesterday. And here's today's outfit. Short hair makes my face look round. Not in this picture, but in some others. Right, so besides the haircut, I went thrift shopping yesterday. I was surprised by how much stuff I bought. Right away, I picked out two pairs of shoes. Sorry, my face is pixeled out because I was making some ridiculous face.
One of them was this pair. They're a little bit big, but I think I can add something to the bottom to make them fit better. Steve Madden wedges for ten bucks! Besides this pair, I also bought a pair of Steven by Steve Madden snakeskin peep toe heels. These were only $6.99!
They're really tall. The inside is cushioned so they're actually pretty comfortable. I haven't tried walking in them yet, so maybe it's still to early to say that. Either way, I won't be wearing them anytime soon. I did make that post about not wearing heels anymore. Which reminds me, I still want a pair of Docs. And Nikes. Oh and I liked those sequined and black glitter oxfords at Forever21. Shoes, can't get enough of them. Too bad there's not enough money to go around to get them all. I think I'll just save up for those Docs first.

My magazines arrived, by the way. I love that I don't have to worry about not having space for them anymore. I wasn't careful and asked for a copy that I already had, instead of a different one that I wanted to order, so I'm going back for that one separately.


I got a copy of Marie Claire today too. Emma is kind of sort of incredibly cute. I love her new hair! I liked it before too, but that just shows she can rock any hairstyle.


I went off on a tangent again. I'll probably post my thrift shop purchases tomorrow, due to the poor lighting.

Love, Kai

for you, a thousand times over.

This was supposed to be yesterday's post, but the image upload wasn't working, so I drafted it yesterday and put in the pictures today. I sat around for a while, hoping the images would start loading, and wasted those three hours doing just that. I tried this morning when I woke up too, and it wasn't working. Uploading in class right now.

Yesterday was pink day at school, promoting breast cancer awareness. I don't like to wear pink too much because it doesn't go well with my skin tone. Same thing goes for most light colors. Half of my closet is pink and cream colors, but I always opt out on wearing them, and go with black instead. I guess that's why I'm wearing black with my pink.

top from Taiwan (only $3!), cardigan from thrift, HUE tights, Victorian Maiden parasol

I absolutely adore these tights. They're like a work of art. I haven't worn them since I bought it because I tried them on as soon as I bought them, stretched them out too far, and ripped a hole in them. It was a terrible large hole. But for some reason, I couldn't find the hole when I wore it. Magic.

I finished reading Kite Runner on Sunday, though we were only supposed to read up to chapter 10. I couldn't put it down, and I don't like following reading schedules, so I zipped through it. This is a picture that I drew for class.
Portraying the dream scene in chapter 7. It was a good book. When I have time, I'll read Splendid Suns too.

Looking through shoes. I want to get a new pair of boots because my old pair is really wearing out. I don't blame them, since I wear them all too often. Every time I pass by Aldo, I think about getting this pair.
But they're much over my budget. If these were ever on sale for 50% off, then maybe.

And then there's this pair that I stumbled upon while browsing Net a Porter. I should really stay away from that website. It's almost 10 times more costly than the Aldo ones.
And then there's these Vivienne rocking horse sandals. I don't think I'd wear them all too often if I were to get them, but they are amazingggg. Reminds me of Hermes, the god. Not the brand. They're affordable, especially for Vivienne Westwood. It'd still be a splurge for me though.
And Docs! I'm dying to get a pair of Docs. I did find a basic black pair at a store once, on sale for $30! But they were uncomfortable so I didn't get them. It still makes me sad, though. I want these floral ones, since I like floral everything. Can't get enough!
Perhaps I'll save up for just one pair. It's not easy deciding which pair.

PS, had my dentist appointment today. No cavities, heckyes! I have extremely sensitive teeth, and it doesn't help that I need candy as much as I need food. Almost always, I get cavities in those six months. Last time was 7 cavities, and I had to get shots for all of them. This new dentist I switched to gives painful cavity treatments. And each cavity filling costs $130. My parents get fed up with my teeth (I swear, I brush twice a day, floss, and use mouthwash) so I have to pay for half of the costs. I could buy shoes with that money.

Yesssss I finally got those pictures in. Back to classwork.

Love, Kai