Perfect.

New Soul

I am going to end this month's blog with a new artist that I've discovered through a friend. Yael Naim is a Paris-born artist with unique, quirky melodies. Her songs sound so delightful and it always puts me in a good mood. My favorite song from her is New World and I'm actually not surprised that Apple used this song to advertise their new MacBook Air because they always choose fresh music. (Click on MacBook Air if you want to see the commercial!) Thank you Sarah for telling me about her! :D

"I'm a young soul in this very strange world hoping I could learn a bit about what is true and faith."

Save me

I haven't gone shopping in two weeks and I feel like I'm slowly dying. I've combined a couple of things that I liked from Forever 21 hoping that I will get to purchase them soon. I love jewels, diamonds, and rhinestones..so below there is an embellished 3/4 sleeve cardigan and ballerina flats with faceted jewels. I've had my eye on this cardigan for a while now because of the rhinestones, but sometimes I feel that it's not necessary to own more than one black cardigan. I'm not so much a big fan of sequins (even if it's in style) because to me, it's reminiscent of the 70s disco era and that's pretty cheesy. But I consider the taupe sequin woven top as an exception because the beadwork balances out with the sequins which helps make the top not look too gaudy. Sadly, my wardrobe is in need of a pair of skinny black jeans.

Lovely

“The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—that’s all that matters.”

This is an old picture that I found in my computer that I edited 2 years ago. Audrey is such a beautiful woman.

Flowers

Fresh or faux, I love a home that has nice floral arrangements. Above is a picture of the lovely fresh orchids that mom brought home. Speaking of flowers..Target has amazing faux floral that I would love to buy, but I can't because I refuse to buy any decorations for my room until I clean up my mess of clothes that are everywhere. My favorite is the red rose faux floral collection because I LOVE roses.

Red Rose Faux Floral Collection

Calla Lily Floral Potted Plant
The gel inside the vase feels cool..and it's one of the reasons why I would like to buy this. But the real reason is because it looks simple and elegant.


Bamboo Glass Cylinder Stand
I used to be a huge fan of feng shui. For $279.99, maybe it would help bring spirituality and prosperity into my life.

Ouch!

My brain hurts from studying statistics all evening, so here I am taking a break from all those thinking/solving problems. Funny how I'm talking about my brain when I just had a neurobiology test on Friday with questions mostly concerning the brain. Coming from a girl who doesn't study often, being productive feels good, so I better see good results after I take my next test this Tuesday.

Funny text message

A couple minutes ago, I received the text message of the year. A gossip girl text from my two best friends, Monica & Theresa Mai. If you've seen the show Gossip Girl on CWTV, then you would know that the fastest way to find out news among the classmates is either by internet or texting.

Here is what my text said:
gossip girl here. guess who was pulling a 75 in a 55 zone? vincent nguyen! you know you love me. xoxo, gossip girl.

That is a picture they took of my dad's van (with a wagon attached to it) when they saw him driving on the highway.

Monopoly

Last night I spent some quality time with some old friends and played Monopoly until 2AM. Even though people lose motivation to play because of the time length of the game, I don't think I will ever get in the mood to not play. I also recently played the Here & Now edition, which is really fun! The properties are destinations from across the United States..such as: Times Square, Hollywood, and Disneyland. Some of the updated tokens include a Motorola Razr, Toyota Prius, Laptop, and Starbucks coffee. Hasbro came out with so many new editions for Monopoly and I want to collect them all! They are currently working on a World Edition board game with cities across the globe. Click here to vote for a city you'd like to see on the board!

Pinky

My friend recently received one of Japan's most popular fashion magazine, Pinky, as a birthday present. I don't think there was not one page I didn't like when I looked through the magazine. I've always had this preconception that Japanese fashion was outrageous and colorful, but I was wrong. I wish I could post up images from the magazine but I couldn't find it anywhere on the internet. I might have to borrow the magazine and scan some of the images because I fell in love with all the model's outfits.

Blood is thicker than water

An old picture I found of my sister & I back in 2005, during our afternoon tea on the roof.

She knows I care about her, I don't think it's necessary to brag to the entire world about how great she is.

A brand new me

I used to not feel the need to voice my opinions, even if my comment was important and could of helped in some kind of way. But that all changed after high school. I was appointed the position of creative director for the Vietnamese American Student Association (VASA) during my second year at UCF. I know this sounds lame, but because of VASA I started to become more aware of the issues that affected my community, on and off campus. Even though my position didn't seem like a big deal, that year I discovered that I had so much leadership potential that I never knew existed.

As a young girl I have always been inspired by my dad. I would try to assist him every chance that I could when he worked on community projects. My dad is very mysterious, I never knew how much of an impact he was to the community until my late elementary school days. And knowing this, I wanted to learn from him and become a little bit wiser. He's also a really good speaker and I've definitely seen his serious side when he has to speak up for what he thinks is right. And at the time, I'm wasn't interested in taking part in any public appearances or speaking. Ok, I may have lied a little. Later on in my life I joined a Vietnamese cultural dance group in high school called 4 Seasons and I enjoyed being in the limelight on stage. But that's a different story, with 4 Seasons all I had to do was dance and look pretty. :)

It's funny how time passes by so quickly. As I get older, I've learned to break my silence. I can get easily annoyed when I see others making foolish decisions and not thinking through things enough. I've learned to say what's on my mind, and sometimes I say a little too much. I hate to be the one who criticizes or thinks differently...but all I want to do is help.

Recent news

My dad bought me a camera! I don't really need one so I think I'm going to give it to my brother because I think he broke his. I might use it occasionally when I need to.

Oh?

It's been awhile since I've put some thoughts in here. Hm...everything seems to be running smoothly in my life, and I'm very thankful for that. I've been feeling a little bit negative these past couple of days and I found the answer to that today. :p It's not good for me to feel negative because my attitude can affect others as well as myself. Resolution #234078: Learn how to control myself in any situation.

The highlight of my Martin Luther King Jr. weekend was dining with my VASA (Vietnamese American Student Association) officers at TGIF's on Sunday night and realizing that I didn't have school the next day. Knowing that I had an extra day to sleep in the next morning meant that I had endless possibilities of what to do that night. And of course I chose to fall asleep while watching late night television. I don't know why I enjoy wasting electricity.

Appetizing school supplies

These eraser sets are so cute!

Japanese Tea Ceremony Food

Dim Sum

Sushi

Tip of the day

Think before you speak.

I know I may get spontaneous at times and blurt things that shouldn't be mentioned..but seriously, I can't believe there are people who actually think about what they say without realizing that they misinterpreted the subject. Chill out. I actually need to follow this tip often because I do like to randomly say things that are unnecessary, but most of the time I do this just to spark a discussion. Maybe I need to be around more interesting people? :p

Impulse purchase

Close friends know that the only store I shop at these days is Forever 21. If it wasn't for Forever, where else could I find inspired designer pieces for less? Anyway, I took my daily visit on the store's website today and found some items that caught my eye. I knew I had to go to the mall to find them soon before they're off the rack. Of course I went to the mall today and lucky for me, ALL the things I wanted were at the store!

Another random fact you should know about me is that I love to shop. I don't care for how long, I can go to the mall 30 minutes before it closes if I had a busy day and I will still manage to find the things I want. People constantly tell me that they don't have time to go shopping but I'm honestly who does have time these days? If you really love something then you'd make time for it, right?

Sadly, I didn't buy everything I wanted because I don't have money. I did buy a pretty brown woven shirt dress that would match perfectly with the Coach purse my friend recently bought for me as a Christmas gift! (Good choice ^_~ ) Even if all I have left in my wallet is a penny, I will resort to using my dad's credit. (Which I try not to do often because I feel terrible afterwards.) I live such a bad lifestyle...somebody stop me now.

Shake the stress away

This week's favorite songs. Can you tell that I'm in the partying mode? ;)

I made this music player at MyFlashFetish.com.

1. Rihanna - Don't Stop the Music
2. Janet Jackson - Feedback
3. Britney Spears - Piece of Me
4. Britney Spears - Gimme More
5. Enur - Calabria
6. Sean Kingston - Take You There

One and only

I recently realized that the one item in my wardrobe that I couldn't live without were my leggings. I've got my eye on a pair of Banana Republic leggings ever since my aunt let me borrow hers. I can definitely feel the difference between my Forever21 leggings which are made of cotton, and the Banana Republic leggings that are mostly made of rayon.

P.S. I Love You

A+ movie for all you hopeless romantics out there. It was a cute movie, I love to have a good cry every once in a while. But what Hilary Swank went through in the movie is not something I would want to go through or have someone do for me. I don't remember the last time I saw a movie in theaters. But I'm so tempted to go more often since there's so many good movies coming to theaters soon! (27 Dresses, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Bucket List)

Winter Break

I'm so sad that winter break ends today. I'm going to miss working long hours everyday and coming home afterwards to a home-cooked meal and falling asleep while watching Turner Classic Movies late at night. Turner Classic Movies is one channel that I will tolerate watching late at night because everything else that is on is just weird (paid programs and scripted reality shows on MTV). My mom claims that the reason I like old movies, tea, and French pastries was because those were the things she enjoyed when she was pregnant with me. I don't know if that's true, but it's interesting. It was hard for me to request to work one day on the last week of winter break because I enjoy making money. But I think it was a good decision considering the amount of work I had to do to prepare myself before school starts. And I used the rest of my free time to do nothing, which is a total waste of time..but I'd have to admit that it felt good.

OMG

Today's steal: Various designer sunglasses on sale for $140 at Saks Fifth Avenue! Better hurry and buy a pair that you like before they run out!

Dress Up

I'm obsessed with cute dress up games. After playing with a couple of these, I get very tempted to go out and buy new clothes to match the outfits that I've created. Click on the image to enlarge the picture, and there is another link below the image that takes you to the website that lets you create your own style.

Winter Weather

French Girl


Dream Girl

More fun dress up games:
* Hot Snow Boots
* Prom Dress
* Fancy Dresses
* Fashion Dresses
* Rock Girl Dressup
* Ultimate Dream
* Structured Jackets
* Dress Up Dream

The Spoon Sisters

This website has tons of cool gifts. It's owned by two sisters who were inspired by their mother who had a rare talent for picking out perfect presents.

Constructive eating..haha.


I need a new umbrella...this one would really make my rainy day feel brighter. :D


Swarovski Crystal pencils!


Pick your nose! Haha, it's so weird but so cool!


My phone needs a comfortable bed too.


If I had a pair of designer dish gloves then maybe I'd be more willing to wash the dishes.

Mini dresses

Mini dresses are so cute, especially when worn with leggings or tights. I love this combination of dresses and boots that Lucky put together. Sometimes people get the wrong idea that mini dresses can be worn with nothing under, but please don't support that trend..nobody wants to see your goodies.

J'adore Madeline

The one television show I used to look forward waking up to.

1 2 3 4

Play the ipod to listen to the songs!

I made this music player at MyFlashFetish.com.

1. "The Way I Am" - Ingrid Michaelson

2. "Tears Dry On My Own" - Amy Winehouse
I didn't think I'd like Amy Winehouse after listening to her "Rehab" song, but I changed my mind because of this song. The background music sounds a lot like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".

3. "The Queen & I" - Gym Class Heroes
I fell in love with this song after listening to it on Gossip Girl in "The Wild Brunch".

4. 1234 - Feist
Thank goodness for the new Ipod nano commercial, where else would I have discovered such a great song?

5. Silver Lining - Rilo Kiley

Hugs and kisses

I saw this cute salt & pepper shaker at POP Gallery in Downtown Disney a couple months ago and I had to make a post on it when I saw it again recently. This adorable item was created by Alberto Mantilla.

Creamy Blend

I really like these colors right now. Here are some pieces I found on BASIC boutique.

Designers: 1. Rachel Pally 2. Lewis Cho 3. Grace Sun

Knick knacks

I love creative stuff. day-lab has a variety of affordable and unique items largely produced by independent designers that you won't find in your local stores.

Do some good while you shop. Every month day-lab donates a percentage of their profit to the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

Drip Clips
Fun magnetic faucet that holds paper clips

Pepper & Salt Shakers
Beautiful elements for your table.

Accordian Zoo Visit
What could be better than cool cards...

Haha