Forty

Here's a song I like having in the background on a calm night while I do my internet thingggg

4men + Mi - Here I Am (from the Secret Garden OST) from 909Urnobody (where I update myself on the latest Kpop)

I love that one guys's's's' voice from 4men - so distinctive.

In a way, I have a LOT of time right now because I'm only working 20 hrs/week and I'm not planning for any trips and surprisingly don't have hardly any errands. Guess it's time to "work on my room", exercise, and think of Xmas! 

Some random pictures from today(ish)...

H and M polish - colour pigmentation was perfect and it went on really well but, i guess w/out top coat, it chips easily.

Driving to Ikea w/ mom - so pretty seeing all the bare trees with thin strips of fresh snow on their branches. difficult to take a decent picture when the car is moving on a highway...

after ikea, @ homesense. can you imagine having this huge bell on your tree??? it's almost as big as my head!!

A $238 konked-out reindeer that's big enough for me to sit on.

@ bowring

of course my mom liked this ornament... at first, i was like "hey look! a monkey snowman!" and then i realized they were earmuffs hahahah

the start of our hot pot @ cattle in richmond for auntie S's bday. meat always comes first.. if i were the restaurant server, i'd serve the carbs first and then meat. fiiiilll'er up!

i saw this new kid-friendly pacman pinball machine that emerald got for her bday and asked if it was from my uncle andrew. of course it was lol (he's really into collecting those giant pinball machines - says they're an investment)

 fun and plastic-y

 triton says that i should put my hands in my pocket 'cause it's the cool way.

 playing hide-and-go-seek. taken right when i found him

haha i like these sorts of pics 'cause there's a lot going on and shows the personality of the ppl in it. triton wanted to blow out the candle but he's recovering from a cold so auntie anna (who just recovered from a 2 wk cold) held one out away from the cake for him to blow and he accidentally ended up missing blowing the candle and blew right into auntie anna's face (avec saliva) loll which is why my auntie sandy is laughing so hard. 
And sidenote, my uncle k hasn't shaved since the beginning of november to show his support for prostate cancer (which also explains why my cousin also looked like an old greasy man the other day.. and i was thinking "gee, what a coincidence they've both started growing a moustache!"). He knows that it's a terrible look for him. 10 more days and it will be gone.

auntie S's reaction after seeing our reaction when she brought out this huge, hideous metal turtle she bought as part of my grandma's gift for christmas. "it was only 9 bucks!"... i wonder why... btw, the head can move back and forth, too. it's on a spring.

snow snow snow. M, B, and I came out after singing karaoke and it's snowing hardddd. so magical, i love it!!

Until tomorrow.....

Yesterday, All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away

Dammit. I obviously forgot. Bad idea to get that Spanish Latte so late. I went to bed at 2AM and now I'm fully awake at 7:15AM (I woke up a couple times in between, too). So yea. Busy day yesterday and since I brought along a digi, I have a few pictures to share for once~

Sooo convocation was early in the morning. My grandparents, parents, and brother came. My grandparents got me a pretty and girly bouquet, a graduation bear from the bookstore (that my mom helped me name "Geo" for Geography), and a necklace my 2nd cousin made (she sells her handmade jewelry as one of her many jobs and really ran around to find the right quality pieces for it). The whole thing was 2 hours long (zzz) and we all walked across the pond and down the stairs of the AQ while the whole group of bagpipe players (SFU tradition) blew air into their instruments EEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR which left 10 minutes to take a few quick snaps before we rushed off to the Milestones near my house and then to the office. 

(I got a BA in the Faculty of Environment, btw.. Geography major). There was this one graduate who had a 4.24 GPA.  He did a joint major in (something along the lines of) molecular biology and biochemistry and minored n psychology! He has 36 A+ (not a single A-!). CRAZY.

Oh, I picked up 2 Anna Sui polishes and was pretty excited to use them. I saw someone swatch the peach colour, but I was taking a chance with the purple and I was so disappointed when I painted my nails! (Oh yea, btw, I totally did not fulfill anything in the challenge yesterday... I wore mascara, straightened my hair, and painted my nails.. bad... I know :( I'll make up for it Tuesday). 

Super adorable packaging and the polish has a nice rose fragrance, which was a nice surprise. I was hoping the purple would be a dupe of the YSL one I wasn't fast enough to get earlier on in the Spring. The Anna Sui purple (208, for reference), was totally NOT anything close!!! It was darker, way ugly, and had this blue under-shimmer that made my nails look like I stole my little cousin's DISNEY nail polish! It looks cheap and the shade is more than awful. It's hard to see just how terrible it is in the picture... but I guess you can imagine. (Yes.. I'm a nail drama queen.. I think it's because the polish was $15 which is pretty expensive, but I swear, this is my extent of my drama....... hehe).

Met up with M and Yena downtown to do some shopping after and M brought me 2 rolls of chamchi (tuna) kimbap from Port Coq. because that store has the closest thing to the best chamchi kimbap rolls like the ones we had in Korea. That was dinner, thanks! Bought a huge fluffy hot metallic pink and black (so not me haha) powder brush from Sephora I will test out. It was very pricey so I hope its price will reflect its performance... also got a basic form-hugging tank dress from True Value Vintage for only $19! Deal of the day. I think that's all I bought. 

I tried on my first one-shoulder dress at TVV. It feels weird putting it on! It's like when I first tried on my mom's 3/4 length sleeve shirts back in elementary school - it felt soooo weird.. as if material was missing.  It looked really bad on in person (pictures are a bit deceiving and it was way too small at the hips) but I really like the look of [most] one-shoulder dresses. I like this general shape because one side is a "long" sleeve. I see so many sleeveless versions out there, but not many one-sleeve.  One-shoulder is the new strapless!

Quick snap of my simple outfit of the day before I left Urban Outfitter's change room.. (I tried on some really cute pieces but the debit card machine was broken). Club Monaco sun dress, cropped 3/4 sleeve cardigan from Korea, UO Sabina Convertible leather bag, cheapie elastic + metal belt from Korea, and the only shoes that fit me from Vince in Malaysia (and the only heel I can walk all day in) that I noticed after was a replica of a Nine West heel.

After, hung out w/ the Kgroup... (lol I don't think I've ever made a name for them) at Jerry's apartment. We were originally supposed to go sing, but I kind of like just hanging out 'cause I haven't seen them for a long while. It was in celebration of Jerry's birthday. 

Bern has all the better pictures... we tried to surprise him by lighting his candles in the bathroom and then coming out. Guh.. now that I look at this picture, it looks really really unappetizing! LOL

Jin is leaving to return back to Korea on Monday~ InJae is leaving mid July~ Jerry is leaving mid Aug. Sad!

Oh yea, the boys created Korean names for me and Bern. I like them. They went through the effort to make it as close as possible to our Chinese names (but really, only our last names were very accurate).

Bern = IM BO-MI (Bomi is a very popular Korean name, I knew 4 Bomi's in Korea. It suits Bern 'cause her nickname is "Bunny" and if you say Bomi in a certain way, it sounds like Bunny! or maybe you can even hear "Bher-ni[ce]" lol so I think it really really suits Bern!).

Me = OH SO-NA (Very unique apparently - only 1 other person has this (full) name in Korea lol - you can check online! The "So" is close to my middle character of my Chinese name "little".. and the "na" resembles "Natasha". It's funny how easy it is to write (and say) my name in so many languages)

Anyway, thanks to M for letting me borrow her camera. Good day, especially since it warmed up! I shall get my Canon S90 within the next month if I find time (and someone) to go down and pick it up from the States with me. :)

Nailed It!

3 papers down, 2 more to go!!!

Had time to shape my nails today! In Korea, I was introduced to the squoval nail shape and I've loved it ever since. To me, it has that naturally chic vibe that doesn't imply "high-maintenance" as square shapes common in gel/acrylic nails often do.  Squoval is basically what it says: square-shaped with rounded edges. I found this handy dandy site that shows you how to achieve whichever nail shape you want. That is, of course, if it is a more conventional shape.  For the squoval, as it instructs, you just need to file your nails a certain angle and whala! 13 seconds later, you will have a squoval nail! I used 3 coats of my nude OPI shade, Samoan Sand.  While I kind of regret getting that shade because it doesn't go that well with my skin tone, I still like the idea of the colour and it's growing on me!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy (hehe.. haven't said that phrase in a while)

Fact: I have not swiped my debit or credit card in over 2 weeks!
Fact: I have only had 1 cup of tea and 1 Greek coffee within the past 2 weeks!
Fact: I am exhausted and I've got an eventful day tomorrow~ let's hope for sun and no precipitation!

One Week Left

Brr it's be really sunny out the past week but also really chilly in the shade! 

 

I had a full day yesterday - M and I went to Secret Nail and Beauty Supply store on Kingsway.  I got a few goodies: 10 pairs false lashes for $10.99 in a dramatic cut, crystal nail file (apparently will last forever and is much more sanitary than other nail files), another nail polish remover pump, and 3 O.P.I polishes for $5.99 each: Modern Girl, A Good Man-Darin Is Hard To Find, and Samoan Sand. Then we walked down a few blocks to look at some Korean DVDs to buy but for some reason the store was closed. But, I got a couple decadent squares of treats from this small Vietnamese/Chinese bakery ^^ Indulgence.

Then I headed downtown - the skytrain was packed! It came every 4 minutes but I had to miss 3 trains because there wasn't any room in them! Met up with Artemis and we tried scouting out restaurants/bar/lounges with TVs to watch the Canada vs. USA hockey game. After putting our names on the waiting lists at 4 or 5 restaurants with 1.5-2 hour waitlists, we wound up walking towards Denman and went to Chau - this Vietnamese restaurant (with yummy cocktails) and got good seats in front of the TV. Her friend, Steve, came to join us and it was cute - the whole 20 of us (3 + strangers) cheered, roared, and awwed it out. It was a good game even though Canada lost. 

Walked down to Denman to meet up with B and a few others at Banana Leaf where we shared Malaysian dishes! On the way back up to Granville Station, we saw those strobe "art" lights you can design and control online. 

Met up with Artemis. One of her friends is opening for a DJ at this small club on Hastings called Pop Opera.  The venue was previously known as 686 but has now changed and renovated. Quite nice inside with sleek seating, streamlined, white quilted banquettes, neat pendant lighting, and two bars - both cleanly lit from beneath. She invited me right before dinner and so I obviously wasn't dressed at all being in my scrubby work flats, a white t-shirt (my attempt to show off some canadian pride.. worn with my red and white CANADA scarf seen on every 3rd person downtown) and a casual cardigan. She brought me a black dress, though so it was fine - and my feet didn't hurt at all 'cause I didn't wear heels!

So even though cover was free for me, coat check was $5 PER ITEM. Expensive much?? That's what the Olympics bring.. inflated cover and coat check prices. Pop Opera wasn't totally happening, but A's friend, Ryan, was a great DJ! He's only 19 or 20 yrs old, too. He started off with the beginning of the Lion King's Circle of Life song (the tribal part) and mixed that which turned out to be really catchy and brought ppl to the dance floor. At midnight, everyone from PO went to Republic because there wasn't enough of a crowd to keep the club running so we limo-ed it over (my first time in one, actually). Republic was neat - also my first time there. I like it - very narrow, 2 floors, nice bar areas, nice, clean washrooms.

Sunday was Reggae night so we had this guy sing for a long time - he was so good. Sang Bob Marley and The Police (that's all I recognized haha). Ryan's cousin was in town and he wanted to show her some other clubs on Granville so we hopped across the street to Caprice. That was surprisingly a lot of fun - they were apparently playing Deadmau5 (I'm slowly getting to know these DJs...) and had overall awesome music. 

Someone mentioned that team Germany and USA? was at Republic last night... and that Alex Bilodeau was at PO on Saturday night.  I had a good time - M picked A and me up to drive us home~

Had lunch at Sushi Town with Becky today!

Oh I dyed my hair, too. It's pretty light.. we were going for an ash shade. I think I'm going to go back and get it redyed darker, though.

Man, I wish I had pictures to show you! Text on text is no fun to read or show. 

Currently typing e-mails, eating melba toast with tsatziki, blogging, waiting for laundry to finish...

Polished

Lextard's flickr site provides by far the most impressive and organized collection of nail swatches I have come across! If you ever wonder how a certain colour will turn out, she will most probably have it. They’re all cataloged by brand name and each and every polish & lacquer is accurately labeled. She even shows the bottle for the purpose of colour comparison. Her collection includes 60 Essie, 71 Zoya, 119 Sally Hansen, 146 China Glaze, and 209 OPI polishes. 1,725 (yes, I did the math) and counting!
What an amazing collection!
I can’t seem take my eyes off of this one. Super classy, lux, and holiday perfect.
Mm sure makes me want a cup of Blenz Dark Belgian Hot Chocolate too…