Friday, December 24, 2010

Thursday, December 23, 2010

renegade craft fair

a couple of weeks ago, i went with a few friends to the renegade holiday craft fair in la. there weren't as many vendors as last time, but i had a lot of fun.


there were some fun things to do. we made our own grocery bags out of old t-shirts courtesy of hands-on 3rd. they had a vintage sewing machine powered by a bicycle.

workout of the day
thea and her t-shirt bag courtesy of my hard work

thea's turn on the bike

thea peddling to help jen
 we also decorated drawstring pouches with stamps and markers.


just like last year, magnolia photo booth was there again with a holiday theme.


several food trucks were there including fry smith.


while waiting for our fries, i met this interesting guy who bought the beard from i made you a beard

time to eat....
raja fries from fry smith - soooooo delish!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

one year ago...

....my life changed.

it's been one year since my sister's passing. i can't believe it's already been one year. in anticipation of today, i thought about what to expect. would i just cry all day? are my parents going to be ok? should i go to the church event tonight and not think about it at all? talking to my mom yesterday to make plans, she didn't want to do anything. she didn't want me to bring it up to my dad to make him sad. i don't blame her. i've managed to avoid the area where she was found this whole time, even going to the cypress gym instead (although not often). i thought that it would be even more hard for my parents to remember that night when we couldn't find her, the police coming to our house to let us know that she was no longer with us. that was the hardest time in our family's life, to have someone so young taken away without any reason was really difficult to swallow. even now knowing that there is no answer to the question of what happened and how did she pass, there is still thankfulness in my heart; thankfulness for the time we had with her, for the Lord's grace in our family's life this past year through my extended family, church and friends, even my sister's friends. there is trust in the Lord knowing that He is sovereign over all, nothing is out of His control.

i'm thankful to spend time with my parents today. even though we didn't really talk about debbie, it was just nice to eat dinner, watch tv and laugh together. i wanted to visit long beach where we scattered her ashes, but couldn't due to the rain. hopefully the weather will get better so i can go next time.

Friday, December 17, 2010

blog love - grosgrain

a blog i absolutely love is grosgrain fabulous.

kathleen has a sew-along called a frock by friday. i have yet to participate, but i definitely have bookmarked them for future projects.



another feature on her blog is thrift store thursday where she takes thrift store finds and refashions them. here are some favorites:

shortening coat and adding ruffle detail

lengthening top to make into a dress
she has a new feature called embellish knit where she's taking 30 cardigans & sweaters and embellishing them in 30 days with 2 more to go. here are some favorites.

day 7
day 8
day 15
day 28

Thursday, December 16, 2010

recap - 30 for 30 challenge


things i learned doing this challenge:
  • i wear cardigans a lot (18/30)
  • how to wear belts (thanks to many remixers)
  • lots of clothes from the 30 list i've had for a long time, oldest item is the white top (around 6 yrs)
  • i can actually post every day if i really wanted to (hopefully it'll be more regular)

what i would have done different:
  • less skirts (didn't wear 2 skirts from the 30 list)
  • more tops
  • remix a little bit more - some outfits were the same as other days
  • more care into taking pictures of myself - i usually ended up taking the picture in my room at the end of the day

what i didn't expect:
  • wore only 28 pieces instead of 30
  • weather changes - but california weather really is unpredictable
  • clothes envy - following other remixers were great, but there were times when i wanted what they had
  • meeting so many new people through this challenge

would i do the challenge again?

most likely. it was a lot of fun and silly, at times (especially taking pictures of myself)

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

day 30

tank&top&cardigan: forever 21
jeans: james (thrifted)
belt: banana republic
shoes: target
the day has finally come. i can't believe it's over. it went by pretty quickly. yes, the challenge has ended. i'm glad to have done the challenge, but thankful that i no longer have to take pictures of myself. :)



today i wore some of my favorite pieces. i've seen a lot of bloggers wear their cardigans wrapped around instead of just hanging there so i wanted to try it for my last remix. i'm really glad to wear something else tomorrow besides these 30 items.

yesterday i was sorting through my coats & jackets in my closet. i have quite a bit especially from hurley due to working at the warehouse sale. i pulled out my really old denim jacket. it'll be going in the donation pile. as i was checking the pockets, i found $7. score!

day 29


sweater: banana republic (thrifted)
dress: forever 21
jeans: hurley
shoes: nine west
flower pin: handmade by me (from rosie's wedding dress
there's 2 skirts i haven't worn (and won't wear) during this challenge. these yellow wedges almost didn't make it in, but i forced myself to get a little dressed up. i even curled my hair using this blowdryer.

karen took me out to eat for a belated dinner. we've been meaning to get together to catch up, but we've both been busy. we ate at woodranch (last year we ate here too) and totally ate way too much food.

bbq pulled pork, tri-tip, baby back ribs, peanut coleslaw, sweet potato fries

Monday, December 6, 2010

day 26/27/28

day 26 (fri)

top: banana republic factory store
cardigan: forever 21 (thrifted)
jeans: hurley
shoes (not pictured): target
jacket: goodwill
i was invited to dinner at soowon galbi in koreatown along with a few others by logan to meet one of his korean classmate/friend, stanley. the meal was excellent, the conversation was great (got to share my testimony with stanley), but we should have ordered more food. afterwards, we went to bobos for some karaoke, but it was too crowded so we went to eat patbingsoo (shaved ice) at miss coffee. it came in a 8-cup pyrex cup. the thing was crazy big!

source

day 27 (sat)

tank&shirt: forever 21
jeans: 7 (thrifted)
jacket: hurley
shoes (not pictured): target
i had gone to joann for some supplies on friday using my 50% off coupon (regular priced items only) and 20% off total purchase (both sale & regular price). the 20% off coupon does not include any items used with the 50% off coupon, meaning no additional 20% off from the 50%. too many percentages in this section. since i can reuse the coupon (can't use during the same visit), i went back to get some more supplies on sat. i had picked out a few things, but when i went to wait in line, the line was really long. i went back and forth trying to decide whether to wait in the line. i eventually waiting in the really really long line just to use my coupon. so much time spent on just trying to save just a little bit.

i was invited to a housewarming party for a friend who just recently moved. she made some yummy thai food, pigged out on snacks while catching up with another friend, then played speed uno. remember when uno cards looked like this? there's a new version now - mod version. the best thing about this version is the new wild card - mod card. when you play a mod card, you name a color and then pass all cards you have of that color to the other players in turn order. then you choose what color to play. this card was the best and secured me the win in the first round. our hostess won the 2nd time.

day 28 (sun)

tank: target
top: anthropologie
skirt: club monaco (a really long time ago)
cardigan: banana republic
scarf: gift from friend
tights: forever 21
boots: nine west
jeans: 7 (thrifted)
i wore the first outfit to church. i had gotten this skirt from club monaco for $5 at the cabazon outlet a long time ago (before they closed the store). i didn't realize that i was wearing this skirt wrong everytime i wore it. i had worn it below my belly button this whole time, it's supposed to be worn at the waist like a paperbag skirt. how silly of me. i can't believe i never noticed until recently. i'm so glad i kept this skirt, most likely will be staying in my closet. after lunch, i went to coffee studio with a few others to get some reading/writing my apps/time wasting on the internet. it was raining pretty hard while we were there, but stopped when we left to go home.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

day 25

tank: forever 21
shirt: target (thrifted)
jeans: james (thrifted)
cardigan: hurley
belt: american eagle
shoes: target
i can't believe there's only 5 more days left in this challenge. i'm going to clean out my closet once i'm done with this challenge. i'm a hoarder. i rarely throw away things thinking that i might have some use for it later. i definitely need to de-clutter. i have clothes that i've had for years. it's time for a little cleaning.

day 24

tank&top: forever 21
cardigan: forever 21 (thrifted)
jeans: 7 (thrifted)
boots: target
scarf: gift from friend
today was our last cbf meeting this quarter. i can't believe we're already done this quarter, went really quickly.  we had a nice little treat from the students today. all staff members received an appreciation gift.

hot chocolate mix with marshmallows
isn't the jar so cute! they all had our names and pictures drawn on them. my jar had a ball of yarn unraveling to spell my name with a little kitty next to the yarn.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

day 23

tank: target
jacket: hurley
jeans: 7 (thrifted)
shoes (not pictured): old navy (flip-flops)
today was a lazy day. i had planned to do a lot of things, but i was very unproductive. i'm blaming it on this cold i have (it's getting better). i would have been in pjs all day if i didn't go to trader joe's this afternoon. i did spend a few hours in front of my sewing machine trying to finish a dress, but the zipper is giving me a hard time.

day 22

tank&shirt&tights: forever 21
cardigan: thrifted
skirt: made by me
boots: target
i think i might be catching a cold. i have a runny nose and can't stop sneezing. my nose is super dry from blowing on tissues all day long.

today i went to m&l fabrics to buy fabric for some upcoming projects. they're having a sale right now - 20% off everything in the store until dec 9th. i came away with tons of fabric including grey lace which i'm going to make this skirt:

lace skirt

a lot of remixers have this as part of their 30 so i see it quite often as i skim through the posts on my google reader. so when i saw the same fabric, i wanted to make the same skirt (longer length). i wanted to get fabric for a coat i want to make, but i have a lot of jackets/coats so i'm going to hold off on it. i do need more tops, but i haven't found any good patterns.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

day 21

tank&tights: forever 21
dress: thrifted
cardigan: banana republic
boot socks: target
shoes: nine west
jacket: banana republic factory store
scarf: gift from friend


i can't believe there's only about a week left in the challenge. thanks to linda for reminding me that we're almost done. i still have some skirts i haven't worn yet. this challenge has taught me that i rely quite a bit on jeans so i should have chosen more shirts. oh well. i'm probably going to wear skirts all week.

day 20

sweater: banana republic (thrifted)
jacket: hurley
jeans: james (thrifted)
scarf: gift from friend
shoes: target
i went to joann fabrics to pick out fabric for some new sewing projects, but i ended up not getting anything. i'm not in a rush so i can wait on getting fabric. i should probably make something out of the fabrics i already have.

my mom and i went to my grandma's apt to pick up her old sofa. we rearranged the living room again to fit the new sofa, which totally doesn't match the couches we already have. we also borrowed her dyson vacuum that my mom had bought her a while back. i seriously now want one. the amount of dirt that it picked up was amazing. if i showed you a picture of how much it picked up, you would be so grossed out like i was.

baked some cupcakes (chocolate souffle cupcakes with mint cream) with jessica - yummy (recipe)

Saturday, November 27, 2010

day 19

tank: forever 21
top: target (thrifted)
jeans&jacket: hurley
shoes: target
stephanie and i have been going to the black friday sales for a few years now. this year we only planned on going to target. i got up and stood in line at 4am with stephanie and thea. i bought a few dvds (i had a gift card). one of the dvds i bought was punky brewster season 1 for only $1.99!



this is totally what i watched when i was a kid. she and i had the same night light. all i wanted to do mix-match all my clothes and wear 2 different color shoes just like her.

after target, we went to citadel outlets where i was totally tempted with so many sales. with this challenge, i'm not supposed to shop for the 30 days. oh why did i choose this challenge during the biggest shopping discount days? there are too many sales and clothes just calling to me saying, "pick me", "choose me", "you need me". i tried on a few things and loved this one dress from the banana republic factory store, but i resisted and didn't purchase anything there.

after a long nap, i finally watched harry potter with a few friends. we went to lunch at chick-fil-a before the movie. today was a "come back" day where you come back any day in december, show your receipt from today and get the same items you ordered today for free. this is only at the long beach town center location.

jesse was SUPER excited about the deal!
while waiting for the movie to start....the many faces of thea

Thursday, November 25, 2010

day 18

tank&shoes: target
dress: forever 21
jeans: james (thrifted)
cardigan: hurley




gotta go to sleep to get enough rest for black friday.

favorite remixes....so far

i already did the first 3 days so these are from day 4-14.