merry christmas!

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!

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.

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

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)

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

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.

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.