Lala's Style of the Days

I am slowly but surely getting back on the horse, the horse I call college. It looks nice and noble from afar, but once you get a little closer, it starts to smell. I've already started my equestrian life by preparing for my classes. Not really preparing, it's more of re-learning everything I learned but sadly forgot last year since half of my classes are continuations of a previous class. My nerdy self is slowly dominating the other one-fifth's of me. Geesh, I sound like I have a multiple personality disorder.

Week 0 doesn't really count as "school" school I suppose since we've only had two days of classes, but then the end of it really means that summer has ended and I must pack up my heart and place it in box and throw it under the bed where no sunshine can enter until school's over and I can open it up again and bring in the light it deserves.

Okay, it's not that big of deal. I just like to exaggerate things just a teeny bit. It makes life more interesting.

Here is what I wore because you care and because I care or because we're both just bored.

THURSDAY first day of school!

-shirt: "tiger sharks becoming vegetarian by eating seaweed" shirt made by me. The scarf, yes the green one, is the seaweed if you were confused.
-jeans: $5 mall
-red string crown: made by me. one lady called me statue of liberty. I was confused. And then I got it.
-white shoes that gave me blisters! (but i will continue to wear it anyways): $9 payless
-bag
-scarf: 0.50 local thrift
-death from above pin: made by me during craft night

I was standing on our floor's pseudo balcony. Bacne took the picture for me. She got on the first shot. Usually it takes me a few times with my self timer to make myself less retarded looking. The RA was looking at us funny.

FRIDAY the temperature went down





-<3>

-aqua tights!: $1.50 local thrift

-Proenza Schouler for Target tissue tank: $3

-shiny vinyl shoes: $3 tjmaxx

-scarf: $0.50 st. vinnies

-messenger bag: $5 target

-mexican lady hair clip: souvenir from mexico.

Lala's Style of the Day

-tank: target, $4
-skirt: my mom didn't want it. so i took it.
-red leaf belt: 0.50 local thrift
-scarf as headband: 0.50 st. vinnies

A Trip Downtown

Yesterday my suitemates and my friend headed off to the heart of LA to the cool, hip place that is Fashion District. Bacne decided to ditch us for sleep. I will introduce the crew in a later post.

We took the Big Blue Bus down there. I'm like a public transportation expert now. For sure man, for sure. Then we walked. And aha! There it was, in all its glory, the Fashion District sign. I had led the team to the right direction.

The place was not crowded at all. Last year when we went on a Saturday, the streets were filled with people. Especially, Santee Alley. Santee Alley is basically this long alley way filled with clothing, toys, accessories and more! Lots a fakes and lots a fun! I was tempted to buy the "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" Bag just for fun, but I forgot to ask them how much it was.
I thought I would not buy things because either the stuff is cheap and yucky or a little more expensive but not yucky. But thankfully, after passing hundreds of shoe stores, I found a place where they had this two pairs for $10 deal. I think I have like natural instincts to find out where the clearance loot is. So this is what I bought.


I was instinctly attracted to those red sequined flats with a subtle tiger pattern. Or maybe it was a zebra pattern. They are my ruby shoes of magic. The other pair were a nice wedged flat with a floral pattern.

We kept walking and then decided to head back to the bus stop. We took a different street back and realized that all the cheap not yucky things were on the less known streets. I found these super fabulous rainbow flats with some skull embroidery for only $3.33!!! It was on sale - buy 3 pairs for 10 dollars. MWang bought two nice sandals.



We then went to do some purse shopping for my friend, who I shall call J Shrew. She didn't find the purse of her dreams. But I found more cheap stuff. I should seriously have a commandment of "Thou shall not buy cheap stuff just because it is cheap". The store was a $2.99 store which is sort of a hybrid between one of those downtown LA stores because umm, it was in downtown LA; a thrift store because it had a lot of random stuff that didnt have any multiples but things were new..I think; and a thank you mart because everything was $2.99.

I first found this orange South Park shirt for Bacne because it reminded me of her. Then I found the most hideous bright blue jeans in the world but they just called out to me:

jeans: Lala! Lala...Lala.... come over here.

me: *shrugs* Okay.

jeans: come to me. Buy me. Give me your tender loving care...

me: What are you?

jeans: I'm an awesome pair of Levi's mom jeans with a button up front dyed to a bright electric blue perfection. I am destined for you.

me: *I think I'm being brainwashed by these jeans* Okay. I'll buy you.

and that was basically the whole story. Then I found this orange strapless floral dress. I didn't really need it but it was nice and cheap. Man, I just broke my commandment.

After straggling along the streets for a while, I realized that it was alredy 3:30! We had planned to go eat a late lunch at Chinatown, but I guess it was not happening. We did end up going back to UnionStation so we could find the Big Blue bus again to head back to school. We were super dehydrated so we went to find a drink place. We passed by Olvera street a long the way, but to our dismay, found nada.
Finally, we settled for this Mexican cafe and I ordered a mango smoothie. It was good. But maybe it only seemed that good because I was on the verge of passing out.


The bus took like an hour to get back to school during which I fell asleep. It was a fun day, but sadly tomorrow, school will start and I will have to go back to my routine of waking up, school, sleeping. Hopefully I can manage to sneak in fun activities along the way.

An Update on College Life.

So yes. I am at college right now. My second year to be exact. I feel soo old! After hauling all my three cart full of stuff up the hill and up the elevators. I finally settled into the room. I'm not fully done decorating, but here's a preview:

The carts.

The dresser

The desk

The sink..?


Closet outside
Closet inside.

My wall. It's gonna be a scene of flowers. Do ya see it?

And finally, ladies and gentlemen, the coolest object in my room: my roommate. Her secret identity is Bacne. I've introduced her before, now here's a picture of ther super cool boy cut. I can't reveal her face because she is on the FBI's top ten most wanted fugitives.

Oh shoot. I don't think I should have said that. Darn.

Other crew members that might frequent on this blog are MWang, ghetto superstar and Beckster. I need to think of a cooler secret identity for her.

Tiger Shark's Gonna Get YOU

Okay. So I have another new post. I don't want to post everything exciting all at once because i want to even myself out. Once school starts, my life will be back to boring. Not that is was that much less boring when school was not starting.

Now, without further ado, I present to you my tiger shark three in one headband/neckscarf/belt, although headband is like 50% while the other two functions are more like 25% each because headbands just rock my world.

This was a launch off my first wacky band, the Lobster Headband. The theme is a little more nautical with the strips and the center feature being a shark of course. It is also reversible because the back side of the back fabric is a simple black fabric. To be honest, I was not inspired by anything on that fateful day I created this extraordinary masterpiece. I made it because I had bought this huge piece of tiger printed felt from JoAnns last year when they had this huge clearance sale on their remnant pieces. My sister I think, somehow mentioned a shark. I did a little mathematics since I'm such a nerd and all and the equation was perfect:

tiger + shark = tiger shark

I think it's funny, but maybe the mature college people at campus won't get my sense of lameness, but that's okay because I have the lamest friends in the world and they will understand my utter lack of cool. I'm kidding guys! You are way cool. Cooler than the Antartic during winter.

I made a totally of six of these for a few reasons. One, in case I explode in sweat one day and my tigershark headband is just a smelly tigershark headband. Two, possibly to sell so other people can bask in my lameness. And three, to get my idea to the Sushi Chefs of the world and make it a mandatory uniform. I would totally eat sushi from a place that had people wearing this. Wouldn't you?

Please excuse my puffy cheeks. I did NOT accidently inject myself with collegen if you were wondering.

I rock the world!!

Another thing about this headband is that it makes anyone instantly cool. For instance my loser of a roommate Bacne wore this awesome band of delight and turned instantly cool. It was as if a light was shining from her head. Imagine a halo on an angel, but cooler. Yeah, that's just how cool she looked. Then she took it off and the light disappeared and she turned back into her loser self. I love her still because she is the cheese puff in my sack lunch and no lunch is complete without a cheese puff. (Wasn't that the greatest metaphor like ever?? I think only Bacne could possibly understand the greatness of that line)

My rapstar of a friend, MWang also posed for me using my lobster headband. And she looks FIERCE. Tyra Banks will cower in her fierceness. Take a look:

Lala's Style of the Past Days

With the whole moving in and week zero fun extravaganza, I, Lala, have been a bad lil blogette for neglecting all you fine readers, even though I'm sure I was not missed much. But fear not once again because I am here now, at 1:13 am in the morning updating because sleep is so overrated. Plus, I want to train myself to sleep in late because I realize that out of everyone in my room, I always wake up first. I feel like such a mommy.

SUNDAY:
This was move in day so I needed something comfortable to lift boxes and luggages full of clothing with, hence the baggy tee, and something to absorb my sweat, hence the "tiger shark" headband. Get it? Tiger shark. Oh god. I crack myself up.

-bird of paradise sequinned tee: my mom's old shirt that she told me to do something with. So I did.

-Black capris: daisy fuentes for Kohls, $7

-"T" bling bling (for the inner rapstar in me): 0.50, the icing

-Tiger SHARK headband: made by me.

MONDAY: Monday was basically an errand/nothing much exciting day. My hot dog purse however, gave me all the excitment I needed for the day.

Mmmm, yum.

-wonderwoman tee: $5 mall

-scarf: 0.50 st. vinnies

-skirt: taken from my mom, she was going to donate it before I snuck it away.

-belt: taken from my aunt, who was also going to donate it before I took it away.

-shoes: $3 tjmaxx

-hotdog purse: I had it since I was young. It is seriously the coolest thing you will ever meet. I have a whole family of them. A hotdog backpack and a hamburger fannypack.

TUESDAY: Today, well, technically yesterday was a little trip to downtown LA.

-panda tunic: my own creation

-jeans: $12, Nordstrom Rack

-boots: $4, local thrift

-green scarf: $0.50, local thrift

-mexican people barrette: I think it was a souvenoir from Mexico

-green cardi: $3 tjMaxx

-necklace: my own, for my future "Clay Play" jewelry collection for LalaLiu Designs.

-bag: same ole, same ole 2.50 bag from the icing.

Lala, a rap star?

So I moved in yesterday and I must say this new room rocks my striped polyester socks! It's a lot bigger than my old room and it feels like a hotel. I'm living on the ninth floor and I feel like superman. I still haven't finished decorating yet, but once I'm finished it will be even better than ever!

Last night, as a part of our school's welcome week, we had a free concert featuring T.I. I had no idea who he was, but apparently he's pretty big. The line was like crazy long, longer than a Disney Land ride. Once the show started I realized something. I had an epiphany once again. I Lala, am just not a hip-hop gal. When people were moving to the music, I was moving too. But not to the music, but to the sounds of mothernature urging me to use the restroom. I have no clue as to what artists are who. My coolest suitmate and friend MWang (a rapstar) introduced me to the Cholo song. I can now put my shoulders up and move side to side and perhaps not look like a fool? I guess my dream of becoming a rapstar and hiphop dancer will never be fullfilled. I mean, you can't have everything in life right?

Well, at least there's something called photoshop where my dreams can be temporarily filled.

The Challenge of the Night

To take all this:

and this
and this
and fit it into these:

This doesn't even include my shoes, accessories, bags, hats, and school stuff and bathroom stuff. Time to sharpen my packing skills!

I just knew my procrastination would bite me in my big behind sooner or later. Apparently, it was sooner. I haven't packed yet for my move in tomorrow. I've only just started, which in my words mean that I have only took out the clothes I want to bring and placed them all over my room.


I should have spent the day instead of lurking e-bay and fashion blogs and going to Target to pick up some "necessities".


I picked up these green Libertine shorts because they were 75% off. I'll just save them for next summer. I also got this yellow tank which I don't know why I did. My mom just placed them in the cart. Then I found another pair of those leopard flats that I just wear so much. They were only $3.74 so I figured I could always stock up. Actually, I was thinking of revamping them aka the Grey's smashing mousey flats a la Marc Jacobs. I need to get oogly eyes!

And I should have stopped blogging by now because I just wasted some more time.

And I used to think...

that "hipsters" referred to a type of jeans.

Made: I Wanna Be a Hipster

What I Did Today and Last Night

Let's see, I have about 1.5 days left until I move in and official declare the end of my summer fun. Truth be told, I'm actually excited to start a new year. I don't really like school but I like the idea of being at school and being a student. Does that even make sense? Now I'm going to review a bit of what I did today because that is just how bored I am.

I woke up around 8:30 this morning thanks to the lovely sounds of wood being sliced downstairs. My room is above the garage and my dad, like me and my sewing, likes to play with wood. He promised to take me shopping today since yesterday's "father-daughter" activities were a bust. We drove to the thrift store and I shopped. Actually I drove because the today is the last day I have insurance which means that my thrifting habits throughout the schoolyear will be cut short unless my friends take me with *wink wink*. I don't know why I just winked. I'm not sure a lot of my friends read this and even if the do they can't drive *wink wink*, you know who you are :P. He took a nap in the car. Don't worry, it wasn't that hot today so he didn't suffocate to death.

I have found a new favorite thrift store. During my scouring of the racks, this man kept giving me pants he thought I would all like. They were ugly but I didn't say that to his face. I was sweet and said, "yeahh! they're really cool! thanks!" One pair were these tapered drawstring jeans with fabric on the cuffs and another pair were these black goth/raver looking things. Those would have been a really low level-maybe if they weren't $15. And then I went to another rack and secretly placed them back. Sorry dude, you have bad taste, but thanks for your consideration. I love meeting random strange people at thrift stores.

I had a handful of things in my arms at the end but I only decided to leave with two. The hat was an impulse buy because it reminded me of my stuffed animals except for my head and because fashaholic tried on this furry 70's hat at this vintage store we went to once. It's not nearly as cool, but it's an alright alternative. I can pet my head everytime I get bored in econ or accounting which could be possibly everytime.

Me wearing all the things together!

The dress looking thing was my first find. I found it on the floor actually and was attracted to the bow and red plaid on the back and then when I saw the front with its little patch it was mine! I seem to have a strange attraction to anything childish. It's a little big. I don't know if it was a girls or woman's dress because its kinda big but short as well.

So I can always stay a teen at heart.

The back. It reminds me of Christmas!

So in total, I spent around $7. The jumper dress was 3.95, the pink plaid shirt was 0.85 and the furry hat was $1.50. I'm so addicting to thrifting now. I'm going to have a hard time during my withdrawal period. Please don't hate me if I seem irritatated and angry all the time in the future. It's not me. It's the lack of thrifting.

I really should have worn this shirt I made last night. I love it. I'm thinking of making more to sell possibly. Then all us crazy thrifters can identify each other.

After thrifting, we went to send my sister lunch. I also went to visit my art teacher to say hello and to drop off this way awesome shirt I made him:

My art teacher was actually the one to rename me Lala, so without him this blog would not exist. And LalaLiu would not exist. It might be tiffyliu which just is not as cool or have that ring to it. So thank you. It's funny because he's also the wrestling coach. Man, I hope the shirt isn't too small for him.

Afterwards, I met up with my mom for some Chinese Islamic food. Then my dad and I contined our shopping spree. More like "my" shopping spree since I was kind of forcing him. We stopped by walmart for some dorm shopping but all I really walked away with was a bottle of shampoo and some findings for my jewelry making. Then we stopped by Nordstrom Rack and TJ Maxx but found nothing. We went home and I was about to take a nap when I saw my sister had received her Seventeen Magazine. Deciding I had nothing better to do and that I can always sleep at night, I read it. Then I did some ebaying.

I asked my mom if I could go to the thrift store. She gave me a death glare. This is what went down.

Me: Can I go to thrift store tomorrow? (in a half joking/half serious tone)

Mama: TING TING!! SHUT UP!

Me: *Blank* and *quiet*

Mama: Serious, you are so obsessed!

Is she right? Am I obsessed? Perhaps I am but aren't we all obsessed with something? I need to make a list. Yes. I need to prioritize what I need, and what I need to do. So here goes.

• Paint nails.
• Paint toes.
• First pick a color to paint though.
• Finish my online portfolio
• Buy makeup even though I don't know how to do makeup.
• Decide how much clothing/shoes/belts/bags/accessories I can fit in one SUV.
• Place the said amount of clothing/shoes/belts/bags/accessories in boxes and luggage cases.
• Do some more ebaying.
• Watch "What Not to Wear" and "20/20"
• Think about school?
• Feed turtle.
• Buy more necessities.
• Thrifting.

So I made thrifting the least of priorities. Mom should be proud.

Lala's Style of the Day

Today was a "father daughter" day because I forced my dad to have one since we never went to those "father daughter" dances back in elementary school. It broke my heart. Actually, I didn't force him. He just decided to take two days off because he's a lazy bum, but oh well that means a DIM SUM outing! I was going to go do some back to school shopping but then I had to rush home to do some secretary-esque typing for my uncle by 3:00. I spent the rest of the day ebaying. I never ebayed anything before but gosh is it addicting.

-shirt: made by me.
-skirt: my "when skirts don't fit" skirt
-tights: 99 cent store.
-polka dot flats: $3 tjmaxx
-yellow purse: $2 target

"Zip me up, Scotty!"

I haven't quite "placed back my heart" as the start of my second year of college looms closer and closer. I'm not ready to trade in my fashion glossies for econ books and I'm unwilling to swap my sewing machine for pens and notebooks. Not just yet. Because of my stubborn inability to let go of the good ole summer days, I've been on a crazy DIY/sewing rampage this week, to get in as much clothing making/messing around as I can and to transform the last of my ideas into reality before these ideas I've had all summer gets lost in the deep abyss that is my mind. I do tend to forget things rather easily which sucks hairy butts because I don't remember any of my economics or accounting. Oops.

I've been doing quite a few reconstructions with some things I bought at thrifts, but the two prize winners are these awesome zipper dresses. I have a cookie tin full of zippers that I had gotten at downtown LA for like 25 cents a piece, but my fear of zipper sewing left them unused and unloved. But not anymore because now I present to you my Zip Me Up Baby! dresses.

Dress numero one, I call Abernath. Miss Abernath is constructed from a grey Napolean Dynamite t-shirt I got at a 99 cent store, blue jersey fabric, green trousers, and black denim jeans. With all their powers combined here is Abernath in action baby!

I had orginally created the bodice for this other dress I was reconstructing, but like always things never turn out as planned. I used zipper as straps which means I can unzip or zip up the straps as I please. I've been a stronge urge for primary colors lately. I love my yellow tights.

Dress numero two, I shall call Tulip. I know I'm about a season too late, but it was inspired by that talked about Christopher Kane collection. Except my little miss Tulip is not as body concious as Mr. Kane's dresses are.

Kane's version:

My version:

Tulip here was created from that same Napolean Dynamite grey tee and my mom's old dress. This dress makes me want to skip around my mold infested garden for some reason.

I'm also so glad I did not get rid of these $3 vinyl shoes of ugliness because I'm in love with them now. Never throw away/donate/give away anything because who knows when you will fall back in love with them again.