Saturday, June 30, 2007

Okay, I need to control myself

Today my mom took a day off to spend time with me. We did the usual activities we always do - eat and shop! After getting my daily swimming in, my mom and I headed off to Todai (Japanese Sushi Buffet), there goes all my hard work, oh well, I'm enjoying life. Then we decided to go to Loehmann's when I found out that they were having their big Red Tag sale where the clearance clothing is reduced by another 40%. I was excited. When we first got in, there were soooo many rows and rows of clearance racks! Me likey.



Loehmanns is like this discount store similar to TJ Maxx but much better in quality. They have a lot of designer duds as well. I wanted to shop carefully through each row but after 3 hours I only managed I think 1/3 of the clothes. I found a goregous albeit a little too extravagent Marc Jacobs coat but as much as I liked it, it was totally unpractical and it was still a little expensive for my college life budget although much cheaper than retail. In the end we bought 9 items in total and ended up paying $50! I got some shoes, pants, tops, skirts mostly from the junior section and a lot of the items were by this brand Lulu Castagnette. They had this cute lil bear on the tag so I couldn't resist!





Purchased:

  • Soundgirl white skinny jeans : $5.38 what the heck am I going to do with white jeans!?! *but they're soo comfortable and fit so nicely...
  • Lulu Castagnette Navy Trousers: $6.58 I need to start wearing things other than denim -_-
  • Lulu Castagnette Lime Pencil Skirt: $5.38
  • Heatherette Orange and White Music Notes Sweater: $6.58
  • Kenzie Girl floral miniskirt: $4.18
  • Kenzie Girl Strawberry tank: $2.98
  • Farylrobin Leather Wedges: $9.58

I seriously think I need to stop shopping, I don't have any more room in my closet!

But I wanna go back and check out the other rows that I didn't have time to rummage through..hehe.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

YAY! It finally came!

After a long weeks-worth wait, my Uniquely You mannequin finally arrived on the doorsteps today! I'm excited, because now I can start sewing like crazy without having the pin and poke myself everytime I wanna try on what I made. I chose the uniquely you over the adjustable ones because I went to Joanns the other day to see the Dritz model and they were just horrid! They looked really cheap and the plastic-y and it didnt seem easy to adjust. Plus, the shape of the dress forms were just too idealistic. My waist is not that thin thank you very much. I was a little worried about the Uniquely You because of the steps it takes to get it to fit "you". It comes with a cover that zips up in the back. You're suppose to rip up the seams and re-sew it until it fits your figure. It seemed a little complicated when I read the directions. Luckily, I tried on the cover, and it seemed to already fit pretty well, except for the boob area was a little off. But I didnt want to go through the hassle of adjusting it and overall it was a really perfect fit.

The cover.



Look at those boobs! The instructions said that the dress form is supposed to be "exaggerated"!


It took me forever to zip it up!! I was sweating like a pig.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Office

I guess I am a little late hopping on to the bandwagon, but I seriously love The Office. I've heard great reviews from my friends, but never actually watched it. Maybe it was because I didn't have much tv access this year. But this week, with the help of fanpop (the best place to watch shows that youtube took off), I've been having an The Office marathon in my room while working on my website and tshirt designs. The characters are so funny and seem like real people with really weird and interesting personalities.


My biggest fear in life would be ending up working at a place in the office selling paper or being trapped in a cubicle. Sometimes I imagine myself running a chic office and then I imagine all the chic designer clothing that I wish I could wear! Being a fashion schizophrenic, I've fallen in love with some of the trends for FW. A little different from my colorful tastes.

Masculine + Feminine = Lovely!

FW 07's masuline influence makes me want to take out my pant suits and button up shirts and trot along the streets.


Boring drab secretary no more!

I love the combination of black and white with a twist. The white blouses are so architecturally interesting!

Beautifully subdued color combos.

I really love that beige coat! So chic, so ladylike.

Monday, June 25, 2007

A Week of Sex and the City

I think I've overdosed on SATC......and I've never felt better.

After frantically searching for online episodes, I finnally found my best friend - fanpop.com. For my first week of break all I have been doing is cleaning my room while watching Sex and the City. It's a bitter sweet feeling - the bitter being that I finished the series and the sweet being my room is finally clean! But then again, I could always rewatch all the episodes again and it will give me a second chance to drool over Miss Carrie Bradshaws scrumptious outfits and her killer shoes. When I first watched SATC on tv, I think I was too young to really appreciate her lovely style. I was more fixated on the distinct personalities of each of the four gals. My favorite was always Miranda. But now a second-time-around, I love all the characters and can't wait till I save enough money to buy the DVDs so when I have my own apartment, I'll spend my single gal life watching Sex and the City.

*Sigh*, I wish I could afford such lovely pieces of clothing.

My room is now clean and updated with new decorations

Before (brought all my junk back from school)



CLEAN!



Sunday, June 24, 2007

Why I love Thrift Stores...

Brand SPANKIN new Ben Sherman wool coat - $3.50 courtesy of St. Vinnies.



Isn't it smashing?

Saturday, June 23, 2007

I Have Nothing to Wear

Ah, Friday nights are the best. It's the end of a long week (actually, I've not been doing much since it's summer time). For some people it's date night, for others it's go out and party until we pass out night. But for me, it's a night for me and my guilty pleasure of watching TLC's What Not To Wear. Yesterday, I missed the episode but instead found a new interesting show called I Have Nothing to Wear.


The concept is really interesting and rather common sense - shop within our own closets! Why go out and spend hundreds of dollars when we can just look into our closets, see what we have and come up with all new different looks and ideas. Some of the clothing gets put in the "look book" where the stylist creates three different looks around one piece and others go to the "chop shop" aka the place where the fashion "prodigies" hack up and recreate the ugly and the ill-fitted items into one of a kind couture pieces! Most of the redesigners are FIT students and they are mentored by a FIT professor kind of like a Tim Gunn in Project Runway kind of way. My mom even said they sound the same.


Hmm, maybe now I should stop shopping and buying and start looking within my own closet. That would be a tough challenge, but I'm will to take it on!

Friday, June 22, 2007

lala's style of the day


I feel so colorful today! And trying to work my new skirt from the thrift shop. I really like this combo!

-black and red scarf: 0.50 rummage sale
-red shirt: my moms old t-shirt reconstructed by me
-brown belt: mom's closet-super duper awesome skirt!: 0.75 st. vinnies
-tights: old navy 1.50
-boots: 4.00 st. vinnies
-silver metallic clutch: 1.00 local thrift

Thursday, June 21, 2007

lala's style of the day!

yay! I'm back with pictures


haven't "dressed up" in a while with finals and moving back and being lazy around the house, but a trip to the mall with some friends inspired me to be a lil more creative.
-headband with sparkly bow: 99 cent store, part of a devil 'costume' for halloween

-top with lil bears: 0.50 local thrift

-red flower belt: 0.50 local thrift

-jeans: 5.00

-bruno magli heels!: 2.00 local thrift

-red bag with painted panda: free from mom

i miss taking pictures in my dorm lounge :(

Monday, June 18, 2007

Journey to Jet Rag

Last Sunday, my family and I ventured into a jungle of buildings, people, and pollution - also known as Los Angeles. Why you wonder? All for a little vintage store called Jet Rag. When I went to China last summer, I met a girl in my tour group who was just as crazy about fashion as I was. She told me that on Sundays, this store called Jet Rag has a $1 parking lot sale in which she would buy bags of clothing either to wear or reconstruct. Now that sounds like my type of store. Ever since then I have wanted to visit that place and see what it was like. Being the bargain-shopaholic that I am, I convinced my parents to take me yesterday as a "treat" for finishing up my first year at college. I would have gone by myself, except for the fact that I am too scared to drive alone, and to LA for that matter. As a compromise, I planned that after our Jet Rag excursion we would head towards downtown fashion district and look at fabric for the curtains we had been planning on redoing for the past five years. And so at 9:30 Sunday morning we drove our beat up Nissan Maxima towards LA.

I have always considered myself a city girl, even though I don't quite live in the city. But adventuring into the metropolitian made me desire to move towards the city even more. (Or maybe it was the fact that I had been overdosing on Sex and the City lately). I sat in the front with my dad, giving him the directions I had printed from mapquest that morning. I didn't exactly know where the place was so I had these expectations that it would be located in a strip of shops and boutiques - but no, it was not so. I would have nearly missed the store if I had not seen a bunch of LA hipsters digging through piles of clothing in the middle of a shabby parking lot. I told him this is it! I was excited. As for my family, they were less than thrilled. I skipped towards the place and started digging. Didn't find anything after 2 minutes and my hope was starting to diminish. Along the wall there were these laundry carts and I thought that there was clothing there too. I went and found this really cool skirt. I was relieved that we didn't drive all the way here for a bunch of crap. Too bad I didn't quickly leave that area in time with my find because apparently it was already taken by this girl. Oops, I thought. I guess laundry carts there were like shopping carts at Target. I felt foolish, but I was determined to find some decent $1 clothing.

After another 5 minutes, I only managed to pick up a dress. My dad told me, " I think your thrift store is better than this place". And that meant a lot because for one thing, my parents hated the thrift stores. Then the store employees came over towards these five packages of 100 lb. clothing and said we will be opening these in five minutes and the other row of packages at 11:00. I saw people crowd around the packages. And in a matter of a few seconds, they were ripping apart the bags and grabbing all the clothing, even if they didn't want all of them. I see how this works now. They will be the ones that get to look through all the clothes first and pick the ones they want and throw the ones they don't want back into the pile.

30 minutes later of circling the clothing, digging on my hands and knees, I was tired and sweaty and proably sunburned. My family had found a nice bench to sit on inside the store. More packages were opened again and this time I was smart because I unleashed my inner beast and grabbed and fought over dirty clothing. And I actually managed to get some cool stuff. So after spending $10 for 10 pieces and $15 for the gas to get over there, it was well worth it. We didn't end up going to downtown. I think my parents were too tired of seeing these hipsters look like wild animals digging through smelly clothing. But I think I shall return, but next time without my family so I wouldn't feel guilty about making them wait for hours while I blissfully rummage through $1 vintage clothing.

Because I love pictures, here are some pictures of my finds :)


Funky hippy-esque top



Silk (I think) Indian Tunic/Dress. Probably a tunic, because the slits on the side are very scandalous

Pink lacey cocktail-esque dress. Planning on cutting off the sleeves which are incredibly ichy.

Stripey Sailor tunic/dress?

Pink Mexican dress. Brown patterned thing on the side is this weird turban thing that I was strangely attracted to.

White lace wedding looking dress that sadly is too small :( My mom found it for me because she said it was the cleanest/ newest looking thing she could find.

Weird super large muu-muu perfect for reconstruction

Poofy lingerie me thinks.

Dress!

Saturday, June 9, 2007

a brief break from studying

Today, I had my last class as a freshman. It kind of makes me sad that I'm no longer a first year anymore. College won't be the "new experience" for a old, washed out...sophomore. It makes me kind of sad that this year went by so fast.

No, not really. Because I want summer break to start, badly. During review today I couldn't concentrate on the subject matter and instead my wandering mind drifted to the number of things I want to do this summer like sewing, starting a website, expanding my t-shirt "business", perhaps create an online vintage store as well (it would give me a good excuse to go thrifting everyday!), hanging out with friends, fashion fashion and more fashion!, shopping, and sewing. Recently, I've been searching online for a dress form. I still don't have any idea of what I want to get. I wish I were rich because then I could spend hundreds on a wonderful "me" mannequin, but alas, I am not made of benjamins. I'm debating between an adjustable dummy (haha, dummy) such as the Dritz or a Uniquely You, which is more conscious of having a better fit.





The battle for the mannequin is on! Who will win? Stay tuned to find out.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

no style posts lately...finals!

Well, well, well,...what do you know?

I have succumbed to the ubiquitous t-shirt/jeans/university sweater style as of late (minus the sweater because the weather is finally warming up here). Today I lounged around in a mens shirt and some jeans, nothing cool, but very college-esque. I seriously have been wasting time this past week. I should have been studying but I didn't really... oh well, I always have the weekend right?

This tuesday my roomies and I went on a "date" with our lovely RA. We roamed westwood, ate diddy riese, climbed ontop of the roof of a 9 story building, acting like monkies by climbing a tree...it was you know, what a normal "date" is like. Super fun.

Then yesterday my friend took me to pinkberry for my belated birthday present. what a nice treat.

So finally, today I am buckling down and forcing myself to start studying those supply and demand curves!

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

lala's style on june 6


today is a lovely day. the sun is shining and the students are studying.....ahhh...can life get any better?

look I'm smiling

No self timer this time! I actually got a friend to take a picture for me :)
-scarf: 0.50

-same ole green cardi: 3.00 tjmaxx

-patterned dress/shirt (actually I think it was sleepwear..lol): 1.50 st. vinnies

-necklace: stolen! from sister

-jeans pegged by me: 5.00 mall

-peep toes again :)

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

lala's style on june 5

Today is happy primary color day!!

Ta-DA!
Shhhhhhh...it's Quiet HOURS!
-yellow/blue striped shirt: free! from mommy
-jeans-red leaf belt: 2.00 from local thrift
-leopard flats: 10.00 target! (they're getting old and scruffy *sadness*)
-scarf: 0.50 rummage sale
-sparrow necklace: made by me
-blue cardi: 0.50 rummage sale
I realized I made a big mistake by not bringing any clothes back with me last weekend. I have nothing left!! Only tanks and sleeveless tops... and its still cold out here in LA in june! Oh well, it forces me to be a little more creative. Plus with finals coming up, I will probably be in my sweats and PJ all day.

Monday, June 4, 2007

lala's style on june 4

Tested out my new dress/shirt today! Got some stares...as usual.

-eye dress/long shirt: painted by me, I had a lot of people staring, it's probably because they were wondering why there were so many eyes on my body! (white tennis style dress from robinson's may 5.00)
-blacket jacket: 0.50 local thrift
-black pants pegged by me: forever 21 long time ago
-quilt sailor bag: 1.00 st. vinnies-cowboy boots: 6.00 local thrift
-big 90's style sunglasses: 0.50 st. vinnies

Women in Art

I thought this video looked really spiffy!



It's so interesting to see how the faces of women have changed within the last 500 years of art going from a realistic intepretation to obviously an abstract one. I found beauty in each of their faces. We should all find beauty in each of ours as well. Be proud of who you are and what you look like!

(kinda cheesy, but i love cheese)

Sunday, June 3, 2007

life lesson #1

I had my first real job interview today and I totally bombed it. Great way to go, right?

But it's okay. Being the freakishly positive person I am, I am glad that I didn't do too well because their pay was horrible. Just $1 above minimum wage for tutoring seven to nine kids (ages 4-12) for who knows how long! I would much rather get that job as a library clerk and they make like four dollars more. This interview process has however taught me a few valuable lessons:

1. It was good, "real life" experience.
2. I don't want to be a teacher, ever.
3. I don't think I would be a good teacher, ever.
4. I don't want to have kids, ever.
5. Kids can be stupid.

okay, that last one was a little harsh, but I'm just telling the truth. So to cheer myself up, I decided to post some long overdue photos of some recent thrift scores! Thrifting does cheer me up so. I wish I could be a professional thrift shopper, that would be the life I'm telling you. I would do it for minimum wage because at least I would be having fun and won't have to work with kids.
St. Vinnies <3
  • four scarves: $0.50-1.00 a piece
  • AWESOME SKIRT!! with houndstooth/floral patter: $0.75 (can also be worn as a tube top, how versatile is that? its like two pieces of clothing for 75 cents!)
  • piece of fabric: $1.50

Lutheran High School Thrift Store $5 bag sale! Dad took up half of the bag space -_-

St. Vinnies (again!)

  • the COOLEST JACKET EVER!! (theres an embroidered dog on the back), vintage little league jacket I presume: $2.50
  • Vintage stripey tank: 0.50
  • Olive "secretary" dress: $2.50
  • leg warmers: $0.99
  • Cute patterned tank from Roxy (me thinks it was suppose to be sleep wear): $1.50

I can't wait till summer, then I can hit up more thrift stores! As for a job, I guess I'll just wait and see...