the story of my life.

Lala's Style of the Day

My inner tough chic came out today. I originally planned for a sloppy "just-out-of-bed-college-look" but I just can't resist getting all nice and dressed up. My expressions make me seem so out of it. Maybe that's because I am.

• Jacket: 0.50 local thrift, urban outfitters brand
• Trinity College Dublin sweater: 0.50 local thrift
• Jeans
• Sneaker platforms?: $3 from tjmaxx way way long ago when these were still cool.
• Scarf: 0.50 st. vinnies
• Belt: $2 the limited
  

Lala's Style of the Day

Feeling very glamorous today with my big mammal-species printed coat.

• Pink Plaid cowgirl shirt: $1.50 st. vinnies
• Black capris: $8 kohls
• COAT!: $3.99 thank you mart
• Shoes: $4, st. vinnies. I realized today that my love for thrifted things has it's consequences. My shoe fell apart today when I was eating dinner in the dining hall. I thought I was stepping on some rug or something, but no, it was the bottom of my show trying to run away from my feet. So embarrassing.
• Socks: target
• Belt: from my mom
• Red Bow: 99 cent store devil's costume bowtie
• Tote: $25 nordies rack
• ray bans: 0.10 rummage sale.

I like making my hair poof up these days. I like my newly trimmed bangs. They're so bangs-esque.

Lala's Style of the Day

Today, my photographer followed me around. So be warned, a mess of "me" pictures are about to follow after this sentence.

What's that? 11 pictures? Wow am I such a narcissist.

• Stripey Tunic: $5 mall, underneath it all
• Yellow Sweater: Gift from grandma
• Red Jacket: $10 robinsons may
• Black pants
• Moccasin wedges: $5 loehmanns
• HAT!: gift from mwang :), I trimmed my bangs too. Now my follicles won't stab my eye anymore.
• Bag: $5 target, sharpie-rized by me.

So monday. It was super windy today. I felt as if I were flying away, but unfortunately I'm not that light to actually make that possible. Two midterms coming up this week. What am I do?! I should be studying. Toodles my little poodles!

I just wanted to say something that rhymes, ya know? Like later, alligator?

Lala's Shopping Guide: Thank You, Thank You Mart

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first in a series of Lala's Shopping Guide. I've been planning to do this for a while so here I am. Many of you ask where I get my stuff for so cheap, well now I'm going to tell you the secrets of my trade. I feel like a magician revealing all my magic tricks. But because I believe that these gems of places should be known to all (all that is cool that is because only cool people read this blog, right?). Unfortunately this might only work for people living in the LA or Orange County area or even with the southern California area in general.

One of my favorite places to shop at whenever I am back at school is Thank You Mart. This funky store is located 1138 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles 90024. It is truly an iconic store in the heart of Westwood Village. With so many retailers coming in and leaving due to poor business, TYM stands out and stands strong by attracting college students, hipsters, adults, and kids alike with their "Everything is $3.99!!" pricing policy. Yes you heard that straight. Everything in the store is $3.99.

So what exactly is Thank You Mart? When I first heard of the store as a young and lost freshman, I thought it was one of those eclectic gift shops selling room deco and little gifts and trinkets. The name of the store certainly reminded me of those shops in the mall. But really, it is something quite interesting.

TYM is a mix between a vintage store and a "random random RANDOM" store. What do I mean by random random RANDOM, well I mean exactly that - they house a lot of the random-est things in there, making it an altogether cool experience. You can find everything from an army jacket to boxing gloves. From Levi's jeans to a welcome mat. It's that random.

Because everything in the store is priced $3.99 (I like $3.99 better than $4 because it sounds cheaper) I usually gravitate towards the vintage clothing. As "vintage" clothing gets every more popular (I wonder if this "trend" will ever stop), "vintage" stores have been popping up everywhere, especially in LA and prices there are certainly not cheap. Not as cheap as $3.99 or even the thrift stores. Many of the vintage items here I can easily see being sold at boutique vintage stores. They do have quite a selection for a small sized store and because merchandise turns over super fast, they are constantly adding new items, making the thrill of the hunt even greater. The store usually gets a bit crowded due to it's cramped space and the number of customers wanting to grab a bargain.

Each time going to TYM has been a hit or miss experience. When I really hit it, I really hit it big. Most of the time, I do manage to find something that catches my eyes. So what goodies does TYM hold?

Upon entering the store you find a square rack filled with sequined things - tops, halters, skirts. Some of those sequined butterfly disco tops of the 1980's are wonderful because I've seen them sold for way above the price at thrift stores and vintage stores. The first time I went there, I saw tons of beaded, sequined dresses some constructed of 100% pure silk. I grabbed one up. I was a little crazy because I still don't know what to do with it. The usual button up polyester shirts, skirts, jeans, sweaters, floral polyester dresses, vintage tees and men's button ups are the usually consistent staple items around here. But sometimes when they get really good merchandise that doesn't come by too often. For instance when I went shopping yesterday, they had received new merchandise of winter gear which included Fur coats (both real and faux!), leather jackets, trench coats (many London Fog labeled), puffer vests, leather trenches, blazers, sports jackets and so much more! I instinctively rand over to the fur coats. I've been longing for a fur coat because I'm in trying to merge into my "glamour" style recently. I know fur is quite the controversial topic. I normally wouldn't buy a real fur coat, but the price and quality of my find was just too good to pass up. Plus, I normally make an exception when it comes to fur. In addition, I found an Emporio Armani blazer that was way too small for me. I don't know if it was real or fake, most likely a fake, but still it was fun. TYM gets tons of military, boy scout, navy uniform tops and jackets. Yesterday they had a collection of navy tops that I should have tried on but I got caught up with the coats. Men and women have a large selection of over sized men's flannel shirts as well as vests. Currently, they received a butt load of leather vests perfect for fashion lovers and fetish lovers. As for bottoms go, there are a lot of jeans, mostly Levi's, housed in the back of the store. Most of the time they're men's jeans, but sometimes you do come across a lovely pair of vintage high waisted jeans!! Dresses are often times a hit or miss. Most of the time I find their dresses to be dowdy looking and uncomfortable polyester elastic types, but if you can make it work, they have tons! One time I tried on this sequined gold dress, I mean covered in sequins. It looked really mod and so "sienna miller in her gold sequined dress". I didn't buy it. I should have, but I didn't.

In addition to the clothing, they have purses, belts, jewelry, socks, funky sunglasses, jellies, umbrellas, scarves and so much more. Not only is the stuff wacky-tastic, the store decoration is a hipsters dream with magazine and newspaper cut outs taped everywhere, weird quotes, underground band stickers, disco balls, a chandelier.

Merchandise Selection: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Atmosphere: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Cheap Factor: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

People There/Customer Service: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Cool factor: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

In conclusion, TYM gets a perfect FIVE STARS in Lala's books for cheap, fun, quality clothing.

You all should definitely go there, if you ever get the chance to come to LA. And as a motivator, I have posted my three coats I bought last night.

1. LEATHER BOMBER/AVIATOR JACKET

I saw all these leather jackets and I really wanted a leather bomber jacket recently and suddenly I found this face staring at me:

It turned out to be the inside lining of the jacket. I knew I had to have it then and there. Then I flipped it around :
Yes. It was mine. It's a little big and smells of old leather, but that's what makes it great.

2. WEIRD ANIMAL PRINT COAT

When I first saw the fur coat selection, I had to skim past a lot of cheap fur coats in black and brown until this weird animal pattern stood out and called my name. I call it a mix between a giraffe-cheetah-tiger and whatever other animal print you can call it. I love it.

3. REAL FUR COAT
When I touched this coat, I knew it was real. It's so soft. And yes I do feel guilty that I bought it because it was once a living breathing animal, but I just couldn't resist. This coat used to belong to a lady named Lauren Chasteen since it has here name embroidered inside. Can I change that to LalaLiu?

Go shopping guys. The economy might be heading into a "recession"! Let's stimulate it.

That was pure nerd talk right there.

Lala's Style of the Day aka Todd day 2/kay day

Yeah. You bet.

• Free people crocheted tunic: $15 tjmaxx
• pink shorts
• pink tights: target $1.50 with leggings underneath
• tri-colored boots: $4 local thrift
• crocheted squares headpiece: made by meee.

Today was colorful dress up day because the cool gang were visiting. I woke up to a cloudy rainy day but thankfully it stopped by the end. They arrived and I fed the poor children some food since they had such a harsh journey coming over here. Afterwards we hit the dorms and I did my best tour guide voice. I made them model for me. Or at least I tried. The Borat book was finally given to Todd and so was his "Nasty Stuff" pin. Off to westwood we went eating some yogurt and looking at stores. I think friends should visit every Friday. That would be good. We said farewell. It was too short of a visit!

They modeled in front of "the wall": (I showed them where I take my daily pictures)

Afterwards, came back and looked at my lovely loot which I will post about later. Went to a fashion club meeting. Man, it seems so intense now. They're trying to get 100 grand in sponsorships. Ambitious. And now I'm getting really worried because I've only done like 1.99% of the work that needs to be done. I have two midterms next week. I'm so lost in both classes. I feel like a wanderer just drifting around and stuck in my lalaland and I can't get out.

Lala's Style of the Days

TODAY, THURSDAY:

Today was a rainy day. Rain rain go away. Tonight it was crazy rain. I just want the clouds to get all the rain out and then go away so then tomorrow when all the cool people come we can actually go do stuff. It started out sunny so I was happy to be able to wear this outfit out but then it started rainy so I was like "Oh man, I should change then" but then it got sunny again so I was like okay no changing. I actually wasn't that cold wearing this. I have adapted!

I did sort of a mismatch thing. I realize I look kind of like an old lady.

• Stripey Tunic: $2 UO outlet. Man I wish that outlet around campus were still there.
• Checkered floral skirt: 0.75 st. vinnies
• Tights over leggings: old navy
• socks: $1 tjmaxx
• hat: $3 goodwill
• shoes: $4 value village
• Red leather gloves: $4 target
• Mr.Face necklace: made by me
• Purple Cardi: $4 target

YESTERDAY, WEDNESDAY:

I was channeling my inner man.

So when I woke up yesterday I looked around and just grabbed these khaki pants that I've never worn before but bought because they might come in handy for interview and business stuff. When I think of Khaki I usually think work = boring = boring. But I had the suddent urge to dress up like Diane Keaton as Annie Hall and go all masculine. So I took out my men's button up and an outfit was born. I also felt a little bit upper east side prepster in a uniform.

• Khaki pants: $5 tjmaxx
• Men's shirt: 0.85 local thrift
• Cropped military vest: $5 kohls
• Little boy's Tie: 0.25 local thrift
• Coat: $10 charlotte russe
• DB bag: $5 local thrift...(it's a faker)
• red gloves, doesn't that picture look cool? it looks like real chubby hands.

Last night I was going to post, but I spent forever on an homework assignment. If there is one thing I hate more than hate itself is excel. Oh and that and passwords. I hate the word password, you have no idea what I'm talking about because I haven't explained anything and I really don't want to because it's gonna be a long story. But yes, EXCEL and PASSWORDS just suck. SUCK. No more ranting. I'm a happy girl. I'm a happy girl.

Lala's Style of the Day!! YAY!!

As mentioned in the past post my "no posting for three weeks" is just a false alarm. Thank goodness for the brains of my new found hero, aka my suitemate, because now I will have daily style photos for your enjoyment.

In honor of my new 2008 Calendar, I have used MC Escher as the background for my pictures because I'm seriously getting sick of taking pictures in the same place over and over again. I would love to take pictures in other places but I still have not gotten over the fear of having someone catch me in my self-timer action glory.

• Green Long Sleeve Tee: $2 tjmaxx, it's an AE shirt that says " I <3> Ski Bus" on it. I hope it's not some kind of sexual innuendo because that would just be embarrassing. It would be as bad as this one time I bought this awesome track jacket from the mens section from Target and wore it to school the next day only to later have my friend tell me, "Umm...you're wearing a communist jacket". Apparently the patch was the symbol of communism. God, I need to get with it more. I never wore that jacket to school again. I occasionally wear it in the comfort of my home along with my red star Chinese soldier hat and my Mao messenger bag. I'm just kidding, I'm not a little commi I swear! Capitalism all the way! I do actually own those two mentioned things. They were souvenirs I bought when i went to China.
• Mellow Yellow Tunic: $3 target
• Black pants
• Plaid scarf: gift from a highschool friend for christmas. I wonder if she still remembers me... It would be so sad if she didn't. A big blow to my self esteem.
• Tweed Jacket: so warm and comfy! The Limited, my mom didn't want it because it was too big. Thanks to my wide shoulders they look "less big".
• Red headband with hearts: made by me
• Necklace: etsy.com
• Legwarmers: 0.75 st. vinnies. these are the first time I've worn them since I bought them. All I can say is I WANT MORE!
• brown cowboy boots: $3. cowboy boots will never ever be "out" for me.

I'm so glad I'm feeling better. One thing I will miss though are the trippy dreams I get when I have a fever. I'm weird like that.

And OMG! I can't believe Heath Ledger died. It's so sad. I really started to believe in his acting skills instead of the "I'm just a good looking guy" after watching Brokeback Mountain. And now when I watch 10 Things I Hate About You on tv it won't ever be the same :(

Doh.

I left the usb thing for my camera at home.

That means no style of the day pictures for three weeks.

It makes me sad too.

EDIT::

Beckster is my hero. She told me about a thing called a memory card reader.

Style of the day pictures will be coming soon to a blog post near you!

WOOHOO!

I Feel Icky, oh so Icky

Being sick is a big bummer.

I don't think I've ever peed so much before.
Drinking bottles of water and tea every few seconds does that to you I suppose.

I think that was way too much information that you did not need to know.

Lala's Style of the Days

YESTERDAY..aka...um...THURSDAY!: (time goes by so fast these days, can't remember)

• Floral dress that was in need in a major revamp so I revamped it: 0.50 local thrift
• Lips belt attached red belt: made by me and 0.50 thrift
• Socks: 1.50 old navy
• Boots!: $6 thrift
• Express blue t-shirt: $1 after a $15 coupon.
• scarf with beads: 0.50 st. vinnies
• Red tights: 3.50 buffalo exchange
• Grey cape-esque coat: $3 st. vinnies

Thursday was windy and static. I could feel the static. It was like zz-zz-zz. Fun.

TODAY, FRIDAY!:

• Mossimo jeans: $6 target
• Green tank: $3 wet seal
• Red plaid shirt: my mom's! I saw an old photo of her wearing it back in the 70's with her huge glasses and I was like "woah.. woah"
• Hand-Knit scarf: 0.50 st. vinnies
• Red flower belt: 0.25 thrift
• Rainbow flats: $3 downtown la. I love them so very much but they HURT! i think this may be one time where I will sacrifice fashion for comfort.
• suspenders: 0.50 st. vinnies

I delivered meals to old people today for Meals on Wheels. It was fun since I don't have class and the weather is nice and I like looking at cute old people and cute little houses. I'm home for the weekend! A nice three day weekend in which I will be spending as much time as I can working on designs.

Being home does have it's disadvantages though. My sister is annoying.

Haha, I'm just kidding. I mean you are annoying, but yeah...hi mei mei!