Elie Saab S/S 2011 Haute Couture

 

I've just had a long, lusting look at Elie Saab's most recent Haute Couture collection that premiered yesterday at Paris Fashion Week - and my gosh, is it beautiful! Clearly evident are Saab's use of pretty pastels and florals, with a few dips into bolder colors (such as black and crimson), which provide a clear embodiment of spring and summer itself! The dresses are whimsical, delicate and classic, definitely a collection that will be remembered for years to come, I think! A simple, romantic hairdo, sported by all the models, made sure that nothing took our attention away from these beautiful gowns. Moreover, Elie Saab definitely knows how to balance sweet and sexy - with most dresses offering a little decollatage or views of long legs, without overdoing it and heading into scandalous waters.

Overall, I find this collection alluring, beautiful, and extremely well-made. Well done, Elie Saab!

whiteout

Ah, so the winter that the rest of the country has been experiencing has finally hit us.  I'm not particularly rejoicing in this fact, either.  My dad shoveled snow before he left for work, and by the afternoon new snow had fallen and completely erased his hard work! So my sister and I set out to shovel the sidewalk (not an easy task when your sidewalk takes up an entire lots' worth), driveway and entrance.  We bundled up and set to a good hours work! My back and shoulders were annoyingly sore about halfway through, and I was beginning to overheat.  And let me tell you, overheating in the dead of winter is a very strange, paradoxical feeling indeed.  And now our hard work has been completely destroyed by an even stronger storm! Ugh, thanks a lot, Weather, that's a horrible joke you're playing on us.

I had planned to go to a friends' house to bake macarons and watch Låt den rätte komma in ( or Let The Right One In in English! It's one of my favorite films, and the book is great as well), but due to the weather that obviously didn't happen.  Ah, maybe next time!

The Spring Semester at school begins next Monday.  I'm a little bit glad to be going back - I'm getting a minor case of cabin fever from being stuck at home without much to do for the past month!  I'm sure I'll get sick of Uni about two weeks in, but for now I'm happy to return. 

Choices

I'm going to a cousin's wedding this May, (woo, attending my first family wedding!) and I've already begun to look at dresses.  I really like the dresses from Modcloth, and I've found three adorable ones that are all absolutely lovely:

 

So now all that's left is to choose.  I absolutely love the open-backs on the two end-dresses - I think open-backs are really sexy in a non-revealing way.  My only issue would be bras? Do you just skip and wear fashion tape? Or are there special open-back bras? I guess I'll figure that out later.  Of course, the green one in the middle is also very beautiful - the color is very complimentary to my skin tone, and I love the asymmetry of the hem and the bodice area. Yikes, I'm an indecisive person as it is, and now I'm presented with three gorgeous dresses and have to choose! Can't I just have them all, Ma? 

trying my hand at cooking;

It's no secret that I've loved the Korean food, kimbap, since I first tasted it (ugh, it was so good).  And after I moved away from the only source of kimbap I had (which was my two Korean friends' moms, :P), I had no choice but to try and make it on my own! Okay, so maybe it took me a while to finally get the ball rolling on making it, but hey, better late than never, right? So I've been scurrying around trying to find the ingredients (American grocery stores' have horrible international sections), I finally had everything I needed! I made a pretty basic version of kimbap - ham, cucumber, egg, carrot, and pickled radish (odeng).  It actually turned out better than I expected, although the only thing that bothered me is the smell of the seaweed, :/  For a dish with no seafood in it, it smelled horribly fishy.  I'm not sure if it's because of the brand of seaweed I got, or if there's some sort of preparation I missed.  Anyways, with practice, I'm hoping I can fix that little problem, and I'll become a kimbap master! :)

americana

Oh, love of mine

After talking about my old rabbit in the last post, I felt nostalgic and decided to post a couple photos of him! 

So this is BunnBunn, formally known as Snowball! He was my very first pet (and only, as of yet), and was awesome! I got him when I was nine years old, and chose him specifically for the black fur around his eyes (I thought he looked like Cleopatra).  He's a little Dwarf rabbit, so he wasn't very big at all - although, he was a little overweight, mostly because I liked to feed him things he probably should not have been eating! I think his favorite was cereal - he would hop around excitedly when he heard the rustle of the cereal bag.  He had some complications the year before I moved away to Germany, we'd taken him to the animal clinic once because he was acting very strangely, and wasn't eating properly.  The veterinarian didn't think he'd last the weekend, and offered to put him down.  I couldn't bare that, and nursed him back to health everyday, with a special formula from the veterinarian through a syringe.  He lived well for another few months before he died, sadly.  We knew it was coming, he was acting strangely again, so my whole family was there for his death.  I don't think I've ever cried so much.  We buried him in the backyard, overlooking the fields because he always liked the view when he was alive.  I guess it's something of a good thing that everything happened the way it did.  I doubt he could have survived the flight to Germany, and he may have been quarantined there for quite a long time.  And I couldn't handle giving him away to someone else - it would feel too much like abandonment and betrayal, I feel.  Ah, this post has gotten thoroughly depressing, and it shouldn't be! He brought me a lot of happiness as a kid, and he was a great playmate, and always great for cuddling.  I really think the connections people have to their pets - regardless of the animal - is a very important,special thing.  I'm sure many people know exactly what I'm talking about.  Lots of people refer to their pets as members of their family, which they often become.  And it's amazing how profound of an effect they can have on you. 

I'll never forget my little BunnBunn and how wonderful he was.  Rest In Peace, little rabbit of mine, :')

My little darling, 2000-2005, ♥

pick and mix

For your listening pleasure:

The Strokes, Reptilia

Black Swan Soundtrack, Perfection

Arctic Monkeys, Pretty Visitors
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For your viewing pleasure:

I got into Misfits, a British TV show, a few months back.  It's beyond hilarious, and it comes highly recommended.

aaaaaand, have I mentioned that I have the most massive celebrity-crush on Tom Kaulitz, the guitarist of Tokio Hotel (which is also one of my favorite bands)? Because I do. ugh, what a dreamboat.

"I thought I told you, this world is not for you"

On Monday, I hung out with a friend and we saw Black Swan.  My gosh, what an eerie/disturbing/brilliant/amazing film! I was nailed to my seat the entire time (despite a protesting bladder), and even once it ended I was still sitting there, staring at the screen with wide eyes.  Hah, I definitely definitely recommend the film if you haven't seen it! Natalie Portman did an amazing job with this film, and I definitely agree with all the buzz - she deserves an Oscar! Anyways, after the film, my friend and I hung out at the mall across the street, where we goofed off for the most part, photo-documenting the entire escapade:

 

 

  

1. Trying on a detective/gangster from the 20's hat in H&M;  2. Trying to reach the bunny at the pet shop! I bought my rabbit from there nearly eleven years ago;  3. Sears sells retro bikes (with NORMAL sized seats)! I didn't like that one so much because it was too pink and girly.  The boys 'one, in black and white, was nicer but I was too short to get on it without destroying the bike display...;  4. My friend and I like to pretend to work out on non-functional equipment?;  5. Sometimes I like to pose as an axe-murderer, hah;  6. Super cute caesar headband that I bought! I also bought a mega-discounted (from $25 to $5) blue scarf from GAP, and two plain black shirts to cut up and draw on as I please ($2.50 a piece).

Dress, Cardigan, Coat- Forever21

Bag - H&M
Boots - Kohl's

Woodland Creatures

 

I bought these rings for my little sister for Christmas, and absolutely adore them!  They're from H&M and cost $8 for the four of them.  I'm completely enamored with them, and will definitely be borrowing them from my sister in the near future! 

I'll be seeing Black Swan tomorrow with a friend and then hanging out.  I've heard tons of people love the movie and some are hinting at Oscar-nods?  I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy the movie, and we'll see if I think it's Oscar-worthy (not that I have any sort of professional film opinion).  I watched Toy Story 3 yesterday for the first time and, for a kid who loved the first two, I really enjoyed this one - definitely was not disappointed! And I have to say that Buzz in Spanish-mode was possibly the most humorous thing ever.  Anyways, my stomach is demanding that I feed it something other than cereal, and I must appease it. 

Nostalgia Strikes Back!

Found a bunch of old photos of mine on a secondary tumblr that I abandoned quite a while ago: 

  

 1. Walking around on the Hauptbahnstrasse in my lovely old village in Kaiserslautern, Germany.  2. angsty while chilling on temporary furniture before moving from Germany.  3. Shopping plaza in a suburb of Paris.  4. Nerding in a poorly lit room.  5. Pretty plants in my backyard in Germany.  6. My dad and the four-year-old version of myself pedal-boating in Michigan.  7. Semi-embarassing sketch of me, done by a company that specializes in rear-sketching, or butt sketches as they call it, at a University event.  8. Long hair and clean room.  9. Sharp/Blur Contrast of rain on a window screen.  10. At the East Side Gallery, remnants of the Berlin Wall.

A Lazy Haze

I've been feeling unwell lately, so I've been staying at home and doing schoolwork/tumblr most of the time.  Any good movie recommendations? Also, my plans for the weekend include attempting to make the super delicious Korean food, Kim Bap! I remember when my Korean friends introduced me to it - it was love at first bite.  Seriously, so delicious and I haven't had it in years! So to cure this, I am going to hopefully make a successful batch! Details on that afterwards, :)

 And here is a shot of my natural environment, my comfy bed! I plan on getting a newer, full-sized bed soon, though.  I've had this one for over ten years, and it's a little too girly.  I want one of those cool IKEA ones that are all awesome looking and such.  Man, I love IKEA.

First Time Pho

A friend and I went to a Vietnamese Noodle Shop yesterday and I tried Pho for the first time! I have to say, it was pretty tasty and I like how you have the option to dictate how much of the ingredients you want.  But I think next time I'll get it with chicken or the vegetarian option rather than beef.  Something about boiled meat bothers me.  But anyways, very tasty! Afterwards we went to Barnes&Noble, where calendars and planners were 50% off, and bought a new school planner. 


Later on, I went to Target where OHMYGOSH HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED IT, MULBERRY DID A LINE OF BAGS FOR TARGET HALLELUJAH.  Nearly pissed my pants on the spot.  I didn't buy one, but I will definitely go back to do so.  I've got my eye on the adorable cross-body bag on the bottom right.

Also at Target were these lovely, lovely heels that were reminiscent of Miu Miu's wooden clogs from S/S 2010 (I think?).  So cute! I rarely wear heels, but I was so tempted to buy them! 

 

Cute, no?! Hah, check out that serious juxtaposition between the heels and my combat boots.  But man, just looking at the photos seriously makes me want to go back and buy them...!

Easy Squeezy

I've been looking for a nice pair of high waist jean shorts for quite a while now.  Since I'm not willing to buy the ridiculously overpriced ones at Urban Outfitters (Sixty bucks for a pair of shorts? Are you kidding me?), I decided to make my own! I went to my local Goodwill to find high-waist pants that fit me - trust me, that's a lot easier said than done.  The problem was that there weren't very many small-sized high-waisted jeans.  The majority of them were awkwardly loose, especially in the crotch area (weird).  After way too many trips to the dressing room, I finally found a pair that fit!  They're actually a children's XL, heh.  Anyways, I bought them and head home to fix them up.  While the jeans were on me, I used a marker to draw a rough cut-line, so that both legs would be even.  Then I just took the scissors to them, and voila! New shorts! I folded up the edge to give it a cleaner edge, and to prevent tearing.  I'll probably sew them up later, as well, for reinforcement.  Anyways, updates might be more frequent coming up - I'm going to be hanging out with some friends for the next couple weeks! Tomorrow my friend will be introducing me to a Vietnamese noodle shop that I've been dying to try! Ugh, getting hungry just thinking about it... 

When you lack real artistic skill, you begin to appreciate others' more

Caving In

Alright, alright.  I know I said I don't do New Year's Resolutions because I am shit at keeping them, but I actually thought of a good one! My New Year's Resolution 2011 is to be healthier and take better care of my body!  There's a couple reasons that I chose this resolution.  Lately, I've been extremely inactive, and I don't think I've done anything physically demanding since tennis season in my senior year in high school... I've been lucky enough to have a semi-decent metabolism that processes all the junk and no exercise efficiently, but I know I can't depend on that forever.  Also, I took a Gerontology class (the multi-aspect study of aging) this past semester, which sort of scared me into being healthier so I can avoid as many health problems and diseases on the road ahead!  Lastly, I read a Swedish blog by the ever-lovely Kenza who has inspired me to be healthier!  She has a beautiful, healthy body and is proud of it, and I'd like to attain that level of confidence!  

Because I am so impossibly lazy and constantly wait for the last minute on everything, I think I'm going to need to put a game-plan in order so I have something to look to for reference.  More on that later.

So here's to 2011, the year I'll get in shape and get healthy (I say this as I eat chocolate ice-cream.  Obviously, I need to get working on this goal)!

 super old photos of me in 2008, in the ugliest of tennis uniforms on the planet.  I look like a tomato.  But hey, check out my socks and supremely nerdtastic smile?

Ein Glückliches Neues Jahr!

 

I hope everyone had an awesome New Year's celebration!  My sister and I watched the Doctor Who Year's Marathon on BBC America, which in our opinion is not a bad way to celebrate! :) Then we of course watched the ball drop in Times Square when it officially became 2011.  Afterwards, my family from the West Coast called us  via skype to wish us a Happy New Year, so we chatted on there a while.  

 This week I'll be starting a quick, three week online geography course so I'll finally have something to do! And I'll be hanging out with friends,  and going to the movies! I saw TRON on Thursday with my sister, which I liked but she didn't.  I really want one of those light-up body suits though... And my gosh, is Olivia Wilde gorgeous or what?

 I've made a few minor formatting changes to my blog! They aren't particularly noticeable, but if you look at the old posts before this, the pictures and videos may be cut off due to their size.  I'm pretty inept when it comes to html, but I'm slowly learning and will hopefully know how to properly format my blog one day!  I've also made a flickr account so that I can more easily format and save my photos (you can now find it in the links section).

Happy New Year 2011!