THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING NEW

Hi5 if you get what I'm referencing in my title! ;)

Thought I would edit my photos a bit differently. This may be a one time thing or may go on for some time. I decided to do this (along with tons of other fellow subscribers) after watching @ToThe9s video on youtube on how they edit their photos. I love the way it looks! I also love hand-drawn stars, which I've done on my personal youtube channel for my vlogs and lookbooks.

I've been on a serious hiatus this past semester because I seriously barely have time. Between juggling grad school full-time and interning, I barely have time to do homework, hang out with friends, and have me-time. Hopefully I'll be able to start blogging and making more videos once this semester's over because I'm itching to do some creative work but time has not been allowing me to do so.

I've been into vintage goodies these days and I really want to get into thrifting. I've seen multiple hauls on youtube as well as my own friends who score some amazing deals at thrift stores. I've been a few times but I never seem to run into anything good. Any good tips for thrifting?!

I've been blessed with this super vintage Louis Vuitton backpack from the '90s that my mom got from her friend who happened to work there. It's still in pretty good shape with the perfect amount of wear. I've never really used it until recently and I know I'm going to be using the crap out of it now because not only is it cute af, it's actually really practical and fits a good amount of stuff. However, of course it's really annoying to close backpacks but oh well. The jacket I'm wearing is not even mine, but it's my friend Evelyn's dad's from the '90s as well. Their last name is Ng as well so.. I guess it's like my family too, ya know? Going back to the thrifting, my mission was to always find vintage Levi's to DIY but never got any luck. BUT, one of my friends @vickapark was kind enough to gift me these as she couldn't wear them anymore and I love them! She gave me two pairs and they're the perfect vintage levi's (she gave me two!!)

Hopefully I can find some good thrift stores and get some goodies soon!

Chicago Chillin Pt. 2

This was my outfit on our second day in Chicago. Holy shit, it's been about two months and a half since we were in Chicago and I am STILL not done with blog posts as well as our vlog.. I've just been so busy and when I have free time I don't want to write more or edit. I'm super close to finishing the vlog. All that's left is the fonts and graphics, which is the hard part I dread (which is why I haven't finished yet.) BUT hopefully it will be up within this week since I am on spring break.

Anyways.. this day was SUPER cold and I had 3 jackets, a tank, turtleneck, and chiffon shirt on. I think I was a little crazy to wear shorts with tights but I survived since my tights were heat tech ones. Heat tech is a life saver!

This day was a relaxing, easy day of tourist-y activities like millennium park, which is where the bean is, and trying popular foodie spots where we got to eat the delicious king crab benedict and unique tacos. We started our day with brunch at Mortar & Pestle, a mini review in my last Chicago post. It was a 30 minute wait and it was so worth the wait! We then ubered our way to millennium park for the famous bean. I really wonder why it's called there's a bean in Chicago, because bean town is Boston.. does anyone know?! That took us maybe a few minutes, but it's a typical tourist spot to snap some photos. We actually recorded my ootd a few steps away from the actual sculpture. We then just walked around the park to see what else was there. We found this pretty bridge with a pretty backdrop and no people so we took this advantage to have another mini photoshoot. Extremely tired, even though we didn't walk that much, we sat in the lobby of a museum, which we later found out we should have visited but we didn't want to pay for admission. Called another uber and we were off to velvet taco, where we ordered a must when you get tacos: baja fish tacos, along with a cuban taco and spicy chicken tikka masala taco. The cuban was a bit dry so that was my least favorite. You can't go wrong with a fried fish taco. But the tikka masala one was super interesting and yummy. It was actually quite spicy though, so if you can't take spice I wouldn't advise getting that. We decided to walk back to our hotel since it wasn't too far of a walk and we stopped by Barney's on the way. Barney's is a dangerous place and I love just looking and admiring bags (true bag lady.)

If I remember correctly we took a nap once we got back because we were so exhausted for some reason. For dinner we planned to go to an italian restaurant but called and found out it was booked for the night. So we yelped and came across RPM and omg so good! I also wrote a mini review in my other post so go check that out. After dinner we went back to our room, showered and drank some cheap barefoot wine, played 'speak out', watched whatever free movies were available, and talked until we passed out.

bipolar

It's crazy how ridiculous the weather has been these days. In February, it's normal to have 30-40 degrees, but one day it'll be 30 and the next day it'll be 70. What?! That is NOT normal. We've seriously been having some bipolar weather over here. Yesterday was either hit 70 or almost did, but tomorrow is going to be a high of 40 with chances of snow. SNOW. Two days after 70 degrees. A few weeks ago I got sick -- aching body-type sick and I'm pretty sure the explanation for this is the rollercoaster weather we're experiencing. 

These past few weeks I haven't been feeling much like myself. I've been excessively angry for no reason. I don't know what's going on. A lot to blame would be the MTA, though. I commute to the city five days a week this semester, and it definitely starts to take a toll on you. Especially when every day is different; sometimes I get out of class late or there are train delays way out of my hand. Also, I take the LIRR so there's a set schedule and if you miss it, sometimes you have to wait 30 minutes for the next. Well, this semester I've missed multiple trains by a few seconds. That feeling is just so. frustrating. One day they terminated any LIRRs going into penn station so I had to transfer to the subway, which added an additional 30 minutes to my commute. If I were to ever move out of this city, a big reason, if not the number one reason, would be the MTA. 

I don't know why I've been like this these days, but maybe it's because of how mentally and physically drained I've become due to interning 3 days a week and going to grad school full-time. I have almost no time to myself that I try to take advantage the time I do have alone. I've never wanted a semester to end as badly as this semester. I'm only about half way done and I CANNOT wait until it's all over. Being like this has left me so uninspired and lazy and I'm not liking it one bit. Hopefully I will overcome this little bump, and soon! 

Chicago Chillin'

It is officially 2017! This is my first post of the year, yes I know it's already 19 days into the new year but better late than never right? The most popular saying since the new year: new year, new me. I hope this happens to me, for the better of course. I'm about to start my second semester at NYU as a graduate student as well as interning 3 days a week so I'm hoping I can juggle both to really build up my resume as I pursue my master's. I can't wait to see what's in store for me this year and I hope it's a great year for me and you!

This year has already been pretty good for me. Rang in the new year with my close loved ones with no concrete plans but ended up having a great time, got a 3.94 GPA (so close yet so far to a 4.0), scored an internship at a well-known designer's corporate office as a press intern, and went on a trip with my best friend -- which is where these photos come in. 

I really wanted to have a mini getaway with just wendy, just wendy and me. We were initially planning to go to Boston, but having been there together already and due to pretty inexpensive flights we decided on: CHICAGO. Wendy had never been and I've been but when I was 12, which was a decade ago (o m g a decade) so I have almost no memory of it except that I don't like deep-dish pizza. We had such a great time in Chicago that we keep wanting to go back. Minus the cold everything was awesome. When we felt the crisp, cold air of Chicago, we realized NYC cold ain't shit.. we would stand outside for maybe 15 seconds and already feel our exposed body parts starting to get numb. It's no joke in Chicago. On our first night, during a trip to Walgreens it was 4 degrees but felt like -7.. insane. Which is why I wore AT LEAST 4 layers every day. 

I love being able to explore a new city. One that is quite similar to NYC in terms of a lot of skyscrapers and a lot of shopping; Chicago's Magnificent Mile is comparable to our 5th Ave. BUT it's a lot nicer walking through Chicago streets because there are about 19387598x more people walking the streets of NYC. We were contemplating on whether or not to rent a car but we found out that Uber is pretty inexpensive there, so we opted to just uber/lyft-ing around. Getting to try restaurants in a different city is so exciting to me. A few places I would recommend:

• Honey Butter Fried Chicken: BOMB fried chicken. I got the Original Fried Chicken Sandwich "The O.G" and O m G it was so good. The chicken was flavorful, tender, and juicy, the sauce was delicious.. just TRY IT. Wendy ordered the 2-piece honey butter fried chicken, which had 1 piece of white meat and 1 piece of dark meat and came with a side of butter that you're supposed to spread on the chicken. First we tried the white meat one, so obviously it was a bit dry so I thought it was eh. But then the second one was dark meat and MM yes, dark meat is the way to go. Also super juicy and tender and with the butter.. well MO BUTTA MO BETTA (hi5 if you know who says this.) We also got a side of the pimento mac n' cheese, it was interesting but it wasn't really up my alley. I don't remember if we ordered cornbread or if it was given but it was whatever, just tasted like any ol' cornbread.
• Mortar & Pestle: Alaskan King Crab Benedict. Delicious. I don't believe we have anything like this in NYC; I know we have lump crab at Sarabeth's but it doesn't compare to the alaskan king crab. I love king crab and I love benedict so it was so good. Chicago also does their eggs really well. All four of our poached eggs were perfectly poached, which is a must in this dish. The price was also very affordable considering the ingredient used - $17! I can imagine it being about $25 if it were elsewhere. We also ordered the fruity pebble funnel cake to share and it was good as well! Not much of a fruity pebble taste though if you ask me, but you can never go wrong with funnel cake.
• RPM: This was a random spot we yelped since the place we initially wanted to go was booked for the night. We learned that in Chicago it's important to call before going to a restaurant, so we did and they told us the next table available would be 11PM but we could sit at the bar. We just agreed since we were hungry and wanted Italian. When we arrived, expecting to sit at the bar, we actually got a bar table which was pretty much our own little hightop table. We didn't mind at all! We ordered the Maine lobster ravioli, the spicy crab squid ink spaghetti, with a side of broccolini because us Chinese girls need our veggies. EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD! It was so good that we ordered 2 spicy crab squid ink pastas to go, hehe. I recommend this place if you're in Chicago! It's right off of Magnificent Mile so quite convenient if you're in the area. 

There are a few places that we went to that were recommended to us or had a lot of reviews but we didn't find that spectacular. 

• Wildberry: A brunch spot that supposedly gets really busy on the weekends. We got super lucky only having to wait about 5 minutes on a Friday at around 1:30. They're one of those restaurants that close at 2:30 then open later again. The one perk was that it was pretty inexpensive for the amount of food that they give you. It's a lot. But the food itself was okay. Wendy got some kind of mexican skillet and I got the benedict with chorizo. Both were okay. Maybe we didn't order the right items.
• The Purple Pig: If you ain't a meat, or PORK lover, this is not the place for you. This is supposed to be a tapas/small plates restaurant but holy pig the portions were HUGE. Each 'tapa' resembled a regular entree dish size. Our waitress told us to order 2 each and we could barely finish 2.. I LOVE salty food, but the food was pretty salty. I'm also not a food critic, but in my opinion things were a little over-seasoned. The dishes seemed to have too many flavors going on in one dish, to the point where it was quite overwhelming. 

I could go into more detail but don't want to make this a crazy long review but if you have any questions you can drop a comment or email me! 

I seriously had such a great time with just my bestie ^_^ I can't wait until our next vacation together! We need to make this an annual thing before we get married and have kids!! 

Comfort Zones

I would say these photos are quite different from all of my other photos.  These were taken upstairs on my roof.  I usually come up to tan due to the fact that I have no privacy downstairs and practically live next to a man who I should never be wearing a bikini in front of.. (beating around the bush by using nicer phrases).  Living in Queens, there's not many convenient places in which I can shoot so I had a great idea of shooting on my roof.  I initially planned on doing these myself but my intern (hehe jk my good friend) Evelyn came over one day so I decided to take advantage of her since she usually takes my photos anyways.  

I would say these shots are not what I would usually do and I definitely changed up my game a little.  These are much more "street" than I'm used to so it was a little weird posing for them.  As Evelyn was taking these photos she was like "Who are you?? You look so street." I kind-of liked when she said that because it showed I was stepping out and doing something I've never really done before.  I've never had that "bad bitch" vibe and I'm always categorized as "cute" and "tiny." I used to feel some type of way because who doesn't wanna be a bad bitch right? But over time, you have to realize you were born with a certain look, a certain vibe, a certain personality and the bad bitch life ain't for me. I'm in no way trying to pose as a bad bitch in these photos but I took inspiration from Sophia Chang, a YouTuber, who's style is such a mixture of styles and reminds me of my own style. 

I think it's important to stay true to who you are – but it's also good to try new things and step out of your comfort zone from time to time.

Below is my second fashion YouTube video! Go check out my Fall Lookbook ft. my Stuart Weitzman 5050 Boots!

#NYFW

As you know, New York Fashion Week was this month.  Being a part of the fashion industry means it's a very exciting time.  We get to see all the runway shows and new collections, we get to get inspiration from street style shots, and we get to dress ourselves up even more than usual.  Ever since I've been interested in fashion, I've always wanted to both work a fashion show and attend a fashion show. Well, this year I got to do BOTH and they were both such great first experiences for me.

Back in my first year of college, when I was still at FIT, my friends and I went out to fashion week at Soho where there were all types of little events and freebies to collect. It wasn't much of an experience, but that was my first ever fashion week-related 'event.' Years following, I didn't have time to attend fashion week events because of conflicting class schedules and whatnot but I still always followed the shows via blogs and Vogue. I've always loved seeking inspiration from Instagram and online publications to see what the upcoming trends are in runway AND on the streets. 

This year, I am now officially done with undergrad and I've moved on to grad school back in Manhattan at NYU. I also managed to get a PR internship at Prabal Gurung just in time for fashion week. I was super ecstatic about it because like I said previously I've always wanted to work fashion week.  Unfortunately, I'm no longer an intern at Prabal because it just wasn't for me and I already have a lot on my plate as a first semester grad student. However, Prabal Gurung is such a nice guy, and I'm so blessed to have gotten the experience to work with him even if it was only for such a short amount of time.  Getting to work backstage for him and seeing all the chaos that goes on behind-the-scenes was not something everyone gets to do. I'm glad my experience was for such a great well-known designer like Prabal Gurung. His collection was also GORGEOUS so if you haven't checked it out you definitely should! I now have a Prabal Gurung backstage pass as my souvenir for working fashion week and it's hanging in my room :)

The following day, one of my friends, Lucy @lucysiyu on Instagram, had an extra spot at a fashion show so I jumped on the opportunity and she took me as her +1.  It wasn't Chanel or Marchesa or anything but hey I'm still so thankful for her taking me to experience my first show ever.  It was #nolchashows and there were a number of designers whose collections I got to see so it was like a few fashion shows all at once.  It was such an interesting experience and I would gladly do it again, haha. The outfit above is what I decided to wear to the show. I've really been loving midi-length things. I used to think it was such an awkward length for me since I'm so short but they've been really appealing to me. So when I saw this top at Primark I knew I had to get it because it's such a versatile piece; I can wear it as a shirt-dress, as an open-shirt, or the way I wore it in the photos above. I wasn't even planning on wearing it this way until I actually started styling it. I loved how it flowed when I was walking because it showed a bit of leg every time I took a step with the wind blowing in my favor. Who remembers when the assymetrical skort was in? It's been about a year or two since I wore mine so I decided to bring them out. Don't you love finding old stuff in your closet that you haven't worn in a while and it ends up making a really cute outfit with your new clothes? I know I love it! My slippers are from Nine West, but from the outlet so I got two of the same pairs (one in white and one in black) for an amazing deal of 2 for $27 which is a steal! I love how simple they are yet they still add such a sophisticated look. Yes, you're not seeing wrong, I am carrying a new céline, it's actually my mom's but we all know I'm going to be wearing it more than she will hehe. #célinegirl

Céline belt bag

Say hello to my new bag! The Céline belt bag. I've had my eye on this beauty for quite some time and I decided to choose this as my 22nd birthday gift. I am, once again, in love with another black bag. If you follow Chriselle Lim, she has this bag in white and I love it in white, but white is just not practical for me. Then, I wanted it in a nude/beige color because all my other bags are black. Like all of them. However, over the months I was just drawn back to black. Black matches with EVERYTHING and plus most of my shoes are black.

While shopping at Neiman Marcus, I was actually close to getting another bag (which I will probably be getting soon so I won't reveal the name yet) but my heart kept telling me to go look at Celine. I was also close to getting an Antigona, but I didn't love it as much as I love the belt bag.  Personally, I would choose Celine over any other brand, so for the Antigona and belt bag to be around the same price, I had to go with the belt bag. The antigona is obviously gorgeous as well, but I feel like it's more contemporary while the belt bag is more of a classic that I'll be able to use when I'm an old lady so it just seems like a better investment. This is my own opinion of course, to each their own!

While telling my dad I liked the belt bag, we started calling it the moustache bag haha.

frenchie

"Oui oui," some guy working at a car wash called at me. "All you need is a baguette (beret)," silly Evelyn said, even though it works both ways.  This outfit was not intended to make me appear as a Parisian lady or a Venetian gondola driver, but it kind-of just happened.

The title of this post is inspired by a few things: 1. my outfit resembles that of a "french outfit" 2. I absolutely adore frenchies and on a more serious note 3. the tragedies that France has been facing. 

As many of you should have heard, the other day Nice, France was attacked leaving a significant amount of people dead.  I'm not one to bring up these tragedies, especially in a blog post like this but it's so heartbreaking to see how disgusting our world has become.  There's so much unnecessary violence that results in innocent people getting injured or losing their lives. It's sad to see this happening around us. Pray for all those countries in need.

On a brighter note, I've seriously been obsessed with french bulldogs lately. I want one so badly but that'll have to wait until I'm living on my own since my dad is against the idea of having a pup in the house. I'm already set on getting a frenchie as my first pup and I already have the name ready, so my future husband better let me do all the name-giving.  I've been stressing about post-grad responsibilities and I think having a frenchie next to me would have alleviate a good chunk of that stress ^_^.

vertically

We tend to travel horizontally, but sometimes we need to go vertically.  Part of life is going by a schedule, a daily routine but what do you do when you get bored? When you feel like it’s time to take a new direction? You take a step off your usual path and find something new, something different.

I’ve learned that while we’re young we should take advantages of all the opportunities that are put forth for us. They may not be right in front of you but with a little wandering and searching, they’ll find a way to you.  Now that I’ve graduated, I know never to settle for something that’s not making me happy or that’s not offering me what I deserve. With the days and months of being a little intern, I’ve learned a lot from those above me. I’ve also learned that those “above” you can teach you nothing.

My striped shirt gave me a little inspiration for this post, it being vertical lines instead of your typical horizontal lines. I paired it with some white shorts, a pair of heeled sandals, and a DIY necklace. I’ve been obsessed with chokers this few months so I decided to buy leather cording from Michael’s, measured it, cut it and viola, a necklace!  I’m not much of a DIY person unless it’s really simple but I’ve got an idea in my head and I’m hoping I can step out of my comfort zone to make it happen.

hump day

After a two month hiatus, I am back on this bloggin biz! A lot has happened these past two months: my last projects and finals as an undergrad, going to Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, and officially graduating from St. John's University (even though I wasn't physically present) but now I'm ready to get back into blogging and putting out content for you all.

These photos were actually taken months ago but I've finally decided to post it.  More of a simple post just to ease back into this.  Back when this was taken, it was not shorts weather at all, but now it's definitely summer. Going to try to get back to my two posts a week, Sundays and Wednesdays, aka hump day! 

Camel has really become a popular color and I'm not complaining. It's such a calming, neutral color but adds a chic touch making everything look more expensive. It's easy to work with if you're trying to go more casual or trying to make it an office-appropriate look.  For the past few seasons, I've been digging and digging for the perfect camel coat but have successfully failed at that so I settled for this simple BooHoo blazer.

Hump day means we're getting closer to the weekend, but I just wish I was back on vacation in Asia. I'm probably going to put out some food posts because you best know I took pictures of all the food we ate! Can't wait to rave about the milk tea and Hong Kong french toast we consumed. Hopefully a vlog will be out soon too, even though I haven't even started :(. 

new york minute

New York Minute was one of my favorite childhood movies, starring the well-known twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. The Olsen twins were two of my most admired celebrities as a child and it's amazing how they, and myself have entered the same industry. They've become successful women within the fashion industry and I admire everything they do and have done throughout the years.

Anyways, I got a little off topic but since my title was "New York Minute" being an avid fan of the Olsen twins I HAD to bring up the movie.

Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday I am blessed (most of the time) to be in the city due to my internship. I've grown up with the hustle and bustle of NYC and have grown accustomed to this lifestyle. Backtracking to the (most of the time) it gets frustrating trying to hurry my way to the NQR train station dodging smokers, tourists and people who just have nowhere to go. I used to think that us New Yorkers were really rude but I recently came across an article talking about how it isn't us New Yorkers being rude, but tourists visiting our city being rude. It's so important to learn the culture and lifestyle of the place you're visiting, because you are a visitor to a person's home where they do the same routine every day and if you just so happen to block the path of a NYC subway rider, that could cause them to miss the train they're supposed to take to get to their set destination at a set time. Of course, we don't mean to be rude, but it's important to know that New Yorkers are always in a rush and almost have no time to spare. But of course there are going to be those miserable people that are just rude and nasty every day. I hope this post didn't scare anybody from coming to New York, but it's only super hectic during rush hour when people are trying to get to work or get the hell home (like me.) I'm usually rushing at 6:00PM rather than 9:30AM because I just want to go home, sit back and relax. 

Note to take before visiting New York City: we would greatly appreciate if you could just step to the side and not stand in the middle of a sidewalk when you're trying to figure out which way to walk via your smartphone. Be prepared for the crazy rush hour of New York City if you're planning to visit! I've visited different cities and there's nothing quite like the concrete jungle.

Does your city/country have a certain culture that tourists should know about?

I'm going to Asia soon, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan to be specific and I would love to know about the do's and don'ts there!