Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Finally!

I leave for Europe tomorrow morning at 7AM. Its strange how after months of planning and looking forward to this, I'm finally going. I don't think the reality of it has actually hit me yet. I've mostly been caught up in the whirlwind of errands and packing- saying bye to friends, going to the dentist (absolutely horrible- they gave me a root canal, but I don't have cavities, and now I'm on antibiotics), and all those other little details that you need to take care of before leaving for 4 months.

What it looks like on the outside- no pictures allowed inside, sorry guys.

Yesterday night, I got a chance to go to the Magic Castle in Hollywood with my sister and cousin- It was SO awesome! We got to catch 5 shows, and it pretty much encompassed everything you can categorize under magic- conjuring doves out of handkerchiefs, teleportation, coin tricks, rope tricks, card tricks, ladies being sawed in half and stuffed into tiny boxes, you name it. It was some crazy entertainment by legit magicians (not the kind at birthday parties in 2nd grade). This one guy burned a hole through a deck of cards with a quarter...it was sooo trippy!! It made me doubt my skepticism of magic for a moment (as did the doves).

In front with my sister and cousin

I don't know how regular my posts will be once I'm traveling around with my family, but i'll try to keep you guys updated as best I can. Au revoir!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Meet Bartholomew.

Hi, I'm Bartholomew. The coolest, cutest purple hippo you will ever meet.

Likes: Ice Cream
Dislikes: being mutilated (*cough eugene stevie cough*)
Favorite song: that thing you do, bananaphone (watch it on youtube, its amazing)
Talents: being cute, dancing, flying
Would like to: see the world, live in a supermarket freezer full of ice cream


Warhol Style.

Swimmin with the fishies

Stealing donuts...yum

Sleeping in my hat

Blogging. I am so talented.

******************
Need I say more?

He is accompanying me on my trip to Europe, so look out for his posts on here!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Road Trip

German Autobahn road sign. This means no speed limit.

There is exactly 1 week until I leave for Europe. With all my visa, bank, passport, and other paperwork done with, I am finally starting to pack.

Realization: after spending 3 years in San Diego and the majority of my life in L.A., I have no adequate cold weather clothes. At least nothing that will protect me for winter in Paris. Winter wear in SD = sweatshirt, jeans, and flip flops. Except I really don't want to go shopping for winter clothes in August, so I'll find what I can and worry about it when I get there. (plus you always have more stuff coming back anyway)

I don't know if I mentioned this, but I'm road tripping around Europe with my family for 2 weeks before I start school. My dad is driving. He decided this by himself, and my mom and I are at the moment doubting his abilities. Apparently this is his "challenge" and he needs to prove to himself that he's young and can still do it (despite his slowing reflexes.). -_- Oh, dad.

We will be driving from:(I included a map for visual aid)
1. Paris, France- 2 days
2. to Zurich and Lucerne, Switzerland- 2 days
3. to Heidelberg, Germany- 2 days
4. to Amsterdam, Netherlands- 3 days
5. to Brussels, Belgium- 1 day
6. and then back to Paris.- 3 days


The total drive is supposed to be 1266mi. Wish us luck. This is going to be reaaaallyyy interesting.

Friday, August 7, 2009

21

This is super late- but here's what I did on my 21st birthday, in pictures (because everyone loves pictures):

17/18 of us!! I'm the super red one. -_-

It ended up being NOT just another day- I got to celebrate with a bunch of close friends, russian food, and wine (which I swear was spiked with something else because I have never gotten that sick off alcohol). Plus a lot of cake.
I also celebrated the weekend before with some of my girlies. It was nice to get together with everyone again, especially since they're mostly graduated/in norcal. We got lunch at Urban Solace (go try it, it's delicious!) in Hillcrest in Downtown SD, then we proceeded to destroy a cake (but somehow didn't manage to eat all that much of it)

It was pretty even after we destroyed it.

Before, with the girls & my big sis/birthday buddy

The boyfriend got me balloons and made me a beautiful cake! We got brunch at The Cottage in La Jolla, went tide-pooling for one last time before he left for Davis, and then he took me to Brockton Villa down by La Jolla Shores for dinner.
The view from Brockton Villa

Then on Saturday we celebrated again with his sister and her bf-
me and mon petit ami at mi piace in pasadena. Blurry, but I like it.


And of course, no birthday is complete without celebrating with my bestie- sitting on her bed eating cupcakes- some things never change, no matter how old we get :P

Thank you to everyone who celebrated with me and wished me a happy birthday!!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Fashion victims

a popular fad in 1957. not so much today.

Today, I spent 3 hours at the DMV in an attempt to get my license renewed. Note: attempt. Right when I got up to the window that lets you take the written test, they closed for the day. I was annoyed to no end. But that's not the point of this post.

Three hours of waiting at the DMV provides ample time for people watching, a great past time that provides hours of entertainment at no cost. No kidding in my case. So for the three hours before I walked up to the window and shelled out my $28 renewal fee, I sat in my chair and learned that most of the population is still not living in the 21st century. At least not fashion-wise. Most of them are still in the 80s and 90s. I saw:

1. plaid shorts paired with a checkered shirt
2. flowered skirt with a flowered top under a flowered sweater (none of which matched)
3. red suede square-toed boots with sweatpants (on a guy)
4. a guy who wore a sweater that, I kid you not, literally looked like a Mondrian painting (but much brighter in hue, paired with fire engine red sweats and matching sneakers, all of which were baggy. )

And that was just the worst of it. My descriptions are on people that looked to be in their teens, 20s and 30s. As the kid who wore plaid shorts with a polka dot shirt, I wonder if I would have ended up as such a fashion victim if my mother and sister hadn't intervened.

Fashion comes and goes. A Mondrian sweater may be the thing one day, and out the next. If no one around you is wearing one, are you aware that a) its just not okay, or b) not care and wear it proudly even if the rest of the world laughs at you?

This style came back- but minus the whole grandma knit pattern.

Back to the DMV tomorrow for more people watching.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Jeans

I bought 3 pairs of jeans for $60 today! My old ones ripped and I was dreading the chore of finding new ones. On top of the great deal I got, it was even better knowing that it took me all of 30 minutes to get that errand crossed off the list. I normally hate jeans shopping, so this totally brightened my day (The time it took for me to get the jeans thrills me, rather than the jeans I actually purchased. But they're cool too.).

Shopping for jeans is always so tricky- they're too long, too wide, too skinny, too flared, too low, the pockets are all wrong, the color is weird... the list goes on. I like mine straight-legged. Not flared, but not skinny. Which makes it all the more painful looking through all the skinny jeans that are all the rage. If I wanted jeans that fitted like that, I'd buy myself tights.

The whole name-brand jeans thing always baffled me. You can see my fashion-conscious sister rave about the great deals she gets on Hudsons, Sevens, or RocknRepublic jeans... and then there's me. I go for the ones on sale at Charlotte Russe- because they fit and I don't have to get them taken in at the hem due to my shortness. I like finding a good deal as much as the next girl, but if it looks and feels perfectly fine, why bother upgrading to a $150+ pair? As they say, if the shoe fits, wear it(even though they're not top of the line designer ones)!

On another great note: I GOT AN ITOUCH TODAY!!! Late birthday present from the sister, but I'm not complaining. Playing around with it, but no wifi at home, so I'll have to wait to load apps.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

home.

I'm finally home. And in the process of unpacking. Unpacking is such a big pain... I discovered that I have more stuff than I have room for, so now its time to cleanse and simplify... so I'm going through all my stuff and deciding what to keep/donate. Its crazy how much stuff can accumulate. I definitely do not need that much stuff. My room is gonna get a LOT messier before it gets clean.

Anyway, on to more exciting things.

I've decided that I want to either open a bookstore like this, or at least have one in my home that's very similar. I've always had this dream of opening my own bookstore/coffeehouse (it has to be both). Maybe one day...


These photos are from a children's bookstore in China. There's more pictures on the website that are just as awesome!