maxin'

hi there. took a quick break here since i basically melted away from the heat. thankfully this past week was much, much cooler and bearable.  been getting a move on on my spring cleaning, which i'm pretty sure is going to turn into summer cleaning as well. i take too many breaks, that's the problem. you know when you're looking through things and then you find something that makes you nostalgic and then you get so nostalgic that five hours pass by and then you have to do something else or go to bed? yeah. that's been happening a lot. i clearly have no cleaning discipline. so, it took me this whole week to just clean a corner of the living room. lol. and that drafting table i keep blabbing about? still hasn't been put back together. soon. SOON. it has to happen soon!

so, i have a confession to make. this is my first ever maxi dress. yes, it's true. i've never owned a maxi dress with the intention of wearing it as a maxi dress. every maxi dress i've ever thrifted i've always altered and hemmed. i couldn't get maxis to work on me without looking like Mrs. Roper from Three's Company. but now, i'm really diggin the Mrs. Roper look so i'm not trippin' any more. haha. this dress is from free people and i'm in love (i mean, at that price tag you kind of have to be! haha). but on the real, the embroidery is so gosh darn beautiful! i need to add another hook an eye to the front to keep the ladies inside since it's not really the type of dress you wanna keep puncturing with a safety pin. and really, if you've got the skills to fix dresses, just do it. i have a pile of things i need to fix but i'm so lazy. i've got plenty of projects to keep me busy this summer haha. anyway, i think i've been bitten by the maxi dress bug. eep!

oh, i have a question for ya'll. have you guys ever worn shoes with ankle straps and had the ankle straps give you blisters? like wtf! these super cute gee wawa's gave me blisters and i'm so afraid to wear them again. i'm thinking of putting some moleskine along the strap so it doesnt irritate my skin so much. this has never happened to me so i'm a little confused. if i ever get blisters it's usually on the back of the heel or on the ball of my right foot. i emailed gee wawa and i didn't get a response. thanks a lot guys, really makes me wanna purchase your shoes again. (eye roll).  oh well, if you have any tricks let me know, i'd appreciate it. i wanna wear these shoes again!

the embroidery is too good 

i should probably wear a slip with this

all right. i'm off to see if i'm really allergic to cats!

details:

dress: free people | shoes: gee wawa via free people | necklace: erica weiner | sunnies: warby parker x leith clark | bracelets: vanessa mooney & vintage | lip color: wet n wild megalast in cherry bomb

through the heatwave

well, it's finally happened. triple digit heatwave everybody! i was fortunate enough to have the last two days off so i happily stayed in and managed to stay cool for most of this heatwave. according to the acu weather app, we'll be in 70s on saturday. hallelujah! i don't fare well in sweltering heat. i know, i know, i should move somewhere where it's always cold. but you show me a place that's cold and has amazing mexican food A N D vietnamese food and we'll talk. if you ain't got all three i'm not going anywhere! 

i really have nothing to report. life is good. mother's day was cool. got to spend some time with my momma although not enough time as i had anticipated, but a little time is better than no time. then spent some time with my boy's momma. split duties nowadays. good thing christmas will never be an argument as mexicans celebrate it on christmas eve and pretty much everyone else focuses more on christmas day. 

love my Live Beautifully tote bag from Ruche! they made these puppies for their 5 year anniversary and to celebrate their Live Beautifully campaign. i bought five of them and gave away 4 to some pals and one to my sis. i think they're perfect reminders to live our lives in a beautiful way, a way that makes us happy and fulfills us. i know it can be very easy to fall prey to intrusive thoughts always badgering us about not being thin enough or pretty enough or w h a t e v e r, we just need to take a step back and go in another direction. the one that will light the way to not caring what anyone else has to say--that's the road we wanna be on. self love is tough, partly because we are our own worst critics. but i think little by little, letting that hatred go opens up the path to living beautifully. and truthfully, we all deserve to be on that path.

rosy cheeks courtesy of this hot hot heat!

details:

top: urban outfitters | skirt: ruche | shoes: urban outfitters (really old) | tote: ruche | glasses: london retro via myoptique | bracelets: vanessa mooney, brooke hill jewelry & vintage

In Dreams: A Day at the Farmer's Market

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go ahead and tell me this isn't the perfect outfit for a day at the farmer's market! you can't! hahah. but on the real, i would probably wear this everywhere. can i please have these jett modern vice booties?! P L E A S E ! They are seriously so perfect in every way. In person, the leather is just so soft and dreamy. But that price tag. I just. I can't. HOLD ON. I need a moment to collect myself. 

okay. i've decided just now, i'm going to start saving them pennies for these babies because i just don't think i can live without them. ever since the day i saw them in real life i've needed them. i dont even know why i do this to myself. can i just win the lottery? liiiiiike am i going to get a second job so i can buy these? maybe.

okay. okay. let's move on before i have a breakdown. when i was a kid i loved fringe on everything! everything! i had a little fringe jacket and it was my favorite thing in the worrrld! until we moved and no one was able to find it. i was seriously depressed at age 6 over a fringe jacket. which btw, i didnt list here but cleobella has the fringe jacket of my dreams. this second job is probably gonna need to happen isn't it? ahaha anyway this little bag from irene's story is a good compromise for now, right?

this dress from Ruche is too perfect. i need it. need it. neeeeeed. i freakin adore the floral embroidery so much. it seriously makes the dress. there is also a similar one in sage green if you're interested. ;) i find that lately i've been gearing towards more blue clothing. all shades of blue. i don't know what this means. 

okay i'm getting loopy i have to get food now. have a good weekend and be good to your moms tomorrow.

In Dreams: Anthropologie May Lookbook 2014 // Guanajuato, MX

by now you've seen Anthropologie's May lookbook. when i got this sucker in the mail, before i even opened it, immediately i knew it was shot in Guanajuato, Mexico. GTO has a special place in my heart so i just knew. spring break 2009, i took a trip there to visit my friend who was doing a study abroad program and it was amazing. it was my first solo trip, my first airplane ride, and my first visit to Guanajuato. ah, to be 21 and adventurous again!

just looking through the catalogue really made me miss it. i had the best food i've ever had (please don't tell my mom), and was inspired nearly every day i was there. the colors man, they do something to ya. i really didn't want to come back but i did have those coachella tickets, lol. Guanajuato is a big college town so no one finds it weird to see an asian girl speaking fluent spanish. If there's anything i've learned about Mexicans (my other half) is that they love involving people from other cultures to learn their ways, to try their food, to learn their language and share all the good things they have to offer. which in turn, makes me wish mexico wasn't so corrupt and overrun by the drug lords because i want to go back. there is beauty there that needs to be seen. i just want to go to oaxaca, and quintana roo, and nayarit and soooo many other places in mexico, and not to mention i'd love to one day visit the land that raised me, Sinaloa. but it doesn't help that sinaloa is one of mexico's most dangerous states. T___T. it will happen for me, one day. hopefully.

coincidentally, i did wear an anthro top on this trip! hah! 

(this is my friend derek, an african-american and korean boy from kentucky who i met while he studied abroad in mexico. tell me that's not like the funniest story ever? haha. derek, my friend angie, and i were totally joined at the hip during this trip. explorers!)

more photos from my mexico trip can be found here if you care! they're unedited, so dont cringe too much. 

anywayyy, i love when Anthro shoots on location because their photos are just breathtakingly beautiful. what i didn't like about this lookbook was that nearly all items in this catalogue all had spanish words in them. was that necessary? i didn't see ya'll give vietnamese names to all the products on the previous vietnam lookbook. maybe i'm just being nitpicky. you win some, you lose some.

SOME   F  A  V  E  S:

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left to right

you can see the rest of the lookbook here.

schoolin'

i know. i know. WHERE ARE THE CORGI PHOTOS!?  i promised them and i definitely didn't deliver on that. sorry about that. i owe you guys corgi photos okay? i edited half of them and then when i picked up the editing for the second half i realized i didn't like any of them. that's what happens when you shoot in bright daylight guys, it just messes everything up. sooooo when i redo them i will post them and you will all die from cute attacks. just sayin.

so guess what's finally happening? SPRING CLEANING! it's taking me forever because i just have so. much. stuff. !!! It's exhausting. not going to lie i feel like if i start a fire it'll be easier. for a long time i didn't really know where to begin, it was so overwhelming. but i just got to it and i've been throwing things away and setting things that deserve better homes aside so i could list them somewhere. it's been kind of like a scary episode of hoarders. first step is admitting you have a problem right?

my goal for the end of the day is to clear everything from one side of the living room so i can move the couch. in hopes that this weekend i'll be able to set up my drafting table that i keep freakin talking about. lol. we're also thinking of getting rid of the couch. yikes! where am i going to take all my cat naps!? sigh. it's probably a good idea though, we have a really small apartment and we should probably get a smaller couch. i'd probably be more productive without a couch though let's be honest. i dunno, i'll keep ya'll posted on the very important couch decision of 2014. 

enough rambling, now on to this outfit. im 26 still lookin like a high schooler. lol. ay dios! i can't help it. sometimes i get dressed and this happens. i gotta say, these warby parker shades are everything. i wear them all the time even though sometimes i have to admit that they don't really go with my outfit. prescription sunglasses are the shit though. feels so good to not have to induce headaches by being a dork and wearing sunglasses with no prescription. on another note, i think i have to mention that this skirt is not crooked. the buttons are actually to the side. i bought this skirt in two colors because i thought the side button thing was ridiculously cute but when worn it totally looks like i'm dorky and wearing the skirt weird. although, that's definitely happened before with other skirts so, yeah. 

by the way, this backpack is so rad. i got it when i worked at the bookstore and found it in the sale bin for half off. plus i had a coupon AND a membership card. so majorrrrr $aving$! ah, the types of thrills around here. haha. man, i don't even know about this obsession with backpacks. one day i'll grow up and be a real adult with a handbag.

but, until then, you'll see lots of backpacks around here. haha

details:

sweater: h&m | top: urban outfitters (men's section) | skirt: tulle | socks: h&m | boots: zuriick (similar) | glasses: warby parker x leith clark | necklace: 31Bits via Ruche | backpack: barnes & noble (sale section heck yeah!)