imaginary money

this spending freeze hasn't been too difficult i must say. I thought it might have been harder but i think a lot of it comes from enjoying grocery shopping (lol) AND having imaginary money...

by imaginary money I DO NOT MEAN credit....like credit cards, we all know those will bite you in the booty later. No i mean gift cards and store credit...haha

this weekend I enjoyed a lil bit of shopping on store credit because I returned the christmas cards I did not use and a gift i decided to return (after my holiday spirit had died and i remember how crappy this person is) at anthropologie...I kept the money from the gift because it was like 40 dollars BUT i did use the credit from the christmas cards (because the money was already spent) on FUNNY THINGS XD (a mug with my intial on it (yes my name begins with "x") and cute little pom pom barrets! (shown in the last picture)) I also rushed to sephora because I got an email about getting this hello kitty perfume as a free gift! (SO CUTE SO CUTE) I love that the anthropologie and sephora are at the same mall, I also ran by zara which is also in this same mall (a new mall they just built in chicago where ice skating used to be like 15 yrs ago!) Zara was having a massive SALE & i was tempted by all the red signs that said 9.99!! But it was like piles of unfolded tshirts i was ....

a. too lazy to shuffle through them all..thats THEIR job

b. nothing seemed too appealing....maybe it was the layout, maybe its because i never wear tshirts

all in all i think i did pretty good and didn't spend a REAL DIME (again) haha!

I already LOVE this hello kitty perfume, but i only wear a drop of it when i go out with friends. I don't know why I suddenly love hello kitty again, with the vintage suitcase and all (in my other post which i found at the thrift store for 1 dollar! over christmas break.) I really like vintage 1970s-80s kitty. And what can I say she's so cute! PLUS this perfume smells almost exactly like Coco Madmosielle by Chanel! And it was FREEEEE *in theory* (that chanel perfume is my ultimate perfume!) I might have to go buy it soon before they ditch the label when kitty gets boring again....[ i also saw this cute little girl with her mom gushing over all the hello kitty stuff at sephora, she reminded me of me and my mom and our shopping escapades in the city when i was a kid :') ] The hello kitty juices where just on sale at the grocery store for a dollar, i always pack my lunch so i got those instead of the usual capri sun~

I also exchanged an old comic for 3 other comics and 2 dollars back (pictured above)! (oh power of returns!) I decided that the one comic was too expensive and too much like written by a weebo, this is why i save almost all my receipts because I am the master of buyers remorse.

Finally I got some macaroons! I felt like i deserved them darnit!Today I walked to work in the snow for 2 miles (trying to use a less stressful route *fail* ) and passed this pastry shop thats supposed to have the best macaroons in the city! I used a gift card i got from my dad on them *thanks paw!* I can't wait to try them with some tea tonite. I also bought some toiletries i needed some sponges and a new face towel, and I bought the lashes again with the gift card :P I wanted to try lashes again since everyone makes them look so tempting!

*******

oooooh I love shopping when its basically free! sometimes when i get the urge i just look for stuff to return..and i stretch out gift cards people get for me for months at a time. (in fact the clinique make up shown i just got from a macys gift card i got for my bday)

anyway i think its cookie time! pray that my apartment doesn't blow away! so far the storm has already blown off some roofs by my apartment o_o and the newspaper catagorized the section of the city that i live in as "the end of days..."

bring it on snowmaggedon...

first day of winter...sorta

I know this post is sorta late..(eh-heh) But I hope you all have been enjoying the first ☆OFFICIAL☆ day of winter. I know us peeps in Chicago have...lol

me playing in all the snow fall whilst delivering gifts to friends!

I am excited about having a white Christmas, I don't think I had one in ages!!!

Anyway, this is just a quickie update before bed, I promise (I'm serious, I'vejust been so busy with Christmas preparations!!!) I blog more tomorrow, in fact I will set time out of my day to do so..hee hee

Oh btw, I'm SO GLAD about the positive feedback about my previous post. Perhaps I'll try to make that a regular thing on Sunday Spa Day posts...lol....

(I'm going to go a little "dear diary" on your starting now...)

I've been having quiet of a bit of a crazy week, but I'm so grateful for it all! I also been getting my crafting on (pictures soon!) Plus hanging out with old friends. The surprise party for Panda was a HUGE SUCCESS! I hanging out with all my friends in the basement brought back some gooooooood memories...lol I had some great conversations with some of my friends I don't normally have one on one time with...

However, It's getting weirder now that we are getting older and I'm getting more noticeably womanly while they are all dudes (and getting all manly looking versus all pimplely and gangily..rofl) Yes all my friends are dudes, which I absolutely ADORE 'cept when they get girlfriends. Don't get me wrong, I love it when my guys get girlfriends, BUT, I don't like it when the girl cannot work seamlessly within the group. There are some that do, some are sisters and wives, but others just pull the group apart. Me and Panda were talking about sometimes we feel like our friends don't realize how awesome all of us are to have each other. I really am grateful for all of them, I hope that they all find wonderful wives and great jobs when we all graduate within the next year or two. However, it makes me sad sometimes because I heard once you get married you lose all your guy friends, will I still be their friend once I get married, will they still be mine? I know I can be intimidating to the "girl friends" too, which I can see the strain its put on my relationships that were once so strong fade out, I understand though. I would feel weird if Panda was hanging out with some other girl all the time, I wish there was a way for the worlds to co-exsist. Without fear of infidelity or jealousy. But whatcha going to do, it's simply how life goes, ya know? This is why I need more girlfriends, but they are so much work! Guys are easy.....too easy....lol

Oh well, nothing makes the day better than an impromptu movie nite, featuring Tokyo Zombie (Tadanobu Asano is HOTNESS, I feel bad lovin Chara's ex tho)




Nite everyone! Thanks for listening to me rant x_x

office party and hair cut

OMG IT'S SNOWING SOOO BAD!! Good thing I got my boots! XD

Anyway, what did you get from your office party-- if you had an office party. I got this...


Even though I'm CLEARLY old enough for a bottle of wine tee hee (which the teacher's got, us TAs did not :P) I'm still really happy with this because I actually have a tea collection with my roomie, AND it's green tea, even better! Green tea/Candy cane to be exact. There was also the choice of having chocolates instead of this but I wanted a christmas gift that was guilt free. A few years ago we got T shirts which I actually really wanted because I ruined my last one with plaster..oh wells..

After work, and a quick slice of tiramisu with my co-worker and long-time friend suzie ♥, I decided to cut my bangs, I absolutely love Guliko's hair from Zipper...

And I already have a faux bob I wear by french braiding the longer strands and pinning them up. (perhaps I should do a tutorial? Lemme know...) So with the shorter strands of my shaggy haircut I lay down like a bob. I had typical girl bangs with a side sweep, but I was feeling ADVENTUROUS! hee hee...here's the results!

you likey you likey?

I guess the rest of my bob still needs to be a touch longer to be like Guliko's (it's below the chin here, it looks shorter but it's because it has a lot of layers) but i still like the bangs, and I can still side sweep them if I feel like being like classic me. I was interested in maybe trying some of Lucido-l products to style my hair. Has anyone tried them? What are your faves?

Anywho, I'm totally being distracted by Conan, so I'll see ya laters. I'm debating if I want to face the cold in the morning and go to Mistuwa, magazine scans just aren't cutting it...:/ I guess you'll find out tomorrow! Nite!

(i hate carebears! lol)

it's beginning to look a lot like....

(a skim white mocha and zipper mag, of course!)

CHRISTMAS!

Looks like us kids in Chicago got our first snow, yesterday, here's a pic of the damage so far. Not too bad eh? I'm glad, I'm scared how bad it's going to get especially when you commute via public transit.-_-"

Therefore, I felt the need to get new boots. The ones I have are trusty, but they are also dusty and sad. I love them to bits but people frown when I wear them around! So with some of the commission I made through my mom's showcase (which I'll post more about that later, but btw it was a GREAT SUCCESS) I made a little trip to the Belmont Army Surplus and Marc by Marc Jacobs....needless to say I got these little numbers

I really like them and they weren't to pricey. Just enough PIZAZZ without looking decora..heh. The shoes at Belmont Army were a FORTUNE and I KNEW they wouldn't protect me through the snow. I really wanted galoshes too because the suede and leather boots get TORN UP in chicago, I see girls kicking around in some suede shoes or ugg that look like they came out of a refuge camp. No thanks! I wanted something that would just wipe clean! I'm also going to invest in some rain boot socks, so my feet stay cozy and warm through below temps. :D I was so excited to get them that I walked out the store with them on! Hee hee! It was so hard though to go to go to Marc Jacobs and only leave with the boots! XD

So with my new boots I am super set on winter stuff! I have my new coat from last year. Its an army green wool trench with a fur trim, similar to this...but it has a fur trim and it's like a wool tweed. This one is from yesstyle's style berry

and I also have THESE

PAAAAAAAANDAAAAA MUUUUUUFFFFSSSSSSSSSS

Cute right?! They were a gift from my panda--whom I miss dearly! I have talked to him in weeks because of his finals kicking his butt because he graduates this month! YAY! And he also didn't pay his phone bill soooo he can't call me either. siiiigh, I miss him so much, but I can wear the panda muffs and think of him!❤


Other than that all things are cool here in Chi-town! I finished my finals today (weeeeee!) And the test was totally easy I know I got an A or a B at least and I only studied for like and hour. Oh and here's a funny side note, before the test began the professor showed the cutest little panda picture on the projector! It was like panda was cheering me on! I know he's always around, even if I don't see him


Soooo, that's it really, I promise to blog almost everyday now that I have free time, I'm going to make a list of "to dos" over break, but for the rest of tonight I'm going to rest! What are your plans? (btw like the new layout? I felt like being festive, maybe it's my roomie's christmas music and Jenny's inspiration!)