New York Fashion Week

A quick hello as I'm typing from the airport, about to embark on a whirlwind dream adventure of my life: NYFW! After entering a few contests, I decided, "eff it, we'll do it live" and got tickets to the Big Apple for the weekend, spending Friday and Saturday exploring and networking to pieces. I'm also lucky enough to party with Jenn Im x Threadsence x Sugar & Fluff at their Cosmic Kickback party and take a nice fat break from learning all the minutae about kidneys. Life is meant to be lived between mandatory attendances. Med school ain't stopping me from dreaming big ass dreams :)

Photo cred: http://moeysphotography.tumblr.com/

Chicago: Hot Doug's and The Bean

Thrifted Forever 21 cashmere baseball tee sweater // Thrifted Ragorama black high waisted shorts //

Forever 21 sparkly sandals // Nordstrom ombre green and brown sunglasses //
Ruche brown messenger bag //

Thanks Karyn and Marie for helping with outfit photos!

On Day 0 of Lolla, we drove the 6 hours from Columbus to Chicago and made our first stop at Hot Doug's, a corner hot dog place serving everything from their famous foie gras (duck liver) to deer meat. The foie gras hit the spot, adding a rich creamy texture to a simple hot dog (though it costs $10!). Then we walked along the bustle of Michigan Ave to Millenium Park and The Bean for some silly pictures. Afterwards, it was time to terrorize the people of Chicago with our bike share beachcruisers until we finally found a beautiful bike trail that hugs Lake Michigan and rode to our hearts' content. The bikes have to be returned at a station every 30 minutes, so it was like a stressful touristy version of the Amazing Race on wheels. We ended the night at Pequod's for some serious deep dish pizza.

Click to see more pictures → → →

Blogger Meetup in Chicago: Jenn Im, Olivia Lopez, Claire Marshall

A quick update from the airport terminal: I had the astounding luck to meet three of my favourite bloggers/youtubers in Chicago this weekend at Lolla. Olivia (LusttforLife) and Claire (ohhaiclaire) were at The Bean and I bumped into Jenn (clothesencounters) in line. They were down-to-earth and friendly. It was especially inspirational chatting with Olivia because she is very petite and has been a fearless explorer of high fashion since her early teen years, rocking maxi skirts without breaking a sweat. What a freaking experience summertime in Chicago is - many adventures to recount in upcoming posts!

Cherry Danish | Solvang, CA

Black lace cardigan // Red tshirt (underneath) // H&M faux leather biker jacket // 
H&M forest green skinny pants // Forever 21 red slouchy beanie // Xhilaration black and white oxford flats //

JJ is wearing a Nerdy Domokun hat :D

Photography: JJ's Dad, me

Fast forward through 3 months of living inside Powerpoints and the library and we arrive at a snowy, well-deserved, super laidback Spring Break. So far I've hiked 7 miles on a waterfall crawl in the great outdoors, eaten my weight in comfort food, and done some digging through my memory cards to shake out these ole blogging legs. Thank you for your supportive comments on my last post, saying hi on social media, and sticking with me for all these years.

Solvang is a quaint little Danish town in the mountains near Santa Barbara (12/30/12). JJ and his family and I frolicked around the village admiring the windmills, munching pastries and sausages, trying on clogs. Though it might feel odd to be seeing photos of real pretzels adorning Christmas trees in late March, the persistence of current coat-weather makes it quite fitting. Note to curator of weird American traditions: please fire The Groundhog.

The rest of this week will be spent drinking fancy coffee and reading for pleasure, exploring the zoo and botanical gardens, and writing a letter-to-self disaster preparedness plan to avoid repeating the same "med school + winter ate my blog" excuse next year. Step 1: hunt down a floor length puffy coat to act as full-body shield against the elements and to hide presentable outfits underneath. Step 2: clone self to take outfit pictures or convince the world that library-cubicles-are-the-next-thing-in-fashion. Step 3: laugh at the last photo and how often my priceless weirdo moments are captured on film.

Click to see more pictures → → →

Hollywood, CA

H&M faux leather biker jacket // H&M chambray shirt // H&M silver metallic sweater //

Faded Glory red tee (underneath) // H&M olive A-line flare skirt // H&M faux leather leggings //

Forever 21 grey knee high socks // Xhilaration black and white oxfords //

Photography: JJ & me

Last weekend JJ and his family and I explored Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara on a spontaneous end-of-year trip (I survived on 1.25 outfits: proud). First stop: Hollywood, home of a bajillion people staring at the ground and snapping photos (aliens must be so amused at the human race). Bundling up in as many layers as possible, with assorted textures and fabrics, we meandered around streets, shops, and eateries like proper tourists. Some of my favourite moments: eating piping hot samosas at Bollywood Cafe, pleased to find the longgg boardwalk in Santa Barbara to be consistent with Psych, wandering around the little Dutch town in the mountains.

I made it home via pimped-out-with-wifi train in time for watching the crystal ball make its flamboyant descent down the pole on TV with my family while sipping champagne. Yesterday was mall day, catching some deals after all the holiday-crazed shoppers are still resting from the battle of 2012 ($1.80 for a big string of white Christmas lights, hollaaa). Today's adventure will be around downtown San Diego with a med school classmate and dinner at Fish Market for my brother's birthday. I hope your new year has kicked off ambitiously and adventurously!

Click to see more pictures → → →

I'm Backkkk!

Finally back home from traveling the world: NorCal, China, Hawaii. I took 5000 photos just on my phone and have a full month of adventure I need to share through 011011101's and pixels. I have zero idea where to start, so here are 3 pretty pictures from my Instagram, which thankfully was accessible anywhere in the world, for each. My instagram is @pandaphilia and here is my webstagram link. Yay pixelated eye candy nom nom. I have missed uncensored/consistent internet so badly and I've missed you! (Please say hi!)

1. Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China // 2. Hanauma Bay coral reef, Honolulu, Hawaii // 3. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California

New Year, New Start

Happy 2011, everyone! It's good to be back in the States after two and a half weeks and good to have wi-fi. Honestly though, I miss Taiwan so much already! I'm going to be so depressed without amazing cheap food every single breathing moment. I'm also officially the heaviest I've ever been in my life and with no regrets. My apologies for not writing scheduled posts like I had planned or updating for over half a month - never thought I could survive that long without constant internet access. 

This brings me to another point. I feel like since high school I have been practically living on the internet and not spending enough time with family and friends. If I keep the browser open long enough, hours are gone randomly clicking around and closing and reopening the same tabs. While I feel like blogging has been such an amazing experience, I feel like now it's time to take a break and get back to living offline. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm going to miss every one of you and I can't thank you all enough for the support you've given me these 1.5 years. I'm so blessed to have met so many people with dedication and kindness and interesting things to share. I will continue stalking your blogs and maybe occasionally update but this semester I'm going to focus on getting into medical school and living out my daily life dreams. It's been so long since I sketched for the heck of it. I keep saying I never have time to play videogames or watch movies or hang out but in reality I do. Blogging alone is not to blame but each post takes so much time and to this day I can't let go of trying to perfect what I perceive as a form of digital art and literature. Each photoshoot takes a while and editing even more. I envy and respect those of you who have a job and still blog daily. I am a student first and foremost and it's time I started acting like one. This semester is jam-packed full of science courses and research and MCAT class and community service and it never ends. I'm both excited for it and yet totally unprepared.

When I was standing at the metro station in Taipei surrounded by seas and seas of people, I felt comfortable, I felt excited and I had an epiphany. I want to spend my money traveling and seeing the world. I want to save up not for a fancy camera to take pictures of myself, but for experience, for memories, for Paris, Greece, Barcelona, Okinawa, the rainforest, Great Barrier Reef. I really enjoyed traveling and being in the big city and amongst a new culture - turns out Taiwan is really different from the Asia I know. I was really surprised that people like wearing those face masks while driving around on mopeds. I thought there was another SARS epidemic but actually people use them to stay warm xD There were so many interesting cultural nuances that piqued my curiosity and I'm itching to explore more.

A year ago I wanted to quit blogging because I was scared of change. I was scared of what I would turn into and of the uncertainty. I'm really happy I didn't stop then. Right now, this decision has been carefully thought over during my trip and I am at peace with what I have become as a consequence of the blogosphere. Yes, I have accumulated more clothes and makeup, but I also have more knowledge. I am more comfortable with my appearance and less self-conscious (of course it was more difficult in Taiwan where indeed all the girls were sooo thin!). I am a stronger individual and a faster writer. I close this chapter of my book to begin a new one. 

Good-bye for now my dear friends. Adventure is out there!

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm completely done with this grueling semester! Now it's time to sip organic hot chocolate and wait for  grades to come in before I start packing for Taiwan (you should have seen me screaming and jumping up and down like a lunatic when I saw A+ next to Physics :D :D). It has been raining nonstop this week in San Diego, which I find pretty amusing. I wish it would snow here - it'd be so gorgeous on the mountains. Today I also went to Best Buy and convinced the salespeople to take out a brand new Canon Rebel T2i for me to play with. Then I had to give it back : ( I'm incredibly stubborn when it comes to wanting something really bad. I never tell my parents and deny that I want anything every year for Christmas and if they somehow find out and spend the oodles of cash for me, I spend the next year feeling dreadfully guilty. After all, this is no small amount. My dad just commented earlier today while looking at my Disney photos that if I got an SLR, I would get terrible grades. My argument is I could shoot the photos that I'm going to take anyway faster and get back to studying. Logical? Maybe. Rationalizing? You bet.

I was so happy to see my "Sis" after so many years apart. She's so close to me, we're definitely like sisters even in our durrr moments. When we went to Disneyland the day before Thanksgiving, it was my first time and I was still captivated by the magical world of Disney. Turkey legs, churros, and hot chocolate came to save the day because it was super chilly in Anaheim too. She was in Cali for a beauty pageant finals and later she definitely placed. I'm so proud of her! Waiting in line forever was an upside too because we got to catch up on heart-to-hearts after such a long time. Space Mountain ftw! All of the princesses and the Evil Queen especially were so in character. Are they currently hiring for Mulan because I would be there in a heartbeat.

I was good this year, I swear ; )

Bloglovin | Twitter | Facebook | Chictopia