Tiny Tines co-blogger and my good friend, Chris, tied the knot yesterday with her long-time love, Davis. Congratulations, girl. I am so happy for you, and I wish you nothing but the best.
You looked absolutely stunning. Your beauty brought tears to my eyes. Fo real!
Three cheers for Chris!
Hip hip hurray!
Hip hip hurray!
Hip hip hurray!
Sometime life calls for a badass moment, when you just want to break free from the rules that govern your life and throw all conventionality out the window. I find myself experiencing these moments more often than ever before. 2012 might very well be a year of me doing me. Time to rock! Happy New Year, buddies.
Sick photograph by Andes Lo. Thanks for letting me be!
The best time to take outfit photos (and any photos for that matter) is at around 4:00-5:00 in the afternoon. That’s when the sun sets and the light is just right (if it isn’t overcast/cloudy). If you miss it, you miss it. But there is always tomorrow.
These huge hipster glasses have my new prescription (I’m nearsighted) and got them free from Clearly Contacts (well, I had to pay for shipping which was like $15-$17). They have promotions for free glasses (select frames) every so often. I keep a lookout for promotional codes from Smart Canucks. The funny thing is, Clearly Contacts never had freebie promos for contact lenses, even though their business name sounds like they’re all about contacts, clearly (ha!). It’s like that restaurant with the words “express donuts” in the name, but they don’t sell donuts (???) and are well-known for their quick chow mein lunches.
I’m trying not to depend on my glasses so much, but it’s really hard. I find that I even need to wear them when I’m in front of the computer! And the screen isn’t even that far away from me! I guess my eyesight is getting worse…
I kind of got a little overboard at Forever21 and suddenly bought 5 dresses from there in a span of 4 weeks! I don’t know, I never really bought dresses from there since I know they don’t last long and probably made by sweatshop workers, but they’re so cute!! And I guess, like the rest of the middle class, I passively feed the exploitative system and perpetuate bad business practices because I think “they’re so cute!”.
I try to stop and think — is wearing cute clothes a priority over ethical consumption? But it’s too late, the credit card has been swiped and the ethical shopper in me had lost. But the battle was already lost when I stepped into the store.
Now I’m trying to just spend my lunch hours with bubbly new co-workers and have insightful conversations, rather than walk around the big mall like an Olympic sport. Like any addiction or bad habit, the first step is to replace those bad activities with something else (hopefully better), and take other conscious steps to ween off of it. Baby steps….
Dress: Forever 21
Purse: Vintage
Shoes: Korea
Glasses: Clearly Contacts
I had a heavy night of conversation with my girl friends and realized we’ve reached that age where we begin to talk about the quickly-approaching future — owning property, being particular about our careers, plans for marriage/family/children/etc. We start to see how others play the game of life — the conventional ways and the very bold ways. I think I am the type to do the bold, unconventional path but probably cave in to the pressure of eventually “settling down”. At this tender age of my early 20′s, of course right now I want to be independent and have no one to answer to, or no one’s schedule to accommodate. But later on, I will probably yearn to care for someone and raise a child. It’s like people who hit their 30′s will have that desire to kick in naturally. Maybe I’ll get a dog or cat to fulfill the desire.
I feel like I might do a disfavour to society if I have children and not be fully prepared to raise him/her. But then again — is anyone prepared to raise a child? You need a license to drive a car, but no license to have children. For eternity people have searched for the answer to why people choose to have children. Some have explained that it is the ultimate sign of love and selflessness, and if you’re in your 30′s or 40′s and still childless, it means you are afraid of going through the pain and suffering of being a parent. Well, excuse me for sparing you a child that probably doesn’t get enough love or attention.
I don’t know. I think my thoughts about marriage and children will change. I will probably want them later on. Right now I just feel like people get married and have children because they don’t know what else to do with their lives. Our society is so dependent on templates and following historical patterns because it is the safest thing and only thing to do in life. And women are told that, biologically, the chance to have children will disappear before they are emotionally ready. That’s too bad.
It’s interesting to see how needs and goals in life change every couple years. In high school, having a boyfriend was the most important thing to me. And now, the most important thing is whether I will have a fulfilling career that isn’t soul crushing. In a couple years, the most important thing to me will probably be what house to buy and whether I can still eat cheesecake.
Ahh, I don’t know what I’m putting such a loaded thought into this blog. I guess I just want to see who actually comes here to read text and who will just say, “hey, nice outfit!” lol. HI!!!
Blouse: Vintage (Etsy)
Sweater: Gap
Pants: Sears by Attitude
Shoes: Kenneth Cole 925 Silver Belle
Decided to take a break from studying and posting about figure skating like a mad woman on my Tumblr.
This red dress is once again, a treasure found in my mom’s trunks of vintage goodies. There are clasps at the wrist cuffs but they need to be repaired, hence them fluttering unnecessarily in the pictures.
I’m so happy to see the weather warming up. Rightfully so, it’s almost May!
When I was still in high school, I would write up a list of things I wanted to do every summer. I never really accomplished half of those things, or if I did, they weren’t as exciting as I thought they’d be. For example, “exploring downtown” would be a given on that list in high school. Downtown was such a “mystical land” that was thought to be conquered in one day. But after working and going to university downtown every day for the past 2 years, I still feel like there is so much more to conquer!
You cannot truly know Toronto by just living in a small suburban region of Toronto, even if you have lived there your whole life. Some people have lived in Toronto for 30 years, but can’t even tell you how to get to the CN Tower or the major tourist spots in Toronto. Heck, some people have immigrated to Toronto and lived in Toronto for decades but cannot speak English! It’s uncanny, but very possible. It’s just like how I went to Prince Edward Island and a local girl said she had never visited the Anne of Green Gables exhibit. My friend from Nova Scotia has never eaten Scotian crabs. Like them, I have never visited areas of Toronto that most tourists have been to (and multiple times!).
Still, I’m happy and fortunate that 90% of my daily activities are downtown, for different reasons. It forces me to become more familiar with the major intersections of Toronto, to memorize the order of the TTC subway stops, and even know which side the doors of the subway car will open at a particular subway station. It has helped me be aware of all sorts of people, and the unspoken rules of etiquette on public transit. All of these things might seem minute and insignificant, but I believe they’ve helped me grow as a person in very big ways.
Perhaps this summer I will make each weekend an “explore a new neighbourhood in Toronto” project and see how many I can “catch” like Pokemon. LOL
I am in incredible shock right now and I don’t know where to begin.
I followed Yulanda’s blog since 2008 and she stopped updating in December 2009; I did not know why. I stopped visiting daily/weekly and eventually stopped visiting altogether. I suddenly stumbled upon a picture of her I had saved onto my computer:
I loved this photo because this is not a photomanipulation — her camera is on a fast shutter speed and she threw her shoes at the right moment to make it look like they’re floating.
I followed her blog because she used photography to capture everything around her in such unique ways. And I especially loved it when she blogged about food.
Today I visited her blog, to find this. I felt so sick to my stomach. I didn’t know what to think. Even though I never met her, or knew her on a personal level, she was one of those bloggers you felt a connection with because she saw life through a particular lens (no pun intended).
It probably sounds silly to feel upset over a person you’ve never met, and only followed through the Internet, but this is an age where special connections and emotions can be felt without ever knowing them in a traditional sense. I guess this is how Michael Jackson fans [who never met him] feel.
Rest in peace, Yulanda.
All above photos © Yulanda Yee.
I was raised and socialized to believe that people in their current careers were there because of their education. If you went to school for accounting, you were going to be an accountant. If you went to school for chemical engineering, you would not be the CEO of a major fashion house in Paris. That was what I grew up to believe.
Here I am going to profile some inspirational people who proved that linear life stuff to be nonsense and, as cliché as this sounds, “went against all odds.”
Amy Doan of Shrinkle Clothing and Sugarpill Cosmetics graduated with a degree in journalism from Cal State Hayward. She began sewing original designed clothing and selling them on eBay, gaining lots of attention by her unique designs and wayward Livejournal entries. Most recently she started her own cosmetics company, Sugarpill Cosmetics, with sales off to a great start. Without a business degree or formal fashion design training, she demonstrates that a little hard work and a lot of eyeshadow is all you need to create a remarkable life. (source)
Photo © Amy Doan: Source
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La Carmina completed her bachelor’s degree in 3 years at Columbia and entered Yale Law school at the age of 20. You would be surprised to discover that even her impressive education, she made the bold choice to do what she truly loves. Today she is a published author of three books on Asian underground culture, an illustrator and designer, and posts near-daily content on her blog about alternative fashion and things that will rouse your interest. (source)
Photo © La Carmina: Source
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Nubby Twiglet completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a minor in marketing (source), and is now a very driven graphic designer and blogger, publishing original and fresh content about freelancing and design, six days a week. Some of her big clients included Virgin Records, Nike, Microsoft, and Forever 21. Heck, she has a dress named after her.
Photo © Nubby Twiglet: Source
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Inspiration people like Amy, La Carmina, and Nubby, remind me every day that no one and nothing (not even a university program) will determine your destiny. We are in charge (to a certain extent) and we should be so grateful to have the freedom to make choices and shape our future.
I wrote this because I had trouble detaching my university studies with myself as a person. I was defining my future according to what I was studying now. Watching these inspirational people flourish has given me a new perspective on how a person builds a happy and fulfilling life for themselves. They provide me the peace of mind that I am not doomed to do something I don’t want/like, just because I went to school for it.
I still recognize that our goals would not be possible without other people: those who support us and even those who disagree with us. I still believe that the concept of “self-made” does not mean self-contained or mutually exclusive. A remarkable life is there for us to make, not take.