Gift Exchange with Rebecca!

Mood: Neutral
Playing: Punk Rock Princess-Something Corporate
On December 27th, I had my gift exchange with Rebecca. I think it's amazing that we've remained great friends, even though we're no longer going to the same school. It's probably because we write so many letters to each other. Our gift exchange was quite a bit of fun actually. I haven't met up that much with friends over this winter break. I've had two gift exchanges including this one and I've been seeing my art class friends...That's about it.

We got tea from Tapioca Express. I got peach green tea with lychee jelly, while Rebecca got passion fruit tea with boba. The large is only $0.50 more than the small, so I usually end up getting the large...

We ended up eating next door at a bakery, so I tried their coffee cake. The sad thing is, I prefer Starbuck's coffee cake over this one. Darn, my love for chain restaurants....

Rebecca sewed me up a bag with a hand made key chain on it. The bag is super cute and I'm impressed that Rebecca did this. I didn't even know that she sewed! She also got me a mystery Hello Kitty food charm. We sat there feeling it, trying to figure out which one she got for me.

I took this photo later on to show that we got the doriyaki Hello Kitty key chain. It's currently dangling on my camera strap. Rebecca also gave me a Tomorrow Frog folder.

We walked around afterwards and went to the drainage area to check how high the water had gotten from all the rain. It wasn't that high at all so we walked around in the sand. Unfortunately, I took a step forward and sank around 6 inches into the sand. I still haven't cleaned off my Converse yet...We ended up going to Barnes&Noble to read comic books. Did you know there's a Justin Bieber comic book? Who knew? Oh yeah, I had a weird dream, where I met Alexander McQueen and we talked about manga together. Yeah, who knew he liked talking manga with me? That'd be pretty epic, if that happened in real life.

What are you doing for New Years?

Gift Exchange with Tina, Vivian, Jackie, and Tiffany!

Mood: Excited
Playing: Planetary (GO!)-My Chemical Romance
Yesterday, I had a gift exchange with Tina, Vivian, Jackie, and Tiffany. You've probably heard me talk about them before on my blog because they're the friends I sit with every single day during lunch now. We decided to do our Christmas gift exchange yesterday and we all had a $10-$15 limit. My friends did an amazing job making the money stretch. Most of my friends wanted cute Japanese items and as most of you know, it's pretty hard to make $10-$15 stretch at an Asian store.

My friends and I started off with a round of purikura and on one of the booths, we found a Gloomy Bear look alike. We only did one round of purikura because we had to save our money for the rest of our plans. Sorry that I'm not posting any of my purikura on my blog, but I don't feel comfortable putting photos of myself online!

Afterwards, we headed off for dinner. We all had a hard time choosing one restaurant because one of us would pick a place and two others wouldn't want to go there. Haha, it took awhile to choose, but we ended up at the crepe place. My crepe was filled with mushrooms, olives, mozzarella cheese, bacon, and tomato sauce. It was extremely hard to cut and I kind of regret not getting the salmon one instead.

We went to karaoke and we were met by this sign. A perfect example of bad English. We ended up doing karaoke at the same place we did purikura because this karaoke place didn't have any empty rooms.

We were too lazy to wait in line for an inside table, so we ended up sitting outside, where it was very cold. Being the smarties we are, we ordered a huge thing of shaved ice covered in condensed milk, mangoes, and green mango jelly.

We did a pretty good job, I say so myself. We were able to finish more than half of it. By the end of it, we were all freezing and cursing ourselves for not waiting for an inside table. It was extremely tasty though!

This is a poster that Jackie drew for Vivian. Alejandro was Vivian's fake boyfriend. Yes, Vivian had three fake boyfriends. We had to kill off Alejandro though, so we made up a story, where he was pushed off a cliff by Tina.

Tina gave me a cute bunny cell phone holder, 2 Banao lead cases, Calpico candy, a San-X folder, and her card has a drawing of all of us. I love how she got all of our clothing correct. Click on the image, so you can see her drawing better!

Vivian gave me a cute purse that will be very good for the summer time. She has the exact same bag in grey! Maybe we can twin one day. Wouldn't that be fun to do? I just need to find a top that a Vivian would wear...In her card, she drew a very fat Santa because she's just cool like that.

Jackie and I are both very into high end designers. She wants to marry Jonathon Saunders and I have a crush on Alexander Wang. This book was a very fitting choice to come from Jackie! Haha, I hope Jackie and I get into a fashion career together, so we can go to fashion week together!

Tiffany gave me a great gift. The stationary will be perfect for writing letters to people because as most of you know, I love writing and receiving letters...What can I say about the Rilakkuma items other than the fact that they're too cute? Overall, our gift exchange was a ton of fun because we all got something that we've been wanting and by that, I mean the shaved ice. Seriously, I've been waiting a long time to try that with a huge group of friends...Today I'm having a gift exchange with Rebecca, so I'll definitely blog about that later!

Sorry for the long post!

Corona Del Mar With My Family

Mood: Pleased
Playing: Nothing Currently
First of all, I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas! I hope you had a wonderful day with your family and/or friends. I didn't go to mass on Christmas eve or even today, which I know is bad, but my family is planning on going tomorrow.
On Christmas eve, both my family and my visiting family took a drive down to Corona Del Mar to go and look at the tide pools. I figured I'd share with you some of the pictures I took that day.

These are my cousins, Bronson(in black), Preston(in green), and Jordyn(in blue) looking at the tide pools.

The three of them were catching hermit crabs and snails because that's just what you do at a tide pool. This is a hermit crab that Jordyn caught and named Greg.

This is just a picture of the tide pool with all the little hermit crabs and snails in there. Jordyn and Preston were creating a little "home" for them complete with doors.

Then we climbed up high on a random boulder to look out onto a little alcove. It was extremely nice weather, considering that it had been raining for the past 5 or 6 days. Unfortunately, the rain wasn't gone for long because it's currently raining outside right now.  If you ever come out to California, I highly suggest going to Corona Del Mar. I'm pretty sure it's where Gilligan's Island took off from. Of course, there is a dispute whether or not it was California or Hawaii. Anyways, that's it for now!

What was your favorite thing you did on Christmas day? What was your favorite gift that you received or gave?

I No Longer Feel Enchanted

Mood: Confused/Angry/ Depressed/Disappointed/Lost/Annoyed
Playing: Enchanted-Patrick Wolf
NOTE-This is me being the emotional teenage girl I am. We're all allowed to be a fractious teenager once in awhile, right?
Well, today we got the news whether or not we made the lacrosse team. Obviously, I did not make it, otherwise I would probably write down how happy I am and how incredibly satisfied I am with my life. That is not the case, though. This morning I ran to check out the lists with Ashley (who made the team) and Madeline (who did not). I read the list again and again looking for my name. For a moment in time, I seriously thought there was something wrong, but I just had to accept the truth. My name was not on the list. I immediately started to play my ipod, hoping to shut out the rest of the world. The tears started to fall because I was so disappointed. I've worked 5 long months for this. I went to summer camp and did off season lacrosse. I feel like I've wasted so much time. No one knows how many times I was invited to hang out during the summer, but had to say no because of summer camp. Going back to today, I ran off to where my friends hang out before school, seeking comfort (and ignoring Hannie's greeting along the way! SORRY!).
I clung onto the first person I saw, Tiffany, and I'm going to let you in on a secret. I haven't cried at school in front of people in almost six years now. I'm incredibly embarrassed by my actions, but I couldn't control myself...All my friends were trying to comfort me, but I really couldn't find comfort at all. I find some solace in a Something Corporate song. Alyssa, Sophie, Tina, and Erica all comforted me, but while I was waiting for first period to start, I was clinging onto Madeline (a different Madeline from the one before). I asked for a tissue and Madeline didn't have one, but surprisingly, she had a mini first-aid kit! Haha, how very Madeline of her...Clare also sent me a long text expressing how she felt about it, which was really nice of her!
Despite the comfort from all my friends, I still can't understand why I didn't make the team! Every person was shocked I didn't make the team. I rather have the people walk up to me and tell me I'm a horrible player, than have people tell me how wonderful I am at it. If I was so good at it, why didn't I make the team? I'm not asking for fake sympathy from you. I'm doing this, so I may rant and get all my feelings out. I just feel like all my friends have tried out for something and have gotten what they want. Alexandra tried out for mock trial, Sophie for a school play, and the list goes on and on...It's just that I've always been searching to try and find something "great" about me. Something where I was the best at it and could truly shine for once. I used to be the best artist until I met Rebecca and Tarlan. I was one of the smartest kids at school until the school started to sort us out by our academic levels. By no means am I the prettiest, happiest, most amicable, or social person at school. People tell me that I'm good at making people laugh, but where is that going to get me? Tons of people are funnier or more liked than me...
What am I doing to make myself feel better? I'm going to try and ignore this whole incidence and pretend that I don't care. I'm putting on my favorite pieces of clothing that make me feel unique and fashion forward. (That includes my favorite blazer and my favorite headband, a bouquet of feathers resembling a flower.) I decided today I'm not going to worry about what a college wants from me or what guys think. I will strictly do things that I am interested in. At the moment it is art, fashion, food, music, and cute things. I shall push my way into the fashion world (and hopefully succeed). I just want to succeed at one thing in my life. Is that too much to ask? If you read through this long post, thank you for being a supportive follower!

When was the last time life let you down?

By the way, did you know Rodarte designed the costumes for Black Swan?

Engrish

Mood: Tired
Playing: Baby Blue Eyes-A Rocket to the Moon
Today was day one of tryouts for lacrosse. It was pretty much two hours of running, sprinting, and playing catch. At one part, there were some guys running around and Averly was like, "Are those guys running around in Speedos?" Jess's response, "Eew, where?" My response? I quickly turn around to see and then I realize how weird people can be. This Wednesday, we'll all find out who makes the lacrosse team and I'm really anxious about it...I want to make the team so badly! Oh yeah, during one practice, a guy on a unicycle went right past us and all of us were amazed! 
Since I really don't have anything to blog about, but I feel that I owe you a post, I will do a picture drop of terrible examples of English. Most are from either Chinese or Korean places. By the way, I don't mean to make fun of Asians. I just hope this will make you laugh, like it did for me.

I know it just looks like a bunch of random photos, but I hope that you read them! These are 100% real menues! I really love finding these terrible examples of Engrish and I hope you do too!

Have you ever tried out for a sport before?

This is Kind of Like an Update?

Mood: Nostalgic
Playing: Helena-My Chemical Romance
Today has been one of ups and downs. At lacrosse practice, we learned that tomorrow will be the last day of practice at this small field we've been using. Next Monday and Tuesday are tryouts and on Wednesday (December 15th), we will learn who made the team. I know for a fact that a lot of these girls I'm strictly friends with because of lacrosse and if I don't make the team, I fear that the friendship will "fade" away. Some of the other girls don't have much in common with me, so the only time we interact is during lacrosse. Oh, how I'll miss them, but I must think in positive terms, in which I'll make the team.
I spent today listening to a lot of Andrew McMahon music and then I just listened to "Enchanted" by Patrick Wolf again and again. "Enchanted I am because of you..." Oh, how the quote makes my heart melt. I'm a real sucker for sweet or sad songs. For one post, I should put a list of all the songs that can make me cry...That would be a depressing post though. I spent the last half hour listening to My Chemical Romance and I read an article about them in this month's Rolling Stones. I found it very fascinating and I'll probably rip the pages out of the magazine. I really picked it up to read about John Lennon, but then I got sidetracked by My Chemical Romance. On a happier note, I want to give you an update on what's been going in my life.

For Hannie's birthday, my dad and I made a wand for him, like in HARRY POTTER! You probably can't tell, but we carved the end to be more pointed like a wand. I'll probably make one for Vivian because she loves Harry Potter.

My life has been very boring lately and very dull, so I decided some fun socks should brighten my mood. I really like the star ones because my mind is always in the sky. Stars just remind me of dreamers for some reason. Also, you can get them for $1 a pair. Such a good price.

Someone gave us some cookies from this expensive French bakery. I always wondered what was the big deal about the place and now I know. The shortbread cookies are simply delicious. I love munching on the cream colored ones because they have jam on them.
Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about this. My school's winter formal is coming up and everyone is making a huge fuss out of it. I have never had fun at school dances. I guess I'm just not that type. I just prefer talking to a person and getting to know them. Yes, I'm old fashioned like that, I guess. My mum was wondering if I'd go, if the cutest guy at school asked me and I replied no. I rather go see a movie or do karaoke or even go to a park. School dances just aren't my thing.

What do you think of school dances?

Hey Song Shaking Jelly Soda Drink

Mood: Dreamy
Playing: Enchanted-Patrick Wolf
I used to do snack reviews along time ago on this blog and I think I'll do another food review today. When I was in Japan two years ago, I was always drinking sodas filled with jelly, which I happened to love. It was just so tasty. While walking around my local Chinese supermarket, I found some more jelly sodas!

They had three flavors and I got two of them. I didn't get the grape one because I generally don't like grape flavored things. The orange flavor was surprisingly good because it tasted like it had real orange juice in it. It reminded me quite a bit of this French orange soda I enjoy. I believe it's called Orangina? The nice thing about this soda was it had tons of jelly, but the jelly bits were small enough to drink. The two most common problems with jelly sodas are there's not enough jelly or the jelly is much to big to swallow. It took me forever to pour into the glass, but I felt it necessary to show you what it actually looks like. This jelly soda was close to perfect.

I also got the apple flavor because I always enjoy apple flavored goods. This one was very tasty, but not as good as the orange flavor. The orange flavor tasted less artificial than the apple flavor. This flavor still didn't taste artificial at all, just not as real as the orange flavor. What I liked about this soda was that it was very soothing for my sore throat. I've had a sore throat for the past 6 days and both of these jelly sodas helped my throat very much. I highly recommend this soda, but if you've never tried jelly soda, only buy one. Try it first. As long as you like jelly soda, you will most definitely like this.

Have you ever tried jelly soda?

Let's Make Reindeers!

Mood: Tired
Playing: Sing-My Chemical Romance
Yesterday was a really terrible day, so I had to make sure today was extra good, which I sort of failed at. Yesterday, I figured out my grade in Biology dropped, did badly on my French oral because I kept on asking her to repeat a question, and I made my first huge mistake in lacrosse. Tryouts are coming soon for lacrosse, so I've been extra worried about looking good in front of the coach, While doing a drill, I fell for the first time. Everyone else has tripped and fallen before on the team, but it's still embarrassing because I scraped myself up pretty bad. I also got my flu shot yesterday, so my arm is super sore! Sorry for the long-ish rant!
Today I did something good, since I did some charity work! For my church, I helped decorate candy canes to send to an orphanage in Mexico. I hope the kids like them. I showed up a few minutes late, but I'm happy to say that many of my friends were there!

We started off with plain cherry flavored candy canes. Unfortunately, we didn't get to eat any, but I understand, it's for the children!

I would then take a medium size pipe cleaner that Chelcee cut and twist it around the top to start the antlers.

Then I would take two small pipe cleaners that Chelcee also cut and twist it around to make the antlers look more full.

I would then pass it on to Clare, so she could glue on eyes and a little red nose, since I don't like working with glue...

These were our finished products with around 10 people working for around 30 minutes. I think we did a pretty good job!

PJ, a new guy I just became friends with, started to get creative and made one with three eyes. We had a hard time explaining that to the person supervising us...

PJ's mustached reindeer tried to hit on Clare's reindeer, even though it tried to run away. As you can see, we were acting like geeks!

Of course, I had to go and make one with a mustache bigger than PJ's reindeer's mustache! Haha, our supervisor found the mustaches "cute."

When we thought we were done, we learned we had to tie on notes that said, "Jesus loves you." I wrote that out and then I learned we had to do it in Spanish, so Daniela helped out with that! Not all of those notes are mine. No way is my handwriting that perfect!

Chelcee had this interesting lemon kumquat juice. I've tried kumquat juice, but never lemon kumquat juice. Interesting, huh?

They had hot chocolate and whipped cream, but then they ran out of hot chocolate. I ended up taking a cup of whipped cream and several people were thoroughly grossed out by it. Whatever, I'll work it off during lacrosse practice! At the end, we had to fill in a form about what we learned and we were all sitting there wondering what to write. Eventually we just shared answers because none of us knew what to write. Overall, it was a lot more fun that I thought it would be and it helped me get to know PJ and Sara better and helped me grow closer to Chelcee, Clare, and Daniela.

Do you ever do charity work with your church?

I'll try to do a real tutorial on how to make these, if you want...This was more a summary of what I did.

Korea Town

Mood: Apathetic
Playing: The Ghost of You-My Chemical Romance
Usually, when I put down apathetic for my mood, it's because I don't feel happy nor sad. I'm just somewhere in between, so if there's a word for that, please do let me know. Before I decided to blog today, I spent my time at lacrosse practice, writing an essay, and then I watched a bunch of My Chemical Romance videos. For some reason, I find them very poignant because they always pull out so much emotion from me. It's probably because of Gerard Way's face. He makes these expressions that are just very heart wrenching. "The Ghost of You" and "I Don't Love You" are definitely the most heart wrenching for me. They can probably make me cry, if I just let go...
As you can tell by the title, I visited Korea Town in Los Angeles a week or so before my birthday. I really like driving up to Los Angeles. It's something about being in a city, even if it isn't a skyscraper filled town. I decided that a lot of my readers are into Japanese pop culture, so I figured some of you might enjoy some Korean things as well.

I got Korean style chicken noodle soup, which was very tasty. The egg was cut so thin, it acted as a noodle almost. I ordered way too much food because this was such a huge bowl and then I went and ordered other things as well.

For those of you that enjoy Korean food, you probably already know that your order come with a plethora of side dishes. I didn't really eat any of these other than the spicy pancake because I generally dislike veggies. My parents said the white cabbage dish was delicious...

We ordered these pancakes, which were really quite good. I've always liked Korean pancakes though, especially the ones with seafood in it.

This is an inside joke because my friend, Matthew, carries around a huge dog from Target. The dog is named Popo and has his own Facebook page!

This was on a box of some kind of Korean pomegranate health juice. I love how foreigners mess up English. Lemme translate that for you. "It is the alive taste of the Iranian pomegranate, which has a deep taste and is very nutritious."

Fur is really in this year, right? I ended up buying the blue fur flower pin and I'm currently on a hunt for a cream sweater to pair it with. I really like this Ralph Lauren one, but it's too expensive! I was also trying on chunky knit sweaters, which are also in, but they all made me look chubby. The key chain is actually something I got 2 years ago from a Japanese store. I was originally trying to do a post with this season's trends, but then I got sidetracked and I decided to put it in this post, since the blue flower is from Korea Town. Hope you enjoyed this post!

What do you think of the fur trend?