You're An Odd Little Human, Now Aren't You?

First impressions are kind of a big deal, don't you think?  You almost always remember your first impression of someone, even if you had it horribly wrong you will remember what it was and laugh later.  I'm sure you can all think of someone who has had that impact on you where there was an instant connection or just someone who made you feel completely comfortable in the first round of meeting.  What is it about them?  Or is it all relative to the person?  The person I feel is this immediate kindred spirit, wouldn't go far with someone else?

I love asking friends later what their first impression of me was.  It's not necessarily always good, but I like to know so I can hopefully improve and become like those people I admire for their excellent first impressions.  And I'm not about wanting everyone to like me, because I know not everyone will or does.  I don't care for some people either.  So we're even.

This might come in handy! =)
{via}

First impressions, I have come to learn, are not always accurate.  It's funny now that some of my closest friends at the moment actually took some time to develop.  I knew some friends for awhile, but never really got to know them well until one day we realized something.

Hey, I don't have friends.


I don't have friends, either.


Why don't we be friends? 


That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.  Why didn't we realize this sooner?

One of my good friends in Malaysia was there for months before we actually did anything together, based solely on our horrible first impressions of each other.  She thought I was a stuck up snob.  I thought she had an attitude.  I was influenced by what others thought and didn't really give her a chance. Months later, we went out for drinks and that was it.  We were inseparable everyday thereafter down to the day we flew back to the States.  We practically lived at her house.  It was a sad goodbye!  There again, we wasted such precious time.

I often wonder how many friendships I might be possibly overlooking just based on first impressions.  Yet, friendships are so hard to maintain and take so much time and effort.  Sometimes I feel like I don't even want to bother with it. We are all stuck in this Catch-22 of wanting and needing friends, but not having the time to cultivate them.  Or maybe that's just me.  Especially those ones that aren't essentially automatic.  At the same time, I'm not so desperate for friends that if I don't have fun at all or don't enjoy their company, I will do something just to be with people.  Ahh well.

I think moving around quite a bit has helped me be pretty comfortable with meeting new people.  I still have a lot to learn.  Maybe the next trip/move will help me fine tune it.  It's exciting to think of all the new friendships to be made.

What was/is your first impression of me?  Or what's your take on first impressions in general?

Model Behavior

Yesterday, I helped a friend out by modeling her clothes for her Etsy shop.  I think they turned out pretty good for a couple quick shots with her point and shoot camera in my front yard.  Although, no amount of America's Next Top Model watching will help me with my awkwardness.  I never know what to do with my monkey arms.  Hand on the hip is always a good option, but that can get old fast. 



Awkward Posing 101
Leave gangly arms hanging dead by your side.
That's how we do it!
Seriously, could my arms get any longer?  Did you know that your foot is the same size as your forearms? 
Are you trying it now?
Good.



I don't know why the picture quality is so bad.  Go to the actually Etsy page for a good picture.  Enough about me now, isn't this dress adorable?  It was originally a vintage house dress that she picked up in Costa Rica.  With a little refashion magic, you can get this dress.  It's long which I like and it has a great shape.  I need to learn how to do this.  You can find such great, interesting fabrics in some of the vintage pieces.  They are so unique. 

Slightly improved hand on hip number.
This dress fit is so precious! 

Check out OhSoO designs and show her some love!

Silly Lookbook

This is me trying to do that cute tilt your head to the side pose I see all the bloggers doing.  I might not try this again. =)

Shirt - J.Crew
Pants - Banana Republic
Shoes - TJ Maxx
Necklace - Banana Rep.
Bracelets - H&M & World Market/middle one MADE BY US

I feel silly doing outfit posts.  Since I love looking at other people's outfits on a daily basis and I thought I looked kind of cute today, I thought I'd give it a go.  Also, can I just say how brilliant the sales have been recently?  I bought all of the pieces in this outfit on mega sale, sale on the sale on the sale items on the sale, uhh you get the picture.  Get out there, people, before I buy it all!

Also, I wanted to show you the bracelet that we made.  I had seen this tutorial ages ago, but never had gotten around to doing it.  So yesterday we finally did it.  Sydney and I worked together braiding it, if you did this by yourself you have some serious skills.  Props go out to you, Dawg!

Have you been into a hardware store lately?  I have been in one many a times and I feel like I'm not completely incompetent when it comes to the use of some power tools and construction-y things.  But the nuts and bolts aisle is re-donc-u-lous!  A friend and I were looking for these brass hex nuts and do you know how big that aisle is, made up of every kind of nut and bolt imaginable.  There are never ending drawers with different labels that might as well be in another language.

What does it all mean??


After looking through a number of drawers, I finally found one lone package of brass hex nuts in the right size.  I picked it up in triumph!  There was only one hex nut in the mangled package.  As soon as I picked it up, the little guy fell out of the package fell and rolled somewhere never to be seen or heard of again.

Oh no!


We did eventually find what we were looking for, but seriously the hardware store can be a scary/hilarious place.  I hope you have more success in finding these hex nuts than we did when making your own bracelet.  You know you want to make one now!  LOVE.IT.

A Question

Photo by Alexandra Sophie
So pretty!

Every girl likes a little PMA {Personal Male Attention}!
 But why does it always have to be from the wrong one?

I Won Something!

Guess what??  

I won a giveaway!  

Hooray!!

 I never win anything.  This is a BIG DEAL!  For all you who enter all those cool blog giveaways and never win, let this be a lesson for you.  It can happen.  Winning, I mean.  

Stacey hosted a giveaway for a print of your choice from Sam Kelly's shop.  Stacey has an old door hanging out in her living room too.  This makes her pretty cool in my book.  Although, her door is prettier than our door.  It's probably not recommended to compare doors.  It always ends badly.  

I was looking everywhere for a cool frame for this new adorable print.  Couldn't find anything reasonably priced.  I decided to take things into my own hands.  We had a few frames in our garage from our garage sale that no one bought.  

I took this drab frame that I would never use looking like this, hence the $1 price sticker left over from the garage sale.   No one even wanted it for a buck.  

I sanded it.  Painted it.  Applied crackle glaze to give it that antique effect. Painted it again.  

This is how it turned out!  I'm pretty happy with it.  

And check out the adorable print I picked out from Sam's Etsy Shop.

You can get one too, if you like!

I like winning things. It is fun. 

In other news, you know that BRAND NEW case Syd got that I wrote about the other day??  Remember?  

Just wanted to let you know that the case is durable.  Her phone flew off our car and tumbled onto the pavement.  The phone wasn't damaged at all.  The case looks beat up, but what do you expect from falling off a moving vehicle?  That'll do, Case, that'll do.

Get Uncommon

I know I haven't been around so much these last few days.  I haven't really had anything interesting to say. I've just been going through the motions of day to day life.  You all don't want to read about that.  I will say that it's interesting that the post about chicken and waffles had more page views than the post about our trip to California.  I guess you all are a hungry bunch.  I have so many projects piling up, but I can't seem to find the time to do them.  Maybe this weekend.  Then we will have some posts of interest hopefully.

In the meantime, here are some really cool iPhone cases we came across.  They sell completely customizable cases where you can upload a photo or artwork that you have personally selected.  They will make it into an amazing one of a kind case.  Or you can pick from the number of cases they have in stock.  Sydney bought this one.  Oh, and always search for promo codes for your online orders.  Syd found a promo code for $8 off, which pretty much covered shipping.  Sweet!

Buy it!

Have I Told You Lately...

A few months ago, I was at a book store and this girl just walked passed me and said, "Cute outfit!"  Simple as that and it kind of made my day.  I'm not saying this to brag about how stylish I am, because I consider myself a work in progress in that department.  That's why I'm not a fashion blogger.  Maybe here and there I feel like my outfit looks put together and I'd like to share it.  I can't find the time to take pictures regularly, but I really appreciate the dedication that goes into it, all you fashion bloggers out there.  I love lurking looking at your gorgeous outfits everyday so keep it up will you, just for me!

My point is that little comment happened a few months ago and I still remember it.   We all need and deserve a little validation every now and then.  I don't care who you are, there is always something you're going to be self conscious about and a few insecurities buried deep down in there.  Little compliments seem to make that all go away, at least for a moment. 

I was skimming through this interesting book at Barnes and Nobles one day.  It's called Post Secret.  It's a collection of anonymous postcards telling their secrets sent to be compiled into this book.  Some are extremely sad, some are adorable, all are honest and raw being that they are anonymously getting this secret off their chests.  Brilliant idea.  One page that I flipped open was a secret saying that the person cards people at the check out line just to make them feel good.  Isn't that the sweetest?  I wonder how many people do this.  They are secretly smiling to themselves as they ask for your ID knowing full well you are over 21.  How many times have we heard someone giggle with delight and say, "They carded me today!"  Good stuff, I tell you. 

We should all do this more often.  I feel like there is a lack of genuinely nice people out there not always looking for their own self interest.  That's not something to be proud of.  I need to work on this myself.  Once on a road trip, my family played this little game.  For every one negative thing said about someone, we had to find five positive things to say about them.  Not such an easy task, my friends.  Sometimes it took quite a bit of creativity to come up with five things.  Let's face it, some people are no picnic. 

It's good to remind ourselves that many times the little things can have a big impact.  It's even more enjoyable, okay maybe equally as enjoyable, to be the giver of compliments as much as the receiver. 

So let's do this thing! 

Found on Pinterest.  If know source, let me know.

And this has nothing to do with this post.  Isn't this too precious for words?



And Now Presenting: The Random Post of the Week

Although all my posts are usually somewhat random, this one might top the list.  Should I start doing little columns or have weekly posts like I see so many other bloggers doing?  If I tried, I think it would end up being forced and not true to me.  I feel like I'm kind of all over the place, so why shouldn't my bloggity blog be too? I could start doing a Random Post of the Week.  That could be my thing?  Let's face it, I'm not cool enough to have a thing.  It's of no use.  I'll just leave those well organized, clearly defined blogs for the others and stick to what I know.

Okay, then.

Does this happen to you?  Sometimes you know exactly where you are going.  You are on course, when suddenly everything changes for the better?  I'm not being all philosophical here.  Although, read it as you will.  I'm just saying that today we were headed to lunch at a build your own salad type place.  It took awhile for us to actually figure out where to go to lunch, as is the norm with us.  We have to start thinking about what we want for lunch right after breakfast.  This is how indecisive we are.

We had decided.  Salad.

We were doing a u-turn to go to said salad joint (Salad joint?  That sounds funny.  I like it.), when we saw Mav's Counter.   Hey, let's go there.  Okay.

That's how we ended up eating, not an oh so healthy salad, but chicken and waffles instead.  And it was good!  Salty and sweet combos.  Mmm!  Hot sauce mixed with maple syrup equals awesome sauce.  Literally!  The chicken was delicious and plump, surprisingly light and not greasy.  The macaroni and cheese was pretty great too.

It's kind of like that time we felt like soup and ended up getting Chicago hot dogs.  I'm just saying sometimes things don't always go as you planned.  Go with it.  Enjoy those chicken and waffles!

Oh and we got some new nail polish.  Isn't it pretty?  Love Essie!

It's called Mucho Dinero by Essie

I warned you this post was going to be random.

Second Star to the Right and Straight on Till Morning

I'm loving Peter Pan Collars at the moment.  They have this quirky, yet girly feel to them.  Also, don't have to worry about your shirt getting too low and showing more than you would like.  I was really getting sick of wearing camisoles underneath all my shirts to keep it modest.  I typed that and then realized that I am in fact wearing a camisole in this picture.  Doh!  It's not that the shirt is low cut.  It's just completely sheer.  That's a entirely different issue.  

I look a little rough in this picture, but it's been a long day.  And now off to work all night I go.  Too bad I can't think wonderful thoughts and go to Neverland instead.  Wouldn't it be so amazing to be able to fly?  I got to work and I have to look at myself on a tv screen all night.  I looked ok before, but now in the camera I look like death.  I'm trying to think happy thoughts to get me through the next seven hours. 

Found this blouse at Buffalo Exchange with the tags still on it.  Score! 

Here's a couple that I have found in the vast interwebs.  If you want to get the look...

And it's on sale!  Buy it here

I have yet to buy anything from asos.com, but I'm enjoying browsing through all their adorable pieces. 

Love me some mustard yellow!  This one is not on sale. Boo.

Buy it.

California Lovin'

I'm not going to post many pictures of the wedding.  Who wants to see tons of pictures of people they don't even know?  Oh, you do?  Well, too bad.  Let's just say there was a lot of dancing going on and not much picture taking. Not many pictures means just this one.  ;)

Sunday, we went with a big group up in the mountains for deaf search. 

Water, pine trees, fresh air, and even a little snow.  It was cold, but oh so pretty!

A squirrel!

Yeah, don't know why we are all pointing, but enter caption of your choice here?  Use your imagination.

Monday, we went into LA.  We got some Indian food for lunch.  How could I survive without Indian cuisine in my life!  I can never get enough.  Now I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Went into Hollywood.  Great place for people watching and seeing crazy people.  It's fun to hear all the different languages and try to guess where all the tourists come from as you walk down the street.  The Scream 4 premiere was blocking the Chinese Theater where all the celebrity handprints are located.  I don't know about you, but do we really need to have a fourth installment of the Scream movies.  I could do without any of them actually.  There were loads of people waiting to see the stars.  David Arquette?  Really someone to wait hours for?  I'm thinking not.  We saw the people lined up for The Jimmy Kimmel show which also had David Arquette as the guest.  Funny story, some friends went to Jimmy Kimmel when the musical guest was The Decemberists.  Last minute switch and Hanson was the replacement!  Ok.  That is funny! 

We walked down Santa Monica Blvd.  We hit Crossroads, a pretty cool thrift store, but didn't really find anything except for a guy talking to his shirt.  He found a shirt on the rack and started saying sweet things to it like, "Oh, baby, you are gorgeous!"  I'm not even lying.  People make me laugh.

Then we made a brief pit stop at a frozen yogurt place.  A day out on the town in California is not complete without some fro-yo. We sat outside on the patio.  Everyone walking by looked so California.  There are a lot of pretty people in that particular neighborhood at least. The guys and girls are all so pretty.  It's too fake for my taste. 

Also, there might have been some major dance offs with the Micheal Jackson Wii game.  Good times! 

It was a great weekend, but now being back I feel like there is so much to catch up on just from that short time away.  I'm exhausted.  I feel like I haven't had a moment to catch my breath since coming back.  I guess that's how it goes. 

Now I just need to start planning the next trip to keep my sanity.  Where should I go? 

Mail From Singapore

When we came back from our little weekend trip, we had mail waiting for us!  Yes, I know, what is mail?  I'll tell you.  It comes in an envelope and has your address and a stamp on it.  Remember now?  It's so rare to ever get anything in the mail besides junk or bills.  What a nice surprise!  It wasn't just any old mail.  It was a care package from Malaysia.  What could it be?  You will never guess, because I know I wouldn't have been able to. 

It was a little notebook. 

Now I just kind of laughed, because seriously the postage to send this little notebook to us is probably triple the cost of the actual notebook.  Then I saw the little card that came with it.  A short little message and even personal drawings of me and Syd from a deaf girl in Singapore that we spent all of one day with there. 

Just when you start thinking did we even accomplish anything while we were in Asia for those five months? Was it worth it?  Obviously we made an impression for her to want to send us something in the mail all the way around the world a whole year later.  Wow. 

I really want to go back.

Also, I can't get the above text to align left.  I'm slightly annoyed. 

Mood!

Hi everyone!  Did you miss me?  Wondering where I had gone?  Didn't even notice?  Alright, I see how you are.  Even though you all were checking in to see if I had posted anything new, I was honestly too busy having fun to miss it.  I know, me having fun?  What is that?

Syd and I went to Los Angeles area for a wedding this past weekend.  We had some much needed girl time with a bunch of our friends out there.  I'll post some more pictures when I have a spare moment.  Here's just a couple Instagram pics of our little side trip to Mood.

This store was pretty much as fantastic as I could have imagined it to be and I kept looking around waiting to hear Tim Gunn's voice encouraging us to hurry up and pick our fabric.  We are nowhere near ready for any of those Project Runway challenges, but a girl can dream, right?  I love that show!

Ta ta for now. I gotta run.  Don't worry, I'm back with a vengeance!  

For The Love Of...

Subways, The Tube, Monorail, Trains, and Buses.  I've done it all.  Why am I devoting an entire post to public transportation?  Well, you see, I will be turning the big 25 in less than a week.  You know what that means?  I will finally be able to rent a car without the outrageous fees of under 25 rentals.  It's a milestone!  I don't know how often I will be renting cars, but it's nice to know there is the option.  Oh and my car insurance rate should go down.  I feel like I've been driving the same spectacular way for the past few years, but okay. 

In all of our travels, we have had some adventures wrapped around the subway systems.  The London Tube was easy to navigate.  We thought we had it down.  Then we got to Rome and enter in that all the signs were in Italian, we couldn't tell which way was up.  The first day, I think we had a meltdown.  Malaysia and Thailand were surprisingly easy to navigate. 

Singapore's train station was immaculate.  You could eat off the floors, almost.  There are hefty fines that go along with eating or drinking in or near the train.  One older lady started eating something and everyone in the train started guessturing to her frantically to put it away.  Pretty hilarious.  You couldn't even eat or drink inside the train station.  We would have to stand outside and finish or just throw it away. 

New York is somewhat challenging.  It's such a complex system.  It takes a lot longer to get places than you would think sometimes.  If you miss one train, forget about it.

Train stations are great places to people watch.  Doesn't this look fun?  Rush hour on the trains.  How many times have we had to hold hands tightly pushing onto the train making sure we all get on the same one?  Or been pushed further in by other people in the most uncomfortable positions smacked up against strangers?  Oh the sights and smells we've had to endure!  Or how about those pole leaners.  You know the type that lean full body up against the pole even when it's packed and you have nowhere to hang on to.  Excuse my hand in the middle of your back.  Dude!

All the signs say Way Out in London, instead of Exit.  I like!

In Rome with friends. 

Thailand had these cute little cartoon characters on their metro cards.

Train that we used on our daily commute in Malaysia.

View from Cable Car in San Francisco.

In San Francisco, we were on our way to the Union Station going out of the city.  That area at night is sort of sketchy.  Bums on every corner.  Syd and I decided to sign to each other in hopes that no one would bother us on our way to the train.  That backfired when this one guy started yelling out after us.  More like making noises.  We think it was a deaf homeless guy.  We walked faster.  Our sign language plan failed us.  We use sign language in the malls with the annoying kiosk guys too.  Works like a charm.  They go in to try to sell you something and see us signing.  They stop dead in their tracks.  We find the best uses for our sign language skills.

On the train to Chicago.  Trying to keep warm!

 

There are just a few pictures of our travels on public transport!  It's been a wild trip!  Man, 25.  I feel old. =)

Baby, Baby, Baby, Ooh

This week was a little hectic, because this happened.

No, she's not mine.  Ha That reminds me of my grandpa and how he always used to give us good advice, such as don't get pregnant.  Okay, Grandpa, I'm like 12.  Moving on.

Meet Ayushma.  Pronounced I iss ma.  It's a really pretty name, don't you think?  Although, I'm sure everyone will have a hard time pronouncing it.  I just hope they don't start calling her a really plain cliche American name as she grows up.  Something like Mary or Elizabeth.  Oh please, no.  Isn't she precious?

Our deaf Nepalese friends had their baby this week.  We feel even closer to their family now.  My mom went into the operating room with her while she was having her c-section.  Chamuni wanted my mom in there with her.  Her husband was too shy to go.  That's what he told us.  So silly.  We were sitting waiting during the operation.  We didn't get home until 3am that morning.  Exhausting.  Numerous hospital visits later, they are all home safe and sound.

This picture is just too funny not to share.  My mom in the whole get up.  This reminds me of this time that we were commissioned to be part of testing a hospital's crisis readiness.  Should I tell this story?  Eh, why not?

We were all given cards on our level of health.  They were color coded and they explained the symptoms we were supposed to have.  Most of us were burn victims.  We pretended we had shortness of breathe among other things.  We rode in on an ambulance to the hospital and then the hospital attendants put us in wheelchairs escorting us to the proper areas depending on our cards.  This was all to test the hospital to see how prepared and organized they were in a crisis situation where many people would be bombarding the hospital at once.

My mom had a unique case.  I believe she was suppose to have schizophrenia and she also for some reason had to be quarantined.  My mom being the actress that she is, started pretending she was having hallucinations and seeing people.  She started screaming, "Don't touch me."  There was no one there.  The hospital attendants were scared, that's how good she was.  Pretty much awesome.

I always knew my mom was crazy.  Maybe the crazy came a little too easily to her.  Love ya, Mom!  So yeah, that was a pretty fun afternoon.  Ahh, memories.

Turning a New Page

Friends, meet my new notebook.  Notebook, friends!  

It has birds on it! 

It's also eco-friendly and for every notebook bought  they give a workbook to a child in need.  Always feels good to get a cute new notebook and help out.  Kind of like my Tom's.  I love them so much and when I bought them they gave a pair of shoes to a child in need.  Love stuff like this.  Does it mean that I wouldn't buy these if they didn't have such a good cause to go along with it?  No, I would probably have bought them anyway.  But it's an added incentive.

Is it weird that I get uber excited over a new notebook?  

My last notebook took me over a year to use every single page.  I bought it in Malaysia and I'm kind of sad to see it go.  Who knows where this next notebook will follow me?   I'm looking forward to finding out where life will take me next.  And if I'm still sitting here in the exact same spot next year, I might just punch myself in the face.  Just sayin'!

Let's Play A Little Game...

What if I could afford to shop at Anthropologie... well really it's not that I couldn't afford to shop there, but do I really want to spend $150 big ones on one skirt.  False.  We all spend our money on what we want to spend it on.  It drives me crazy, when someone says I can't afford to do that or buy that and then the next day they are buying or doing something equally as expensive.  Hey, I thought you said you couldn't afford it?  I'm sure I've done this in the past myself.  I try not to do it too often though. 

Anyways, for our little game of what if I wanted to spend all my money at Anthropologie.  I would be living on the street, but oh boy would I look fabulous! 

                           

I love the shoes, don't you?  Also, can I just be transported to Columbia... right now!



All images from Anthro.com

Not only am I loving the outfits put together in their new lookbook, but the setting they are perfectly captured in is to die for.  Those perfectly raw, rundown walls.  Swoon!  It reminds me of the hotel in the beginning of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  Forget Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, that hotel was the most amazing magical place ever.  Too bad there isn't a category on the travel sites for perfectly rundown. I would be all over that.  Rundown, but clean.  I've had to deal with my fair share of roaches on travels and they are not my friends.  So I couldn't find a picture of that hotel in the movie, but how could you forget it. 

Get Your Mind Juices Flowing

I never thought of myself as a creative type, because I never knew how to draw.  I never took an art class (homeschooled), but I guess I just naturally didn't have that artistic talent.  I always loved to write, even if some of my first stories were pages full of dialogue, only dialogue.  But drawing was another story.  Stick figures, that's about it, people.  I went about life thinking I had no creative talent, or maybe no talent at all.  I felt like there wasn't in particular anything that I had an outstanding talent in.  The problem is unless you are a prodigy of some kind, you have to devote your life to whatever sport, art, instrument, profession etc. to devolop substantial talent.  I've never had that kind of time.  I dabble in a number of things and never get extremely skilled in any of them.

 Now after growing up a bit and widening my horizons to what creativity/artistic ability really means, I've changed my mind.  I have also, seen many people who are not creative at all, which makes me sad but realize how creative I really am. Does that make any sense?  There are so many facets of art out there whether it be fashion, interior design, diy, crafting, photography, writing, and even just your own imagination.  The opportunities are endless.  What would we do without it?  It never takes any mundane or seemingly ordinary thing for granted.  It makes anything extraordinary.  It's all about perspective, isn't it?

For example, this newspaper blackout poetry.  It's haunting, yet beautiful I think.

                

Overheard on the Titanic
by Austin Kleon

I highly enjoyed reading Austin Kleon's blog post.  If interested, here.

In hopes of learning the basics of drawing and maybe finding my inner artist, I bought a book at Barnes and Nobles about learning to draw in 30 days.  Three days down and I've already improved a lot.  This might turn into something amazing.  Ha Ha