AJ Rafael | When We Say (Juicebox)

“Love and relationships are never like the movies no matter how much we want them to be. But when something beautiful ends, for whatever reason, it’s most important not to be disappointed that it’s over, but glad that it happened at all …

We all catch ourselves thinking of a certain someone. We find ourselves overwhelmed with emotion and memory when we see them, hear them, touch them. And not every story ends the way we think it will. The question is what you will take away from the experience.” - WongFuProductions

Lovely video and song .

I’d say my infatuation was almost instant. And I fell in love before I even got the chance to meet. I don’t know if you’d call it cheating but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was a tough decision, but in the end… it just had to happen. I was ready to move on.

We had lots of good memories. And I’m sure there are qualities that it had that no other camera can even compare. I got it right before my first concert, just in time to be my trusty date. And from then on, it took amazing video after video and many amazing concert photos that placed me right on the stage. But though it had its qualities, it wasn’t completely everything that I needed. I’m a portrait girl… and I found myself pulling out my cellphone camera most of the time. In the end, my Canon G9 is now with someone else, who will hopefully love it more than I had and for more reasons than one .

So now I’m ready to start documenting my life again. Say hello!

Hello hello. As always, life has been hectic. But I need to make a random post to keep myself sane. I’m still here, still around, and once things settle… I’ll blog more .

It’s been a while since I’ve gone on ebay sprees. But it has never failed me in the past. Especially when I longed for that one thing that was totally out of my budget, or that one thing that was totally sold out. So here to ebay! I’d rather browse through 50+ pages of items than rummage through sale racks at the mall.

The latest purchases?

Target #1: The lesportsac yoga tote that I see weekly, worn by my lovely sunday yoga instructor. Sold out in stores. Even the outlets. $$$ from other online retailers. 30-40% below retail on ebay! *rah rah rah*

Target #2: The Perfect Little Black Dress. Spotted recently on the fabulous Michelle Phan (in orchid). Way out of my price range… I even cried a little. On ebay… more than 50% off  retail *scores* .

That is my happy ebay story. Maybe I’ll be hooked again… hmm what else do I want? *ehem* I mean “need”.

Fame Soundtrack | Black and Gold
Maybe I need a haircut too, but I’ll start the year off with new colour . What I regret? Not getting the colorfix to strip my previous dye (lazy me). Looks okay at times, but I still have my gradient hair from previous dye jobs. If I had virgin hair, the L’oreal HiColor dye would have definitely done wonders. I don’t think I’m going back to drugstore box dyes anymore. Is it as light as I wanted? Mmm… I’ll keep at this experiment of mine . And of course, thanks to the boyfriend for doing my dye job: wearing latex gloves, inhaling chemicals, saran wrapping my head and all!

Due to the bleaching, I was afraid I would totally damage my hair. So I stocked up. Since I was quite successful in my skin care goal, I thought I’d move along to haircare. Introducing my new haircare army.

Moisture Recovery Shampoo and Conditioner to reduce the dryness of my hair, purple Colour Endure Shampoo to reduce brassy and yellow tones, and an Intense Hydrator Treatment to make my hair feel like silk! I’ve only washed my hair with each product once but so far, pretty good! After I dyed my hair, I immediately used the purple shampoo to tone my hair. My hair was really soft after dying! I was amazed. Usually with box dyes, my hair becomes really dry. As for silk hair? We’ll see .

I’ve also just restocked on my HG mascara. I’ve been considering hauling them in mass quantities off ebay. I’m on my 5th. Some came from trips down to the states, others all the way from Taiwan and Japan. It’s the only mascara I can use that doesn’t smudge, doesn’t run, and doesn’t leave me with a black eye after washing my face. It just slides off with water. LOVE.

I meant to post these earlier. It’s actually random stuff I bought way back in October haha. Sephora had the Korres Lip Butter in special 3 packs. It’s been perfect for cold winters . As for the maybelline pink please, pur mineral marble powder and batiste dry shampoo. I blame those purchases on youtube guru influences .

Just when I thought I made it through the year without buying a Juicy Bag. Introducing my 2009 purchase: the Juicy Couture Downtown It Girl Bag. My fabulous find from yesterday’s trip down to the States for shopping. And for my friends that know… a tee that I re-created for myself a few years back. Juicy revisited the print with a cute sparkly update! When I saw it, I was like . Must buy!!! 30% off at outlet prices rocks.

Stars | Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

Happy B-lated Christmas Everyone! Lol, sorry for the lateness. This holidays was SUPER busy for me. But I’m glad that I got to spend this holidays with everyone important to me: friends, my family, Jason’s family and of course Jason and Bailey. Jason got Bailey a Santa suit! He makes a great Santa!! But for some reason, once the suit goes on… Bailey just plops down on the ground (like below) with his arms and legs tucked in. And he does his “I’m miserable” look . He’s usually a crazy dog that laps back and forth in the hallways. But Bailey+Santa Suit = *Plop*. I guess we know how to calm him down now . It was Bailey’s first Christmas, and I think it was quite stressful for him with Jason and me running around and leaving him alone so many times while we ran errands, prepared for Christmas parties, baked and cooked.. etc.

As soon as my exams were done, I started planning for my Christmas party with the friends.  It’s been a while since I’ve organized something for my friends (therefore lack of group pictures for the last few years haha), but it’s been very difficult with everyone getting really busy with school or work. For those that don’t know, I’m in an engineering science program at Simon Fraser University. Since my first year I’ve met many awesome individuals and have gained amazing friends. Usually I end up planning these events (yes we actually have to thoroughly plan things haha) just for us to hang out, otherwise… basically nothing happens and we all carry on with our busy lives.

Jason had this idea of decorating gingerbread houses for the party. But for a group of 10 people, buying those prepackaged kits would be way too expensive! So being me, thinking “how difficult could it be?” I decided to make the kits myself! Save money! It ended up being a lot more work and effort than I thought. Jason and I spent two nights cutting and baking them, ending up with 5 gingerbread kits, 7 gingerbread men, a forest of gingerbread trees, and a broken mixer. Each piece was unique, as I didn’t have any cookie cutters haha. But it was all worth it in the end. We all had a lot of fun decorating them + eating them . Gingerbread Houses + Steak Potluck + Birthday Cake + Gift Exchange + Board Games. That sums it!

I got a lot of great thoughtful presents this year! I am so very thankful. There is a list, but I’ll pick out a few that were easy to photograph . Sometimes it’s the small gifts that are the best! Part of Jason’s present was discounted balls of yarn and some crochet needles and I LOVED it! One of the “to do’s” on my list is to knit a toque. I thought I’d advance myself up a level from knitting scarfs and give toques a try. He got me the perfect colours! I can’t wait to start! OMGosh knitting is now another new craftsy hobby of mine! I SOOO need a craft room in my future home . I also got my first vinyl toy! I love Latte and Mozzarella from the Tokidoki Moofia gang. Why? Because they are blue+white+grey, my FAV colours. My sister also got me the best book ever! It’s a photo project book. I’m so excited about reading it! Lol can you tell how excited I am?

Post Christmas is Boxing Day in Canada (similar to the US’s Black Friday sales). The Future Shop (big box electronics store) sale started online on Christmas eve, and Jason and I were sitting in front of the computer trying to get the door crasher deals online. But the online store was total failure!! Did you guys ever hear of an online lineup!? We were in a virtual lineup to pay, and somehow right when we hit the front… they pushed us all the way back to the beginning. We were so pissed. Why? Because Jason and I really wanted a KitchenAid mixer haha (we broke my hand mixer when making gingerbread). Well that wasn’t all we were getting. We also wanted to get a $299 Acer Laptop for my dad and an external HD. With much disappointment… we decided to brave the cold and line up on boxing day for our much desired KitchenAid mixer. So boxing day morning, we woke up at 3am and drove out to the Future Shop that is basically out in no where (Langley, BC) and lined up. Surprisingly, we were very close to the front of the line! Sitting outside in the cold wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, it was definitely an experience . And by 6am that morning, KitchenAid Mixer+Laptop+External HD were all in hand . Now… it’s time for some serious baking! Muahahaha. (Jason just got us a baking cookbook *yey!*)

And because any post wouldn’t be complete with a self-taken photo. Happy holidays everyone! Wish everyone the best in the New Year. There’s going to be a lot of changes from this point forward, lots of big steps for me this year. Wish me luck!