Happy Thursday!

The weekend is already near, and yet I'm blogging about last weekend.

First, I would like to share with you the first plumerias that have bloomed, of the season.

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I went to the mall with my mom on her day off last Friday. I went into the Body Shop and came across these cute oil burners for only $3. My mom really liked the Satsuma scent, so she immediately picked up a couple of oil burners (one for me), a scented oils gift set that included all of the scents that were available so it would give us a chance to sample them all, and since we needed to spend $30 in order to get $5 off, I picked up some Seaweed facial cleanser because I was running out at home. After I presented my Love Your Body card, the cashier told me that I could pick out anything in the store because I have earned a free $15 to spend in the store. I immediately picked up the Seaweed Toner and another bottle of Satsuma oil. Along with a 10% discount for using the card, my mom only spent $30 for everything!

Now that I have an candle oil burner in my room, it smells like Satsuma all the time. Chillin' on my couch with Oscar sitting next to me, browsing blogs on my laptop, listening to my favorite music, sipping on some Jamba Juice, and to top it all off with the sweet fragrance of Satsuma oranges! This is the lifeee! I'm also glad that this summer isn't so scorching... yet.


July 4th was of course, Independence Day. It was my little cousin's birthday, so we decided to celebrate it on that day as well. I helped cake her, but she got me back. And she anticipating for my upcoming birthday...

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On Sunday, my parents and I went to Little Tokyo, mainly because Marukai sent my mom a scratcher coupon to use. My mom and I are frequent visitors to this place, but my dad rarely has time to go.

We made our first stop at Marukai. The first section we went to was the health & beauty section. My mom stocked up on my mom's favorite Lux Shampoo, which was going for $18 per set, which includes shampoo, conditioner, and pack( wtf is that ). We just picked up everything that we needed at Marukai, including candies and snacks for our trip to Canada! The total came up to be around $200 of candies, snacks, and beauty products. My mom let me scratch the scratcher to see how much of a percentage we get to deduct from our purchase, and I got 15%!

Beauty products, including Gatsby hair wax for my brother, buying more Mandom makeup remover (which was $10.95!), SANA Soymilk stuff, and other things I can't remember.


This Lux "Super Rich" shampoo set makes my hair incredibly silky smooth, soft and fluffy. My hair stays oil-free for the whole entire day, as silky as your hair came fresh out of the shower (After being dry of course!).


We went to eat at Hibachi BBQ in the plaza, mainly because my dad does not like eating Japanese food, and the last time he was at the restaurant was when my parents started dating! They served Korean food. It's funny how many Korean ladies think I'm Korean once they start speaking Korean to me!


Dad said to me, "Can I eat now?"

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We ended our trip with some CeFiore frozen yogurt, which I personally think is better than Pinkberry (located across the street LOL). Right now, they're having a promotion for the summer, which is a small size of flavor yogurt, with any toppings, for $2!
I don't have any pictures of the yogurt (since I eat a lot of yogurt hehe), but here is a silly picture of my dad using his spoon to point at things...

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That evening , my sister and I made red velvet cupcakes (again!). This time, we used the cake mix and store bought cream cheese icing because she already bought it and we were too lazy to gather ingredients. I also wanted to use my new pastry decorating tips, and here are the results. The cake tasted more chocolate than I expected, but it wasn't bad. I also think red velvet cake made from scratch tastes a WHOLE lot better. A LOT better. What I don't like about red velvet is that you have to use artificial red food coloring. I don't like the idea of ingesting all that artificial-ness.

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For those who haven't tried or even HEARD of Tumblr, I suggest you give it a shot, especially for those of you who enjoy looking at pictures instead of reading, or if you don't mind a small amount of text at all. Because I am a visual person, I love looking at pictures! However, that doesn't mean that I don't love to read (limited to the things that I want to read). I like to post some inspirational quotes, pictures, and text. It is merely random stuff that I wish to share with people (who read my tumblr, anyway).

Some of my favorite tumblr blogs include the ones featuring pictures of food (http://gluttonisabliss.tumblr.com), architecture (http://architectureblog.tumblr.com), interior design (http://homesweetstyle.tumblr.com), love quotes (http://quotewhore.tumblr.com), and so forth. Lots of inspiration for my future dream home... a girl can only dream!

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Does anyone know what happened to Kalila? Tell her I miss her, because she's gone now. I hope for the best for her!

There is a new blog directory that was created by Miss J.Rose, so check it out if you haven't already! Thanks for taking the initiative! :)

http://www.jroseonline.com/2009/07/what-happened-to-directory.html

zomg no wai.

I created a tumblr account to post (interesting/inspirational/aesthetic) photographs/quotes/text of the day. If you like the pictures I take on this blog, then you'll probably like the pictures on my tumblr. http://haisteph.tumblr.com.

And since I'm waiting for a certain someone to arrive, I shall use my time wisely!

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First as always, cute doggy pictures!

Oscar and Bobo (Munmun's brother) frolicking in my backyard.

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Last night, I was browsing through my old albums of pictures that were stashed within lots of folders and came across photos of my adolescent days. For fun, I zoomed in on one of the pictures with a clear shot of the skin on my face and I gasped (roommate then gave me a weird stare); not because I thought the picture was horrendous, but because my skin was so terrible back in the days!

Not that I'm saying that my skin is totally perfect, and I do have those bad skin days when I just break out (especially when Aunt Flo is visiting). I can honestly say (and my friends can agree with me on this) that my skin is so much more clearer than my adolescent days. I think it's partially due to hormones being stabilized, better skin care, and better dieting.

Beware! Pictures of my face LOL. Click on the pictures to zoom in, if you dare!

Before


After


Notice the huge difference? Hehehe I am happy! I must say that the honey-aspirin mask worked for me really well! It got rid of most of my blemishes/scars and such.


I've had acne-ridden skin ever since the fifth grade. It's been over ten years now, and I'm so glad that I'm way past that stage in my life when I was (secretly) insecure about my bad skin. I remember classmates used to make negative references to my skin, and now that it's cleared up, karma bit them in the butt. Yes, they ended up getting acne hehehehe! Who says karma isn't real?

Do You Like Fishsticks?

I've been thinking about topics to blog about, and I would usually blog about my week. I don't want another typical recollection of the activities I've done over the week, but some with some thought and depth. Unless those topics get too boring to read, the I don't know. Blogging like this isn't really challenging/improving my writing skills, so what now?

I'm thinking of making a tumblr.com account because I have so many photos to post along with their descriptions, that it seems to make perfect sense to create one. I am a lazy person, and I'd rather post pretty pictures with a sentence-long description, rather than typing out a whole story (hence my weekly postings).

Who takes the time to read every word anyway?
It's okay, this is for my own reference, for when I want to browse through this blog a few years from now. By then, most likely, I'll probably have another new blog in the future (maybe when I graduate from school?). This is me, for this period of time anyway.

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My group of friends and I surprised two birthday girls with tickets to the Britney Spears concert this past Friday at the Staples Center. They were (obviously) ecstatic! I wish we could've joined them, but these tickets were first of all expensive, and hard to get.

We took them out to dinner at Little Fat Sheep, which was a place for northern Chinese hot pot. It was my first time there; as I walked into the restaurant, it smelled like faintly like Chinese herbal medicine. Later did I know that they add Chinese herbs into the delicious broth, so it's good for you. Despite the fact that they add the herbs in their broth, the herbs helped with the flavoring, and you'll be drinking the broth knowing that it's good for you!


For an Asian restaurant, their customer service was pretty good. The staff was attentive, so thumbs up for that!

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My desserts-run friend Wasin and I went to Old Town Pasadena to try some Dots Cupcakes. When we walked into the cramped contemporary-styled (isn't every trendy bakery?), there was a strong tantilizing aroma of a mixture of cream, vanilla, and flour; I didn't mind it. The cupcakes that were on display were really adorable; some had a flower-shaped fondant sprinkle placed in the center, some had regular jimmies on them. Of course, the frosting on each cupcake was decoratively spread in a tiered layer (look at the pictures for reference). We ordered red velvet, vanilla chocolate, apple pie, and strawberry shortcake. After ordering these cakes, the cashier gave us cute "bambü" forks for us to pick on our portable desserts.



Dots carries a supply of mini-sized cupcakes ($1.50) and regular-sized cupcakes ($2.75). Don't let the cute packaging and decorations fool you! Dots is no Sprinkles, if you prefer your cupcakes rich and moist. The frosting on red velvet was quite creamy (I'd prefer my cream cheese frosting with more of cream cheese taste), but the overall cake(s) (including its taste and texture) was just like any American cake.

I personally don't enjoy eating American cake in large amounts, for the cake is usually 1) dry and rough like overcooked chicken breast, and 2) too sweet (for me to say that, it's saying something). Dots cakes aren't very rich, meaning after one cupcake you'd be ready for the next one. If you don't like rich-flavored cakes, then Dots is probably for you.

Next up my non-existant "Things to Try" list is My Sweet Cupcake, which is conveniently located near my local Trader Joe's. I am having high hopes for that one!

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I don't know if I mentioned this in earlier posts, but I talk to my mother everyday, whether she calls me before I call her.

I've been home for two weeks in a row since last weekend, by the way. I called call her yesterday (Monday) afternoon because I had just finished class for the day and was walking to the trolley stop. She picked up, and asked "Aww do you miss mommy already?" Trying to hold in a smile, I immediately said "n-n-no! I don't miss you! You'll just yell at me for not calling you tomorrow!"

Mother: "Are you coming home this weekend as well? Ha ha!"
Me: "Nah, I'm not coming home-" (hears Father joke in background) "Stop coming home!! I don't want to drive you back every weekend!"
Mother: "Yeah, your dad is tired. It's okay, no matter what I love you my oldest baby!"
Me: -holding in a smile- "Aww Mommm! Okay byeee!"

I do miss my parents. They're weird, but I love them.