home again

Oh hey! I'm not even going to try to make any excuses as to why I've been so bad at keeping up this blog. But I'm really going to try this time, I promise! It's a beautiful day today and here I am, cooped up in my room writing this. I mean I don't really like being in the sun and would probably be inside anyways but let's just pretend like I'm ignoring the nice weather so I can keep you up to date on MOI.  

 full diva mode in effect and totally chic (?) in my front yard.  jacket, dress, sunglasses, belt, purse- thrifted; socks- from japan; shoes- doc martens

Which you aren't interested in, and I don't blame you, my life isn't that interesting. But I'll tell you anyways.

 I can tell you what I've been doing since I've been home in this run on sentence: I got home, hugged and kissed my family, saw Moonrise Kingdom (holy perfection loveliness of a movie), ate pizza, thrifted, went to Amoeba, saw the Rookie mag Strange Magic art thing in LA and listened to a bunch of cool ladies talk, ate a burrito, saw Crystal Stilts play, ate more Mexican food, drank beer, and finally listened to all of my records that I bought in Japan. I'm satisfied. Sorry for how obnoxiously long that sentence was but I think it's better than going into long detail and I know you don't really like reading long paragraphs. Neither do I. I got chu.

I went on a big thrift excursion yesterday and went a little crazy as I haven't fed my vintage addiction for months. TOO LONG. Here's a cute little number I scored. I call this one "little French baby girl who thinks she's a rebel because she wears Docs but can't really appear that tough because look at how much she likes flowers and the color pink". Every time I trim my bangs this short I have a penchant for dressing like a little girl. Whatever.

Ok, well I'm going to be wild and go outside for once. My mother is dragging me out as she thinks that my lack of vitamin D intake makes me a perfect candidate for osteoporosis. I certainly don't want to be a hunchback when I'm a little old lady, so I'll be leaving now. Buh-byeeeee!

I get so sentimental

Hi.  I have no excuse this time for not posting for so long.  My computer didn't have a temper tantrum, but I'm afraid it has been I who have been acting the part of the screaming toddler.  Internally.  I gave up the whole "making a scene" thing about eighteen years ago. 

"Why?" you may ask?  Well I could list a variety of reasons but from this you will discover that A. A lot of really stupid and petty things annoy me (ie: the sound of flip flops shuffling on the ground I'M TALKING TO YOU SINGAPOREAN SLOW WALKERS) and B. I'm actually really homesick.  So let's move on.

I really haven't had any grand outfit revelations to share with you and I do have a lot of photos to share but chances are you already are friends with me on Facebook and have seen all of them already.  I'M LAZY. 

I wasn't lazy enough to make you a playlist though.  Here's some summer-time diddies that if I was in my car I would be singing along to obnoxiously loud with all of my windows down driving next to the beach.  But instead I'm listening to them on my headphones on the MRT trying not to cry after I got shoved into and knocked over in the middle of a stampede of people moving at the speed of turtles.  What did I ever do to deserve that??  Did that make any sense?  Such a sad moment in my life.

Ok ok here it is.

sentimental summer from jamiewayne on 8tracks.

oh hi again

I just started this blog and I am already proving to be extremely lazy and disappointing in my consistency of posts.  I'm sorry.  It's sort of not my fault though, my computer took a dump on itself in Thailand and I was therefore left to ignore my blogious duties and focus on more important things.  Like walking through jungles and sipping coffee.  And getting more massages.  And for that I am truly apologetic. You can stop crying now though, I can see those snot bubbles forming.  Your dear friend is back with a working computer charger. 

I'm back in Singapore now and happy to be, because I no longer have to worry about applying dubious amounts of mosquito repellant on all parts of my body just so I can sit on the couch.  I kid you not, I have about five mosquito bites on my face right now, two on my neck, and maybe seven on my body.  THAT I CAN COUNT.  It's a miracle I haven't come down with some kind of tropical disease yet.  Now I'm just sounding like a snotty Westerner so let me tell you about how awesome Thailand is and how I really do miss it already.

Whenever I travel to Asia, I always go to Thailand, and whenever I go to Thailand, I will most likely be in Chiang Mai.  It's like my second home.  It's definitely my favorite place in the country, although I haven't really been to other places out there except for Bangkok.  But because I'm so sure of myself and I know everything I know that Chiang Mai is the best place and I know you would think so too. 

Chiang Mai is a city in the north that seems like somewhat of a clash of the old and the new.  There are still sprawling lots of green forests and rice fields, and beautiful water falls and other wondrous nature-y stuff.  But then there's also hip hopping and happening urban areas that cater to a big population of university and international students, as well as lots of young tourists.  In between you have your Buddhist temples and those are pretty neat because they are really gold and consist of lots of little artisan details that you can tell took tons of time and effort.  And there's monks on motorcycles and old people doing tai chi at sunrise and oodles of noodle shops and the beer is cheap and plentiful.  Oh yeah, and the food and coffee rock too.

If that doesn't sound like an amazing place to you then you don't know what enjoying life is.  Go back to eating mustard on pickles and riding roller coasters.  I hate all of those things, FYI.

 Here's some outfit photos.  I unfortunately only got to properly shoot just one outfit, which is excusable since I ended up wearing just a variation on the same one just about every day.  I picked up this dress in Bangkok among many others like it.  I think I may have gotten multiple dresses of the same style, just different prints.  I can't help myself though, it's so hot out here and these kinds of dresses are just necessary.  I can't layer as I love to do normally, unless maybe I want to suffer from heat exhaustion, so wearing something with a good print and shape overrides my layering lust.

 dress- from thailand; socks- tutuana (japan); shoes- thrifted

I hope you enjoyed hearing from me again, because I sure do enjoy blabbing to you about every single detail of my life.  Because we are best friends and that's what we do.

See ya soon ;) 

One night in Bangkok

And you end up with your legs in a constant state of itchiness, due to being attacked by mosquitoes. Seriously, is it like I was the only one all of the mosquitoes in Bangkok noticed, because it looks like my legs were attacked by an army of insects. What can I say though, I know that I'm naturally irresistible, to insects and humans alike. That was a joke, of course.

The above complaint is just about the only downside of Bangkok.  The constant and sometimes overpowering smell of sewers is also pretty offensive, but that's something one could get used to.  I know there's a lot of other things that our first world brothers and sisters could lament about in Bangkok but there's something so mystical and baffling about this city.  I can't really put my finger on it, but I think just the fact that it's a million worlds away from suburban Southern California is what makes it so incredible to me.

Besides being eaten alive by Bangkok's entire mosquito population, I've spent my first day and a half in the land of smiles eating spicy food, shopping until I am about to pass out, getting foot massages, drinking tea, breathing in massive amounts of pollution, and dodging cars as well as my own death whilst I walk down the street.  Sidewalks don't really exist here.  Due to the fact that my legs look like they might have some sort of rare and infectious skin disease on them I opted to wear pants today that I bought in a boutique last night.  Ignore my very one dimensional expression.  This is a state of total relaxation and being on the verge of passing out from heat exhaustion.  Interesting combo, no?  I just came back from a foot massage and at that point my legs felt like jelly and just walking was a laborious task.

 shirt- forever 21; pants- lyn around; shoes- thrifted; backpack- fjallraven

So then I found a bus that served alcohol.  I felt normal again.

Enough of me, here's some pics of Bangkok!  My father and Ronald McDonald also make a cameo.

I'll leave you to determine whether you find staring into my monotonous gaze or looking at pictures of Bangkok interests you more.  Whatever tickles your fancy.  And this is my cue to go to bed.  Because none of what I just said made any sense, plus I just started a sentence with because, that's wrong.  I'm delirious.  GOODNIGHT.

schlongapore

Sorry for the lack of posting in the past few days, I have been struck by deep waves of depression and crying spells as I reminisce of my dear Japan, which I left a couple of days ago.  Just kidding, it hasn't been that dramatic.  I've just been really tired and felt that there's nothing really that exciting for me to tell you about. 

I arrived in Singapore on Saturday morning, 4 am to be exact.  I'm out here visiting my main man, my dad, and I'm pretty darn happy to see him.  Singapore may not be as ridiculously cute or outrageously weird as Tokyo, but it's still a pretty interesting place.  I look forward to sharing some photos and outfits as soon as I can get over how hot it is outside and how jet lagged I am (STILL).

When laziness overcomes and words can't do much for me, I turn to music.  So here's a cool playlist for you of some stuff I listened to pretty heavily in Tokyo.  It's good music for riding on trains or walking down the street and looking at buildings or dreaming of people that you miss.

far east faves from jamiewayne on 8tracks.

Well I must get to packing, my dad and I are going to Thailand tomorrow.  I'll make sure to try and crank out some posts out there in between the ridiculous amounts of eating and shopping I will be doing.  Enjoy the playlist and your day my fwiends!

PS: Five million kisses and thanks to you if you have been reading my blog, I super duper appreciate it!!

Oh Tokyo..

I love you so much.  Today I just thought about leaving you and tears started to stream down my cheeks.  Why have you done this to me?  Why did you make me fall in love with you?  I know I'm just another girl to you, but to me, I will be in love with you forever.  You are so special and beautiful and perfect and amazing and like no other.  And you know I have to leave you in two days!  It's so unfair how you treat me.  And you know I would come running back to you with open arms if I had the chance.  You don't even care, do you?  Of course you don't, you are, like, a bunch of concrete and such, so you have no capacity to feel the feelings I have for you. You are a cruel, cruel, son of a bitch of a city.  Just saying.

Ok, enough of my cheesy sentiments.  Nina took me to Asakusa today, which is home to a giant temple and a walking street lined with tiny souvenir shops.  We checked out the temple and I stocked up on souvenirs for my loved ones.  Although the place was jammed pack with tourists, I couldn't help but be struck with the charm of what was once old Tokyo.  It was pretty nice to move from all of the neon lights and giant TV screens to incense-thick air and ancient architecture.

 jacket, shoes, skirt- thrifted; blouse- wego (japan); socks- american apparel; tote bag- violet & claire (japan)

Nina then led me to a tiny cafe that was tucked away in the walking street. I was immediately enamored with this place as soon as we walked up the stairs.  The walls were filled with books and there were multiple clocks hung up (none of them which even could tell the right time but who cares). The patrons were mostly, er..senior citizens, which I found really nice.   It was pretty adorable to see a group of old women sitting in the cafe and chatting amongst tea.  I ordered the honey toast that the cafe was famous for, and HOLY HONEY TOAST, it was fucking incredible.  Please excuse my French, but seriously, that shit was amazing. 

As much as I enjoyed the quiet time, I felt myself drawn once again to the craziness of Shibuya.  After a heaping and delicious bowl of ramen, I braved rush hour, packed myself like a sardine into the subway.  Call me cliche, but all I wanted to do was listen to My Bloody Valentine on my iPod and walk across the Hachiko crossing (totes Lost in Translation, duh).  I wandered around a few times and found some record stores and also found myself browsing the famed 109 building, gawking at the shops.  Once it turned dark though, I was gawking more at the scene of Shibuya in the dark.  I feel like this place is even crazier at night than it is during the day.  The lights are brighter, the music is louder, and there are tons and tons of people.  Despite the fact that I come from a place that is the polar opposite of Shibuya, I found some sort of peace and refreshment in it.  I made sure to take some pictures for you guys, and risked looking like an idiot tourist with a giant camera around her neck and standing in the middle of the street with tons of irritated locals bumping into her.  But that's how much I love you.

I still can't even believe I'm here sometimes, and I really feel that way right now.  The worst thing is, though, that I know Tokyo will be just a memory to me soon.  I wish I could stay here forever, but life sucks and people who live in Tokyo suck because they live on the best place on earth (just kidding to my Tokyo friends).  I feel like crying again just trying to fathom the fact that I'm going to leave so I'm going to stop writing and go cry and scream into a pillow.  Leaving Tokyo is way worse than a bad break up.  Seriously.

Goodnight :(