30 days down!

I feel almost guilty that Lady Luck gave me so much attention recently. I'm so not used to it 'cause my luck is normally pretty bad, but lately I feel like I'm on a roll! So many good news~ First, I got hired from a job position that I wanted for a super long time (the same job that made me feel super poopy before 'cause I thought I was gonna wait for 7 more months to hear back from them), two this blog has officially started for 30 days and I didn't give up on it! And three, I officially completed the 30 days challenge of not buying any clothes!! I feel like this calls for some sort of celebration~

I'm in the mood for something with a little celebratory atmosphere to it, like this bunny piece by Emily Temple Cute

The bunnies are sort of Easter, and this might be a bit too fancy to casually walk on the street in. But its' polka-dot with purple combination and whimsical feeling puts me under a spell~
Emily Temple Cute is a Japanese brand. Originally, the creators made children's clothes with vintage-inspired prints, and named their brand after the adorable 1930s child icon Shirley Temple. After the Shirley Temple clothes came out, a lot of big girls loved them and fought-after the few biggest sized (made for girls 12 to 14 years old) items available. So the creators decided they might as well make a whole other brand just for these girls, and there came Emily Temple Cute. Don't quote me on this though 'cause I'm just suspecting since Shirley Temple and Emily Temple are under the same Shirley Temple Corporation.

Sadly, Emily Temple Cute, like a lot of other stuff that I talk about on this blog, falls into the stuff-I'll-never-afford category. As a form of comfort I remind myself that their sizes are made for girls under 165cm and aren't suitable for my body type (I'm 173cm). I think being restricted by your body-type when shopping is a really great thing, because it can stop you from spending so much! For example, if every pair of shoes you see has one in your size, sure your choices would triple, but so would your debt! Same goes for clothes. If I was the right shape to wear Emily Temple Cute stuff, it's quite possible I'd be in 100000 dollar debt (yes death by dresses). When you put it that way I really think it's a good thing that we have variety in body-shapes and we can't wear everything we see. So, don't be sad if you're too tall, too short, too fat or skinny by today's standards, it's really the God's way of protecting you from financial disaster : P. Sometimes what appears unlucky is actually a blessing in disguise.

today's craving

24/30 days!
 I'm itching to buy some new clothes. Only 6 days more~~~

I want this dress badly:

from zara
Saw it in the store and it's actually a bit longer than how it appears in the picture. I think the stripes are so cute and versatile, it'll look cute with a blazer, or tshirts underneath and sneakers for everyday wear. I also really want a pair of Keds.
I also have a big want for a beige trenchcoat but that'll have to wait 'til the fall or next year.. (I know it's sad I bookemarked them justleavemealoneokay?)
 
so many wants, so little money~  starting in the upcoming few months, I will be finding a job in Toronto and going to live there. That gets me very excited!!! I've lived in Toronto for short summers before, but this time, it's going to be for real! (speaking of which, I irrationally feel like that city is calling me, 'cause often when I go there,  something's left behind, like I've lost a binder, a book, a hat on different occasions. I'd like to think that's the city's way of saying "don't go Moo don't go!" hahaha.) But, just when I'm doing a happy dance in my head, the little logic fairy tells me: "Don't forget there's rent and other necessities, girl. So even when you do, you won't be able to afford all these things." (what a party pooper, I know right?)

Maybe it's a good thing though, British Philosopher Bertrand Russell said, "To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."

forbidden fruit

Last night when we talked about the self-contradicting Chinese Marie Claire magazines, my boyfriend said, "Maybe they just wanted to mess with the little girls."

We always like things that we shouldn't have. Humans are really self-contradicting creatures. Marie Claire took advantage of that.

Presenting the huge collection of ads and glamorous photoshopped pictures, tempting us with all those shiny, pretty, expensive objects, and then telling us in the last page, "material things are bad for you", is like showing a little kid a big bag of M&Ms and then telling him "You know, you really shouldn't be eating this!"

The forbidden fruit always tastes sweeter. Why did Eve bite the apple? Why did Pandora open the box? They are not evil, only human. Where's the fun of things if we just did everything as we should?
Marie Claire has reverse-psychology all figured out, she is one clever lady.

*sigh* On a different note, it IS hard to resist those damn forbidden fruits!! I am trying to not buy clothes for 30 days. I'm on 23 days and it has been harrrd x.x. I still browsed shopping websites everyday, filled the imaginary online shopping cart with all sorts of must-have stuff, and even started gluing magazine cut-outs of wanted items in my sketchbook. I wonder what's going to happen when this challenge ends. Am I going to go crazy and blow all my money? God of Willpower, I need you!

Chinese Marie Claire

The Chinese Marie Claire is REALLY heavy. I mean, it's physically humongous, carrying it in your arms is like holding a baby. I feel so cheated because after all the trouble of flipping through that encyclopedia, I was only reading 10 pages of it.

First, there are hundreds of pages of advertisement, printed on very massive thick paper, and then followed by a ton of articles on what the latest fashion trend is, what clothes you should buy, how to do your make-up, what kind of make-up you should buy, what kind of new gadget you should buy, the newest LV or Hermez bag, etc. Then, a few columns on sex therapy. And then, a teeny tiny 5 page section is dedicated to editorials. Oftentimes these things emphasize on the insignificance of material things, like "how to save your money", "spiritual life vs. the material life", "Why taking a higher earning job may not be good for you".

 I am really confused by these authors... because it seems like after all that effort of making you carry a magazine the size of a 2-year-old and flipping through all those pages, they in the end just wanted to tell me "Hey, all the stuff you just read was crap, don't buy anything. In fact, don't even buy this magazine anymore."

So, what do they really want??
I'm going to sound totally random, but this kind of reminds me of the concept of 本音と建前 (concept from Japanese psychologist Takeo Doi, that society or people often have a visade, covering up the truth).
At first, it seems as though the tatemae (visade) of Marie Claire is the colourful pages of ads, and honne (true intention) is a the message for people to have substance and not attached to material things. But really, I think those hidden articles are the tatemae, they are there to give an impression of substance. This might a sort of strategy to attract more readers, and oftentimes those readers might just be the ones who make enough to afford the LV bags.

lash paint

A few days ago, I was infected with the "couldn't-move-feet" syndrome at a shop display while shopping with mom. And out of the kindness in her heart, mommy dearest got me this treasure:

I'm going sound like a salesman, haha. This sweet-looking little lady is so talented, she makes your eyelashes look longer while smiling like roses.
I find good mascara quite hard to come by these days. Because I have Asian eyelashes, which means no eyelashes! So I need mascaras that cling on to any bit of eyelash you have. If you are like me, you might find this a good mascara. This mascara to your eyelash is like magnets to steel.

I really enjoy painting eyelashes, as soon as I have them on, I instantly feel 100x more feminine ~!

The other Dolly girls on display

--
Today was Mom's Day. I made curry for my mom, and watched Coraline together. I hope you all enjoyed your day with mom!

100 days without new clothes

Since school ended, I suddenly had a bunch of free time on my hands. So much free time, that I almost feel like I should help the other busy people in this world take some load off.
A couple days ago I was so free I decided to flip around my mom's collection of Chinese women's health magazines. Surprisingly, I came across an interesting article, it was titled "The Challenge: Not Buying Clothes for 100 Days". 
The writer mentioned a point about the value of clothes. She said that, cheap and expensive are relative things. To use a exaggerated example, a dress that costs $100 which you wore for a thousand times, on average only costs $0.10 per wear. Comparatively, that's actually a lot cheaper than a $15 one that you only wore once.

That reminds me, I have this pair of pants in my closet, I got them from Urban Outfitters on sale. The colour and the fit were both mediocre at best, but it was presented to me at such a ridiculously good price, I felt like not buying them was like missing out on some really great one-in-a-life-time big chance. When I debated about it in the store, my friend said: "Girlfriend, are you for real??" In the end, I bought them. And I felt like a clever thief.
However, those pants did not even get worn once. Many times I had considered them, but I always put them down in the last minute, sometimes due to "Oh it's not the right fit with this outfit", or "the colour doesn't go", or "it's too short", or some other kind of dissatisfaction. Those poor pants, ever since last Christmas, they've been sitting in my closet collecting dust. Now, that clever thief quite a few months ago wasn't so clever after all.

The sad thing is, I have quite a few items like this in my closet, added together their value can probably afford one very nice coat, or ten something visits to my favourite drink and snack bar! It's amazing how much money one can save, if she could just resist a few temporary urges.
Oh boy, when I think of all those delicious foods and the good times I can have with my friends perving on the stylish hosts, I'm so determined to not buy clothes. I might just take up that 100 Days challenge one day!

No stress

It's been almost two weeks since I started this blog, and during this time, I never bought any clothes. Although two weeks is a short time, for me that's a pretty good record. Thank you to the readers! In a hidden way, you helped me : )

I do have one confession to make, I indulged and bought this guy over the weekend. He is a stressball, and pretty much useless except you could squeeze him in your hand when you are stressed out. The character's name is Barbabeau. He belongs to a series of toys based on a very old cartoon show called Barbapapa. Barbapapa and his children are basically characters whose bodies resemble lumps of play-do, and could shape-shift into anything they want. You could watch the French Barbapapa clips here.

I saw Barbabeau in an indie toy store in Parkdale, Toronto (whose name unfortunately, I for the life of me can't remember :/). The store had a lot of merchandises from vintage cartoon shows, like Tintin, Moomin, and others. When I saw a Barbapapa figurine, I was so excited my heart actually started beating faster. The feelings of childhood instantly came, I was reminded of a time when I used to flip back and forth my Barbapapa book, until it was totally beaten and fallen apart at the seams. I was also in a state of disblief, because one, Barbapapa was never aired in America or Canada, and two, Barbapapa is so old that even if there were toys for it, they should have gone into extinction by now. But nonetheless, there it was!

The place was like my dream come true. They had so many things, like Barbapapa lunchboxes, puzzles, plates, soap dishes, toy carts, and even a clothing hanger shaped in Barbapapa creatures.Being collector's items, they were of course, all well out of my price-range. The Barbabeau stressball was the only thing that I could afford, it was around $20 with taxes added. I spent a ridiculous amount of time in the store debating whether it is worth it, it took so long I think my friends probably wanted to shoot me in the foot. In the end, I thought, the cartoon does have a special place in my heart, and this was a pretty rare occasion to see an "extinct" toy of your childhood, so I bought it! Even though I'm trying to be thrift, I still believe that, when you see something that's that precious, you should just go for it, guiltlessly~.

Now, when I feel stressed out and want to buy more stuff, I plan to squeeze Barbabeau instead.