Last of the American Girls

Playing: Somewhere Over the Rainbow-Judy Garland
Reading: "America's Next Top Model":Blogging Sensation Bryanboy "Signs Contract"
Memorial Day was originally started to celebrate all those, who had fought in the Civil War, but was extended to all veterans of war later on. Nowadays, it's mostly a holiday, where us Americans celebrate being American and talk about how great it is that we can live in the USA and how "[we're] proud to be Americans, where at least [we] know [we're] free." Also, the air force likes to give air shows and anything related to the military will probably put on a show to show off how great America is. Kind of like the Olympics, where we all cheer on our teams only with Memorial Day, we aren't competing against anyone else.

For lunch on Memorial Day, I went to Corner Bakery to get their panini combo with Roasted Tomato Basil Soup and the Club Sandwich. Considering Corner Bakery is a chain, the tomato soup here is probably some of the best I've had in my lifetime. I like the panini combo because it doesn't seem like enough food, but it's always enough for me.

After lunch, I put my ego aside and went to Forever 21 to buy a dress for Ghazal's Fire&Ice themed birthday party. I had to swallow my pride and buy a dress because I didn't feel like spending a lot of money. And then I did something even worse, I sold out and bought a second dress because I genuinely wanted it. Ok, so for my experience with Forever 21, I found that the sizing is odd. I bought the exact same dress in two different colors and I ended up getting them in two different sizes. The red one is a large, while the black one is a medium, but the black one is baggier on me. Also, I'm normally a size extra small. I've only worn the red dress once and I haven't worn the black one yet, so I can't report back to you about the quality.

Then I did something super American and went to an Angels baseball game against the Yankees. Angels games are known for being family friendly and for being very clean cut other than the creeper sitting next to me that kept cussing every five seconds. To celebrate memorial day, they had three fighter jets fly over and had an American flag cover the whole field during the national anthem. Also, they had fire works and everyone talked about how it "makes you proud to be an American." Since the team colors for the Angels and Yankees are red, white, and blue, everyone looked super patriotic too.

This isn't related to Memorial Day, but it's related to being an American. I went to go see American Idiot about a week later. I loved how they pulled together all of the songs through three friends and their struggles. The vibe of this musical was weird. Half the audience acted like it was a concert and screamed about how much they love Green Day, while the other half was elderly and acted all nice and proper. Overall, it was a nice production though and I highly encourage you to go see it. The performers were extremely enthusiastic, especially Joshua Kobak, who played St. Jimmy, and the female singers had absolutely beautiful voices. If it comes to your town, you must go see it for me.

PS I'm afraid I came off as sarcastic, when I was talking about being American, but truth it, I love living in the USA. I love all the people here and how we're so diverse. I like how we're encouraged to think outside of the box and how we're told to chase our dreams, even if that does sound cheesy. I don't think there's any other place I would like to live in more than the USA.

PPS There's still time to enter my cute, stationary giveaway! You've got until the 16th and you can enter here.

I Still Wear Clothes

Playing: Midnight Show-The Killers
Reading: W June 2012
Here are some recent-ish outfit photos I've accumulated. I've been into dressing more comfortably lately, so less heels and button ups. Also, I need to get the socks I wear with heels back from Sophie in order to wear my heels, so most of these are non-heel looks. Easier to wear and easier to walk in, I guess...I should just go to Target and buy a new pair of socks.

Left: I wore a BDG cardigan, an Ann Taylor LOFT tank top, a vintage treble clef pin, a Marc Jacobs necklace, Citizens of Humanity jeans, a Burberry purse, and Converse (not pictured) to go hang out with Sophie at Daiso.
Middle: For my grandfather's 88th birthday, I wore an Ann Taylor LOFT tank top, a T by Alexander Wang jacket, MANGO jeans, and an Alexander Wang purse with Alexander Wang shoes.
Right: For a full day of collecting food for a food drive and a tiny bit of shopping at Urban Outfitters, I wore my favorite T by Alexander Wang jacket, a Saks Threads v-neck, BDG floral jeans, and Converse plus a Coach purse (the black thing in the corner).

Left: Once again, I wore almost the exact outfit I wore above only with an Alexander Wang purse and an Ann Taylor LOFT t-shirt.
Middle. To go to the beach with my family, I wore a T by Alexander Wang jacket, a Calvin Klein top, Candie's shorts, and an Alexander Wang purse with flip flops that aren't pictured.
Right: I wore a Calvin Klein blazer, an Ann Taylor LOFT t-shirt, theory shorts, and Juicy Couture heels to go be tortured at school.

Left: To take my California state tests, I wore a Calvin Klein blazer, a Calvin Klein tank top, Marc by Marc Jacobs earrings, BDG jeans, a Gucci messenger bag from my trip to Florence, and vintage boots from the 1970's that kill my feet!
Middle: For my Confirmation, I wore a Calvin Klein blazer, a BDBG dress, Juicy Couture heels, and a Bally purse. I was the only girl at my Confirmation wearing black...Is that bad?
Right: I wore an Ann Taylor LOFT blouse, an Ann Taylor LOFT camisole, BDG jeans, a pocket watch necklace from New York, and my favorite Sam Edelman oxfords to go to school. A boy was wearing almost the exact same thing as me, only his white button-up was too tight for him and he was wearing sneakers. It's awkward to be wearing the same outfit as someone and even more awkward, when it's a person of the opposite gender.

PS There's still a week left to enter my super cute stationary giveaway open to everyone in the world! Also, not many people have entered, so there's a good chance you can win it! Click here to enter!

I Rather Be at the Mall

Playing: No More Love Songs-Lacrosse
Reading: Harper's Bazaar June 2012
Last Friday, my school had an early out for Memorial Day, which was originally created for Civil War veterans and then extended to anybody that had fought in a war. Interesting fact, there. Well anyways, for early outs I usually hang out with friends and bum around my town, but different groups of people asked me to hang out and then the plans fell through due to lack of rides, money, etc., so I went to South Coast Plaza with my brother instead.

We went to one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Nello Cucina, for lunch. To start off our lunch, we got an order of bruschetta, which was delicious. Served on freshly toasted bread and topped with shaved parmesan, it was absolutely wonderful. The parmesan was really a nice touch that I haven't seen at any other place.

For lunch, I got the Calamari Giovanni with Pasta in the red version, which was tasty, but the calamari was a tad too chewy. I really like how you can specialize any of your orders at Nello Cucina, if you ask politely. You can even order off the menu, if they took an old item off the menu and you want it. I usually order the cheese and pasta rolls with pancetta that's no longer on the menu, the actual Italian name is escaping my mind right now.

We crossed over the bridge to the main part of the mall, so that I could look at all the designer store. I love the glamorous window display at Gucci. Frida Giannini really created a strong collection for Spring Summer 2012 with the art deco look and the clean lines. That jacket is such a statement piece and is perfect for dressing up the simplest, all black outfit.

I love Burberry's all-white display and that trench coat should hop into my closet asap. It would feel right at home there. Also, look there's a sale at Burberry! Took all my will power to not beg my parents to get me something, even though I wanted everything. I need to save up my tutoring money, so that I can buy exactly what I want from here.

Whimsical umbrella chandelier at Baccarat is whimsical. Wouldn't it be so much fun to carry this around for your umbrella, when it rained? Of course, only if you didn't need to worry about breaking anything and about it being heavy...Although Baccarat leans towards the gaudy side of taste, I do like their whimsical, avant garde creations like the upside down floor lamp and their gothic chandeliers. They should be in Beetlejuice or in one of Tim Burton's other films. (Everything relates back to Tim Burton!)

Before we left, we wanted to grab something to drink from Antonello's Expresso Cafe. I really liked these sparkling juices from Galvania. They actually taste like fruit and are slightly sour, so very refreshing in my opinion. I definitely would buy these again, if I ever get the chance and I highly recommend these to you. Plus, they're organic, which means they're hopefully better for you than normal sodas.

Oh and if you like super cute stationary, please enter my giveaway here! You have until June 16th to enter!

200 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY

Playing: Together-Patrick Wolf
Reading: The Blogiverse Goes Wild for Pani Jurek's Scientific Illumination by Agnieszka Le Nart
It's happened. I now have 200 followers for my blog! I'm so thankful for all of you that have continued to read and comment on my blog, so I wanted to share with you my stationary collection plus have a little giveaway for all of you.

I love stationary. I love writing letters to my friends and receiving snail mail from my pen pals. I just like writing a lot to everyone in my life. I'm that friend, who replies to your letters fairly quickly and will use cutesy stationary whenever they get the chance. My favorite stationary to receive as gifts are these letter packs, which I'm running low on right now...I just like how they come with everything and it makes matching stationary so easy!

My friends know how much I like stationary, so they'll always give me little notepads or notebooks. I used to be really into Rilakkuma stationary, so I have mostly notepads with pudgy, adorable, Japanese bears on them, but it's alright. No one seems to dislike Rilakkuma right?

I really like these larger note pads that come with five to eight different patterns inside. The problem with me is I get bored using the same stationary, so I tend to get bored with the stationary before I run out. These notebooks solve that problem by having multiple patterns plus stickers. I wish the designer stationary wasn't so expensive. I'm willing to pay for nice stationary, but not over a hundred dollars...I would love to have the Lanvin set, especially since Alber Elbaz's designs are so whimsical and cute.

Here are some of my random stationary goods that don't really have a theme. Some fancy schmancy envelopes and my $1.89 envelope steal plus other various notepads. Since I love stationary so much, I want to share some of my collection with all of you, which is where the giveaway comes in.

You will be winning over 80 sheets of adorable stationary with characters like Rilakkuma, mamegoma, and Hello Kitty, plus so many more plus a cute envelope and a set of Hello Kitty paper bookmarks. Even if you don't like writing letters, you can use this stationary as decoration or for notes in class!

Rules:

You must be a public follower of this blog. To follow this blog, just click on the bar on the right that says "Join this Site" under "MY SECRET LOVERS." This will get you one entry.

To enter leave a comment to this post with the following:
1.) Your name:
2.) Your email:
3.) Additional entry for people that blog about this giveaway. Please leave a separate comment with a link of you sharing this giveaway.

This giveaway ends two weeks from now on June 16th and is open to anybody in the world. The winner will be announced on my blog plus emailed from my old business email to ask for their address. You must respond within a week otherwise a new winner will be chosen. The winner will be chosen using Random.org. Good luck everyone! And thank you for joining my first giveaway!