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Playing: Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep's Club Mix)-New Order
Reading: Man Repeller by Leandra Medine

Once again, it has been forever since I last blogged, but I thought I'd just have you guys catch up with a few things I did on my birthday. My parents, being the ever indulgent beings that they are, fed into my love for puffer fish by getting the most adorable cake ever from Kiki Bakery. It was surprisingly flavorful for an Asian cake with rich vanilla frosting and cake, stuffed with candied fruit. The workers there were very compromising and even customized the fish a bit more to make it look like Jacques.

Later on in the night, I went to go see Twenty One Pilots for the second time at the House of Blues with my friends, Hannah and Jessy. The concert was general admission and we got to the concert kind of late, but we still ended up with decent spots. The crowd was surprisingly calm with no moshing and tall people letting you stand in front of them, especially during Sirah's and Robert DeLong's performances.

Once again, Twenty One Pilots gave an amazing performance and my friends fell half in love with Joshua Dun, the drummer, while I still think the lead singer, Tyler Joseph, is super cute. I even like his sheer, floral kimono, which has me debating over whether or not this Topshop kimono is worth its price tag. I really like it when bands talk to the audience and how you get a sense of their personality from that, so I appreciated it when Tyler talked to individual fans during his performances and shared stories with us about his family.

After the show got out, I ran into Travis Clark of We the Kings. I told him how I had seen We the Kings at the same House of Blues a few years ago with A Rocket to the Moon and he told me he loved me for that. We also shortly discussed his chihuahua, Elvis, and how everyone in We the Kings has a thing for chihuahuas. Meeting him was such a middle school dream of mine because when I was in seventh and eight grade, We the Kings was one of my favorite bands.

Other than the Balenciaga purse, I got  few more lovely things from my parents and friends. I've been eyeing this Marc Jacobs sequined sweater for a long time, so that was great to finally get my hands on it. Tina, Sophie, and Achint all got me lovely things. You probably can't see it, but the box is suppose to look like a Ladurée box. It has a pun on the label of Ladurée and my name, so that it came out like Adurée. Anyways, hope you guys are doing fine and I'll be sure to catch up on reading all of your blogs!

Also, the title is the Twenty One Pilots symbol in case you guys were wondering.

"Out Where the Dreams Are High"

Playing: Battle Born-The Killers
Rereading: The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Last weekend, I took a drive out to Joshua Tree National Park for my birthday with Sophie and Tina. We spent the whole day hiking and tromping around trails. As I have mentioned many times before, the desert is one of my favorite places to visit and I can never seem to get enough of it. This is slightly off topic, but you know how your memories from when you were little are often very vague? I have this memory of my dad and I walking through this dam, but now that I look at how much algae there is, I wonder if I'm remembering everything correctly.

One of my favorite places to go to in the park is Key's view because you can see the Salton Sea and Tijuana, Mexico from there. Unfortunately, it was rather hazy and bright that day, so we weren't able to see much beyond the Salton Sea. On our next desert trip, we would like to go to the Salton Sea, even though we heard it smells.

If you have the chance, you should definitely watch the sunset from Key's View too because the sunset there is beautiful. As you watch it, all these pastel colors swirl together and it has a certain dreamlike quality to it.

After watching the sun set over the valleys and hills of Joshua Tree, we stopped by Ma Rouge Coffee House, which I've seen every time I've gone to Joshua Tree National Park and have always wanted to try. The interior of the restaurant is rather artsy and the servers were really friendly. We all enjoyed how our coffees weren't intolerably bitter but not overwhelmingly sweet like most drinks at Starbucks.

Sorry about how choppy this post is. I'm busy writing my English thesis and I just wanted to get something out. Also, the title is from The Killers' song, "Dustland Fairytale."

Halloween

Playing: Let's Kill Tonight-Panic! at the Disco
Reading: The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund: Where No Designer is Left Behind by Eric Wilson

This Halloween was very different from all the rest because rather than trick or treating, my friends and I decided to go on an adventure. To start off our night, we grabbed dinner at Cha for Tea because they were offering a free drink upgrade if you came in costume. Since my group looked like a major Japanophile group, we did the peace sign semi-ironically.

Afterwards, we drove down to the Balboa Fun Zone, but it turned out to be Balboa Island not Peninsula that was the place to be. However, the peninsula was a very creepy place to spend Halloween because it was almost completely deserted other than a few people fishing here and there. It's rather unnerving to visit the beach and not be able to see anything other than an endless black void.

Lately, Sophie and I have been really into the song, "Runaways," so we keep on messing around with the idea of road trips and running away (obviously). This is one of our photos from the night, where we are running down a pier into the night sky. I wanted something resembling this picture from the film, Never Let Me Go, but we got this instead.

If you ever do want to go to Balboa for Halloween, just keep in mind it's Balboa Island not Peninsula and that there will be a tremendous amount of traffic. Also, in case you were wondering what all of us went as: Tina went as Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Sophie as Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, and I'm a Slytherin student. By the way, Slytherins aren't inherently evil. They typically are successful, loyal wizards (with a slight lust for power). Also, all three of us wore clothes that we already owned, so even though our costumes aren't the best, I think we deserve credit for at least not wasting money on new costumes this year.

I'm wearing an L. Erickson headband, a Zara blouse, a Habber&Dasher sweater, a Zara skort, Gap tights, and Converse sneakers.

Autumn Update

Playing: Welcome to the Black Parade-The Vitaming String Quartet
Reading: Candide by Voltaire

I decided that this school year I will be better about people's birthdays and about holidays. Rather than just doing cards for people's birthdays, I now bake them something and I'm trying to be better about seasonal changes and holidays. After doing a food drive for a local charity, I stopped by Trader Joe's to grab some autumn-y flavored foods like pumpkin baked goods and apple cider along with a few pumpkins. When it gets colder, my family usually buys a few candles from CandlEssence for decoration too. I just wanted to share a few things that may (or may not) help bring the fall season into your home.

Last Tuesday, I hosted a huge Friendship Picnic at my school for over 50 students and it was Halloween themed. However, most people went as far as coming in black or orange for the picnic, while Sarah, Sophie, and I went over the top with our costumes. Sarah is Little Red Riding hood, Sophie is Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, and I'm Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye. Holden is one of my favorite fictional characters and I imagined him to look kind of like Robbie Wadge. I used this picture of Robbie in a hunting hat and this picture of him in a navy blazer for inspiration.

PS Congrats to Hannah for winning my giveaway! Thank you everyone for entering and I hope you'll win one of my giveaways soon.