My Little Pony Project: Part 1

Playing: Man I Think I Love Her-Stereo Skyline
Reading: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

For the My Little Pony Project at the Toy Art Gallery, I went on the opening day and dragged my friends, Terry and Sophie, along with me. Terry actually started a Friendship is Magic Club at my school that I'm a part of, so I decided it was a must to bring him with me. I must say, it was a lot of fun to have those two keeping me entertained in line.

We probably waited in line for two hours before we got in, so we amused ourselves by taking photos with some new friends and please excuse my awkward arm positioning. But look here, just because our new friend is a mannequin doesn't mean he was forced to pose with us.  He totally wanted to hang out with us because we're the coolest thing suburbia has to offer Los Angeles. Just kidding, we're not that narcissistic to believe that.

Waiting in line for two hours does cause hunger, so my parents were kind enough to grab us some French fries from the Johnny Rocket's down the corner.  I like how the light reflecting on my hair makes it look like I've got red ombre going on in my hair. I only wish I could do that!

 

It was fun to stand in line, while singing songs to each other, eating deep fried, salty potatoes, and teasing each other mercilessly, but we still got tired with waiting for so long. When we were finally close enough to see the Toy Art Gallery, we freaked out and then realized they were only letting two people in at a time, so we still had a while to go.

When we got in, we snacked on Lil' Rae Cake Balls, which were decorated cutely with different My Little Pony motives. Terry and my dad do not understand the importance of taking photos for a blog, so both of theirs have bite marks in them. It was nice that they were all different flavors-red velvet, chocolate, vanilla, etc. I wish I had tried more of them, when I had the chance!

It was great to see Onch again and Terry loved the My Little Pony necklaces that Onch had designed, which were a mixture of metal ware and hair. I was surprised to see that Onch reminded me, since the last time we had seen each other was December, I believe. Like I've said before, Onch is so colorful and fun!

And one touristy photo for all of you from the magical fields of Equestria. Of course Sophie looks adorable as a present and I'm obviously a fairy princess, while Terry wouldn't dress up with us. I'm still sorting through all my photos of the sculptures and paintings, so I'll save that for the next post. Would it be annoying if I just put all the sculpture photos together as a GIF? If not, I have to cut down on which ones I'll choose and I don't know which photos shouldn't make the cut.

Sophie is returning to blogging and I would love it, if you could visit her blog here!

Reunion of the Inception Group

Playing: We Are Young-Fun. Feat. Janelle Monáe
Reading: The Sandman: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman 

Left to Right: Josh, Me, Chelcee, and Sophie

Two years ago, I went to go see Inception with my really awesome friends, Chelcee, Josh, Sophie, and Aadil. When we got there, we asked Josh to get us drinks and he came back with an extra large drink for all five of us to share, as pictured above, and when Inception finished, we all argued over whether it was a dream or not. We all ended up splitting up and going to different schools a year ago and if we are at the same school, we no longer hang out with each other every single second of the day. Well, we decided it was time for a reunion this year.

Left to Right: Chelcee's Mint Milk, Aadil's Taro Milk, My Barley Milk Tea, and Sophie's Honey Green Tea

It started off with a text from Aadil asking me to bring him somewhere to get taro milk and before I knew it, I had planned out a meetup for all of us. Unfortunately, Josh couldn't make it last minute, so it ended up being just Chelcee, Aadil, Sophie, and me. We all got drinks and chatted with each other about life, school, college, the future, One Direction, and people that used to go to school with us before we ordered our lunches.

Left to right: Aadil, Sophie, Me, and Chelcee

Of course, we had to get a group photo together because we all love each other so deeply and wholeheartedly that it would be a crime not to get a photo together. It was funny how the waiter looked at Aadil and told him, "Dude, you're so lucky. Three girls with you! You're the man." I always have such a great time with these people. They're really great and I love how carefree we are with one another. I love how comfortable we are with each other and how we can say whatever we want with no fear of being judged or deemed weird.

After lunch, Chelcee left us and I was left with Aadil and Sophie. We headed off to a teacher's supply store, a dried fruits and tea shop, a Sanrio gift store, a Taiwanese book store, and ended up in the candy plus snacks aisle of a Chinese super market. We walked around the super market hoping to find some taro snacks for Aadil, but couldn't seem to find anything worthwhile, so we set off for a thrift book store and then ended the day chatting at the library about whatever went through our heads.

I used my Jason Wu for Target purse for the first time at our reunion and let me tell you something, this bag might have made me a big purse type of person. I've always preferred miniscule purses that can only fit the basics, but I really like having a bag that can carry everything! 

I was able to fit my cellphone, wallet, and camera (not pictured) plus so much more! Normally, I can only fit those three things, but it was nice to be able to purchase a book and a tea square and not have to carry a shopping bag. Plus, the purse's pockets were so useful and made room for a deck of cards plus some candy, some medicine, and a chap stick. Talk about a lot of room, huh? I might need to upgrade to larger purses soon.

Are you a small or large purse person?

Laguna Beach

Playing: Just for Tonight-One Night Only
Reading: Mary Kate And Ashley Olsen Talk Elizabeth and James with Barneys

When you live in Southern California, it's mandatory that you visit the beach at least once during Spring Break and Summer Vacation. It's practically a law, since the weather is always so sunny here. Laguna Beach is probably most well known from the TV show, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. You know, the show with Lauren Conrad showing us how awesome life is as a pretty girl in a pretty town? What's nice about Laguna Beach is the wide collection of art galleries, beach wear stores, and small, artsy boutiques. It's really quite a quaint area and it's filled with stereotypical Californians, which is a good thing for tourists.

The Chicken Divan Crepes at C'est La Vie are excellent and the sauce is great for dipping their fresh baguettes in. What originally drew me to C'est La Vie is that it's one of the few restaurants with reasonable prices and it has a beach view. Plus, the service is quick and it offers tons of unexpected French cuisine that I haven't seen before.

For dessert, the waitress brings over a whole plate of desserts for you to choose from and then brings you a fresh one, once you have chosen. One of my favorite desserts is a tart, so I chose the Mixed Fruit Tart, which was served beautifully with a shortbread cookie and chocolate ice cream plus decorations done in various fruit and chocolate sauces.

 If you're not in the mood for French treats, may I suggest Casey's Cupcakes, winner of an episode of Cupcake Wars? Her cupcakes tend to have a light, muffin texture and aren't overly sweet, so it doesn't feel as fattening as other cupcakes. Most of her icings aren't too sweet, but the chocolate cupcakes are weak compared to her amazing fruit cupcakes. My favorites are the orange and the lemon flavors. Plus, every month, there is a new specialty cupcake!

Also, on a side road, they have beautiful gardens and random stores that sell items such as animal rugs and pet koi. I loved this arch, covering a small street. Very pretty and slightly whimsical, right? I would love it, if this arch was covering a gravel road instead. Laguna Beach is perfect for anybody that wants a beautiful beach, art galleries, or interesting shopping. It has so much to offer and along PCH, there's a vintage car store and various bead shops that I failed to photograph for you. Definitely worth a trip, if you're in the area!

Marc Jacobs' World

Playing: Long Time Coming-One Night Only
Reading: Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost

Over the weekend, I decided to explore Melrose Avenue with my main goal being finding the Vivienne Westwood flagship store. When I went there, I was surprised to see that the area wasn't as big as I thought it'd be and that it was made up mostly of designer stores, but I learned from my friend, Michael, that the 6000's are where all the vintage and indie stores are. I was in the 8000's, where all the designer flagship stores are. There were stores there for Helmut Lang, Alexander McQueen, Bookmarc, Marc Jacobs for Women, Marc Jacobs for Men, Marc by Marc Jacobs for Women, Marc by Marc Jacobs for Men, Diane Von Furstenberg, Herve Leger, Y-3, and so on.

The Vivienne Westwood store was huge and I loved the range of products from casual clothing to dressy gowns. They had a wide selection of clothing for men too and even sold Westwood commemorative books, which I was tempted to buy. If I had all the money in the world, I'd choose her dresses for any dance I were to go to. The only unfortunate parts about the 8000's of Melrose Avenue is that their aren't many places to eat at along the stretch and that I was able to see the area in about two or three hours.

Since I was in the area anyways, I drove down to the Beverly Center on the hunt for lunch and grabbed a cheap, food court meal. The Beverly Center was extremely confusing to navigate. The first floor and top three floors are reserved for shopping and dining, while all the floors in between are strictly for parking. It's hard to get from place to place and for my first time there, I found it difficult to get anywhere I wanted to go. It took me half an hour just to find a place to eat, even though I could smell the food. It's also strange how the Beverly Center has stereotypical mall stores like Forever 21 and American Eagle Outfitters, but has high end designer clothing like D&G (pictured above) and Louis Vuitton too.

Luckily for me, I had the chance to get some goods at the Marc by Marc Jacobs for Women store and the Bookmarc store.  After all, how could I be surrounded by so much Marc Jacobs and not cave in and buy something? It was amazing to see how much of the 8000's of Melrose Avenue belonged to Marc and how all his stores are so close to each other.

I bought a baggy, Marc by Marc Jacobs t-shirt that supports AIDs research along with a pair of earrings at the Marc by Marc Jacobs store and two wishbone necklaces, one for me and one for Jessy, at the Bookmarc store along with a bookmark from Bookmarc. At the Helmut Lang store, I grabbed a look book, since he has no other stores near me. The Helmut Lang store was gorgeous, but had too many employees. It felt like you were barging in on a cool kid gathering, where you were the only one not in fabulous head-to-toe Helmut Lang clothing. 

Have you ever gone to a party or gathering inappropriately dressed?