Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Forever 21: Pretty Spring Things

Good day, lovely ladies! Even though it is snowing outside (although thankfully, the weather forecast changed from 9-12 inches to a mere 1-3 inches, whew we really dodged a big one!) I can't help but dream of Spring and all the beautiful things it promises. I'll be seeing my Ma and lil bro again soon, cherry blossoms will bloom and grace us with their presence for a week, and of course everyone's excited of the warmer weather we're going to have ^_^ Can you tell I love Spring? Heehee. Below are some pretty items I selected from Forever 21 to help us welcome Spring 2014 <3

forever 21 clothes and shoes on clearance




forever 21 jewelry
 

 
 
<3,

 


Friday, March 21, 2014

March 25: Celebrate Tolkien Reading Day!

Alas, fellow humans (sadly, not elves), I have not read any other works from the great J.R.R. Tolkein past the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. But fear not, for March 25th is Tolkien Reading Day! And by a stroke of luck, I happened upon a tweet concerning a haiku contest from middleearthnews.com, with prizes sponsored by The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth. Here are my submissions, they're just fun ones because I did them during my lunch break. Don't forget to submit yours :)
 
Merry and Pippin
Sipped some ent draught, and shot up
O’er Brandobas Took
 
The master is our friend!
No, we wants it and needs it.
Liar and thief, he is!
 
 
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
 
 
 
 

Monday, March 3, 2014

A Pink Baby Shower

Early last year, I, with the help of my lovely friends, threw a pink themed baby shower for my cousin! It took me a long time to organize, mainly because I wanted to DIY everything (fueled by nonstop Pinterest searches, of course), but the end results and the smile on my cousin's face made all the effort worth it :)

The cake:
I used fresh strawberries for both the cake base and the icing (I didn't need to use pink dye for the icing!), because I wanted to harness the flavor of the actual fruit instead of relying on artificial flavoring. The cake was a bit denser than usual due to the added sugar (the strawberries I used were on the tart side), but it was so lovely to look at and the icing was so delish - I was very, very, very tempted to eat it by the spoonful. Not the greatest idea since I used 100% butter. Mmm.




The cake topper:
I cut up tiny baby clothes out of printed board paper (about $1 each at Joann) and attached matching pink felt shapes to the back to weigh it down. I used cake dowels to anchor the clothesline, clipped the baby clothes on, and voila! A super cute, inexpensive and specially-made cake topper to celebrate my future niece's birth :)

The banner:
Pictured below is the actual spread for the dessert table. I cut out letters from copy paper then pasted them onto the rest of my pink board paper. It's pretty easy and definitely less expensive than pre-made banners at party supply stores :)


The sweets:
My giveaways were marshmallows and pretzels dipped in  pink dye-tinted white chocolate, plus strawberry flavored cookies. Tip: white chocolate tends to harden really fast, so I added a few drops of vegetable oil to the melted chocolate. That gave me enough time to dip and swirl the marshmallows and pretzels into the chocolate then press gold sugar  onto them. I then put the goodies into little plastic baggies and gave them out at the end of the party :)



My co-host (and owner of the house where the party was held) also bakes on the side, and she whipped up vanilla cream cheese cupcakes in an instant. Sooooo good!


The Extra Decor:
From the stack of differently-hued pink board paper, I cut up and pasted together these huge paper flowers, which I placed all over my co-host's living room.


The Games:
I had a bunch of games and activities for both the adults and the youngsters.
-Stick the pacifier on the baby. I drew a cartoon of a sleeping baby on copy paper using markers, then drew several pacifiers for each contestant.

-Guess the celebrity baby. Pretty self-explanatory, I used my tablet for the before and after pictures.

-Draw a baby's face on a paper plate. The twist is you put the plate on top of your head, and the cutest (or probably the better word would be comprehensible) drawing wins.

-Write your wishes for the baby. I cut out stars from plain pink board paper, then placed them on a table with a pen and a bowl for the stars that had been written on. You can compile them in a scrapbook for the mommy-to-be after the shower.

-Guess the number of cookies in the jar. This one's for the kids and it kept them occupied for a while. Also works with gumballs, chocolate kisses, etc.

All in all, we had a fun and memorable day. If you're going to plan for a similar party, just remember this: don't sweat the small stuff! Make the best out of any bad situations that will surely pop up (nothing is perfect, after all), and just have a great time with your loved ones :)

Have a blessed day!
<3,







Oscars 2014 Fashion

It seems like these A-listers wanted to play it safe, with most opting for beaded nude gowns, and thus there weren't a lot of misses on the red carpet. Then again, there weren't a lot of standouts either save for Lupita Nyong'o who wowed everyone in her beautiful  ice blue Cinderella-inspired dress (and who could forget her lovely speech?). Nevertheless, I compiled a list of gowns that I absolutely loved, and up to now I'm still in awe of the craftsmanship and hours of labor that were put into these wearable works of art (I wonder how many thousands of beads were used to make Kate's dresses?). Who's on your list? :)

(Photos courtesy of nymag.com, hollywoodlife.com and onsugar.com)
1 and 2. Kate Hudson and Kate Hudson in Atelier Versace



3. Zooey Deschanel in Oscar de la Renta

4. Gabrielle Union 

5. Evan Rachel Wood in Elie Saab
This color suits her, as does the silhouette of the dress.

6. Cate Blanchett in Armani
No one does ethereal quite like Ms. Blanchett

6. Lupita Nyong'o in Prada

7. Jennifer Garner in Oscar de la Renta
You can almost hear the swishing noises her flapper-inspired dress makes.


8. Kerry Washington in Jason Wu
Such a proud and lovely soon-to-be mom.

9. Sandra Bullock in Alexander McQueen
I don't normally like shiny, structured dresses, but the pleating on this dress and the color of it against her skin is just so complementary. You can almost hear it compliment her with "I look so gorgeous on you, no?"

10. Sarah Paulson in Elie Saab

11. Meryl Streep in Lanvin
Fabulous and classy as always.

12. Emmy Rossum in Monique Lhuillier

14. Naomi Watts in Calvin Klein

Have a lovely day!
<3,