Back to School Outfits 2014

Unfortunately, school starts very soon. Personally, I'm not ready to go back nor do I want to be ready. It's going to be a stressful term, stressful year. It's just going to be a ball of stress. But at least we can go to school in style! Below are five outfits that my sister and I picked out. Hope you all enjoy!

LAZY MONDAYS

A nice blouse + boyfriend jeans

COOL CHIC TUESDAYS

Meshed crop top + high waisted shorts + flannel 

MONOCHROME WEDNESDAYS

black & white crop top + long cardigan + white pants 

CLASSY THURSDAYS

Fancy top + harem pants + flower necklace

PARTY IT UP FRIDAYS

Romper + boots

Happy back to school, y'all!

xx

BUENOS DIAS

I'm back from my one week vacation to Punta Cana. It was one hell of a week and I'm so glad I got to go on this trip right before school started. I've never been to one of these places (Punta Cana, Cancun, Cuba, etc.) so it was the first time I got to experience the resort life: unlimited food & drinks, customer service 24/7 and a handful of events everyday. There's just too many things to cover if I tell you about my entire 8 day trip so I'll just go through random events.

We landed in Punta Cana at about 12 PM. It's a 4 hour flight from Toronto. This is the airport. It's definitely something, eh? It kinda looks like a spa resort instead of an airport.

We booked a van to take us from the airport to Ocean Blue & Sand Resort. I really enjoyed the car trip to the resort because I got to see local residents and what the place actually looks like outside of all the resorts. Some parts reminded me of when I went back to China to visit some relatives. 

This is the beach area. It's such a beautiful view. Clear blue skies. Slight warm wind. White Sand. The sound of the waves. It's literally paradise.

This is what the view looks like if you step out my hotel building. There are 10 villas and I stayed at villa 6 which is also the Privilege building. As a privilege member, we got a ton of perks including nicer rooms, the ability to reserve restaurants, a private beach area, private restaurant, etc. It was pretty unbelievable. 

I did some archery. That was pretty fun.

So if there are free drinks for 8 days, who wouldn't take advantage of that? I think this trip just told my parents that I drink alcohol without me actually telling them that I do. 

Went parasailing. It was actually not the best experience because I got boat sick on the boat while I was waiting for my turn. It was pretty horrible. The actual parasailing part was alright. It's not as fun as it looks because you're literally just sitting in air. I thought it would be more extreme. I thought the boat would go really fast so that we would be flying across the sky... but that doesn't happen apparently.

I'm not that adventurous or active as a person. I really enjoy just sitting by the pool and reading a nice book. So that's what I did. And so now my legs are way darker than the rest of my body. Do you guys like my watermelon bikini bottoms, by the way? They're my favourite!

I think this is my favourite picture I took from the entire trip and I even took it accidentally. I think I was trying to take a selfie but then I didn't realize it was the front camera. Once again, PALM TREES GUYS.

On the day it was pouring the heaviest, we went horseback riding! It was my first time and I think it was one of the best activities we did on the trip. There were about 14 of us and we were just riding our horses through the forest. I felt like we were in some war movie and that we were about to go fight our enemies. I feared for my life because we went through a river (literally) and my horse slipped a bit and I almost fell off. I'm exaggerating but I was so scared. 

Since it's the end of August, thunderstorms are very prevalent. There were mini showers throughout the week but it wasn't too bad. It would rain for a few minutes and then sunshines everywhere again. At night, it would thunderstorm but that was actually pretty awesome because the thunder would be super loud (and I love thunder).

Just a polaroid.

This was taken on the last day. 

It was a wonderful trip. Hopefully, we'll get to go on even more awesome vacations!

xx

YUM IN MY TUM

On Sunday, Jasmine brought me and Roy to Toronto Underground Market. It's basically a social food market event that helps small food businesses/entrepreneurs share their food ideas to the public. Since Jasmine was a volunteer, she was able to give us free food tickets! 

The event had a several vendors with all different kinds of foods. There was an indoors part and an outdoors area. This is what the outside looked like.

Babi & Co. was my favourite vendor. I really liked the Babi on a Bun. Actually, I liked all of their items. I'm not too sure what kind of food it was - probably something Thai/Korean.

This is what the inside looked like. You know, I've always dreamed of growing up and living in a studio-style apartment/house. This would be the perfect size and the perfect style. My apartment would be completely open like this and I'd have all my entire place without walls (for rooms). I'd have the glass shower right in the middle of the studio hehe. But a girl can only dream...

This was an Iced Coffee by Station Cold Brew Coffee. They use time instead of heat to brew coffee from the beans which I found pretty interesting. This cost $5 but I got to keep the mason jar... so YAY.

Even though I'm not that big of a foodie, food events are always great... especially if it's free!

xx

Sabai Sabai

Friday was Jasmine's 19th birthday so she invited a bunch of her friends from high school and university to go eat Thai food at Sabai Sabai. It's a very small bar/restaurant and so fitting 25 people in an already packed place was a struggle. They actually didn't have enough tables so I was stuck in the middle of two tables and had no table space. But that's alright, it wasn't too bad.

The food was slightly expensive. They also said that it was best if we ordered 2-3 dishes as all dishes are "tapas" meaning that they are very small portions. But when the food came, I actually couldn't finish my main dish because I was already slightly full from the chicken wings! But the food tasted declicious, I'll give you that. Khao Soi is my number one favourite thai dish now (well, after Pad Thai of course). It's crispy noodles in curry and it is so heavenly! I also ordered a Cosmopolitan drink which was actually kind of strong but it still tasted quite good. The last picture is of my lovely brandy girls <3 We haven't spent time together (all four of us) in a very long time so it was really nice to see them again. 

After dinner, we went to the park where Jasmine decided to hit a piñata. We thought we were gonna die when she started swinging that bat in the middle of Ryerson campus. But we survived and we got lots and lots of candy! 

Happy 19th Jasmine!

xx 

4 States 4 Days

At the beginning of August, my friends Lena and Justin and I went on a tour bus to Boston, New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. We went with Taipan Tours, an Asian travel company. We went on a bus tour instead of going there on our own mostly because it was much much cheaper. If you've never been on these asian bus tours, let me explain. It is usually a jam packed schedule, with little flexibility. Morning calls are 5:30 AM - 6:00 AM and meal breaks are short. But what do you expect? You're travelling to so many places in so little time. But to me, I didn't really mind. Like with anything, if you're with the right people, anything can be fun. And I definitely had a great time.

DAY ONE: B O S T O N

I woke up at 4:30 AM to get to Pacific Mall by 5:20 AM. Once I arrived, the bus decided to depart right away. We had 3 people so we decided to rotate sitting alone and I was first. I slept most of the time on the bus but I did get to see the sunrise which was beautiful! We went across the Canada-US border and after 9 hours and multiple washroom/meal breaks, we finally arrived in Boston!

Our first stop was Harvard University. I actually didn't expect it to look like what it actually looks like. I imagined a grand campus - sort of like universities in the UK. Instead, it looked kind of plain. Just buildings, nothing special. The town actually reminded me a little of Kingston where Queen's University is located. It was old, cute, and small. We stayed there for a while and sat on the chairs that are just randomly distributed on campus (guess smart people just sit around and think all day).

Next, we were taken to Quincy Market. It's sort of like St. Lawrence Market. After a long period of indecisiveness, we ended up getting a lobster combo and bacon wrapped in scallop. The food was sub-par. After dinner, we walked around the area because it was filled with small boutiques and street performers.

After that, we toured around Boston. This city is so lovely! I love the architecture, I love the environment - a bit of an artistic feel. Then, we were taken to our hotel: Crown Plaza Hotel. This hotel was the best one out of all three. It was really grand! I loved the decor of the lobby and everything was so chic and modern. It was a long day so we just showered, unpacked, played Heads-Up (which i'm pretty good at), and chilled around before going to bed.

DAY TWO: N E W  Y O R K  C I T Y

Bringgg Brringg! We got a morning call at 5:30 AM because we needed to get on the bus by 6:15 AM. I was the first one up (on all three days) because Lena sleeps forever and Justin takes 2 seconds to get ready. After scrambling to pack everything, we made it to the bus just on time (so clutch so clutch). This time, it was my turn to sit with Lena. After two washroom stops, we ended up in New York City! I've been to New York City before but the city never fails to amaze me.

Wall Street Station - This got me kind of excited I don't know why

First, we went to see the Statue of Liberty. The boat ride was an hour long and although I get boat sick sometimes, I really do enjoy boat rides. It was so peaceful and the scenery was beautiful. Taking a selfie with the statue was such a struggle LOL but that's okay.

After the ride, we went to The Rockefeller Centre to see the entire view of the city. Once again, I've been here before with my family so it wasn't that big of a deal. It was a very nice view though.

Then we went to Times Square. We had around an hour and a half to roam around so we went shopping. These screens never fail to fascinate me.

Overall, New York City was great! I'm definitely more of a city person. I love bright lights and I love crowds of people. The streets reminded me of Hong Kong which of course is a good thing. At night, we were taken to a Westin Inn hotel in a small town in New Jersey. Since we were bored, we walked around at night and discovered a froyo place! So we went in and had a cup of froyo. We then sat at the park for a good hour just having a little bonding time.

That night, we slept pretty late because we had deep talks and then it got depressing and no one could fall asleep... so we chilled and somehow decided it would be a good idea to try to fit the three of us on one bed. You can imagine how that went.

DAY THREE: WASHINGTON D.C.

Once again, we woke up super early to get to our next destination: Washington D.C. This day consisted of going to many many monuments, memorials, and museums. It was super hot and I was stupid enough to decide to wear a long sleeve shirt. 

To be honest, I kind of forgot the names of the monuments that we visited... fail.

I honestly don't remember what this place is.

This is the Washington Monument. I've always seen this place in movies but it was awesome to see it in real life.

This was my favourite one! It's the Lincoln monument. I don't know, I just really like the architecture and how it looks. Plus, it faces the Washington Monument and the water/fountain. When I first saw it, it kind of reminded me of that burned down church in Macau.

Ok, this is obviously the white house. Of course we weren't allowed to close to it so this is the best photo I got (as I tried to push everyone out of the way).

Then we went to the wax museum! I've always seen pictures of people who go and I've always thought it was so cool. So I finally got to go!

That night,  we stayed at Sheraton Hotel. The hotel was alright but we had to call the front desk like three times because:
1. Lena clogged the toilet
2. We couldn't find the thermostat
3. We broke the lights in our washroom

We were really tired that night so we didn't go out and explore the town. Justin fell asleep while watching TV so we just decided to call it a night after a while.

DAY FOUR: P E N N S Y L V A N I A

We didn't have to wake up as early (yipee)! The only stop for that day was Penn's Cave. We were taken on a small little boat and toured the inside of the cave. It was really sick. I've always loved this kind of stuff - hiking, caves, nature. It was chilly inside the cave and water kept dripping on my head but it was a really cool experience!

After that, we went back to Canada! We got back to pacific mall at around 7PM.

Woot! So that was last weekend. It was a really fun trip and spending time with Lena and Justin is always ... how do I put it ... "interesting". We somehow get along quite well despite how differently we see things and how differently we live our lives. Next time, we'll go explore California!

xx

Stay With Me

Last Friday, my brandy girls and I went to Ribfest! It was a really last minute decision. We were originally just going to cook at Jasmine's house but then Jasmine asked if we wanted to go to Ribfest and since I've never been, of course I said yes!

I've been to quite a few food market type events so it was nothing special (appearance + environment wise). I guess these billboard-looking signs were cool... kinda, not really - just average. I didn't even know Ribfest was in Richmond Hill that weekend but there were so many people. But that's probably because it was at Richmond Green, meaning there are residential neighbourhoods all around. The weather was perfect - not too hot with a bit of wind!

We chose the line that was shortest because we're impatient people. We got a half rack to share among us three for $15. It was soooooo gooood. I love ribs. I would eat ribs everyday if I could. And the barbecue sauce made it even better. I would have gotten another one, but it was kind of expensive.

Then we got BUTTERFLY FRIES (try saying that 10 times fast - bet you couldn't). Usually tornado fries are $5 for a stick. But this was basically 5 times as much and it was only $8! They were so yummy yummy in my tummy. We also got these honey syrup chocolate meatballs which were so unique and also a lemonade with a pinch of passion fruit!

10 brownie points for you if you know which picture we're trying to recreate. 

After filling our stomachs, we walked back to Jasmine's house (around 30 minute walk) and had a ukulele jam. We made a little cover which Melissa still has on her computer but we did a little mash up of Stay With Me - Sam Smith and Safe and Sound - Capital Cities. I'm so sick of Safe and Sound because I would hear it everyday at work last year.. but yeah. 

It's always a good time with my brandy girls

xx

food goodies

This was when Lena, Justin, and I went to dim sum before registering for our bus tour to the states! I actually really enjoy going for dim sum. Just the whole environment and excitement when the food comes reminds me so much of Hong Kong. It's always loud at dim sum restaurants. Some people hate it but I feel like I'm part of a big big big family who is sharing their love for food together (even if I don't know anyone in the restaurant). My favourite dim sum is cha siu bao (BBQ Pork Bun)!

This is the fruit sorbet that I ordered when I went to Le Papillon for Summerlicious with my family! I couldn't take a picture of my appetizer and main meal because it was way too dark... My dad also ordered L'escargot for the entire family because he loves it! It was my first time trying it and it was actually really delicious. 

xx