I Give My Thanks

I am thankful for (to name only a few)...

• my parents for fully supporting my impulsive move to the big apple
• my sister flying all the way from Florida to keep me company during the holidays
  
• my friends for putting up with me 15 hrs of the day (the 8 is when i sleep)
• my sorority sisters for making me feel at home wherever i am
  
• my boss&co-workers for giving me my first full-time job
• starbucks for being there every block step of the way
• online shopping
• my iPhone
• Disney
  
• my mac
  
• bangles
• How I Met Your Mother
  
• tokidoki
  
• dim sum
• Neil Patrick Harris (see 3 above this one)
  
• karaoke
• Top Chef
  
• Glee
• Stardora (my name for the starbucks holiday channel on pandora)
• social networking sites
  
• self-esteem booster sites (texts from last night, fml, peopleatwalmart, etc)
• Musicals

and last but not least

• Mwaji
  

Katarina

I feel every girl has one label that she just can't resist (may it be fashion, technology, singer, whatever). For me, that would be Dior. I don't know why but I always felt oddly drawn to it. The collections can never do any wrong for me. Everytime I step into a store or check it out online, I see something that just wakes up my inner fashionista (lets call her Katarina) and make me say the words "Ohmagod. Its too much. Love it!".

I visited the promise land this weekend on a spur-of-the-moment pilgrimage with a visiting friend. We went to Columbus Circle, walked thru Central Park, and then headed to Bergdorf (Katarina: Ugh. Shoes. Too much.) Afterwards we decided to come back closer to reality and visit Bloomingdales Barneys...(compared to Bergdorf where each product is in the "If Only" list). Thats how I stopped by Dior. It was on the way between Bergdorf and Bloomingdales Barneys. (Between reality and dreamland. How appropriate). And THAT, is my friends, how I also discovered the "oui" collection. The rings are just too much for words. It's as if Dior looked into my heart, saw exactly what I subconsciously wanted, and created it.

Love. Pure retail love.

"Oui" would like to play....

Shrek: the Musical

My friend was able to score 3 free tickets to see Shrek: the Musical and decided to take me as one of the 3. Naturally, I was very excited. What also made this an even bigger deal (besides that it has won numerous awards including a Tony and a Drama Desk..and of course, that my packet of milanos cost more than what I had to pay to be there) is that Shrek: the Musical was going on their national tour soon.

My review of it: If you didn't watch the movie, you might get a little confused during a certain part of the musical. HOWEVER, some of the jokes are taken directly out from the movie so its like hearing an old joke again. sometimes all you can give is a smile. It does have its moments of creativity and uniqueness that the movie does not have. It also has obviously more character development outside of Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey.

Overall: Go see it (but not if Wicked, Lion King, or other critically acclaimed Broadway classics is on the plate of choices).

The rest of this post will have some details about the actual Musical so if you don't want to read any spoilers, this would be a time to go back to your twitter or Facebook. :)

My favorite song: I Got You Beat (duet between Fiona and Shrek playing the "I had it worst" game...minus the flatulence & burps)
My favorite scene: Tie between Lord Farquaad in the bathtub or Donkey&Shrek on their quest to Fiona (ROADTRIP!)
Look out for: Notable Disney nods to Lion King and Snow White (its not that subtle so don't look too hard)

I <3 NY

What really bums me out is that there's so many sights I want to see in New York but I would have to go see it alone because most of my friends have been New Yorkers for quite a long time. Those sights just don't appeal to them anymore. There would have to be a special event (a REALLY special event) to have any motivation for them to go.

I really want to see the statue of liberty, MoMA, go to central park, etc. I haven't had the opportunity yet and apparently its "uncool" to act all touristy when u now have a Manhattan lease.

Maybe this is why I'm so excited that my sister is coming to visit. Or when anybody from out of town comes to visit. It gives me the excuse of going out and seeing everything.

But even when people aren't here, I want the opportunity to make use of being in New York. I don't want to miss out. I want to be able to look back and know that I took full advantage of living in the Big Apple.

I just don't know where or how to start.

Not a young grasshopper anymore...

Before I got into making videos thru Final Cut, I made a short video of my brother's baby pictures on iMovie. Needless to say, it was terrible. I rewatched it and decided to use my more honed-in skills to help tweak it and not make it so...home movie.

I don't know how well I saved it from being just another slide show but ENJOY!

-_-'''

While typing on aim to my boss last week (who was in Canada), I included my usual emoticons of o_O, -_-, and ^_^v. Yes, I am that Asian. However, this time I added the -_-''' to my repertoire.

This totally befuddled my boss. After many failed attempts to describe what exactly the three lines mean, I finally hit google and found NOTHING! I even typed it out in Chinese to see if any of my fellow Asians have hit this wall before.

Having come back with almost nothing, I decided that instead of defining it, I would just send my boss a list of situations where the -_-''' will be most utilized. I'm going to leave out the exact situations that I emailed to him as I put it in terms of what happens around my office.

Anyways, what I came up with are the three main expressions you convey with -_-''':
1) Shit. I just dug my own grave. (Added more trouble and work)
2) Awkward situations.
3) Not amused (After someone tells a very lame joke)
4) Conflicted (pressured into doing something u begrudgingly do)

Other suggestions r welcome!

Confession #2

I'm turning into a shopaholic (no this is not the confession. because i am trying to cut the habit. i really am). The # of shopping trips and new items I purchase has spiked this last couple of months. I know it's a slippery road and I am "white knuckling" it. Survival in NYC (or just in general) is crucial. I need to be able to pay my bills and eat! But isn't looking fabulous equally crucial in NYC? I mean, it's an "eat or be eaten" kind of world out here. (Or in NYC terms: be fab or be frumpy). This brings me to the actual confession: I wear makeup everyday.


Yesterday's purchase at MAC:

• blush (brown/golden tint)
• eyeshadow (mineralize eyeshadow: sea & sky, pictured)
  
• eyeliner technakohl (jade way, pictured)
• mineralize skinfinish powder (neutral)

Girl's gotta look good right? I live and swear by my eyeliner. I don't look awake or look like myself without it. I hate when people see me without it. It's not because of low self esteem but most girls (and girly boys) will vouch that make-up (when applied correctly) does boost your appearance by at least 10%. I put on makeup because you never know who you can/will run into on the street (esp in Manhattan). I'm taking my precautions.

The alternative of not wearing makeup everyday is this situation: Someone sees u at a big shindig and sees u wearing makeup for the first time. They see the difference and they know u put in the extra effort for this thing and so the next time u dont put on make-up they start the comparison/questioning process. "Why isn't she wearing make-up this time? Is this event not worth putting on make-up for?" and "Whoah she looks a lot different without makeup".

So to avoid all that speculation i just put on make-up everyday. Even if it is just going down the block to my grocery store (gristedes).