Hello Kitty Costume

For the second day of week before Halloween, I decided to dress up as the oh so popular Hello Kitty! I do have a lot of Hello Kitty items. Also I've never dressed up as Hello Kitty before. After hours brainstorming on what items in my closet would scream Hello Kitty, I remembered that last year Tuan bought me a Hello Kitty dress from Hot Topic. Perfect!

Although you don't have to have a real Hello Kitty costume to be Hello Kitty. As long as you are wearing the colors, maybe adorn yourself in her products, and/or draw on some whiskers and maybe some cat ears you will be good!

Clothing- If you do not actually own anything Hello Kitty, any outfit coordination of pink,red, and white would be fine. Hello Kitty's outfits over the years have changed in color. Her outfits range from blue/white, red/pink, blue/striped red and white, and pink/dark pink. Just type in Hello Kitty in google and you will see what Im talking about.

I wore nude tights underneath to keep me warm and to make my legs look super smooth and soft. I paired my outfit with black ballerina flats from Payless Shoes. You know, those flats with the bows on them that everyone has.

Accessories- Put on everything you can find! I wore a set of earrings that Mom gave me for Christmas last year. I wore my glasses so that I would match my nerdy Hello Kitty earrings. The pink and red Hello Kitty silly bands, I found from my little cousin. Also I would have worn the Hello Kitty ring if it weren't for the fact that I clean and touch food all day so it would get really nasty. The necklace was something I quickly put together. The Hello Kitty pendant was something that I saved off a necklace that I threw away long ago. The hole was not large enough to string through anything to I had to add it onto a hoop. I used the necklace that my mom got for me on her Cozumel cruise.

I only wore the two on the right since I only have two sets of piercings. 

These were chosen out of a multi colored set, I wanted my outfit to match.

Hello Kitty ring from Caitlin.

Hair- I straightened my hair to keep me warm when I work. It can get really cold there. I did not have time to make a cat ears or the giant Hello Kitty bow. Instead I wore a red bow that I bought a long time ago from Claire's. It would from the $10/10 item clearance.

This was from a set of 4 bow hair clips.

Makeup- I went with a pink/purple eyeshadow. I used liquid eyeliner to draw the whiskers on my face because it tends to last longer than cream or pencil as long as you don't touch or rub it. Everyone's face is different but this is what I did for myself. When drawing in the whiskers I used a eyeliner pencil to mark where they will begin. Looking into a mirror I drew a mark where the outer edges of my pupils ended and where the bottom of my eye socket met. Right underneath, about right in the middle of my cheeks is where I placed the middle mark. Then the last one underneath that. My goal was to get the whiskers on my cheeks so what when I smiled my whiskers would move.

Below is the final product, again the awkward pose is to show off the bow in my hair.

Batman Costume

Halloween is around the corner! Everyone is scrambling around to find a last minute costume. I've been brain storming costume ideas since September. Also for work we dressed up in costumes since halloween is on thursday also it was to promote our halloween party packages at pump it up or more like to accommodate them.

Originally, I was going to dress up as Katniss from the Hunger Games for work but since the kids probably won't understand what it is I decided to save it for actual halloween. Also I was going to be Pikachu, a pokemon, but I did not have the time or the materials at hand to create the look. So I went with Hello Kitty and Batman/Batgirl.

I saw some really cute DIY Batman masks online and decided to do my own version. The other versions used felt but since I only had black canvas fabric, thats what I used and it turned out pretty well.

First I cut off a rectangle of fabric that would fit onto my face. I held it up to my face and used my fingers as place holders to where I wanted the mask to end. I used a white pencil to mark those spots. I repeated this with the tip where the center of the mask would be and at the bottom center of the mask where I wanted it to end on my face.'

Using the points of reference I created, I slowly sketched out the batman logo. Once I was satisfied I cut out the soon-to-be mask.

Afterwards, I held the mask up to my face, positioning it exactly how I wanted it to sit when I wore it. Using my fingers and the white pencil, I roughly outlined my eye sockets. Picture below.

 After outlining the eyes on the mask, I went over and made the eye holes more symmetrical. Then I cut those out too. To measure out the elastic I held elastic along the mask and wrapped it around my head. I put it in the position where I would want the band to go around my head. I wanted the elastic to go under the top layer of my hair so no one would see it. I definitely made sure that there was enough length so that I could wear the mask all day but not too much so that it would not slip off. I sewed on the elastic to the mask, going back and forth multiple times to make sure the fabric would not give during work.

Back of Mask

Front of mask

In order to show off the mask, I decided to clip my bangs up with bobby pins. I felt like I was not dressed up enough so I made a little bow out of left over ribbon from a Harry Potter Apron I made for my roommate. It was really simple. I tied a bow and then strung it on a bobby pin. It did require a lot of fixing when I put it in my hair since I did not secure the bow in any way to hold.

For make up, I just did my normal routine but I wore black eyeshadow for the first time.

Asian eyes are hard to see any amount of eye shadow

Not too bad

Looking back now, I should have cut the eye sockets more near the corners of my eyes. It seems unfitted.

This creepy pose is to also show off the bow in my hair. The batman shirt I got at Walmart for about $10. It has a yellow cape on the back. Super Cute.

The finished costume. Normal black leggings were worn along with black ankle boots. Steve photo bombing me in the background as always.

I had a tough time trying to figure out which boots would be more appropriate for the costume but looking at all of the batman/batgirl pictures they wear leather looking boots. But basically boiling it down any pair of black boots would fit perfectly. The less lace and the more simple it is the better.

Selfie with Jenna (FBI) after a long days work at Pump It Up ;)

Ocean Prime Tampa Review

My boyfriend surprised me with an anniversary dinner at Ocean Prime in Tampa, Florida. I've been wanting to eat there for our anniversary. I'm just really happy (more like surprised) that he remembered. Also extremely proud that he thought of it himself.

Ocean Prime

Dress code- There was no dress code that was specified but many people come here for business meetings. The price range itself suggests business/formal attire. Originally, Tuan was wearing a button up shirt with jeans since none of his dress cloths fit him anymore since he's gained weight. We went to H&M and picked him up a full suit with shoes. When we got there all of the men were dressed in suits so if he had worn what he had originally then he would have been underdressed.

Reservation and Parking- We made a reservation through open table. We changed it like 3 times from 9:15 to 8:45 back to 9:15 because buying the suit took more time than expected. Valet parking was available for $5 but we decided to just park ourselves. There were Ferrari's parked in front of the restaurant.

We sat at a large U-shaped booth. There were a lot of people the tables are in close proximity to one another but the live music that was played throughout the restaurant was loud enough to drown out people close to you. I really liked that they did not play classical music but music with lyrics because it allowed the people at the tables around you to talk and their voices would just blend in with the music.

The waiters did not wear name tags, perhaps to create equality amongst themselves. Our waiter was very cheerful and although we were the youngest there he did not treat us any different than with everyone else. Even though deep down I knew that he thought he would not get a good gratuity since we were just college kids. I love it when Tuan proves them wrong. Quality service should be tipped with a hearty tip. When we asked our waiter about the food; he was very knowledgable on the taste, texture, and how it was cooked as if he was making it himself. The entire time we were there he did not pop up every two seconds to bother us if everything was alright or not. Also when he was too busy to help us out another person would help him out.

We drank homemade lemonade which they pour into a vase looking pitcher. They set the pitcher at your table but it was out of our reach so that they could come by and refill our drinks as if it were some fancy wine.

Appetizer- We ordered White Truffle Caviar Deviled Eggs, picture below. It was good, not too mustardly strong not too bland. It was the first time I've had deviled eggs that were not homemade. I don't have much to say about it since I have nothing to compare it to other than my own deviled eggs that I've often screwed up.

Afterwards, we ordered Lobster Bisque with Sweet Corn Fritter as our second appetizer. One of the cooks brought out our bowls. The bowl has the bits of the lobster bisque and then he pours in the actual soup part into our bowls. The bisque had a nice chunk of lobster, a biscuit, and corn at the bottom. The soup was nice and creamy, the corn to give crunchiness to it, and the biscuit to add more texture. 

Entrees- I had 8oz. Petite Filet Mignon. Sides are not included in this entree as for most entrees on the menu. It was tender and the seasoning on the outside of the piece was very flavorful. Delicious! Tuan got twin lobster tails with asparagus and drawn butter. The drawn butter is the best invention I've ever seen yet. It is basically butter over a tea light to keep it warm so that it does not get chunky or clumpy. Sorry, I was too busy stuffing my face with steak to remember to take pictures.

Dessert (Indulgences as they call it, so fancy)-  We ordered Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, picture below. This was delicious. Chocolate mousse with peanut butter swirls covered in chocolate. Complimented with whipped cream, chocolate ganache (basically a very rich chocolate stick), and sprinkled with powdered sugar. When our dessert came out we had a wonderful surprise, they wrote happy anniversary in chocolate on our plate. That it the perfect touch. At the beginning of our dinner our waiter had asked us if we were there for any special occasion, he told him it was for our fourth anniversary.

Bill- When they brought us the bill it was on a silver platter, a platter! I was astonished cause thats cool. Yes, I did take a picture of this too. Not only that we noticed that the dessert was not on the bill. At first we thought it was because our waiter did not add it in yet and would adjust the price when we payed. Also I'd like to mention that since our waiter was busy some other waiter came by and took care of the bill for us, yay for team work. Our waiter later came out to say that dessert was on the house since it was our anniversary. FREE! I was blown away, they totally pulled me in right there. Now that is how you get your customers to come back. In total our bill was $120, we left a $30 gratuity.

Bathrooms- I like to add this part into the review because you now how nice any place is by how well they maintain their restrooms. The restroom seemed to not have been looked after for a few hours from the looks of the overflowing paper towel hole embedded into the sink counter. BUT there was mouthwash, tooth floss picks, hair spray, tampons, and paper cloths to wipe your hands with. I consider any place with mouthwash to be the most high end out of any restaurant, even Bern's steakhouse does not have mouthwash. The only other place that had mouthwash was Truluck's in Miami.

Overall-  I will definitely come back here and I do recommend this place to everyone. Next time I want to try the Ten Layered Carrot Cake.

Viper Titanium Money Clip

At the end of this month, Tuan and I are celebrating our four years together. As asians we like to have an excuse to party so what we like to do is have an anniversary month. Thats right, I said it anniversary month, not day, not week but month. It is really an excuse for us to go out to dinner every couple of days and for me to give him his presents since I am impatient and I can't wait that long. The first gift I gave him was Bellroy Note Sleeve wallet which I may do a review on that later. It is really awesome and a great gift for any guy. They also have a more feminine Bellroy wallet which Tuan ended up getting me for one of my anniversary presents.

Viper Titanium Money Clip- http://www.superiortitanium.com

Natural Titanium Finish $49.99
Black Diamond Finish $59.99

Look and Feel

The money clip looks great, better to show you in a photo below than in words. Below is Natural Finish holding 53 bills with room to spare.

See? Doesn't that just make you feel like a million bucks while you carry a million bucks? The other side of the clip is smooth solid surface. The feel on the money clip itself is very similar to the Aluminum backing of the iPhone 5 or 5s. So if you want to have an idea of what it feels like just reach over and grab your iPhone or walk into the nearest Apple carrier.

Function

The Viper Titanium's holding capacity is a massive 60 billfolds, which is also 120 unfolded bills. This was the only money clip that I could find that could hold more than 40 bills. The design of the money clip and the titanium allows it to hold even just a single bill. After shoving in a giant wad of cash into the clip, it does not stretch out and can hold a single bill snugly. If you are more of a credit card person, the money clip can hold up to 16 credit cards instead of bills.

Conclusion

For the price, the money clip was worth the money. Since engraved money clips can run well over $60 and hold only about 30-60 bills. Since the money clip can also hold less than 60 bills it has a wide range of functions. Although if you are looking for a small discrete money clip, the Viper is not recommended since it is about 3/4 inches in height which would result in a slight bulge in the pockets. But there is also a a smaller version of the Viper which is the mini Viper that is half the holding capacity and is a bit cheaper.

First Etsy sale and ongoing projects

I am so excited! My very first Etsy sale was made a few days ago. It only took about two months for my first sale. I started brain storming for the A Bit of Everything Emergency Kit about a little more than six months ago. I actually started making test designs for the pouch in the summer time. A month before school start in August I was able to complete the design and perfect the product. It took me about a week or two just to sort out pricing, packaging, shipping, and photographing. I basically put up the shop for fun and if my items did not sell by Christmas I would have given them away as presents. I was amazed that someone would actually want to buy something that I made! Of course others have thee handcrafted items sold so easily but their pieces are so beautiful and crafty. Not that I do not think my masterpiece is not crafty but it is something that can be made at home. I guess people do pay for convenience. So  I did find out that my shipping prices were underpriced so I had to make up the difference in the cost with some of the profit money I was receiving from the kit. But I just had so much fun packaging the item and just taking it all in. The experience itself was so much worth it. I know I am ranting and getting a little carried away with such a simple thing but it is such a wonderful feeling.

On the other hand, I am working on some side project in which I plan to post up on my blog. I have the makeup vanity, bookcase decorating, pear shaped fashion, the fitness motivation wallpaper for the iPhone. The wallpaper will be large enough to fit almost any phone with proper cropping.

How to dress Pear (Triangle) Shape - The Peplum Shirt

Everyone has different body shapes although all body shapes can be often grouped into categories such as apple (round), pear (triangle), and so on. Often I find myself struggling with properly dressing myself in a manner that would flatter my body shape. I would see an outfit that looks absolutely adorable on one person and I am blind to the fact that it does not even suit my body. Or when I see a cute outfit that looks good but just not on me. I like to look at different outfits online to give me some ideas that would help me assemble a flattering look with the limited clothing in my own closet. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas too.

My aunt gave me a a giant sack of clothing from the back of her closet. Very nice clothing but some are not for my body shape but I try to make it work. Normally (correct me if I'm wrong), peplum shirts are supposed to be flattering for pear shaped women. But I think in this case the ruffled area is at the bottom of the shirt instead of at the waist where it would emphasize the smaller waist.

The peplum at the bottom of the shirt emphasizes my wide hips. We want to draw attention AWAY from the hips not towards it. So what we can do here is tuck it into a high waist shorts, normal shorts might work as well but I have not tried it for myself. 

Notice how your eyes are not immediately drawn to the hips. High waisted shorts also create the illusion of elongated legs which is perfect for people with short legs (such as myself) or are petite. 

Fitbit Flex vs. Jawbone UP

Along with my newly found fitness craze, there was a sudden need for a fitness band. Previously in March, I had obtained a Jawbone UP but ended up returning it because I didn't really have a need for it. But I knew the Flex was coming out, so I waited....until now! (I also bought the UP again but I ended up returning both)

Fitbit Flex - $99.99

Look and Feel: 
Cool thing about the flex is that the actual working part of the Flex is small and removable so that the band colors can be interchangeable with additional bands that you can buy for $29.99. The band is sleek and has a high tech look to it. The band itself feels so comfortable, often times I forgot that I was even wearing it.

In other reviews, many people complained that it was hard to put the band on. I did not find it difficult, the trick is to wiggle the snaps together using your thumb and index finger. When you tap the Fitbit twice, a display will show up the number of dots (up to five) indicates the percentage of steps to reach your goal. For example, two dots means 4000 steps out of 10000 steps has been achieved for the day. Then to put it into sleep mode you have to tap the band repeatedly for about two seconds. This was not too difficult but I did have to do it more than once a few times to get it to work.

Syncing:
The best thing about this fitness band is that it has bluetooth capabilities. So that it can sync automatically to your phone without having to take it off. Downfall is that it is only compatible with phone that has bluetooth 4.0 and higher. This means only iPhone 4s, 5, the newer iPads, and the newer Samsung devices. All of which I had none of those, I have the HTC One. So I synced it with my iMac. Whenever my Mac was on and I was within 20 feet of it would sync automatically every 15 minutes or so. I also went back to the iPhone 5 for a day to test out the Fitbit app that went with it. I felt it looked a little overwhelming too busy looking. Since I use MyFitnessPal, I had no use for the calorie counter in the app. The only thing I was interested in was how many steps I took that day and my sleeping patterns.

Pedometer:
I felt that the pedometer was too sensitive. First of all, when I first brought the band home steps had been recorded the afternoon before I bought the band around 8 pm that night. Then at work I was just leisurely walking around and monitoring the kids at work; I managed to reach 10,000 steps in a short 4 hours. While at the gym after running a mile and then 30 minutes on the elliptical I could barely get 5,000 steps. Just like the UP band the goal amount of steps can be customized.

Water-Resistance: 
I did not take any showers with my band, just for precautionary measures. But I did notice that after working up a sweat in the gym, there was sweat that traveled to the jellybean compartment of the Fitbit. It was coated in sweat, disgusting.

Alarm:
The silent alarm to wake you up is much stronger than the UP's. It shocked me awake every time but of course I would just turn it off and go back to sleep. What I did not like was that the silent alarm is not a smart alarm like in the UP. The alarm goes off just at the time you tell it to (more on this in the UP section). The alarm is indeed silent but the vibration can be felt though out the entire bed so usually it woke up Tuan before it even wakes me up.

Overall:
The Fitbit is relatively awesome but I always felt that it was missing a lot of features that the UP band has. There is only two modes on the band, awake or asleep. The silent alarm is not a smart alarm. Bluetooth syncing is a plus but is not compatible with many phones.

Jawbone UP - $129.99

Look and Feel: 
Undeniably the Jawbone UP's design is sexy. The band is stiff and the band is noticeable but after a while you will become desensitized. The parts of the band runs throughout the entire band so that over-bending it will cause the parts to be damaged (I flipped out when one of my co-workers tried to take it off me and try it on, I thought she was going to break it).

When you press the button on side the indicator shows either a sun or the moon. The both can either be glowing or flashing. Each indication corresponding to different modes. Going back and forth between the modes is fairly simple by a certain amount of taps and holds. I did get confused with all the different tapping and pressing combinations. So I often would put the band into activity mode instead of sleep mode. Then when that happened, sometimes the band would not respond for a few seconds for me to fix change it back.

Syncing:
The UP syncs to any mobile device that is able to download the UP app. Since the band has to be physically taken off and the band is plugged into the headphone jack. I could totally see myself losing the jack cover that belongs to the band one day. Whenever I plugged the band into my phone it would think that it was actual headphones and would stop playing my music out loud. Maybe that just happens with my HTC One, who knows. The app is simple. It shows me what I care about, sleep and steps. There is also a section for caloric intake but I ignore that.

Pedometer: 
I like that the band can be put into activity mode. It is basically a stopwatch to record your activities which can then be seen on steps section in the app. The goal steps are customizable and I had no problems with the pedometer itself.

Water-Resistance:
I did not wear the band into showers. Since there is a removable cover on the band I did not want to risk it. The band did get covered in sweat but that can be easily wiped off. After a while I did notice some fading or color disorientation on the edges around the band. I have the turquoise color so that the edges began to look green. This might be from rubbing against the desk when typing.

Alarm:
The smart alarm is pretty cool. You set the alarm at any time you want and a time interval at which you would want the alarm to go off. So for example if the alarm is at 8:30 and you set it at a 20 minute interval from the time of 8:10 to 8:50 the silent alarm will go off during a period of light sleep. The silent alarm did not feel as strong as the Flex. Sometimes I didn't even realize it was going off (I sleep like a zombie) but Tuan surely did. Also, there is a nap mode. That is if you even remember to switch it to nap mode before you pass out. In the app you can choose how long you want your naps to be so that the silent alarm will wake you up.

Overall:
The UP is pretty sweet, it has four different modes that it can be switched to. Smart alarm is a plus for me. But the band is not bluetooth and seems to be more delicate and prone to breakage in my eyes.

Conclusion:
I might be a bit biased to the UP since I had owned it before. It set my expectations for the Flex to be a bit high. The UP has more features than the Flex. There is more features in the Flex app than the UP. Flex has bluetooth. So in the end I just chose to return both of the devices. They are both are awesome in their own ways but I felt like all I cared about was about how many hours I slept and how many steps I took. Both of which are not that important to me, I know how many hours I slept and if my sleep was good or not. I work out so that I know that I am taking enough steps in my day. The pedometer is more for people who are more sedentary and who do not exercise. The band that I would buy and keep would have the look of the UP but the interchangeability of the Flex. The bluetooth of the Flex but the compatibility of the UP. The different modes of the UP along with its smart alarm. The water-resistance of a swordfish and the durability of titanium... That I would keep.