thoughts and prayers to japan

everyone was shocked by the devastating news on friday, march 11th 2011. it's tragic and saddening to everyone in the world. it's amazing how japan absorbs disaster with admirable calm and fortitude. please pray that family and friends are able to get in touch with one another and give your thoughts to those that were taken by the earthquake and tsunami.

the estimated lost was $180B. please help through your employer matching charity or other legit charity.

shibuya crossing aftershocks.

shibuya crossing goes dark to maintain power reserves. taken by tokyo resident brian scott peterson. (Reblogged from pureaesthetic)

shibuya crossing when i was there a little over a month ago.

kite festival + fashion dupe

austin weather is so unpredictable. i have to check the weather every morning before planning my OOTD making iphone a plus to have. last saturday was austin's anual kite festival. they had competitions, food vendors, and basically people just lay on their blanket or attempt to fly kites. the weather was great, but more wind would be better.

 

it think more than 1k people showed up. we had to park very far cos' they had the parking full sign up. it was pretty empty as we walked past. lesson learned....ignore those signs.

OOTD. hat and shoes from malaysia(love shopping there). top from mng. skirt from japan. purse from longchamp. necklace from dior.

my 2nd fav carnival treat. no.1 fav is churros. yum :P

jumbo corn dog.

love this colorful frog kite.

a giant blue teddy bear kite. it took them a long time to fly it.

 

i was browsing zara website and saw this beautiful embroidered dress which look so similar to the one i bought from malaysia. zara version: $99.

http://static.zara.net/photos//2011/V/0/1/p/2678/045/712/2678045712_1_1_3.jpg?timestamp=1297447307241

 

my version: $12. i love shopping in asia :)

it's friday tomorrow. yippeee...........have a great weekend and happy spring break!

Japan Day 1

travel date: 1/27/2011

long flight from austin->la->narita. one of the things i dislike living in central texas. nevertheless, korean air made it comfortable for us. the flight was pretty empty and we got the whole row to ourselves. we occupied ourselves with the in-flight entertainment (watched 4 movies) and cozied up until we arrived at narita. the food was blah. in my opinion, flights from asia serve better food than from US.

arrived at narita without a single yen on us. good thing we saw a bunch of atm at the airport. grabbed the nex+suica package from jr counter and we were off to tokyo. nex is incredibly comfortable.

we experienced the busyness at tokyo station during rush hour. it's almost impossible to walk across the flow of people. the key is to just keep walking and avoid knocking anyone.

finally, arrived at our hotel. the room is tiny as expected, but it's clean and had a great view. i love the bidet. it's one of the greatest invention ever. wish i could buy one home :)

after showered, we went to ginza. to my surprise, everyone wore black, grey or white. it's not as trendy as i though japan would be. maybe because it's a weekday and i'm only seeing the OL and salarymen getting off from work. it's almost closing time when we got there. they close at 8-9pm? we wondered inside matsuzakaya and saw lots of hime stuffs on the ufufugirls level. i refrained from buying anything since we will be going to hakone and i don't want to increase my luggage weight. finally, had laduree macaroons at mitsukoshi. wanted to get my hands on them ever since my paris trip got cancelled last year. the macaroons and cake were super yummy.

we decided to head back to our hotel since everything was closed and we were very tired. stopped by a convenience store near our hotel to grab some snacks and drinks. curry noodle is the best instant food on the planet.

zzzzzz.................................................

79 cents shoes

dsw had a coupon out last weekend for $5 off anything. also, i had a $10 gift card because dsw screwed up my last order. obviously, i went to the store to pick something. who's going to say no to free money and a new pair of shoes. not me!

i'm on a no shopping mode now since i spent a fortune on my previous trip to asia. 30 pieces of clothing, 4 pairs of shoes, a bunch of skincare + makeup + accessories. it's going to take me awhile before i'm back on shopping mode. so, i was on a hunt to find a pair of shoes for $15 or less at dsw.

this is what i came home with

original price: $70.00

discounted price: $49.94

after 70% discount: $14.98

after $5 coupon & $10 gc: $0.79 (for tax)

after exiting the store: a pair of gorgeous strappy platform bootie

nails from ulta professional: bare it all

ps: asia trip post coming up. still editing the photos

mini haul from sephora and vs

another haul post from sephora and vs

vs is having their semi-annual sale. it's a good time to stock up on your lingerie (not going to show what i got in that department). i got tons of vs body spray and body lotion. they smell really good and they are great as souvenirs and presents. i'm giving them out to my cousins on my coming trip. i also got a nice long sleeve sleep shirt with studded stars.

my nosy cat - mantao

sephora haul is for stellarvixen. i got the korres brightening & anti-aging rose collection rose set and the primer with skincare benefits duo(on sale for beauty insider).

i'm going to asia next week until feb 20th. look out for my travel journals blog entries (if i'm not lazy)

itinerary:

austin - la - tokyo - seoul - kuala lumpur - ipoh - melacca - johor - singapore - kuala lumpur - seoul - la - austin

if you know of a good places to eat/shop/hangout/party in any of these cities, please comment! :)

sharing a pic of mantao sticking his tongue out with mr. reindeer