Quarter-life Birthday Bash!

Whoo hoo! I made it through my quarter-life birthday! It was awesome and I do admit I feel no different! I got some great things for my birthday so I'll have more things to review.. yay!

I had an AMAZING meal at Buddakan in Philadelphia (the original!) I would definitely recommend you check out this restaurant if you are ever in the area. Great atmosphere and exceptional food! We had 2 appetizers and we each got an entree + shared a bottle of sake. Good times! :)

I'm ready to eat!! Kobe satay + tempura, 1st appetizer!

Calamari salad, so yummy! It was HUGE!

The duck was amazing! Probably the best dish.. hard to say, either that or the chops!

YAY sparkling cake! Who doesn't love that!

Look how pretty they cut up my cake and placed it with ice cream and a fortune cookie!

My awesome friends! Love them!!

I had another bday celebration in the DC area so I'll post about that later in the week :) Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!! Happy Birthday to the U.S. as well :)

The Perfect Blow Out

I have previously been on a mission to perfect curling my hair. I know it seems a little silly, but whenever I see girls with such pretty easy curls/waves, I wish my hair could be like that! Although, not quite there, plus I'm pretty lazy with taking the extra effort to curl my hair, but you have to admit putting a pretty bow headband and you're on the go..SO much easier! I recently read in Glamour magazine, an article about "how to get a $50 blow-out" and I found a video on their website of this hair how-to. If you follow these steps, you get a ton of volume! I've had one good go and one not so good... but I figure I can def. make this work. I just wish my hair would grow faster!!

I would embed the video but I'm not HTML literate enough too, so please click the link to view the video :)

I think this is a good video to modify from. It does take a good amount of time though. I really like it when they let down her hair from the clips and the curls from that. I actually don't think you should do all that work and then tease it out!

I blow dry in sections and curl up 2-inch sections and secure with a clip. Then I wait for 10-15 minutes, blow dry with the diffuser for a little bit and then let my hair down from the clips. I re-curl some of the sections with my curling iron.. and ta da! done! I like this because it gives you a lot of volume!

Anti-Aging.....Already?

Since my birthday is upcoming, I've been getting crazy about anti-aging stuff! Call it crazy, maybe it is a quarter-life crisis, but I want to keep my skin looking flawless and ageless. You've got to start taking care of your skin as early as possible before anything starts happening!

Aging is a natural process, which starts in our mid 20s. Collagen production slows down, regeneration of our skin cells becomes slower, the elastin in our skin is decreased. These changes which happen slowly, will lead to fine wrinkles. Also factors such a smoking, sun exposure, and even sleep position will also contribute to aging.

1. SMOKING - we all know its bad for you, not only your lungs but your skin as well!
"Research shows that a person who smokes 10 or more cigarettes a day for a minimum of 10 years is statistically more likely to develop deeply wrinkled, leathery skin than a nonsmoker. It also has been shown that people who smoke for a number of years tend to develop an unhealthy yellowish hue to their complexion. Additionally, a study conducted in 2002 showed that facial wrinkling, while not yet visible, can be seen under a microscope in smokers as young as 20." Now with that kind of research, do you really want to be smoking?


2. SUN EXPOSURE - SPF 30 minimally is SO important for your skin. Not only does the sun increase your chance for skin cancer, but the UV exposure from the sun also breaks down collagen and elastin that helps keep our skin firm and healthy looking. UV exposure creates free radicals that cause havoc to your skin causing wrinkles, leathery appearance, pigment changes and age spots. Make sure you wear SPF every time you leave the house, even a few minutes of UV can add up & don't forget to reapply especially if you're outdoors a lot!

3. SLEEP POSITION - Surprisingly, you may be sleeping your way to wrinkles! depending on how you sleep. The best position to sleep is on your back with your face up. If you sleep on your side with your face laying on the side of your pillow, you can develop wrinkles by your eyes, cheeks and chin. If you sleep with your face down on the pillow, wrinkles can develop on your forehead. I realize it may be difficult for you to change the position that you sleep in, so to minimize the wrinkles, use a silk pillow with natural feathers so it lessens the amount of crease of your skin. They even have special pillows for this! I don't know if its worth the $58 for the pillow but the cheaper alternative would be to get a silk pillow case :)

Source: skincarephysicians.com, niapublications.com,

Zushi Puzzle Yum!

Since boards are now over, I'm back to "normal" life... which for me right now is just working and going home and thinking of new things to do! Which actually turn out to be just catching up on my t.v. shows and trying to find ways to stay active (but not really b/c I only went to the gym for a week!) But I'm trying to keep it interesting. My cousin is gonna teach me how to sew. Our first project is a skirt, so I'll keep you updated on that one.

Recently, I went to Zushi Puzzle in S.F. It was so delicious! We had a wide array of rolls and some sashimi. I am not a huge fan of sashimi but I'm learning to enjoy it more. The raw scallop was espeically good! I was so surprised that I liked it. I was never huge on eating raw fish but I'm def more open to try now that I have been exposed. Even better, was a maki roll we had, whcih was described as the "best make roll EVER" by the waitress made with some special seaweed paper from Japan..which I will agree it was the BEST i've ever tried (but also my first maki roll, usually only eat rolls!) I would DEF recommend this restaurant, def go out and try it but make reservations first b/c the wait can be long!


credit: yelp

New Swimsuit!

So on one of my mornings off, I went shopping, which is bad b/c I was only there to return a few items but I came back with more! I was browsing through the racks at Marshalls and I saw this cute bandeau type bathing suit....for only $10!! I liked the fact it was more colorful than most of my suits and for price, you can't beat that! The suit was out of the Jessica Simpson line. I never really noticed much of her stuff before. This one was showcased in her 2008 runway show. Now I need to get to the beach to wear it!

I also got these pair of nine west sandals... but deciding on whether or not I REALLY need them... :P

Any new buys for you guys lately?

Mary Kate at Matthew Williamson H&M Launch

Mary Kate is looking SO good at the Matthew Williamon H&M launch in New York. She looks so much more fresh faced than her usual grunge self..but still still keeping her edge. I love how she gathered the hair out of her face. The pop of color from her purple jacket is great and she accessorizes with a studded belt. I love how she makes the basic little black dress so not boring! She inspired me to finally go back to writing in my blog (sorry!)

credit: gossip girls.net

Zipper Me Up!

Hello all! I'm taking a mini break to write about my new online purchase. Armani Exchange is having a great sale, extra 20% off sale items + 15% off with code: AXSTUDENT and free shipping with code: SHIPAX9. Plus free returns if you don't like it... how much better can that get!??! Which is of course why I made a purchase. I got this dress in a dark purple color for only $30!. I wasn't sure about the zipper in the front, but I loved the ruffles and the cross back so its a keeper! Plus since we're going to L.A. and Vegas after boards, it should def come in handy! I also love this hot pink skirt, but its out of my size :( boo! I love finding good deals online :) and esp new dresses!

Oscar Red Carpet Glamness

I absolutely adore red carpet events! Everyone is dressed to their best in the most gorgeous gowns.

My favorite red carpet dresses of the night were Marisa Tomei in Atelier Versace and Anne Hathaway in Armani Privé. But when I saw pictures of Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry presenting awards, they looked so astonishing, the hair, makeup and jewelery, flawless!, like the Oscar veterans they are :)

I love the glamorous train!

Slumdog Millionare, the big winner of the night.
Fredia Pinto has some serious fashion sense.
I've been loving EVERYTHING she has been wearing and the same goes with this dress!
Natalie Portman looks so sophisticated...great color!

Vanessa Hudgens always looks so great.
I love the red lips and the detailed flowers on her Marchesa dress.
Although I wouldn't have guessed this was a Marchesa dress from first glance. I'm not sure if I'm in love with the material that the dress is made of although Vanessa does look beautiful in it and its perfectly age appropriate for her.

I feel like we've seen this so many times from Angelina.
She looks great but if only she would switch up sometimes!

I'm not a fan of the dress, I kinda feel like little Miley is playing dress up as a Disney princess in this dress.

I'm sorry I have not been blogging for a while. I probably won't be until after my boards exam is over (March 18th!!!) and then all I will probably do IS BLOG!

But I couldn't NOT blog about my favorite looks of the oscar night.
I loveeeeeee glamorous gowns! Who was your favorite look of the night?