A Golden Friday

It's Friday, and let's face it: This calls for a bit of gold!  Well, maybe lots of it.  ^_^

Outside Club Monaco

I've always admired the beautiful photos of the City of Lights found in Paris in Four Months, so taking inspiration from the lovely blogger, Carin, I took my (*ahem* brother's) DSLR camera for a spin outside the shop windows of Boston.  It's almost Christmas, so all the lovely windows are almost glittering with their beautiful decorations!  This haphazard photo of golden kitchenware is probably one of my favorites.  I'm pretty sure Midas would have used these in his kitchen.

Burberry's Festive Gift Balloons

And let's not forget the golden windows of Burberry.  I wouldn't mind having one of those balloons drop down on my doorstep with a prettily wrapped gift attached.  I love those bags!  I'm probably going to be taking my own Burberry bag with me on my next trip to Paris...  Yup, you heard right!  I'm going to Paris in the Spring!  How's that for a Golden Friday!  ^_^

Being Thankful

I absolutely love Thanksgiving.  For me, it's a moment every year on the fourth week of November where you are just simply thankful for everything.  Your friends, family, health, and life among other things.  Like most things in life, there are downsides too, such as getting together with family members that just make you crazy.  I think the most important thing is trying to make the best out of every situation.

My grandfather passed away recently, and because of it, I've had to cancel my trip to Paris, so I could stay for the funeral.  Trust me when I say that it has been difficult, but the silver lining in the cloud is that my grandfather isn't in any pain, and Paris will always be waiting for me.

I like to read other people's blogs (more so than updating my own, it seems... ^_^; ), and I see these amazing photographs and achievements that they post everyday.  However, what they don't usually say is how hard it was to get there (sometimes, literally).  I'm sure there were struggles and perhaps a few tears along the way, but sticking to what they like doing, I think, is what pulled them through.

With that said (and while New Year's resolutions are a few months away), I am going to try to update my blog more often.  I do so enjoy writing, and while posting outfit pictures are fun, it can be a bit time consuming, but at least I have Instagram (and Twitter) now!  I am still such a noob at using it though, so please bear with me.

I know everyone has been posting links up for good deals with shopping for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so I won't bore you all with another list.  I will, however, put up a list of purchases that I've made thus far.  I bought everything online, because I really wanted to avoid the crowds this year.

The first thing on my list was this Eric Bompard Classic V neck pullover in navy blue.  I found out about it after reading Parisian Chic, and when I saw that it was on sale online, I immediately grabbed it.  Don't get me wrong: this 100% cashmere sweater is still expensive, but I was pleasantly surprised at the 20% discount that was offered.  The original price was $295, and after the discount, it came out to $236.  However, at checkout, it came out to $196, I think, because it's supposed to be 20% off the price in euros.  Plus shipping, I think, I paid $213.  The sale is still good until December 2nd, so there's still time to pick it up if anyone's interested.

When I saw that ASOS was having a Black Friday deal as well, I went to check out any tops that interested me, and my eyes immediately honed onto this ASOS Top with Pearl Grid Embellished Armour.  It was awesome!  I usually dress pretty simply, but I just couldn't get enough of this sweater.  It completely reminded me of the Balmain Fall/Winter 2012 collection with all its opulence and luxury.  I immediately grabbed it before it was all sold out, and sell out it did just a few hours after I grabbed it.

This was more of an impulse buy for me.  I really wanted a military inspired coat to wear, and I saw this coat at Topshop that met my needs.  It's aptly called the Military Piped Girly Coat.  There's no Black Friday coupon code offered, but there was a 10% student discount that I found online (and no, I'm not a student, but, hey, they don't know that. ^_^).  I'm already planning on returning it, because I have more coats than I really need, but we'll see how much I like it when it gets here.

There's also one last thing that I bought.  It's small, but it was a big splurge for myself.  Hint: I bought it to remind myself to never stop loving.  I will reveal all later.  Happy shopping everyone!

Update - 11/26/2012:

I know I wrote about a similar dress like this a while ago here, but I wasn't happy with the body conscious style of the dress, so I looked for another version, and I found it at Nasty Gal.  This version is much more forgiving, and the dress flows over your curves.  I wouldn't recommend it for tall people though.  Even for a petite person, such as myself, I found it a bit short.  There was a purple and white version that I bought already with the black lace.  I'm buying this one as well.  It's called the Tied Crochet Dress - Black.  Everything is 25% off today for Cyber Monday, so get it while there are still some sizes left over!

To be completely honest, I had no intention of buying this dress.  I first saw this Herve Leger dress on Net-A-Porter for $625 (down from $1250).  I was tempted, but I didn't buy it.  Then, I saw the same dress on Shopbop for the same price, but they were having a 25% deal for items over $500.  The price came down to around $470.  I couldn't resist, so I just bought a small size just to see how it'll fit.  I'll probably end up returning it later.

A Photo Study

Since I'll be traveling to Paris in the fall, I figure I'll be spending the majority of my time in museums, so I've decided to take my (*ahem* brother's) DSLR camera for a spin, and to get a feel of how heavy it would be to carry it.  I've realized two things: 1) I don't have any type of upper body strength, and 2) I'm definitely never going to be a professional photographer.  I love how the camera captures the details in some of these artworks, but I find that I don't really like the pictures I take from far away.  Here's a couple of shots that I particularly like, but I'm still debating on whether or not I should take it.  Hm...

Countdown to V-Day: 1 Day

For all those guys out there, roses on Valentine's is a must.  Personally, I love the classic red roses.  For anyone who is a bit behind on buying their flowers, my local Whole Foods is offering two dozen roses for just $20 a bouquet.

I ended up buying one bouquet for my mom, one for me, and one for my brother's girlfriend.  Yes, my brother's girlfriend.  Yes, my brother is an idiot.

This is the last and final day to prepare for the big day, and I think the most important tip I can give everyone is that you need confidence in yourself. Models on the runway can be wearing the most ridiculous outfits, but they will still look confident, poised, and ultimately beautiful because of the confidence they exude.  The key to being beautiful is to find that balance of a confident attitude but not be overly snobby about it.  Believe that you are the most beautiful person in the world (both physically and emotionally), and you will know that you are beautiful.

My Lucky Day

I feel so lucky today!  Although it didn't feel like it this morning, my day got better as it went along.  Here's what happened:

I almost didn't get a chance to go shopping today, but when I finally managed to get my T (aka train or subway, as us Bostians would like to call it) pass, I quickly rushed to the subway station.  The train basically immediately pulled right in front of me as I paid my fare.  If that wasn't enough, when I got to the mall, I snagged a shirt and this pearl necklace (shown on the left).  I went to pay for my purchase, and the price came out to be significantly lower than what I thought it was going to be.  I didn't think anything about it at the time, because I thought it might be a sale or something, but when I checked the receipt, it looks like the sales girl completely forgot to ring up my necklace purchase!  I was surprised the alarm didn't go off or something.  Oh well.  ^_^;

The second thing that happened to me was when I went shopping at Gap.  I was just browsing though their shirt collection when I saw a picture frame drop down not 5 feet in front of me.  The wood from the frame cracked and splintered in different places, but I was completely fine.  A sales rep came out from behind the counter to ask if I was fine, and I just smiled and said I was alright.  I left the store after that.

Later I went to T.J Maxx, and I found this adorable white lace vest (shown on the left).  It reminded me so much of Jean's (from Extra Petite) lace vest that I decided to snatch it up and try to style it my way.  See how Jean styled it here.  It was the last size small that they had as well.  I also saw a Prada dress that was marked down in my local T.J Maxx.  I really need to start shopping here more often.  ^_^

Aiming for a Green Thumb via Aloe Vera

For a change of pace, I've decided to buy an Aloe Vera plant to grow at home.  This is basically the first plant that I have ever personally taken care of, so we'll see if I have a green or black thumb.  From what I've heard, it's a relatively easy plant to take care of.  It is similar to a cactus, since it doesn't need a lot of watering.  It has a lot of medicinal properties, as it is used to heal burns, rashes, cuts, etc.

I bought my Aloe Vera plant from my local Home Depot for around $5 (including tax).  It's a lot smaller than the stock photo above, so I guess that's why it's a bit less in price than the one shown here.  According to the little thing that they stick in the soil (I have no idea what it's called), it looks like I need to water it weekly, fertilize it after every fourth watering, and place it in bright, filtered light, and warm weather (50-90 F).

Since it's winter here, the warm weather part might be a bit hard to accomplish, since my room basically feels like an ice cube most of the time.  I'll try putting it under florescent light for right now and see how that goes.  How do I even fertilize a plant?  Looks like I need to do some research.  Wish me luck!  (I'll probably need it.)