Happy 4th of July, everyone!!

Whatever you do today, whether you're enjoying a day at the beach, bbq-ing, shopping, or just spending quality time with loved ones or enjoying some much-needed "me" time, I hope you have a wonderful day! Happy Independence Day to all of my American readers.

My Secret Valentine Goodies from Etude House and SkinFood

Happy belated Valentine's!

I know, so very, very late! Things have been a bit hectic on my end but I have lots of upcoming posts, I promise!

This year instead of hosting a Secret Valentine gift exchange like last year and the year before, I participated in Sheila's instead, and guess who turned out to be my Secret Valentine? None other than hostess herself!

I actually didn't know until Valentine's Day, when she told me herself on Twitter. She had sent me two packages and unfortunately the one directly from her got lost somewhere along the way. I think someone lonely just wanted to steal my Secret Valentine, haha.

The package I did receive came from Korea (ebay seller: ZinoPark, ebay store: D.I.O mall)! I'd been curious to try these products from Korean brands Etude House and SkinFood.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!!

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction...The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love speech, 1963

Hello, everybody. =)  This is just a quick post that I wanted to do as I reflect and honor the life and work of a great American.  When we are kids, we learn to celebrate every holiday and its meaning, but as we get older, we (or at least I) tend to think more along the lines of "Yes! Holiday! Long weekend! What should I do on my day off?" and then we get bombarded with "Happy [insert name here] Holiday! Shop our [insert name here] Holiday Sale!" messages, haha.

Hello, 2012!!

Happy belated New Year, everyone!!

It still feels so unreal that it's 2012!  I wonder how long will it take before I get used to saying it and writing it.  To be honest, I did not get to spend a lot of time at the end of 2011 to reflect and re-evaluate, so I'm still mulling things over slowly.  I just wanted to pop in and say hi, and also state that blogging is on my list for 2012.

I know I'm a strange creature, I used to blog and spend a lot of time reading & commenting on blogs, then slowly pulled back so that I could spend more time doing other things.  Perhaps I just like coming full circle.

Without further ado, here are my humble blogging goals for 2012 (almost thought and typed "2011").

Secret Valentine

I love a good surprise, don't you?

This was my second year doing Secret Valentine...wow it's a little trippy knowing that most of us have known each other for that long or longer and that we're doing things a second time around. Not everyone was able to participate but it's all good. I really don't think of SV being a big deal, but just a way to send some love on V Day. Of course we could easily buy ourselves $15+ gifts, but I think it's more fun to surprise someone else and be surprised, don't you agree?

The lovely ladies

♥ Amy
♥ Betty
♥ Diana C.
♥ Edna
♥ Iyah
♥ Jamilla
♥ Jillian
♥ Lulu
♥ May
♥ Melissa
♥ Mona
♥ Sarah
♥ Tammy

The Reveal

Amy's love to Edna

Valentine Survival...With Love

Happy belated Valentine's Day!! Hope your day was either special, fun, sweet, bearable, or no worse than ordinary, haha. At the least, I hope no one made you cry or broke your heart. Or made you feel bleh. Otherwise...I've got the quick cure for your lovesick blues! ;)

2010 Blogger Favorite Times

Happy 2011!!

Yes, I know, I've been completely MIA, I pretty much fell off the blogging wagon. But...in fairness, I did tell you I was taking a break, and now...it's a new year!! And I'm back. =)

I want to start by sharing some of my favorite blogging moments in 2010.

Winter/Spring
Secret Valentine!! Kay and I did a Secret Valentine gift exchange since we had so much fun doing her Secret Santa. The big surprise for me was finding out Kay was my Secret Valentine!

My Secret Valentine

Happy belated Valentine's Day/Lunar New Year/Presidents' Day/whatever-else-you-want-it-to-be!!

I did a Secret Valentines exchange with the help of Kay, much like her Secret Santa because it was so much fun and such a great way to spread blogger love!! ♥ In fact, the girls are mostly from her gift exchange. Thank you to all of the following ladies who participated!

♥ Amy
♥ Betty
♥ Diana C.
♥ Erika
♥ Iyah
♥ Jamilla
♥ Lulu
♥ Kay
♥ Melissa
♥ Mika
♥ Sarah
♥ Songling
♥ Tammy
♥ Tia

And surprise, surprise....guess who my Secret Valentine turned out to be?!

My Secret Santa Blair!!

I was blessed with beautiful blogger babes, and when I say beautiful I do mean inside AND out!! As such, I love meeting up with these gals and doing fun things like Secret Santas! This one was hosted by my dear Kay, and I feel very lucky to participate this year. My Secret Santa turned out to be Blair, she sent me love all the way from Malaysia!!

Blair's goodies!! so cute and girly ♥

Merry Christmas, My Loves!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

First let me start by saying that I'm sorry I've been blogger MIA for the past couple of months, but lots of things have been happening and I have not had reliable internet where I live, boohoo! I'm actually sitting at a Starbucks cafe (the guy serving drinks does not look very happy...he belted out "Caramel Brulee Latte! CARAMEL BRULEE LATTE!!" which made me jump up and as a result, my laptop FELL on the mother$#@! floor...thanks a lot, impatient guy. =/ I know, I know...it sucks to have to work on a holiday but I feel if he just read "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway he might understand and have a little more patience...plus, they're closing in less than an hour anyway! Plus he wasn't even done with my Caramel Brulee Latte, he just wanted to know if I wanted whipped cream...okay okay, end rant.)

Be Dazzling Benefit Cosmetics Holiday Contest on Polyvore

After I saw Mona's dazzling set, I just had to jump onto Polyvore and try playing with it myself. Here's my set for the Benefit Cosmetics Polyvore contest.

The Benefit contest ends tonight! (Midnight, Pacific Standard Time, I believe.) So if you want to enter, better hurry!

I spent way too much time playing with that last night! I'm still new to it but if you're on Polyvore, here's my profile. Are you on Polyvore too? =)

Christmas Wrap Up

It's too cold to do anything but cozy up in bed and blog on my laptop, haha. This Christmas was truly madness...sooo hectic, as much as I love (or loved?) Christmas, I'm glad it's over. It's nice to finally have a break and just relax and reflect on everything. Though I'm still not ready to think about the entire year, I just wanted to think a bit on Christmas-related things.

Favorite Holiday Movies
♥ Bridget Jones's Diary
♥ About A Boy
♥ Serendipity
♥ Elf
♥ Love Actually

Favorite Holiday Songs
♥ "Winter Wonderland" Jason Mraz
♥ "Yule Shoot Your Eye Out" Fall Out Boy
♥ "Merry Christmas, Baby" Otis Redding
♥ "Grown Up Christmas List" Kelly Clarkson
♥ "Angels We Have Heard On High" Christina Aguilera
♥ Mariah Carey songs

I actually have a lot of holiday music...it was my intention to give cds to people but uh, too late (except for Princess Leah). My sister had also bought really cute handmade Christmas cards and I'd wanted to make some too...but the best I could do was make one (it took quite a bit of time).

My sad handmade card and its inspiration...