Belated Birthday Gift and New Toy

Yes, yes, my birthday was over a month ago but I decided to get myself a late birthday gift. I like to treat myself since so far, no one will ever love me like I love me, haha, and I'd rather spoil myself instead of waiting around expecting someone else to do it. =P So after much debate, I gave in and got myself my first DSLR, the Canon EOS Rebel T4i (with 18-135mm EF-S IS STM Lens). Yay!!

(Camera images from Amazon)

N Seoul Tower on Namsan Mountain

Ahh we've come at last to the final post about my trip to Seoul! (Not counting hauls, keke.) This is a continuation of my very long day from my last post. Even though I didn't get to visit a hanok village in Seoul, I did get to see a few traditional houses simply by walking around Jongno.

SM, JYP, Cube and YG Buildings in Seoul

While in Seoul, I was able to check out the locations of SM, JYP, Cube, and YG Entertainment headquarters. I didn't actually go inside (I don't think that's possible unless there's an audition going on) but just visited briefly, like a tourist + fangirl, and took pictures outside, keke.

I'd found directions online, but for some reason can't find them right now. It's just as well as the directions were a little faulty. However you can look up their addresses and map out your route should you ever decide to visit. I do remember that SM was a short subway ride away from JYP, which is literally about a small block away from Cube (like a 1-2 minute walk), and then YG is totally out of the way (in Mapo while the rest are in Gangnam), about another 30-40 minute ride on the subway.

SM Entertainment

서울시 강남구 압구정2동 521
521 Apgujung 2-dong Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Korean Musical, Kpop and Random Hauls in Seoul

While I was in Seoul, I got to watch the Korean production of the Broadway musical, "Catch Me If You Can" ("?? ? ?? ? ?"), starring Key from SHINee. *squeals* Okay okay, admittedly Key's not one of my favorites from my favorite group, but it was still cool that I could watch him perform live. Basically, see him in person and hear him sing live!

The musical took place at Blue Square, Samsung Card Hall, in Hannam-dong, Seoul.

Innisfree Haul from Myeongdong

Here is my first skincare haul from Myeongdong, Seoul! I have more but think it would be too much for one post, keke. Innisfree is a natural Korean skincare brand. I had heard of the brand before but never tried any of their products, nor was I previously aware that it was a natural brand so of course I was intrigued and wanted to try their products.

I promise it had nothing to do with Lee Minho (of Boys Over Flowers kdrama fame) being the Innisfree poster boy. (Sadly, I did not see any Innisfree posters of him or else I would have asked for one, keke! All I saw were Yoona promos.)

eco-friendly Lee Minho

Japanese Kit Kats and Narita Airport Pics

Okay, here's really the last of my Tokyo trip pics. ^_^

It was a bit rainy before I left. Not heavy storms but just a light drizzle. It seems a bit odd at first to see so many people using their umbrellas but after walking around a bit, I realized you have to or else eventually you do start to get very wet and your clothes will start to soak too. What I like about Tokyo (and Seoul too) is that so many people walk in the rain and so you always see a parade of colorful umbrellas (in the U.S./LA/SoCal, people like me are always driving and black is the preferred umbrella color, haha).

view from my hotel room

Weekend Getaway in San Francisco - Day 2

Waking up in SF was something like this...

Korilakkuma, my "comfort" item keke

SF, I've Missed You

Hiyee!! Just wanted to post quickly to say hello 'cause I haven't blogged in a bit. I'm actually in SF for the weekend, woot woot! Here's a little collage of pics I took on my iPhone yesterday. Will post more and then do a longer update once I'm back home. <3 xoxo!!

P.S. I got bangs again (just on Tuesday), keke.

Late Summer Lusts at Victoria's Secret

Ahhhhh!! This always happens to me, hehe, I want something too late. =( A friend showed me her Victoria's Secret body mist the other weekend, and although I didn't love it I did like it but turns out it's all sold out in stores around me. Sadface.

Victoria's Secret Limited Edition Bombshell Summer Scent

No Witty Title...Just My Handwriting Meme

I got tagged to do this meme by my dear Kay!! I don't have a nice intro like hers or Diana C.'s...but like them, I also enjoy seeing what people's handwriting looks like. I think it's just that much more personal and these days, it's pretty rare considering we pretty much communicate electronically via text, email, fb, gchat, etc. And yes, I am sentimental enough to keep all cards and notes, including notes all the way back from middle school.

About my handwriting...oh boy, where to start? I never had nice penmanship, I wrote chicken scratch as a kid and always thought it was the context and not the presentation of my writing, hahaha, what an idealist! Obviously that changed over the years and I basically adapted my handwriting to that of a friend whose penmanship I thought looked nice. So now I have sloppy Asian girl handwriting, kekekeke.

Belated Winter Gear and Rainy Weekend

This might seem silly to post as it's almost spring and Cali winters are pretty bipolar (sometimes it's in the 80+ degrees, haha), but I love winter clothing. Luckily it rained and has been somewhat cloudy and chilly and breezy lately, yay! But...major dislike for being sick and stuck inside for the entire weekend. =(

Anyway this post is pretty random as I'm still waiting for a few gals to send me pics of their Secret Valentine packages until I can post that, so please forgive me.

My fav thing about January is hitting up all the sales, especially if you go right around New Year's. I picked up this coat at Express for 40% off. (I want to say it was originally about $200 so I got it for about $120.)

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! ;)

Happy Lunar New Year!!

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!! Lucky year of the wabbit...or cat if you're Vietnamese! Did you celebrate? To tell you the truth, I didn't really. haha Fail for one of my New Year's Resolutions, right? Well, I did take Friday off, I saw my family last week and will probably see them again later this week, and I went to eat in Little Saigon because I was craving Vietnamese food.

By the way, I am hooked on the Instagram app! Instant filters...so dope! I only wish for more filters hehe. The pics below are from Friday, shared on my Instagram.

I was craving for bánh bèo...freshly steamed rice cakes with shrimp and mung bean paste, a childhood fav of mine...

Sunday Fun Day and Inglot Cosmetics

Rainy Sunday this week but last Sunday was such a beautiful day, I had to take advantage of it and go with the flow. I met up with a friend at The Camp in Costa Mesa for lunch at Native Foods, a vegan cafe (yup, my vegetarian days are going so well I'm actually doing twice a week now).

Venomous Villains Tease and A Piece of Me in October 2010

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Who's the baddest b*tch of them all?! muhahahahaha!

MAC-ing and Random Little Things...

Ahhh I feel like summer's rushing to an end, must savor every last bit of it!! (You must know that summer is my favorite season!)

I really want to comment back to a lot of your comments, sorry it's taking me some time to do so! Please don't think I'm being a snob! 죄송합니다! *bows*

I got a new camera! (I gave my old one to my sister since hers was stolen.)

Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS

New Toy and a Piece of Me in August 2010

In true Diana fashion, I bought myself a gift for my birthday. =)

A little back story...it occurred to me a few weeks ago that it'd be really fun to have a "polaroid" camera. I was hanging out at Starbucks with a good friend who I hadn't seen in a while (we spent 12 hours together just happily chatting away! we've been friends for 11 years), and of course I wanted to have a picture of us, but it felt a bit out of place to pull out my digital camera as the coffee shop was closing. (Do you know what I mean? Or I am the only one who sometimes feels shy and awkward?) Anyways, I just thought it would have been perfect to have a "polaroid" camera, something not too serious and yet also we'd get a great one-of-a-kind "remember when?" picture to cherish for years to come. =) (Plus I like the washed out colors that give it even more of the old school/back-in-the-day/retro look, hehe.)

Okay enough rambling...after a quick search online, I decided I reallllllly wanted this:

Fujifilm Instax Mini 25 Pink

Happy Turkey/Tofurkey Day!!

Guess who's back?! Did you even notice I was gone?? Well, I haven't had internet in the past couple of weeks, wahhhh!! (Just on my iPhone, not good enough for blogging!)

So I have lots of posts to catch up on, tons of reading to do...but, I just wanted to do a quick one to wish you all an early Happy Thanksgiving!! Happy Turkey Day and Happy Tofurkey Day to the vegetarians/vegans, and Happy Turducken Day and Fried Turkey Day, yadda yadda yadda!

Anyways, I leave you with this random story...

Tell me if you recognize the guy in this pic...because I didn't! Not at first. =)

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? =)

*Oink Oink* I Love to Eat!!

Oh-so-late but I went to the L.A. County Fair a few weeks ago, at the beginning of October.

The sky was very cloudy and totally overcast, but somehow when we got to the fair, it was very hot! Though it doesn't look it in this pic.