Celebration of Life {& Love}

There was a very special reason to celebrate. Papa (grandfather on my husband’s side) turned 92 years old this past weekend.



Ninety-two years and counting – 92 years – what a milestone?!



What is it like to live decade after decade after decade and witness all the changes in the world in the past 92 years?



…from world war after world war to economic crisis after economic crisis…



…the up and down times…



…from the births of his own children / grandchildren to the deaths of his beloved ones…



The most surprising part – he is still driving by himself and overall in good health. Amazing, isn’t it. That is such a blessing. He lives a very enriched life and is surrounded by so much love and support from his children and grandchildren.





My own grandparents (both paternal and maternal) passed away even before I graduated from high school but I still have many beautiful memories about them. My paternal grandparents were of Chinese ancestors and we lived in the same house as I was growing up in Bangkok. My grandpa and I were not close and somehow I felt that he favored my brother because he was a boy (like most Chinese families where they have prefer boys over girls).

I remember my grandpa as a very tall, tanned and thin Chinese man who loved to visit Chinatown in the afternoon. He always came home with some weird goodies like pork stomach (which I couldn’t stand its odor up to these days). He liked to sit by the door, rolled his cigar, read his Chinese book and relaxed. With my grandma, I had a fairly strong attachment to her, we were very close because she spent a great amount of time watching me while my parents were at work. She was a great cook and very kind, but could be very strict and firm at the same time.




I would love for my daughter to spend more time with both sets of grandparents. At the moment, it is impossible for my girl to spend more time with my parents because we live in different country on different continents, but one day I hope she gets to know and learn more about them and the place I was born and grew up / the language and the culture. I strongly believe that kids can learn some important lessons and values from grandparents and develop a very special bond. There are certain things in life that we, parents, can’t give or teach them like the way grandparents can.

**Just a quick reminder, LoveMode Giveaway ends at midnight tomorrow (CST). Scroll down to enter**

I had SO much fun reading comments from my previous post, some of you ladies cracked me up big time and they were beyond true.(By the way, my real name is not "Halen", good guess Bessie! LOL) I think I may start a theme "Ouch! Punch me (or you) in the face" kind of post every week to bring up some controversial topics / dark sides of blogsphere. I am sick and tired of doing and reading outfit posts 5 days a week. What do ya think?

How real can you be in the blogging world?

{Warning: text-heavy}

I find this joy in unleashing my inner thoughts and what I think about blogsphere. You know I have a lot to say about people and blogs after a year of blogging.....I really learn some interesting facts.

Today's subject is about "Being Real".

How many of us are willing to unveil "how we really feel", "who we really are" and "what is really going through our mind"?

Heck! Those are some tough questions that I can't even answer.

As a non-professional blogger, I do set my limits as to what I feel comfortable sharing with you and the world. First off, I do not have enough courage to put my bare naked face without "any" makeup up on this blog. Next up, I am not willing to reveal my real name / where I live / what profession I have or even pets' names, and last but not least you are not going to see the full faced pictures of my family members (husband/daughter and etc.) at the moment. I have a safety concern about revealing personal data to the whole wide world but one thing you can rest assured - all the feelings I share here with you come from my heart and are as real as they can be. They reflect who I really am as a person.

I have a mixed feeling about "being real" particularly about bloggers' appearance: how they dress/how they look here. To me, blogging is like a chanel of one's expression and freedom of speech.

Of course, I do not look all glammed with full makeup like in the photos shown on this blog 7 days a week in real life. I am an average woman, a mom, a career woman, a maid at home and a very busy person trying to juggle 100 things in one day but at least for this blog I want to look pretty in the photos.

Does that mean I am fake and shallow?

Do I have to show my bare face, freckles, sun spots, broken veins and wrinkles to prove that I am oh-so-real?

You know it is funny. People will judge you whether you are being secretive or revealing too much information. Let's admit it, we judge..some do more than another.

There are bloggers who buy or wear clothes just for blog photos, but do not wear those clothes in real life. Does that sound a bit extreme? "Yes", but it is not my business. Whatever reason they do that for, it is their life..their money. Are they fake for wearing what they don't normally wear in real life? In my opinion, no. Like I said, this is a channel if expression. They express what they want to wear in their world. At the end, it is someone else's blog, not mine. If I don't like, I just don't read.

As far as my clothes / bags / shoes you see here, I bought them because they reflect "my style" and I like them. I am not a style expert nor a wannabe fashion blogger. I show you what I like and what I wear. If you have read my blog long enough, you know I am not a type of person who buys what others buy. I have rather a strong preference of style particularly feminine and edgy clothing. I do not have all the fabulous new and hot-now pieces to share because my shopping spree goes through phases. At some point you will see a full episode of outfit posts. Then no clothes related posts for a few weeks. I do not have a generous budget to buy clothes/bags/shoes just for blog photos that I can't wear in real life.

To sum things up, I am not sure if I am being "fake" by anyone's standard but I am happy with the line I drew between blog world and real world.

Now tell me - how real can you be?

In my future post, how about annoying people in the blogsphere? Let's see how many more followers I will lose :D

Perfectly Purple & Small Belt Galore

{Dress and Shoes purchased from Bangkok / Belt: Forever21}

I recently took the time and forced myself to clean my messy little closet. Upon cleaning, I stumbled onto a few dresses I haven't even worn. I guess I am still suffering a mild case of clothes hoarder. I even bought this same dress in two different colors? Don't ask me why. Now it is time to stop shopping and use what I have (yeah right, how many times I said that?)

My small collection of belts over years, I think I have enough.

{Purple shoes}

Tomorrow's topic will talk about "How real/fake can you be in blogsphere?"

Don't forget to enter LoveMode Giveaway if you haven't done so in a previous post :)

Giveaway {e-Gift Certificate from LoveMode}~**

As promised yesterday, LoveMode Giveaway is here. LoveMode is kindly offering one of you lucky ducks a $25 Gift Certificate to shop at their online store. Juniors or seniors, young or older, small or big girls/ladies...there is something for everyone.

You asked: "What can you buy with $25 considering inflation these days?"
I answered: "One or even two items"

Here are some of my personal choices for Fall in case you don't know what to get.

{Basic Must-Have}

{Sassy attitude}

{Cute and chic - these 3 dresses are in Clearance section where you buy one get one free!}

How to join

This giveaway is opened to U.S. readers only and will end at midnight (CST) on 10/1/11. Please come back to see an announcement on 10/3. One person can earn up to 4 points.

Mandatory

*Follow 52NewDays blog via Google Friends Connect (1 point)

Optional

*Visit LoveMode.com and let me know what you would get if you win (1 point)

*Tweet this giveaway (1 point)

*Add a banner to your sidebar or blog about this giveaway (1 point)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

LoveMode: Black Dotted Lace Sleeve Top & "Tweet me"

{Top: courtesy of LoveMode}

{Shorts and Shoes: purchased from Bangkok}

Earlier last week, I was contacted by Lovemode.com if I would be interested in picking an item from their online store to share wit you. Upon a small investigation to find out who they were and browsed through their site, my response was "yes". In short, Lovemode is a Trendy, cute and affordable juniors clothing company based in the U.S., they also have a sister's site called Kiki's Fashions which offer trendy "maternity" clothes. Why didn't I learn about their site when I was pregnant?!?!

Being smaller than average women can be really hard to find clothes that fit. Undoubtedly, my main shopping source is therefore at junior department. Not that I want to look underage but Junior clothing fit better in many cases. I have been pretty lucky about finding items for both work and causal days from that department, they do have some amazing finds.

There were a few pieces that I had in mind but ended up with this black top with dotted details on the sleeves since I thought it seemed very versatile and unique.

My thoughts

Price and Quality:

Similar to Forever 21. Quality is good for its price. I wish its fabric was not this sheer but it may be designed to look this way for a reason. I can't really judge if other items are better or worse in terms of quality. Another alternative to Forever21 if you like to shop around this price range. They also have a lot of sexy clubbing wears for stylish social butterflies. Boy, their models are so busty, I am jealous!!

Sizing:

the smallest size is "S" and the largest size available is "L". Sizings for each item are varied so be sure to pay close attention to their sizing chart. Some "small" runs bigger or small than another.

LoveMode is offering a gift certificate to one of my fellow bloggers and 52NewDays' readers. Giveaway detail is coming up tomorrow (Tuesday 9/27) - please stay tuned :D

Disclaimer: the top shown above was sent to me exclusively for a review purpose. My opinions/thoughts were of my own and weren't influenced by the company sponsoring such item.

On another note, has someone noticed a banner on the left? That's right, I finally ventured into Twitter!!! Still try yo figure out how to do things there, please feel free to add.

Octoblast~*

October + Blast = a month long filled with fun fall acitivities.

Autumn officially begins today in the United States of America…yes TODAY, folks. I could feel cool and breezy wind this morning when I opened a garage. Better than a heat blast!

Anyway, next week is the last week of September. Can you BELIEVE it?? Once we hit October, time will fly even faster. We are talking about Christmas shopping in about a month it two depending how early you want to start. For our little family, we are scheduled to do so many fun activities so I thought I shared our fun-filled agenda with you.

We will kick off the month with my husband's High School Reunion at a hip boutique hotel in downtown. I am quite excited about this event as I will get to glam up - that's right. Normally, the only big annual night event is my Company Christmas Party in December so this reunion gives us parents who rarely get to leave the house at night in almost three years a chance to go PARTAY!!!

Pumpkin Patch Photoshoot - it has become our tradition to take our little one to a church by my work where they set up a pumpkin patch and sell pumpkins for decorations. I am equipped wit a camera and ready to snap a bunch of pictures.

Balloon Festival - we made it in 2009 the year my daughter was born but failed last year. It launches fairly early in the morning like 7am!!! It was an amazing sight and seen to see all the colorful bolloons filling up the blue sky. We will make an attempt to get there bright and early this year. I think our daughter will have a blast since she is older now.

Last but not least, there are also my Company Picnic, two Birthdays celebration and Halloween.

{Moi in my Dark Lady Halloween costume last year}

Let's the fun begin~*

*~What are you looking forward to in October?~*

City Look: Working Woman Version

{Top: Zara / Blazer and shoes: from Bangkok / Pants: Express - "the Columnist", Bag: Dior Panarea}

Simplicity at its best appears to be a perfect description for this outfit. Less is more proves to be true in many cases when it comes to fashion and everything else in our lives. Dated back to December of last year, I was determined to add more colorful outfits to my dark and dull wardrobe. By far I think I have successfully accomplished that particular mission.

Now that Fall is near, I find myself falling in love with black and neutral tones once again. This is what I wore to work yesterday.

On an unrelated note, I just wanted to thank you ladies so much for sharing your personal experience in my last post. It is wonderful to hear how each of you manage your time between your blog life and real life :)

Living outside the blog~*

I am going to go off topic a bit to give you a break from my outfit post attack episode. Let’s get your mind off lace, harem pants and leather skirt, and talk about life and blog.



Fellow bloggers, is there such things as blogging too much? Do you feel that you live your life around your blog “sometimes”? Can you go without blogging for a week or even a day? Do you feel obligated to blog? Have you lost motivations? How do you keep blogging?




Strange but true, blogging has become a part of my life more than I ever imagined or wanted it to be. Each one of us started up our blog journey for many different reasons. Some use it as a fashion runway to fulfill their fashionista side. Some use it to showcase their talents in makeup, cooking, DIY projects. Some use it as a dairy. I started out this blog as an outlet or an escape from a 24 hours mommy life after my daughter turned 18 months. Now my little blog has turned into..(I had to think about this for a few seconds as what words would best describe my blog)…a channel of my thoughts and expressions. That’s it!! Voila!! My channel of thoughts and expressions.




I love expressing myself thought writing/typing. I am not a great speaker if that makes sense. With writing, I am able to put and organize my thoughts and emotions into words. In today’s world, let's admit it that life is hectic - work, work, work, social activities, family activities and that leaves us very little time to slow down, sit down and think profoundly and soundly. I found that blogging is a wonderful channel to translate your ideas....express our thoughts and release positive creativities while interacting with like minded people. Blogging continues to amaze me as I continue to discover many forgotten / surprising / likes / dislikes / facts about myself, things and people around me.


{Photo from last year}

Blogging is so much fun and can be extremely addictive. The most posts I have ever done in one week might be 6 at one time but that is quite rare. My post frequency used to be very sporadic and I posted as little as one or two times a week in the past. Last year was quite a rollercoaster because I was so busy with mommy duties and couldn't spend as much time for this blog as I wish. Until recently that I have more time and thoughts to share, I get to blogt 4 – 5 times a week. My blogging activities are strictly at night after I put my daughter in bed. I know there are bloggers who blog 6-7 days on most weeks, how can you do that?!


One big question popped in my head awhile back. When you blog so frequently, how can you separate blogging from interfering your real life activities? How can you "not" think about blog when you do not blog?

This got me thinking in the past few weeks that perhaps I needed to take a step back from blogging and find a good balance. Blogging is like work in many ways depending on your blogging purposes. At first, you blog just for the fun of it and at some point you feel obligated to blog because you assume people await to read your posts. Once your blog gains more traffic, it drives you to grow more and more readership. If you want your blog to be successful, it equals more time and effort. It is important to interact and comment on other blogs which equals more sleepless hours / less time for real life activities.

A fellow blogger once shared with me that she wishes to blog more often but doesn't want people to feel that she blogs all the time. To me, I feel that it is my blog and I can blog as often as I desire. Readers can say or think however they want. We should go by our feelins and guts, not how others would feel. My blog is purely random and I choose what I want to share, I do not go by what will please the crowd. If people like my blog the way it is, I am very happy. If they don't like, they don't have to read.


Back to work vs blog. Obviously blogging can interfere your real life activities if not managed or balanced properly. Recently I asked myself - "Can I just live my life without thinking about taking pictures of my outfits / food / trips for the blog?" Or "What content to write next?"

Do any of these questions ever come across your mind?



This past Friday, I took a very small step. No blogging related activities (no blog reading, commenting, checking, thinking about blog, no pictures taking) starting from 5pm on Friday through 12pm on Sunday. Living a blog free /social media free / internet free lifestyle is a must for everyone. What do you think?

"All in My Mind" by Pete Belasco

Oh so blue~*

Thanks you ladies so much for trying to help me with the correct name of those pants in my previous post. Up to this point I still don't know what they are. Some said cropped pants with pleats. Some said Carrot pants, very interesting indeed. I know they are not harem (what I wore was harem). So I may just ask my BBF back in Bangkok to buy a pair or two. I am sure those pants can be found easily.

Trying on something we are not used to is a risky choice but I like to fo that from time to time. Some may be a hit and some are miss or wreck but fashion is all about experimenting, right? Today I am back in my comfort zone. My unusal choice today is this shade of blue. So very blue. I pair this tee with a faux leather skirt and add a big belt to complete the look.

Mama VS Harem Pants - Take 1

Never thought in a million year that I would wear these harem pants, ever! I am totally out of my comfort zone but I am glad I tried it. I have to tell you upfront that I am late in the harem trend simply because I was not so into it and it is hard to rock the look in my opinion. My initial intention was to get another pair that I saw on an actress in a Thai series (see pics below). I still don't know the exact name/style of the trousers she was wearing so my search still continues.

There is something about those pants that fascinates and captures my heart. Its shape is super feminine, chic and sophisticated. It can be casual or dressy. It accentuates your shape and makes you look like you have a small waist, bigger butt and long legs. A petite lady will look great in these pants if styled as shown in below photos. Can you sense that I want it badly? Harem pants happen to own a few similarities to my mysterious pants. They can make your butt look bigger as well as your thighs. They can make you look shorter and finally they can wreck you if not styled properly.

I am not a style expert but I know one thing that they will look decent on a person if they comes in the right lenght like mid calf. Be sire to wear heels. I actually like these pants, they are incredibly comfy, edgy and very different. I wish I could find a better top to pair with but this will suffice for now. However, my search still continues. I was thinking they may be "paper bag waist pants" but I don't think they are the same thing. If any of you know what those pants are called, please do let me know :)

If you read my subject line, you know there will be part ll. I have another pair that come in a different lenght. Stay tuned for future post.

*~Precious by Esperanza Spalding~*

Feather & Scarves

{Feather Earrings and Necklace: Forever 21}

My online order from Forever21 arrived this weekend and I couldn't be more excited. Why? This last portion of my purhases contained some accessories, my favorites of all! I just couldn't resist that bold and lovely purple color of those feather earrings. They sure will add a punch of color to any outfit. Next up, feather bib necklace. This necklace is so dreamy and soft. I found a new use for necklace, use it to dress my bag. Can't be any more versatile than this!

Oh Forever21..I wonder how many lawsuits thee has received for copying other designers. I spotted a very strong Hermes scarf eletments/designs in this scarf when I spotted it online. For less than, $10. I was willing to take my risk and order it. Gorgeous color but don't expect the look and feel of it to the real thing.

I do not wear scarves at all during summer here. Under the triple digit heat index where I live doesn't make scarves sound like a good idea. Fall sounds like an ideal season to incorporate scarves into every wardrobe out there. I just can't wait to use both scaves in the weeks to come.
But until then, I am going to use it to dress up my bag.

Missoni Inspired Dress & My Happy color

Talking about a happy color, what color comes across your mind? Yellow - that is. Yellow is cheerful, bright and it is associated with happiness and mood lifting effect just to look at it. I never imagined wearing a yellow dress or anything like that but mustard yellow is an exception. It is a perfect mixture of yellow and a hint of brown.

{Dress & Belt: Forever21, Shoes & Handbag: from Bangkok, Necklace: designed and made by me}

I had no clue this particular dress is a knock off version of Missoni - an Italian Fashion House. Honestly, that's how much I know about fashion..duh! I just knew I liked it..a lot. Its unique pattern, color combinations, style makes it a really nice little dress for work and play. It is also fully lined with a zipper in the back. The smallest size available is "S" yet armholes and neckline are a bit too low. That problem can be fixed with some safety pins without the need to pay for costly alterations. I plan on wearing a cardigan or a long coat over it anyway so this will work. Not too bad afterall. I LOVE it even more with a mustard yellow belt. I can see myself wearing this dress in many different ways. For $23 before tax, it is a steal!

My Handmade Necklace