hallelujah

Thank God it's Friday! And I still can't believe i'm

17!

Wow. Seventeen. 6205 days have gone in my life. I'm so grateful for everything that's happened so far and I can't wait to encounter God's future plans that are gonna be awesome no doubt. Already, I feel like so much of my life is complete, but I hope I'll be able to change more of the world every day of my life in this new year.

Throughout the week, my school's "Random Acts of Kindness Everyday Club" collected "snaps," i.e. anonymous compliments written by students to give to other students/teachers (isn't that an awesome idea?). And today, they handed out these little blessings to those addressed students and while I wasn't expecting any, I received what seemed like a pound of treasures (it was really only 6). The fact that that many people thought about me enough to write a note and draw little doodles for me... man I just wanted to cry, and I think I'm breaking down right now. I can't describe my thanks to this world and to God. Man, I love life so much...


Thank you God for always blessing me with opportunities to grow, for making my dreams and not my nightmares come true, for taking care of all my worries, for showing me the way when nothing seemed possible, and for loving me like no one in this world, even when I didn't deserve your love.

Here's some pictures to celebrate today and the gift of giving (I guess in this case, receiving!). :)

First, this is an outfit I wore a few days ago but better late than never right?




Dress - Papaya
Leggings - GAP
Teardrop Necklace - from mom

And this the outfit I wore today; I got the cardigan and leggings for my birthday! :)






jacket - Billabong (PacSun)
cardigan - Anthropologie
skirt - a store in S. Korea
leggings - Anthropologie
shoes - Papaya

And here are the gifts I received from my parents today :)





(my name in Korean on the envelope)

painting my lips with my lip stick pen! (i tricked ya!)

delicious krabby patties! :)

now i can write, doodle and scribble with all my heart's desire! (with my lip pen!) ;)

Ma bought this for me from Arden B. It was originally $26, but it was on sale for under $5! Thanks mom! :)

My new Coach wallet. :)

Sporting my new H&M plaid scarf and Coach bag. I'm going to cherish this bag for the rest of my life (or at least most of it). :)


Thank God for friends. (my friends aren't all boys, but somehow the pictures ended up that way...)

And tomorrow, some gals and I are hitting the bowling alleys to knock a couple of pins. Maybe a miracle will occur and I'll get some strikes! (I think my highest has been about 70. :P)


(these were my invitations. aren't they awesome? I searched about 5 stores but these just won me over!) :D

I'll post more pictures over the weekend! For now, enjoy your's! :)

i am 16, going on 17... tomorrow!

so today was my last day being sixteen, and tomorrow, i'll be only a year away from being legal...yikes! i'll post loads of pictures over the weekend so don't worry, but for now, enjoy one of my fav afv videos (it's the same one from the last post, but i think many people didn't see it).

and i'm SOO glad kim yu na won the gold for s. korea! i love america, but i gotta support my blood, too. ;) and my cousins and even my parents say that i look like her (i'd rather say that she looks like me). what do you think? i guess i was a little too late for the facebook doppelganger craze. :/

Kim Yu na

me...?

(not a good pic of me, but for the sake of doppelganging...)

Kim Yu Na

Me

Haha. Anyway, have a great friday everyone! Pics of my birthday are to come. :)

something in the way she moves

anytime you feel the pain, hey jude, refrain...

via

I saw Across the Universe for the first time today at my school's monthly movie night hosted by the Art Appreciation club (which I run). :)

I felt that some scenes were actually really scary, like the Strawberry Field scene, and that one where there's naked girls dancing above the water, but I realized that the film is depicting a time of war and I guess there's nothing as scary and disturbing as death.

The only factor I didn't like about the movie was its myriad depictions of drug usage. I think it just showed too much drugs unnecessarily. I know during that time in history, many people actually used a lot of drugs, but I don't think it was necessary to depict it that much in the film... and I was slightly disappointed with the 'movie raters' of this film. You would think a movie with so much drug usage and trippy scenes would be rated R...but it's only PG-13. Anyway! I still like the film a lot!

Before watching this film, I wasn't much of a Beatles fan because I just didn't find their music as that... amazing and stunning as everyone thinks (I know, don't hurt me please!). But this film has allowed me to develop a real appreciation for Beatles music. Jim Sturgess does a great job and he is quite the cutie, although for some reason I like Max more. ;) Now I can't stop listening to Hey Jude!!

Here are some of my favorite scenes:

Hold Me Tight - The Beatles

at 1:28, when Jim Sturgess shakes his head, he is so adorable!!!!!!!!
and aren't those dresses lovely? I've always wished my school's prom or dances would be like this. :)

via


I Want You (She's so Heavy) - The Beatles

Max, i.e. Joe Anderson, is so cute! I prefer him without his facial hair though. :)
The choreography and performance in this scene is awesome.


I've Just Seen a Face - The Beatles

I love the clothes and the choreography!
Someday I'd like to do that in the bowling alley; maybe this weekend at my bday party.. but I'm not renting the whole bowling alley so they'd probably kick me out if I leaped over all the lanes. Haha. :D


Something (yes, that's actually the name of the song) ;) - The Beatles (sorry there's no scene in this video - I couldn't find one with the scene!)

And here's a random bonus video for ya from America's Funniest Home Videos; that show makes me laugh my sox off every time. This one is one of me fav funny videos of all time. My mom and I laugh about this video just thinking about it. ;)



macarena boy via

Song of the moment:
Hey Jude - Across the Universe sountrack

I think that's my favorite song for now. It's so enchanting and Joe Anderson's voice is irresistible!

olympics: team fashion & ice skating

My favorite part about the Winter Olympics is the figure skating - men's, womens, couples, compulsory dance, anyone who can move beautifully on ice is so inspiring. I may not be able to distinguish between a triple axel or a triple lutz, but figure skating is really a form of art that's enjoyable for so many people. Check out the "Top five jumps from Men's free skating" here; stunninggg!

On top of its elegance, I'm so excited that America won the Gold for Men's Figure Skating! I think Evan Lysacek totally deserved it. Evgeni Plushenko did fantabulously, but he just didn't have that perfection that Lysacek exhibited. And I have to say, Lysacek's black outfit was kinda hot (my favorite was his sleek 'firebird' outfit). And it disappoints me that Plushenko had such terrible sportmanship. Apparently, he said Lysacek wasn't really the winner of the gold, and he renamed his Silver Medal as a Platinum Medal to fulfill his anger. I believe a real winner should embrace his rank no matter which rank he gets. :/

I was also disappointed that USA's Johnny Weir only ranked 5th although that isn't too bad of a rank. I think he should've received the Bronze...Oh well, Olympic judges can work in mysterious ways.

And despite all the controversy surrounding Johnny's fox fur outfit, I think it would've looked lovely! I feel that it's so rude for the animal groups to send him death threats and hate mail enough so that he abandoned his fur outfit and replaced it with faux fur. He even thought the animal groups would disrupt his actual performance. In reality, there are people who wear real fur coats and wear much more real fur than Johnny would have. Anyway, enough of my Olympics ranting! Here's Johnny's free performance and his short; he can definitely rock that pink tassle. :)

“Figure skating is an amazing ride. It takes you from feeling like the lowest scum in the pond, like two hours ago. And now I feel like a flower growing out of the pond.”

"I`m very, very, very excited...very, very elated. Lovely, really." Johnny Weir
(what a character) :)

If you aren't going to visit any of these sites, definitely check out this one, my favorite!; Canada's Virtue and Moir's Gold winning performance (2:12, 3:40 and their ending at 4:55-5:06 are beautiful). This performance almost made me cry in its beauty!! And if you're inspired, check out their compulsory dance (1:42 is hot!) Tessa Virtue's outfit is stunning here and I love her earrings! What a lovely couple and romantic performance. Oh, it makes me want to fall in love and dance like that!

Lovely picture, no? :)

And if you're still not fascinated by ice skating, I'm sure Ice Dancing's wackiest costumes will entertain you. :)

I also like Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy's outfit:

Of all the skaters, I'd have to say Kim Yu Na is my favorite. She has the most beautiful smile, and the rest is self-explanatory. My cousins from South Korea said that I look like her, but I don't see the resemblance. ??




Evidently, I love the Olympics ice skating! What's your favorite part of the Olympics?

PS. I'm sorry if you're not much of an Olympics or ice skating fan! I hope you enjoyed the pictures though! :D

PSS. I'm still thinking of a theme for my birthday party at the bowling alley... As for my clothing options for the party, I'm really open to anything. I'm just looking for a theme that entails clothes that are "universal," i.e. clothes that most people would have in their closet, and comfortable since we are bowling. :) The bowling alley is pretty new and sleek with it's black lights, so I think neon would be my best bet. All my other ideas, like 50s, or girly, include skirts or dresses, but those are hard to bowl in right? Let me know your ideas! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :)

photo shuffle

Here are some random pictures I came across on the internet and from other blogs.

I like the illustration-esque background!

Victoria Beckham for Glamour Magazine via

Boys and Drugs (it's not the way it sounds, or at least I hope not...)
I've always wished to live during the 50s and 60s. Maybe it was one of those 'gilded ages' where it wasn't as beautiful as it seemed, but I love all the humble yet sophisticated dresses, the American patriotism, the simplicity of life, beautiful preppy style, smooth music, and lovely boys in their proper and clean outfits. But, thinking practically, if I went back to the 50s/60s as an Asian, I don't think I would be racially accepted as well as I am today...

Rock ‘n’ Roll sur les Quais de Paris by Paul Almasy, 1950s

Arther Saron Surnoff, "Where Love Begins" Collier's Illustration 1951 - via Crashingly Beautiful

the problem is the 'work hard' part; i'm blogging, it's after 7 pm, and i still haven't started my homework... and even as i type this, i dont think i plan on starting very soon... yea this is a real problem. i think i need a time management counselor.

Elephant art school? :)

PS. I'm preparing for a small bowling birthday party with my friends this weekend (I'm almost 17!) and I was thinking about dressing in a theme. The bowling alley is really new and very suave with it's dark, black-ish lights. So I thought maybe a neon theme, but I don't want us looking too crazy. I also thought of poofy, girly skirts...with leggings for the sake of comfortable bowling, but if I slipped, my leggings could rip or something. :S Any ideas for a good dress up theme? Please do share! :)

Song of the moment:
Fallin' for You - Colbie Caillat

I think it's one of those girly songs that just wins you over. My favorite part is the chorus (1:13).