food for the heart: christmas

christmas in new york. bright white lights that illuminate the streets of new york. makes me wonder if its worth battling the army of tourists by rockefeller. how can you appreciate something so beautiful when youre so caught up with the franticking passerbyer's trying to cross in front of you. mini rant done. a charm. a tale. a land. a dream so real. in front of me, around me in new york, city. a modern edge, a traditional tone, a trust, an ode to christmas. new york city. christmas. where i am, where i want to be.

misc.

 (one of these photos is not like the others: last one was taken in new jersey)

Feel the love in the room from the floor to the ceiling

The words from this post's title are lyrics from "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" by NSYNC (video/song found at the bottom of the post)!

It's winter break (yay!!) and unfortunately I'm going to have quite the busy vacation (oxymoron much). Amidst the project and homework (who assigns hw over Christmas break? yeah don't ask me) I have 7 college apps to finish (I'm also rewriting my college app essay, probably not a great choice, but I felt the need to), and my brother is coming over! I'm so so so excited, so don't worry I'm not complaining. It's been over a year since I've seen him so it'll be really special. There's really nothing like family. I'm just afraid I won't have much time to spend time with him, even go gift shopping because of my apps. I wish I wasn't such a procrastinator (and I say that as I blog, but blogging is a good kind of procrastinating so maybe it's ok...? harhar). I could get mushy gushy here with family and all, but I'm feeling terse, so you're lucky. Now for a few festive photos. Didn't edit them but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless!

A week in photos!

Monday:

i am wearing clothes i promise i promise

click images to enlarge

Tuesday:
Twin Day at my school + ornaments (just for fun)
those are gum drops in the background (yes, real ones).
we even wore matching belts (the belts were unplanned).

oh yah, buddy the elf visited my school.

Wednesday:
at my school's art appreciation club, we made holiday ornaments from pipe cleaners while watching Harold and Maude (love that movie)!

Thursday:
(Outfit post yay!) Ugly Sweater Day at my school. I find ugly sweaters very pretty/cool. I wish owned some! This one is actually my friend's (thus the rather large fitting). It was definitely uber cozy and comfy though! I wish I could've kept it. Teehee.

outfit details:
sweater - (friend's) talbot's
skirt - store in south korea
leggings - anthropologie

Friday: (this actually occurred on Saturday but bear with me)

ornament exchange! i love this frog ornament! it's so unique and special. :)





i got a little cookie decorating excited.

saturday: ho ho hooo, it's christmas time (shake up christmas! y'know that song by train! if you dont it's on my playlist!)

literally shakin' up christmas.

some more winter-y photos:

i love this movie so much that i wrote my college app on it, but now i'm rewriting it so i'm writing about clarice starling from silence of the lambs. serious contrast for realz.

if you're feelin festive, check out my christmas playlist on the right. i've included some of my favorite christmas songs (in no particular order)! i hope you like em!

christmas is seriously my favorite holiday. i think it's something everyone can partake in even if he/she is not religious. i think the religious aspect adds a truly special meaning to it, but there is always something special in sharing the love and giving gifts to others. i wish i could give a candy cane or some kind of gift to everyone reading this, but i give you a virtual hug instead! *virtual hug* :)

here are a few freebies from My Owl Barn: printable holiday gift tags, (make your own) owl 2011 calendar, and more gifts tags/screensavers. :)

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! God bless us everyone! :)

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again with apps and family and buzyness, but I promise to post sometime in January! Until then, peace out my friends! And I hope you have the best holiday ever!

song of the moment -
(christmas + nsync is what i've been up to recently. i had a major 90s flashback)



and a special from nsync:

hoping to hear airwaves say snow day...

i've completed 5 college apps and i have...7 left. :D i dont like to admit that because i know it's a bunch and people are like 'why youz applyin to so many? you are a silly overachieving asian.' but the truth is, i actually love all these schools i'm applying to and i'm not applying to them just cuz they have a nice name. when people ask me how many i'm applying to, i'm guilty of those white lies and i say i'm applying to like 8ish, and they're still like +_+, but i feel that i should be honest on my blog, because that's why i like my blog, so there's that! i should be doing those apps right now, but once again, i felt the urge to blog, as i always do, but don't really have the time for.

anyway, more life news, for my school's broadcast tv announcements program, i made a video called "fashion friday" in which i showcased different students and their outfits at my school! i loved doing it and next week i'm hoping to go a little comedic and make it a hip hop special, showcasing 'gangsta' outfits at my school (although there aren't many. my school's pretty white...). i wish i could upload it on my blog, but i'm not sure if that's violating their privacy, etc. :S

speaking of fashion stuff for school, i'm also writing an article for my school's magazine about street fashion and everyday fashion at my school. fashion is really permeating my life and i love it! when we're brainstorming for article ideas or story ideas for the broadcasting class, whenever the topic has to do with the arts, especially fashion, i just love it and get really excited! i feel like this is a sign that it's something i should look into as a career, but it's weird for me cuz i never thought i'd be doing fashion stuff since i'm definitely not a "cool" or "hip" kid. i don't own any high end designer clothes, and i really don't feel fashionable, but i love showcasing other fashion savvy people! it's awesome! so thanks again to blogging and all those fashion bloggers because fashion has definitely become a big part of my life. :)

and a few weeks ago, my school's ASB picked me as most school spirited senior girl for the month of october! it was really awesome and touching as well. i've always loved school spirit and to be honest, i felt like i never really got recognized for it, but when i was least expecting it, SHABAM. it was funny too because when they came into the room to tell me, i thought it was for someone else so i was like YAYYY!! with my hands in the air, and they're like 'it's for...ERIN' and i still had my hands in the air and i was like no way!!!! yup, that's the story of the day. haha.

and to give you a tiny glimpse of the 'fashion friday' video i made, here's the outfit i wore in the video while i interviewed people! :)

click photos to enlarge

outfit details:
dress - urban outfitters
tights - anthropologie
necklace - ciel boutique

i bought that dress at an urban outfitters black friday shoppin' spree. i feel like my closet is not exactly...me, or at least the older me. a lot of my clothes are from years ago and i have some pieces that are new of course, but in general, i just wasn't feelin my closet...until i went to UO's black friday sale! :D

i've never actually participated in black friday shopping before, but for the first time, my mom (she has never black friday shopped too) and i woke up early to go to their sale and due to traffic etc, we got there are 9:15ish am, and their sale ended at 10. so we were like major rummaging and such. it was actually really funny how serious we were. but it was fabulous, i bought about 10 pieces of clothes from there which rarely happens because usually cool stores don't fit me. but it was a holiday miracle. :) since i bought so many items, my mom is saving most of them as christmas presents, so i can't show you them all yet, but here's a sweater dress that i got to wear early! :) (it's actually a tunic, but works as a dress for me. haha.) i can't wait to show you (after christmas that is) the other items i bought ! and after christmas, i'll actually have more time to blog!!! yipperrooooo!!

now for some photos from the snow days last week before thanksgiving (speaking of which, i hope everyone had a great one!).

yes, i'll admit i'm slightly creeper, i wasn't following the guy in the bicycle around, but i thought it was just so perfect and scenic (but thinking about it...who rides their bike in inches of snow?...)

and since it's december, merry early christmas! :)

speaking of the holidays, here are some printable holiday gift tags courtesy of my owl barn!

also, i think these dress collages are adorable and so appropro for the holidays. :)

songs of the moment -
there are so many songs i'm listening to recently! hope you don't mind the but here's the one from which i got my blog post title from (discovered it via starbucks commercial!):

and this song is so funny: the salmon dance - the chemical brothers (you can already tell it's hilarious, i mean 'the salmon dance'?) and if you're feelin' some more chemical brothers: do it again. they're music is really good and they're quite the comedians, at least in my opinion!
and cuz i love christmas (this song is really catchy):