god save the queen

Around two years ago, I had somehow managed to save up enough money to afford a record player for myself. Of course, I forgot about tax and my dad had to help me, but that's not the point. A few months ago, I noticed that there was something wrong with my needle, and had to order a new one. It finally came in a bit ago, and I decided to celebrate by going down to Main Street, and stopping by one of my fave record stores, Neptoon Records, to see if there were any I wanted to buy. Unfortunately, records are expensive, and I am unemployed, so the trip resulted in me leaving empty handed and heart-broken as I had to leave the Weezer record back in the store. I was with two of my good friends, on our way to meet up with a third, and while we planned to go to the Art gallery, life decided to just take us on a different route for that night. While walking towards a cafe, we came across this gorgeous wall, and spent ages taking pictures in front of it (I almost died when people stopped and stared). After, we decided to ditch the cafe and go to The Warehouse to eat (cheap and delicious, I love it). Before heading back to my house, we did a bit of window-shopping, and then ended the night off with a fourth friend and Insidious 2.

I have always considered plaid as my go-to clothing item for a lazy day. It's gotten to a point where the moment I come into a room wearing plaid, at least 2 of my friends look at me and say, "Lazy day?" Although, while they're right 99% of the time, there are the occasional days where I purposely wear plaid, for more of a dark, grunge feel. Yesterday, was a mix of both. I first picked out a Sex Pistols shirt, since I was in the mood to dress a bit more tomboy/grunge, and the plaid was just a perfect pick to throw on on top or just tie around my waist. I haven't worn these grey jeans in at least a year, so imagine my surprise when I found out they still fit. Fall is finally starting to peek it's head, so I threw on my cutout boots, and picked out a large bag in case I decided to buy any large stuff (I didn't). Lastly, I bought those sunglasses that day at one of my favourite stores on Main, Front and Company. You can always do with a pair of sunnies; I mean, how else are you supposed to look at people without them knowing?

I searched far and wide to find this record, and when I did my heart did a little flutter of joy. I rewarded myself with this shirt. That's not great logic, but whatever.

 I found this bag at a store called 8th and Main. Although, when I first got it, the store was apparently so new that they hadn't named themselves yet. Imagine the looks on people's faces when I would reply to their question of "Where did you get your (insert item here)?" I'd say, "A store on Main with no name."

 I never thought I'd find a person with a head as round as mine, until I met Coco (not so) Tan. That's okay, we embrace our full faces, even though sometimes we tend to look like meatballs or Chinese bread buns. While we had multiple pictures of us trying oh so hard to look cool in our sunglasses, I ended up choosing this one as it's the best representation of both our friendship and Coco as a person. Fun fact: Coco laughs like a donkey. 90% of the time, her laugh is funnier than the joke. And it's the best thing in the world.

 Squaaad. Okay, yeah that sounded as lame in my head as it does here.

Here's a quick picture of Allison, Coco, and I at The Warehouse. I do wish that I got a pic of the restaurant though. It has such a nice feel. It's like a little hole-in-the-wall, and while the music is sometimes a bit much, there will be times where they will play the perfect song, that goes with it's grunge-y, somewhat ratty (but always nice) atmosphere, and the food will just be so mouthwatering-ly delicious, and there is truly no words to describe how great that feels.

 OUTFIT INFO: 

Plaid: TNA/ Aritzia (similar)
Shirt: I forgot (I'm so sorry my memory sucks)
Bag: 8th and Main
Jeans: Hot Topic (I think) (similar)
Watch: American Apparel 
Necklace: Long: Urban Outfitters (similar)
                 Short: Topshop
Shoes: Topshop (similar)

nyu

Sometimes, life is great to you and it blesses you with great opportunities and cute boys and lots of money. Other times.. it just bites you in the ass and throws dirt in your face. Last night/this morning is a perfect example of that. Around midnight, I tried to upload some pics from that day's outfit, to find out that none of the files could be opened. This morning, I tried everything: restarting my computer, updating it, I even used my dad's laptop; nothing worked. That resulted in  me having to re-take shots this morning before I left to start my day. Anyways, in other news, I should probably quickly re-cap my day yesterday. One of my good friends, who I hadn't seen in forever (and by forever, I mean about a week), came by to just pig out, gossip, and watch stupid stuff on Netflix. My other close friend/neighbour came by, and while it was originally supposed to be just background noise, we ended up actually watching Snow White and the Huntsman. Later on in the evening, we meet up with my usual photographer (ha ha) and relaxed and walked her unbelievably adorable dog. I ended up having dinner at her house (her dad makes the best food) and then had a long overdue gossip session while Master Chef was playing in the background.

 Whenever I go to a different university, I always get some sort of clothing item as a memento (with the exception of Yale. Damn, I should have gotten sweats). These NYU track shorts are absolutely perfect for lazy days where I know I'm not gonna be doing much. They're so comfy and are great for concealing food babies. Win-win! To make the outfit look a bit more pulled together, I paired it with a loose, see-through button-down shirt that reminds me of water colour paintings (fun fact: I just found this shirt in the back of my closet and this was my first time wearing it!). It was a hot day, and I didn't want to carry a large bag, so I grabbed this small blue one. Lastly, I will wear anything that helps in making me look taller, so I wore my Madewell sandals that really do wonders to my legs and height.

Close-up of water painting shirt and jewel necklace, hollaaaa.

NYU is one of the  many universities that I dream of going to in the future. I have been in love with NYC ever since I was young, and to be able to go there for school would just be a dream come true. Also, yes it was slightly awkward getting one of my friends to take a close-up picture of my butt.

I finally broke them in!11!1!!!

OUTFIT INFO: 

Shirt: Urban Outfitters
Necklace: Topshop
Bag: Urban Outfitters (similar)
Shorts: New York University - NYU 
Watch: American Apparel
Shoes: Madewell

save rock and roll

There is something really fun about dressing up and getting ready to look like a total badass. I don't know what it is, but a basic black leather jacket has the power to turn just about anyone from another, average Plain Jane into the leader of a 50's biker gang. Even though I didn't exactly have the most exciting of plans, I decided that while I'm celebrating much-needed Me Time, I might as well go all out and have fun with it. I spent the first half of the afternoon alone, going to a cafe (of course) to enjoy some alone time, editing blog posts, eating donuts, and drinking coffee. I returned back to my house to meet up with friends to do a bit more blog editing (I have a tumblr now, if you haven't checked that out!), but mostly just... relaxing. There's not really much that we do. Thankfully, it's still bright and warm in Vancouver so ending the day off with an evening stroll is still a perfectly normal thing to do and I don't have to worry about being kidnapped on the way home. But maybe my leather jacket will protect me from the bad guys. 

I'm a big believer of not picking out my outfits until the very last minute, and often times I'll just choose one item that I really want to wear and centre my whole outfit around it. Obviously, yesterday was the leather jacket. Words could not explain how happy I was when I found it that the weather was breezy enough for me to get away with a leather jacket in the morning (of course, later on it became extremely hot but we can ignore that). I'm also really obsessed with layering any and all of my tank tops with my black bralette as I find that the hint of black peeking out under the shirt makes the outfit a lot more interesting. Of course, one can never really go wrong with jeans and a good pair of boots, so I wore my favourite skinnies and my ankle booties (get used to seeing multiple posts with those boots on, I seriously live in them). To finish off the outfit, I had to put on a dark red lip, and while I don't usually wear my glasses all day, I was kind of in an Alex Vause mood so I decided why the heck not. 

Here's a close-up of my shirt and the necklace I wear quite often. I'm in love with the people on the shirt, I don't know about you, but to me they kind of remind me of a modern-day Ramones pair. There's something so 70's punk and British about it, I'm hooked.

During Boxing Day of last year I was in desperate need of a new leather jacket. The old one I had was a couple years old and had a heart-shaped zipper. Yeah, no. As soon as I saw this one at Topshop, it was love at first sight. It: a) had pleating on the sleeves (a huge trend I was, and still am into), b) Came with detachable fur (perfect for the colder months), and c) It was on sale. Needless to say, the jacket and I were meant to be. 

I'm trying to incorporate a little bit more of my day into my posts, so here's a typical picture of my cute coffee and partially eaten donut, as well as my laptop that I took at the cafe during my Me Time. PS, I posted this picture on my twitter yesterday, link to it is on the side (@maikasetiawan). Yay for shameless promotions. 

OUTFIT INFO: 

Jacket: Topshop

Tank Top: Topshop

Bralette: Brandy Melville

Jeans: American Eagle

Necklace: Urban Outfitters

Rings: Topshop

Shoes: Topshop 

paisley appeal

I always feel like seizing the day on weekends, even if it's the holidays. This is especially true on Sundays as everything closes much earlier, so to make the most of the day, I try to start it early. Now, I admit this doesn't usually work out for me as I love to sleep, but fortunately yesterday I was able to force myself out of bed to have a nice brunch with my parents at iHop. Once I returned (and napped for a while), I went out to Metrotown with my friend to do a little bit of retail therapy. I lost one of my all-time favourite albums recently, The Suburbs by Arcade Fire, and decided to re-buy it at HMV as it was on sale. I also got myself the cutest little tea mug with doves on it that changes colour along with the heat. We shot these pics once we returned to my house, and decided to wind down with some tea (using the mug I just bought) and some good ol' television.

It was unbelievably hot outside, despite the fact that in my mind it's already fall. Boo. I made the most of the warm weather by wearing a classic denim shirt, and some printed shorts, both of which I got from Forever 21. I wanted to try something new, something I've seen one of my favourite youtubers, Jenn Im (clothesencounters), do, which is tuck in one side of my button-down and keep the other one out. Whether or not I succeeded, I don't know, but oh well. I topped off the outfit with a small blue bag (it's way too warm for large purses), and my Madewell sandals. I'm not exactly gifted in the height department so heels on any type of shoes are perfect for me.

I've been looking for a small, simple necklace I can pair with absolutely anything for the longest time. Words can't explain how ecstatic I was when I found this gem at Topshop.

I usually don't wear my glasses all-day, everyday, but when I do it's like my eyes have gone from 360p to 1080p. I can't see far that well, so I usually only wear my glasses in class, or at the theatre, but yesterday, my friend, who usually wears glasses, decided to wear her contacts, and just for fun, I decided to wear my glasses so we could be opposites. Cool? Not so much, I know. But at least now I can see people's faces without squinting.

Fun fact: the first two times I wore these shoes I walked around Manhattan all day in them and I got terrible blisters on the back of my feet. Thankfully, I've finally broken them in, but I still haven't learned my lesson: I still wear uncomfortable shoes all day if they're cute

OUTFIT INFO: 

Shirt: Forever 21
Shorts: Forever 21
Bag: Urban Outfitters
Necklace: Topshop
Watch: American Apparel
Rings: Eye & Simple Band - Topshop
           Jewel - Grandmother's
Shoes: Madewell
Glasses: Ralph Lauren