have yourself a merry little christmas

It is finally that time of year again, and while Vancouver did not have a white Christmas this year (currently still a bit upset about that), it's still the season to be jolly in festive colours. 

PS. To make up for my lack of posts these last two months, this one is extra long. Yay! 

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batter up

The weekend is here and I am filled with cheer (seriously, why am I not a songwriter)! I got to rest up after a week of sleeping at 2 and waking up at 6:45, and I finally do not feel like zombie in the morning. To add to that, I met up with my friend, Grace, who, even though I saw her almost every day in the summer, I was quite glad to see since we don't go to the same school. She helped me catch up on shoots (as well as she might help me on a surprise project tomorrow. Exciting!), and then we talked about classes and school and anything that came to mind over some Starbucks before she had her volunteer. Once she left, I went downtown to meet up with my parents. My mom had some extra Bay points, resulting in $110 off at Topshop (godbless)! Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day shopping. After a few hours of browsing and buying, I made my way on home. As of right now, I am ending off my Saturday in the best way possible: by watching the season premier of SNL hosted by Chris Pratt. Aaaaah, I'm hooked on a feeling... 

Shopping days are one of the hardest things to dress for. On one hand, you want to look nice since you're going to a nice store, and there's just this constant need to look to impress at a nice store. But on the other hand, you're just going to keep on changing in and out of those clothes. I did my best to accommodate to both needs with this look. There's nothing easier to slip on than a shirt and jeans. I went with a classic baseball tee (my latest obsession), and just went really minimal with the jewelry, since I didn't want a huge hassle while changing. I rolled up my skinny jeans to make my look more polished, and wore ankle booties to accentuate the polished effect. Finally, I tied a flannel around my waist, simply because one can never go wrong with flannel.

 I cannot seem to get my shirt in place. Oh well. Like shirt, like owner.

I will never stop tying flannel around my waist. There's something so effortless yet put together about that look that I adore. Sad news though, I will have to retire these jeans as it's on the verge of dying and ripping everywhere. Good news: I got two new pairs in dark blue and black! Yes!

Also, while we're talking about retiring and buying new items, I got myself a new pair of black ankle booties! Do not fret, I am not retiring these as these booties are no longer shoes to me, but like a close, dear friend. I am, however, just adding a new pair to the family. I need black boots that are fresh, and clean, and don't look like they've been stepped on a thousand times.

OUTFIT INFO: 

Baseball Tee: Aritzia (x)
Crystal Necklace: Urban Outfitters (x)
Red Flannel: TNA/ Aritzia (similar)
Jeans: American Eagle (x)
Skull Bracelet: Brandy Melville (similar)
Watch: American Apparel (x)
Ankle Booties: Topshop (similar)

maroon melancholy

Note to self: when switching out of courses, pray that your school does not have a strike. Otherwise, the wait for course change can be up to 3 or 4 hours. Thankfully, mine was only an hour, hour and a half max. Anyways, I have officially gone through my entire schedule once! Today was a Day 2, and because it's still the first week of school, I still had to go to homeroom earlier (it's only 20 minutes earlier, but it's 20 minutes of extra sleep). My first class was Acting, and words cannot explain how happy I was to realize who was in my class. Familiar faces, along with people I wanted to get to know better, my class was filled with people who weren't only good actors, but funny and lighthearted, as well as hardworking (well some of them anyways). It's gonna be a fun year. After that was Sociology! Once again, I was blessed to be put in a good class with a teacher who last time I had him favoured me. Good teacher who likes me and a super interesting and fun course? Check and check! After lunch, was pre-calc, and while I usually hate math, I've been lucky this year in that I got a really chill math teacher who actually teaches (note: my last year teacher spent 20 minutes every day doing nothing. Nothing. I almost cried at how little I learned). Lastly, I had marketing, and that is where my luck ends. I waited about an hour to drop the course, and now I am left with a free block, which might turn into a block where I can be a teacher's assistant. Needless to say, I celebrated my not-so-bad classes by having a Booster Juice with some friends.

Vancouver has been really annoying me lately with the fact that it pours rain every morning, and it is incredibly warm by the time I leave school. Do I freeze to death as well as get drenched on my way to class or melt my skin off on my way home? Decisions, decisions! That still doesn't stop me from getting into the fall mood by dressing in some layers! A trench coat is one of my absolute wardrobe essentials, so I paired one with a classic white tee, and to add some nice depth (as well as give me a cute, thin cover-up in school) I wore a denim shirt on top of it. Obviously, I can't wear a white shirt without adding layered necklaces, so I did just that.I haven't worn my maroon jeans in a while, and I thought they'd be more interesting than just basic blue, and because it was raining and I didn't want to be too fancy (yet), I just wore Doc Martens.

Trust me when I say that despite these obviously staged photos, Jessica is one of the most annoying people I have ever met... and that is why we click so well. Despite only meeting in grade 8 (where she lied and told me she was great at French, only to copy my work the next class, thanks Jess), I can easily say it feels like I've known her for a lifetime. After waiting for course changes with me, Jess came by to have some Booster Juice and help me take pics. To be honest, this has surprisingly been the most we have done in a hangout in a while. That's pretty shocking since I see Jess almost weekly. We usually just take naps when we meet up. Yep, these pics don't really fit our friendship very well.

But this one kinda does. Heart ya, Jess.

OUTFIT INFO: 

Trooper Jacket: Aritzia (x)
Denim Button-Down: Forever 21 (similar)
White Shirt: Topshop (x)
Short Jewel Necklace: Topshop
Long Crystal Necklace: Urban Outfitters (x)
Watch: American Apparel (x)
Bracelet: Brandy Melville (similar)
Jeans: Topshop (similar)
Boots: Doc Martens (x)

add it all up

 You know what I find completely and utterly useless? The fact that the first day of school was literally an hour-long assembly where all the VP's and the principal and the counselor, and the long list of other heads just have a quick speech about stuff that a) we already know, b) we don't really care about, or c) both. Nonetheless, because I am an extreme keener, I still attended. Knowing that today wasn't going to be special, I just dressed pretty casually, since with Vancouver's weather, you never know if there's going to be a rainstorm or heatwave in the next 5 minutes. Thankfully, our assembly was at 11, and not at 8 like some of the other grades (godbless), so we got to sleep in and not waste the entire day. Score! After the assembly, we got our schedules, and I hung around the school for a bit, saying hello to familiar faces that I haven't seen since exam time in June. I left the school with a group of friends, to relax at my house for a bit, and then once we got bored, we went for a quick trip to Metrotown. Me and a few of my friends bought the cutest (somewhat) matching planners and pencil cases, and this excites me because the one thing I love about class is notes! I seriously get obsessive about my colour-coding. Anyways, once we were done, we headed home and I took quick shots in a random alley across the street from my elementary, and proceeded to take a 2-hour nap (that's a quick nap in my definition). Once I awoke, I went to Staples with my parents for last-minute back-to-school supply shopping, and then just spent the night doing what I do best: absolutely nothing on the Internet.

Like I mentioned, I didn't really want to dress up for an hour-long assembly. It was chilly in the morning, but since I knew that Vancouver could easily heat up by the afternoon, I opted for layers, but not too many. I started by wearing a patterned button down that I absolutely adore, and just threw on my favourite jeans. Usually this would be enough, but I got really into the fall mood, and threw on my Aritzia trooper jacket, with leather sleeves to add edge to the look (plus it matched the shoes). I threw on Doc Martens instead of riding boots, my second option, since I wanted to go for a more grunge look. Plus, I heard it would rain. Lastly, I went extremely minimal on the jewelry, opting for just a simple jewel necklace that would peek out from underneath my blouse.

I love the print on this shirt. Is it a plus-sign? Is it a cross? Am I a math fanatic or do I just like prints? No one knows!!

Words can't explain how much I love my Docs. Sure, I could always just go for my ratty old combat boots instead, but there's just something so... English(?) about them. I think it's because they remind me of the old British punk bands, and somehow, despite my extremely lame exterior, I feel just a smidge cooler with these on.

OUTFIT INFO: 

Jacket: Aritzia (x)
Shirt: H&M
Necklace: Topshop
Jeans: American Eagle (x)
Boots: Doc Martens (x)

smiles for miles

I bring good news: I finally got my own camera! Fun fact: up until now, I have actually been using other people's cameras for all the pictures on my blog. To say that it was a hassle having to constantly find someone to take a picture and a camera, is an understatement. But a hassle no more! I now have my own camera! As to when I'll be able to fully understand how to use it, that's a whole different story. Anyways, I had a late lunch, or afternoon snack as some might say, with my parents at a cute cafe near West 7th, called Moii Cafe (I think). After we finished our amazing crepes, we basically went all over town, to a Best Buy and a Sony store, to search for the camera that my dad wanted. Finally, we found the camera at Metrotown, and headed home, where I met up with my friend, Grace, who luckily for me, was off her volunteer early, so she could take pics. Later, we were joined with two other friends, and even after Grace left, we all did what we do best: eat, sleep, gossip, and internet. We did all those exciting things until about 7-7:30, and with the extra time (I was surprisingly ahead of schedule with blog posts), I had the chance to watch two Sherlock episodes tonight. I can already feel how sad and anxious I'm going to be once I'm caught up.

I feel like every person has a wardrobe item (or two or three) that is often a conversation piece for them. For example, perhaps you have a stand-out sweater, filled with wacky designs, that can't help but attract strangers and their compliments. These shorts are one of my conversation pieces. Almost every time that I've worn these shorts, I've gotten asked where I got them, and like I mentioned in a previous blog post (although that one was about my bag), at least 3/4 of the time, I had to say, the awkward, "A store with no name." Thankfully, like I mentioned, they have a name now, but these shorts still bring back the memories of that worker at Lush's face when I told him the no-name thing (disbelief? In a not-so-good way? I think that's the best way to put it). Anyways, I paired it with a black shirt, since the shorts are already a stand-out piece on it's own, and put on a statement necklace, so the top wouldn't be so boring. I grabbed a flannel, since I knew it would be cold, and it added a grunge appeal. I decided then, that I would just add to the grunge look with my sunglasses and cutout boots. Comfy and cute, I like it.

 Fun fact: I had a pair of sunglasses that looked just like these that I got from Aldo before the summer started, I broke them in my bag halfway through summer, and words couldn't describe how sad I was. And how much I had to squint during those hard times.

Close-up of the smiley shorts! They're just like the Bart Simpson shorts that circulated the Internet, I think about two years ago, but a tad different (obviously).

OUTFIT INFO: 

Plaid: TNA/ Aritzia (similar)

Shirt: Oak + Fort 
Necklace: Topshop
Shorts: 8th and Main
Bracelet: Brandy Melville (similar)
Watch: American Apparel
Shoes: Topshop (similar)