My Getaway Wish

I haven’t thought about “the perfect escape” yet but I sure do have a bucket full of lists for summer getaways. Summer officially and astronomically starts by the end of June. Have you made any plans yet for summer? I think going to the beach is the best path to beat the heat however, living in the Midwest means there’s no way we are near the ocean water. My husband and I would love to travel Europe someday. I would often give him a hard time every time he travels there for work while I’m here waiting for him to come home with souvenirs. I want to buy the souvenirs myself though! 

One of the best UK destinations to be considered is Scotland. If you are a Braveheart (film by Mel Gibson) fanatic like me, you will definitely have to add this in your tour list. Scotland is a part of the UK, also a part of Great Britain and the British Isles. I have a friend who lives in the UK and he would always tell me nice stories about their trip to Edinburgh. He recommended a few places to check out while visiting there but knowing me, I wouldn’t miss any spot. Not much worried about where to stay since Edinburgh hotels are pretty much abundant. And I'm excited to see Nessie the Loch Ness monster! If she would even show herself up to me.

But here are the places I would love go if we ever get the chance to travel there. I admire castles so much and that one day I would love to be in a real castle. I got Stirling Castle up on my list first. It is known to be one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. I know there will be a great amount of information about its history and legends to take in.

(Stirling Castle. Photo by Wikipedia)

Of course, I wouldn't forget the Edinburgh Castle. The most important fortress and the most-visited paid tourist attraction which is positioned atop the volcanic castle rock in Scotland.

(Edinburgh Castle. Photo by Wikipedia)

The Edinburgh Festival Theater. It is a performing arts venue used primarily for performances of opera and ballet, large-scale musical events, and touring groups.

(Edinburgh Festival Theater. Photo by Wikipedia)

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is also a must see. These amazing architectures can't be found just around the corner of the United States. It somehow gives the feel of being in a Greek garden where goddesses hang around. The RBGE was originally founded as a Physic Garden to grow medical plants and is now one of Scotland's popular tourist attractions.

(Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Photo by Wikipedia)

The Scott Monument would be my favorite architecture around Scotland. A tribute to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, this Victorian Gothic monument is a tower that holds a series of narrow spiral staircases which gives panoramic views of the entire Edinburgh.

(Scott Monument. Photo by Wikipedia)

Well, these are just a few of tourist attractions that I discovered while picking my vacation wishlists. For me, Edinburgh Scotland is such an interesting place to visit. It's a kind of place where great legends and fascinating history will never be forgotten because of the beautiful landmarks that was left behind. With all the castles, monuments, and beautiful architectures, this country will surely be a recommended destination and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Listening Online vs Buying CDs

I was once addicted to buying CD's. Whenever I see all the CD's I bought, it makes me feel like a collector of something special. I also have a friend who use cd replication services to send me some albums that I couldn't acquire. I did that for a while but eventually I stopped due to lack of storage and basically most of them just collects dust. Since my big move to the US, I decided to give all of them away and I do feel bad because most of them are original. I'm glad though that you can actually buy the whole album online now and just store them in your portable device such as ipod and etc. I know it could be pricey too if I even start collecting them virtually but I couldn't thank enough that online radios were created. And if I want to listen to a specific song, I'll just look it up on YouTube.

Aussie Hair Insurance Heat Protecting Hair Shine Spray

How many heat protecting products do you ever need? I got quite a few. My last post about my best heat protector  was 2012 and as days go by I'd still continue to hunt for better ones. It's always a trial and error but the good part is, it's fun to try new things or products. At the moment, my best heat protector is the KQC Thermal Shine which was sent to me by flatironexperts. Everything is great about it, from the smell to the application, I just love it. But I don't want to use it all the time especially if I'm going to stay home all day anyway. 

The new love of my hair is the Aussie Hair Insurance Heat Protecting Hair Shine Spray. "It helps keep the heat off and lets you get your shine one." It claims to leave hair soft and healthy....not really sure how true but I think it works okay. The smell is okay, not as strong but I just love  the smell of almost all the Aussie hair products especially their shampoo and conditioners. Another thing that you will love about it is the price. Each 8.5 fl. oz. bottles only costs $2.97 plus coupons, if you ever use that, totals a super good deal. The only thing I don't like about it is how it sprays the product on my hair. I do like the mist spray type because I feel like it distributes the product evenly whereas this type of spray bottle don't. I had to use my hand to spread them all over my hair. Overall, I highly recommend it. 

Playtime

This week marks the beginning of play time outdoors. I've been taking my daughter to our neighborhood playground so she can run around and interact with other kids her age as well. There are basically a lot of parents and kids going to that playground that's why my little one knows she's going to have fun there. I was thinking about getting her a play set for our backyard, something like those swing sets arlington va makes, but the only downside is there won't be other kids to play with. Anyway, it is quite a walk to the playground and I do enjoy it because for me it's another way of exercising. Do you have any specific activities for your kids this summer?

Stripes

My typical outfit.

Don't you just love it when you are 

out and about and you're worry-free

with your outfit? These are!

These new Levi's skinny jeans are

the most comfy and soft jeans I've 

ever own...

Top: F21
Scarf: Burlington
Jeans: Levi's
Shoes: Old Espadrille
Bag: H&M

I'm linking up with:

Her Nail of the Day

Every time I'm doing my nails, my sassy daughter always bother me because she too wants to pretty up her nails. It's either she chooses the color she likes or she would also want the color I'm using. Well, obviously today she decided to go for a gold color. It actually turned out pretty on her nails because she has such cute fingers! I only applied one coat so it'll come off easily. I don't want them to stay on her nails too long and I don't want to use polish remover on her cuticles either. The gold turned out pretty, it's just not as super gold as the gold eagles at moderncoinwholesale.com though. My daughter makes me smile all the time, she is such a mini-me! She just told me the other day that she wanted a makeup table for herself. Say what?! It was funny...I can definitely see a fun bonding mommy and daughter at a makeup store someday.

DIY Floral Shorts

As we are nearing the summer, I wanted to do a sewing project for my daughter that is easy and will be perfect for the weather. I searched online for a free pattern on shorts for toddlers and I came across this really wonderful blog which shares great sewing tutorials. As a novice in sewing, I enjoy making toddler clothes because they are so easy and the results are so cute. 

I would like to thank Caila for sharing the pattern and the tutorial for this. If you want to try her summer shorts, you can visit her blog here. I definitely enjoyed making this shorts and I can't wait to do more in the future. And since floral prints are in today, I decided to pick this fabric from hobby lobby which was also on sale at that time. Score! The only thing I did to put my personal touch on this project is that I added a hidden pocket on the right side. :)

Forever 21 Accessory Finds

As I've mentioned in my previous post, I did some shopping at Forever 21 while doing my Me-Time at the mall as a Mother's Day treat for myself. Moving on to my F21 haul, I'll only post the accessories first. I'll just share the outfits in some of the outfit of the day posts some time, that is if I can get my hubby again to get a better picture of my outfit. Most of the stuff I got from there was priced less than $5 or even a little more than that but not too overpriced. If you love buying stuff from F21, I'm sure you know how much their stuff usually sells. If I ever go shopping crazy, I would turn my self in to san diego drug rehab where all this insanity should be taken care of. Well maybe not drug but shopping rehab if that even exists. Okay, enough with the jokes. All these accessories are super affordable and I'm just a sucker for super inexpensive stuff that is also super cute to even resist buying. 

These earrings are fabulous! At least in my own taste. lol! Literally it's a cheetah or maybe not, but I've never had any earrings like this. And the round mint stone earring is really pretty as well. They have a few phone cases too and they are all so cute. I had to cherry pick for the case that I really like.

Mint and Gold earrings - $3.80

Pyramid Stud Faux Leather Bracelet - $4.80

Nail Polish in Baby Pink - $2.80

Manicure Set - $1.50

iPhone 5 case - $7.80

Cat Eye Sunglasses - $5.80

My only intention in that store is to buy these sunnies! But you know how it is, once you're in there you can never stop seeing cute, interesting and really cheap stuff!

Arm Swag of the Day

Loving my arm party today. 

Everything except the studded faux leather bracelet 

is old. I love how the leather bracelet has adjustable snap 

button closure and it is lightweight too. 

Found this at the mall last weekend and it's

the last one sitting there waiting for me! :)

They still have it online though for $4.80.

 And one last thing, I love the pyramid stud look 

on this one because spikey stud bracelets

just won't go with my usual outfits.  

xoxo

Mother's Day

I know it's late but let me greet all the hot momma's out there a Happy Mother's Day! How did you celebrate it? I'm sure you all had fun being with your families and friends. I spend the whole day doing errands but I got my mother's day gift the day before that. It felt like I needed holters for too much excitement last Saturday because I basically just spent my day shopping at the mall. I didn't spend crazy that day but it was fun doing some shopping without any distractions. I guess I could call it my "Me-time" but still tagging along my well-behaved daughter which is surprising because she don't normally behave well when we're at the mall. Though she did get her carousel, ice cream, build a bear, and cinnamon pretzel fixes...we just both had fun. Starting this week with a few haul posts and hope I don't get lazy blogging again. lol! Have a great week everyone! xoxo

Printed Leggings

This is a super late post. It was supposed to be up a couple weeks ago. 

Sunday errands went all day and its a good thing the weather did cooperate. I'm wearing my comfy leggings and one of my old blouse that I still love to wear. I know there's this certain rule about wearing leggings as jeans is a no-no unless your bum is fully covered. This blouse I'm wearing doesn't give enough cover so I decided to wear a long tank top just to give a little privacy down back there.

I bought the leggings from Sears. They are very comfy and the material is thicker than the forever21 leggings. I love how the prints aren't exaggerating the entire look but it still looks trendy because of the print. Not quite sure what the print is, at first glance I thought it was a snake skin. But still not sure about that...you be the judge. ;)

I know I've been missing a lot of outfit of the day posts and since the weather has been very weird lately, pretty much I'm just being a couch potato or mostly in my sweat pants even when going around doing errands. Well I hope this will do for now. I'm linking up with Transatlantic Blonde, The Pleated Poppy, Style Elixir .

Babble Wednesday | To Shop or Not To Shop?

 

Now what to do with my life? Shopping! I know most of you had that same feeling of craving for something you don't really know then you end up shopping? Basically, I do that all the time but oftentimes I end up window shopping online instead. I check ebay once in a while for stuff that I know I could get better deals rather than buying them from a name brand store that all they ever did was to rip you off. I really enjoy buying small stuff that I don't normally wear or use. I can't believe I'm even saying this, but now that I thought about it, I should look for a best ecommerce site builder to have my own buy and sell stuff! There are times that I feel like I should just skip posting some of my hauls especially clothing and accessories because I don't want to look like a hoarder. I am just plain guilty of buying stuff that I rarely wear and I sometimes regret why I even bothered buying them. That's all for the babble today....now off to another haul post. :p~ xox

Nail Stuff | Wet n' Wild Megalast, Salon Perfect Nail Art, Gel Nails, Girlie Nails

One of my favorite hauls is nail stuff and the most recent purchase I made at my favorite store would be these babies. Wet n' wild nail products never fails to impress me, especially their prices. I believe this is my first time to try this wet n' wild in this kind of packaging. It's probably just a different packaging but same quality and formula. Tricky! Tricky! Still, I love it.

I also found this Salon Perfect Nail art polish in a sleek bottle which I like. I don't know how to do any elaborate nail designs but I feel like I've been using white details quite often that's why I decided to just get the white one. The brush tip is stiff and works great for designing.

Anyway, I also picked up this Nail-aid Almost GEL Harder Nails. I bought it because of the name! It's funny but yes I was drawn by it and you know what, I don't regret it. It works wonders and true to what it claims. 3 minutes and your nails are hard as a rock! Not really... but seriously, your nail polish will be set and ready for action within 3 minutes. It is a nail hardener at the same time giving nails that gel-like finish. I've had it on my nails for a week now and I can already see my nails slowly growing but are still chip free. Regretfully, I couldn't find the receipt and I don't know how much it costs. But for sure it's not that much!

Ever wonder why I have this Girlie Nails stick-on nails for little girls? Because I have a little one whom I tag along while shopping for nail stuff and then she would pick up something for herself as well. I didn't tell her to get something for herself, I just saw it in the cart. It's a mom approved, east to apply, safe to remove, 24 stick-on scented nails. My daughter loves the sprinkle designs but she only had them on for 5 minutes then asked me to take them off because she couldn't grab stuff. lol! Here's here cutie nails...

 

Snow in May

It's creeping me out...Snow in May? Now that is definitely weird! Last year around April we did a Easter egg hunt for my daughter in our backyard and I remember her sweating like a pig. Winter didn't want to leave us and we are still experiencing some snow in the summer. I'm not going to complain...I actually like that it's still cool rather than hot and humid.

It's been raining a lot lately too. I guess we don't need a water fountain garden anymore. But we were contemplating on setting up one in our yard just for the fun of it. We just started a vegetable garden by the way and that's one thing I'm worried about when it got snowed in. I'm not sure if it's going to survive but we'll see! 

How's the weather at your end?! I bet it's really nice... :) xox

P&G Samples/Freebies

I just received my P&G samples in the mail and I must say it's fun getting freebies once in a while. It's not that much product to try out but for me it's a great way to try new products without spending full price...you can never tell whether you will love it or not. I only requested Tide Pods and Crest 3D White toothpaste. It takes a long time before you get your samples and coupons though. But it's not like I'm in a hurry to get them since I'm just getting them for free. I'm also excited to use these coupons that was included in the package, mostly products that we often use. 

If you are wondering why the box looks like this? I don't know either. My husband checked the mail and he just handed me this already beat up looking box.

If you love P&G brands and would like to get coupons and samples, visit pgeveryday.com and get yours shipped too! :) 

Strolling Down The Antique Mall

Do enjoy antique stuff? I was never a fan of it because growing up I was used to seeing most of our stuff at home being too old and still from my grandma's era. So I always wanted modern furniture and at least a newer looking stuff. But getting married and being able to decide how I should decorate my own house, I'm surprised that somehow adding just a tiny  bit of vintage flare to your design makes it look balanced...at least in my own aesthetic view. 

Anyway, we were at the Antique Mall just a few blocks from our house and I was hoping that they have something cool that I could turn into a sewing table. The mall is big and they have lots of stuff that is definitely interesting. I took a few shots since I wasn't sure if I'm even allowed to do that but for me they are really cool. If I'm a blogger and I'm stuck with this typewriter, how the hell am I going to transfer all my papers to the internet? Lol! Just kidding. I imagine holding aging room cigars while typing with this type writer? Now that's vintage!

They also have tons of vintage tin signs too. This one is perfect for our kitchen! I cook a lot and I know there are times that my husband and little one are just forced to eat what I prepare so this message says it all!

For real, these dresses are vintage! But all the clothes that are in trend right now looks just the same as this. 

We didn't get anything from the store except a bunny backpack that is not even a vintage for my daughter because she really wants it and wouldn't stop crying for it. If you a toddler, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

NYX Lip Pencils

Red is the season. Spring is finally here and my lips are screaming this burning red pop of color. I was browsing Cherryculture.com again few weeks ago, yes...weeks, and they were having a sale on their NYX products so I thought I should pick up some red lippies. I'm so bad at posting products that are on sale because I tend to post them late. But I guess it's not too late coz I think they still have on going sale on some of their Nyx products. 

Moving on to my lippy haul, they are all NYX brands and I picked up all the red and darker red shades except for one natural shade lip pencil. I only own two dark red lipsticks which are very old and should be disposed by now.  

NYX Long pencil in Cabaret. Swatches on my wrist and on my lips. I got it for only $1.50 and it is quite long so you are really getting a lot of products for its price. I only have two of these pencils but I think this is the reddest red you can get for their lip pencil line. It is kinda drying and has a very matte finish which I guess most lip pencils are, yet good enough for an inexpensive liner.

NYX Long pencil in Natural. I'm not totally impressed by the color on my lips since it is not as opaque as I would expect it to be. I need something that could cover up my pigmented lips but still appears natural and nude. I've swatched it right beside the Cabaret lip pencil.

NYX 844 Deep Red Slim Lip Liner Pencil. (0.04 oz). Costs $3.00. The swatch would be on the right and as you can tell, it looks a bit brighter than the Cabaret. Though it is shorter than the other pencils and costs a $1.50 more than the other ones, I find more creamy when applied and the color pay off is definitely gorgeous.

NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil in 709 Deep Red. Costs $3.50. I love this jumbo pencil a lot! It is very easy to apply, super creamy, the color is so opaque and it is so precise during application. It is a lip liner and lipstick in one that also contains mineral oil formula which helps your lips to not dry out quickly. It is perfect for on the go, and you really can't go wrong with the price.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in 10 Monte Carlo. Costs $5.00, 0.27 fl.oz. I was hoping it would stain my lips too but turns out it won't. I'm a big fan of matte lipsticks and matte eye shadows. So when I found out that Nyx has a matte lip cream line, I was really excited to try it. They say it's not a lipstick, nor a lip gloss. It's a lipstick cream that goes on silky but the finish is soft matte. I actually like it very much and I think I'm gonna try some of their other shades as well. It doesn't feel dry at all and my lips stayed moisturized all day. I would say it lasted a few hours but then I had to reapply it for more lip poppin'! I was wearing it for almost 3 hours and even ate with it and that's the result in my last photo (bottom).

(Swatches on my wrist (above) Jumbo Lip pencil (below) Stay matte cream)

I am still looking for the best red lipstick out there, I know I should try Mac too, since I know most women raves about it, but right now I think I should give other brands a chance and maybe I can find something more interesting at a very reasonable price. Do you have any favorite red lipsticks?