The Monster Ball

"I can't pay my rent, but I'm fucking gorgeous!"

Semi Precious Weapons, who opened at the Monster Ball

"POPULAR + GLAMOROUS, WE LOVE OURSELVES & NO1 ELSE!"

va-va-vanity

Nothin' wrong with being just a little bit vain

We need a little pretty cuz this country's insane

So go ahead and label me whatever you like

va-va-vanity

As many of you may know, The Monster Ball came to town and you can bet your sweet ass this monster was there. I went to the second show in Houston with three other friends, including Avan 'Memoirs of a Gaysian'. She was amazing -- a great performer, inspirational, comical, and has more endurance than a normal person should have. I don't want to spoil much because I filmed some great footage that I hope to be putting together in sometime soon. The tour isn't ending soon. So get your hands on some tickets to upcoming shows if you haven't already!

P.S. if you're going to I definitely recommend dressing up and NOT waiting until last minute, *ahem* the day before, to look for an outfit.. I ended up just packing essentials from my closet and putting something together once I got to Houston.

Since it was Gaga, I decided to wear a tamed smokey eye and added some edge to it with bottom lashes. I just grabbed some of my friend Moni's old lashes and stuck them on the bottom. Whatdoyathink?

Here are some less serious pictures of us in the car on the way to the venue and in the parking lot. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I lost my point and shoot camera months ago, and you can't bring in SLRs into the venue -- hence the lack of photographs.

L to R: Avan + Me, Moni + Michelle, Moni + Me

Head to toe:

DIY cross t-shirt

F21 fringe vest

Miley Cyrus black denim

Vintage jewelry

Vintage boots

Blur the lines of transition

I was feeling like I needed to dress a little less crazy recently, partly due to the heat here in Texas. It's scourching hot! So I opted for something subtle, yet still me. I originally had a plain gray vest, but quickly switched to the black fringe vest when I saw it laying around in Rose's gameroom.

Recently, I've made a lot of positive changes in my life -- for the better. This song totally keeps me going and relates very well to my current state of mind. Ironically, I heard it at the gym and had the lightbulb moment. The gym is one of my few positive changes! :)

Patti LaBelle - New Attitude

Head to toe:

Abercrombie red stripped shirt

Vintage bowtie

F21 fringe vest

G-Star Raw denim

EXPRESS belt

Urban Outfitters shoes

The Fame

Can I hire paparazzis to take pictures of me when I'm feeling cute?

Over the weekend, mxrosie and I went out for some drinks to celebrate her freedom from first session of summer school. I can't believe by the end of this year she'll be graduating! So proud! It's been such a long overdue journey.

In all honesty, I'd rather have my privacy.

"You're our biggest fans, you'll follow us until we love you."

---------

L to R -- Me, Tony, Rose, Sam, and Eric

I had such an amazing time this past weekend. Especially Friday night. I started by day by finishing off the week at the gym, because I knew my caloric intake this weekend would be plentiful, then met Sam at happy hour with Rose, Eric and Tony. (picture above) Happy hour was great, it was my first time at this new 'best kept secret'. They had friendly bartenders who made strong, delicious drinks with even better finger foods to accompany your buzz. From the night on, we went to Halcyon for more drinks and smores. After stuffing our faces, we finally decided to hit the dance floor at Rain. From then on is a blur.

Head to toe:

Diesel shirt

Urban Outfitters tie

Vintage vest

BDG denim

Zara shoes

Urban Outfitters studded belt

Avan's Birthday. More to come.

L to R: Kevin, Chi, Kaidon, Shelley, Cici, me, Touyen, and Laney

UPDATED

Some of my favorite photobooth photos

Girls with the Birthday boy

---------

Head to toe:

Vintage blazer

BDG Maroon v-neck t-shirt

Urban Outfitters necklace

Miley Cyrus/Max Azria jeans

Fashion Fundraising

This post is so late - just like all of my other posts...

Last week, my friend Kaidon facebooked me asking me to go to a Fashion Fundraising event at Ruta Maya on South Congress. Rose came with me, here's us arriving to the event and taking pictures in front of this really gorgeous waterfall fountain.

Head to toe:

Express fedora

vintage vest

Hanes t-shirt

F21 cross necklace

Metro Park Buddha beads

American Apparel yellow denim pants

ASOS sandals

-------

We were running a little late, like always, but luckily got to the event a few minutes before the show started. The space and company was very quaint, it was definitely not a formal event at all. Good thing! I would have not been appropriately dressed.

I came to the event without any background knowledge of the designers, so I really didn't know what to expect. When the show started, I was a little unimpressed but the show did gradually get better. The designers who showed were Emily Brilliant, Amanda Fay, Holly Hobbs, Lisa Husberg, and Monica Li. Each showed about 5 looks they designed and I've got to admit, some of them where not impressive. I had either seen something like it before, or it didn't catch my eye. I do, however, must mention that although I was not fond over looks as a whole, there were individual pieces and accessories that I did love. There was one jacket (no picture, unfortunately) that was a cropped black bomber jacket with insane accents. It was paired with a long gray maxi dress. I also enjoyed the hand painted tie-dyed dress (picture below).

I don't have pictures of all the looks. Here are some that I managed to snap.

Enjoy - and tell me what you think of the show!

At the end of the show, we were mingling with our new friends and fellow bloggers Diya, In Her Stilettos, Katie, Her Side Job, and Jennifer, Lala and Bitsy.

We took some pictures together but Katie has them on her camera, so I'm just waiting for them to pop up on the Internet somewhere! Lol. While we were talking, someone came up to Kaidon and asked to take a picture with him because they were 'twinies'. The look on Kaidon's face was priceless! He was mortified, especially cause his shirt is Miley Cyrus for Wal-Mart and they very well could've been wearing the same shirt! Good times.

After the event we chatted more and took some pictures outside by the fountain again, this time with Diya.

A touch of pink

This past weekend has been completely busy, actually, this past month has been completely busy and with current situations, I don't see relaxation and summer days ahead. Sorry, that was a run on sentence. But to get to my point, yesterday I went out with some good old friends and some new ones, too. I stopped by my cousin's workplace to meet her and had some quick photos of us taken by our friend Jenny. I sense in the future that you guys will be seeing more of her photos on here. I'm always looking for photographers that I can feel loose and unselfconscious with.

But this is enough rambling. Here are the pics.

Mai's blog - Rose's blog

Lately, I've been feeling a bit stressed and gloomy thinking about a situation that I wish not to express on here because it is personal and private. What I will say about the matter is that no one is dying, physically no but possibly metaphorically. It's the beginning of summer where everyone is finishing off their last finals, packing up and going back to their 'roots', so to speak. Unfortunately, I'm not going anywhere. I don't feel like I did when I used to get excited for hot summer days and long summer nights. I'd much perfer it be autumn so I can wear black and off blacks, as it is the color of my heart. Kidding. I'm not down in the dumps, but close. The soft minimal touch of color in my shirt and belt resemble hope that I'll be spashed with color very soon; as you can see the touch of pink underneath my peeling black shirt. Things will look up very soon. That's the thing with life and fashion, everyday is different, things are always changing, styles and trends are coming and going, it's an constant rollercoaster - much like our lives and emotions.

To quote Heidi (Klum, not Montag), one day your in and the next day you're out.

One day you're down and the next day you'll be floating on air.

Head to toe:

Urban Outfitters pink cotton shirt

Forever 21 black cotton shirt

Buddha beads from Metro Park

Miley Cyrus/Max Azria black denim

Aldo oxfords

Vintage blue leather belt with gold buckle

Vintage black leather bag

Back in black

I'M STILL ALIVE & I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU.

<3

"It's been awhile, I know I shouldn't have kept you waiting. But I'm here now."

New posts up soon!

-------

Outfit of the day

Thrifted blazer, borrowed from a friend

Forever 21 black linen button-up

Forever 21 silver necklaces

Miley Cyrus/Max Azria black skinny denim

Vintage ankle boots

Russian Princess - on a budget

Over the past year, some of my closest fashionistas have traded in their handy, full of evil and regrets piece of plastic, for a few dollars and coupons. Who says a fashionista can't be frugal? Isn't that the smartest decision for those of us who don't have a Swiss bank account? I think so. Here's to being frugalistas!

I recently made a vintage/thrift shopping trip on South Congress - an amazing shopping area full of vintage boutiques, thrift shops, one of three American Apparels in my city, high-end boutiques, and good eats. After rummaging through some vintage boutiques, we went next door to a thrift store owned by a local church before it closed, there I found this amazing trench coat by Banana Republic (seen below) and a Lanvin-esque bowtie.

I've accumulated plenty thrifty finds that I have yet to wear because I simple don't have anywhere to pair them with. Usually, I don't buy items without knowing how it'll fit into my wardrobe, but sometimes you come across items that are too good to pass up at the time of purchase! After getting the trench I wanted to get some good use out of it before the Texas heat decides to take over. I paired the coat with Aunt's sweater that I stole from her closet, cream coloured denim versus black to give it a lighter look and feel since I decided to wear black boots, some small accessories, and of course, touches of fur! I love the way all the pieces come together to make a beautiful color palette. Many runways shows, past and present, show looks that are head to toe one colour. I love it on models and ad campaigns, but normally, I hate to dress/look matchy-matchy but in this case, I'll make an exception.

Here's a prime example of looks that are all one colour. Dior fall 2007. We love Dior. We love Jessica Stam.

Much of my look includes vintage/thrift finds mixed in with regularly priced retail pieces which is why I call this look Russian Princess, on a budget. I always encourage everyone to pair high-end with low-end to achieve the perfect look. With that in mind, try to have most of your high-end pieces be your staple pieces that you can wear on many occasions.

Head to toe:

Urban Outfitter's faux fur hat (borrowed from mxrosie)

Dilated sunglasses

Banana Republic trench coat

Zara faux fur vest

Vintage sweater

Vintage gold necklace

Forever 21 tiered fringe necklace

Urban Outfitter's jean

Vintage boots