For the past two Saturdays, I’ve gone hiking with my sister. Sadly, not this past weekend since she was working but we have time for more hikes this fall. I love hiking because it feels amazing to immerse myself in nature and get outdoors. When I go hiking, I’ll probably spend an hour or more following a trail. Also, it’s a great motivator to get in my steps for the day.

FUN FACT: Without fail, my sister and I will get lost since sometimes these trails intersect with one another. Later, we’ll be like “Uh is the parking lot where we parked the car in?”. This happened both times during our recent hiking adventures. To our defense, we had never been to either nature park or reservation before and were unfamiliar with their trails.

I’ve mentioned this on Instagram before but just like how I’ll stop numerous times at a museum to take photos of art, I’ll do the same with nature. This habit of mine probably gets annoying for my sister, but I cannot help. I enjoy appreciating what’s before me and gathering inspiration and memories.

Since I mentioned the two hiking adventures I had earlier, I thought it’d be best to share photos from both times. The set of photos above are from the first hike. It was also the first hike of the year. My sister and I tried to go hiking before in August, but a storm’s aftermath had paused those plans.

Anyway, during this hike I had my bangs slicked back revealing too much bare forehead. You can probably see the tiredness in my face without a stitch of makeup — the horror haha. At least I kept hydrated with my trusty Hydroflask. My favorite photo from this set of nature captures is the deer one. The cute woodland creature was one of many we saw but at that moment close enough for me to photograph. Also included are close-ups of a rock pathway, tall grass with dainty flowers peeking through, and a fork on the trail with some fallen trees.

For the set of photos below, the nature reservation we went to started showing signs of the leaves changing colors. I love that, it says the fall season is here! With these nature captures, obviously, I took a bunch of photos of trees to highlight the color changes. My favorite in this set is the broken fallen tree trunk. There’s a lot of details in this shot — the sunlight peeking from the center, the twisty branches, and excess bark. It has a moody feel which I love and sort of perfect for the spooky season. Also, without makeup again but my bangs hide everything haha. Nature is stunning though right?

Have I made you interested to get outdoors and go hiking? Hope you all have a great week! I know it’s only Tuesday, but the weekend will be here in no time.

xoxo

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I had the mindset that I wasn’t going apple picking this year due to COVID. A lot of things have been put on hold due to the pandemic, for me, it meant opportunities for adventure being postponed. When my sister saw that the farm we go to had a reservation system in place, we booked a date and timeslot. Then we went apple picking a week later which took place last Sunday.

Since I’m from New Jersey, masks are mandatory (and thoroughly agree on that). Also, can’t forget that social distancing is important too. Honestly, I thought there were too many people for my liking depending on how many are in a group. It was just my sister and me together so we kept to ourselves in the apple orchard. We had a fun time and obviously had to stop by the farm store afterward to pick up apple cider doughnuts, apple cider, and apple pie — the ultimate apple trifecta!

It wasn’t Fall yet when we were at the apple orchard, but it is now — yay! Anyway, I noticed the color orange all over my Instagram feed before our trip to the farm so naturally, I wanted to add some fall spice to my outfit. You can’t do a fall activity (at the end of summer) without dressing for the upcoming season, am I right?

So that morning, I reached for a burnt orange faux wrap dress I purchased from Madewell last year. I wore it for the first time that day and definitely love it for its minimal design and ease to wear. The temperatures ended up being in the low 70s making it perfect for me to wear a denim jacket. Voila — a layered look to invoke the fall season.

Again, happy Fall — it arrives today! Also, I’m happy to get back at blogging after a few years of hiatus with sporadic posts. You will be seeing more content from me for the rest of the year. Hope you all have a lovely week!

xoxo

(wearing: ASOS denim jacket, Madewell Texture & Thread faux wrap dress, Doc Martens Chelsea boots)

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From my point of view, birthdays are an expanse of time where I have made it to another year and am alive and living life. Within this amount of time, I would have gone through growth, a mix of emotions, and made many memories to store in my mental experiences folder (aka my brain). Basically, all the things that make us all human.

Anyway, what a year it has been since I haven’t blogged since my last birthday. Here’s a quick rundown of what happened the rest of 2019:

1. Spent a weekend in Boston for my birthday
2. Took a two month break from Instagram
3. Started thrifting again and totally loving the thrill of second hand shopping
4. Went apple picking like I do every fall
5. Saw my favorite band live a few times during their fall tour — including traveling to Florida for my sister’s birthday
6. Went to the National History Museum in NYC with my childhood bestie
7. Traveled to Thailand with my dad and sister to visit family (my dad’s side) for three weeks

And so now here we are in 2020 in a pandemic. I swear the phrase “this will be the best year” will never sit right with me again. Even five months later, I’m still unsure how the future will be like or what is normal anymore. One thing that has definitely changed for me is my lifestyle — I’m staying at home more. I still go to work and make trips to the variety of grocery store options in my area. I’ve also slowly incorporated going to thrift stores again because I missed shopping second hand in-person versus online. However, I’m far from being lazy and am doing cardio videos via YouTube for fitness. I’m hoping to use the rest of the year to instill the importance of reestablishing a creative voice and outlet for myself — it’s waned since my mom’s passing in 2016 and I let that happen.

So to wrap things up, there are absolutely no plans to travel and I’m fine with that because I’d rather be safe and healthy than sorry. I just want to see if I can get all the ideas brewing inside my head to come to fruition!

Hope you all have a nice and safe, social distancing weekend!

xoxo

If anything, find me on Instagram @fashionready

(photo edited in black and white via VSCO, taken during a car ride while in Thailand November 2019)

The post Thoughts As I Turn A Year Older appeared first on FASHION READY.

There’s never a chance to celebrate the same birthday twice (unless you have decided to stop counting your age as you get older). I, however, haven’t reached the point where I’m afraid of getting older. And so on Tuesday (August 13), I turned 31 years old. To celebrate another year in my 30s, I thought I would this fun post of giving you some random facts about me so you may all learn about who I am. Does anyone have any random facts about themselves, they’d like to share?

1. I’m half-Thai, half-Filipino
2. I have a sister and we’re 14 months apart
3. My favorite color is gray
4. I love a band called The Maine
5. Listening to music is life and expect to find me at a concert often
6. A playlist on my Spotify labeled “Love” pertains to all songs about love, so all the good, the bad and ugly parts of it
7. I love art museums, but I’m not much of an artist
8. I like to go thrifting and shop second hand
9. Vintage black leather Coach bags are my favorite to find second hand
10. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, but I do not overindulge these days
11. Baking brownies and cookies are my go-to treats
12. I prefer lattes (or tea) over coffee, but starting to like cold brews
13. I’m a visual person so I naturally gravitated towards editorials when falling in love with fashion
14. Bodysuits are quickly becoming the must-have pieces I need more of
15. I used to wear a lot of colors, but now I don’t because the majority of my wardrobe is black
16. I’ve been wearing eyeliner since middle school so my winged liner skills are ace
17. I have traveled to 17 out of 50 states in the U.S.
18. Seattle and Portland are places in the U.S. that I want to visit next
19. My dream destination would be Paris or anywhere in Europe at this point
20. Almond croissants are my favorite French pastry
21. I prefer chocolate cake over vanilla cake
22. Whenever I’m in southern California going to Porto’s Bakery is a must
23. Also going to In-N-Out when I’m out west is a must too
24. I love capturing moments so I’m often stopping to take random photos, it’s worse when I’m at a museum or around nature
25. If I made more time for myself, I would read more books
26. I consider myself to have a heart of gold (let me kill you with my attentive and kind nature)
27. I’m pretty quiet when you first meet me, but I warm up once I get to know someone
28. I used to be hopeless romantic (damn you rom-coms of my young adolescence), now I’m a hopeful romantic
29. With each new travel opportunity, I’m slowly learning to become a better packer (seriously need to stop packing last minute)
30. Being eco-friendly is important to me — reusable water bottle (yes), reusable bags (yes), metal straws (need to remember to carry them)
31. I am working on creating and maintaining a cruelty-free beauty routine

Hope you are all doing something exciting this weekend! I will be — going to Boston for some post-birthday fun!

xoxo

(wearing: Madewell top, Old Navy shorts, Vans sneakers, Livho sunglasses)

The post 31 Things About Me appeared first on FASHION READY.

And so it’s mood board time! For me, I feel like it’s quite a process to gather some images and collage them. I usually like to collage images by color, mood or the action going on in the photo so most of the time you will see pairings due to similar color tones. Other times, as seen in the second collage, I combined images with stylish girls either motioning to tilt a hat or raising their arm as if to shield their eyes from sunlight. This time around, I did something different and placed an inspirational quote along with the 5-image collages. I thought by doing that it would help convey a mood for their groupings. I guess you could say I do everything with purpose no matter how much time it takes to complete so I hope you find inspiration or feel inspired.

Have a lovely weekend!

xoxo

(all images have been reblogged via my Tumblr)

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Some of my favorite things include the 1960s, chic femme looks, beautiful photography and things with a French feel. This lookbook from silk knitwear brand, Une Heures, encompasses exactly all of those.

Over the weekend, I was browsing and reblogging on Tumblr including the first image and clicked on the source link which introduced me to a knitwear brand that focuses on producing 100% silk pieces. The best thing I love about Une Heures is its choice of art direction. As mentioned in my opening sentence, I do adore the ’60s and the brand itself states it is inspired by the cinema of the 1960s. It definitely shows!

From all the beautiful imagery it shares, I can tell there’s a unique vibe — artsy with a European feel. I’m particularly fond of the very French oh la la vibes from this lookbook. After all, the model herself reminds me of the famous French icons, Jane Birkin and Francoise Hardy. I mean come on, who doesn’t love an understated chic femme who sports a fringe?

Anyway, enough blabbing from me and enjoy this glorious set of photos. Oh, and the original lookbook has over thirty images so I tried my best to refrain from posting them all. However, I do think I failed and there’s still some scrolling action required of you to read this post. Well, if you choose to see the entire catalog of photos, then check the source link below.

Hope you are all having a great week!

xoxo

Lookbook: Part 1 – “We look into each other in the eyes, but what for?”
Brand: Une Heures
Photographer: Nastassia Brückin
Art Direction: Chrissy Leavell
Model: Emily Labowe

(via: Une Heures)

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FUN FACT: There are plenty of farms in my home state of New Jersey offering fresh fruits and vegetables, plants, and flowers. I’ve been exploring farms for a few years now mostly doing pumpkin and apple picking in the fall. My sister had Saturday off so I decided we needed to have a fun weekend activity. I had seen photos recently on Instagram featuring a beautiful tulip farm, but sadly tulip season is now over. However, I did come across another possible activity — strawberry picking!

I honestly had no idea that there were any farms catering to picking at strawberries here. The farm I was most interested in was about an hour drive, but we chose to make the drive anyway. There was an admission fee for picking which included a tractor ride to and from the strawberry fields. Also, you had the option to buy a container or bring your own. I bought the larger container as it was our first time, but I would definitely think about bringing my own next time.

It was a warm and very sunny day, about 80 degrees. I originally thought about wearing a red denim skirt (that hits just above the knee) with a black top but decided against it. If you’re going to be doing manual labor looking and picking at strawberries, might as well wear shorts right? I definitely wanted to wear red either way because another fun fact I like to dress to theme sometimes and strawberries are red. I recently thrifted this men’s red linen shirt — it’s oversized so I tied it at my waist. Then paired it with an old thrifted pair of denim shorts, along with some Vans sneakers. Oh and my Vans got so filthy — dusted with dirt and red stains from squished strawberries, that I had to clean them before wearing again.

Anyway, we got quite the haul and I paid $26 for the strawberries we picked. Also ended up checking out the farm store for freshly baked apple pie and homemade ice cream. It was a fun experience and I’d be interested in doing it again next year.

Hope you all a great weekend!

xoxo

(wearing: thrifted men’s linen shirt, thrifted denim shorts, Vans old skool sneakers)

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I don’t get to go thrifting very often, but when I do I like to go with a plan in mind — what particular pieces I’m looking for and what sections to browse. On my two most recent trips, I picked up some blazers and I’m so happy! I used to wear blazers a few years back but eventually stopped and got rid of them because most were ill-fitting (I used to thrift without thinking much about fit). And then since fall, I’ve been on the hunt for some blazers loving that blazer with jeans look.

So when I was looking for inspiration, I fell into the black hole of browsing because Pinterest has so so many images. From what you can see, I gathered quite an array of blazer street style inspiration. Particularly I’m fond of the pairing of clean-lined blazers with a casual element like a t-shirt or jeans, but a trouser gives a strong look as well. With whatever style choice you choose, I definitely say you cannot go wrong with a blazer right now.

Hope you are all having a great week! Anyone else excited for the weekend? I am because I’m going on a mini getaway.

xoxo

(all images have been found via Pinterest – I do not own any of these images)

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There’s something about a neutral color palette that sets a tone for me. The color white especially has consistently (for me) been representative of a blank slate or the foundation for new beginnings. This mood board of images was something I put together last year, but are so indicative of how I’m feeling lately — being proactive to make changes. I often call myself a positive optimist, but that doesn’t mean fear never interferes so I’m working on trusting and believing that I know who I am and what I want to do to reach my next path.

Hope you all have a fantastic week!
xoxo

P.S. I know it’s been a long time, but I’m working on being a better blogger and sharing my personal outlook on things again.

(all images have been reblogged via my Tumblr – I do not own any of these images)

The post A Neutral Balance Deux appeared first on FASHION READY.

I’ve got a penchant for botanical gardens so consider me thrilled finding an editorial set around a plethora of plants with an autumnal color palette. Although you won’t find me wearing much color, the mix of yellows, browns, and orange surely would make me consider the combination if I did. The syling here is great with very elegant looks. If only my own fall wardrobe could be this fab!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
xoxo

Editorial: Goldener Herbst
Magazine: Gala Germany October 18 2018
Photographer: Andreas Ortner
Styled by: Birgit Schlotterbeck
Model: Adel Iudina

(via Fashion Editorials)

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