❤♔‬SweetDreams♔‬❤

[Nov 2024] Company Holiday Parties

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Hello again angels!! I can't believe it's Friday already. I hope you've been enjoying all the updates this week. We're almost into the 2025 backlog so I'm looking forward to finally talking about some of the more positive and interesting things in my life (˶˃ᆺ˂˶)

At the end of the year my company likes to throw a themed holiday party. In 2024 it was tropical island themed which... was definitely a choice cause it was freezing by then Σ(°ロ°)

Still I wanted to be a good sport and try dressing to the theme. I obviously had to go full gal for this so I put this outfit together and bundled myself under a long trench coat for the chilly commute to the venue (ง'̀-'́)ง

I feel like I didn't really have the time or energy to do gal make for most of October and November that year so I put in extra effort for this look and took a bunch of pics to lift my spirits.

The party was fun and I really appreciated that everyone dressed up more for this theme than the last one but maybe it's just because Hawaiian/tropical themed items are a little easier to buy compared to "snow disco/ball"?? (╭ರ_•́)

We also had a smaller dinner for just my team and it was really nice.

This was a really cozy way to wind down from the crazy launch season and end the year.

That's it for this post! Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next one.

[Nov 2024] Usher: Past, Present, Future Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Hello angels, I hope you're having a great day. I wasn't sure if I wanted to make this post because I was disappointed to learn that Usher ended up touring with Chris Brown this year. I think to be fair to myself I'll just keep this one short so I don't provide these weirdos with more support.

I got my nails done earlier in the week and went with this sparkly nude design. I've always loved a scatter gem moment so needless to say I was obsessed with this set.

It was already cold and rainy here in November so I bundled up as best I could while still trying to look cute. I feel like I ended up going for a very millennial outfit ꉂ(˵˃ ᗜ ˂˵)

I was lucky to have gotten really good seats thanks to AMEX and coincidentally our friend Vivian also went to the concert and was sitting in a row near us. I've never really run into friends at concerts like this before so that was fun.

The show itself was really enjoyable and I felt super nostalgic listening to all these songs that came out when I was a teen. Just really unfortunate that I can't really enjoy them the same anymore. I'm genuinely so sad that Usher would associate with someone as shitty as Chris Brown in big 2026 ૮(◞ ‸ ◟ )ა

Besides that, the concert was awesome and I had a lot of fun. Usher is a really good performer and the crowd had great energy. I hadn't been to a concert in a while so it was nice to finally get out to one. I hope I get more opportunities soon but idk I feel like music is kinda blah these days. I'm really only looking forward to seeing BIGBANG.

I did rediscover my love for theatre after New York so I've been seeing a lot of musicals since then, but that's a post for another time.

Thank you for reading! See you later ⊹ ࣪ ˖

[Oct 2024] October Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 14:30:00 +0000

Hi angels, hope you're having a great week so far. I'm sure I've mentioned this before but fall is usually the busiest time for me with work because that's when Call of Duty releases. This was one of my toughest years tbh and I was still struggling a lot with my grief. I tried really hard to put on a brave face and thug it out, but I ended up needing to go to grief counselling because of how hard the anniversary of my dad's passing was hitting me.

I think I've always used my appearance as an outlet for these kinds of feelings since I was old enough to whether it was piercings, tattoos or dying my hair. This time around all my maintenance appointments all lined up at once so I got my nails and hair done around the same time, which helped me cope a lot tbh (｡ᵕ ◞ _◟)

I got this fruit themed nail set instead of going for a Halloween theme. I felt like I needed a little whimsy and uplifting instead of something spooky or gloomy.

I wasn't feeling very inspired or creative with my hair but I was tired of blonde so I kind of settled on this pink and blonde split dye. I thought it was cute at first but I ended up really disliking it once it faded because it just didn't feel like "me". Also I feel like pink hair reminds me too much of my rancid ex best friend so I desperately wanted this off my head after like 2 weeks.

Despite all that I made it to launch day and was happy to add another cool project to my resume. We launched Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and the office was decorated with lots of cool branding though I can't show a lot of the in-office stuff for privacy and legal reasons.

We also got a bunch of custom treats to celebrate. I'm always impressed by the local cake making talent because what do you mean someone made a bunch of fondant bullets and stuck it on a cake for us ∘ ∘ ∘ ( °ヮ° ) ?

Unfortunately I was so mentally and emotionally exhausted at this point I didn't even really celebrate this achievement at all. I want to say that it got better soon but 2025 was also really hard for me work-wise. Honestly things didn't really get better for me until I got my promotion this year and tbh I still feel very drained but I'm optimistic that things are getting better for me with each passing day so I just need to keep my head up (ᵕ • ᴗ •)

That's all for this post! Sorry it wasn't the most cheerful but I promise the next post will be a lot more exciting. Chat to you again soon! ♡

[Oct 2024] Gyaru GRWM Video ‧｡⋆

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Hi angels, how are you? I was just thinking about how much fun I had making videos a few years ago so I feel like it's weirdly fitting to be making this post now. I ended up getting really burnt out with work and life so I think this was one of the last things I filmed and posted. I'm in a much better place now and I really want to explore more vlog/video projects so if there's anything you'd like to see from me please let me know in the comments!!

I was inspired to film myself getting ready because I wanted to make a video with some fun editing/transitions. I really enjoyed making this but it's funny looking back at this now because I don't do my makeup like this at all anymore LMAO. It's ok it's nice to see my progress I guess (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

You can check this out on youtube or instagram ⋆⭒˚.⋆

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 鍾明敏 ∥ 𝙊𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙖 ♡ (@mingmoney888)

Idk if people even like tutorials or get ready with me videos anymore?? I feel like a lot of the stuff I see online these days are just crazy before/after makeup transformations with some insane transition editing.

I'd totally be down to try but I don't think I have the patience to be living in key frame hell during my 5-9 (╥ ᴗ ╥)

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you in the next post!! ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)

[Sept 2024] 10 Year Anniversary ♡

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Hi angels! Hope you're doing well. It feels funny to be writing this post because I just celebrated my 12 year anniversary last week but I guess that's what happens when you have a permanent 2 year backlog hahaha (ᵕ ´ᗜ`)

After coming back from New York I was already immediately missing Reina and Vix. I was trying not to be to glum about it but Kevin was sweet and took me to the mall to cheer me up. He bought me a lil guy for my bag and some treats which really lifted my mood. We picked out this Mickey because it reminded me of Kevin and I couldn't help but laugh at his little expression every time I looked at him lol (•ᴗ•,, )

Later we met up with some friends for dinner. We went to this new (at the time) katsu specialty restaurant where they give you unlimited rice, salad and soup refills. We took some silly photos first of course (¬ᴗ ´¬ )

I thought it was insane that you could even get refills on anything here because the portions were gigantic already. We all left completely stuffed and probably could've just saved on gas money by rolling home ꉂ (´∀｀)

I ordered the katsu with radish and ponzu. It was absolutely decadent.

I didn't like any of the selfies I took that night but my makeup that day was on point af. I think to this day, this is still one of my all time favourite eye looks I've ever done. Maybe I'll make a tier list or ranking post next so I can share them all with you (╭ರ_•́)

On our anniversary day Kevin told me he had a very special and fancy dinner planned so we kept the day pretty lowkey. I made us lunch which was baked mackerel, rolled omelette, miso soup, and rice with some kimchi. I tried to take an aesthetic photo but after I snapped it I realized my table decor was seriously lacking!! \(”˚☐˚)/

I've since gotten rid of these placements and got some cute ones instead. I'll show you next time (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

To make this milestone anniversary extra special, Kevin had made us a reservation at Okeya Kyujiro. It's a theatrical omakase restaurant that opened in Vancouver in 2022 but because it's reservation only with very limited seats every night, we just never really found a reason to check it out before this.

The seating is quite intimate and we were so fortunate to have gotten the seat directly facing the chef.

picture from google

our view ( • ̀ω•́ )✧

It was a really involved experience with a lot of different courses. For each one there was a theatrical element/performance to it and the chef would explain the ingredients and preparation to us. Funny enough I think every other party seated with us that night was also either celebrating a birthday or anniversary so the overall vibe the whole night was incredibly positive and heartwarming!!

Every dish we got was so beautiful I felt so bad eating it but the flavors made me feel a bit less guilty about ruining these tiny works of art (˵ • ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧ I've never had anything like this before so this was truly one of the most fun and memorable dining experiences I've ever had.

I don't think I have photos of each course because there were literally like 25 of them but I think you get the idea ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ

I was so touched that they had prepared a special dessert for us and the chef offered to take our picture where we both look stupidly polite for some reason ( •᷄ᴗ•́)

Overall it was a wonderful dinner and anniversary. At this point I had just put an incredibly difficult year behind me so I was (and still am) very grateful to have such a loving and caring partner by my side through it all. I feel very blessed to be this loved ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

Thank you for reading! See you next time ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

Post Summer Update ˚˖𓍢ִ໋❀

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 01:40:19 +0000

HellooOOoOOOooo is this thing on? ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ

How are you angels? I hope you enjoyed your summer! I fear that keeping up with social media has become almost entirely uninteresting and joyless for me so I've been living very offline these days. Every day there seems to be some new thing trending that just drains and depresses me so I've been spending more time away from screens.

That being said, I've missed blogging a lot so I have been meaning to make an effort to return regularly but I've been spending extra time at work this year because I was securing a promotion. I'm happy to say that I finally got it this month, but it felt really underwhelming and I'm not entirely satisfied with it so I think I'm going to try and go for another one really soon rather than to take things a little slower like I planned (｡ᵕ ◞ _◟)

Anyways, I'm not really sure what I'd like to do with this blog. I still have a lot of backlog posts I want to share but I also want to talk about things in the present so I think I'll start doing a mixture of both. I was always adamant about having posts in a chronological order because I like having my blog serve as a personal diary, but I find that I care much less about those kinds of arbitrary restrictions now and I just want to focus on doing things that I enjoy and make me happy right now ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ

For this post I guess I will follow a similar style of post to my last big update and just share some highlights from February until now. I'm sure I'll make dedicated posts to some of the more involved topics in the future.

Finished Tattoo

20 hours later I finally finished my sleeve!! It hurt so bad in the elbow but it was worth enduring because I love it so so sooooo much.

I'm still getting used to dressing myself around it because it's such a big piece and the colors are really bold, but it makes me feel complete and I love looking at it hehe (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)

Self Care

A big focus for me since finishing my tattoo is to lock in and take better care of myself. Now that I'm on ADHD meds I feel like I am better equipped to actually get my shit together.

I set a goal in June to finally get fit but since I was still healing from my tattoo I focused on forming better eating habits and repairing my relationship with food. I downloaded an app to track my intake and macros while deliberately focusing on hitting protein and fiber goals instead of counting calories. I felt like this was a more reasonable and approachable method than anything else I've tried in the past and gradually I was able to curb my emotional/boredom snacking by eating more nutritionally whole meals.

smoked salmon and egg toast with
a marinated tomato salad

baked salmon and veggies

soy marinated tofu and eggs with kimchi
and mixed grain rice

Once my tattoo finished healing I went to get a DEXA scan to get a better understanding of where my body was at and it..... was not good lol but that's ok because I was just coming out of a very long period of recovery so I knew I was in bad shape.

After the scan I spent some time creating a fitness routine and lifestyle that I could adopt and sustain long term. I started with mobility exercises and stretching before moving on to weight lifting. At the time of writing this post it's been about 3 months since I started and I've lost over 10lbs and gained a bunch of muscle. I also did a follow up scan and was proud to learn that I successfully did a body recomp and went down almost 3% in body fat! I'm going to do another scan in the new year and my goal is to go down another 3% while building more muscle ( • ̀ω•́ )✧

Intentional Curation

I mentioned in my last update that I was going through a decluttering phase with my closet. I still have a ton to get rid of but I've made a lot of progress in removing items that don't suit me or that I don't wear. I think I just need to do a little at a time until I eventually get to a place where I'm happily wearing everything instead of having random items collecting dust in the back of my closet.

Lately I've been using pinterest more to help organize my fashion inspo. I realized I'm quite a visual learner so having pictures grouped together on a board makes it easier for me to see what my "boom" is and also to pick out the different ways I could style the same item. I still need to have some separation between my professional and off-duty/casual wardrobe, but I think I've narrowed it down to a few core elements for each of these which makes coming up with a coherent personal style way less difficult.

I feel like I need to be a different version of myself at work because of the corporate environment and politics, so I'm leaning into that with my wardrobe too. Part of that means I have to adhere to certain style choices that I probably wouldn't outside of a work setting but I think that's ok and makes dressing up outside of work more fun.

some "office style" inspo I have saved

I'm currently using work as an opportunity to experiment with being a polished looking adult lol. I try to imagine like I'm dressing up to work at Vogue or something so I naturally want to avoid super casual items (sweatpants, tshirts, hoodies, etc) and reach for more tailored and intentional items like trousers, midi skirts, and slingback heels.

This gives me a good base to rework my gal identity too. I've been gravitating towards Chinese streetwear, off-duty model, and ane gyaru aesthetics so being able to see that clearly in my boards has really helped solidified my decision to part with more cutesy or floral items in my closet. I've struggled with this a lot in the past because I still really like hyper-femme & cute styles, but I think I've finally accepted and embraced the fact that I just don't like those styles on myself and that I can find my own way of expressing femininity and cuteness.

my current off-duty/gal inspo

Makeup & Skincare

I've also started applying this intentional curation mindset to my makeup and skincare routines. I always felt pressured to keep a full roster of products and alternatives in case my favourite thing got discontinued or reformulated, but this has honestly been a very suffocating and needlessly stressful way to live.

I've been paring down my collection slowly by using things up and only repurchasing my absolute favorites. I'm not on a "no-buy" or anything like that, but I'm trying to be more intentional with my consumption so whether it's clothes, makeup, skincare, or contact lenses, if I'm not completely obsessed and in love with it I will not buy it no matter how much of a bargain or discount it may be ദ്ദി˙∇˙)ว

I actually just made a post on insta about my favourite skincare products so if you wanna check that out I'll put it here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 鍾明敏 ∥ 𝙊𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙖 ♡ (@mingmoney888)

In terms of actual makeup styling, I've been really into glueless lash clusters and less dramatic contact lenses. I guess I'm reaching full aunty status at this point haha. It's been over a year since I got my double eyelid surgery and I've noticed that now that everything is settled, all of my old strip lashes are far too large and dramatic for my new eye line.

The diy lash cluster extensions I was doing in my last update were a little more flattering than strip lashes but tbh I just don't enjoy the feeling of having something stuck on my eye for like 3 days straight. My sister had bought me a box of glueless lashes from her vacation in China and I've been hooked ever since. I went a little bit crazy on yesstyle with my commission payout and bought a whole bunch to try haha (ᵕ⸝⸝• ᴗ •) I know it's a lot but anything I didn't like I just gifted to friends so nothing went to waste!

Not sponsored but if you're interested in any of them I'll link them for you in order from left to right in the photo. If you want to support me and get a discount with your order you can use my code NASSST at checkout ♡

I've been trying out different combos and styles for work and gal which has been really fun. This sort of look has been my go-to for work because it's quick and easy. Unfortunately, a lot of these glueless cluster styles are pretty natural so I don't really think they're the best for gyaru.

My perfect lash combo for gal right now is a strip lash on top with clusters on the bottom. It gives me the maximum amount of comfort while still reading gal. I've been going a bit lighter on my undereye makeup so that the clusters can stand out more but overall I think this is my favourite way to do my gyaru makeup these days.

I would say that if you want to go for a full cluster gyaru look you definitely need to opt for the most dramatic and spikey styles you can find or they just won't show up through your eyeshadow and liner. Even with all the different ones I tried so far, I think only like 2 of them could pass in a gyaru look (and barely at that). I don't think any of the bottom lash styles I've tried so far are dramatic enough for gyaru so I've mostly been using the Amazon clusters in my last post (and in the above pics) but they are unfortunately not glueless. I think if I want a better selection of glueless bottom lashes I'll have to buy straight from Taobao (｡•̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ꐦ) !!!

You also don't need to go buy a bunch of new lashes if you want to try clusters. You can just cut up your existing strip lashes and just glue them on in parts! I was really good about using up all my strip lashes so that's why I went and bought a bunch (≖⩊≖)

Other than that I've mostly been spending time catching up with friends and checking out all the local summer events that have been happening in my city. I think this post has gotten long enough though so I'll stop here for now and share more about those events in their own posts.

I hope you enjoyed catching up with me! Thank you for reading and I'll chat to you again soon in the next post ⋆˙⟡

[NYC'24] Day 5 - Last Day

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:07:51 +0000

Hi angels, how are you? I hope you're doing well! Sorry for the radio silence, literally immediately after my last post I got swept up in chaos at work and haven't really had a moment to myself since then. I'll do a separate post to give some life updates but for now, let's wrap up this NYC trip!

My flight was in the afternoon so we had time to grab brunch before I had to go to the airport. We went to this artsy ass place inside the Concorde Hotel called BONSAII because it had really good reviews but tbh it was super underwhelming.

The inside looked really cool and the staff were kind but the food was definitely lacking and overpriced.

I got this sad little omelette and an orange juice which costed me like $30 ٩(ˋᗣˊ*)و

After eating we said our goodbyes and parted ways. I headed to the airport while Vix and Reina hung out a little longer since Reina wasn't leaving until the evening.

At the airport I got a bit peckish before my flight so I decided to try Shake Shack for the first time. I just got a classic burger but it was sooooooo delicious and I literally think about her every day since I've left. I always make a point to get Shake Shack whenever I'm in LA now because I love it so much (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

It took me like 6 hours to fly home so by the time I got there it was late and nothing was really open. Kevin took me for late night pho before I went home to shower and reminisce about the trip (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )

That wraps up my little adventure in New York! I hope you enjoyed following along. See you in the next post (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡

[NYC'24] Day 4 - Exploring Brooklyn

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 05:35:23 +0000

Hi angels, hope your summer is going well so far. It's hot as fuck over here right now and it's borderline unbearable to be outside.

Anyways, we're almost at the end of my NYC trip so I'll try to make these next two posts short and sweet.

I can't remember what Reina got up to this day but we had different plans in the morning. I ended up meeting with my friend Justin for a bit. We've been internet friends for almost a decade at this point so it was awesome to finally meet. He took me to see Grand Central Station!

After exploring a bit we went downstairs to the food hall for lunch. We settled on this place called Tartinery. I got the smoked salmon tartine and it was lovely!

I think he was taking a work call when I took this lol

After lunch we met back up with Reina and Vix and took the train over to Brooklyn to visit the Botanic Garden.

There were lots of fun and interesting displays to look at. The first thing we got to see was this big pond garden. I wish the water was cleaner because it honestly was kind of gross LOL but otherwise the area was quite nice and tranquil.

Next we wandered into this bonsai display and I was so fascinated to learn that there were so many different species of bonsai trees. I guess I never really thought about that before this experience, I always just assumed it was one type of tree.

I really liked that some areas of this garden were set up as little biome bubbles so you could see all the different types of plants for that environment growing together.

We were pretty open for dinner options so Coop suggested that we try this steakhouse called St. Anselm but when we got there the doors were locked and the windows were boarded up. There wasn't any notice or signage to explain why but after digging online we found out that there was a fire the night before ( ˶°ㅁ°) !! Thankfully no one was hurt and the restaurant was able to open again after ~6 months. I hope I can go back and check it out cause I was really looking forward to eating there ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)

Anyways we were lucky that there were a lot of very well reviewed and established restaurants nearby so we decided to have dinner at this cute little bistro down the street called Recette.

I got the beef tartare and the grilled octopus. It was probably one of my favorite meals in New York and definitely one of the best octopus dishes I've ever had!! I can't wait to visit again and try some other things on their menu.

quick selfie with Justin to commemorate our meeting
cause we forgot to take pics together at lunch

After dinner we wandered around the DUMBO area to take in the sights. We got to see the Brooklyn bridge and also the 9/11 memorial lights. I really couldn't believe I was there in that moment, it felt like a scene from a movie.

We spent most of our time chatting and cherishing each other's company and it felt like the most perfect end to this short little visit. My flight was in the early afternoon the next day so I only had breakfast left to look forward to ｡°(°¯᷄◠¯᷅°)°｡

I was really sad that I had to leave so soon but I was grateful to have experienced this trip with Reina, Vix and Justin. Tbh I really needed this trip, it put so many things into perspective for me. At the time, I was still so heartbroken from my dad's passing and my ex best friend betraying me. I didn't know how to pick myself back up again. I felt so lost and angry.

I'm not sure what it was but New York made me feel like it's not so bad to start fresh again. Being in a city where everyone had a main character energy to them made me feel like I really could be anyone I wanted. We're all the main characters of our own story so I could even be a new person every day if I wanted to. Life is so much bigger than the bubble we live in and it's a privilege to wake up every day to try again. I want to make the best of the time I have and the only way I can do that was by letting go of the things that don't make me happy so that I can have space for things that do.

This trip taught me so much but ultimately, it gave me the courage to try again. I felt reinvigorated and determined to take control of my happiness. I decided that I wanted nothing but the best for myself from then on and that the cost of that would be my old self and life. After this trip, I started fresh in every aspect of my life and as I'm writing this almost 2 years later, I'm happy to say that it was the best choice I ever made.

That's all for this one! Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you again soon~

[NYC'24] Day 3 - Times Square & Broadway

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Sun, 17 May 2026 22:15:26 +0000

Hi angels, I hope you've been doing well!! I've been living a bit more offline these days so I just haven't been motivated to post online or blog much (ᵕ—ᴗ—) I was doing a huge closet cleanout the last two weeks and just started working out again so my day to day routine is a bit more busy now with meal prepping and exercise. I noticed my posture has been quite bad because I work at a desk a lot so I wanted to proactively take better care of myself! Btw if you want to check out any of my sales I've listed a lot of things on my depop ‪‪❤︎‬

Anyways it's a long weekend for me now and since I just finished my arm tattoo yesterday I've got a bit of down time to catch up on a few posts. I'm going to try my best to wrap up the 2024 posts so I can talk about all the exciting things that I did in 2025 ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ

On day 3 of our NYC trip, Reina woke up early to go for a walk. She brought me back a bagel and coffee for breakfast and it was delicious. I didn't really like the coffee though but maybe it's because I'm more used to the flavor of Korean ones ( ╹ -╹)?

After eating and getting ready we met up with Vix and decided to go check out Times Square before it got busy. I brought my digi cam to take pics again hehe (๑•᎑•๑)

There was a section blocked off in the middle of Times Square for NYFW runway. There were a lot of people so we couldn't get a good view of the runway itself but we got to see the "backstage" area where the models were.

It was getting really warm so we for some bubble tea and checked out the shops nearby.

It got really busy at the square so we decided to leave and go see the 9/11 memorial and museum. Unfortunately when we got there we learned that the museum was closed for friends and family of the victims that week so we weren't able to see it this time.

Instead we walked around the Ground Zero area and went to go look at the One World Trade Center station (which is where John Wick 2 was filmed!).

At this point we were getting hungry so we had lunch at one of the mall food courts. I wasn't feeling very particular so I got this salmon slop bowl which was pretty alright.

This mall had palm trees inside for some reason and I thought it felt very LA lol ꉂꉂ(ᵔᗜᵔ*)

It was getting close to our show time so Reina and I parted ways with Vix to head over to the theatre. I was so excited for my first Broadway show! We got tickets for Moulin Rouge.

The show was amazing!! I had so much fun and my love for musicals definitely grew deeper that night. I totally understand the hype about seeing a show on Broadway, it was an entirely different production level to any musical I've ever seen locally.

After the show we were hungry and Reina was in the mood for karaoke. We wandered around trying to find a place that had lounge/bar style experience but we couldn't find anything like that. We even befriended another pair of international travelers also looking for a similar experience but ultimately we parted ways in the middle of our search and we opted to go get food instead.

We found this little Korean pocha that let us request songs to play so we ate and listened to kpop for a while before going back to the hotel ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

That's all for this post, I hope you enjoyed it. See you in the next one~ ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

[NYC'24] Day 2 - Meeting Vix

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:30:00 +0000

Hi angels, how are you? I just got through my spring deadline and now I finally have a few weeks to rest and recover before things get crazy again for my fall deadline. Picking up from my last post this is Day 2 of my NYC trip with Reina and Vix!

We started the day off getting ready to meet Vix at the Museum of Modern Art. It was a bright and sunny day so we dressed appropriately for lots of walking.

We took a cab to the museum and this was my first experience with "New York Traffic" and "New York Time" because how did a hypothetical 15 minute ride turn into 45+ minutes!!! (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥)

We were dropped off away from the entrance so we had to make our way over. There was a huge crowd of cameramen near the entrance. Apparently there was a famous influencer doing some sort of interview there but neither Reina nor I had any idea who they were. It felt so New York to see something like this lol so I took a picture to commemorate it like a true tourist.

After meeting up with Vix we headed inside and purchased our fares. I was soooo excited to see the fashion exhibit they had but it was actually moved out of the museum for an exhibition. Unfortunately at the time of our visit it wasn't put back in yet so the entire floor where it would've been was blocked off.

Even though I was devastated to have missed out on this exhibit, we ended up exploring the rest of the museum together. There were so many things to see and learn about that I almost forgot about the fashion exhibit entirely by the end of it (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

There was a huge Egyptian exhibit that we spent a lot of time in before going on to look at all the paintings and sculptures.

There was also a special Tiffany's collection on display that was super fun to look at.

At some point we took a little break and checked out the rooftop garden. It had some funny art displays and we could see the city skyline from here!

Of course we had to snap some pics. On the way down from the roof we went through this mirror corridor and thought it would be fun to take some photos here too.

Finally we came to this massive hall that was incredibly breathtaking to be in. It was one of the few areas that had seating available so we took a break in here too. By now we had seen most of what the museum had to offer so we decided that we would leave for the day.

We took the train and headed over to see Rockefeller Center. Since we visited during New York Fashion Week the ice rink portion of the center was set up with seating and a catwalk.

We were pretty hungry by this point so we got some tacos and took in the atmosphere. We would've tried some pizza but for some reason the only kind we could find was "Chicago style" which none of us really wanted lol.

After we ate we explored some of the shops nearby and take in the atmosphere.

Somehow the day was still young so we went and got some coffee at a café before heading over to see the sunset at Little Island and walking the High Line.

For dinner we went to Cocoron to try some soba noodles. I got the cold Ikura soba that was on the seasonal menu and it was really tasty!

We also witnessed a crazy thing while we were eating, someone came into the restaurant and stole a cola right off the table nearest to the door. They just came in, grabbed it, and immediately left while drinking it. The shop manager rushed out to chase them away but it all happened so quickly I was so shocked!

The staff were very nice and made sure everyone was ok and of course they replaced that customer's drink but it was just such an absurd thing to witness. It was so New York (ᵕ ´ᗜ`)

That's all for this post, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you again in the next one (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

[NYC'24] Day 1 - Dinner with Reina

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 01:35:00 +0000

Hellurrrrr ヾ(•ω•`)o I'm so excited to finally blog about my NYC trip! This was my first time visiting but more importantly, this was the first time I would meet my long time gal pals Vix and Reina in person (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

My flight departed pretty early in the morning for me and I landed in New York around 2:30PM. After collecting my bags it was about an hour's uber ride from the airport to the hotel Reina and I were staying at. I've never experienced traffic quite like LA or NYC in my life. I don't understand how it can be so chaotic but move so rapidly at the same time, it's truly such a wild experience (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠)

Reina managed to snag a last minute reservation for us at COTE and I was so excited!! It's the first and only Michelin starred Korean Steakhouse in American and I've only ever heard good things about it. I was absolutely over the moon when she sent me the reservation confirmation but it wasn't until much later in the evening so we caught up and got settled in to our room a bit.

I think we might've decided to walk to the restaurant so we could take in the city. I didn't take too many photos but we did get to see the Empire State building!

The restaurant was very busy. It had a chic and upbeat feel inside. I really liked the neon light decorations on the wall.

The menu had a lot of variety but we settled on the Butcher's Feast set menu. I also wanted to try their wagyu so I got that as an add-on.

I don't drink but they had a few enticing mocktails on the menu so I decided to try one. I can't remember what this one was called (and they might've changed the menu since then) but it tasted like Ribena!

We didn't wait long until all our food came out and all of a sudden we had a incredible spread in front of us.

my little wagyu square lol

The food was all so delicious and the portions were generous so ended up taking a lot of leftovers back to the hotel.

That's all for this one, see you in the next post ヾ(•ω•`)o

Hello 2026 ✶⋆.˚

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 01:57:00 +0000

Hello angels!! It's been such a long time since I've blogged. I hope that you've had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I got so busy in the tail end of 2025 I barely had time to do anything outside of work. I thought it would be nice to start the year off with a little personal update before I return to backlog posting. This ended up being a lot longer than I thought but I hope you enjoy catching up with me (◡ ‿ ◡ .)

I'm sure I will post detailed updates for some of this stuff when I get around to it in the backlog timeline, but in general these were the highlights from November 2025 until now.

New Tattoo

I started a new tattoo! I previously had a hannya mask on my left arm but decided to turn it into a full sleeve. I had always planned to do this but my artist was so booked up it took like 6 years for me to finally get my appointment in (╥﹏╥)

I still have a few more sessions until it's done but I can't wait until it's finished!! I don't think I will get any more tattoos after this... I know I say that every time but this one really tested my patience lol

DIY Lash Extensions

I've tried lash extensions before and I've also tried doing them myself but I never quite liked the way they looked on me. After my double eyelid surgery I thought I would give them a try again so I bought a bunch of lash clusters and bond/seal from Amazon to experiment.

These are much easier to do than individual lashes and I can make these last almost a week if I'm careful with them. This has been a huge time saver for me during the work week because I don't really need to do too much with my makeup to feel presentable.

I bought a few styles to try but I think I like the second one the most!

This is my current work make and I really like that I can get my whole face done in about 10-15 minutes because I don't wear foundation to work anymore.

Celebrated Milestones

I was completely booked up with birthdays and weddings the last 3 months. I had so much fun catching up with my friends and eating tons of delicious meals!! Koji turned 12 and we spent a whole day spoiling him with treats and pets.

I also made a lot of new friends and reconnected with a few old ones last year. I've been really enjoying the process of getting to know (and re-know) people. It's a reminder that there is still so much love and kindness out there to be found. My heart is so full and I'm eternally grateful that I spent so much time working on myself and curating my company for the last 2 years. I wouldn't have been able to have so many wonderful experiences and form so many new memories and friendships if I kept hanging on to the narcissistic parasites of my past (｡•̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ꐦ) !!!

Hobbies

I got really into optimizing my space so I started replacing some of my furniture and making a more concerted effort into creating a cozy vibe. So far I've mostly focused on my living room and kitchen but I'm really liking how things are coming together! Here's a little peek at the corner next to my WFH office setup.

I also picked up a sewing machine so I've been doing my own alterations and upcycling clothes that I don't like or wear very much. I bought this maxi dress a few years ago when I visited Kohi and Ray in Seattle and basically never wore it after that day.

I decided to turn it into a top and like it a lot better. I haven't had a chance to go to the craft store for an elastic waistband to turn the excess fabric into a skirt so I only have the top part done for now but I love it.

Wardrobe Audit

Speaking of clothes, I've been coming to terms with the fact that I hate a majority of my closet because it doesn't fit my current lifestyle and that I've grown out of a lot of items that I once felt were cute. I still like a lot of my clothes but I don't think they are for me anymore so I'm saddled with a surplus of items that I don't have any desire to wear but can't bear to just throw in the donation bin.

As you know I'm not the best at documenting my outfits so I've been tracking them and digitizing my wardrobe on an app called Indyx (not sponsored).

I tried to be really diligent in using this for at least a month so I could see a trend in what I was reaching for the most. I've been going back to the office more regularly so I've been focusing on building out my corporate wardrobe, especially in the latter half of 2025. I found that I gravitated towards a few of the same silhouettes and since I don't subscribe to the notion of following substyles or set aesthetics, I decided to explore fashion with a more formulaic approach using silhouettes as my baseline.

Maybe I'll do a more in-depth post about this sometime but essentially I just applied the same concept of outfit building to different articles of clothing. I would take some gal outfits that I liked and broke them down to their core theme or elements, then I would try recreating it with pieces from my corporate wardrobe.

I'm not sure if these themes or elements will make sense to anyone else but I grabbed a few examples to hopefully better demonstrate the point I'm trying to make (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

bootcut/flare denim + long sleeve tops

This one is relatively simple. I really like the look of bootcut jeans and a platform shoe. I think that the most complimentary top is one with long sleeves or a knit.

"big pant or big jakt"

Basically I applied this on a silhouette level and not with the actual clothing items (though I do use this concept literally sometimes).

For this I mostly wore oversized or more covered tops and had my legs exposed to recreate the "big jakt" silhouette.

big pant (+ usually a blouse)

She's giving art teacher vibes but these are my favorite "effortless functioning adult" cosplay outfits. These are super easy for me to put together and I tend to go with this as a foolproof option for days where I need to give a presentation.

Anyways that's pretty much all I've gotten up to on the fashion side of things. I've been watching a lot of fashion youtubers and got radicalized in the last few months to do multiple purges and donate everything that I honestly won't wear anymore. I had a huge pile of items set aside for sale but I can't be bothered to go through that hassle so I'll offload what I can to friends who are interested and throw the rest into the donation bin, regardless of its brand or perceived value. I'm just so tired of being surrounded by unusable clutter, I can't take it anymore!! (๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭

Gyaru

I think I've mentioned this a few times on my blog in the past and most of my close friends know that over the years I've developed a love/hate relationship with gyaru. I absolutely abhor being related to the concept of it as it is perceived and understood now, but I still love it for what it was when I discovered it.

I could go off about this forever but I don't want this post to be a giant rant so I'll try to boil it down to a few key points:

The comm fucking sucks (for me) because of:

The huge influx and constant flow of misinformation and literal children from Tiktok.
No one is gyaru??? There's just an endless stream of questions about how to do literally anything and it feels like everyone wants to skip the process of self discovery and experimentation so they can just be the viral gyaru icon on pinterest.

The fashion itself has become pink, leopard print, legwarmers on everything, "agejo" or "tsuyome", and that's it.

I don't know why there's a whole thing about "gal is supposed to be ugly" or that we should just let other people live and that "gal is mind" but every time I see or hear this sentiment it's always from a faceless or chopped account. This legit makes me feel like a crazy person because I will always believe that gyaru is cute, trendy and fashionable at its core ᕙ( ᗒᗣᗕ )ᕗ

I'm literally too old for this shit. I want to do my makeup and dress up because it feels authentically "me". I really don't care for the endless need to argue/debate/discuss what is or isn't gal, how to be gal or do anything gal related, blah blah blah. I'm just tired of it all. I want to be gal with other gals, not fixate on being the most performative caricature of one possible.

With all these points in mind I finally came to the conclusion that the community had turned into a place I no longer wanted to actively participate in or engage with.

I just wanted to exist with other gals. I don't want to constantly answer questions or validate anyone that doesn't have the confidence to commit to it fully. There are just too few people out there who see gyaru the same way that I do and for that I've decided to just hold the gal pals I already have close and be content with them.

I'm going to keep living my best gal life the way I want to and not engage with anyone who clearly doesn't know ball. I've de-listed my YouTube videos and removed a lot of images/tutorials from my social media. I think I'll still keep them up here on the blog but otherwise I'm not interested in making gal specific content for the sole purpose of trying to help other "gals". I'll still do it if I want to and enjoy it in the moment, but I'm tired of trying to connect with anyone outside of my circle because we clearly have a very different understanding of gyaru.

Having said all that I have no plans to "leave" gyaru. I think it's forever going to be a part of me but I will find new ways to evolve and become my best gal self. Currently I'm working on re-learning how to do my make so it suits my new eye shape. I don't need to exaggerate my liner and lashes as much as before so it's been challenging but fun to go on this journey again.

Anyways I think I've yapped long enough so that's all for this post. If you're still here, thank you so much for reading! I'll see you in the next one (๑•᎑•๑)

[August 2024] Food Adventures & New Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Sat, 08 Nov 2025 04:27:00 +0000

Hi angels! How are you? Somehow it's November already and this year is almost over (☉__☉”) I'm about to enter the craziest 2 weeks of my busy season as my project is launching next week so I'm really stressed right now. I didn't even realize the last month has just flown by (っ- ‸ - ς)

I also recently got diagnosed with ADHD so... things are making a lot more sense on a personal level lol. I'm glad I didn't have to wait too long for my assessment appointment and I will be starting treatment soon!! I've always struggled on my own but recently it's gotten very overwhelming so I thought I would get help. It's nice to finally have a definitive answer for certain things and although I'm nervous about medication I'm glad it's not for something more serious. I guess this explains why it's so hard for me to keep up with blogging but I won't give up!! One day I will get through this backlog and post from the present ( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ )

Continuing from my last few posts, I had just come back from a work trip in LA. I honestly wasn't doing too much around this time except for soaking up the remaining sun and trying to spend as much time with my friends as I could before my busy season picked up in October.

We tried a cute little place called Caffè La Tana. It's a tiny little Italian spot tucked away from the main street and food was amazing!! I really liked how unique this dining experience felt, for a moment I forgot I was in Vancouver.

We each got our own mains but we did get a few things to share. Everything was fresh and flavorful!

One of my friends knew a staff member in the kitchen and they prepared this beautiful vegetable medley for us on the house. It was almost too pretty to eat (❀❛ ֊ ❛„)♡

For my main I got the scallops and couscous! I don't usually eat at lot of couscous/quinoa/etc but this was really tasty and fun to eat.

After dinner we took a walk up the main street to get ice cream and saw a kitty along the way. It was super cute and friendly (⸝⸝> ω <⸝⸝)

We made our way to Earnest Ice Cream and I got myself a scoop of earl grey. We ate our ice cream at the park nearby before going home and it felt like such a lovely way to spend the evening with friends (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

I spent the next few weeks going on more weekend food adventures. My bf took me to this newly opened inari sushi place called Okome. It had just soft opened and we managed to get in while avoiding all the foodie influencers. I enjoyed the food but I felt that it wasn't something we'd gravitate towards often, especially with how out of the way this place was.

For the next adventure we went to Hunnybee Bruncheonette. It was a particularly gloomy day and the restaurant was quite busy so we had to wait a while before we were able to find a spot. I got the hash benedict with the sausage and it was served with a curried ketchup!

The next spot we went to was Tsujiri in Richmond for their seasonal afternoon tea set. This menu featured lots of yuzu and matcha treats and it felt like the perfect way to cap off the summer.

Other than eating well I was also getting ready to go on a mini vacation with my beloved Reina. We planned a trip to New York together since we both had some time off and had never been to the big apple but I'll talk more about that in a separate post.

For now I needed to get my nails and hair done first （,,¬﹏¬,,）I took a few selfies while I waited for my turn of course!

I got this delicious blue and black zebra set. I can't seem to find any photos of this set so here's a quick video my nail tech took for me after the appointment:

I kept forgetting to take photos of my outfits as per usual but I managed to take this one before I went to dinner. I was wearing a lot of this combination (flowy top, shorts, boots) so I guess this is a pretty accurate representation of what I was wearing most days during that time of year (ᵕ • ᴗ •)

That's all for this post! Thank you for stopping by and reading today. I'll catch you in the next one ( • ̀ω•́ )✧

[August 2024] Catch Up with Shiena & Kini

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 20:37:00 +0000

Hi angels, how are you today? I'm feeling a lot better and really looking forward to the weekend ‎٩(⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)و*̣̩⋆̩*

When I got back from my LA trip I went for dinner with Shiena and Kini. We went to try this new restaurant that opened up called New Fuji. It has a retro diner feel to it and the food had really good reviews online!

We decided to share a bunch of dishes so we could try a little of everything.

The portions were a little smaller than we thought so we ended up ordering dessert too! This little crème brulée was so yummy.

I had a lot of fun catching up with them both because it had been a while since we saw each other. We took some quick pics together before parting ways (๑´>᎑<)~*

At this time I was really liking the closed droop look (top and bottom liner connect in the outer corner). I felt like it gave me consistently good results and was easily achievable if I was short on time because I didn't have to constantly check to see if the bottom liner was even for each eye.

It would take me a few months to grow bored of this but I think that's just because I get bored easily (╥ᆺ╥;)

Anyways that's all for this post, see you in the next one! ₊˚⊹♡

[August 2024] LA & Universal Studios (image heavy)

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 02:16:00 +0000

Hey angels, I hope you've been well! Work has been so busy for me and I haven't been feeling the best this last week. It's definitely flu season now so please make sure you take care of yourselves (๑-﹏-๑)

Today's post is going to be about my work trip last year! Every year I go to LA for my annual work conference and I always try to make time to see my friends. This time around my schedule was quite busy so I was pretty tired by the time I left to go home "( – ⌓ – ).

I keep telling myself I need to budget a few extra days but it's hard because I need to stay in Santa Monica for work and the hotels are just so expensive there especially after currency conversion (つ╥﹏╥)つ

For this trip I really wanted to have cute summer nails so I went with this neon pink and green leopard design. I loved this set so much it felt 超ギャル ꉂ(˵˃ ᗜ ˂˵)

I had to work starting on Monday so I left and arrived on Sunday. My flight is only about ~3 hours so it's not a difficult trip for me.

My friend Glenn picked me up from the airport and surprised me with a custom made birthday cake! He was going to come up and visit us in Vancouver but the timing didn't work out so he wanted to make it up to me.

This cake was delicious but way too much for the two of us so I brought it with me to work to share.

Little did I know it was also my director's birthday that week so we ended up having double cake in the office that week (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

I didn't want to do too much on Sunday night since I had to work the next day so we ordered some tacos. I've been wanting to try Trejo's for a long time and this meal did not disappoint.

My favorite thing about LA has to be the Mexican food, it's totally unmatched!!

The work week itself was quite packed. We usually plan out our schedule months in advance and try to fit as many dinners and activities with our partners as possible. I always love seeing how they decorate the Activision office. This year it was Black Ops 6 themed and they had this cute corner with perk-a-cola machines.

At Treyarch they had this giant mural in the front and the cabinets had all sorts of awards and props on display.

Since I can't share much about the specifics of my work the rest of this post is going to be mostly food lol ( ꈍ◡ꈍ)

Our first dinner was at this beachside restaurant. I loved how we were close to the water but still had some privacy from this flower wall that was installed. You could still see out a bit but it felt nice to have some separation from everyone walking around outside.

All the food was extra yummy and we got to watch the sunset from our table!!

After dinner we took a little walk around Venice Beach and got ice cream. I never thought I was a beach person until I went to LA and then I realized we just don't have nice beaches here in Vancouver lol

The next dinner we had was at this place called SOL Mexican Cocina. I really didn't have any expectations for this meal because it was a chain restaurant in a strip mall but it was so good???? I was so shook.

We had to eat off this set menu because we had a really large party but all of the food was incredible, except for the desserts.

I got their shrimp chili relleno which is a dish I've never eaten before, but I have not been able to stop thinking about it since that day. It was so flavorful and comforting with just the right amount of spice. I truly think about eating this every day and I'm absolutely gutted I haven't found a place in my city that makes this dish the same way.

This churro dulce de leche dessert was just ok. I wasn't super crazy about it but I liked the ice cream a lot.

This rum ganache on the other hand was fucking nasty as hell and everyone was so shocked by how strong it was. It did not taste good and most people could only have one spoonful of it (｡•́︿•̀｡)

Dinner the next night was an absolute mess. The restaurant reservation we had got cancelled and we had to rebook one last minute. Unfortunately half the group was already traveling to the first restaurant when this was happening so there was a huge delay in everyone getting to the correct restaurant.

Once we figured it out it was all good though, we ended up at a place called Wabi on Rose in Venice Beach. I really enjoyed eating here, the restaurant was so aesthetic!

(image from google)

It was a bit difficult to chat to everyone since we had such a large group but me and the few coworkers around me were kept entertained by the table behind us who appeared to be on a first date and it was NOT going well (∗´ര ᎑ ര`∗)

The food was tasty but portions are a bit small so we had to order a lot for everyone to share. It's definitely a more "upscale" priced place so I feel bad that date didn't go well, it's like a double whammy where you had a bad time AND you got robbed (╥﹏╥)

The next day was our beach episode!! We had wrapped up our work day a little early so we could spend some time at the beach before dinner. I did my hair and makeup for the beach since I wouldn't have enough time afterwards to get ready. Not sure why I curled my hair because that shit did not last at all in the humidity by the water ∘ ∘ ∘ ( °ヮ° ) ?

The weather wasn't as warm this time around so it wasn't as satisfying to be on the beach. I just spent most of my time chatting with my coworker under the umbrellas while everyone else played paddleball.

Her husband came around for a little bit and brought their dog Roo. She was such a sweet little baby. She wanted to stay with us so bad and when she was told no she started eating sand out of spite (ᵕ,,—ᴗ—,,)

After the beach I went back to the hotel room to touch up before going to dinner. As you can see my hair deflated horribly. I understand what "beach curls" are now (≖⩊≖)

I took a bunch of selfies while I waited to get picked up for dinner. I'm really bad at taking pictures on trips so I wanted to have at least some cute pics to post lol

We went to this restaurant called Cobi's. This was my first Michelin spot in LA and they serve Thai/Malaysian fusion food. I enjoyed this meal a lot it felt very adventurous but oddly familiar.

I really liked the restaurant decor too, it was such a fun and eclectic vibe.

The next day Glenn and I woke up early to go to Universal Studios! He wanted to take me as a surprise birthday present. Unfortunately for us it was the hottest day of the week so it was a really hard day trip for me, especially after a week of work. Though I was extremely tired I was still very excited to see Universal for the first time.

We got the power-up bands so we could make the most of our time in the Super Nintendo World part of the park.

We stopped by Springfield first to see all the Simpsons displays and buy some souvenirs. The park was just opening so a lot of the attractions weren't ready for public access yet.

It was so fun to see Springfield in real life. I loved watching the Simpsons growing up. I loved how they turned the Kwik-E-Mart into the gift store.

After that we headed to Super Nintendo World. I thought it was funny that as we were heading down the escalator to that part of the park you could just.... see the entirety of SNW cause it stuck out from the rest of the buildings so much ꉂ(˵˃ ᗜ ˂˵)

Even though we got here early it was already super crowded and most things already had a line.

We lined up and played some of the games outside before heading to the Mario Kart ride. Glenn bought us fast passes so we didn't have to line up for too long. This line in particular kept getting held up because the ride kept breaking. Every time we were going to walk away they announced that it was fixed again and this went on for like 40 minutes (ง ͠ಥ_ಥ)ง

The ride was really fun though and I enjoyed it a lot. It was so cool to see how much detail went into all the decorations and interactive spots.

Here's me being a tourist lol

We said goodbye to Mario and went over to check out the Harry Potter section of the park. I used to love Harry Potter growing up but as an adult I've definitely grown out of it and am disgusted by the way Joanne uses her platform to spew hateful vitriol.

I don't want to support her in any way so I didn't buy anything here or take many photos to post.

We lined up to try one of the rides (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) because everyone said it was fun and since I don't like rollercoasters this was one of the only non-coaster options to try anyways.

To get to this ride you have to go into Hogwarts. There's a few fun displays but nothing too crazy on the inside. There's a part where Dumbledore talks to you and that's about all that's exciting here.

After the ride ends you exit through the gift store. It was fun to look around but I wasn't going to get anything.

At this point I was really suffering from the heat and exhaustion so we stopped by the Transformers area to get some ice cream and watch Bumblebee and Megatron take photos with fans.

We walked around the kids area where they had buildings from various franchises stuck together. They had a Gru suit actor for the Despicable Me area and I was very uncomfortable with the way they looked because it wasn't like... an inflatable suit or something they straight up dressed someone up like Gru with a fake head and I hate it LOL

(image from google)

We checked out some more gift stores on the way out and passed by this display for Marilyn Monroe. I would've loved to see more of the park but at this point I was starting to feel very sick and needed to lie down.

By the time I got back to the hotel I was fully unwell so we ordered some bento boxes for dinner. After eating I immediately passed the fuck out ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!

The next day we went for afternoon tea with my friend Geoff, his friend, and his sister. We went to this place called Callisto Tea House in Pasadena and tried out their Gongfu tea service (basically a Chinese traditional tea ceremony). I really enjoyed this experience because the staff were really knowledgeable about their teas. We learned so much about the different teas we ordered, their origins, and the best brewing methods for bringing out their flavors. I had so much fun doing this and would love to experience it again one day!!

We stopped back at the hotel to freshen up before dinner but Glenn and I were so hungry we decided to pregame dinner with Coco Ichibanya ( ꈍ◡ꈍ)

This was a mistake because we ended up going to Trejo's Tacos for dinner and I was sooooo full by the end of the night "( – ⌓ – )

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and I had to finish packing because I was leaving the next day already!! I was so tired by the end of this trip but I was happy to have made so many wonderful memories with my friends. I am grateful that I got to experience all of this in one week.

If you made it all the way here thank you so much for reading!!! I felt like I went on this trip all over again just writing about it haha. I am powering through my busy season at work but I hope to find more time diligently work through my backlog in the next few weeks (૭ ｡•̀ ᵕ •́｡ )૭

Thanks for stopping by today and I'll catch you in the next one!! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂)⸝♡

[July 2024] Pink Chrome Nails & Summer Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 01:27:00 +0000

Hi angels! Hope you're having a great start to your week. With summer in full swing I was once again scouring instagram for nail design inspo. Around this time I noticed that the seashell and tropical/ocean themed nails were really popular so I asked my nailist to recreate something similar.

We ended up with this simple chrome and pink design and I liked it a lot. I get a bit overwhelmed by intricate nailsets sometimes so it's nice to have a break every so often and not have overly decorated nails.

Later I went to have dinner with a few friends from elementary school. I can't believe it's been such a long time since we've met and this was the first time we hung out together as a group in our adulthood. It was nice to reminisce about our childhoods and see how much everyone has grown up.

For dinner the next day Kevin and I went out with another friend of ours. We tried out this place we had seen on social media called Alley 16. It's a yakiniku specialty spot and we were particularly interested in their set combo!

Everything was fresh and delicious, I enjoyed this meal a lot. The little personal grill you get when you are seated at the bar was so cute lol. I think this would be such a lovely date night spot (⸝⸝> ω <⸝⸝)

You already know I didn't get a fresh nail set if there aren't any cursed nailfies so here are some we took of this set.

Oh yeah so, I'm sure you've noticed that I'm always taking pictures in parking lots and maybe you've wondered why that is. Basically one of our favorite things to do is loiter outside ꉂꉂ(ᵔᗜᵔ*)

Kevin and his friends have an interest in cars so we're always out taking pictures and going to random ass car meets. If there isn't a meetup they'll find places to take photos of their cars while me and the other girlfriends hang out together!

I enjoy taking photos too but I'm not really into car photography. I like going to meets and seeing the cars but they're not my favorite thing to take photos of. I'd rather take candids of everyone else taking car photos:

But sometimes I can take nice photos like the one above for social media too (ᵕ,,—ᴗ—,,)

The next week I got to meet up with another friend that I knew from when I used to go to church. It had been a long time since we met up as well, she has been so busy finishing up her university studies.

It was really nice to catch up over brunch. We went to one of my favorite spots called OEB Breakfast Co. I got my usual salmon benny and it was absolutely decadent (っ˘ڡ˘ς)

Though it felt chaotic to have such a busy schedule I had so much fun meeting up with everyone. I was really happy to be making the most of my summer that year and soon I was heading off on my annual work trip but I'll share more about that later!

Thanks for stopping by to read this post, I'll see you in the next one ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

[June 2024] Taiyaki Date

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:40:00 +0000

Hello my beautiful angels!! The food scene here in Vancouver is truly one of the only things that I enjoy about living in this city and lately we've had a huge dessert boom. Specifically we've been seeing a big increase in ice cream and Asian desserts like shaved ice.

Kevin decided to take me out to try one of the new places that opened up called Little Pisces. They specialize in taiyaki and soft serve but also serve drinks.

Ok so this is one of my favorite makeup looks I've done in the last few years. I don't know what possessed me on this day but everything came out so clean and cute I'm extremely upset that the lenses I'm wearing here now seem to be discontinued. I must've flown too close to the sun with this look and the universe had to swat me down (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )

Anyways though I didn't know it at the time but this would more or less become my new favorite type of makeup. I think I always had an aversion to more dolly looks like this because it didn't seem "gyaru enough" to me, but after my surgery (that I will talk about in my March/April 2025 posts) this ended up being the makeup that I feel the most comfortable in!

Since the dessert shop had only recently opened there were a lot of people waiting in line. We ended up getting 2 drinks and 2 different soft serves with taiyaki.

I got the matcha soft serve with custard taiyaki and Kevin got the black sesame soft serve. At the time I think they were still perfecting their craft so the taiyaki wasn't the best texture. It's made of mochi so it's chewy on the inside but these ones weren't very crispy on the outside and the whole thing ended up being kind of meh. We've since gone back a few times with friends and the quality of the desserts has definitely improved a lot!

Of course we were still taking cursed nailfies at this point so here's my favorite one:

Thank you so much for reading! I'll see you again soon~

[June 2024] Company Summer Party

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:28:00 +0000

Hi again angels! Last June I went to my company summer party. We had booked out a venue in one of the local parks and the party was summer camp themed. There were lots of craft stations and we even hired a caricature artist to do custom portraits!

Since this was a work event I wanted to make sure I didn't go too OTT so I did a peachy gold eye look which I thought paired really well with my every day blue lens.

I didn't really want to dress up for the camp theme so I just put together a little onee outfit. The weather was a bit unpredictable that day so I wore a knit zip up and brought a scarf. It ended up raining when I left so I'm glad I didn't fully commit to a summer outfit Σ(ﾟ口ﾟ;)//

I've been really making a conscious effort to build out a more work friendly but still gyaru-able capsule wardrobe. I think onee is truly the best route to go for this so I've been looking at magazines like Happie Nuts and BLENDA for inspiration! I'll probably make a separate post about this at some point but here are a few examples of the general vibe I'm going for when shopping for clothes:

We had a dinner buffet but I didn't really like the selection. It wasn't the worst meal I've had but it was a little disappointing compared to previous years/parties.

I much preferred the snacks so I basically spent most of my time over by the charcuterie boards ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

Isn't this spread just lush?? ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ

After dinner I got a caricature portrait done and had a nice chat with the artist but shortly after that I had to call an uber home because it started storming out of no where (ᵕ•_•)

Anyways that's all for this post. Thanks for reading! ♡

[June 2024] Mint Nails & More Cursed Nailfies

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 04:08:00 +0000

Hello my angels!! There wasn't much that happened in the weeks between my nail appointments this time around so I'm already sharing the next set.

I went with a minty green chrome situation and kept it quite simple as the sanrio set before this was an absolute sensory nightmare.

At this point we were still obsessed with the cursed nailfie trend so here are some incredible snaps from the izakaya we had dinner at after my appointment ✧｡٩(ˊᗜˋ )و✧*｡

For dinner we had some skewers and my favorite hamachi sashimi ( ˶˘ ³˘)♡

After dinner we went to go see some friends and the cursed photoshoot continued (≖⩊≖)

This one is probably the best one we took that night ꉂ(˵˃ ᗜ ˂˵)

Of course here's a bonus proper picture so you can appreciate how cute these were lol

I know it must seem really immature for me to be doing all these weird ass photos but at this point it was nearing the 1 year anniversary of my dad's passing and the grief was still very difficult for me to deal with every day. I think that finding small joys and opportunities to be silly or lighthearted with my loved ones really helped ease the burden of grieving and made things more tolerable so I wasn't just crying all the time.

Through little things like this I developed a newfound appreciation for life and redefined what it meant to really live. I think for me one of the hardest parts about losing my dad was that I felt we had very few photos together. I want to make sure I live my life to its fullest and have lots of fond moments to look back on so I decided that from now on, I will just do what makes me happy even if it means acting silly and taking photos with my friends in a parking lot at night with the 0.5 camera zoom on ( • ̀ω•́ )✧

I want to make sure I have as many photos and memories with my friends as possible so that when we're all old and grey we have an endless stack of photo albums to look through and reminisce over (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)

I hope you enjoyed this post! Thanks for reading (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡

[May 2024] Cursed Nailfies & Glittery Green Make

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:47:00 +0000

Hi angels! I hope you've been doing well. My life mostly consists of work and uma musume these days so I find myself forgetting to do literally anything else lmao.

Today I'm going to try and get through another month of backlogged posts so please look forward to them! I think this method of doing 1 month blocks of posts is working well for me rn as I'm able to get through what I want to write but also not burn out. I still hope to catch up one day so please wish me luck lol (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

Last May I got a sanrio inspired nail set and it was so cute!! I actually wasn't sure what I wanted for this appointment so my tech and I brainstormed together and came up with this concept. I'm so happy with how it turned out (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

Around this time there was also this trend of cursed nailfies going around and Kevin told me he really wanted to try it so these are the result of his creative direction (≖⩊≖)

My nail tech told me these were all very uncomfortable and painful to look at LMAO

I didn't dress up for the appointment but I thought my makeup was nice that day. I did a glittery green look and realized that I just don't enjoy doing elaborate makeup looks as much as I used to.

I think it's funny that during my experimental phase a few years ago I was horribly fixated on working with color and trying to get my gyaru make as intricate as possible but now I'm happy with a simple wash of color and cleanly applied eyeliner.

I guess less is more for me these days but I'm glad I pushed myself to use every eyeshadow I owned if only just to say that I did and who knows, maybe I will get another spark of inspiration someday! ( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ )

Anyways that's all for now! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next post~

[April 2024] Friendmaxxing with Mando and Brailon

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 01:54:00 +0000

Hiiiiii I'm so excited to finally write this post. I feel like I've put it off for so long but actually it's coming at a perfect time since I just saw Mando and Brailon last month for their weidding so it's nice to reminisce about the events leading up to it!! See it was tactical and not at all due to poor post management on my part lmao (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

Last April Mando and Brailon came to visit me to celebrate Mando's birthday. It was also my first time seeing them after they got engaged in October. I knew about the engagement because I had helped pick the engagement ring hehe ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

The first night we met for dinner. Mando said they wanted to eat some meat so I thought Sooda would be a great spot for our first dinner together.

I thought the photos we took the night before were so cute I printed one out for Mando and they put it in their phone case ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

The next day we had dinner and karaoke planned but since the afternoon was free we decided to impulsively get some matching tattoos.

The weather was nice so I decided to try to dress up a little. I didn't have a good bag to match this outfit but it's ok I didn't think too hard for this fit lol (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

Brailon and Mando got matching Pochita tattoos and the 3 of us got a matching heart tattoo on our wrists（⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝）

We were super fortunate that my tattoo artist had such last minute availability. Also she had her dog Hugey at the shop that day so I was so excited that they got to meet Hugey because he's such a legend I love him sm!!!

Kevin happened to be in the area after we were done our tattoos so we stopped by Chatime for a sweet treat before dinner. Of course we had to take a lot of cute photos together ( • ̀ω•́ )✧

For dinner we went to Suika and the staff surprised Mando with a birthday dessert. It was such a great night!!

Later we went to karaoke and took more pics and I turned Mando into Ed Sheeran.

The following night Kevin and I took Mando and Brailon out for dinner to celebrate their engagement. We went to Elisa and it was one of the best dinners I've ever had!!

Since the restaurant was quite upscale we didn't take too many photos. Also there was another table that had really annoying children so we didn't want to cause the staff any more distress with flash photography (⸝⸝๑﹏๑⸝⸝)

We ended the night with some ice cream nearby and decided to go home after because it started raining a bit.

For our last day we did a chill mall hangout. There was a cosplay and artist alley event happening and Mando wanted to check it out. It wasn't very eventful and after lunch we came back to my apartment. Mando and Brailon finally got to meet Koji and we decided to order sushi and watch Chainsaw Man together for dinner.

This was such a fun and eventful week I was really sad this was our last day together!! I think about this week often and am thankful that we became such good friends over the years. I can't believe I've been friends with Mando and Brailon for over 10 years now!! I'm now frantically trying to catch up on my backlog so I can write about their wedding RAHHH ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭

Thank you for reading!! I'll catch you later ♡

[April 2024] Back to Blonde 🎉

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:56:00 +0000

Hi angels!! At last we come to the end of my cursed dark hair arc. After a year of growth my hair was feeling a lot better and I was ready to take the plunge back to blonde.

Since the ends of my hair were a bit damaged I had to get a more layered haircut to preserve some of the length. This is the shortest my hair has been in a while but I was just happy to finally be back!! (⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)

I don't know how to explain it but having light/bright colored hair has always made me so happy. I wish I could feel comfortable with vibrant fashion colors again but I am finding it difficult to maintain a professional image in high level corporate settings with them. I go back and forth on them all the time but I feel like blonde suits me more now as my "signature color" for this phase of my life.

I feel like it suits my lifestyle better now to do an all-over color as a phase and then go back to blonde as my transitional shade instead of hopping from color to color. Anyways, at least I know for sure that I will hold off on going back to my natural color for as long as I can help it ( ´･ω･)

After I dyed my hair back blonde I got an itch to experiment with my makeup again. I tried a blue eyeshadow look and thought it was cute! I wish I enjoyed wearing crazy eyeshadow looks as much as I used to. I think this is the true sign of my age lmao ( ;´ - `;)

What hair color do you feel most yourself with (｡· v ·｡) ?? I'd love to know if you can relate to my feelings in this post! Thank you for reading, I'll see you in the next one (´ε｀)♡

[April 2024] Dolly Brown Eyes & New Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:37:00 +0000

Hi angels! I hope you've been well. My busy season at work has started so I've barely had any time for myself. Everyone and their grandmas are playing the Uma Musume gacha right now and I regret to inform you that it's got a gorilla pussy grip on me too so that's where all of my spare time is going these days (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

Last April I discovered a newfound love for brown dolly lenses when I restocked. Unfortunately it seems the lenses I wore in the pic below were very short lived and are no longer on sale so I'm very heartbroken about it. These were the Eyemazing Coconut Brown lenses by Hana.

I feel like the older I get the more I gravitate away from crazy lens colors. Don't get me wrong, I still love a good grey lens but the browns are just hitting different. Maybe it's because my makeup is more lash focused these days and it's just easy to compliment with a simple lens ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭

Continuing with a simple theme I went and got my nails done in a nude Dior style. I really liked the diamonds and butterflies my nailist picked to go with the design ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)

Thanks for reading! See you in the next post (´｡• ◡ •｡`) ♡

[March 2024] Birthday Omakase

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 23:41:00 +0000

Hi hi!! I went to try a new omakase restaurant called Tekkaba for my birthday last year. I feel like as I get older my birthday celebrations get longer but I'm not complaining (๑ᵔ⤙ᵔ๑)

We had the premium omakase menu and it came with a ton of delicious courses.

I really liked the tea set they gave us it was so cute!!

We were sat at the bar and it had a really cozy vibe. There was a projector playing Disney karaoke songs for some reason but it made the experience fun and enjoyable ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

Since we were celebrating my birthday the chef made me a special dessert plate! This was so cute and tasty but I had to wear a party hat and have the whole restaurant sing to me before I got to eat it (๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭

I didn't get any photos of my outfit or makeup from that night cause I really wasn't feeling it but here's a little clip from my friend's POV when they brought the dessert out (ᵕ • ᴗ •)

Though I had been having a hard time until this point I was glad that I still had so many kind and loving people by my side. This was truly a memorable birthday for me and I am forever grateful and blessed to spend another year with everyone (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)

[March 2024] Agejo Birthday Date

noreply@blogger.com (Sei) — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 23:13:00 +0000

Hi angels! For my birthday last year I went out with my bf to one of my favorite restaurants. They were doing a special set menu event where we could get both steak and lobster! I have to admit it wasn't as good as their a la carte menu but I still enjoyed my meal and had a great time.

I decided to go with an agejo style look for the night. I don't really wear this style intentionally or often so I thought I would give it a go because I wanted to have a mature and sexy vibe ( • ̀ω•́ )✧

coat & purse: datura
tights: sheertex
boots: offbrand

top: datura
belt: jayro
skirt: glamorous jane

I kept my makeup pretty standard and went with a brown glittery look.

Since the food wasn't the best I didn't really take any photos of it but I did take some silly pictures with my bf.

One of my coworkers knew I was having a hard time with my friend circle so they were really sweet and sent me flowers! It was very kind of them to make an effort for me and I really appreciated the gesture. It reminded me that there are still wonderful people in my life and that I don't need to fixate on or waste anymore of my time with the rancid parasites that so graciously created a vacant space in my heart (♡ˊ͈ ꒳ ˋ͈)

That's all for this post, thanks for reading! See you in the next one ♡