Better late than never: PORTLAND (Jan. 2013)!

So a few posts back (which was actually 3 months ago), I briefly mentioned that I would be heading on a trip to Portland, Oregon. As a quick summary of this little adventure, I will say that it is very, very different from home here in Southern California. And I do mean that in a semi-bad way, considering its lack of cultural diversity. Yet admittedly, I also believe it has its own hipster aesthetic. Plus, winter may not be the best season to enjoy what the city has to offer. Maybe next time we'll fall in love with the place, given we have more than just 4 days.

Anyway, I wrote this whole post about my time there and the kind of "culture shock" I endured, but that was on my tumblr and I don't want to be repetitive--at least not in writing. I will, though, re-post my photos on here without guilt :)

WARNING: No pictures of food. I am no foodie and I am perfectly okay with that.
And so that's about it for the photos. I have lots of other photos of my friends and I (our group was 10+!) where we're seen being silly and inebriated and dancing... but I'll save those for our Facebook pages (tags I won't approve!). I loveeee those last few photos of Clarence walking away in amongst all the green, but unfortunately photobucket resolution is not very good. Oh well, still nice right?

I finally got my DIY-on with a few crafty gifts for my family. I had my bathroom remodeled and my mom has been saying how much she wants to use my bathtub to relax. She's also been in and out of the hospital over the years and to put simply--just straight up stressed. So with that in mind, I gathered up all these goodies and made a spa/relaxation kit for her. It included lavender bath solutions and salts, face masks, fuzzy socks, candles, bath/hair accessories and a home made citrus body scrub.

DIY CITRUS BODY SCRUB:

Materials:
1 cup of sugar (or salt)
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
mason jars - I used two spice jars because from IKEA because I couldn't find any small mason jars :(

*These portions are to your own preference. I found that I had to keep adding more or less of one or the other. I also used some honey :)


DIY PASSPORT HOLDER:





As I mentioned, everything was going relatively well until I got to the stitching. Ah, it was extremely difficult; I couldn't sew it straight to save my life. Well, as they say, there is always room for improvement.

the "after" picture of all the gifts wrapped

these were the initial supplies I used the first night! just old wrapping paper, cardboard, tape/s, old stickers & blank sticky labels I swiped from my mom's workplace when I was 13 years old (why I have them still, I have no idea)

THE TAGS:

I finished wrapping up most of the gifts I had so far and I'm generally pleased with how they turned out. I lacked gift tags so with random left over craft materials (glitter cotton balls, old company labels, tacky glue etc.) and the cardboard from all my online orders, I made a few custom tags. Easy peasy. Well, I only had a black pen on hand so some labels look slightly bland, but I think it's altogether quite cute.

Of course, I've still got a few more gifts to wrap, but I'm nearly done. Phew! And it's only December 1st! There are also more craft projects I may want to try out, including DIY holiday gifts and ornaments. I just hope I can get them done in time. If I do, more blog posts are a'comin'

So. I think that was pretty good for my "mild-comeback" post. Until next time--ciao suckers.

Getting ready for the holidays!

Hey, yall! Long time, no post!

It's not like I've been really busy or anything, I just didn't have much to blog about. Anyway, I just celebrated my 23rd birthday (Nov. 27th!) and I've got a new hair-do/color to start off anew.


I haven't had bangs in years, but I'm trying to get used to it. Actually, I haven't had a salon cut for two years! The last time, I had a pixie cut which looked terrible so, traumatized, I refused to cut my hair. Anyway, as usual, the stylist made my hair look pretty decent in the end. Yet once out of the shower and any attempt to to style it myself has proven to be difficult. Darn. Oh well, this change was a bit needed :)