Nails :D

Oh I love doing my nails!!  While it is definitely NOT the most relaxing thing in the world, it is lots of fun!!  So here's something I did for a more wintery theme:

Up close, you can see the blue gradating I made.  This is a very easy way to paint your nail, all you need is two kinds of glitter nail polish one in a lighter shade of the color you want and the other in a darker shade.  Apply the lighter shade once on the entire nail, and then a second coat on only half of the nail.  Lastly, put a little bit of the darker glitter on the edge of the nail to make the gradation more prominent.  No mushy diary today because they didn't really grow Q_Q;  However, a vintage-fall themed nail tutorial is coming up!!

P.S. Glitter nail polishes are always hard to get off, so it's good to use MONSTER HAND!! (aka foil- wrapped-nail-polish-remover-cotton-balls.)

-Mimi

Blue Crabs (Explicit content if you are an animal lover >.<)

Ummm...I think it is the season for crabs >.> at least that's what my mother has been telling me.  We paid a visit to Li Ming's Global Mart Saturday to grab some blue crabs for lunch ($2.99/lb).  We did not cook them immediately, instead, we left them out in the garage for one night and cooked them the next day.  Here's our encounter with one of the crabs:

Store-bought BLUE CRAB appeared!

Stuart used HYPNOSIS, but it failed.  

Blue Crab used CRABHAMMER, but Blue Crab missed.

Stuart used CLAMP!

Blue Crab fainted!

and became lunch...

So yeah, basically we steamed them while fresh (note, euphemism.)  

here's the big crab I had

ummm, lots of yummy roes!!!

The cooking process was rather easy, they were steamed for 15min after the water has boiled.  We made a dipping sauce out of rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, and sugar.  

Enjoy~

-Mimi

The Scrap Exchange Dance

So, I went to the Scrap Exchange swing dancing event yesterday and it was a blast (regardless of the unhappy incident that I'm going to talk about).  Here's the outfit I put together for the dance, I thought the dress was perfect for the occasion.

Anyways, on to the unhappy incident that almost ruined my night.  I usually go swing dancing with my boyfriend and ex-roommate Kathryn.  Recently, Kathryn's new roommate Alice has joined us because swing dancing is an awesome form of exercise and way to meet new people.  While meeting new people is fun, it can also go wrong sometimes.  There has been this creepy guy that we occasionally dance with who gives us uncomfortable stares (long long stares from across the room...).  Now, I have no problem with dancing with strangers, and both Kathryn and Alice love dancing with different people.  It's just this one particular guy that creeps us out.  As a result, I have been trying to avoid dancing with him for a while now.  Well, avoiding worked well until yesterday...until he went to my boyfriend and asked why he wouldn't let me dance with other people (completely untrue).  Then he managed to follow us to the refreshments room and pointed his finger at my boyfriend and shouted at him by calling him a jerk.  I'm talking about this fully grown man (in his 50s perhaps?) pointing his fingers at a 22-year-old blaming him for things he didn't even do!!  So, I basically got really pissed off and went to talk to someone about it.  This worked out surprisingly well, because what ended up happening was that I had to tell the guy personally that it is MY right to choose who to dance with, and I CHOSE not to dance with him.  Lesson learned, don't get yourself involved with creepy people by being overly nice to them.  You just have to tell the person to stop when you need to!  So the night went on with no more trouble, and oh how it was delightful!  Thanks to everyone who helped me out!!

- Mimi

Mushroom Diary 3

Growing mushrooms is a very slow process...I think.  My shimeji pieces have not gotten much bigger from the last time I posted about them.  However, they have expanded a little bit horizontally and seem to be forming a web of some sort.

I hope they would grow faster~ >.< oh well, I should be a little more patient...

- Mimi

Great find!

Today, I stepped into Nordstrom Rack for the first time to use a $20 coupon I have acquired recently.  I had less than 1 hour to shop, so I actually wasn't planning on buying anything that required going to the fitting room.  But oh how I was wrong!  There's something magical about a big roomful of clothing that makes me want to dig through all of them to find THE one that I want to take home with me.
First of all, Nordstrom Rack is not cheap.  Definitely cheaper than Nordstrom, but it is by no means Charlotte Russe.  There were many brand names that I couldn't care less about, so the price tags were not all that reasonable.  To me, things are worth more if I could be happy in it, and that depends on the aesthetics, comfort, and quality of  the clothing.  Anyways, I went through the shop once for a general view and found a couple of socks and cosmetics that I could spend my coupon on.  When I finally decide to stop at the dress section and go through everything that was my size, I found about five pieces of dresses that I really liked and had reasonable price tags.  After trying all of them on, I decided to take this beauty home.

without the belt

If you know me, then you will know that the flashiness of this dress is beyond anything I have in my closet.  However, I have to argue that since this dress is perfect for every season (it contains the essence of spring, structure of a summer dress, and the colors of the holidays), it is actually very useful to have.  Oh, and did I mention that I LOVE vintage dresses?  Well, doesn't this look like one of those darling garments that the Mad Men wives wear?  I'm also very much in love with the round soft belt.  

Either way, the best part of the dress has to be it's price tag.  $44.97.  Which means that I only paid $28 (with tax) for this with my awesome coupon.  Life is good when you can find cheap things!!  Anyways, I'm going to wear this to the Saturday swing dance at the Doris Duke Center so I might have some pictures of me in it later. 

- Mimi

Mushroom Diary 2

It is officially 4 days after I "planted" my pieces of mushroom inside cardboard!  Now they have all become super cute little white fuzz balls!!  Aren't they adorable? We will see what's going to happen in another two days.

On the other hand, I have also ordered some oyster mushroom spawns from ebay, but since they are getting shipped from the UK, we will not get to see them until December Q_Q.

- Mimi

DIY Lace Earrings

This is my first tutorial post!!  Recently, I got very addicted to pinterest, which inspired me to do many projects from materials I have acquired over the years.  I found a very short segment of lace couple days ago in my box of goodies and decided to make them into earrings.

Materials I used are: Lace, Earring Hooks, Pearl Beads, Adhesive Pearls, Wires, Scissors, and Pliers.  

1. Lay out the lace to decide what part of it you want to use for the project.  2. Cut the lace.  3. Plan out where the beads go.  4. Put everything together with wire.  (background acquired from HERE )

Voila!

It's a super easy to do project that will take very little time and it is very foolproof.  Have fun crafting!!!! 

- Mimi