Hello Blogettes,

Okay, I found this video on YouTube the other day and got so excited that I had to share it! I skipped the TBT this week, so this can be my throwback.

I didn't know this clip existed on YouTube, so I was so happy to see it. I have the recording for it on CD; however, I never actually saw video taped footage of any of the performances during my 2 years as a part of the PRIMA choir at UVic. Oh, btw. I used to sing in a choir in case you guys didn't know. Kinda of a "duh" moment mention it this far into the post haha. 

Anyways, I love singing in a choir. It's seriously so much fun, and being in PRIMA definitely challenged and improved my singing drastically. Unfortunately it was unable to start up again this school year, but I guess it worked out because I wouldn't have been able to attend rehearsals anyways. I had class during the time that our rehearsals would be.

Basically, the biggest part of our performance in November 2011 was singing Mozart's Requiem from beginning to end. The music is pretty hard, but I loved it. 'Lacrimosa' was probably one of my favourites from the requiem. In this performance, since it was a big composition, we joined up with VICC (Vancouver Island Chamber Choir), as well as a quartet who sang the solos. Do you guys care about all these deets that I'm giving you? I feel like it's almost more for me than it is you guys, haha. Helps me reminisce.

But enough reminiscing, here's the video! Look for me on the right, front row, third person in. The video's not the best quality, but the audio was fine. I love big sounding choirs (ours alone was tiny). Anyways, let me know what you guys think down in the comment section below :)

Hello Blogettes,

As promised in my Pamper Day post, here is the fancy dinner we went to.

After my fun little pampering session with my mom, we went home and our whole family went to dinner at Cloud 9. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's this fancy restaurant in Vancouver that revolves as you eat. The floors turn so you get a chance to see the beautiful view from the window while you enjoy your meal. It's pretty expensive, but I think my daddio wanted to treat my mom to something nice since it was her birthday and all.

Here is me getting ready. For some reason I quite like this picture, despite the mess in the background. It's like the realistic setting of what my room looks like when I get ready to go out. Except here, I had like under 10 minutes to change and quickly do my hair.

And then here, I quickly took a picture of my outfit of the night. Once again, lovely background with my coat on the stairs.

Here's a picture of my mama and I. It's cute, I like it. Except the awkward cut off bothers me.

I had the grilled chicken for dinner. I don't know the full name for it, but it was stuffed with sausage and I want to say blue cheese? It came with a side of seasonal vegetables and rosemary something potatoes (I forgot the actual name). The dish was quite good. All of our food was. Actually, false. I didn't like the cocktail I ordered. I ordered the 'Tsunami' and when ordering, I didn't know that one of the liqueurs in it tasted like black licorice and I haaate black licorice. I ended up giving it to my dad to drink for me because I just couldn't drink it. This is what I get for trying new things.

Such a bummer that this picture was blurry:

Lastly, we have a full family photo!! How precious. We never get family photos. This is probably the one family photo we've had in at least a year. Probably well over.

Well I guess that's all! What an eventful day that was. Usually my days just consist of sitting at my computer and doing homework. In a week's time I'll finally get a break from it all! At least for a few weeks that is.

Jen

Hello Blogettes,

It's the final two weeks of school and it suuuuucks! It always does. But surprisingly, this is the chillest final two weeks of school I've ever had in university. I still have a bunch of assignments due, but it's the first time ever where I don't have final exams and I LOVE it. I don't really test well. It's not that I don't know my stuff, but multiple choice gets to me. I was so proud of myself when I got 100% on my quiz at my Occupation First Aid class last Tuesday. It was great. I was the only one in my class who did so.. Double fist pump!

What I'm getting at is that today, I allowed myself to get a little pampered. I stayed up late last night after work finishing up homework because I knew I was going to have a bit of a slack day since it was my mom's birthday. I worked until 11 pm last night, came home, showered, and then did homework until roughly 1:30 am. It was a tiring morning since I had to wake up early today and take my dog to the vet. I got some work done earlier today (well, mostly just a group meeting), but then when my mom came home and invited me to get my nails done at her friend's salon, I said yes. My better judgment knew I should stay home and do some work, but it was her birthday and I've been wanting to get my nails for ages so I jumped at the chance. Being Vietnamese means we fit the stereotype and my mom has tons of friends who own nail salons, haha.

Here's where I went:

Such a wide selection of colours to choose from!

I haven't had a pedi is forever. This place was great. They did all the standard things nail stuff, but I loved the scrub, lotion-ing and massaging, and they even had hot stones and hot towels! So. Wonderful. Can you tell I don't get to pamper myself often? I like to take it all in when I can ;)

 I ended up with the colour "Turned Up Turquoise". I'm not sure whether it was by O.P.I. or China Glaze, but it's a beautiful shade. The nail art is fun too. I've never had a design like that before. Sorry if you don't like feet pictures. I'm not a big fan of feet either. This is probably the prettiest time you'll ever catch my feet - immediately after a pedicure. Haha!

I ended up getting shellac, since regular nail polish will chip by like, tomorrow. Or for sure by Thursday when I go to work. Oh, and fun story behind my 4 random nail designs. I honestly just let them do whatever they wanted. It was a treat day (i.e. no charge) because it was their gift to my mom for her birthday. We just supplied them with coffee (that's actually homemade Vietnamese iced coffee, not McDonald's - way better!) and forced them to take our tip money. You know how Asians, do. If you don't then, essentially, they're often insistent on either fighting over who pays or won't take your money.

For sides, we got some pan fried noodles, spring rolls, fried rice, and some pork thing. I don't know what the bottom dish is called. All I know is that it's good and that I like it.

And lastly, we've got CAKE! You can't forget about the cake. It was her birthday after all! We had quite a few guests but opted for a small 6" fruit cake 'cos people don't normally eat much cake. My mom was like, "why'd you get such a small cake?" I didn't realize how many guests we were going to have. Turns out they were all super full anyways, so good call on my part ;)

After all that eating, I proceeded to work on my paper that was due that next day through loud, cranked karaoke. It sucked since my office/study room is right next to the living room, but I mean, what's a Vietnamese party without some karaoke? It's how we roll.

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Jen

Hello blogettes,

I think that's going to become a thing. "Blogette". It'll be your source of consistency from me ;) Watch me one day be like what.. Why.. Haha.

Today I thought I'd take you guys back to my high school convocation!! Or 'commencement' as my school called it. Recently I found myself searching when I would apply for the Spring convocation of 2015 (I intend to finish my BSW this December) and I was like whoa! Time went hella fast! It feels like it was just yesterday I was in high school, but at the same time, it feels like it was a lifetime ago. So weird. I think it's weird that so much has happened since then, but it's almost been kind of a blur. Isn't it crazy how every passing moment becomes a memory? I can reflect back clearly on the night but it was like, 3 years ago.

This is a picture of the seniors in my chamber choir singing Oh, Canada! minus one (or two guys). Oh, man.. I remember the drama that stirred up because they were voted out of singing with us just because they never showed up to rehearsals. It wasn't fair that everyone else showed up, worked hard to prepare for our commencement, only to have one (or two) person(s) ruin it for everyone else. All the girls also sang the Parting Glass (The Wailin' Jennys version). I think one of classmates posted a video on YouTube.. 

Found it! Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD40JdB8MQQ

It wouldn't let me add the video in for some reason... Odd.

Go, Class of 2011! ;)

Jen

Hello blogettes,

I don't know where "blogette" came from but oh well haha.

It's my first 'haul' blog post! How exciting. I thought I'd share with you guys a gift my friend gave me for my birthday... 6 months late, haha. It was a joke I made that when she gave me, it was more like my 'half-birthday' present than anything. She unfortunately wasn't able to make it to my birthday dinner that day so she's been holding on to it ever since. We've been super busy so we've only been able to meet up twice over the last 6 months (the first time she forgot the gift at home, haha. It's okay though).

Both items are from Forever21 but the first one, I am absolutely in love with. It's a little purse with the quilted print. I think my favourite part is the little bow on the front. It's a pretty small purse, which I like because I have a lot of larger purses, but few small purses.

Thanks again for the gift, girl. I love it :)

Jen

 Just so you guys could see how dumb it looked au natural, I included a before and after. 

Hey everyone,

So I just wanted to make a super quick blog post wishing my brother a Happy 23rd Birthday! I told him he better make it a good one 'cos 23 is my favourite number. Makes me excited for when I turn 23 just because it's my favourite number. I just figure that that must mean that it'll be a great year for me, right? ;)


So this picture sucks 'cos it's like super dark, but it's all I've really got without cropping from another photo. I tried to dig through and find a picture of us together but apparently we don't take very many together. I mean, I knew that, but it just because super clear when it came to actually trying to find one Maybe we'll take one when we go out to dinner, who knows? If we do, I'll update this post and throw one in below. If I don't well then, you know.

- Jen

Hello hello!

So it seems that I have chosen to centre my font. That's cool. What's also cool is doing throwback Thursday posts. It's kind of fun going through photos to see what I'd like to post. It lets me reminisce. For this week's post I decided to go with last summer when I got to play makeup artist for a day during a music video shoot and I loved it.

As much as I love what I'm currently studying in school now, one of my (not so) secret dreams is to be a makeup artist. I think it would be so fun. Perhaps someday in the future. Who says I have to do the same thing for the rest of my life, right?

And then there's UD's Naked3. I think that alone says enough. But I have been playing with the colours a bit more this month. Particularly the darker shades to the right. I swap between this palette and my UD Original Naked palette. I just like knowing I can rely on it the colours staying on all day (if I use a primer that is). I've become super comfortable with my Naked palette and know what looks I like/can do with it, so I've been experimenting more with this one and getting a feel for it. It's been fun.

So were some of my favourites last month. What were some of yours? :)

- Jen

Hello friends,

Here is my outfit from yesterday. 

Outfit:

- Top: from Winners; layered with a tank top from Garage

- Cardigan: from Army and Navy

- Yoga/athletic pants from Walmart

- Shoes: Keds

It is super casual and comfy! And it's a total 'me' outfit. I love that knit cardigan. I call it my 'granny sweater' haha. I generally just sit in my PJs and do my schoolwork at home; however, I decided that I needed a change of scenery yesterday so I went to Starbucks to do some studying. My café misto was delish! I also got kind of hungry so I bought a blueberry scone, too.

And here's a shot of the makeup look I had on yesterday.

 Normally I wouldn't have put this much effort into my makeup if I'm just going to study, but I just felt like I needed a little pick me up yesterday. Been feeling a little off my game the last few days. Not really sure why. Also, I noticed that the shadow is a little more ashy than I would have liked, but I didn't notice until I was on my way back home. It probably had to do with the fact that they were dark colours and I didn't want it to be too strong.

Jen