Manicure Mondays on Hiatus

My fathers been sick for a few weeks now so I wont be doing anything related to nails anytime soon. However I am able to gather some nail tips and designs from others to recommend to everyone who was interested in that. LOVE4NAILS has a Youtube design how-tos that you guys can look at and follow along. Check her out here!

Bridal Shower + Bakerella Cake Pops

I went to my boyfriend's cousin's bridal shower yesterday and it was my FIRST ever bridal shower. I thought her friends were so creative and everything seemed perfect. There was a lot of talk about these cute little cupcake pops and I just wanted to share with you guys how to make em yourself! I've made these before 2 years ago when I spotted them on Bakerella.Com. I made so much for my boyfriend he just said no more lol. They're extremely sweet but they're fun to make and exceptionally cute! Bakerella is an awesome CAKE-MAKER lol. She does so many things with cakes its amazing and everything just looks adorable and vibrant. Check out her blog at Bakerella.Com. You wont be disappointed! Have fun! Bring em to a party and wow your friends. :)

Below is a video of her promoting CAKE POPS! book and a tutorial on how to make your own cake pops.

P.S. I wish Nathan and Thuy the best of luck with their relationship. I can't wait to attend the wedding!

Phil's 25th Birthday

My BooBoo turned 25 yesterday. We didn't do much celebrating but we did go shopping. He wasn't too excited haha. We didnt end up doing anything 'fun' 'til around 10pm. We went bowling with his cousins and boy did he get DRUNK!

I've never really seen him this way but I think hes really silly, cheesy, and gentler when hes this way. Although hes cheesy when hes drunk, he can also get into a lot of trouble. I.E. forgetting my name calling me Yen instead of Jen. Making that mistake twice in one night. *grumbles* but its forgiven since he kept telling me how much he loves me on the car ride home.

The night ended with a sink-full of chunks. :)

Deals!

So it seems that I have been actively scouring http://slickdeals.net/ for.. you guessed it, DEALS! I'm a Business Major and I've been waiting for these Business magazine deals to show up and it finally did! I got 2 Years of INC and Fast Company magazines for only 10 bucks! Beat that AMAZON! It was a package deal to help Japan's crisis. I believe that for every subscription sold, $1 will be donated to the RED CROSS to help Japan's crisis.

If you want to get the magazine deals you can find it here. The coupon code is RELIEF.
You can find other great magazine deals here if you want other types like Wired or Popular Science.

And of course, if you're just looking for good deals in general... you may find it by going to http://slickdeals.net/

Sephora Makeup Order

I recently received for my birthday Philosophys New Tinted Moisturizer from my sister and honestly, it didn't really go with my skin. I have dry skin so it made my skin look terrible so I returned it and order other stuff online! 5 items, around 50 bucks. Not so bad. Everything was on sale. I'm excited but my cameras broken without a battery charger too! I took this photo before it crapped out.
List of items from Sephora:

• Sephora Concealer Palette - This is not powder concealer but actually creamy. It comes with a cute little brush. I believe it was 8 dollars.
• Sephora Liquid Eyeliner in 02 brown was sold for 5 bucks, originally 10 dollars. Its a brush tip thats thin for easy precise lining. (THIS IS NOT A FELT TIP BRUSH!) $5.00 on sephora.com
• Sephora Base Primer. Honestly, I feel this base primer is too greasy. It doesn't feel like SmashBox's Photo Finish primers where the texture is silky. This one feels like a lotion. Although it feels greasy, it gives off a matte finish. $8.00 on sephora.com
• Anastasia Highlighting Brow Kit. To me, is beautiful. The baked brow powder is very pigmented and naturally looking. The tones are neutral. It doesn't have a red/warm undertone like some brow powders do. The highlighting powders are frosty in my opinion but glides on sheer. This kit is versatile as it can be used as an eyeshadow rather than just a brow kit. They work well wet or dry application. In stores these go for about $38.00 but on sephora.com its only $20.00
• Stila collectible travel palette #3 (Trendsetting in Tokyo) is a cute combination of colors. Its a steal for only $10. I like the convertible cheek/lip color (Sakura) because its almost like a sweet pink look. The convertible color is gel based and it gives a baby/barbie doll color. The black eyeshadow (Peace) is pigment black with little black glints of glitter. The blue(Shibuya) is a matte royal blue color. Pink (Kawaii) eyeshadow is a shimmer sweet pink. Then theres Sake a champagne shimmer shadow. I honestly bought this for the convertible color and possibly Sake Champagne shadow.

This isn't a review or anything. Just wanted to share what i bought! Sorry no swatches. D:

Great News Tonight

A lot of great news tonight. For the past couple of days I've been ridden with bad news! My first midterm was all bad. My second midterm was alright. My dad got a stroke, he couldn't move his right arm or his right hands/digits. How are we going to pay for the hospital bills etc.

Good news came today. My sister came home to visit. Got my finance midterm scores back and it was pretty good in my book (got a B). Came home to test my dads glucose levels and was happy to see that it went down to 124. I know it might be high but thats after he ate and stuff. Compared to the morning where he just woke up and fasted for 8 hours it was at 133. I was keeping note of his daily activities and diet and it seems the following is a good combination for him...

• A packet of oatmeal followed later with a 10-15 minute walk.
• All day hand and right arm exercises. We're just trying to get his right hand to work again.
• Lunch he had vegetables, boiled chicken, and a little bit of rice.
• At night, all he ate was vegetable soup with more chicken and half an avocado.

His food is really bland but it seems to lower his glucose levels. Anyway, the really really good news is just that he is able to move his right hand a little more strongly a few hours after my sister went home. Maybe she has magical healing powers. Before she left, she told my dad she loved him and gave him a kiss. I know it was awkward but you know old fashion Asian parents don't really know how to reciprocate love. Telling our parents that we love them was kind of weird but it kind of brought my mom to tears this evening when we told her. its just something joyous. I feel like we've just jumped a hurdle. I hope more good news come. It really made my night better knowing my dads feeling better. A felt a little more at ease today. I feel like we're having a better family bond. I know I'm getting emotional but my family, we were close yet very separated. Now we're just in a good place despite the circumstances.

Blue Screen of Death

My desktop received the blue screen of death while I was trying to turn it on. I traded the graphic cards because i've longed assumed that it possible might have been the problem for it to abruptly shut down. I guess it wasn't! I also took out the rams and tried putting them back in, that didn't work. So now I'm stuck with my laptop. Fortunately, I got a replacement adaptor a few weeks ago or else I wouldn't be able to do any of my homework or turn in any of my assignments. Although with time constraints and untimely events, I wasn't able to complete all projects. I was hoping my instructor would be on the more sympathetic side and let me have a few extra days to work since my father went through a stroke but I guess not. Its not an excuse though! I just was planning to finish everything this week and my dad just unexpectedly got sick. I didn't have a choice. Anyway... I had picture of my new nails on my desktop but now its broken so I guess I'll have to wait to post it.

Hectic Week

No real posts last week. My beautiful relatives from Nebraska flew over to visit us for the week. I got to see my adorable neice! Partied at Motif with my cousins and gosh I failed hard! The mission was to get my cousin Jess drunk but I ended up being the messed up one! Boo..

On a more serious note... My daddy recently suffered a stroke on Tuesday. His right arm is kind of paralyzed and his speech is slurred. Honestly im really afraid. He refused to be admitted to the ER but he finally decided to go yesterday. At the moment, my dear old dad is staying overnight at the hospital.  Im not sure how to react but I want to see him home safe and sound tomorrow. I always saw my dad as tough and strong but now I see him and he looks old and frail. I wish everything will be ok. I really dont know  if we'd be able to pay for the bills... Anyway... Take care all.

Manicure Mondays

I've decided that I'm going to showcase some nail art designs on Mondays every week... at least try to xD Manicure Mondays consists of either color swatches, nail designs, polish reviews... Maybe a step by step tutorial if I'm up to it xD Thought it might be fun to have something to look forward to... Give my blog some kind of meaning :) I've been updating randomly whenever I feel like it. My current passion is nail polish at the moment.

OPI Designer Series in Illuminate

I've always been a sucker for shimmer polish. This Illuminate from OPI's designer series is pretty. I couldn't capture the green tint of the polish but this ones a hologram polish. The color isnt really for me but it looked nice in the bottle :p It looks too granny on my nails, in my opinion anyway. xD

Blue sparkles!

I bought this China Glaze blue glitter color in Dorothy Who awhile back and decided to use it today. Its really cute. I like how the blue glitter isn't chunky and not iridescent either. Its the right size of sparkles so I'm happy. This design is fairly simple to do; You just do a typical blue tip manicure then you layer the blue sparkles on top. Accent it with a line of silver dots. Youre done. China Glaze in Dorothy Who blue is a must have. I really love this color.

Energy - Natalie

"dedicated to my favorite lover..."

Addidas striker bag

It finally arrived! Bigger than I anticipated! I got this at sports authority onlie last week for like 12 bucks? I also got a Puma jacket for $20. What a steal! I never had a bag to carry my clothes around for overnight stays... I always carry what i needed in a garbage bag. -_- its not as embarassing as it sounds but still, i wouldnt want to bring a spare change of clothes in a plastic bag.

Webhosting

Time to look for a better webhosting service with no down or up time. I hate how my current (hostbig) host is always down. It says unlimited bandwidth and storage but why aint my site working for a few minutes, sometimes hour. D: frustrated. Ah well got what I paid for ($1 a month) hehe.