you look like sunshine

jeans/jeggings, Marshall's

boots, Sperry

blouse, thrifted

tank, diy

hairclip, gift

OBVIOUSLY when the sky is grey and people are depressed and the weather gods are punishing us and the clouds are crying, it's the PERFECT TIME to wear BRIGHT YELLOW shiny rainboots.

And then, when you go to an elementary school to teach art club like you do once a week, be sure one of the kids notices and tells you that you look like sunshine. And proceeds to list the different colors you are wearing. After all, it is art club and art is all about colors.

But also, when you walk outside with your yellow scarf that is the exact same shade as your yellow boots and your bright orange peacoat, thinking it's really cold when actually it's humid as hell and fifty degrees, make sure people stare, and hopefully a few people smile.

Because they're all dressed in drab colors that match the day and don't really make it any less depressing.

But this boots are MAGICAL -- they make any rainy day instantly brighter.

love and right triangles,

april!

you look outrageous

I enjoy dressing outrageously and potentially scaring the high schoolers touring campus with their parents.

But actually, I think I'm repping my school well - we're all strange in some way and that's what I love about being here.

This week has been so relaxing - I had Monday and Tuesday off, and as a result a lot of normal homework-related things were pushed back to next week. I'm totally enjoying the free time by being as unproductive as possible. 

dress, selfmade.

cardigan, H&M.

socks, Target.

shoes, thrifted.

earrings, craft fair.

bow, selfmade.

love and right triangles,

april

something corporate

Sometimes, blazers make me feel like a corporate businesswoman. Then again, wearing so many colors, and stripes, and sequins makes me feel very much like a not-corporate-businesswoman.

If you've been following me for a while, you'll remember this skirt from this tutorial:

(click to enlarge)

Super easy, super quick, super cheap. How DIYs should be!

blazer, thrifted.

skirt, diy.

belt, thrifted.

tank, Macy's.

shoes, Payless.

Off to eat falafel, do laundry and check my mail! Errands, errands, errands...

love and right triangles,

april

President's Day with the President

Okay, okay, so maybe I didn't "hang out" with Mr. Obama but I was nearby!

Yep, that's right. As this horribly blurry photo shows you, I was in Washington, D.C. for the long weekend!

 

 We ate lots and lots of delicious food. Like burgers at Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington, VA. I highly highly highly recommend. It was delicious. I was in a food coma for days.

Said food coma was also due to the ridiculous number of Georgetown Cupcakes I ate. I may or may not have consumed seven cupcakes in three days.  

 Sittin' on a bench at Georgetown University, eatin' DELICIOUS Georgetown Cupcakes is, like, a new tradition for us.

 [outfit details: Aldo canvas sneaks, Target knee socks, thrifted blazer, diy tank, Target shorts, Forever 21 earrings, random record store in Saratoga Springs, NY crazy 80s "8-bit" sunglasses]

 So many cupcakes! They were cupcake-gasmic. YOU NEED TO PURCHASE ONE DOZEN AND EAT THEM ALL. Please. Go to Georgetown. BUY CUPCAKES. YOU WILL NEVER THINK OF CUPCAKES THE SAME WAY AGAIN. I PROMISE.

 I suppose we didn't do much typical DC stuff. This is the only picture of a monument I got, and we were just walking back to my friend's dorm - we didn't even go to any monuments! Which is kinda sad, because they're awesome, especially at night.

We did however, go shopping :) And OBAMA was dressed in American Apparel in their window display. Bizarro?! Disturbing?! Hilarious?! Ridiculous!? All of the above?? Yes. Well, at least he's lookin' fly. 

[outfit details: selfmade dress, Forever21 leggings, Aldo canvas sneaks, thrifted blazer, Forever21 belt]

Be prepared to see this blazer a lot. I'm a fan. :)

And back to school we go! We not only had Monday off, but we also had Tuesday off, so this week is fantastically short and also pretty light on work. Must apply to summer internships! Blahhhh

love and right triangles,

april

i like my beats fast and my bass down low

The weather has been so amazingly gorgeous lately, and having lived in the Northeast my entire life, I know Spring is just being the tease that it is, but STILL, I'll bite. Good weather is good weather.

Yesterday when I got dressed and took these photos, it was a bit too much wishful thinking - it wasn't actually warm out at all. Hah. But whatevz, I threw on some high socks and a scarf and that was that. The way I deal with the transition from winter to spring is to be in total denial about the continued presence of winter and pretend it's full-on spring.

 This outfit was sorta too Easter-y - I wish I got pictures of what it looked like with socks (purple crochet OTK) and a scarf (multicolored pink-purple-red-blue-orange pashmina)

 dress, selfmade.
cardigan, H&M.
shoes, Target.

 TODAY it's GORGEOUS outside and I LOVE IT, and I want to just DANCE my HAPPINESS to the next level.

 My legs are so incredibly pale - SUMMER i miss you

dress, diy.
cardigan, H&M.
shoes, Payless.

ENJOY THIS WEATHER!! because y'all know it won't last :(

I missed this week's Musing on a Monday post, partly because I was just busy, and it was Valentine's Day, and I really had nothing to muse about. Got any ideas?

love and right triangles,
april

now put your hands up

oh, oh, oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh, oh oh oh, OH OH oh

(all the single ladies!)

happy valentine's day!!

A major Valentine's Day outfit dump is about to happen. Y'all ready for this? (Da na na, da da da da da dun dun dun dun da da da da da da da DA! HEY!)

Wore this outfit on Saturday to dinner with friends followed by speed dating! hahahah. Actually it was loads of fun.

boots, Marshalls.

tights, don't remember.

dress, H&M.

cardigan, H&M.

headband, NY&Co.

Andddd outfit number TWOOOO - I planned on wearing this today, but this skirt just fits kind of awkwardly, so I never actually wore it out. But I love it anyway!

skirt, Urban Outfitters.

blouse, thrifted.

tank, Old Navy.

socks, Target.

shoes, thrifted.

hair clip, found it (finders keepers, losers weepers!)

all different pinks/reds - dollar store, Urban Outfitters, NYColor, Delia's.

And finally, some sparkle, some jazz, and just a touch of pink.

top, Macy's.

cardigan, H&M.

skirt, Express.

socks, Target.

shoes, Forever 21.

Today, you should:

Eat chocolate and and bake cupcakes!

Drink red wine!

LOVE YOURSELF!

Spread the love!

Hug all your friends!

Buy yourself flowers!

Eat a heart shaped lollipop!

and LOVE YOURSELF MORE!

happy day of love <3

extra LOVE and right triangles,

april

happy valentine's day: part 1

Valentine's Day is on Monday this year, which can only mean one thing:

Valentine's outfits for everyone!!! MEANING: one for Friday, one for Saturday, one for Sunday and one for Monday! muahaha i'm insane.

If you know me at all, you know I'm a SUCKER for holidays and SPIRIT and outfits based on such insanity.

NATURALLY, Valentine's Day is one of my favorites because when else can you be as girly?! WHEN ELSE does red and pink look so good together? WHEN ELSE can you spread LOVEloveLOVE?? When else can you imagine your life as a happy-ending-romantic-comedy?? And mostly, if you're not going to enjoy this oh-so-special Hallmark Holiday with a loved one, WHY NOT ENJOY IT WITH YOURSELF?! And that, my friends, is what Valentine's Day is all about.

Without further ado...A celebration of LOVE, Day One.

dress, H&M.
cardigan, DIY, old.
belt, thrifted.
tights, H&M.
shoes, thrifted.

HAPPY LOVE WEEKEND!

LOVEloveandmorelove and right triangles too,
april <3

Musings on a Monday #3: Why I Love Asian Women

I think Asian women are awesome. As a young Asian woman, I suppose it's empowering. Mostly though, Asian women remind me of my mom.

My mom and I don't have the best relationship, but I still admire her as a person. She's strong and confident and unafraid to stand up for herself. She can be insensitive and annoying but she's the number one person I look up to.

That being said, I generally have negative feelings towards my mother. But for some reason, my mother is the reason I love my Chinese female professors (I have two of them, plus two TAs) and my Chinese former boss. They are all so sure of themselves and comfortable in their own skin, and that inspires me. 

I identify myself as a mostly-non-Asian Asian, meaning that while I am of course Chinese, I relate more to American culture and traditions than to Chinese ones. Perhaps surrounding myself with Asian women who were all born and raised in China or Taiwan reminds me of the things I have in common with them, that I'm more Chinese than I like to think, and that I should embrace the Chinese in me more.

I don't know.

Happy Monday!

love and right triangles,

april

colors and textures, or looking forward to spring

I'm always all about brights. And there's never a reason not to wear them - in spring and summer, you dress for the season. In winter and fall, you dress for the anti-season. As in, "This day really sucks and it's gloomy and gets dark well before the day is even close to ending so I'm going to inject some LIFE and FUN and COLOR into the world by whipping my hair back and forth and wearing as many colors as my 5'0" body can fit on it."

And since winter has been unceremoniously HARSH this year, and since Lexy challenged the world to wear five colors in a single outfit...well, then it was only a matter of which five colors.

I guess I cheated a little, since some of my colors are found sparingly slash in the print of this skirt. But WHATEVZ man, I'd say the prints and the ruffles and the textured tights make up for the measly presence of neon yellow in the form of a skinny patent belt. BUT IT'S STILL A HELLUVA RAINBOW OF COLOR. (redundancy much?)

But I mean, wearing five colors could translate to wearing black, white, grey, blue and brown all in one outfit (which actually sounds barf-tastic to me) but none of those, except maybe blue, are actually colors. If you have ever watched What Not To Wear, you'd know as well as Stacey and Clinton that all of those colors are, in fact, NEUTRALS. I.E. NOT COLORS. 

So please, do the groundhog a favor and up his accuracy rate (a measly 39% if I'm not mistaken) and bring on the SPRING. Because if the weather gods aren't going to do it, we can at least fake it til we make it, know what i'm sayin'?

skirt, diy.

tank, diy.

blouse, thrifted.

belt, Forever 21.

earrings, Forever 21.

tights, don't remember.

boots, Marshall's.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!

love and right triangles,

april