Memorial Day Weekend Chicago Trip

Every year around Memorial Day my mom takes us on a little vacation. Last year it was Arizona, the year before that was Cleveland and this year it was Chicago. I am originally from Chicago so it's always been my favorite city to visit. Ahh...so many memories in Chicago. We visited my grandparents whom I haven't seen in a while and went to Wicker Park and Chinatown. Most of the time when we go to Chicago we stay downtown, but we decided to be a little more adventurous and go to the not-so well known areas. Here are some pictures from my trip. ^-^


             Car tuneage and Ocarina of Time for my 3DS. I got through the Forest Temple on our way there.



                                                                Rollin in. 


         A magnet at Rudy's Roundup. It's this kitschy store in  Wicker Park that sells fun little vintage inspired knickknacks. I don't know why I didn't buy this because Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? is one of my all time favorite movies.


A glimpse of what Rudy's Roundup has to offer. Super friggin cute in there and they're always playing 80s music. They were playing Go-Go's when we went in. ^-^

Tuna salad at Santullo's. It had mozzarella which was AMAZING on their bread. Reminded me of caprese.

A display at Super H Mart, which is the Korean equivalent of Walmart. Oh, Psy, you rascal. We wanted to stay there longer but it was flipping COLD! I also wanted to save my money before we went to Chinatown, because I always end up spending too much money there. -_-

On the way to Chinatown...I promise I was more excited than I look bahaha 

                     TOTORO BACKPACKSSSS. God I wanted one so bad but I wanted to save my money for the candy store and Judy's Cosmetics.

I am such a child. There was a little girl in the store FREAKING OUT over everything and I was like....I know that feel, little girl. 

Instacollage of candy store and Sanrio gift shop. I'm trying so hard not to go into a diabeetus rage and eat the whole bag of candy from Ichiban but I promised I would give it to Jon. Those little strawberry shortcake squares are amazing, though. And they look soooooo cute. <3

We went to dim sum at Phoenix after the candy store. If you've never been to dim sum, you are missing out. It's a super fast paced dining experience. Basically the people wheel around carts of food and you pick what you want from it and pay for it all at the end. The lady wheeled around these egg custard/donut things but my mom was telling us to slow down, lolol. I thank her for that- my eyes are bigger than my stomach.

                       After dim sum, we went to my favorite part- cosmetics! I bought the red wine My Beauty Diary sheet masks because I feel like I need to start aging prevention. It was a tough choice, between this and the Arbutin Whitening ones. My skin is so blotchy with ugly dark spots, ugh. But I talked myself into the red wine because it'll be better for my skin in the long run. ^-^

I'll end with a picture of my mom and I. She has such a wonderful sense of adventure, and I love taking time off of work to go on trips with her. ^-^

xoxo Lara

"If you're going to be two-faced, at least make one of them pretty...."

I don't know where I heard that quote but that cannot be further from the truth. You should probably make both faces ugly. If you don't like someone, why would you act like you did? It sounds like such a simple concept, but it's very complex especially among females. 

I have a serious question for fake individuals: what motivates you to act friendly with someone face-to-face but turn around and say shitty, unsavory things about them behind their back for no reason? To people the talked about individual ARE friends with. Makes no fucking sense. What do you gain from this? And what causes this type of behavior? Cowardice? Fear of confrontation? Multiple personality disorder? Maybe I should get into psychology to crack the "fake" code. This type of thing has happened to me one too many times, and what I'm referring to is co-workers. This happened recently at my current workplace and I don't give a god damn if they read this. 

If you dislike me, please DON'T fucking tell me we need to get a drink sometime, play video games together, or hang out. Ever. Why would you go through the trouble of being friendly with someone you secretly hate? That takes a lot of energy and makes no sense why someone would waste it. I don't do part-time friendships. I seem to only get along with certain people when it's convenient for them, aka when we're slow at work and they're in a good mood. Last time I checked that is not how friendships work. Honestly, I'd much rather prefer if someone were shitty to me all the time instead of being two-faced. Because I'm not being lead on by someone I think is my friend and although I may hate that person, at least I know for sure never to waste my time and energy being nice to them. It's a mutual dislike, and it's done. There's no wondering if we're friends or not. I actually care about friendships and making friends and that's why situations like these disappoint me and confuse me....but I'm not a pushover and I'm definitely not fake. I hope to befriend people who don't leave me guessing whether or not we're friends.-_- Really, I cannot be bothered with any more of this high school bullshit. It's unnecessary and just really sad.  

xx Lara 

Life updates + Skin79 BB Cream Set

So after many months of tinkering my wonderful boyfriend got the laptop to work!! I'm so happy I'm finally able to start blogging regularly again and upload the pictures I've been taking with my new camera! For the record, it's a Canon Powershot SX260. Super nice and takes high quality pictures. I know work is not terribly interesting but I have been quite enjoying my job at Domo Japanese Steak and Sushi house. The first few months were rocky as I was nervous about starting a new job and the prospect of messing things up, but I feel like I've got the hang of everything. I've also gotten raises extremely fast, so I know I've been dool oing a good job. =^.^= I started school on the 14th, I don't even know what year/semester I am because I've been so on and off. :/ I feel like I want to pursue the criminal justice field. I came to this conclusion after realized how obsessed I am with following trials and watching those crime shows on Dateline ID hehe. I want to put bastard murderers away! Doesn't sound like a bad career to me. :D

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I ordered the Skin79 BB Cream Miniature Set off of Amazon for like 5 bucks (not including shipping) as a little impulse buy. I've been DYING to try Skin79's BB creams as it seems to me they are the 'king' of all BB cream brands. (Feel free to correct me on that....) And what better way to try their line than to just buy the variety pack? Here's my thoughts:

                                          The swatches are in the same order below, from left to right:
                                        Super+ Beblesh Balm, Super+ Beblesh Balm Triple Function, The Prestige    Beblesh Balm, Luminous Pearl Beblesh Balm

I love the consistency of these! This is what a REAL BB cream should feel like- thick and creamy with full coverage. I have tried many American BB creams and all they are is a glorified tinted moisturizer....aka they're runny, don't give full coverage, don't have skin brightening properties etc. These BB creams claim to 'whiten' skin over time with use and offer SPF 25. I go apeshit over anything that promises a more even skintone, I simply cannot get enough. They have a very comfortable feel, they moisturize well enough but my skin is sooo dry right now I must wear moisturizer underneath. Its coverage is so awesome I can even put it under my eyes and go without concealer and NOT look like a corpse.

My only problem? The shades. I feel like all of them with the exception of the BB Diamond look almost greyish on my skin? I am incredibly pale with yellow undertones which makes me one of the hardest people to color match. Of course, this is my preference so if you don't have that problem, you'll love Skin79's BB creams. These would be PERFECT and I would wear them every day if they would just match my skin tone! >.< Overall, I loved the formulation and just wish they were a little more yellow. That's all. I highly recommend this product for gals who have a cool/neutral undertone.

I'm going to end this post with a couple of gratuitous pictures of myself and birthday pictures! =^.^=

xox Lara

Instagram!!! Who has it?

I've been so addicted to Instagram ever since I got my iPhone. Everyone should follow me :)

Demurevixen2


Xo Lara

This month in photos: December

These are from my Instagram but here is my month summed up in a few pictures. :)

Bring it 2013!!!!!

I can say with all honesty I am glad to be done with 2012. This has been a really strange, crazy, wonderful year for me and I'm hoping 2013 is a little bit calmer. SO many life changes for me this year.... I don't know if I can handle any more. I just need some stability, ya know?

In 2012, I:
Moved in with my boyfriend, and left the nest for the first time in my life!

Got into a near fatal car accident

Quit my job to move to Muncie

Worked at Apple and left because of its awfulness

Was unemployed for 2 months

Had many financial woes

Got (yet another) job, this time serving at a sushi place

Cooked at home lots and perfected a few recipes

Watched the 2012 election shitstorm go down

Worked at Victoria's Secret on Black Friday (yeah... It was terrible don't ask)

Started karate up again and got promoted to yellow belt

And finally, I made peace with my body. Yep, the 10+ years of crash dieting, bingeing and purging, overeating, and pinching at my fat are finally coming to a close. It's a great feeling but that doesn't mean I'm letting myself go. I plan on eating healthfully, REAL FOOD and not diet bullshit, cooking at home more often, and exercising for health, not vanity.

2013 is gonna be a healthy, happy year for me. I'm gonna take it easy and not stress myself out so much. I'm going to learn to control my emotions better because nothing good ever comes from being emotional. I'm finally realizing this.

Anyway, I acquired a bomb ass camera for Christmas so expect reviews very soon. I haz beauty goodies I must share!

Let's make 2013 our bitch.

Yours truly,
Lara (aka the Vixen)

I SUCK

Holy shit, why am I so bad at this??? I have lacked the motivation/tools to blog and have been busy being a housegirlfriend and working/job hunting (long story.) I don't have a camera right now besides my atrocious camera phone and won't have a decent camera until around Christmastime or my birthday, which is in January. My past blog entries that included pictures were taken with my mom's $500 camera, and I don't live with her anymore obviously. I am itching to do product reviews and tutorials but have no way of doing such. -_- My computer also mysteriously shit itself so now I have no laptop and am a sad kitty. I use my boyfriend's main computer which is hooked up to the TV and I don't like it.

Right now I am in the process of figuring out a job situation. I am thinking of picking up 2 jobs, one (seasonal) retail gig and one full-time job as a receptionist at a hospital because I like that cash money. The retail job will end in January, just in time for me to go back to school. I FINALLY decided that I want to working for a cosmetics brand along the lines of marketing/advertising/product development. It's perfect for me because it will allow me to play with makeup all day without ever actually having to do anyone's makeup because I hate people. I'm only 20 and have changed my mind so many times about what I want to 'be' when I 'grow up' but it's probably my best idea so far. That could change, who knows.

I will begin to blog a lot more when I finally get my camera/computer. I honestly don't feel like blogging is worthwhile unless you have some sort of visual aid to go with it. From a reader's perspective, I like to see blogs with lots of fun, colorful pictures. Everyone does. Most of the blogs I follow almost always include a few pictures in each post and I rarely ever keep up with blogs that are all words.....unless it's someone like Xiaxue who is super hilarious and witty that pictures are more of a bonus on her blog. That probably makes me sound like SUCH a bimbo but I'm a very visual/ADD riddled person. I know what readers want, and I know they want pics! Stay tuned, because I'm about to crank out blog posts like nobody's business when I get my gadgets!

xoxo Lara