Photos taken with smartphone - Samsung Galaxy S3.

I'm a sociable person by nature--I love yapping away and meeting new people when given the opportunity to. By heart, I'm quite an introverted individual and rather reticent. When I take personality tests I often come out to be an extrovert, but honestly speaking, I often select the answers I want to able to do and not necessarily ones that I do do. Hence, my "results" are not accurate 70% of the time.

I've noticed lately that ever since I graduated from college, I have definitely chosen to lock myself back into my room to never see the light of day (until I go to work in the morning at least). Truthfully, I kinda enjoy doing this as depressing as it sounds. After being as sociable as I was during college and staying on campus to play past midnight, it dawned on me that it was really time for me to grow out of that lifestyle. There are a few alumnis that I know who are still so much involved with the college community that they visit our campus almost every week! To me, that sounds a bit tiresome... I mean, you were stuck in that college hell hole for four years, why would you want to go back? LOL. I guess to each their own, but for me I rather like the placidity that is my life at the current moment hence my introverted side has definitely been more in-tune as of late. Now, regardless of my personal choice to remain a freak-of-nature that does not see sunlight, that loud-headed and flamboyant Thuy comes out once in awhile because it craves attention (like any true extrovert), so I find myself reaching out to people a lot of the times to hang out. I like to keep my friendships close and even if the people I end up having dinner with aren't my bestest of friends, I simply like the idea of keeping in touch and getting back into their lives. I was in it once and if I was happy, why not mingle back into it again? And because of this thought and the urge to visit my old friends, I was able to arrange a small get-together with a few of them at Miso.

WARNING: Food heavy!







It was a great meal with very intriguing conversations. I say intriguing because I do enjoy seeing how my friends have changed and grown over the past few months of not seeing them. With these girls specifically, I've known them since I was in freshman year of high school... so 8 years later we are still able to sit in one place together while chattering away about our lives. Sometimes these meetings do get me depressed because 100% of the time I am reminded of how much I am aging... (WAHHHH). Regardless, I think everyone needs these types of social gatherings once in awhile. A time to really dwell back into your past through the people that you've grown up along and aside with. It can really help you in recognizing your own personal growth and developments while giving you a chance to analyze if who you are today is who you really want to be.

Everyone and their moms, cats, and dogs have probably heard of the infamous trend of the beauty boxes. The most recent one that's got everybody hopping on the bandwagon is from Korea called Memebox. Unlike the other monthly subscription boxes, you are not billed each month and the only updates you really get are from the email newsletters to let you know when a newly released box comes out. This really gives you the free will to buy the box that you actually like and want. Now, the negative part to it is that these Memebox gets sold out like hot cakes! So...  If you are thinking of just waiting for someone else to review it and then purchasing it afterwards, it would be too late. By the time a person writes a blog post online or video on Youtube, you wouldn't have the chance to purchase one yourself because it would be out of stock. I think this is actually a pretty great marketing technique, lol. :P Easiest way to manipulate people = get them anxious!

I decided to purchase Luckybox #1 which is supposed to contain items that were previously adored from the older Memeboxes #1-6. Since I didn't get a chance to buy the older boxes I thought this would be a great introductory set. These beauty boxes will cost between $21-23 dollars and shipping is approximately $6.99 on its own. All the items are supposed to value over $100+ and you often get more full-sized products than an average beauty box. Unfortunately I think they forgot to pack in the description card that contains the name and price of each item so I had to do quite a bit of research on my own.






Can't wait to start using these products! I was actually running out of a few skincare items and these would be great substitutes for my regime. Not only that, I used to be pretty hesitant to test out new things on my skin because I broke out really easily back in the day. Now that my face has been a little bit kinder to me, I am able to experiment on a variety of things to help it replenish itself from my Pimplegitis state! :) Perhaps new reviews coming?

I'm a huge skincare junkie. Back when I was in High School, I was terribly inflicted with a case of Pimplegitis or better known yet as Raging Hormonal Acne. I went from breaking out on my forehead in Freshman year (which cleared up) and then it "graciously" moved onto my cheeks the start of Sophmore year. The truth is, when you have hormonal acne that comes with puberty, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of. Right when I turned 20, I realized my acne suddenly got so much better. All of my older brothers went through the exact same thing which told me that acne is just a genetic part of my family code (darn you parents...). It cleared up immensely and my prayers were answered--no more ginormous breakouts the size of craters! Of course my skin isn't perfect and it will never be... but I am just so so so so thrilled that I finally finished my hormonal stage and turned into a semi-okay-looking-duckling.

THAT being said, I am a high believer in TENDER, LOVING, CARE for your skin! I do whatever it takes to help nourish my face and to oomph it back up from the 10 yrs of damage that it was subjected to. I don't mind one bit when it comes to dishing out over $100 for a night cream because to me, it's worth it. Recently I ventured off into the world of Kiehl's and let me tell you how magically brilliant this world is.


Now Kiehl's is not overly expensive, but much of their products do range above the $25+ for eye creams and $40+ for face creams and treatments. I always hear about how great this company is, so I decided to take a stab at a few of their most well-known products.

Pictured:
- Creme de Corps Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter
- Kiehl's Lip Balm #1
- Creamy Eye Treament with Avocado
- Midnight Recovery Concentrate





Creme de Corps Soy Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter - A soy milk and honey whipped body butter. Retail $48 for 12 oz.

Product Rating: 5++++/5

I'm sure everyone once in their life has dreamed about floating on the clouds. Well this magic in a tub is exactly what I would picture clouds to feel like. When dipping your fingers in this creamy goodness, you just want to MELT. Speaking of melting, the product does just that. It is incredibly whipped to the point where it really feels like you are sliding butter through your fingers (in a good way of course). It is also not overly sticky and I really can't get over the fantastic texture this has. Highly moisturizing and great quality! Although, if you are not into that warm/vanilla scent, then this might not be for you as the scent is mild.



 Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado - A creamy, moisturizing eye treatment formulated with Avocado Oil. Retail $28.50 for .5 fl oz.


Product Rating: 5/5

This here is the Holy Grail product of many beauty/skincare junkies out there on the bloggernet/Youtube. I first heard of it from Michelle Phan and several months later the reviews for this kept coming non-stop. And you bet, the squeals and giddy excitement for this product were not all lies. Just from the picture, you can immediately see how luxurious this eye cream is. I've never used an eye cream as thick, yet soft and buttery as this one. It also has done wonders for my eye wrinkles and dark circles as well. Great to put under concealer too because it really helps absorb and almost act as a primer for your makeup!



Surprise that this is not another 5/5? Don't be! Regardless of my rating, the main reason why I did not give this a 5/5 is that this would not be great to put under lip products. Reason being is that it makes your lips SO smooth that it is sort of difficult to apply lipstick over. I recommend using this either at night or early in the morning before applying the rest of your makeup. I think it's actually a great replacement for your average lip gloss as a topper OVER drying lip products (instead of under). This lip balm is still a lovely product and definitely kicks EOS Lip Balms in the ass-ets. The plus to this is that they have a variety of different scents too to choose from. Mango smells like heaven!~


I can now say I am a Kiehl's addict. I will most likely come back to do a ton of repurchasing, but I'm waiting on a few of their sales! I ran out of the avocado eye treatment already and I have yet to pick up anything else as satisfying...

There's something very homey about eating at Dim Sum restaurants. Maybe it's the constant screaming of food orders, waiters/waitresses running frantically around, or little kids causing havoc because parents can't control their own children! I guess the hustle and bustle reminds me of the busy streets of New York City. When I'm craving for some comfort food I go for Dim Sum, hence I decided to drag Brian out to a nearby Dim Sum restaurant called A&J. Unlike other Dim Sum restaurants, this place is not as hectic and doesn't feel as if you're stuck in the middle of a street down at Chinatown. Instead of having carts being pushed around and having customers randomly pick on their choices of food, A&J is more of a sit down restaurant that serves Dim Sum dishes for cheap prices and the quantity is RIDICULOUS. You order from a menu and the waiter/waitress brings out the food like any other typical restaurants.

And since I knew I was going to pig out and probably have a huge bloated stomach by the end of the meal, I decided to dress in a loose-fitting Peter Pan collared dress. Here is what I wore for a devouring session of delicious foodsies!