H&M Haul: Bright Summer Dress and Skirt + Pushups

H&M bright yellow ruffle dress (size ???) // H&M bright orange pleated midi skirt (S) // 
H&M Perfect Push Up bra in nude and white //

Happy Memorial Day! [First time in a long while posting on a holiday.] Yesterday I went to the Escondido mall to run some errands and to finally go shopping in a well-stocked mall. St. Louis Galleria doesn't have the nicest customer service and isn't restocked often or with the most sought-after items, so this trip was worthwhile. Here's my haul from H&M - not many items, but definitely unique and quirky-worthy of being in my overflowing closet. Not bad for $35 total, since I returned some ugly bermudas I got a month ago. It feels so nice to have to edit so few pictures for once. Of course I only bring this upon myself.

I went to H&M hunting for work slacks and I tried on a navy pair with a sky blue ultra-skinny belt but it was really gross on me. It made my thighs bulge and there were inches of extra material at the bottom and an unflattering bootcut. H&M work pants are not petite-friendly. Does anyone know where to get  work pants that are and have a more skinny jeans shape near the calves/ankles? Also, no sight of scallop hem shorts from the Conscious Collection, though I did see more of that paper-thin blazer and some other ones I missed at my school mall.

I first saw this bright ruffle dress on Jen when she wore it as a top. It was so bubbly and cute but I didn't think much of it until I saw this fun little piece hanging on the racks next to so many more bright citrus colours. Immediately, I thought LANVIN OMG LANVIN ON SALE but alas it was just a normal dress and thank goodness too, or I wouldn't be able to afford it. It was $20 USD and not on sale. Interesting aside - the price tags were ripped off and the size gone with it. I have no idea what size this dress is! I put it on and it fits quite loosely, so I'm going to guess probably a Euro 6. Funny, funny.

The orange pleated midi skirt I picked up because it was a nice length for work and I like how bright the colour is. I spy with my little eyes the same skirt in navy too. It was $18 and hopefully I'll love it more than I did when I looked in the fitting room mirror. The waist hem is kind of weirdly shaped - maybe a belt will fix things.

H&M push up bras are my absolute favourite. They actually do push up and don't cost much at $15 a pop. In stores now there's a 2 for $20 deal going on and I ran back and picked out another 32C. I was happy to find that by moving up a cup size and going down a band size, there's no longer weird squeezing at the sides and the straps don't cut into my shoulders. Unfortunately some of the push up effect is lost but that's okay, I'd rather have healthy circulation. I want to get fitted but the Victoria's Secrets I've visited just assume you're a 30A if you're a petite asian gal pfft. I'm not sure they know what they're doing.

I also stopped by the huge Forever 21 and as organized as they try to be, I was still overwhelmed. I did find a cute scallop hem (all the way around) rose blush coloured tank top but it was so paper thin and flimsy that my Dad said it looked like pajamas. Scratch that. I considered an interesting necklace that was  full of pink pearls and gold chains all entwined but I figured I could do without it. Everything I picked up from Forever 21 was pink yesterday. My outfit was also very pink. Who knew I could enjoy this girly colour so much ... Btw use code MDSHIP today (Memorial Day 5/30) on orders at least $15 and get free shipping!

Can't wait to wear these bright citrus coloured pieces in boiling hot St. Louis. While you're reading this, I will on a plane to the Midwest. I actually quite like airports and I'm looking forward to choosing a good book, grabbing some yummy Starbucks, and relaxing on a 4-hour direct flight. Downside: getting up at 4 AM to do all this bah. I'll miss you, California. Be back in August!

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H&M December 2010 Fitting Room Review

I know these are a gajillion months old but better late than never! Luckily I took pictures of all the tags so these are accurate prices and sizes. You'll recognize some of these pieces that  I ended up picking up in past (future?) outfits. The shorts are also really cute and the perfect length - I'm really regret passing on those!

1) H&M knee-length camel pencil skirt w/ skinny belt, size Euro 2 ($30 USD)
This skirt was showing up on so many petite blogs last fall and I wanted to hop on the train. Unfortunately I'm not tiny as most petite bloggers, so I don't know what I was thinking squeezing into this size 2. You can see a visible belly bulge but it makes my butt look pretty good haha. Overall, I felt this skirt was too tight and the length too long. Looks great on Annie though.
- Verdict: Pass due to fit.

2) H&M tweed belted and cuffed shorts, size Euro 4 ($25)
I don't know why they were still selling these in December, but now that it's warmer weather I sure wish I had bought these babies. They're the perfect fit, length, and a decent price. Now everything is either Daisy Duke-short or bermuda-length, which looks horrid on my legs. The only downside to this is how silly my butt looks - not the most flattering pair for your behind.
- Verdict: Pass, due to price (regret, regret)

3) H&M black lace back dress, size Euro 2 ($25)
This dress was interesting on the racks, I put it on and it was just "meh." V-neck with weird pouches at the sides, nothing to kill for. I am hopelessly attracted to lace like moths to lightbulbs. Excuse my indecency. I didn't need "just another black dress."
- Verdict: Pass

4) H&M nordic print cropped sweater, size S ($10)
I couldn't say no to a warm turtleneck and wintery print, and the price wasn't bad either. I thought, why not and went with it. See my styled outfit here.
- Verdict: Purchased

 

5) H&M camel cable knit poncho w/ hood, OneSize ($50)
I thought this was so cute! I was also crazy about camel at the time and became enamored with the little poofs of fuzzy things dangling off of strings. Thus began my crazy poncho phase and see outfits here, here, and here.
- Verdict: Purchased despite the hefty price tag.

I wonder how long H&M and other stores wait until they get rid of their merchandise. I mean, selling shorts in December? I kind of wish they kept them forever so that I can go back and claim some pieces that I decided against because now my closet is dearly missing them :D

I did go shopping today in Escondido and hauled a little bit from H&M so I'll show that to you tomorrow in addition to the outfit that I wore today. See anything cute recently? Share!

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Arch Anemones

H&M leather biker jacket (Euro 4) // JStyleShopper floral chiffon dress (S) (c/o Michelle-esque) // Paris Blues skinny jeans (Junior 3) // 

Xhilaration yellow strappy wedges (5.5) //

Photography: JJ

Saint Louis has been my home for the past 3 years and though I've been going about my daily college life in this city, I never really went out on the town and explored until this past Spring Break. I've been to the Arch before and saw the exhibition inside about Lewis and Clark and all my memories of 8th grade history came flying back. Did you know that Meriwether Lewis was an AWFUL speller? It hurt my eyes to read his journal entries haha. Sadly that day the tickets to go up to the top were sold out, so we contemplated a helicopter tour but decided against it. It was still nice to enjoy the sunshine and grab some Tibetan and Indian buffet and venture out of our comfort zones. [Ad]venturing was so worth it.

I feel bad that I'm experiencing a fashion rut, basically an all-around motivation rut as I sit at home and gobble down my Dad's delicious homecooking. Just thinking about having to eat unhealthy dorm food hurts. That's the interesting thing about moving off campus into an apartment, because now I'll have to actually cook and clean. Luckily I'll only have to worry about 6 housemates and an entire neighborhood stare at me as I take outfit photos instead of the usual entire college campus. Also, I miss my ephemeral black hair. I'm determined not to dye again and just let it grow out in all its ombre glory.

Hopefully in 3 days I'll do something more worthwhile than park my tush in this same spot and watch Scrubs all day long (I think Dr. Cox's cynicism is contagious to even my thoughts). Back to the Ole Midwest for some 9 to 5 work, which I have actually never had the pleasure(/torture?) of experiencing. 

Daily necessities to bring to the lab: coffee mug, laptop, brain, fashionable work outfit. Check, check, check, and check [hopefully]! :)

P.S. I made my Twitter public so follow and tweet tweet away!

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ProFRESHional

H&M beige boyfriend blazer (Euro 8) // Old Navy ruffle sleeve top (XS) // Forever 21 skinny jeans (26) // 

Aldo Ruesch nude pumps in Beige (35) (purchase here) (similar here)

Photography: JJ

Here is one epically old work outfit from early October 2010. Yeah, that's like half a year ago. Better late than never, right? I miss the lush green leaves of the Midwest in early fall and now I'm college-sick too. 5 days until I'm back in St. Louis and back to the grind. Speaking of which, my brother told me of a coffeeshop right down our street called "It's a Grind." Isn't that cute and punny? Just the way I like it. It's sad that I didn't notice this or much of anything in San Diego the whole two years I've been here. I'm determined to have a super productive med school application day tomorrow with a good cup of Joe. Life has been incomplete without coffee. 

A shoutout to a true fashionista and makeup artist, Alice. Her flattering paragraph to so many of our university's fashionable girls (and guys) made me laugh and smile. You should definitely, definitely keep blogging and share your chic fashion sense with the world. Congrats on graduating and we'll miss you! Hello and welcome to any WashU peeps reading this too : )

This boyfriend blazer at first seemed to large but when I recently tried it with the sleeves rolled up they didn't look too oversized on me anymore. However, in these photos I'm swimming in it (no wonder - it's a size 8). Also, it's not actually white like the exposure might suggest, but a light beige colour. I love throwing on a blazer for a more professional look but dressing down the look with jeans. I splurged at Aldo too in the fall on these nude pumps (mainly because I was ecstatic they had a size 5). The colour is very flattering but the almond toe shape squeezing my circulation is not. When I took it back to the store to get it fixed on their special leather-stretching machine for a few hours, nothing really fixed. The size 5 is slightly big on me and gaps at the heel, no surprise since recently I confirmed that I'm actually a size 4.5 in women's.

Believe it or not, I woke up at 8 AM today to run errands and let some beautiful sunshine hit my photoreceptors. Hopefully this will shift me from my incorrigible inclination towards nocturnalism. Still have a to-do list of fun left to turn into a to-done list, consisting of trips to the beach, zoo, mall, and possibly Sea World before I head back into the fray of tornadoes and thunderstorms. My heart goes out to those in Joplin, Oklahoma, Arkansas. Take shelter underground and wear your ruby red slippers for good luck in case you're whisked off to Oz!

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Everybody's ZOOIN' IT

"Honey, what are you looking at-- we're vegans now, remember? Stop staring at the fat toddler."

Who says petite giraffes don't exist? I believe ...

Yes, that is a black giraffe. I don't get it either (not Photoshopped!)

Camel Mafia

Zebra + Donkey = ?

Check that baby into a club ... and note the false equation above.

Sleepy lizards! Shingleback skinks are such romantic creatures and can stay with the same lover for over 20 years. They even stay by their dead loved one's side if they get run over and appear to mourn them. Now that's commitment and that's love.

Herpetarium love

Photography: Me

The Saint Louis Zoo is one of the best things in the city. It's free, has a ton of creatures and almost all the popular wild cats, and is a perfect date place for animal geeks like JJ and me. We would exclaim at insects we saw in our favourite David Attenborough documentaries and try out our behavioral ecology skills. I used to read nothing but animal science books as a child and memorize tons of facts and their Latin names. Nerd much? Definitely.

There's a stingray exhibition I'm pumped to see when I head back into town. Maybe I'll snap more interesting photography to share with any of you animal lovers out there. My favourite place at the zoo? The open indoor butterfly garden. One landed on me once, they're not afraid of people either if it's not a crowded day.

I still miss the Toledo Zoo, home of some of my fondest childhood memories. I miss you, Ohio ♥

Life update: I have recently been obsessed with Netflix. Watch Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time if you haven't already. It is an awesome remake of the video game and the movie does deliver! The action scenes and running from the bad guys really look like something you'd see in Uncharted 2. Sorry, my nerd is showing! Has anyone seen Pirates 4 yet? Any other summer theatre recommendations? All I do is stew in my chair all day and watch TV, such a bum. Headed to the coffeeshop today for some good ole caffeine-induced productivity!

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Blogger Dynamic View

I just realized that Blogger came up with a cool gadget of sorts and I enabled this feature a long time ago but never tried it out. Blogger Dynamic View shows your blog and all your posts and photos in different views. To see your blog using Dynamic View, just add "/view" to the end of your URL. I think you have to enable this first and here's the article that will get you set up. 

I like these because you don't have to tamper with html code or frustrating layouts, everything's neat and consolidated. [Click] on a photo below to see the enlarged. Please excuse my messy desktop xD

1) Flipcard (http://www.pandaphilia.com/view/flipcard)

Flipcard is pretty cool because it neatly organizes all your posts by your first photo according to recent, date, author, label. If you don't have lots of pictures in your posts, it'll show up as your blog title. It's for all us OCD folks out there that need everything aligned and the same size. When you hover, it flips just like a card and gives you the post title with date and number of comments. Search bar top right. (Btw Michelle oops I was reading your post while I took this snapshot. Shoutout woohoo)

2) Mosaic (http://www.pandaphilia.com/view/mosaic)

Mosaic is way cool, much more artsy and like a photo collage of your first photos. I think this one is my preference. What can I say? I love asymmetry as much as I have trouble spelling that word (I always want to put 2 s's and one m). When you hover, it shows the title of the post and brings that photo slightly forward against the rest of the photos. If you don't have photos, it'll be the title with a snippet in the mosaic space. No search bar.

3) Sidebar (http://www.pandaphilia.com/view/sidebar)

If you're into lists, this is the view for you. The left-aligned sidebar shows the number of comments you've had as well and the actual post shows up like something you'd see in Google Reader. Search bar top right.

4) Snapshot (http://www.pandaphilia.com/view/snapshot)

Snapshot reminds me of a Picasa collage and shows all your photos in a post slightly skewed with number of comments to the right side. When you hover, you get the first few lines of text you wrote. Search bar top right.

5) Timeslide (http://www.pandaphilia.com/view/timeslide)

Timeslide has 3 columns and has confusing logic. The first shows shows 3 random posts from different months, since it shows May 22, Feb 26, Dec 7. First photo is shown with a snippet of text. The second column shows 3 posts and snippets that also pertain to the month shown per post in the first column. When you hover these first two columns, it shows the number of comments on the right side. Third column shows lists of titles of all of your posts chronologically and when you hover over a post, it slides down to reveal a snippet and comment number. Search bar on top right.

I hope this helps! Enjoy your blog's new look and tell me which is your favourite view.

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