It's that time of year again.. For the week of March 29 - April 6, Sephora is offering their VIB members 15% off their entire purchase. I seriously live for the 15% off, haha.

I've been really good lately though - I cleaned through most of my makeup over the past two days to find out what I need and what I really need to finish using! So, with the 15% discount, I'm going to be using it to buy *essentials* or back ups of things I love to use. Gonna spend wisely this time! Here's a little peek at some of the things I'm picking up:

I'm a huge fan of the Sephora Skincare range, so I wanted to try out two other items they have. The pantone collection they have right now is gorgeous too! I swatched the blushes in store the other day and they're extremely pigmented and flattering on the skin. And well.. I just love Benefit :)

If you're not part of the VIB program, find a friend who is! Their discount can be shared on March 29 only!

What are you guys planning to pick up?

I hate to admit it, but fall is most definitely almost here. The sky is gloomy, and its cold. Makes me want want to pull out my winter mittens in fear.

To tell you the truth, it wouldn't be so bad if the weather in Alberta didn't change so drastically. Last week I felt like a heat wave was going on, high 20's everyday, heck, the wind was even warm. This weekend? It's 10 degrees outside and I have to cover every inch of my body.

I'm slowly preparing myself though, starting off by buying a pair of cute shoes for this fall. I know they're not technically considered booties, but why do I keep calling them that? I can't picture myself wearing them in the summer.. they look like they belong on feet in Autumn. I think they're a great transitional piece from sandals in the summer to boots in the fall & winter.



I picked up this pair from Coach (addict, I tell you), and they're quite easy to slip into, contrary to what you may think. The straps are for show, and the shoes feature a zipper hidden away on the inside out of sight.



With a 4.5" heel height, they're very comfortable as there is a 1" platform at the front. The leather is oh so soft, but likely prone to scratches. We'll see how things go. The soles are also completely leather, so getting the shoes soled after a wear or two will be better for both grip to the ground and increasing the lifetime of the shoe.



I'm so excited to wear these shoes out soon! I think they'll look fantastic with skinny jeans or tights, and the colour is a nice neutral to go with everything. These are called the Sandra heel, and are currently available in black through the Coach website for $218.

Back in March, a reader named Jenn taught me a neat little trick that could be used when ordering online from Sephora. For Canadians, you must order a minimum of $120 for free shipping, pay higher prices than in the US despite dollar parity, and we don't get awesome freebies/samples. However, if you have a Sephora gift card, it can be used via the American checkout given that you have a place to send the package to! I was so excited that I sent an order to Andrew to bring home for me back when the VIB 15% event was going on. It saved me so much money, so thank you so much Jenn!!!

And now that I'm in Seattle, I've collected the rest of my orders. Let's just say I have a ton of things to try out & review!

Finally made it all the way down to Seattle! My family had to stop over for about an hour in Calgary for business reasons, so the drive was estimated to be 12.5 hours from Calgary all the way to my Aunt's house in Newcastle, WA. By some miracle, it took us only 11.75 hours!

On the road down, it was really nice to see the Canadian landscape again. Nowadays when I travel, it's usually via airplane, and I don't get a chance to get the feel of highway driving. What started off as an amazing day in Edmonton and Calgary transformed into cold, rainy weather in BC. Some parts of the province still had snow on the ground! Nuts.

Everytime I go on vacation, it's usually to get away from the disgustingly variable weather in Edmonton. It will rain or snow when I leave, or just be cold in general. But this time is a different story. Seattle is cold & rainy, while Edmonton is sunny and 22 degrees! I'll deal though, it's nice to get away from Deadmonton.

I Love Pho - 3900 Factoria Blvd SE - Bellevue WA 98006



Looking on Yelp.com, I wanted to have some Pho since it's pretty cold over here right now. One of the closer places with a high rating was called I Love Pho in Bellevue - with a name like that, I really wanted to love their food!





The decor in the restaurant was fairly modern, and all the tables were very clean. Still very busy with customers at 1:30 pm, this was a very promising sign! A lot of tables had students as well, which I presumed went to the nearby highschool.



I ordered option E - the pho bo vien (pho with beef balls!). Our waitress and servers were legit Vietnamese, none of the "pretend" Vietnamese people that are Chinese in all reality. When it arrived, I received the wrong order. The lady thought I ordered option D, so if you do come here, make sure to specify your order by saying out the options in the dish. Less confusion & wasted food :) Also, it's so interesting to see that they have Vegan pho!

I ordered my bowl in the large size ($8.15) since the price difference from the small was miniscule ($7.00), and I'm glad I did now, because the large bowl was not very big! The small was tiny, and the large didn't fully fill me either. I'm teeny tiny, so most people would probably have to eat two bowls to be full.



The soup itself was tasty, but definitely on the sweeter side of all the broths I've ever had. The soup did however, lack depth. The flavours were there, but the true taste of the beef bones was missing from the soup - I'm guessing that they do use some of the beef flavouring powders to supplement the flavour.



After lunch, I wanted to venture into Factoria Mall across the street, otherwise known as the Marketplace at Factoria. When I was younger, I remember coming to this mall, and it was a bumpin' place. But when I was there today, it was very quiet, with few patrons roaming the interior of the mall. It's so sad to see a place so slow that was once so lively. The big attractions in this mall for me were definitely Target & Nordstrom Rack.



One of the things I always crave when I'm up in Canada is Jamba Juice! Jugo Juice and Booster Juice just cannot measure up to this place in my books. Lucky for me there was one in the mall, so I was able to fill the remaining space in my tummy with a delicious and nutritious smoothie. I ordered my all time favourite: The Orange Dream Machine. Vince with his adventurous appetite tried the Matcha Green Tea Blast.





While waiting for my drink, I saw that there were samples for one of the food items, the Greek Goddess Wrap. Inside of a beet tortilla was mixed greens, feta cheese, red onion and cucumber I believe. I gobbled that thing up so fast, I don't really remember. All I can say is that this wrap is so delicious, and that's what I want to eat for my next meal. So good!



Despite the parity between the American and Canadian Dollar, prices are still so drastically different once a product crosses the border between our two countries. It's because of this that I turn into a shopping maniac when I hit up the states. So many products available here are nonexistent in Canada, or are a whole 2 or 3 dollars cheaper. Why wouldn't I take advantage of the opportunity? Aside from buying drinks and snacks, I picked up a couple essentials and things to try out at Target!


Strawberry Shortcake gum, Prism 5 Gum *Watermelon*, Aussie 3 Minute Miracle, Mascara, Sonia Kashuk Makeup Remover & Polish Remover


Super cute leopard print sandals :)

It's still raining outside, so I'm really hoping the weather decides to turn around and let me go exploring outside. It's forecasted to rain again tomorrow though, so you know what that means - more shopping if the skies stay gray!

If any of you followed my tweets on twitter last week, you would have known I was stressed out to the max. With my parents gone to HK for the past month, it's been pretty tough for me to keep up with household duties, take care of my sister, go look after my aunt's place (she's in HK too).. all on top of going to school Monday - Friday & working. Last week was the toughest of them all though, because Monday through Thursday I was faced with three midterms, one paper, one lab report, and one lab quiz. Talk about academic mayhem.

The week before, however, I stumbled upon a new Youtube channel, and I was HOOKED. It was so bad for my studying because I couldn't help but watch the videos over & over again. This channel belongs to an amazing lady named Wendy. Check out her blog here and her Youtube channel here. You'll understand why it was such a distraction!

After watching her first couple videos, I already knew I had found my favourite Youtuber! She is so fun to watch, and has such a bubbly personality. Wendy has a great knack for fashion, and she's got impeccable taste. She's got such a big heart, and I'm so glad I found her, because I find her so inspirational. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next :)

Anyways, this post about the jacket is related to Wendy. So there I was, drooling over my keyboard as I watched her videos showcasing all her fabulous clothes, not to mention her vast collection of Louboutins (so jealous.), when I fell in love with an aviator jacket she purchased online. Feeling down about exams, I had to look into it to see if I could get one to "reward" myself for studying! I found the exact jacket online, only to see that it was sold out in my size! Sob, sob, sob. And that was the end of it. Or so I thought.

stock picture of the jacket

Over the next two days, all I could think about was the jacket. My friends said it was a good thing, because it would be saving me money - money that I earn and always somehow seem to spend on clothes and food *sigh* Before I went to bed one night, I messaged the seller, asking if the jacket would come back in stock anytime soon, crossing my fingers for good news. Next morning, I woke up to a surprise email saying that it was back in stock and available for purchase right away, HURRAH! I didn't even think about it, and bought it right away. Boom, $200 well spent?

YES INDEED it was well spent. A total of 7 days passed from the day I paid to the day it arrived at my doorstep, meaning it took only 5 business days to fly from Korea to Edmonton. That's nuts! I ripped open the package to find the most beautiful jacket. Although it's faux leather, it is so so soft, and the shearling on the inside is so warm! When I put it on I was so excited and warm, I started sweating a little, haha. The one thing I really like about this jacket is the shoulders. I've wanted to get a jacket with a strong shoulder for a while, but a lot of them make me look so awkward because I'm so tiny (4'11"). The shoulders here are not as bold, but still give the illusion of being a strong shoulder, yay!

Anywho, I really have to thank Wendy for featuring this item in one of her videos, because without her, I never would have found such an amazing jacket for my wardrobe! It's a little warm to be wearing it right now (wow, for once it's starting to feel like Winter is leaving..), but when the mornings are cold, I'll be sure to slip this baby on!! Below are a couple pics - of what I wore it with. I was so sad while taking these pictures because there's still so much snow left outside! Puddles abound.. it's still cold in the mornings, I always get so frustrated in the mornings trying to figure out what to wear!

Aviator jacket paired with purple tunic, black tights, Coach Brigett heels & Coach Audrey satchel








4.5" heels - they are so comfy, and give me lots of height that I definitely need!


This is my Audrey :) I love her to bits - I haven't used her for a while, but this bag has a special place in my heart because my boyfriend bought it for me as a gift for our first year anniversary :)

Check out Wendy & Mystery Man's latest video - it's freaking amazing!



Be sure to follow her - she's got so many more ideas up her sleeves, I just know it!