I made this new choker from a small heart shaped antique brooch.  The color kinda matched my dress, I'm really enjoying making these out of random old pendant or brooch and giving them more than one function and purpose!

This past weekend I drove out to the Paramour Estate in LA to participate Dita Von Teese's weekend of glamour event.  It was a two day event but I signed up for only Saturday.  I came back from the event super charged to live my best life and there's nothing that can compare to a live experience!  I'm so happy that I decided to sign up for it and certain hope there will be more of it in the future!

Outfit for the week and a few life tidbits

I always like to snap a picture on my way out of the door in the morning, dressing up for the day not only prep my mind ready for work but also is a small way of being creative!  

Over the weekend I wore this denim skirt with elaborate embroideries and a white delicate cotton blouse that's quite old.  I ran around all day in this outfit doing errands and practicing the piano with friends.  We are hoping to put a repertoire together so we can do a small concert which is kind of exciting for me!

I'm seeing quite a lot of sheer blouse at the stores this year but most of them are badly cut and practically unwearable.  I love this black sheer blouse with white embroidered flowers, it's got some delicate ruche across the top and I love how the pattern matches with my handbag!

A little bit of self care goes a long way, this Sunday I got a hair cut after not seeing my stylist for a year, it feels nice to get a trim but at the same time I'm loving my long hair right now!

 Finally my own version of professional outfit when I can't get away not dressing up.  Normally just a simple dress, large work tote and I will pin a vintage brooch for a little interesting twist!  And then off I go to conquer the world! Or at least try to pay my bills!

Alas, if only real life is all about cute shoes and clothes!  I try to get together with friends for weekly meditations because as time progress we move through different emotions and experience new things.  This past week was all about me seeking some clarification on new people that I've encountered this year, and wanting to know what lessons are to be learned from these new encounters.  I find that if I have some question in mind that I have no idea what the answer is, the universe usually provides me with some clarity after a period time of contemplation.

What I've learned is that sometimes it is very important to keep the superfluous out of your life and stay in touch with the essentials.  It applies with friends that you choose to keep in your life and how you decide to treat others.  I've actually discovered that being genuine is very important to me, more than I realized before, and that the ability to believe there are genuine and good things in the world is tremendously important for my own happiness.

Bella recently suffered another bad hair cut, her face was kind of really matted so the groomer shaved off her face hair in one fell swoop.  Now I wake up first thing in the morning with this white looking giant bald chihuahua staring at me.  I tried to tell her that it's alright and hair eventually grow back, but honestly, I don't think she cares.

I pulled this dress out of the closet with the tag still on, apparently I bought it last year and never wore it once!  It's coming out of the closet for a run today!  I'm generally in good mood when I have some cute dress on, especially if my rings match the color way of the fabric!  It's been a good week with work not being super heavy, I'm just enjoying some relaxing summer time.  

I spent the weekend catching up on lots of sleep and taking care of my puppies.  Sometimes doing nothing is a real luxury in life, all I did was cleaning the house, watering the garden and cooking for myself and my puppies, I think they are happy that I'm home with them because they got extra walks and a lot more treats during the day!

I also made my way back to the gym again, it's been such a hectic month and I barely used my gym card at all and I can really feel the difference in my energy level.  I like to set goals for myself at the beginning of every week because otherwise a week would fly by without much being accomplished.  My goal for this week is to at least hit the gym every other day and take a class.  A couple of weeks ago I got this pretty pink Reebok gym bag from Marshall's for $14, it's too cute and too cheap to pass up and now I get to enjoy working out in pink!

Who's got a case of Mondays?  Not me after being supercharged from a weekend of rest and relaxation!

I finally made it to the fair this year!  I had bought two tickets earlier but never got around to go and finally a friend asked if I wanted to go last night and being the last weekend I thought I catch a couple rides and have some fun!  I did some scary rides but usually these just make me feel sick but walking around and eating funnel cake was so much fun.  I'm a big fan for fair foods like roasted corn and hot dogs, for some reason I can't resist these junk food!  It's not summer unless you do some summer things and going to the fair count as one of them!

An ordinary week with no notable problems or emergencies feel like such a blessing... aside from the side bumper of my car got messed up by someone in the parking lot, but it wasn't something that urgently required fixing like a flat tire and so I decided to just not worry about it.  

With summer here I try to take everyone out on a big long walk at least once a day.  They have a nice backyard to run around but it's almost a crime not to walk your dogs because they love it so much and think it's so much fun.  It's also great exercise for me as well!  I always try to tell myself that time is there to do everything you want to do, so it's really important to manage it well!

Sometimes during the walk I pick flowers off the bushes by the side walk, these pretty flowers fit perfect in my tiny vintage crystal vase and there are endless supply of flowers during summer time.  I really have to say even with the heat I do love California summer, something about seasonal fresh fruit, glistering sea, warm sunshine and BBQ parties that just makes it so absolutely amazing!

I'm perpetually a bit behind on household chores no matter how much I try, but the last few days I am somewhat caught up with a little help from my cleaning lady and I have been working hard to get things more organized.  I'm honestly terrible at house keeping but I always make an effort and do what I can because I enjoy a nice and organized home just as much as everyone else, obviously not everyone has the same talent for everything but making an effort counts!

Yesterday I called in my handyman to help fix a few things around the house, I had a long list of things for him to do but he had to go buy some supplies and we will just have to get all things finished next week!  For now he changed out a couple of light bulbs that have been burnt out in the hallway but require a ladder to access, installed my mini chandelier that I've had for about a year, and finally helped me strapped the three book cases to the wall in case of earthquake!  I've wanted to strap the bookcase down for eight years, and never got around to do it, this is the kind of thing that make me question my ability to survive in this world, but at last it got done!

He also has to replace a broken leaky kitchen faucet, fix a bathroom handle, change out a crusty shower head... that's another thing that I have tolerated for years and years and it suddenly occurred to me that there's no reason to suffer through awful shower head when you can probably buy a cheap one from the hardware store and have it changed out.  It's just one of those things that seems like only grown ups do but now come to think of it I am a grown up after all and since no kind stranger have knocked on my door offering to fix things for me I will just have to call my handyman to do it!

A girl can go without a man in her life, but a good handyman is rather indispensable!

Finally a little relaxation at the end of day, sometimes when I'm too wired and can't relax when it comes to bedtime, a hot bath is always the best thing!  I believe the saying goes, when you're in hot water, enjoy it! 

Kelly has had some new trouble lately, life of a little dog is certainly not easy!  First of all, months ago she was going down the stairs and as she got to the last two steps on the bottom, one of the other dogs knocked her over so she rolled down a couple of steps onto the floor like a burrito.  Ever since then, she has decided that the stairs were too dangerous for her to come down, but she loves climbing up the stairs since nothing bad happened to her while going up, so I am always called when a lift service is requested, usually multiple times an hour when she needs to go downstairs for something.

And then couple of days ago I let her get a drink of water before removing her leash from a walk and then she ran up the second floor to go relax under the bed, somehow the leash got caught up around the bed leg and she was stuck there for a little bit, so now her favorite place in the house became scary and uninhabitable as well! 

In any case, today she made a big improvement by coming down stairs all on her own, with a little help from Bella and my cleaning lady!  I think we can all learn a little bit from Kelly about overcoming our own fears and obstacles, and also the importance of having friends!

Excuse my ugly nails but I couldn't be bothered to go to a nail salon lately and I haven't gotten any manicure skill myself.  I just wanted to talk about this amazing 1940s cocktail ring that I've been wearing lately, paired with a floral green dress today.  I always like to do a little something to my outfit everyday, it doesn't have to be a whole lot, but even just a simple pairing of a ring with a dress brightens my day!  

I had a minor accident on the freeway a couple of days ago and something fierce punctured not only my rear passenger tire but also knocked a huge hole in the metal rim!  I ended up with over $800 worth of repairs and had to get a new tire and rim!  Having extra unexpected expense is always stressful but I'm so glad it wasn't something worse and I was in a really happy mood to get my car this morning after it was fixed. 

I finally was able to get a table at my local tea room this afternoon, they have odd business hours and I never remember to call in to make a reservation, it's always whenever I'm in the area I will pop in to see if they had any seats  available and I was either too early or just missed their seating hours by five minutes.  Unlike a lot of my friends, I quite enjoy dining out on my own.  I pretty much polished two tiers of sandwich, scones and cakes all by myself and I regret nothing!