Why hello there. It's been a while. As some of you might know this past Spring semester was really crazy for me.There were literally so many days where I only had 2 or 3 hours of sleep, but thankfully I survived and am alive! If you follow me on Instagram, you'll probably already know about the mini road trip my best friends and I took this past week. One of my friends just graduated from college, another one is working full time as a nurse, I was a bundle of stress, and we just all really needed a mini vacation. Unfortunately it was only an overnight trip because we all had work, but it was still worth it!

We decided to go to LA because we really wanted to see the beach. When we got there, it was really dark and cloudy, so we were a bit worried. Thankfully the weather cleared up in the afternoon. Santa Monica beach was amazing. The waters were still too cold to really swim in, but we got to soak our feet in it for a bit. Afterwards we ended up in Japan Town, after a few mishaps with trying to find a restaurant, to eat dinner and do a bit of shopping. The next day we went to Hermosa beach which  was my favorite part of the entire trip. I want to live there. It is such a quite, clean, and relaxing community. There were so many cute boutiques and cafes. I just love it. Definitely going back.

There were some bumps on the road here and there in our trip, but overall it was fun. My best friends and I have known each other since high school, and this was our first real vacation / road trip together. I got to see some new sides of them that I didn't know, which was interesting, but it's exciting to get to see a different side of people you're close with.

With love,

Lovely

I'm a huge TJMaxx fan. I can always find cute and trendy things from designer clothes and shoes to things for the home at an affordable price. TJMaxx is also really good about ensuring their designer items are authentic and in good condition. Sometimes I'll find something and sometimes I won't, but I like to drop by every now and then to see what I can find. I went a few weeks ago, and here's what I managed to score.

I picked up an Anne Klein blouse which had this unique blue and green pattern on it. I thought it'd pair well with my pink pencil skirt for work. I also saw these pocket size Kate Spade notebooks in their stationary section. They were cute and I couldn't resist. The highlight of my trip though were the bags I scored. I spotted this Ralph Lauren cross-body bag and fell in love. It's a classic design that's in this rich cognac color which matches anything. It's the perfect size to carry all the things I needed, and it's a great everyday bag. Then I literally took 5 steps and saw this bright hot pink Kate Spade bag. It was in perfect mint condition. It's a great spring bag and would add a nice pop of color to any outfit. I had a hard time deciding between the two, but in the end I decided to get both. The best part is how much I managed to save altogether. 

Ann Klein Blouse $25 -- originally $60 

Kate Spade Notebooks $7 -- originally $10

Kate Spade Bag $99 -- originally $248

Ralph Lauren Bag $99 -- originally $228 

Paid: $250 -- original price of everything $546

Basically for the price of the one Kate Spade bag, I managed to get 2 designer bags, a shirt, and designer notebooks. Not bad right? I'm not a designer/brand-a-holic. However, I do like to invest in classic, timeless, quality pieces that will last for a long time especially if they're ridiculously discounted. I have absolutely no regrets. I am definitely a maxxinista for life. 

With warm regards, 

Lovely 

All nice things come in shiny black Sephora bags. I went on a little shopping trip to treat myself for all the stress I've managed to accumulate. I haven't bought myself anything or gone shopping in over a month, and it felt so good. But enough with that, let's dive in to the haul.

First I got the BareMinerals original foundation in medium tan. I still love my Sephora Perfection Mist Airbrush Foundation, but I was itching to try something new. I don't have the time or willpower to do my makeup, so I thought that the BareMinerals would be fast and light. I heard it also had pretty good coverage, so I'm excited to try it out. I'm really feeling the spring season and am gravitating towards pink and peachy colors, so I picked up the Sephora Collection blush in Romantic Rose and the Rouge Shine lipstick in Sweetheart. The blush is more of a peachy pink color, and the lipstick is a sheer glossy warm pink. Lastly I stocked up on a tube of the Smith's Rosebud Salve because it is the only thing that can keep my lips hydrated and moist. I got samples of the Diorskin Nude BB Creme and Dior Hydra Lift BB Creme. I wanted to try them out to see if the hype was real. The girl at Sephora gave me extremely generous amounts of each, so they'll probably last me a while.

I also bought a few things from Forever21, but I'll save that for another time. Shopping makes everything better. Half-kidding. When you work hard and earn your own money, I think it's important to treat yourself from time to time.


With love,
Lovely

I like eating out and trying new restaurants and cuisine. Sometimes those food can be on the heavy and unhealthy side of things, so I like to balance everything out by eating something simple and healthy for one of my meals. Avocado on toast is just that, but don't let it fool you! It's far from boring and plain. There are so many things you can do with it. Top it with an egg or bacon, add salsa or ceviche if you're fancy, mix in sriracha to make it hot, the list goes on for days. All you need are a few things:

• Avocado 
• Bread 
• Salt + Pepper

Literally that's it. Toast your bread if you like. Slice up your avocado and spread it. Top everything off with a little salt and pepper, and BAM you're done. I like to eat mine with a boiled egg and some orange juice. Sometimes simple food can be more satisfying than the most extravagant ones, but whether they're simple or extravagant I eat them all! As a self-proclaimed food connoisseur, I believe it is my duty to. :) 

With love, 

Lovely    

Here's a quick recap: I am 1/4 college student, 1/4 marketing intern, 1/4 front office ambassador, 1/4 student manager, and 4/4 crazy. How has it been so far? Well...

My internship is okay so far. I have projects that I get to manage. I might have taken on too many projects, but I want to get as much as I can out of this experience. There is a lot of grunt work just like any other internship, and I'm not too fond of that. I understand being an intern and having to do the stuff that no one else wants to do. I can handle the grunt work. What I'm not okay with is when it becomes too excessive to the point where I'm not really learning anything or that it's taking so much of my time that I'm not getting to work on my actual projects. I do like that I get to network, shadow, and have meetings with other departments, managers, and executives which is great. The other day we got the opportunity to go to a marketing convention which was really cool because not very many internships offer you that.

My capstone class is exciting. My class is in charge of managing and planning this big 3 day culinary and wine festival in the city that's been around for 41 years and has on average 8,000+ attendees. I'm in the public relations and marketing team, and I manage all social media and promotional aspects of the event. It is so damn fun. It combines my two loves: hospitality & marketing. It's rewarding to see what I create come to life and have an affect on the everything. I love that I get to go to all kinds of events to promote ours and meet people. Everyone is required to obtain $1,000 in donations for the event, and I just surpassed that quota so I'm super happy.

Am I stressed? At times, yes. It's hectic trying to balance things. Do I have a social life? Yes. I still find time to hang out with friends and enjoy some quiet time for myself. How do I balance everything? Honestly, even I don't know how I do it. I just roll with the punches as they come and I learn to be flexible. Positivity is also equally important.

With Love,
Lovely 

A few of the interns at my marketing internship were leaving, so the entire group of interns decided to go hiking as a kind of farewell get together. The whole thing was a hot mess! Everyone was late to the meeting spots. My group that I was riding with got lost on the way to the hiking trail. We drove past the parking lot we were supposed to park at, so we ended up having to park at another lot that was further down and walk all the way back up. It was a one-way road, so it's not like we could turn the car around. It was too far up so half-way we ended up hitch-hiking in a van with a family to the said parking lot. 

We started hiking and were trying to catch up with the others. However 1/3 of the way up the trail we got annoyed because it was cold & windy, we didn't have signal so we couldn't contact the others, and we weren't sure where they were. We decided to forget the whole thing, and we hitch-hiked again back to our car and floored it to the mall. We did a little shopping and waited for the rest of the group to come back from their hiking to go eat lunch at this restaurant called MTO Cafe. Their chicken and waffles were freaking amazing! Best thing to eat after a long, tiring hike. ;) At night we met up again to eat dim sum and to go drinking. I had work early the next morning so I skipped out on the bar hopping festivities. 

And that is how you fail at hiking! Even though everything was a hot mess, it was so much fun. I was laughing the entire time, and I got to know the others really well. Lesson to be learned: it's in those spontaneous and outrageous moments where you create a bond with others. AND Never ever go hitch-hiking unless you're a trained professional group of marketing interns. :) 

With love, 

Lovely 

I'm really into super quick and easy hairstyles. I'm just tired in the morning, and I have no will power to tame my mane. This beachy wavy hairstyle is really great for those lazy days or when you just don't have time.  It creates really nice defined yet effortless waves, and it literally takes me no more than 5 minutes to do. There's only 3 steps. Well, technically 4 but one is optional!  

Things You'll Need: 

• Mousse  
• Old T-shirt (optional) 
• Leave-in Conditioner/serum (optional) 

Steps: 

1. After showering, comb your hair with a wide tooth comb to eliminate tangles. 
2. With your hair still wet and damp, get a palm size amount of mousse and begin scrunching. You want to scrunch your hair the same way you would scrunch a piece of paper. Make sure you also flip your hair upside down and scrunch to create lift & volume. 
3. This is optional, but you can take an old t-shirt to help with scrunching and drying off your hair. The t-shirt helps dry your hair faster and better than a towel.
4. After scrunching, wait for your hair to dry. When your hair does dry completely apply a pea size amount of leave-in serum or oil or product of your choice to add moisture, shine, and to control frizz. 

And there you go. Super easy right? If you want to you can take a curling wand/iron to fix some parts of your hair. Lately, I've been addicted to Shark Tank, Scandal, Kpop Star, and anime. Now, I have a little more time in the morning to relax and watch my shows!

With love, 

Lovely