This year ...

A quick recap of the big things that happened this year!

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January: In which I decided to start the photo-a-day challenge! I'm really glad I did, since I was able to chronicle everything that happened this year! In January, I got to meet Justin loads and we celebrated our second anniversary (:

February: omgah Pullip pictures! I was trying to show them off since many of you didn't know that I even had them! Haha! That didn't last longer than this month, unfortunately. A new community market opened up by my house and now I always have a place to buy macarons!

March: I went to Honolulu for my spring break along with my family! Best vacation in a long time! I also started to make tiny star bracelets for the dolls! I also received my second Blythe at the end of this month! I had one before (CCC) but we didn't bond. I thought it was time to try again, and I'm so glad I did! 

April: More Blythe goodness! Spent more days hanging out in the backyard and on the elliptical! Went to my brother's second gamelan concert & got in touch with my native side :P

May: My birthmonth! Mom and Dad bought me the most beautiful diamond cross necklace for my birthday - something I've wanted for a while now! Also caught photos of crescent-shaped shadows from the solar eclipse! Our friend also left her dog with us because she had to move!

June: I started my internship at Merck this month, woo!! It was a wonderful experience - I would love to go back next year! Summer pretty much consisted of that. But in the meantime, my mom got Justin a job in the same building in which she works, so he got to spend A LOT of time with us! 

July: Fireworks were watched with my uncle's family. We did lots of family things this year, which is nice! Got my first big package from Lati as well - I had a lot of trouble carrying the box upstairs :P For EVC, we also started our summer sessions at houses with pools! Also indulged in tooooo many cupcakes!

August: Best part of this month = Disneyland trip!! We got to spend 3 magical days there, and it was amazing! The park really just gets better as I grow older (; Also attended a wedding - Stanley and Lia had their ceremony at GKI and then we had lunch at Maggiano's. 

September: An old friend of mine came back to the states to visit! I also went to the Philippines with Justin - our first trip together! It was a really short trip, but it was really fun! Those of you who know me in real life know I LOVE learning about different cultures! 

October: More awesome Blythe occurrences including the awesome bento hat made by Maggi! Spent a lot of my free time playing Pokemon Black and White 2! Oops!

November: We suddenly have a fourth dog .. Loki's original owner moved away and could not take him with her. We only went up to SF to meet him, but her roommate ended up dumping him on us! ): Poor guy! I also finally got my kigurumi after wanting one for more than 2.5 years! Along with that, I started to shop like CRAZY this month LOL.

December: In which I went even more retail crazy and scooped up lots of Disney stuff + work my kigurumi a lot more. Also got a sewing machine for Christmas, which is a great explanation for the mess on my desk right now! Great news - I finished my 366 photos project!! :D 

All in all, a really hard year filled with lots of trials .. But I have loads more to be thankful for. I feel like I get closer to my family as time goes by, which is unique in our modern culture! I absolutely love my dogs & doll hobby and can't imagine life without them. I'm so thankful that I also met so many wonderful people this year through church events, this doll hobby, and through classes! I hope anyone reading this will have a wonderful new year as well! 

Sewing Progress!

One more post for tonight (: Mom and Dad got me a gorgeous computerized Brother sewing machine for Christmas, so naturally I've been working on sewing! I started with Blythe rather than Lati Yellow because of the size factor. My hands cramped up so easily at the beginning!

This one was my second attempt - I made it specifically for Scylla, who's supposed to be my sea monster (will be transformed later on by the fabulous Obvious Zebra once she's clear ^^). I think I'm gonna try to keep doing the cool patterns on the hem of these dresses since IDK when else I'm going to use them?? Makes it a bit different, too, even though you don't see it right away. The small details are fun sometimes!

 

An attempt with buttons:

And here are all my girls wearing their new Auryealis couture ^__^

They always stay right next to me on my desk and keep me company while I'm studying. I'm going to have to find another place to store all my sewing materials, fabric, and the machine when school starts. Right now, my desk is covered in fabric scraps, thread, etc. x__x; 

Global Winter Wonderland!

Went to Global Winter Wonderland with my parents last night. It was freezing, but with groupon, we got tickets for $9 each :D Sadly, my brother's in St. Louis right now so he couldn't make it T__T;; Maybe next weekend. It was pretty cool to see all the pretty lanterns!

The weird thing about the event was that it had so much Chinese themes to it O_O Some of the lanterns hung on trees were the traditional red Chinese lanterns (these were over dinosaurs, mind you!) and gourds ... GOURDS?!?! And the main headliner was the Peking Opera featuring the story of the Monkey King. Hehe. 

But look at these cute panda lanterns :DD Of course I took pics with them being named Amanda and all .. Sadly I didn't like any of the pictures that had ME in them LOOOOOL.

The one thing I told myself I had to get was a funnel cake *pictured above. It was yummy for the first 3-4 bites, then it got really gross really quickly x__x;; lol. They also had lots of food from around the world in the food court, including Greek food and Indian, mmmm ((: I got chicken masala garlic fries. YUMMM! Anyways! It was a pretty cool Christmas-y park (: I'd love to go again next year if they change up their lanterns again!

Holiday Busy-ness!

As always, I'm busy during the holidays with offline stuff ^__^; It's funny because lots of the time I'm just sitting in the family room being bored .. And yet I just don't feel like going up to my laptop hah. So I'm always completely out of the loop of everyone's lives around this time! Oops!

This time of year has been hard for me for the past 4 years, starting with problems with old church friends and all this not knowing the meaning of my life anymore. You see, I'm a very passionate person. When something makes sense to me, I will stick with it/to it with all my heart. But at the same time, my passions can be fleeting! I have gone through so many different musical instruments because I just *stopped liking piano* or *suddenly had the urge to learn guitar* lol.

I always look back at my past during this time of the year, and for the past few years, I have felt like I really don't deserve to be happy, even at Christmas. There is one big incident and many smaller ones linked to it that I really regret. And I never talk about it anymore because my brother blames me and makes me feel worse when I talk to him about it, my parents don't know enough about it, and my boyfriend is not the best because he was friends with this person that I had a problem with. I almost broke up with him over it because when we were fighting, he stuck with his friend and completely ignored my calls and texts. Worst thing he ever did lol =_= Anyways. Holiday season is always a struggle for me, which is why I suddenly become a bit absent |:

I'm glad to be home and not have anything to do, but when I'm not in school, I just feel like the days are so wasted - I'm not learning anything, not really doing anything, just eating and sleeping, etc :P I can't wait til January rolls around!