If I were a boy. (pic heavy)

This past week has been a rather boyish one for me. Come to think of it, I was actually always comfortable with being and acting like a tomboy since I was little (thanks to growing up with my brother who I have always seen as a role model and the countless of anime and video games where I wished to be the male leads). Don't get me wrong, I love the girly style too and well, I am definitely a girl, but I do honestly feel that with my weird-ass personality, boyish fits in well with me.

I was always envious of the girls with slender arms and legs with feminine hands (*cough cough, like Monica*) and even though I'm short in height, I lack in slender features. T_____T

Well, I've been told I'd make a pretty boy. There was also one time in Japan when I wasn't even intentionally dressing up boyish, another Japanese male called me an ikemen. It's good to know I'd at least make an attractive boy. :3

FEEL ENJOY in JAPAN day one

FIRST OF ALL:  

H A P P Y    N E W   Y E A R ! ! ! 

Man, it's crazy how fast time can seriously fly. I hope everyone had a great start to 2012!

top pic: Janis and I back in 2006 during our "pinklovesoxygen" days
bottom pic: Lani and I back in early 2011 <3

DECEMBER 28, 2011

The day finally came! My two best friends (pinksugarichigo & eat juice) were coming to visit me in Japan! It's been 3 years since we last hung out and what better place to reunite in than Japan? We've been planning this little reunion ever since my arrival in Kyoto.

They flew in at around 4:30pm and I was on an express train headed to Kansai International Airport! I was 30 minutes late and also very nervous and excited at the same time. 

I arrived at the airport and I started on my search for those two gals. When I finally found them we all ran to each other and greeted each other with high pitched squeals and hugs. We even started tearing and almost started crying but we retained our composure! 

Next thing to do was: HEAD BACK TO KYOTO!

Round 1, 北の家族、三井Outlet Park

Friday 17th

Getting ready to leave for a friend's birthday! It was a night of bowling at Round 1 and then drinking the night away at a nearby izakaya called Kita no Kazoku (北の家族). This is what I wore for the occasion!

Top: Forever 21

Shorts: g.u.

Knee Highs: Doll Kiss

Shoes: Uniqlo

Bag: (bought at a thrift store)

Lashes: 100 yen store

First stop was bowling at Round 1 in Shijo (四条), Kyoto. Shijo is pretty much the shopping/entertainment district in Kyoto. At Round 1 there are floors of various entertainment like arcades, purikura, UFO catcher machines, etc. You can even play sports like baseball, bowling, golf or darts. More info about Round 1 here.

The bowling balls look like basketballs!

One of my friends. He's really good at bowling, nearly every time it was his turn he would get a strike. I suck so much at bowling!! Last time I bowled was with Monica in Tokyo and my score was a 13 T_____T. This night, he showed me some pointers and look what I ended with...

That's me! Letter 'D'!!! Yay! Haha!

Afterwards, we all received a ticket for a free try at the UFO catchers.

I won!!!! :D

Then it was off to the izakaya~

Many pics from that time but I'll just leave you with a pic from the end of the night~

Saturday 18th

The next day I went with two of my friends to Shiga-ken where there is a shopping outlet mall called "Mitsui Outlet Park". It really reminded me of shopping malls in Hawaii. It pretty much resembled Ala Moana.

It's about an hour commute from where I live by train and bus. It was really rainy that day but that didn't stop us!

What I wore despite the rain!

top: Charlotte Russe

white tube top: g.u.

shorts: Forever 21

boots: ABC Mart

watch: 3 coins

Heading to Kyoto Station!

Bought our tickets and waiting to board the train~

At the mall food court ~

For lunch, we had some hayashi rice!

Afterwards, headed back to Kyoto Station 

to get some crepes at Crepe Ojisan and take purikura

I had the month's special: Matcha Parfait! 

Our purikura :) Oh, the top right purikura, it says Kana（かな）instead of my real name. Japanese people have a hard time pronouncing my name so I told them to give me a nick name and that is what my friends suggested. It's funny because that's the 2nd time someone suggested that name! I guess it was meant to be.

Now the weekend is over and it's back to school. Here's a pic one of my classmates took of us sleeping during our class 15 minute break. We were all really sleeping. I even remember snoring hahaha. That's me where the blue name indicates （ジュヴィ）.

hahahaha :)

How was everyone's weekend?

Coordinate for 1/2~1/3/2011 & pics from 1/4~1/5/2011

1/2/11

Everything pretty much from Charlotte Russe except:

Shoes: Nine West

White watch: from my mama

1/3/11

Fedora: Island Sweetie

Bird top: Pineapple County

Shorts & necklace: Charlotte Russe

Bag: vintage Fendi

YES i'm wearing hair extensions! My hair is long enough to wear them again! Sometimes with certain outfits, long hair just looks better :)

& some pics from 1/4/2011 (Monica's Bday). We went to Toma's Karaoke by University of Hawaii.  It's a very famous karaoke place for college students.  Song selection is great (from American and Asian artists) and the staff treats you like family. Plus you can BYO-whatever! The only thing is that they keep changing their prices so now it's a bit pricey so going as a group is your best bet. Parking is also limited so it's best to carpool! For more info on Toma's click here!

 *Yes, I'm wearing my extensions yet again!*

The morning after we decide to head down to Lanikai Beach and snap some photos and enjoy what Hawaii has always offered us: beautiful beaches! We opted for summer clothes and no extensions (for me!) because the weather was perfect!

More on Lanikai Beach here.

Had lunch at Teddy's Bigger Burger (on the Windward side)!  I also wrote a small review on this burger joint (the Waikiki one) here.

This time around I ordered the Veggie Burger. It was soooooo gooooddd!! I want to try the Turkey Burger next!  And they also recently just opened a new one by University of Hawaii too, right across Toma's Karaoke!

Pinklovesoxygen 2006 'Banana Chips'

P I N K  L O V E S O X Y G E N 

(2006)

Song: 'Banana Chips' by Shonen Knife

Janis (pinksugarichigo) and I in our 'Pinklovesoxygen' days. We used to do all sorts of weird things! We have another video "Smily" which I'll try to upload onto here a little later.  Keep in mind that this was made when Janis and I were still in our crazy color, harajuku days. Since then, both of our styles changed. I'm slowly but surely uploading recent videos we took together from her Hawaii trip this past summer. But for now, enjoy our first video we ever made :)

Read a little about Pinklovesoxygen history here.

Pinklovesoxygen 2010: Day Two

DAY TWO ❤

We hit up Waikiki this time. Even though I've been living in Hawaii for 10+ years, I still feel like a tourist. There's so many places and things I haven't done yet. I pretty much am still foreign to this paradise. I've actually always felt that way. Don't get me wrong, I love Hawaii and I always will but there's just something about this place that I feel like I don't belong. Hmm..maybe that's just me. On to the pics and detailed post! So we basically stayed in Waikiki. There are two sides to Waikiki. There's the end that is by the beach and where majority of the hotels are and then there is the side where a lot of the shopping can be done. I usually always stay on the shopping side (which also has the Military parking area). Since Janis and I are too old to have a Military ID, we could no longer park there, so our only option was by the zoo area (which is by the beach). Still keeping in mind the difference between the two ends of Waikiki, we were definitely not dressed in what everyone else was wearing on that side. I mean come on, it's the beach side! We were for sure tourists at this point. while every girl on that side was seen wearing just their bikinis and other type of beach-wear, Janis and I were dressed in trendy outfits. I could definitely feel the foreign stares. We just kept the mindset that "Hey! We're tourists! We don't know you guys, you don't know us, who cares?!" and keeping that in mind, we had a hell of a time.

First stop:

❥ TEDDY'S BIGGER BURGERS

This burger joint is known for their burgers (obviously) and also their shakes. This was my first time here and I'm not too much of a burger fan but, oh my, these burgers live up to the reputation. Unfortunately I didn't get to try their shakes, I'll make it a point next time!

I forgot what Janis ordered, but I ordered the Teri burger. I loved the feel of the burger joint with their checkered tile floors and walls to their bright red seats and tables. Their staff was awesome too. Every 5 minutes a staff member would go around checking on customers and offering free wet-naps! How nice of them right? Two *clean* thumbs up from me!

If you want more info on this place in case you're in the Waikiki area, visit: Teddy's Bigger Burger website.

Here is their Yelp! page: More reviews!

After Teddy's it was time to head to our favorite boutique spots! We decided to take routes away from the main strip walkway, so we decided to cut through a hotel. We cut through the Hyatt Regency Hotel and took it as a photo opportunity. It almost felt like we were that same duo 4 years ago that used to travel together! The photo to the left is of Janis walking the Waikiki strip. She is my barbie doll. I dressed her from head to toe...okay well not toe, those are her own shoes, but everything else I pretty much threw on her from my own closet! Doesn't she look beautiful? She told me she was getting into a more "oshare" type of style and what better way to start off by having trial runs with my wardrobe? And plus, I love pulling outfits together. It's actually my position at where I work, I'm a wardrobe specialist. I made an outfit solely on matching it with the shoes. I'm very pleased with the outcome and I know for sure she was too :)

Our second stop:

❥ HYATT REGENCY HOTEL GALLAVANTING / KIMO BEAN COFFEE

Within the hotel we went to, there were various shops. It was a hot late afternoon so we decided to pick up some cold mocha lattes from Kimo Bean Coffee.

I'm not a big coffee fan so I don't normally buy or order drinks from Starbucks or places like that but this drink was delightful. It wasn't too rich (where the flavor would get stuck in your throat) it was very whippy and light tasting. It cooled us down and it helped that we were getting the spray mist from the waterfall we sat near to.

More info on Kimo Coffee Bean here.

More photos on my flickr site (link is on the right column) ↗

Along the way after the Hyatt, we stopped by Marqet boutique, Spark! and Payless. Our last two stops were Genius Outfitters and Pineapple County.

☀GENIUS OUTFITTERS.☀

We absolutely LOVE this shop. 2 floors of boutique heaven what more could you ask for?! This boutique is definitely up to date with trends and has a very friendly and helpful staff. Talked with the cashier and asked a bit about the shop. Genius Outfitters is a Hawaii based store but also has boutiques in Japan as well. The owner of the boutique also owns Pineapple County conveniently located right next door! There goes my money!!!! Genius Outfitters is not only for ladies but men as well. On the top floor there are men items such as shirts, pants, accessories all at great affordable prices! Here is their website. This boutique is definitely a MUST when shopping in Waikiki!

❥ PINEAPPLE COUNTY

Another must is Pineapple County. Another 2 floor boutique! I can't get enough of this store, I ALWAYS, ALWAYS go to this store when I'm in Waikiki. And of course the famous Pineapple County mascots in the front of the store. No matter how many times I come here I always need a picture with it!

More info on Pineapple County here.

This was our last stop for the day. It's always fun to play tourist.

A pic of my purchases from Payless, Genius Outfitters & Pinapple County:

Striped Dress: Pineapple County $28

Buttoned Highwaist Skirt: Genius Outfitters $18

Studded Pointy Kitten Heels: Payless $9 (on sale!)

Pointy Kitten Heels: Payless (gift from Janis)

Before I end this post, I will end with some of purikura we took for this day. ENJJJJOOOYYYYY!!! And have a great day :)

pinklovesoxygen 2010: Day One

Hi all! As promised, I will be trying to blog more! I have a feeling this post will be a lengthy one, so I applaud whoever gets through this. lol.

PINKLOVESOXYGEN 2010. What's the deal with that title? Well, let me give you a little history on that. Back in 2006, a good friend of mine who is very popular on the net, Janis, wanted to start a, line I guess you could say, of graphic design artworks called Pink Meets Oxygen. This was at first. Her and I were very good friends at the time and I was into graphic designing and video editing as well. We hung out (A LOT) and she pretty much stayed over at my place (A LOT, we were practically living together) and decided to form a partnership. We both loved creating and our creative juices were flowing! Janis then decided to change the name to Pinklovesoxygen and it just stuck. We sort of made a name for ourselves for a good amount of time with self-made MV's and also mini web-isodes. We had a good feeling this was going to last for a while and we were also planning to publish a photobook. After our trip we took to New York in December of 2006 we both found ourselves men who we are still with today. I guess you could say that we went our separate ways but decided to just call it a hiatus. Till now I get random people who recognize me and Janis from our MV's and always ask"Hey, are you that girl from Pinklovesoxygen?!" It's quite flattering but somewhat embarrassing. I don't know why, I'm not good with compliments. Makes me want to stick my head in the ground like an ostrich.

We've always meant to reunite but we just never had the time. Then she moved to California. Now she's back for vacation and we're not wasting or regretting any day we have to spend together!

SO ONTO DAY ONE...

07122010

Met up with Janis at her mom's place where her mom cooked us some good old filipino home cooked meal! It was so so scrumptious and made me so full, I wanted to unbutton my highwaisted shorts just to eat more.

Janis and I then started relaxing drinking on some Sakura Black hot tea and watching "The Beatles First US Visit" swooning over George Harrison and John Lennon.

It was great seeing her mom, she always made me feel so loved. I especially feel loved when her mom goes out of the way to see me at my work place just to say hi! It makes me feel like they are truly my family. It made me sad when her mom said to me "It almost feels like yesterday when we went to California..." (I went with Janis' family to California back in 2006) Just being at their place, seeing lots of familiar items and photos with me in it made me tear. I do consider them family.

After reminiscing, Janis and I decided that we really needed to get a move on on our adventures together, so we decided to venture downtown and take a much needed purikura session together! The last and ONLY time we ever took purikura together was in Japantown in California back in 2006. We were both noobs at it at the time so our pics were very bare to any kind of purikura drawings and whatnot. This is Janis and her discovery of oil blotting paper. She always thought there was one kind of oil blotting paper: the one with the powder. Mine is a Japanese brand and it's meant for sweat & oil. She was soooo amazed with it! I actually have video of her talking about it, I'll post that later.

We're done! I also decided to try some of the falsies she brought back with her that she ordered from ebay. Not the greatest quality, but it was about $3.00 for 40 pairs of lashes! Great for practicing and for just using without caring too much about them. What do you think? Can you see them? It was also pretty funny because coincidentally, we were both wearing high waisted shorts and the SAME circle lenses (oh yeah and same falsies too). So she decided to throw on some sexy red lipstick while I threw on innocent pink lipstick. We were ready to go! I guess we were even more excited because I also had my new DSLR camera to play with! She was amazed with the quality and is even thinking of getting the same camera! She would totally match with the pink version!!

Me, Auntie (Janis' mom), Janis

PURIKURA TIME! Just *some* of our purikura. Yes some. Hey now, we're gonna take a YEAR'S worth of purikura if we have to! She's only here for 2 weeks! When we got there it was pretty busy (for a Monday too) but as always the guy who runs the place is always so nice to me. He pretty much sees me as a regular :P haha. Discount? bwa hahaha. I'm more excited now because he gave me the heads up that they will be getting 2 new machines! I can't wait! So after 4 sessions, we decided to call it quits (for now) and head to Don Quijote and Ala Moana for some eats and window shopping. Of course before leaving we take pics and we dance it up in my car. I'll upload the vid next post too.

Janis and her awesome wedges!

@ Don Quijote for some taiyaki

@ Ala Moana for some macarons, Spiral Girl, Shirokya and F21 shopping.

Guava

Green Tea