Listen to Now

My recent discovery of Sarah Blasko.

she has a very calm, silk voice. definatly check out her other music!

this song is a song to relax to.

my favorite lyric : "seconds and hours pass slowly, i move them all by myself"
from her album- What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have

"What I Love About Me"

One of my favorite magazines, Marie Claire, has a monthly section called "What I Love About Me". Marie Claire goes around the country, to different cities, and finds all different women, and has them share what they love about themselves. I think its a wonderful idea, and I love reading them every month. Its a feel good thing that flaunts how good women can feel about themselves.

From the August 2010 issue. They were in Miami, FL. My favorite is the women in the lower left hand corner ( wearing a white tank)  who said "As a nurse, I love it when my patients tell me my face looks gentle and comforting"

Here are a few things that I love about me.

I love my hair-- I wake up and it looks good! Literally! I dont have to anything with it if I want to wear it down that day! And the color. The sun lightens it, and adds nautral, beautiful highlights! Gah! Its so pretty and practically shimmers in the sun!
 

I love my eyes-- They're probably my favorite feature and I get a lot of comments on them.

I love that i can be comfortable alone, with me, myself, and I--i know so many people who are uncomfortable being alone, and dont know what to do with themselves. I love that i can just lounge around the house for a day, and still have a good day.

I love my fashion sense--i love getting dressed each day and paring things together. playing dress up with all my clothes and accessorizing is so much fun!

I love how kind and empathetic i am-- mean people just arent fun to be around, and i hate it when people feel bad about themselves. I think it helps that i am a good listener and am not very judgemental.

I love my ethnicity and my story-- im adopted from China for those of you new readers or if you didnt know that. It sets me apart and people are always interested in my story. I'm also a twin, though we dont know anything about them, if they're a girl or boy or if they even lived. When i tell people that, they always are intruiged x10. They want to know more about it, think its way cool, and the "long lost twin" thing always comes up. I love peoples reactions to it.

I'm proud to say I'm pretty darn comfortable with myself as a person, I know not a lot of teenagers can say that about themselves.

So what do you love about you? I'd love to hear it.

the sea and its lovers

 

{all images from weheartit}

engrave this into your brain

Hell yes. Never forget.

{image via Abigail Wynne}

illusions of gravity

I found these on flicker, i forgot to write down from who, *sorry sorry sorry* but major credit to whoever.

I do remember that these were said to be photoshopped. Regardless, I think they're beautiful photos just to look at in the serenity and difference of them.

   

Daydreaming

....Daydreaming....

 Merriam Webster's definition--

1. Daydreaming

Temporary escape from daily reality by forming mental pic...

 

Daydreaming is a good way for you to figure out what you want, or what you like. It streamlines your thoughts. Your thoughts tend to wander toward what you enjoy most, what you like. So let it go there. Its a blissful (or not if you're stressed) way to kill time, or to make cleaning the house a little more bearable.

{image via...not sure, sorry...the picture isnt mine though}

Wildfox Couture FUN.

For those of you who watch America's Next Top Model, and are wondering what Nicole Fox, the winner of cycle 13, is up to, here's an answer.  Or you can just watch the video too. love love LOVE Wildfox Couture! This is their video for their Fall 2010 collection. 

Wildfox Couture Fall 2010: It's Witchcraft from WILDFOX PR on Vimeo.

If you love the song as much as I do, go to youtube and search "somewhere dorion" and it should be the first thing that comes up. Its the full song and you can listen to it over and over!

If you havent already checked it out, Wildfox's blog is amazing and their website is so much fun! Seriously, the shoots they do, and videos they make, look like they have a FANTASTIC time!

  Here is a link to their website-- Wildfox Couture 

Check out their "about" section so you know more about the company, and the "collections" so you can see all of their super fun shoots and videos.

Here is a link to their splenderous blog -- Wildfox Blog

you seriously need to explore this blog! Its so much fun ( :

Here are some shots from their Fall 2010 collection.

 

 So yea. Those are some of the pictures. There are so many more so go to the collection link on their website and check it out! Wondering what the words underneath some of the pictures are??? Well, when you view the collection, they give an adorable little story!!! This is such a fun brand and their website and blog are such a great find!

as a mermaid

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if we were all mermaids, and humans were maybe mythical?

To swim up to the surface of the water, and wonder if humans were real, and wonder what life would be like if you lived up there instead of how we wonder what life would be like down there.

What would our world look like?

Would our houses be made of coral?

Would we know how deep the ocean actually went? Every crevice discovered?

What would our pets be? Seahorses?

Or would seahorses be how we got around, like cars?

How fast could we swim? As fast as we can run now?

Would we be at the top of the food chain like we are on land? Sharks be like lions?

Would there be different regions, like how we have countries?

What would our history be?

{image via weheartit}

China trip; final thoughts

I guess this will be my last post about China, so i'll share my parting thoughts and notes about China that i've found interesting.

A funny thing-

i saw more brides all over China, getting their picture taken, going from place to place, etc (you know, doing what brides do on their wedding day) than i have like, my whole life. And they all were wearing the American traditional white gown. All beautiful!

{a bride i creeped on with a photo in Guanzhou}

A different thing-

the traffic in China is hiddious. Cars racing everywhere, not stopping for anyone or anything and a ridiculous amount of beeping. The traffic was the first major cultural difference i noticed.

A WOW thing-

As you know, a major way of transportation for people in China was bikes. Now, they've "upgraded" to motorized bikes and mopads. But back on the bike thing, (there are still plenty of  regular old bikes of course!) people really cram on that bike! you know how you can have basked on the back of your bike, and the frame that attaches to the wheel? yea, well in my friend and i tried to ride on the metal frame while the other was biking and it was impossible! hard for both people in terms of balance. (and, as a dancer, i think i have darn good balance). but people in China were just gliding by, no thought of holding on the person riding the bike in their heads. i was quite jelaous.

a majestic thing-

The mountains in China were amazing. i dont live with mountains in my life everyday, so seeing them on the horizen in like, every city, was an "ohmygod and cant belive those are mountains!" kind of thing. Definatly somthing im not used to. They rose up so big and majestic, it was stunning really.

{ i caught this driving by. its in Guilin}

{can you see the mountains on the horizon? we were driving to the Great Wall from Bejing}

 

an eye-opening thing-

it was hard to see the poverty in China. its much more openly out there that here in America. once you hit the suberbs around the city, it becomes much more visible. and i suppose it makes sense, with China's overpopulation ( i dont think there's a city under 1 million), not everyone makes enough to make a comefortable living. i think the hardest thing for me to see, was after our cruise down the Li River, we stopped at a market. One of the first things i saw was a very elderly lady, walking, basically folded in half. Like her head was literaly down next to her knees. i didnt know what to make of it at first, what was she doing? i did get it though, this is just how she is. i'd never seen anything like it before so that made me stop and stare at first. i have no idea how she walked like that. my mom thought it was probably the outcome of untreated osteoperosis (if you dont know what it is, look it up). there were many severly physicaly disabled people begging at that market. it was a very heart-breaking to see.And the sad thing is, unlike here in America, there arent a lot of facilities or places people like that can access in China. it was hard to see.

On a happier note, my venture to China was absolutly splenderous! i love travling and experincing different cultures, learning about them and meeting the people. i went so many different places in the 2 weeks i was there, and took in so much. There is so much more that i could go on about, so many more experiences i had, but i cant possibly tell them all, so for the entire thrill, go experience China for yourself! I would love to go back and i think it should be a place you go in your lifetime. China is so rich in culture, and vast in beautiful land.

China's own personal London&New York

This is Hong Kong

It was my favorite place that i went to in China without a doubt.

I am purely a city girl and this was just the most beautiful city i've ever been too.

Flying in, it looked like a dream city.

We flew in around dusk, the sun was leaving, soaking the city,water and clouds in a golden glow.

And seeing it from the plane, above all the city and the islands,

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

The  four pictures above, were taken from the Hong Kong Museum of Art from the Kowloon Penninsula, looking out at the Hong Kong island.

Can you see the rainbow??? The second night we were there, we were eating dinner at this delicious italian restauratunt owned by our hotel, and we were watching a rainstorm pass over. And then all of a sudden, i was like "look!! a rainbow!". And then we all stared at it and watched it move toward us until we got poured on. And then my friend was like "well, guess we should have figured that, we were watching it come over here after all, and with rainbows, comes rain!"

Oh My Gosh this pool was divine. The extremely nice hotel we stayed at, called the Harbour Grand Kowloon had a rooftop pool with an upper and lower deck. From the lower deck you can see into the pool, its like the penguins at the zoo, you can see the pool from the top and then there is a glass wall from the bottom so you can see into it. You can see it in the picture. And the view...the next few pictures were taken from the rooftop at night. The skyline is absolutly gorgeous and i never knew it was so colorful.

Hong Kong money. The currency exchange was about like one U.S dollar was worth 7 Hong Kong dollars. And urg, sorry i think i forgot to flip the 10 and 20 before i took the second picture.

 The two pictures above were taken from my room. No freaking kidding. And all the rooms at the Harbour Grand Kowloon had views of the harbor.Sigh. It was so pretty.  I think the pictures were taken at like 6 a.m the day we flew home.

I only had one full day in Hong Kong, and here is what i did.

I slept in. The day before, my friend had asked the concierge if there was a starbucks within walking distance. There was, so when we were both awake, we walked over with our families. After that, we went to "Fashion World" i think it was called. Anyways, it was a huge shopping mall. Nothing like getting right into the day by shopping. I only got three things, I LOOOVE them. I'm planning on doing a post on them later. Then, we went back to the hotel, and my friend and her mom were wanting to rest, and my mom thought she was getting a little bit sick, so my dad and i went off to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. We were there for like almost 4 hours there. I LOVE conteporary art exhibits, and the Hong Kong art museum was having their Contemporary Art Biennial Awards, so they had an AMAZING exhibit. I personally, prefer contemporary art 10 times better to historical art. I honestly would reccomend going to their art museum if you ever go to Hong Kong. It was phenonenal. I think i could spend all day in a contemporary art museum. Anyways, then we took a walk along the "avenue of stars" (you can sort of see it to the far left in the very first picture) and that was very beautiful. Then we went back, ate at that delicious italian restaurant again (and saw that rainbow), and then headed up to the rooftop for an evening swim. It was a lovely day. Perfect end to a wonderful trip.

P.S if you look at the top picture of the city at night that i took, the very top one (actually all of them work, but i like the top one the best) and look at it standing up, or looking down at it, you can see the clouds and the sky pop out. Its kinda like an optical illusion. Its pretty darn cool.

Hong Kong is like a totally different planet than China. Save for the population with a majority of Han people (the biggest ethnic group in mainland China). They have double decker busses, and they drive opposite than us. They have subways (that you walk through) to get across streets. They have a whole different currency. Its just so different and yet very much like an American city. If there was one thing i would have liked to done in the short time that i was there, it would have been to go to Victoria Peak (its the top of a mountain on Hong Kong island) and look out over the city. I would have liked to see it during the day, and at night. Hong Kong was fabulous and it should definatly make your list of places to visit.

I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Cultural Notes: clothing

 Don't ask me. i have no idea. we were at an airport, and  my dad saw this t-shirt in a kids store. It is just odd, wierd, and ridiculous. both finding this in a kids clothing store and just the shirt itself. it makes absolutly no sense. Its just a strange case, this one...

Nevertheless, on the note of clothing, lets talk about the clothing in China. Or lack thereof. I guess modesty isnt a big thing among everyone in China, because the men, all over China, like everywhere (of course, except Hong Kong)  dont feel the need to keep their shirts on. It was a suprise... another thing thats different.  I can plainly see why, its dang HOT in China. But man, all those tan stomachs. It wasnt all bad ( : but there were definataly some bellies out there you didnt wish to see. 

Now about the women. They all wear heels. Everywhere. Whether they're on a mopad or on the back of a bike, or walking, you see them on them everywhere. Of course not all the women wear them (im talking the elderly and the women who didnt wear heels, and the kids), and if they didnt, they were generally a nice shoe. I dont think i saw anyone wearing a tennis shoe.  The women in China all seem to have a fashion sense, and dress that way too. I saw so many killer outfits and clothes... ahh!

The clothing in China was very westerized. I guess i hadn't given it much thought, but i wasnt suprised really.

A little New Orleans in China

Guanzhou, China

China lost to France and England during the second opium war, and so the French and British took over some major ports in China. They took this tiny island (its .5 miles long, my dad and i walked around it in an hour or so, but we dawldled and took pictures like tourists) called Shamian Island and took it as their home away from home. The architecture is prominatly french, i felt like i was in New Orleans. Its a very delightful, small island. I didnt even feel like i was in China, and scrolling through the pictures it doesnt look like China does it?

C'est francais! yep, a french cafe.

They are restoring a lot of the buildings and are making the strech down the middle of the island very walker friendly and beautiful, plants and flowers on either side, lined with trees and benches. its very pleasant.

The White Swan Hotel was just lovely, it overlooks water, or the tiny island. Its very nice and i highely reccomend it if you plan to stay on Shamian Island or in Guanzhou at all, you really dont feel like you're on an island its so small.

These women are supposed to represent the changes in dress in Chinese women. You can see it starts out very traditional, and moves to more modern day, western clothing.

Bejing

Bejing, China

the 2 above are from my hotel room

This is Bejing.

Its proabably the biggest city i've ever been in (i'm not sure if Chicago is bigger.. i doubt it), with an estimated 17 million people, and it felt like just that, GINORMOUS. Downtown Bejing was expansive. It just went on and on. And all the people....

It seemed like everyone who owned a car in the ctiy, either had an Audi or a BMW. And they were always black. I was suprised at that, they all had really, super nice cars. It was interesting, litterally, they were EVERYWHERE. On every road, street and hywy in Bejing.

If i was from a bigger ctiy, i guess i wouldnt feel the need to mention it, but, as comes with every city with millions, the traffic was bad all the time, all over. Except super super early in the morning like when i took the 2 pics above from my hotel room. That was maybe 4 in the morning, we had lots of early flights.

I tried Peking Duck. It tased like chicken.

We only saw little tiny dogs. No big golden retrievers. Only in Guilin, at 10:30 at night did i see big dogs (i was out with friends, we were in a local excercise park for people, but i guess three big dogs were there with their owner).

Trying to cross the streets are treacherous. Cars, bikes, and all moving traffic arent required to stop for pedestrians. So if you're stepping out, you have to be extremely wary, and its best to go with a group, of course, there's so many people in Bejing, that you could probably go without a group and still be crossing with a group

There is so much beeping. It was like, constant beeping whenever you heard the traffic.When a car beeps, its not because they're pissed. They could just be trying to let you know they're there. Or they're in a hurry. There's probably lots of reasons.

I was suprised at how much english there was. I guess it makes sense though because they Olympics were just there.

A lot of this stuff overlaps with all the cities i went to (ha! not Hong Kong- wait for my post on HK). Like the traffic situation applies all over. When i do my wrap up on my trip, i'll do more of this culture stuff i noticed in general all over China.

Okay, so here's the thing. As much as i loved my trip to China, i'd love to be able to get back to blogging about things i want, and not just about my trip. I've shared most of the famous places i went to in China though im going to skip the Terracotta Soliders, they werent as interesting to me, and pretty much what you see is what it is.  So i've decided im going to finish the posts with one about Guanzhou, and Hong Kong. And then my wrap up/ all in all post about China. 'Cause i have so many more things i want to share on my blog with you.