tuna lime tostadas

a nice tuna recipe for the summer:

black and white dresses

black and white together is always a chic combo. and for a pop of color, it is so easy to mix in colored accessories!

found here

found here

found here

found here

found here

try this mascara!

i've never been one to spend a lot of money on makeup. i just honestly don't see the point. i buy what i think works. in my opinion, the application technique is key, not the price tag of the product. so it doesn't really matter to me if mascara is $32 vs. $7 a tube...it just needs to make my eyelashes pop! my makeup bag is made up of clinique, loreal, wet&wild, mac, jane, neutrogena, estee lauder, maybelline, lancome, chanel, nyc, etc!

my absolute favorite *day-time* mascara is Loreal Voluminous Naturale. it is fantastic. it never clumps and it is the most appropriate amount of volume for the day. i hate seeing girls walking around with a ton of mascara when the sun is out. heavy, volume-building mascara should be left for going out in the evenings. anyway, the best thing about this mascara is that it comes off in clumps when you wash it off, it doesn't smear down your face! all you have to do is wet your lashes and the mascara almost comes off in tube-like chunks!

affordable dinner

everything is getting so darn expensive. it is so frustrating! anyway, i just got home and i went through my recipes to find something affordable to make for dinner tonight. this is what i found:

looks good!

Costa Rica!!!!!

i just got back from my costa rica trip!
to sum it all up: beautiful beaches, kind people, expensive prices, lots of europeans, lots of mosquitoes, sun burns, surfing, gorgeous sunsets, pina coldas, friends, wonderful resort, swimming, heat, humidity, sweat, sand, yummy fruit...and a darn good time!!

i wanna travel the world!

does a girl have to wax?

i just got a leg and bikini wax today and it wasn't what i was expecting. pain wasn't the issue. i was expecting the process to be painful. it was everything else.

i went to Wax On. supposedly, it is one of the best places in seattle. i found it after hours of googling around. the place has been mentioned in Cosmo, Glamour, etc. so i picked it. this was my first waxing experience...ever. up until a couple of hours ago, no hair on body was ever ripped off from the root. the entire process took about 45min.

she started with the legs. Ouch! i never knew the skin around my ankles were so sensitive! i also asked for a basic bikini wax. however, i was asked to take everything off from the waste down. whatever. i did as i was told and after 10-15min, i became "okay" with being practically naked. the process ended. i payed. i got home. checked the legs and...i still see hair! not a little, but a good amount. my hair seems to have just broken off rather than have been ripped from the root. and now i'm frustrated for two things: 1-i payed $80 and still have hair on my legs and 2-i just hate being hairy. i think i'm eventually going to get it all lasered off.

why did i do all of this? well, because in 48 hours, i will be on a plane flying to Costa Rica! i'm so excited.

now, that i am semi-hair-less, i just need to find a way to get tan :)

persian tea has a crush on coffee

what is more "seattle" than coffee? seriously.

coffee, coffee, coffee. i love it. almost as much as i love a nice cup of persian tea. and being the good seattelite that i am, i've learned to tell the most subtle taste, temperature, and brewing differences between good coffee and real goooood coffee.

i remember the days when i would be able to drink folgers...you know, that instant coffee stuff...but now, oh my has that changed! i have a nice list of coffee shops that i love to visit. in fact, as i write this, i am sitting at cafe zokas, one of my favs. great atmosphere and great coffee.

nice coffee things:

• nonfat, sugar-free raspberry latte from Zokas (near u-village)


• House blend drip from Tully's


• Peet's Coffee in fremont (great place to get work done)


• low fat chocolate chip banana loaf from Starbucks (even though it pains me to feed the starbucks monster)


• a nice latte with a marshmallow from Trophy Cupcakes in Wallingford


• Cafe Solstice for their music selection!...in the u-district


• home-made coffee ice cream

gelato!!

i love gelato. so good. i especially love walking around pike place market and then treating myself to some delicious gelato from Bottega Italiana. my favorites are the watermelon and honey dew gelato! perfect during a hot day.

anyone need a little black dress?

i have several weddings, bridal showers, and special events that i will be attending this summer and all of them are either semi-formal or very formal events. i'm actually very excited because i just love getting dressed up and feeling pretty. so during any free time that i can spare, i'm usually browsing the net for dresses. there are a ton of pretty dresses out there, but i'm a gradstudent, so i'm definitely shopping on a tight budget. i'm looking for dresses with a bit more color, but a girl can never go wrong with a little black dress...specially a lbj with a classic cut...

look what i've found:

nordstrom - $134.00

target - on sale for $40

JcPenny - on sale for $30

same basic dress, huh? and it's so easy to dress up or down. plus, no one will ever know that you spent under $50 for such a classic, flirty dress. love finds like this.

i love going to the movies!

i saw the new indiana jones movie last night. i liked it. i was a bit worried harrison ford was going to try to act younger than his age...he didn't. he definitely shows his age. i won't give any of the plot away, but it's very indiana jones-y...some action, some romance, some bad guys...a fun movie experience. but i'm the type of person who continues to think about a movie for days and now, after some thinking, i have few questions and thoughts:

1. why do most "bad guys" in a movie have an accent? it's usually russian, arabic, or brooklyn/italian (think mob movies), and frankly it's getting old. and we wonder where stereotypes come from.
2. i love the 1950s. everything seems so much simpler...and cleaner. also, i've always secretly wanted to wear one of those pointy bras from that era.
3. i don't think i've ever met a real-life anthropologist in my life. i've seen them on the discovery channel and what not, but i've never actually met one. do people still go into that profession? i know people who studied anthropology in undergrad, but now they don't do anything relevant with their degree.
4. i understand steven spielberg is great at what he does, but i sometimes feel like he is the equivalent to starbucks. he's every where. he seems to direct, or co-direct, everything...a monopoly of some sort. let's give some fresh-face director a chance to shine.

anyway, it was a good movie. i love movies. i especially love going to the movies at night.

pretty pink

i am absolutely in LOVE with this top. seriously, just look at it.

it's just so pretty and lady-like and sweet and darling and perfect. i don't even wear pink but i've fallen in love.

love is blind.

why are you doing this to us, H&M?

i am so excited that an H&M store is moving into the abercrombie&fitch space in the u village. some of the stores in the u village are a bit out of my price range (ie. Mercer) so i'm looking forward to actually doing some serious shopping the next time i am there. i've heard that the doors will open in spring 2008...so my question is, um, when exactly is spring 2008? i'm pretty sure spring started back in march.

come on, already. you're killing me.

also, why does their website suck so bad? H&M, my darling, i just want to browse through your clothes. no, i don't want to see some 5'11 girl with perfect hair + makeup modeling one of the bikinis. and no, i don't want to dress a cyber girl with cyber-versions of your clothing line.

thank goodness i've never been a bridesmaid

this is fun to look at.
people submit pictures of their bridesmaid dresses. some good...some so, so bad.

can you imagine if your friend ever asked you to wear a metallic dress with puffy sleeves?

yummy chicken

this is so fantastic. if you love bruschetta, you will absolutely love this. it's light and so delish. perfect for the grill (or the ever handy george foreman grill).

full recipe found here

nordstrom vs. target

target

nordstrom

now...can you really tell the difference? either way, SUCH a cute party dress. perfect summer wedding party dress.

this is exciting

i've always wanted to. thought about it. looked around. and i FINALLY decided to make my very own blog.

oh. this will be good.