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I really need to clean my room this weekend. >.< It's a total pigsty, but I just can't get motivated to to it. The mere thought of packing up all my winter clothes almost makes me want to cry.

When did I become such a clotheshorse that I actually need to switch wardrobes anyway? I never had to before, but now I have stacks of clothes all over my room because there isn't enough space to stuff them in my (rather large) closet. And I just bought a new dress today! (It's so gorgeous! I really ought to take a picture of me wearing it...) And I have another dress and a few more shirts on the way that I ordered online!

... Okay, maybe that explains it.

Bah.
heavenly_pearl: (Default)

Hmm, what to talk about...?

Oh! Last Saturday, Mom wanted to check out the back-to-school sale at J.C. Penney's, so we went to the mall. The sale itself was actually fairly disappointing -- all I got was a pretty purple shirt and an awesome ombre purse (kinda like this  one (in silver), which I almost bought instead, but a different style) -- but we stopped by Waldenbooks while we were there so I could pick up the first volume of the skating manga Sugar Princess, which I've been eagerly waiting to come out.

Was it worth the wait? Oh, yeah! I think I'm actually going to like this series even better than The Cherry Project, and I love The Cherry Project. ^_^ It feels like Maya's journey to become a skater is going to be more realistic than Chieri's was. Chieri's talent was that she was really good at copying other skaters, including their difficult jumps. That made her kind of perfect for pairs skating, but I like how Maya's actually learning how to skate, instead of just copying. Granted, she's a bit unnaturally good at it -- she is scouted when a skating coach sees her (kinda) land a double axel without any kind of training at all, after all -- but it's not like she's landing triples and quads yet. Plus, I think Maya and Shun are more interesting leads than Chieri and Tsuzuki were. I'm rather enjoying how their relationship is progressing. I just hope the series will be finished, since according to Wikipedia, it's been on hiatus since December 2006 while the mangaka worked as an artist on a video game. :( Only two volumes have been completed so far.

What's also neat about this manga is that between the chapters, the mangaka (Nakajo Hisaya, of Hana-Kimi fame) has drawn beautiful portraits of real-life skaters, like Mao Asada and dance team Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat. Some look more accurate than others -- Ilia Kulik looks like like a generic manga bishounen to me, but he is a real-life bishounen -- but they're all gorgeous, and you can bet I'll be make avatars out of them. I just wish they were colored. :( I suppose I could try coloring them myself, but some of the costumes are really detailed, and I'm not great at coloring on the computer. (I'm not great at coloring, period. :P) Oh, well.

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Remember a few months ago when I ordered a pair of black knee-high boots online, but they didn't fit, despite being the same size and style as the other (taupe) pair I own?

Well, after about two months of regular excercise and trying to watch what I ate, guess what? I managed to zip them all the way up last night!

*dances*

Granted, they're still a struggle to get on -- especially the left one -- and they're too tight to consider wearing more than ten minutes at a time, but it's progress! Good thing, too, because I was beginning to feel discouraged. I was even considering giving up if nothing changed by the end of this month, but now I'm pumped to keep going! Come this fall, I will be able to wear those boots comfortably. That's my goal. (And it wouldn't hurt if I went down a size or two in the process.)

Funny thing is, I actually skipped two days of exercise this week. I stupidly did those curtsey-squats KR warned people not to try in her journal and could barely walk for a couple of days afterward, much less even think of exercising. *laughs* But what if those were the key to my success...?

No, you couldn't pay me to try those again. Well, you could, but I wouldn't be very happy about it. I think next week I'll just try to increase my weekday workout time from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. That should help.

 

Busy day

May. 11th, 2008 10:09 pm
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Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers reading this! ^_^

However, even though it was Mother's Day, I have to admit I ended up making out like a bandit. *laughs* My parents got their economic stimulus check (or whatever it's called) in last week, so Mom and I went to Best Buy after church to check out their TVs, since Mom's been wanting a new TV so she wouldn't have to deal with those new converter boxes. According to the guy who was helping us, though, even if we bought a new TV, we would still need to get a converter box. (I'm thinking maybe he just didn't know what he was talking about, because I was under the impression that all new TVs were ready for the switch to digital next year, but, oh, well.) Mom didn't see the point of buying a new TV if she was going to have to get a converter box as well, so we decided to just wait until we got our coupons for the converter boxes (one for my TV, too) and used the money we were going to use to buy the TV to go on a little shopping spree. ^_^

Not only did I get the Peach Girl boxset for our family's made-up holiday of Daughter's Day (technically tomorrow), but she also bought me Tales of Phantasia for my GBA, three really cool shirts from Cato's, and a proper TV stand for the TV in my room. (I have been using an end table for the past couple of years.) Don't worry, though. Mom got more than her fair share, too, including the hydrangea bush I gave her for Mother's Day.

All in all, pretty cool mother/daughter day. ^_^
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
I am not normally a shoe person. Clothes, I absolutely love, but when it comes to shoes, I almost always wear the same black flats with everything. The only exception is this pair of knee-high boots I ordered a few years ago that I just love to death. I would probably wear them all the time if it wasn't for the fact that they're taupe (black was sold-out at the time), and I don't have many outfits that go with them.

Well, about a week ago, I finally decided to order the black pair, which came in today. Unfortunately, even though I ordered the same exact boot in the same exact size as the taupe ones, they don't fit.

*sigh*

I'm so disappointed. :( I really, really, really wanted those boots, and I don't think sending them back and getting a bigger size will help since the problem is with the size of my calves, and not my feet.

I might just keep them, though. Mom's talking about buying a stationary bike with some of our tax refund, so I could try losing some weight so I can fit in them. They would certainly be a nice incentive...

Well, I have until next Wednesday to make a final decision.

Oh, my lovely black boots...
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Okay, so a few weeks ago, Mom ordered me a cute pink dress from one of my favorite mail-order magazines. Since their clothes usually run on the big size -- I have one purple dress from them that I literally swim in unless do a little creative pinning -- I decided to get 1X.

The dress comes in, and it's a medium. -_- Granted, I could actually fit into the dress, which made me happy because it's been well over a decade since I've been able to fit in a medium, but it did not look good on me at all, so we sent it back for a replacement.

Guess what? We got the replacement in today, and it's another freakin' medium!

*tears out hair*

What is so difficult about sending the right size? Really? Once can be mistake, but twice is just pure idiocy. Gah!

I give up. I don't even want the stupid dress anymore.

Wow!

Sep. 1st, 2007 08:16 pm
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Nothing makes me happier than a really great sale. ^_^

Recently, my mom got a J.C. Penney's credit card in the mail, so, today, we decided to go to the mall to "try it out," as my mom kept saying. As it turned out, we picked a really good day to go because they were having some really fantastic sales and markdowns. Can you believe I managed to find a ninety dollar pantsuit for only ten dollars? O.o Crazy, isn't it? I have to admit that it's not something I would normally buy for myself, although it is quite cute, but I just couldn't pass up such a great bargain.

I mean, it was a ninety dollar pantsuit for ten dollars, for crying out loud! 

*laughs*

And that's not all I got! In addittion to the pantsuit, I got:

- A purple skirt (Orig. $40, marked down to $19.99)
- A graphic-patterned blouse (Orig. $40, marked down to $19.99)
- Platinum-plated amethyst and diamond earrings (Orig. $60, marked down to $19.99)
- 18KT gold-plated sapphire and diamond earrings (Orig. $60, marked down to $19.99)

All together, I calculated I got $290 worth of clothes and jewelry for somewhere around $90! And that's not even including the 15% we got off our entire purchase because it was the first time Mom used the card. Together with Mom's things -- she also got a great deal on a $80 dress, marked down to ten, plus some other sale items -- we saved well over $300!

Amazing, huh? ^_^

I also picked up Vol. 4 of Ultramaniac and Vol. 10 of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles from Waldenbooks while we were there, of course.

My one letdown today was due to a ditzy moment from me. >.< Just when we were about to leave to go to the mall, I looked up at our calender and noticed that today was the fourth. I remember thinking there was something really off about that, but I was just too excited to care because I thought I would be able to buy the Kaleido Star Season 2 boxset that's coming out on Sept. 4th. Well, as you all know, today is actually the first. I was looking at August since we hadn't switched over to Septenber yet! *laughs* Oh, well, Mom says she'll take me to next weekend to buy it, so I suppose I can wait that long to get it.

As Sora might say, "Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!"
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Man, I am exhausted.

This morning, Crystle called me the minute I woke up to ask if I wanted to go to the mall with her, since our plans for yesterday got canceled. I never pass up a chance to go to the mall, so of course I said yes.

Well, normally when I go to the mall, I tend to stick around Barnes & Noble and Lane Bryant, occasionally going upstairs to check out FYE and the comic book store, so I wasn't used to checking out the whole mall. (Really wish I had thought to wear more comfortable shoes. :( My feet are killing me.) It was actually a good thing that Crystle dragged us (Hunter and Ethan were with us, too) all around the mall though, because she convinced me to try on some things at New York & Company that I never thought would fit me, and they actually did! I bought myself a boatneck pink shirt and a gorgeous black, white, and silver floral-print blouse for about the same price as a shirt I was considering buying from Lane Bryant. Whoo!

Since I also seem to be in a manga phase at the moment -- Paradise Kiss and my missing volume of Aishiteruze Baby came in yesterday from RightStuf -- I decided to pick up the omnibus edition of Tsubasa Resevoir as well, which was a really fantastic deal: the first three volumes for just a couple of dollars more than the individual volumes. From what I saw flipping through the book, the artwork wasn't really my type, but, hey, the price was right, so I figured why not check it out. Besides, it'll be interesting to see Sakura and Shaoran in a completely different story.

Definitely a fun day. ^_^
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Just got in from Midnight Mass. I'm about to go to sleep, but I want to get down my annual loot list before I do, since we opened gifts like we usually do on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Presents )

I think that's about it. Like I suspected, I didn't get much from my wishlist, but it was still a nice Christmas. ^_^
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Make a list of everything you would like to receive for Christmas. Yes, Christmas is supposed to be a time of giving and thinking of others, but we’re all guilty of experiencing those greedy gimmies. So why not give in to it, if just for a moment? The list can be short or long. It can be as simple or as outrageous as you want it to be. You can list what you actually asked for, create an ultimate wish list, or a mixture of both. It’s all up to you! 


I guess that's about it. Makes me wonder what is under the tree since I never got the chance to give Mom my list before she announced she had finished her shopping and I doubt she knew I wanted most of the stuff on the list. Guess that means she spent a lot of money on stuff I don't want. *sigh*

Czech Fest

Oct. 1st, 2006 10:13 pm
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Why is it that every time I look forward to something, I always seem to be disappointed when the day finally comes?

I had been looking forward to our church's annual bazaar, the Czech Fest, for the past couple of months. It had been a long time since we had gone, and I remember that it used to be a ton of fun when I was a little girl. Unfortunately, it just wasn't the same. We only stayed for about twenty minutes or so, and out of the $25 Mom gave me to blow, I only spent a dollar at the cake booth. A dollar! That's how lame it was.

Well, it might have been fun if it wasn't so hot and Mom hadn't decided that she wasn't interested in any of the booths that required more than picking numbers and someone spinning a big wheel. Sure, I suppose I could have gone off and played the actual games myself, but Mom clearly wasn't having a good time, so when she suggested we go, I didn't argue.

However, the day wasn't a total bust. After we left the fairgrounds and got groceries, we decided to go to the grand opening of Cato's, which had just moved to a new store, and I got some cute new clothes. ^_^ The $24 I had left? Much better spent on a blue twinset.

(Another disappointment: The Astros lost their last game of the regular season, so they didn't make the play-offs. :( Oh, well, at least I don't have to worry about missing my favorite shows to watch them.)
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
It's been a while since I actually wrote a real entry in this thing. O.o

Well, first of all, allow me to vent my frustration at Ch. 5 of ATR. I thought once I finished Ch. 3 and Ch. 4, things would be easier, but then I had to be stupid and stick something in Ch. 4 that I didn't originally plan to do. So, now I have to take that change into account in later chapters, and it's such a pain. Gah!

(Let this be a warning to anybody who might be tempted to "skip around" while writing a story. Don't do it. Just...don't. (Unless you have an extremely detailed outline or something of the sort.))

*screams* 

There, I feel better now. ^_^

What else has been going on? Well, Mama surprised me last weekend by treating me to a little shopping spree at Cato's, one of my favorite clothing stores. I got some really cute stuff. ^_^ Most of it is in layaway at the moment, but I did get to take home a rather sexy black lace T-shirt and a beautiful black-and-white dress that I think looks like something Jackie Kennedy might have worn during the days of Camelot. It's mostly black with a white satin sash around the neckline that ties into a bow near my left shoulder, and I absolutely adore it. The stuff in layaway is another black lace shirt, a matching long black skirt with lace around the waist, and two 2-piece (tank top with sheer blouse) tops, one black and one white. (I really didn't mean to just get black-and-white stuff; it just turned out that way. *laughs*) 

Mama liked the two brooches I got her for Mother's Day, and she gave me $25 for our family's made-up holiday of Daughter's Day (the day after Mother's Day). The money will most likely go into my "Buy a GBA" fund. ^_^

Speaking of video games, I've been feeling really nostalgic lately, ever since I found my old NES console a couple of days ago underneath my bed with Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom still inside from the last time my sister and I played it. (We finally beat the game on December 31, 1999. ^_^) I don't know where any of the other games are or even if the console is still in working order, but it really brought me back. Maniac Mansion, Vegas Dreams, Adventures in the Magic Kingdom, Gold Medal Challenge, Barbie... Good times, those were. ^_^ (And Samuraiter, gamer extraordinaire, is just in awe that I have the Princess Tomato cartridge.)

Lessee...what else?

I got the fifth disc of Cowboy Bebop from Netflix yesterday. It seems to beat the odd-number curse, since I actually rather liked it, save for that stupid episode about the Mad Pierrot, or whatever his name was. The Feng Shui and Cowboy Andy episodes were fantastic, though, so they kind of made up for that one.

Oh, and for Fruits Basket fans, if you're looking for good fanfiction, I highly recommend checking out Ysabet's stories at http://ysabet.velvetangel.net/fanfic/furuba/. She mostly writes Rin/Hatsuharu angst, but there are a few stories that have other characters in the spotlight. The Ceremony of Innocence, in particular, is a fantastic end-of-the-series fic that's sure to satisfy both the Kyo/Tohru fans (waves Kyoru flag) and Yuki/Tohru fans. ^_^

I'll just wrap this entry up by saying, "Go, Katharine!"

She and Taylor are moving onto the American Idol finale next week. Whee!

*sigh*

Mar. 5th, 2006 10:48 pm
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
I didn't do very well picking out this year's Oscar winners. :( I only got six right for Art Direction, Directing, Documentary Feature, Film Editing, Sound Editing, and Adapted Screenplay. For the longest time, I didn't think I would get any at all. It was well into the show before I finally got one right (Documentary Feature).

Oh, well, at least I managed to beat Mom. She only got three right. :P

Anyway, the Oscars were good. I thought Jon Stewart did a great job hosting. Man, those fake ads were hilarious!

The fashion was a bit disappointing, though, especially since everybody was saying that the trend would be to dress in old Hollywood glamour to complement the theme of the show, which I didn't really see much of. What was Naomi Watts thinking when she decided on that dress? *gags* I predict it'll be showing up on the Worst Dressed lists for sure. And I don't get why everybody was raving about Michelle Williams' gown. I guess the style was okay, although I could have done without the large ruffles, but that color was ugly. (Granted, I'm not a fan of orange or orange-y yellow, so I'm admittedly biased.) As for best dressed, my favorite was definitely Sandra Bullock's dress, with Keira Knightley and Ziyi Zhang coming in at second and third, respectively. I also rather liked Meryl Streep's gown. It would have been better in a different color -- she wore brown -- but the style was nice. (Edit: Oops, it was purple, which is infinitely better than brown.)
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I'll type up a longer update later, but I wanted to go ahead and type up my list of presents while they're still fresh in my mind. (My family always opens up presents on Christmas Eve.)

Pretear boxset
Ah, My Goddess! DVD
Vol. 13 of Ayashi no Ceres
Vol. 16 of Fushigi Yugi
Vol. 10 and 11 of Fruits Basket (one which came with a free mini-calender)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi CD
Sarah Brightman - Love Changes Everything CD
Il Divo - Il Divo CD
Blue CD case
Black skirt
Teal satin blouse
Purple sweater with white collar
A couple of picture frames
Candy
A "Scorpio" journal and a couple of pens
A "Mystic Fountain" from my sister (Basically, a fountain that creates steam)
$190 (Twenty from Mom and Dad, twenty from Uncle Stan and Aunt Valeta, and the rest from "Santa")

I think that's about it. ^_^

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