Wish List

Want to make me happy on my birthday? Browse my wish list for ideas! For these, I don't mind waiting for shipping. :)



For every girl who wants to marry an Edward Cullen, this is Etsy's Essence of Edward - honey, lilac, and sun (that's right, SUN). Etsy also has a new scent called Promise - the wedding scent, inspired by Alice's floral choices for Edward and Bella's wedding.



Don't like gifting lotions? Pre-order the DVD for me! Twilight, set to release on March 21, 2009!



Also a DVD pre-order, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, set to release February 17!



A pair of Juicy Couture earrings in crystal pink, to fill the hole in my jewelry box reserved for pinks studs.



For next winter, some cozy long gloves in teal from Betsey Johnson.



Everyone loves Hello Kitty! These are some cute knee-high socks, perfect for wearing under boots.



I've been looking for one of these for a while... a fatty belt. By "fatty," I do mean thick. Please remember that anything bigger than a small won't fit me. This one is from [where else?] Urban Outfitters.



Since I've recently rediscovered my love of reading, here's something I have yet to read. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by the literary genius, J. K. Rowling.



If none of the above appeal to you as a gift to me, you could always just get me this Marais Clock necklace, also from Urban. Actually, almost anything that reminds me of Paris would win me over eventually.

Anything, and I do mean anything, from the discontinued Victoria's Secret Tropical Nectar line would be a yummy surprise! No links for this one because I have no idea where to find it...

Also, if anyone has any ideas on how to get rid of D, my third roommate, I'd like that as a gift as well.


... More to come, maybe.

guilty pleasures

To celebrate Chinese New Year, I'm spending the weekend at my uncle's house in LA. Going to his house is always a guilty pleasure because I love seeing my family and they love having me here, but they spoil me rotten every time I step through through those mahogany doors with stained glass detailing. The guest bedroom is furnished with a queen-sized memory foam mattress, a squishy down pillow, and a down comforter. I can only compare it to Olympus now that I've gotten used to my dorm bed. And the biggest plus - a clean bathroom!

This morning, my ever-doting aunt persuaded me to sift through the monstrous pile of lotions, shower gels, and body sprays that she had received for Christmas and to take whatever pleased me. It was then that I discovered the most beautifully intoxicating scent - Tropical Nectar, a discontinued fragrance by Victoria's Secret. It smells like a deadly mixture of luscious peaches, a private island getaway, and love. It brings to mind a certain Isle Esme scene from Breaking Dawn.

We had a huge (mom's side) family dinner in celebration of the Lunar New Year. My grandparents, great aunt and uncle, aunts, uncles, and cousins were all in attendance. My grandma did not approve of my lack of red clothing, but she forgave me when she noticed the jade I wore around my neck, and when I told her I got my hair cut per tradition. I didn't bother explaining to her that UCLA students generally frown upon wearing red. My great uncle wore a green, blue, and purple plaid collared shirt under a heather gray vest that gave him a million style points in my book. During dinner, he decided to uncork a bottle of red wine and insisted that everyone at the table drink with him. Half a glass later, I was admiring the reddish glow on my relatives' faces when I found myself silently thanking my father for passing me his family's genes for alcohol tolerance.

It feels so strange to be here in the middle of the academic quarter because I've come to associate this house and this part of LA with vacation as I've only been here while on break from school. It feels unnatural to be doing homework, so I spent most of my day playing with Wii my little cousins, indulging in Midnight Sun (another guilty pleasure of mine...oh, the gluttony), and hemming a thrifted dress. I've made little progress with homework, and thus decided that I'll give it another try in the morning.

Happy Birthday, Liz!

Dear Liz,

I hope your birthday is everything you deserve and more. I love you, but you knew that already. I miss you, but you knew that already, too.

<3



Love,

Mella

Obamarama

I didn't watch the inauguration this morning. I woke up late, then had class. In my defense, we slept with the light on last night because P didn't want any leftover cockroaches crawling out, so I woke up at hourly intervals to glaring lights. (Over the weekend, P and I bought and used 2 bottles of Raid, 12 cockroach traps, and a bottle of Lysol. I Lysol-ed all of D's belongings since she doesn't seem to know what washing is.)

I was reminded of the fact that I didn't watch the inauguration every time I passed someone wearing an OBAMA shirt, which was pretty often today. I'm hoping to catch it on rerun later. My ever-stylish English teacher, Ms. Dvorak, said it's worth watching. Today, she wore all black again (despite the 80 degree weather) - turtleneck mini-dress, old-school blazer with an official looking patch, and four inch knee-high lace-up boots.

I'm beginning to develop a distaste for all things English (with my English teacher herself being the sole exception) for the following reasons: D is an English major, as is Judgemental Judy, H's roommate. My English class is full of bratty girls and apparently retarded athletes, and I'm not even learning anything. My writing consists of journal entries, BS-ed essays, and other busywork. Oh, heavy sigh.







For the Inaugural Ball, First Lady Michelle Obama wore this flowy, one-shouldered gown designed by 27-year-old Jason Wu. Thoughts?

Dear Lydia,

Thank you for this:



This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

For the longest time, I had "blog thing" on my to-do list and I couldn't for the life of me remember what that meant. (I guess that's what happens to stressed-out, overworked college kids...) It wasn't until I read the comments on my English class characters post that I remembered I wanted to thank you, Lydia, for flattering me so. You're so sweet! I highly encourage everyone to check out her blog for refreshingly cute and classic fashion, and pictures of an adorable cat named Olive!

...And I present this award to Yellow, Lil J, Richel, Noncommittal, Fazed-girl, Jessie, TJ, and Dennis - all good friends of mine, and all bloggers who have unique takes on life's little quirks.

I've got to go finish my pre-lab before it's due. I have chemistry lab from 6:20 to 9:30 tonight in the deepest, darkest corner of the chemistry dungeon. Who's ready to calibrate pipets?

Happy Birthday, Jo!

LIL J dressed up as Blair for her birthday. Though her entire outfit was undeniably cute and stylish, I fell in love her lace tights. Talk about gorgeous!

But onto something that I can't seem to stop thinking about...

It is currently 3:02 AM and I am sitting in my lounge. I cannot enter my room because 1) I have yet to finish an essay due tomorrow, and 2) D, the roommate from hell, has committed the most unforgivable of crimes. She has brought cockroaches into our room. Her dirty habits are apparently favorable for the nasty critters that have made a home in her months-old laundry stash.

What makes me want to kill her most is not her obscene lack of basic hygiene, but that she finds it hilarious that P and I have never seen cockroaches before and are now scared shitless every time we enter the room. Excusez-moi?

Over dinner, C made a comment that was something to the extent of, "Mel, I've never known you to back down from anything you care about." The truth in her words are almost overwhelming, I can't even explain why I haven't confronted D already. I have to stop caring about creating too much awkwardness in the room, grow a pair, and take control.

Tomorrow, as silly as it sounds, P and I will talk to her about hygiene. We will encourage (more like demand) her to shower daily and do laundry at least every three weeks. We will be honest and as un-bitchy as we possibly can, but with the anger boiling inside the two of us, this "friendly" exchange is likely to turn into a screaming fight.

Oh, and P is currently sleeping in S and A.Lo's dorm. I think I might just spend the night in the lounge...

English class characters

I really like going to my English Comp 3 class not because I enjoy English - D, my blagh roommate is an English major, so all things English are beginning to disgust me - but because my class just so interesting. Everyone in the class has a distinct, unique personality and that in itself keeps me entertained for the whole hour (and fifteen minutes) that is English Comp 3.

There are, as in every class, the know-it-alls. In my class, they come in the form of two girls who knew each other before the start of class. One of them, Shay, has wildy curly red hair that she attempts to tame with a monster clip. She wears a too-tight top with her too-tight jeans tucked into pseudo-UGGs. Her friend, Dee, dyed her hair jet black and straightens it every morning. She has a strange attachment to semi-sheer black wife beater tanks. The two of them have an opinion about everything that is discussed in class and feel no need to hold any of it in. Of course, their "expert" opinions would be much more credible if they didn't speak as if they were straight outta Compton.

There are the athletes who sit in the back of the room and chat amongst themselves during class. They all sport UCLA athletic apparel and athlete backpacks with the names of their various sports embroidered on them. I highly doubt most of them would have gotten into college, let alone UCLA, if they couldn't chase a ball down a court as well as they could.

Then there is the shy boy who sits next to me. He hasn't spoken more than three words since the beginning of class on Tuesday. His words were, "here (at roll call at the beginning of each class), and Dave (to introduce himself to me)."

The boy on my other side is an interesting character I haven't figured out yet. He wears an all-black suit-and-tie ensemble every day (likely for rush) and even pronounces his name, Gabe, with a thick ghetto accent.

The most interesting character of all is my teacher, Ms. Dvorak herself. She rocks straight-across bangs with a short, blonde, curly bob and old-fashioned Ray Bans (think Malcolm X). On the first day of class, she wore a tweed blazer over a flowy pink embroidered skirt and very-high-heeled mary janes. Today, she wore all black - a turtleneck sweater under a faux fur capulet and flared pants. She's just so stylish! I'd to be a well-dressed old lady like her one day.

...Well, it looks like I have a lot more people-watching to do. More to come!

Fresh Start

I'm back in LA! I've missed the sunshine, and the twenty-five cent public transportation. A note to anyone flying between SFO and LAX: avoid Southwest airlines at all cost. My plane was delayed, which may or may not have been the airline's fault, and not cleaned between flights. Even overlooking the dirty old leather seats, P and I found remnants of the peanuts and pretzels snack served on the flight before ours. When we arrived at LAX, it took an hour for our luggage to make its way to the baggage claim. Take my advice - fly Virgin.

Classes have started again. I'm finding myself back in that familiar all-work-no-play mode from high school. I'm crushed that I have to suffer it again, but glad I haven't forgotten it altogether. After all, a new quarter means a fresh start. Acing four classes over the course of eleven weeks may just require that kind of sacrifice.

On the bright side, my productivity curve was greater than exponential today. I crawled out from under my comforter on time, which doesn't happen often. I got to my first class (math) early, which was unnecessary because H had saved me a seat. Good thing calculus is still easy for me because my professor doesn't speak loud enough for the whole room to hear, and when she does, she speaks with a thick Ukrainian accent that I can't for the life of me decipher.

After math, I met up with P and C for a trip to Westwood for a textbook, a course reader, food, and other necessities. We hit the textbook store, Course Reader Material, Aahhh's, Urban Outfitters (to get a job application!), Rite Aid, CVS, and Ralph's - all in about an hour. Just think, I could have done all this while waiting for Southwest Airlines to retrieve my luggage...

I had enough time before lunch to fill out my job application. At lunch, H introduced me to her floormate, who is in my chem class. Good thing she did, because he kept me awake through our chem professor's monotonous lecture on thermochemistry.

So that's my first day. I'm on my way out - headed to a club meeting. I have dinner plans with some girls from Lowell. Afterwards, we're watching the return of GOSSIP GIRL! Also on tonight: Secret Life of the American Teenager and The City, but I'm spending the rest of the night studying chem. That is, unless my self-discipline fails me...

Welcoming 2009

Happy new year! On the last night of 2008, I went on my first blind date. This is what I wore (under a peacoat that's not pictured):





cardigan: H&M
dress: Forever 21
tights: BP, Nordstrom



patent leather t-straps: Nine West



perfume: DKNY Be Delicious

As far as dates go, this one was pretty awesome. Before we even spoke, he had already scored bonus points for:
- arriving at S's house before me (even though I was early)
- wearing a navy blue velvet blazer
- bringing me a daisy

Since we had already eaten dinner, he took me to a dessert place somewhere in Millbrae. Over dessert, we traded stories, gave opinions on various chick flicks, and discussed our new year's resolutions. When we finished, he took me to a friend's house, where we danced and watched the countdown to 2009.

At the end of our date, we decided we'd remain just friends, but along the way, he did score some more points for:
- having a Jonas Brothers CD in his car
- singing "Womanizer" with me when it came up on the radio
- not touching me inappropriately
- keeping his eyes on my face
- consistently asking me if I was cold (Yes, it was freezing!)
- remaining sober all night

So that's it - my first blind date. What happened at midnight? ...I'm not one to kiss and tell!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Melinda's New Year Resolutions

1. School, as usual, is at the top of the list. This year, my priorities are to ace chemistry and to procrastinate less (i.e. no more last-minute essay writing).

2. Get a job. This one is pretty self-explanatory. I need to start saving up if I ever want to study abroad, which I do.

3. Keep in touch with family. Since I've moved to school, I've realize how important it is to call my family - parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles. I don't like feeling separated from the family that raised me, and I'm determined to stay close to them.