Shopping on A Budget

Now, I'm no fashion blogger, but I do know a thing or two on fashion, and clothes. Being a teenager, I do love to follow fashion trends and I love fashion. However, clothes can be very expensive, especially if you are someone like me who loves designer clothes. My family is not rich, so I can't drop 10k on a celine handbag or 1k on Valentino Rockstuds (I wish!). Also, since I am a teen, I do not have a high paying job that can pay for my expensive taste, which means I have to figure out how to buy the clothes I love on a budget.

I like to call myself the bargainista. Why? Because every piece of clothing, designer or no-brand, is less than $25. How do I do it? Read on!

Outlets

If you love designer clothing, you must shop at outlets. Premium outlets carry many designer brands such as J.Crew, Coach, Levi's, Polo Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade. Nike, Micheal Kors, et cetera. By shopping at the outlets, you can save so much money. The best time to shop at the outlets are around holidays, for that is when they have huge sales. Just a word of warning for people with high end tastes: some outlets have stores such as Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Versace, but their prices are no different from a regular store.

For Example:
I always shop at the Levi's outlet store. I get ALL my jeans from them. The retail price for Levi's jeans are pretty expensive, but all my jeans cost $19.99 or less. I've even bought their jeans for only $9.99!

Sales

Honestly, I buy all my clothing on sale. I love J.crew as much as the next girl, but their clothes are way too expensive. Thankfully, they are always having sales, which are amazing! If you shop when they have 50% of clearance, you can score big savings. This applies to every store. Most stores will have sales, and sale time is the best time to buy (obviously). Remember that amazing top you saw just when you walked in to the store? But it was $100? That top is most likely going to end up on the sale rack. I recommend checking out the new arrivals, but don't buy them, because they will probably be on sale later. Also, keep in mind that when you shop sales, even the discounted price may sometimes be very steep. So the best sale one can get is when the store has an additional discount on the sale price.

For Example:
Anthropoligie is known for being a very overpriced store. They are currently having 20% off of sale items. I was able to score a floral tank for $23 and a laser cutout leather tank that retails for around $90 for only $23. In my book, $23 is still expensive, but hey, for Anthro, it's a steal!

DSW

DSW is my holy grail for shoes. If you are a shoe girl like me, always browse here once in a while. I always browse and purchase shoes from their clearance rack. Most of their shoes are brands that you haven't heard of, but their genuine leather shoes are high-quality. DSW is for shoe addicts who prefer quantity over quality. However, all my shoes that I have purchased from there have lasted a while and are really comfortable. Oh and this is not a sponsored post. I know that recently DSW has been sponsoring a lot of vloggers and bloggers but I guarantee you this isn't sponsored,

For Example:
I recently purchased two gladiator sandals from DSW. One shoe was only $9.99 and the other was $11.95! One sandal was synthetic leather while the other (the $11.95 one) was real leather!

Lookalikes

The title says it all; lookalikes. If you see something you just absolutely adore but don't have a wallet fat enough for the purchase, look for a lookalike! Settle for that until you can afford the expensive version.

For Example:
Brandy Melville sells their signature Chiyo top (a caged bralette) for $19, but Forever 21 has a lookalike that costs only $9.80.

Forever 21/H&M

Some people avoid these stores because their quality can't compare to other stores. I agree, but if you are looking for trendy pieces, this is the place to shop. The prices are really affordable, and sometimes you can find something cute! Shop here if you prefer quantity of clothes over quality. I'd say that Forever 21 is more for the teenager/young adult crowd, and H&M for the older crowd, but I shop at both. These two stores are great places to purchase cheap basics. The downfall to these stores is that their quality isn't top-notch, and their inventory is either a hit or miss.

Thrifting

I've never been thrifting, but my friends who do always say they get amazing deals. Clothes from a thrift shop cost no more than $5. If you have a lot of time, and aren't afraid to get down n' dirty, go thrifting! If you have a more expensive taste, I would look into consignment stores and Revolve boutiques. These shops are basically high end thrift shops where they carry well known brands.

Standards

Standards are essential to getting the best deals. By standards, I mean your standards. For some people, $20 is considered a great price for a tee shirt, but for others $20 is too expensive. Personally, I think that jeans should cost no more than $25, but I know of some people in my school who pay more than $100 for jeans. Shop around your standards. Also, make sure that what your buying is with its price. Say you found a sweater on sale for around $50, but it was thin. In my opinion, I wouldn't buy it due to its thinness. However, if that same sweater was made from 100% cashmere, I would totally buy it.



I hope this helped!

The Scrutiny of Size

In today's society, there is so much taboo over size, and what is the "perfect size". Body image and size is undoubtedly on every teenagers' or young adults' mind. In the good ol' days (like the 90's and before) robust women were "in". Every women coveted Marilyn Monroe's curvaceous and voluptuous body. Nowadays, every teen wants the body of a Brandy Melville model; a stick figure frame and a mythical thigh gap.

The media has always advertised stick figures. In clothing magazines, all the women are uber thin, and the men all have bodies that are chiseled by the gods. On the runways, all the sleek models strut their tall and thin bodies. Recently, there has been a growing trend in plus size models, and "fativists". This is where a lot of drama and taboo plays in. Many people complain that the use of plus size models is normalizing obesity, and due to "fativists" putting down skinny people to help bigger women gain body confidence, skinny shaming/hating came to life. There is just constant back and forth bickering between the bigger and smaller community on what the media should support.

My personal opinion is this: Whereas society should not constantly spew pictures of super thin women that might push girls into anorexia, we also should not shift to the other end of the spectrum and normalize obesity. I believe that society should endorse a healthy body. I don't think a healthy body is defined by a clothing size, waist measurement, but rather defined by your lifestyle.

So, what is the perfect body size?

I think that the answer to this question is just a matter of personal opinion. Some people think that the perfect body is a supermodel-esque body, some think that it is an hourglass shape, and some people think that the perfect body is a size 14. Some people are born very thin, and are made fun of that. Likewise, some people are born heavier and are bullied for their weight. I believe that you should do whatever with your body to make yourself confident. If you are larger and would feel more comfortable loosing a few pounds, by all means do so. If you are larger and feel confident at your size, you don't have to change. The same goes for thinner people.

Remember, whether you are overweight or underweight or anywhere in between, be confident in your body and don't let anyone put you down due to your size. Do what makes you confident, and do what makes you feel healthy.

And the thing is, no matter what your size, everyone is a little self conscious. Stop fighting and realize that everyone is trying to battle the same thing.

Double Standards of Success

There are so many double standards in the world, however none of them are greater than the double standard of success.

As you probably know, this is the time of year in which college acceptance letters are mailed and received. Second semester seniors already know, or just found out which colleges they have been accepted to. Obviously, there will be a select few that are accepted into the prestigious and fabled ivy leagues.

In every school, there is that senior who is super accomplished, super prestigious, and super successful. There is that type of senior in my school, and in fact, she is a friend. To protect her identity I shall refer to her as Bene. (which means "successful" in Lain) To give you some background on Bene, she is not the pretentious type that you would expect to be accepted into an Ivy League. She's down to earth, very nice, mature, and secretly inappropriate and funny. I don't know what other colleges she was accepted to, however I know that she was accepted to Dartmouth, Yale, and Harvard. Pretty awesome, right?

I run a "Humans Of..." page for my school that is inspired by the popular blog Humans of New York. I featured Bene on my page, and if you are familiar with Humans of New York, they often interview the person they feature. I asked Bene, "What worries you the most about the future?" Part of her response was, "I'm trying to choose a college. I hope I'm not sounding pretentious right now, but I'm choosing between Harvard and Yale. I know people are going to give me flak for this, but it really is the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life!

I was surprised that Bene got some backlash for mentioning that she was choosing between Harvard or Yale. One comment said, "The biggest worry about the future is whether you go to Harvard or Yale? Rough life." 

This highlights the double standard on Ivy League colleges. If you get in one, you would be very excited and proud, however if you didn't you'd probably think, "Whatever. People who are accepted are too pretentious." Also, if Bene was talking about choosing between Boston College and Boston University, no one would care that she mentioned the names of the colleges. Not that BC and BU are bad schools, they are just not as famous or held in prestige as Harvard or Yale. 

What really annoys me is when people who did not get accepted into their dream Ivy League school say things like, "Your college doesn't determine how successful you will be" or "Getting into an Ivy League doesn't make you successful" I totally agree that your college does not determine you successful you will end up in life, however when someone says,  "Getting into an Ivy League doesn't make you successful" I want to  scream, "Bitch, get your jealous ass self away from this planet. I know for a fact that if you got into an Ivy League, you'd be rubbing that acceptance letter in everyone's' face. Stop your goddamn hating!" (sorry but not sorry for the vulgar words!)

My super classy (not really) note to the haterz:

stfu cuz you all jealous

Honestly, the double standards of success are derived from jealousy. After all, "Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius." -Fulton J. Sheen

In a myopic sense, getting into a prestigious college, or the college of your dreams is the biggest success of your life. However, in a long term sense, your success is determined by your accomplishments of the goals you set for yourself, whether that is writing a novel, service trips abroad, landing your dream job, or becoming a millionaire. Don't let the fact that you did not get accepted into your dream college ruin your sense of success, and don't let the jealous haters prevent you from being proud to get accepted into an Ivy.

A Teenager's Opinion...

... on the missing Malaysian Flight 370

As a disclaimer, the opinions expressed are my opinions, and they are opinions. Obviously, people will disagree with me. In addition, I am not exactly the most politically educated person, so I might get some facts wrong, or I might not understand the politics between countries.

OK, I will start this off by saying: Dear Malaysia, you are not a teenager who got drunk for the first time. Get. Your. Sh*t. Together.

My biggest problem with missing Flight 370 is the search for the airplane. Kudos to those who are searching for debris, I realize that it is a nearly impossible task and I am very glad that 25 countries are now looking for the missing flight. But that being said, there are so many people looking for the flight, but who is the leader? Malaysia obviously should be the leader, because after all, it is their plane that went missing, but the Malaysian officials aren't doing very well dealing with the missing flight. Malaysia is so inconsistent. One second they are saying that all the flight passengers are clearing of any criminal suspicion, but another second they are stating that all passengers are under suspicion. Make up your damn mind!  Say if something groundbreaking was discovered during the search, then who would get the right to examine it. Would it be Malaysia? Or China? Or Australia? Or the country who first discovered it? There is such a lack of leadership. I'm not a very avid news-reader so I don't know why there is a lack of leadership or if one country has in fact taken control of this whole search.

Something that infuriates me is Malaysia's interactions with the affected families. As an Asian-American, this is more personal because the majority of the passengers (153 people) were Chinese, and there was an American couple on board. The flight is missing, and nothing has been discovered, but at least give the families answers or bad news! The families with loved ones on the flight want closure, so at least tell them that it is unlikely that anyone aboard the plane survived, or tell them that with the evidence that they have, everyone on board died. It's depressing news, but at least it offers some closure.

Also, I've been wondering, do the families of the missing flight passengers get compensation? I know that that's a terrible and materialistic/money-centric thing to think, because nothing can, and ever will replace a lost loved one. But honestly, do the families receive any compensation? At the very least, the families deserve answers.

I have also wondered what if they never find debris? What it the plane vanished without a trace? What then? What could explain something like this? Most importantly, why did the plane vanish?

As a side note, I have a huge respect for CNN. To me, its mind boggling how they can broadcast hours of coverage for the missing Flight 370 even though there are no new break throughs. How do they spend hours covering the same content without being uber repititional???

Who you are

Who are you?

This question is probably the most thought provoking question in the world. This question is the epitome of self reflection. These three words have the power of causing an existential crisis and a total questioning of your spirit. In my opinion, this question carries a lot of meaning. You don't answer this question by saying, "Well, I like sports. I do blah blah blah blah, and my hobbies are: this, that..." Who you are is much more than what you are interested in or what you do. Who you are is your basic essence. As an analogy, who you are is the quarks of an atom of an element.

Who am I?

Honestly, I do not know who I am. I recognize my specific characteristics, attributes, and aptitudes, but it is impossible for me to sum up myself in one eloquent paragraph. Sure, I can describe my hobbies and personality, but it is impossible for me, or anyone to describe the very essence of their being.

I think it's okay to not know who you are. I think it's totally normal. No matter what your age, like if you are a 14 year old like me, or a 70 year old, I believe that everyone does not always see their whole self. I might be getting really philosophical here, but finding out who you are is part of the meaning of life.

So whether you are a teen wondering why you are having a hard time identifying yourself, or you are an adult wondering why you have been feeling so lost, don't worry. There is a road to self-discovery, and that road is called life.

The whole "inspiration" for this post occurred to me one day while I was showering. As most people do in the shower, I was contemplating life. I was thinking of the future, past, college, and the meaning of life. Suddenly, I thought, "If someone just asked me now to tell them who I am, what would I say?" For once, my flamboyant self was at a loss for words. I did not know how to describe myself. I came to an "epiphany" that who I am is not something I could just recite to someone, or a college essay that could launch me to the Ivies, but rather something very personal and something that can't be found, but rather discovered.

Movie Night: Divergent

So... I'm kind of in love with the movie Divergent. I loved the book, but I loved the movie even more.

To be completely honest with you, my favorite part of Divergent was... THEO JAMES
I probably sound like a desperate fangirl, but that is what I have become. I can't handle his attractiveness!

Things to know... 

There are a few things that you should know before watching the movie. I highly advise you to first read the book, because most movies made form books are not completely accurate. (warning: there may be some spoilers) For those who have read the book, the movie leaves out some events and dialogue. The movie does not include Peter stabbing Edward in the eye. Also, the movie does not really show that Al liked Tris. When Tris asks Four to show her his tattoos, he was supposed to say, "Tris, are you asking me to undress?" Other than the fact that some scenes were excluded from the movie, you should know that Theo James, the actor who plays Four, is extremely attractive. He is flawless. He is beautiful. He is a god.  

Review:

I loved, loved, loved the movie! I thought that the cast was perfect, the characters were just as I imagined them. There was definitely some chemistry between Theo and Shailene. The soundtrack was pretty good. The plot line was understandable to those who have not read the book. One of my friends who I saw the movie with, she never read Divergent but she told me that she understood the movie perfectly. The setting is just as I imagined it, but the Dauntless headquarters were not exactly as I pictured, but fine nonetheless. I thought that some parts of the movie was rushed. The only disappointment I have with the movie is that Tris and Four kissed three times in the book, but only kissed once in the movie!

Overall, I absolutely loved the movie! I'm a total fangirl!

P.S. Sorry for not posting in a while! And sorry for the double Divergent posts!

Divergent

Warning: You are about to be assaulted by complete, utter fangirlism

Rating: «««««

AhHhHhhHhhh...! I love love love this book!

This book is amazing. I don't even know where to start. Everything was utterly amazing. The plot, the characters, everything. I loved the romance in this novel because, c'mon, who doesn't like a little bit of love? The relationship between Tris and Four was adorable!

I know that there is some debate regarding how this book is similar to The Hunger Games. They are both distopian novels, but in my opinion, they are both very different and thus cannot be compared to each other. Divergent probably is more chick-lit than Hunger Games.  

The trailer is perfect, and I saw the movie in theaters last Friday!!!

Summary:

Beatrice Prior is a 16 year old girl who lives in an Utopian city. He lives with her father, mother, and 16 year old brother, Caleb. In her city, people are divided into factions. One's faction will determine their job and lifestyle. The five factions are Dauntless, Abnegation, Candor, Amity, and Erudite. The Dauntless are the bravest and most fearless people. Their job is to protect the city. The selfless people in the city are Abnegation. These people govern the city due to their selflessness, so that there is no corruption. Candors are characterized by their love of truth, inability to lie, and their keen sense of lie detecting. These people work in judicial jobs. The Amity are dedicated to peace, trustfulness, and forgiveness. The Erudite are the geniuses of society. They are intelligent, and have a thirst for knowledge. 

Beatrice belongs to Abnegation, however every 16 year old is required to take the Aptitude Test. The Aptitude test is a series of brain simulations that will determine which faction a person belongs to. Caleb's result was Erudite, but Beatrice's result was different. Beatrice is Divergent. Divergent is a mix of all the factions, and being Divergent is dangerous. During the Choosing Ceremony, where all the 16 year olds gather and chose their faction, Beatrice chooses Dauntless. Her father, an Abnegation, is furious and ashamed, but her mother is oddly proud.

After joining the Dauntless, Beatrice must face Initiation. Initiation is training and a way for the Dauntless to filter out the bravest among the new members, also referred to as Initiates. The training leader of the initiates is 18 year old Four. As you can probably guess, Beatrice and Four fall for each other. Beatrice makes new Dauntless Initiative friends. Her best friends are Christina, Will, and Albert. She also makes enemies, Peter and Molly. Eric is the leader of the Dauntless. He is a bloodthirsty and cruel man. He hates Four, because when they were Initiates, Four was ranked higher than Eric. As Beatrice goes through Initiation, something big is happening. In the news, the Erudites have been blaming the Abnegation government for corruption. The Erudite leader, Jeannine, is secretly planning an attack on the Abnegation to overthrow the government. She and Eric are allies, and Eric has been injecting a mysterious serum into all the Dauntless. This serum causes a person to be in a zombie-like state, and they have a skewed perception on who is a friend or enemy. The Dauntless don't know what the serum is used for, and they have become Jeanine's brain dead army to wipe out the Abnegation. Four and Beatrice are Divergent, so the serum does not affect them. Can they save their friends from murdering all the Abnegation, or is it too late?

Here's the thing about me. If I start reading a book I like, I absolutely cannot put it down until I am finished. I started Divergent one night at 11 p.m, and I accidentally read until 1 a.m! I finally finished the book in study hall the next day. I'm not sure whether I should read Insurgent and Allegiant because my friends told me that the last two books of the trilogy aren't as good as Divergent. What do you think?

I totally recommend this book to anyone and everyone! However this book may seem a little more chick-lit