...so from the previous update, I had said I was undecided betw the two puma sneakerinas, but I also forgot to mention that they are a lil on  the expensive side too....$59 in DSW. so i looked it up on-line since I couldn't stop thinking about it and found that to be the lowest price available. Then the next morning, I remembered that I had these MACY's discount cards!!!! they were selling it for $65, and after the 20% discount, it would be $52, so of course, i went to macy's asap and got them. and oh yea, I got the green one; i was so happy to see annie's choice in her comment after i bought it too =P

but while I was doing enee-menee-minee-moe betw the 2 shoes before check-out, i was also trying out other sneakers there. I tried on the shape-ups and toners shoes b/c of all the raves about how beneficial they are, but when I walked in them, they felt weird. it wasn't uncomfortable, but when i took a step, there would be some sort of bulge that pressed up on my arch, which I am guessing is for the arch support, but it felt so weird. But then I saw these Easy Spirit sneakers that looked kinda like the shape-ups in terms of the bulkiness, but they felt SOOOOOOO much better! It felt like I wasn't wearing anything at ALL. it was just SUPER weightless thanks to their anti-gravity shoe "technology"!

this would be great for my feet, but it was $85 0_0 It wasn't so stylish, so I wouldn't wear it on a regular basis, but I will get myself a pair from this brand some time in the future ^_^)Y

Another thing that I've been doing recently is watching alot of hair tutorials on youtube. Watching theses vids can be so relaxing, but actually doing the hair tutorials never works for me but I still watch them cuz there are some techniques that I can work with, but just not for the hair style demonstrated in the video. While I was watching Loepsie's video on making curls with a sock bun, my eye caught on this Secret to Clear Skin video. It had a lot of viewerships so I clicked on it and I instantly fell in love with this girl. I know a lot of ppl like to watch Michelle Phan, but I like bubzbeauty's channel cuz she's soooooo adorable and i LOVE LOVE LOVE her accent! I am just so drawn to her voice even tho I can never do any of her tutorials since i hardly have any basic cosmetic necessities anyways. This past weekend has just been a bubszbeauty video marathon and get so happy every time she mentions eyebrow grooming before any make up tutorial cuz i think doing your eyebrows is an important area that is often sadly neglected. And there have been some products that she mentions so many times in her vids that she's got me convinced to get them too like eyebrow pencil and comb, concealer, and BB cream. But out of those, BB cream is what I want to get my hands (or face) on the most and I will make a stop to a sephora or other beauty department store to try to find the brand that would work for me since I have such sensitive skin.

shoes...gah plz choose yourselves!

I've visited DSW twice in the past month already and I always going in not needing a shoe but always leaving like I'm abandoning a baby in there t_t

Every summer, I tend to buy myself a new pair of sandals, even tho they're not good for diabetic feet, but this habit has always been in-grained into me. But since I will be working in a lab for summer work, I wanted something not open-toed, but not sneakers either, and I found it today!

It's ..

PUMA Women's Sneakerina Slip-On Mary Jane Sneaker

BLACK

WHITE/GREEN

There's a pink and red version too, but I like these two colors the best! The black one is more versatile and subdued and won't get dirtied-looking as easily, but I like the green one too cuz it's so bright green and CUTE and SUMMERY! I am practically torn betw the two >.<  ..aigoo

I took this pic at the store and my feet just didn't want to let them go!

 

Ice Cream, Bags & Crumbs

Yesterday was Ben & Jerry's Free Cone giveaway in celebration for they (insert year) anniversary! So after work, I went to the nearest participating shop, which was in Macy's Herald Sq (4th Fl). When I went on the queue, there were like 20 ppl ahead of me, but in like 2 mins, I was up to the counter cuz there were like 10 scoopers on call. My lil sis finished volunteering at Beth Israel Med Cntr and joined as well. She got there before me, but she asked for chocolate. She regretted this flavor immediately and asked me to get her the strawberry so we can switch. Being the elder sister that I am and since there weren't that many flavors available (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, late-nite snack, cookie n' cream, and maybe 1 or 2 more), I didn't mind switching. Sorry for the bad quality, I was using my phone cam.

Every time I'm in Macy's, I can't resist taking a look around the 1st floor collection of hand bags. I'm starting to really like these mini-cross-body bags and love see the different styles they come in:

I don't know why so many women like COACH, but the reason I don't is b/c I don't like it's logo all over the bag. But the only COACH bag that I've come to like and would buy was this one. This bag is sooo small that I probably can only fit 2 fists in here but it looks so unique tho, kinda like a beetle lols

And if the bag is vintage style, I like them even MORE!!!!! so i almost had a bag-gasm when i saw FOSSIL's collection of vintage bags. I just love the leather straps, leather material, double-buckle thing, etc <3

I saw a nice lil knapsack and green purse that would be perfect for looking cute in the summer season:
 

Then I made my way into the scarves section and I couldn't resist looking and feeling them. I really liked this silky-wavy brown scarf from Ralph Lauren. I'm also starting to like these scarves that has this tapestry feel to it.

Ralph Lauren silky scarf

tapestry-like scarf

Finally, there was a new Crumbs bake shop opening on 2 Park Ave (betw. 32&33 St). And apparently, every time a new shop opens up, they give away free cupcakes and they were doing just that for the first 1000 visitors.

They open at 7am and when I got there at around 8:45 am, there was a line of course. But luckily, I was customer #150 something b/c when I left the store, I heard the cashier tell a lady she was #161. There were so many toppings/flavors and the cupcakes were huge too. They weren't the taster's size, but the signature size, which is like bigger than my fist! I overheard that the carrot cake one was sold out, so that one must be a popular one, and I saw that the red velvet was running out as well. I was tempted by the cappucino and tiramisu and peanut butter flavors, but I eventually decided on one =D

Can you guess which one was inside? ^_^

GRASSHOPPER!
Rich chocolate cake filled with chocolate fudge and topped with mint flavored cream cheese frosting with chocolate cake crumbs, edged in mini chocolate chips with a vanilla buttercream rosette.

top-view
or just more cupcake cam whoring
just looking at this pic again makes me want to pick out those chocolate chips one by one

My review of the GRASSHOPPER:
I didn't know what I was expecting, but from the rave reviews about Crumbs cupcakes, I think I may have been expecting too much. It had the texture taste of any cupcake I've eaten before, but with just the right amount of moisture that I like. I mean, you can see the moisture glistening on the chocolate cake after so many hours. I like mint, but a lot of ppl think it tastes like toothpaste, and for me, the mint flavored creme cheese they used here did leave a toothpaste-like taste on my tongue. It wasn't a particularly bad thing, but it was a factor that made me decide not to get this one again. But I had no problem at with the mint chocolate chips. This cupcake looks like sugar overload (but what cupcake isn't?), but I didn't think the cake part tasted as sweet as I thought it would be, which was better for me. The part that you can really taste the excess sweetness would prolly be in the green cream.

Anyways, this was a nice Crumbs experience. I think this cupcake has satisfied my cupcake craving for the year too! I'm more of a person into the cake rather than the cupcake. But I do want to try Magnolia Bakery, so that will be my next stop! =D

I ate it at home after work b/c I didn't want a sugar rush so early in the morning.
Boy, don't I look like a hot mess!
and I did share this with my lil sister, hahas

Diana's 23rd bday

Diana's bday was on 04/02, but she celebrated with her Francis Lewis gang and me this past Saturday nite. We ate at Cafe Mogador in St. Mark's place. I had seen one of my friends post up pics on Facebook of her going there (no, i wasn't being a stalker -_-) and the name sounded interesting and when I saw so many good reviews on yelp.com, I knew I wanted to visit this place sometime in the future. But it was mainly cuz I wanted to try Moroccan food. I learned about the country Morocco in my french class back in hs, and the name of this arabian country just sounded so exotic, I even thought about adding it to my list of countries to visit for the future.

After reading the reviews on yelp, I decided to go with Lamb Tagine since so many ppl were recommending it, but I still wasn't sure on the sauce. I eventually went with the Casablanca sauce (chickpeas, raisins, onions), but I had wanted the Charmoulla (spicy green sauce), but too bad it was spicy. I didn't know what to expect, but the lamb was really good, but only texture-wise. The meat was tender and fell off the bone easily, which i love. But for flavor, it was quite lack luster. If I ever come back, I will get it with the spicy green sauce just for that added kick. I also got a small plate of cous cous, which was better than I expected. I've had cous cous once before, but it was so long ago that I wanted to renew my taste of it. Diana said it tasted hair-like, but what I tasted was more fluffy and I enjoyed it very much. I think I liked my cous cous more than the entree lols

*stolen from annie's album*

*stolen from annie's album*

Annie got the Chicken tagine with the apricots and prune sauce, and it was surprisingly very tasty. I almost wished I had her dish instead. Christina got the grilled chicken and this is her picking out the onions. I never knew she didn't like onions o.0 I think i can understand why b/c the taste is strong esp for the purple kind, but caramelized onions are SOOOO good in your hamburger/hero! Wendy got the steak with salad and fries. Her medium-rare steak was good even tho it was my first time eating any meat medium-rare. and then I forget what others got, but here is the group shot!

I'm really sad about the quality of this pic, but I did my best in editing this pic cuz me and annie were practically white-washed by the flash. I think a double flash occurred, but something happened.

After dinner, the gang walked hung out around the hipster neighborhood. Someone wanted fro-yo (i'm thinking it was jas), and so, Diana brought us to 16 handles. This place charges by the weight, so it can get pretty pricey if you're not careful (sneaky business tactic >.<). But at least we were able to try out the diff. flavors before making the final decision. I went with the mint chocolate and the euro tart (which really tasted like pinkberry flavor). The cheesecake flavor was a disappointment, but the blackberry one surprisingly good. For the toppings, I got peanut butter cups (which were so yummy), mochi (meh), gummy bears (threw out cuz they weren't gummy), and prolly something else but i forgot. I didnt get the cheesecake balls based on the yogurt flavor, but now I wished I did cuz the others said it was better tasting. *smacks my forehead for forgetting to take a pic of the moment*

*stolen from annie's album*

With our sweet tooth satisfied, it was time to part ways =(  But Lily, Jas, and Annie wanted to pre-game at a bar since they were going to dance away at Sutra Lounge later. Tiff and I went with them to spend a lil more time together. When the bouncer checked my ID last, he said (not asked) "You all born in the same year?" and we were, but was that so strange for a group of friends going to a bar? *shrugs*  The place was loud, and I don't like that cuz it's hard to hear what others are saying. The noise completely turned me off until we got our drinks. We clicked on our $2 tequila shots (which I could only finish in 3 separate times since it was so strong). The others got beer as well and it tasted refreshing (esp for just a buck!). I've always preferred beer over shots cuz it's cheaper and not throat-burning (which is the part some ppl find the thrill in, but not for me *shakes head*). Then it got awkward standing around in the bar and we just kept looking around ourselves. Then I left the bar with Tiff to go home.

But I had remember reading in the amNY of a free coffee party event taking place in chelsea. Since the nite was still young, I didn't go home just yet. It was an after-party for this barista competition and so I thought, free coffee and possibly alcohol? Besides, I wanted to feel more caffeinated than inebriated. It was sheer torture for my feet on heels to walk 3 avenues, and when I got there, I noticed a bunch of young, 20-something year olds in front of the High Line loft building. While I waited for the elevator, I overheard another attendee saying this event was offered free beer to the city and that's why so many ppl were there. And hearing that kinda prepped me for the coffee let down when I got to the 5th floor. It was a huge room with just bare white walls and filled with ppl holding beer bottles and a projector screen showing the barista championship. I looked around a lil more and there was no pro barista person making coffee that I had conjured up in my mind. Not to make the trip go to waste, I grabbed 2 beer bottles. I could have stayed a bit longer since many of the ppl were good looking, but my feet just wanted me to leave.