christiexlee

Music

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I were in downtown San Francisco doing a bit of shopping. We decided to stop by Neiman Marcus for dinner (they have the cutest little cafe!). Unfortunately, the cafe was only opened for lunch so we decided to make our way to the Cheesecake Factory at Union Square instead. On our way out of the store, we stumbled upon the shoe department! (*Cue heart eye emoji!*)

Most of the shoes that they sell are usually designer brands, but I like browsing and checking out the styles anyways, as you can very much tell by my Pinterest shoe board. (I’m just a bit obsessed!) While I was lusting over all the expensive shoes I couldn’t afford, I stumbled upon the adidas and Puma section. I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular, by low and behold, tucked away on the bottom shelf, my eyes found the Puma Fenty Creepers!! I had been trying without any success on purchasing a pair, but they always sold out so darn quickly!

I immediately went to try on two different pairs, the Black and White pair, and the Black with the Brown gum bottom sole. While I did try on both and asked my boyfriend a million times for his opinion on the colors, I decided on the Black with Brown. I had already owned several pairs or black and white shoes in my lifetime and had never had anything with the gum bottom sole so that’s how I decided!

After owning and wearing the shoes for a few weeks, here are my thoughts:

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

I love how the platform bottom gives the sneaker an “elevated” look! (Heheh, yes pun intended.) The golden touches on the aglet and Puma logos gives the shoe a luxurious touch, while the contrasting black suede and brown platform gives off a very cool and effortless street style vibe. The overall aesthetic of the shoe is a win in my book.

I’m not short by any Asian girl standards, but it’s always a plus when my shoes can help elongate my legs. The platform gives you about an inch of extra height, without the height causing any major issues with comfort.

The wearability of the shoe is also something I have come to appreciate. I’ve seen this sneaker styled with a whole array of clothing options from your typical jeans, tee, and bomber jacket to midi skirts and blouses! Lots of different style combo’s can be worn with these shoes :)

Cons:

The sizing and fit of the shoe can be very hit or miss. For example, I typically wear about a size 7.5 in US women’s sizing. However, the size 7.5 felt pretty big, and my heel would slip out when I was walking around in them at the store. I also tried the size 7, but it felt way too tight. The sales woman let me know that a lot of customers dealt with that problem, and her best advice was to tighten the laces and wear slightly thicker socks, which is exactly what I do when I wear them. I would definitely recommend trying these on in store if it’s possible!!

I also wouldn’t say that these are my most comfortable pair of sneakers. Again, I think this might be a slight issue with sizing. Although I have a medium width foot, the shoe tends to run a little narrow in my opinion. This caused the front of the shoe to be a little tight but not unbearably so.

The availability of the shoes also earns a spot on the “con” list. It took me a few weeks to track down this style of shoe. (Nasty Gal sold out of the navy and light blue pair I first wanted so quickly!!) It might also be one of the reasons why the shoe is so popular since we all seem to want things we can never have :p .

Overall, the Puma Fenty Creepers are a beautiful and unique pair of shoes! If you’re on the market for a platform sneaker, I would highly recommend these for the overall aesthetic and easy stylability. (P.S. I recently also saw that it’s been listed as the “2016 Shoe of the Year.”)

Have you been able to get your hands on a pair of creepers? What are your thoughts on the shoes?

Travel

Macau Tower: Skywalk Experience

October 27, 2016

I’m finally back at it with a vacation post! We started our vacation off last month in the vibrant city of Macau! I jokingly asked my cousin if we could bungee jump off the Macau Tower, and it kind of threw me off when she said yes! (O__O) Fortunately, when we were all at the tower, we opted to do the Skywalk instead! The Skywalk is basically a fun little tour/photo shoot on the outside top of the Macau Tower.

The Macau Tower opened in 2001 and offers beautiful scenic 360 views of the vibrant city. The height of the building is very impressive in itself, standing at 338 meters (or approximately 1,109 feet!)

We paid for our tickets downstairs and proceeded up onto the long elevator ride. I remember having to yawn to pop my ears as we were speeding on up! After you get to the top, you fill out some basic information and waivers and wait for your turn! Unfortunately for us, we decided to go on a Saturday afternoon, AND it happened to be during a week/weekend when Mainland China had a public holiday.. Not poppin.

(Swinging from the top!)

We ended up waiting for almost 2 hours before it was our turn :( During that time, we made our way down to the Observation Deck and got to walk around the on the glass floors and look at the views! We took lots of pictures and watched some of the other groups take their Skywalk. It was actually really fun watching because some people made the craziest and most terrified faces!

While we were waiting for the group in front of us to finish their tour around the tower, we saw some of the bungee jumpers prepare for their big leap! I remember having sweaty palms and feeling my heart leap out of my chest when I saw them preparing/counting down to their leap! (Thinking about it now still gets my heart speeding and racing)! I will be coming back for you bungee jump!

(Observation Deck with Glass Floors!)

FINALLY, it was our turn, and I remember running to be the first one in line for our group :P At the beginning of the tour, you will be given a t-shirt to wear for the photos! Afterwards, a team will help you get situated with all of your safety harnesses and ropes and help get you all strapped in. Afterwards, you get to head ~OUTSIDE~ onto the roof and get to have a close up view of the bungee jumpers preparing for their leap, as well!

(My sister sitting on the edge!!)

Our tour guide and photographer, Philip, was really funny! He cracked lots of jokes to help our group feel more relaxed about the fact that we would literally be dangling on the top of a building. He was also very patient with our group when we had members freak out about doing certain poses! Our group consisted of 8 people total. (My mom, sister, 2 cousins, three strangers, and myself). If you come with a small group, they may combine you with another small group to make things more time efficient so keep that in mind if you do not feel comfortable with being joined in with another group. You get to walk one lap around the top of the tower. During this time, we got to do 10 different poses all together, and it also comes with an introduction and closing video as well. You can check out a sample of the closing/opening videos in my sister's vlog below! (You can skip to 05:54 if you only want to see the parts on the Macau Tower!)

(Check out my sister’s vlog of our Macau trip!)

At the end of the tour, you can feel free to change out of your t-shirt and back into your regular clothes. During that time, your tour guide will proceed to transfer all of the photos from their camera into a commemorative USB card. They also let you check your photos on a public computer in the lobby before you leave to make sure there are no issues with your photos.

All in all, I would highly recommend doing the Skywalk at the Macau Tower! It gives you a chance to face your fear of heights, and the photos serve as great souvenirs to bring home and show all your friends and family! Also, it’s a great adrenaline rush, and it gives you the chance to laugh and make new memories!

(Group/Family Photo!)

Tips:

Don’t wear flats or sandals. If you do decide to wear flats, they will literally use a tape roll and bandage your shoes onto your foot. They do, however, provide sneakers for you to wear during the walk, but you might as well save yourself the trouble and be in some comfy sneakers!
Don’t wear loose jewelry. They offer lockers for you to store your purses, backpacks, and expensive items. You do have to pay for these lockers, but it’s better to be safe and store away your valuables then for them to drop off the tower!
Make a reservation. Call and schedule in advance! This will save you precious vacation time.
Go late in the afternoon. This will give you the opportunity to get some poses with the sunset and a couple of shots with the city lights on as well.
Tuck that T-Shirt in. No seriously, I would recommend wearing high waisted shorts/skirt/pants etc. if you can! The t-shirt is pretty long and a lot of that extra material ends up “poofing” out of the harness (resulting in some really unflattering tummy angles!) It’s not really a huge deal, but it was something that kind of bothered me as I sorted through my pics.
LASTLY: Embrace the fear!! It’s going to be a little scary, but just go for it! There is nothing more exhilarating than facing something that scares you. Turn the fear into excitement :)

I hope this post inspires you to get out of your comfort zone and to try something new! Well as I said before, Macau Tower, I WILL BE BACK TO DO THE BUNGEE JUMP FROM YOU!!!!

Music

Songs of the Moment!

October 22, 2016

Hey all,

Back at it again with another post, and this time, it’s about the top 3 songs I’ve been loving this moment! Without further ado, let’s jump right in!

1. Shelter - Porter Robinson & Madeon

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, Porter Robinson & Madeon released their song “Shelter” late this summer right before announcing their joint North American tour. (Fun fact: The tour announcement came one day before Porter’s album “Worlds” turned 2 years old! How awesome is that?!) Shelter has an incredibly catchy and infectious melody accompanied by comforting lyrics. My favorite phrase come from the 2nd verse:

“When I’m older, I’ll sit silent beside you

I know words won’t be enough

& they won’t need to know the names on our faces

But they will carry on for us.”

Their song’s accompanying animation is also beautifully made! (Shoutout to Crunchyroll and A-1 animations for partnering!) I was literally counting down the days and obsessing over the video’s release with my boyfriend and sister, which was kind of odd since I have never felt so excited about an artist’s upcoming work. The story and animation of the video blew me away! Without spoiling too much of the video, the story follows Rin as she navigates and creates her own world after her father tries to save her from the end of the world. I feel like I could write about Porter Robinson’s music forever, but for now I’ll stop here!

2. Send My Love (Koni Remix) - Adele

The next song I’ve been listening to non-stop is Koni’s remix of Adele’s “Send My Love.” I had already loved this song by Adele, but the song quickly got old for me, as the radio started over playing and beating it to death. (Why must radio stations always play the same 5 songs?!) However, hearing Koni’s remix was like a breath of fresh air! He brought on singer Bailey Pelkman to do the cover of the lyrics (who has amazing vocals btw!) The result?! An upbeat, fun, and tropical twist onto Adele’s original.

I’ve been hooked on to his remixes ever since I discovered him a week and a half ago. With a following of 58.2K on Soundcloud, this German producer takes popular songs, such as “Starboy - the Weeknd ft. Daft Punk” and “Cold Water - Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber”, and mixes them to soothing tropical melodies for a fun refreshing twist on tired overplayed radio hits. Check out his Soundcloud page here!

3. Lifted - CL

Let’s switch gears here and venture off into the international Hip Hop/Rap scene. South Korean artist, CL, is widely known as the rapper in the famous k-pop group 2NE1. To be quite honest, I’d never really gotten too into the whole k-pop fandom, but I had to admit, I was equal parts impressed and confused the first time I heard her collaboration with Mad Decent’s: Diplo, Riff Raff, and OG Marco on the track “Dr. Pepper.” Click here to read the hilarious backstory to the song, and you’ll see why. (Lulz, many people assumed it had to do with making lean!)

The rap lyrics itself in “Lifted” isn’t anything groundbreaking or deep, but it’s upbeat and catchy sample, along with her rap flow, really captivates me. I can imagine blasting this song in the car on a sunny drive through the city. I’m also really digging the tough Asian girl street vibes that she gives off in this video, which I am all about! I’m always proud when I see a fellow Asian break out into the hip hop scene!

Anyways, those are my top three songs of the moment! Feel free to follow me on my Soundcloud to check out other music I’ve been enjoying and leave your account down below, as I’m always trying to find new people to follow!

Diary Post

Life Updates: Going back to School?

October 18, 2016

Hmm, I don’t usually do these types of posts so I’m a little nervous about opening up to basically the entire internet world (haha, yes I’m dramatic), but I really wanted to sit down and write about what’s been on my mind lately. WARNING: This will probably be a long text post and most likely won’t be featuring very many pretty pictures to look at. So if you just happen to hate long text posts, please continue reading at your own risk :) !!

I came back from vacation about two weeks ago and haven’t been posting due to fatigue and the overall lack of motivation. (Don’t worry I do have a couple of ideas in my head, including my experience doing the Skywalk at the Macau Tower and a possible skin care review coming up, as well. Please be patient with me!)

A month ago, I wrote a post about finding inspiration when you feel stuck, and it feels kind of discouraging to admit, but .. I’m feeling stuck once again. Don’t get me wrong! Life’s going well for me. I’m super grateful for having a full time job and having supportive and meaningful relationships in my life, but there just has be something .. more .. I can be working towards! I am an extremely ambitious person, and I’m constantly striving to become a better and more skilled person. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I’ve officially been done with school for almost a year and half now, but I kind of miss having to brainstorm and work on big projects. (I know, crazy right?!)

While traveling from city to city on vacation, I had many hours on planes and buses to reflect and think about my goals. I remember asking myself, “Okay so, what’s next? What’s the next goal I need to work towards? What are the steps I need to take to achieve these goals?”

One idea that’s been brewing in my head has been about applying towards going to grad school. Going to grad school will, hopefully, allow me to learn a new range of skills, give me a competitive advantage in the workforce, and it will open a lot of doors in terms of networking and connections. Applying to grad school had been in the back of my mind since my undergrad days, but I wanted to give myself some time in “the real world” first to gain a bit of experience (while also being able to save up some much needed $$$!)

The two degrees that I have been looking into has been the MBA (hopefully with a concentration in marketing or management) and an M.S. in Communications. I still need to do more research on both degrees, but I’m leaning more towards the MBA. Also ideally, I would love to have the chance to earn my degree abroad (*AHEM Japan!!), as I feel that would give me insight into collaborating with individuals with different cultural backgrounds from myself. Besides, let's get real here, who wouldn’t love the chance to experience school and life in a new country?! :)

All in all I know I have a long way to go, but it feels really good to write this down on my little blog. I know as much as I can dream about this, I need to put work in to achieving this goal! Whether or not I do end up in grad school, I hope one day I can look back to this post and feel a sense of accomplishment, whether that comes from finishing grad school or for figuring out what the next steps of my life had been.

I’m going to end this post off with one of my new favorite quotes that helps motivate me to get off my booty and do big things!

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” - Saint-Exupéry

But in the meantime, do any of you have any experience or advice with applying for graduate schools? I would love to hear about your experience with choosing a program or school!

Beauty

Autumn: Vampy Vibes

September 23, 2016

Hello to my lovely readers!

By the time this post is up, I’m most likely going to be on a plane to Asia. I didn’t want to leave my little blog unattended so I will have a few scheduled posts coming up for the next two weeks! I will be visiting Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo, and Guangzhou with my family. (Expect a future post about my travels!)

Autumn is officially upon us, and I’m super excited for this season! Autumn means brisk cold walks in the evening, stomping around on crunchy leaves, and last but not least: rocking beautiful wine & berry toned colors! For this week’s post, I wanted to do a mini review on Essie’s “Bahama Mama” nail color and MAC’s Velvetease Lip Pencil in “Velvet Teen.”

I typically don’t change up my makeup routine too much from day to day, but I do like to swap out my lippies and rotate my nail polish colors. In anticipation for the fall, I looked through my makeup stash for anything that would help me channel my inner “Vampire Goddess” and that’s when I stumbled upon Essie’s “Bahama Mama” nail color along with MAC’s Velvetease Lip Pencil in Velvet Teen :P

I’m really enjoying this Essie nail color! It’s a gorgeous jewel toned burgundy with a purple undertone (although it does look a little more red in my photo). I’ve never had a problem with Essie polishes, as they usually have great color payoff and dry beautifully! I also think this color pairs quite beautifully with gold rings and bracelets! All in all, I would highly recommend this color and think it would go well with most skin tones :)

I had purchased MAC’s Velvet Teen during last year’s holiday season but only remember wearing the color once before I thought I had lost it. It turns out it was hidden in one of my sock drawers…?! (How odd! How did it even get in there?!) After wearing the color for a few days, I’ve come to the realization that although the color is pretty, it’s extremely drying, as with most matte lip colors, and somewhat difficult to apply. I think this may have been one of the contributing factors as to why I so easily forgot about this lippie when I thought I had lost it!

I ended up apply my Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Exorcism over the MAC Lip Pencil, and it helped ever so slightly to restore some of the moisture back to my lips! It also helped with the patchiness of the lip pencil. Overall I think the MAC lip pencil is great color but works better when used in conjunction with something like a gloss or lipstick. I wouldn’t recommend wearing the product on it’s own, unless you have amazingly smooth and moisturized lips :)

What’re some of your favorite fall colors to wear? Let me know in the comments below!