Bridesmaid Dresses

Finally I was able to get a bridesmaid dress that fits everyone's budget and taste.  Surprisingly, it's from David's Bridal - it's called the Sleeveless Split Front Crinkle Chiffon Dress.

I thought it was a cute dress that will flatter everyone's figure.  It was hard finding a dress because actually all my bridesmaids (I'm having 3, plus my MAN of honor!) live in different cities.  Only one in LA, the other two are in San Diego and San Francisco.  With the rather tight time constraint, it was just much easier to order online than to coordinate and go into stores in different cities to find the same products.  

I liked the pale pink color of this dress, though I wanted something super pale like almost white.  I was willing to settle for this color, but in person, it is much more pink!!!  I really did not expect it to be so bright.  But I really don't want to go through the hassle of returning them and then trying to find another dress so I decided to just stick with it.  It's not an ugly color or anything, just brighter than I thought.  I actually tried it on myself, and here's what it looks like on me.  Actually in person, I think it's even brighter than this photo:

So yeah, in person it's more of a brighter pink with some coral in it.  It's pretty, I guess that's why the color is called "candy pink".  So it's not that big of a sacrifice to make.  I think the more important thing is that it is a good fit on everyone, as A line dresses usually are.  Also I did not want strapless dresses because they are uncomfortable to wear as my girls would have to keep pulling them up all night.  At least that's always been my experience with strapless things.  Either that or it gives you armpit fat when it's too tight.  It was surprisingly kind of hard to find a bridesmaids dress that is not strapless.  I also did not want a satiny material, as I wanted the dresses to look light and flowy by the lake side.  Not satiny and uptight.  That just eliminated a bunch of bridesmaid dresses too.  

Anyway, so I am happy with this dress at the end.  If the color was a pale, powder pink, I would be 100% happy with it.  But now I'm like 85%ish happy with it so it definitely could be worse.  For a last minute find that's a pretty good deal (on sale from like $135 to $79), I thought it would be safer to keep these than to attempt to find a new one.  

Prairie NY and ZOA Dresses!

I recently received my latest ideeli order which were this Prairie NY racerback dress, and a ZOA shirt dress.  I really like both of them!  Though the Prairie NY dress is a little preggo looking from the side.  Oh well, at least if I get pregnant I will have one cute dress to wear.  Hahaha!

But from the front, it's a really flattering fit!  It's the perfect summar party dress.  Not too dressy and not too casual.  It's hard to see from the pictures, but there's sunflower details on the bottom:

And this is a close up of the neckline:

So yeah, I really like this dress!  Though the upper back racer portion of the dress is a very thin t-shirt like material and is little see through.  You can definitely see my bra underneath.  But I cannot go without a bra in a white dress!  Hmmm maybe I can take it somewhere and have bra cups sewn in.  Oh yeah, and a plus is that this dress is made in the USA (NYC)!  I like buying stuff that are made in my home country lol.  I got it for $59 on ideeli, down from $257 and I definitely think it's worth the price.

I also really like this ZOA sleeveless drawstring dress:

I've always liked the look of shirt dresses.  And the color of this one is really nice.  The photo is pretty true to real life color.  I got it in a size S and it is a little big.  But since the style is kinda baggy, I don't think it's a major issue.  Also the cinchable waist can be adjusted tighter.  It's always better to be too big than too small!  This one was only 39 bucks too, down from $135.  So I felt like I had to pick it up.  I wore it over the weekend and it looked really cute with some brown platform sandals!  Very lightweight and airy for the hot weather too.  It's not super short, but when wind blew, I totally thought I was going to moon the whole world!  So definitely cannot wear thongs with it.  Hahaha.

Sunday Funday!

I finally remembered to take pictures of my outfits this week for Sunday Funday!  Woohoo!  I have been such an airhead lately!  Well, I actually forgot to one day, but 4 out of 5 ain't bad.

So lately I've been trying to lift heavy weights to get more muscle definitions, and eating accordingly.  I will probably make a separate post about the food later.  Of course I still want to do cardio, because it's good for the heart, and I got a half marathon coming up I should probably do some sort of training for.  But I have been really focusing on building muscle, because I want to be more toned up for my wedding that's coming up in just a little over a month!  Plus, muscles will burn more fat, so it's really a win-win.  But it's so hard for girls to build muscles!  For me especially because genetically I just don't get muscle definitions easily.  Strength wise I'm not bad, I push myself hard and I'll bench 60-70 pounds.  I just want the muscles to pop out already!  Geesh, it's not like I'm trying to be a body builder...

Anyway, so here are the workouts and outfits for the past week!

Monday, 8/8
What I did:  Warm up on the gauntlet for about 15 minutes at 80 steps a minute.  Then weight lifting session for about 45 minutes.  I did free weights, machines, TRX, and ended with a set of jumping on the big step thingies about 3 feet high.  I used really heavy weights!  Because I was sore for like 3 days after.

What I wore:  Lululemon Run Swiftly Tech SS in fruitie tootie, and Run: Ultra Short in black/fruitie tootie (dug this one oldie of the bottom of my drawer!).

Tuesday, 8/9
What I did:  HIIT for 45 minutes (time goes by fast when you are watching poker on TV while running), then yoga for an hour.

What I wore:  Lululemon Dance Strap tank in army green, and Wunder Groove Crop.

Wednesday, 8/10 - Rest

Thursday, 8/11

What I did:  Ran 15 minutes on treadmill to warm up.  Then lifted heavy weights.

What I wore:  This is the day I forgot to take a pic, since I was rushing out the door at 4 am.  Sick I know.  But you accept these ungodly hours when you choose to work in finance on the west coast.  But I wore the NUX Serenity Heather tank I wrote about, and groove pants.

Friday 8/12 - Rest day

Saturday 8/13 

What I did:  An hour of alternating HIIT and heavy lifting.  i.e. 15 minutes of 1 minute sprints and 1 minute rests.  15 minutes of lifting.  Repeat.

What I wore:  I got this Reebok Easytone Taped Bra tank in Malibu Blue from Ruelala that I thought looked really cute on the model. But it was really small when I put it on.  Well, it doesn't look small when you hold it up, but the material is not very stretchy at all so it's very hard to put on and take off.  I wish I had gotten a size M but I always get S in stuff, and did not think I would have needed to size up.  The tank is a flattering fit once you wrestle with it for a while to put it on, and the material is very light and nice - like Lululemon's luxtreme a lot in the front.  And the back is all mesh, with some taping.  But it kept riding up as I was running and lifting really badly!  Though I'm not sure if that's because it's a little too small for me.  See how tight it is!  It's too bad because I really like the color and material.  Maybe I should use it as my "goal" tank for when I trim down.  Hehe.

I wore my Lululemon Run: Passion crop in bright blue.  

I probably shouldn't post the model's pic right after myself in the same tank, but it looks rather tight on her too!  Lol.  Just trying to make myself feel better (or not).

I did not take a pic from the back, but here's what the back looks like, I like the taping look:

Sunday, 8/14

What I did:  Same as yesterday, I did HIIT alternating with weight sessions for an hour.

What I wore:  I decided to give the Lululemon Cool Racerback in pearl luxtreme a try again.  This time I wore my Energy Bra underneath, and I also wore my Run: Passion crop in power purple.  So I was in head to toe luxtreme.  The tank did ride up again, but not as bad as the Reebok one did yesterday.  So basically I spent the whole weekend's workouts pulling down my tanks.  I still really love the color though!

So that's it!  I can now relax before going back to work tomorrow (ugh!).  Though I did not do much this weekend other than working out and going to the Dodger game today, but for some reason weekends are never long enough.  I am now ready to start my TV Sunday night marathon with True Blood, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and some other shows I have recorded.  Yay!  Hope everyone had a good weekend!

NUX Active Wear

Last month I saw NUX Active Wear on Hautelook and decided to order some stuff to try out.  I had never heard of this brand before, but some of their tanks looked really cute.  Actually I might have seen it at Equinox when I used to go there, but I really can't remember.  Their stuff is made in the USA and they tout a "seamless" technology, so I figured why not.

I ordered 2 things in the same color - what can I say, green tones are missing from my (mostly) Lululemon workout gear collection.

The Serenity Heather Tank:

This logo reminds me of Lululemon:

This tank is made of some kind of knit and is rather thick.  It sort of reminds me of Lululemon's swiftly material, but quite a bit thicker and stretchier.  It's a very nice material, but definitely not as light weight.    It has a built in bra, but no place for cup inserts.  Boooo.  However, since the material is rather thick, you will not have any "headlight" problems wearing it with no other bra underneath.  I found the support of the built in bra adequate while running, but then again I don't have a large chest.  So it may not work for well-endowed ladies.  The tank really doesn't have any seams anywhere!  It gives great compression and shaping, though does show every lump and bump underneath because of that.  So it's a tight fit that one should only wear on non-bloated days lol.

I tried out this tank this morning when I got up bright and early to go workout (4 am).  Oh yeah, I canceled my Crunch membership and signed up for this brand new 24 Hour Fitness in NoHo, which actually opens 24 hours and is next to the train station I take to get to work.  So I can workout in the morning before work again.  Yay!  I like it so much better.  

This morning I wore the tank with Lululemon groove pants under.  I ran for about 15 minutes then lifted weights.  I was really surprised that this tank did not move or ride up at all.  I actually expected it to ride up a lot because usually knit material that are this tight fit tend to move a lot.  My Swiftly tees always move up, I am constantly pulling them down when I workout with them.  It's kind of annoying. So this was a pleasant surprise about the NUX tank.  I wonder if it will move any if I wore my luxtreme crops instead.

All in all, I really did like this tank and am definitely willing to purchase other tanks from LUX.  Like I said, the fact that the material is on the thicker side may make it not as good to wear during hot days.  But when inside in an air conditioned gym, I don't see any potential issues.  The upside to that is that it does not show any sweat whatsoever.  And it seemed to be quite good at wicking and is very comfortable on.  I also really really love the color, it looks exactly as it does in the pictures.

The second thing I got was this long sleeve hoodie that I won't be wearing till the weather cools:

I thought this top looked so interesting and I really like the back design.  It's quite unique.  It once again has the same seamless design and is a tight fit.  There's no thumb holes or hidden pockets or anything.  But for the price point, it's a good buy.  I think I read this company does not price any item above $70.  How refreshing!  I paid $31 for this on Hautelook and $21 for the tank.

I can see this top being a really nice top to wear out running during really cold days.  You can keep your body warm while airing out your upper back lol.  In fact, for my Malibu half marathon in November, it might just be perfect.  November mornings here are pretty chilly near the ocean with the breeze.  So maybe I will be wearing it then.  But no try out reviews any time soon, since it is so hot still!

Here is a close up shot of this knit material, which feels and looks the same as the tank.  I like the design within the knit, it's a nice touch.

Back From Vegas! Reviews of A Couple Items!

I'm back from Vegas!  Feels like forever since I last wrote!  Time went by pretty fast in Vegas.  We were busy running around doing all kinds of stuff, and it was so hot there!  I would have liked to chill more and get more than one day of pool time but it turned out to be a pretty successful trip since I got a decent tan and I won $600 from $100 playing poker!!!  I can't believe it... I usually lose money when I play poker!  This time I had one too many cocktails and was playing more loosely.  Maybe that's the recipe for success, huh?  Here's one of my yummy pear martinis from Fiamma Trattoria at the MGM Grand, one of Michael Mina's restaurants.

This was my first time staying at the MGM, because my mom booked us rooms there, it was kind of my birthday plus CFA celebration gift.  I pretty much always stay at the Venetian when I go to Vegas, but MGM wasn't bad actually, I especially like their poker room for reasons mentioned above!  Hehe.  So I pretty much hung out there, and only branched out to check out Aria since one of my friends happened to be there the same weekend and was staying there.  It's such a nice hip hotel with tons of young people!  I liked it a lot since I'm not really into the family and old people scene in Vegas.  I hadn't been to Vegas in like 2 years so I had never seen Aria or Cosmopolitan before.  I must stay there next time!  The room is like a cool bachelor's pad.  There's a touch screen remote that kind of looks like an ipad, it controls all the lights, electronics, and even the curtain.  Very nice!  

But anyway, back to the MGM.  There is some shopping there but not much.  One of the stores sold a lot of very D-bag looking clothes.  Like ghetto, but not even fabulous.  But there was one store there that had some cute dresses and shoes.  I actually bought 2 pairs of wedges one night.  But the next day I came to my senses and returned/exchanged them for a 3rd pair.  I actually really like them and I think I may be able to wear them for my wedding since I decided that stilettos will not work for a backyard grass/sand wedding.  But I still want to wear heels of course, so naturally platform sandals are the only choice.  Here's what they look like, they had tons of cute shoes there, maybe I should have kept one of the other pairs!

The best thing about these shoes is that they are extremely comfy!  Despite being rather high.  

Ok so before I went to Vegas, I bought this chiffon overlay ruffle cami at Express.  It turned out to be a really cute outfit paired with some black shorts and the sandals in the above pictures!  If I really do decide to wear them for my wedding, I needed to test them out.  I think they passed the test!

This cami is a soft pink color.  I didn't wear it tucked in like the model.  When it's left out, it looks like this:

I feel like when I wear short shorts or skirts, I need to have a more moderate coverage on top, and vice versa.  Otherwise I will just look like a hooch.  This top was perfect because it's loose fitting, but it gives great shape at the same time.  And it's pretty long - almost covers my butt.  I really really liked it, it was super comfy.  I am glad I got it as it was on sale for like $34 and I had an Express coupon so I only paid $19 for it after tax.  The best thing is I can also wear this to work under a sweater or jacket!  I love it.

So after a 6 hour drive back from Vegas due to heavy traffic, I was pretty cranky, especially since I went to bed at around 6 am the night before and was a little hung over.  The stop and go motion in the car really did not help.  But I came home to find this Romeo & Juliet Couture dolman sleeve sweater that I bought from Hautelook waiting for me!  I totally forgot I bought it, but it's super cute.  So that made me feel better.  I love Romeo & Juliet Couture - their stuff is always cute and they are made in the USA.  Hautelook was having a "blow out" sale, so I got it for only $39 down from the original price of $130.

I tried this sweater out today by wearing it to work.  I paired it with black slacks.  It was such a cute outfit!  I love dolman style sweaters for work as they are not very clingy and are comfortable to sit in all day.  In person the color of the sweater has a subtle sheen to it, so it looks almost silvery gray.  So pretty!  Here's a close up.  You definitely have to wear a tank top under it.

Hmm I like the necklace the model has on.  I wonder where it's from?  

Anyway, this sweater kind of fits similarly to the Express ribbed drape-neck sweater I just got, minus the neckline.  But the rest of the body was pretty much the same fit.  I was thinking of getting another Express sweater, possibly in gray.  Now I don't have to!  I might get another in black or tan though, because I love it that much!  

Caruso 30 Molecular Ion Steam Hairsetter

I've been looking at hot rollers to try out.  I curl my hair sometimes but really would like to do it more often if not for the damaging heat.  The ends of my hair can get so dry from the curling iron that I will start getting split ends if I do it too often.  I finally was able to grow my hair out enough to cut off all the split ends and I don't want them to ever come back!!  So I have heard that hot rollers are much more gentle on the hair, and have been wanting to try them out!  I was looking around on Folica, and saw the Caruso Molecular Ion Steam Hairsetter that comes with 30 rollers of various sizes.  This set is a bit different as it creates steam, which heats the rollers and it's supposed to be even more gentle for daily use.  It has a lot of really good reviews, so I decided to give it a try.

When I first received it, I was surprised to see that they are so light.  You have a very small base which you fill up with water, then you plug it in and it starts to create steam.  It also makes a boiling water noise, and you can definitely see the steam shooting up.  You can only set one roller onto the steam stream at a time, but it only takes a few seconds to heat up so it's not that big of a pain.  You can also heat the roller, then the clip before putting it over the roller when you have it placed in your hair.

I also ordered 2 packs of large and jumbo sized rollers in addition to the 30 that come with it.  Because I don't want little ringlet, but rather large wavy curls.  So I won't be touching the little rollers.  Folica always has specials where if you go over a certain amount, you either get a free product, or free shipping at least.  So it actually turned out cheaper to order more.  How funny.  

I also ordered a Spornette Italian Collections Boar Bristle hair brush that's about 2 1/4 inch round to get to a certain dollar amount.  But I actually really love it!  It might be my new favorite brush!!

And OT: Folica has a really good deal going on right now that if you order over $75 of stuff, you get free shipping, and a curling iron and Moroccan Argan oil!  It ends on Friday...

Anyway, back to the steam setter I got.  The first time I tried them out, I thought the curls turned out really pretty!  And I got such nice volume from the rollers as well.  It was a very different look from what I achieve with my curling iron.  The curls were mostly on the bottom, and the top portion of my hair just had tons of body.  I was surprised I got this much results, as I did not think this product would have worked for my thick hair.  I really liked how my hair looked and took pictures!

I did not use any hair products at all.  I heated each roller about 10 seconds, and the outside clip part for about 5 seconds before putting them in.  Once all the rollers were in my hair, I used my hair dryer to go over every roller just to make the curls set better.  Then left it for about 15-20 minutes before taking them out of my hair.  The above pictures were taken pretty much right after I took the rollers out.

I was very happy with them, however, after about 5 minutes the curls started falling out!  I did this at night as I just wanted to try out the product, so I was going to bed anyways.  But usually when I curl my hair with a curling iron, I can sleep on it all night and still have nice curls the next morning without any hair spray or anything.  However, with this steam setter, the next morning when I woke up my curls were pretty much all gone.  They looked more like faint waves rather than curls.  I should have taken more pictures!  But I forgot to.  =(

So I figured that was because I didn't put any hair spray in my hair and slept on it right away.  I had to give it another try.  On Saturday I decided to try it with hair spray.  I actually hair sprayed each strand of hair before rolling them onto the roller.  Then I repeated everything I did the first time, and then put even more hair spray on after I took all the rollers out.  It was like the most hair spray I had ever put in my hair!  I normally hate that stuff.  I thought for sure the curls weren't going anywhere, but they went a lot more flat again within about an hour!  I was super disappointed!!!  It doesn't do me any good to have pretty curls for 5 seconds when I spent nearly an hour putting in the rollers and waiting for them to set!

I sent this product back to Folica for a return.  But I actually saw a Babyliss ceramic roller set and ordered that instead, and was able to get the curling iron and argan oil deal above.  They were shipped today (same day shipping again!) so I should receive them next week.  I hope it works!  Otherwise I guess I'll just have to stick with my curling irons.  But I love the body rollers give!  Fingers crossed...

Express Ribbed Drape-Neck Sweater

From my 12 hour shopping trips this weekend, I only bought one thing for myself other than my Swarovski earrings for my wedding.  It was surprising as I actually bought my fiance more things than I bought for myself, and he wasn't even there.  I guess I'm really on my way to becoming a wife?  Dang... that word felt weird to type!  Hehe.  I wanted to get more stuff to celebrate passing my test!  And also my birthday is today so a treat for myself is always appreciated lol.  But I just didn't see anything else I liked, so I guess that's better for my wallet!

So the only thing I bought is from Express, the Ribbed Drape-Neck Sweater, in purple shadow:

It looks rather floppy on the model, but it is soooooo freaking cute in person!  It's a rather thin material and fits on the loose side.  I usually wear a XS at Express, but I got a size S in this top because XS looked too tight on the bottom when I held it up.  I didn't try it on in the store.  I think the S fits well, because it's supposed to be loose fitting.  The XS might have been ok too since the fabric does have lots of stretch but I really wouldn't know.  

I actually wore it today to work.  It made working on my birthday a little better!  I usually like to take my birthday off work even if I have nothing to do, because it's a good excuse to stay home.  But I'm going to Vegas this weekend so I'm taking later this week off and I decided to go in today.  I thought this top was super comfortable and I got tons of compliments on it!  Perfect for work!  I wore my hair curled today like the model has here.  I think that is a good look with the style of the top!  Oh yeah I also wore a light tank top underneath because I thought this top might have been a little semi see-through.

Anyway, I think I may have to get another one of these in a different color!  They have a light gray one, a black and a tan one.  They are actually all cute, so it will be hard deciding which one to get!

Oh yeah, totally off topic but I went to Yogurtland for dessert tonight and got way too much candy toppings than I should have.  But they now have these cute Hello Kitty cups and spoons!  It had been a while since I went there last, I guess they made a deal with Hello Kitty.  How cute!