One Day, Dreams Will Come True

Fashion has always been part of my life. When I was little, I would try on my Mom's high-heels and dresses when she was gone for work. I loved colors as well. It is where my heart lies in. And as I grew, I have realized that fashion is really more than shopping and looking good. Without business decisions and strategies, fashion does not exist.

Recently, I had the chance to research on fashion merchandising. Luckily, I also met a wonderful designer, Briana, from LookBook. She has been giving me a lot of suggestions and tips about how to make it in the fashion industry as a starter. (You can check out the fan page Here. There are some amazing collections that are worth checking out.)

So after carefully accessing all my options, I decided to get an internship in the apparel/fashion industry to get a general idea of how the system works and to have a chance to incorporate my skills in advertising/marketing into fashion retails. Being an intern and at the same time having a full time job may not be the most exciting thing in the world. But I believe my efforts will not go to waste. It has to take me somewhere. :)

Hopefully I can dedicate a post for my new internship soon!

Venice Beach : Just Another Lazy Afternoon

It is that easy. Whenever I don't know what to do in a sunny and lazy afternoon, I just grab a book, a towel and of course Starbucks and hit the beach.

Recently, I am reading a book called "The Inheritance" by Simon Tolkien. If you like fast-paced books and mystery that involves history/religion, it is definitely a book for you. I will write a post about it as soon as I finish the book.

Anyway, reading a book on the beach had always been on my to do list. Now, I can do it whenever I wish to before winter visits. When the boy was still here, we went body surf at Venice Beach. Even though I couldn't really swim without goggles and anywhere besides a swimming pool, I tried. Or get myself a bodysurf board.

I think Venice Beach is by far my favorite beach. I love those artsy vendors especially. You can really see some creative art works there.

Look to the Bright Side!

Since I moved to LA, I have been wondering: "What possessed me to choose Illinois over California when I was deciding which school to go to three years ago?"

Pacific Ocean is to the west, and Naveda and Arizona are to the east of California. The geography of California provides such a diversity in sceneries we see here. Mountains, deserts, oceans and modern city life are all within reach here in California.

While things sound so perfect, the reality never is. The traffic is terrible. You can pick the weirdest time to leave your house in hope that you could avoid the traffic. But chances are you will still be stuck in traffic somewhere. Besides, parking may take up another 30 minutes after you arrive at your destination. And driving seems to bring out the worst out of people. It is like people would not be able to drive without cursing out at people.

But look to the bright side, there are so many enjoyable things that traffic and poor driving manners seem to be so trivial.

Road Trip Day 2: Can Colorado Be Any Greener?

Anticipating that our energy would slowly wear out as the road trip went on, we decided to drive as much as possible the first day. We left Urbana early in the morning and arrived Nebraska late at night. There was not much to see in Nebraska and it took us forever to find our campground. Then there were some mean cows mooing all night right next to our campsite. According to Quora, cows moo because they are unhappy. (http://www.quora.com/Why-do-cows-moo) We probably woke them up by arriving so late at night. Luckily, it was just the first day.

After 16-hours of driving and a restless night, we left Nebraska as early as possible and entered Colorado. The landscapes and sceneries in Colorado were indeed fascinating. I had never been so intrigued by trees before! Best of all, the boy decided to make a random stop to take some photos. I must say it was a great great great decision. Because we found a beautiful river. And as we went on a trail, we found another stream hiding behind the bushes. Unfortunately, the boy's camera gave up on us after we took a few photos. And apparently the camera had decided to quit forever. We could only use my crapy camera to document the rest of our trip. 

A robot guarding the field. :)

Zion Day 2: Hiking Trails Are No Jokes

The second day at Zion was tiring yet fulfilling and adventurous. We hiked two trails and by the end of the day, we were so exhausted. That night, even the light sleeper slept like a baby.

In the Zion park, you can only take shuttles to different stops that are close to different hiking trails unless you have a permit for private vehicle. We decided to hike the Weeping Rock trail first which was the second last stop on the hiking trail map. The name was so poetic that I had to see it. The trail was easy. It was only about 0.4 miles and the elevation change was about 100 feet.

It was a great decision to start with this trail because my hiking experience was close to zero. I thought of it was a warm up for the second trail of the day.

There was a guy playing drum. The sound bounced back and forth between the cliffs and created an echo effect. I felt like I was in some kind of tribal ceremony.

There were lizards everywhere! I guess they could easily survive in deserted environments because they could blend in so well with the background.

I loved having lunch by a random stream we found. Even trail mix became the most delicious food in the world. :)