JAPAN, Summer 2011 [part 1/8] - MODERN TOKYO

At long last!!! I've made a start selecting my pictures :D

This post will be the first in 8 parts, the first 2 parts being Tokyo~

This first post will only cover Modern Tokyo, so please revisit for updates on Traditional Tokyo and other cities!

*I know that some people dislike over-edited photos, but some of mine were so misty (due to the heat and my lack of skill I guess) that I had to add some effects.. they still look okay though (I hope!)*

university attire

In the library, should be drowning my soul in work, but I'm blogging instead (sad and happy face)

Here's my outfit today! (I love my uni jumper :D)

Jumper from uni

Shorts from SuperDry

Shoes from The Rag Factory vintage sale

Shirt from Beyond Retro

Regarding my weight gain post, I think I've still got what is known to girls as a 'thigh gap', but trust me it's diminishing very quickly.. there's an annoying bit of extra fat on my lower inner thighs and calves, which I want to get rid of ASAP. I always take care to make sure my legs don't get thicker because I'm quite short and fat legs will create the illusion of being even shorter... Plus, I'm tired of always having to wear baggy clothes to hide my belly+arm fat :(

Definitely going to the gym after library session! I don't want to become thinner I just want to lose that stone I've gained :)

Ciao! xx

方头狮 (square-headed lion)

Don't be afraid to be different! Instead of changing yourself to fit in, realise how your friends love you for being the way you are!

boohoo... I'VE GAINED WEIGHT!!!

I've gained weight............

you guys might be thinking I'm just one of those annoying girls who is actually thin and complains all the time, but NO! I'm actually average weighted and gaining weight is not a good sign...

I was at uni yesterday and saw my friend and she was immediately like 'OMG your face is rounder!' (Taiwanese people really say stuff like that with no shame lol), and one of the guys told me 'You should start to lose weight' (But he's a good friend of mine and so I know that when he says I should lose weight I seriously should..)

So then I became really self conscious (haha) and went back to weigh myself and......

I've gained ONE STONE!!!

Literally within the next hour I went and signed up to the gym next to mine for an amazing deal (only £30 a month) with loads of gym, cardio facilities and even a pool. I went for 1:30hrs yesterday and I'm going to keep this up all month. Yesterday I didn't eat dinner to 'warn' myself, but I've decided that instead to not eating I'm going to go on a healthy diet. Just came back from breakfast having eaten some baked beans, a fruit pot and a glass of milk. 

It's only the first day so my weight is still hovering but I know it will come down if I persevered. This sort of thing has happened to me before..

I totally know the reason why I've gained that much weight: stress emotionally and due to studying, and also a lot of lack of sleep. This needs to stop!! I need to study a lot more since exams are FAAAST approaching and if I don't start losing weight now I'll regret it when I won't be able to fit into any of my clothes in the summer...

がんばります！！haha

xxxx

The Rag Factory + East End Thrift Store HAUL! (and my other vintage possessions)

Finally, I'm here to talk about my (not so) recent vintage hall at The Rag Factory and East End Thrift Store!

I'm sure me and Marisa did this trip on the 11th February, so it's still recent enough to blog about I think :)

I remember it being a glorious day which made the trek to the East End a bit better, especially with my headache.

First stop was The Rag Factory, based on Henneage Street just off Brick Lane. It's actually quite dramatically tucked away into the 'backstreets', to such an extent that you literally will not be able to see it if you didn't walk past it. We actually walked passed it and did not even see it haha.

But it's a treasure of a place, I was experiencing an 'Open Sesame' scenario. Kicking myself for not taking a picture of the entrance because I was too busy rushing in to the goods inside. That day they were holding a Kilo Sale where everyone was given a massive (when I say massive, I mean HUGE) plastic sack to go around the racks of clothes and, quite literally, stuff kilos of clothes into the sack. To give you an idea, if you held the bag upright, it would easily surpass my height.

The place was stocked with amazing items, all of vintage quality (I checked the labels), so it's definitely classic vintage, and not just someone's old clothes from the last decade. There were shoes and bags in a separate room as well, to my despair actually because I already had a lot more than two three kilo before I discovered that room. In the end I still managed to get a pair though, which is totally my baby now and I wear it everyday.

We came quite early, so I had a good rummage through everything before they was flying off the racks (they were literally disappearing like lightning; I suppose it's because no one had to check the price because everything was untagged - you just had to stuff your sack). Each kilo was worth £10 and every kilo above that was £10 extra. A overheard a girl with her friend trying to stuff 15 kilos (that's £150!!!!) of clothes. I sincerely hope she made a wrong calculation...

After looking through eeeeeverything, we located to the upstairs lobby which was conveniently changed into a dressing room. They had to place a guard there since girls were just throwing off their clothes and flashing their underwear without giving a crap, which I thought was quite funny. There was no time for pictures then, so I can't show you the huge sack of clothes I got, but I can show you some of the things I did buy :)

Afterwards we stormed off to the East End Thrift Store not far off. Again, this ginormous place was so tucked away (this time in a very very narrow alley way) you'd think that it wouldn't get any business. But when we entered it was a huge warehouse place full to the brim of the finest vintage clothes I've ever seen. I don't know why this place gets lots reviews less favorable than Beyond Retro (which I love as well), because to me it was just as, if not more, readily stocked with all styles of vintage.

The sale this time was 'stuff a bag', where there were 2 bag sizes, the smaller costing £10 and the bigger £20. To be honest I was quite disappointed because a lot of the stuff were old clothes and not vintage enough to be classified under that word. Maybe it was because I came way to late to catch the best of the sale.

But I managed to get a few things including a denim jacket which I absolutely ADORE. Stuffed everything into the £10 bag, the belts were practically bursting out of it!

Here are some pictures of the clothes I bought. I also included some other vintage items I bought not too long before. On average I think each piece is probably below £5 (I'm a cheapskate :D)

Cropped denim top: Beyond Retro
Cropped acrylic top: The Rag Factory
Striped shirt: Beyond Retro

 I love this collar

 Picture didn't come out very well, but the pink is a very nommy and bubblegum-y one :)

Pink Floyd t-shirt: can't remember, probably TopShop though..
Grey t-shirt: The Rag Factory
Striped jumper: Rokit

Gypsy print jacket: Rokit
Black woolly jumper: East End Thrift Store

Nom

Denim jacket: East End Thrift Store
Beige overcoat: The Rag Factory

These are all men's stuff I believe..
Shirt: The Rag Factory
Both checkered shirts: East End Thrift Store

Jumper: The Rag Factory
Red and grey shirt: Rokit
V-necked jumper: The Rag Factory

I bought black velvet maxi skirt from Joseph (seen in my profile picture now). It just goes so well with the white jumper!!

Shoeeeesss: The Rag Factory

I love old, sturdy shoes that look like they've been through history.

Amazing bag that I now use for uni: Spitalfields Vintage Fair (it came without a strap, so I used a belt haha.. but I want to get a properly restrapped to a black leather one..)

That's all folks! I have YET to do a Japan haul post and upload those damned Japan pictures that I have no time for! xxx

My Sunglasses Collection!

I didn't realise I had so many pairs before I opened my drawer and found a handful!

I don't know why I have so many, I guess new styles keep appearing and I just have to own them all >:D

For me, fashion should always be affordable, so especially for something like sunglasses, I don't see the NEED to have a branded pair that would cost me a few hundred pounds just to shade my eyes (even though I won't mind owning a pair haha). So all of these are from very cheap stalls :) (except the black pair because it's vintage).

Why do YOU listen to music?

Does it make you think about certain things?
Does it make you forget certain things?
Does it echo/change your mood?
Does it make you feel better/worse about yourself?
Does it make you feel like you are somewhere/someone else?

Most people will say 'yes' to these questions thinking about the songs that they love.

Music, to me, is a form of art that evokes the senses and the emotions.
Which is why I hate it when people judge whether a song is 'real music' or not. If a song speaks to you, they it is good music, to YOU.

If you've been to numerous live concerts, you will know that most of the time, they make you high if you know the piece, or if it's a gig, you become elated when the crowd is reacting positively to the music. But did you actually feel the music itself?

The concerts that are most memorable to me are the ones that made me feel my emotions shifting in response to the music; it may last only a couple of seconds, it may not happen at all. But no matter if it's the musician's technique or the echoes of sound against the walls, something in the music becomes part of you. It syncs to something in you; it might be your breathing, heartbeat, thoughts, memories, anything. It's such a euphoric moment that it's powerful enough to make you extremely happy or break down immediately.

I love live classical music, mostly because it is the rawest interpretation of the foundations of music. Mathematically, layered chords can evoke more feelings from us than most modern music.

However I love all sorts of music, and there are always some very hardcore guitar riffs that really wake me from my senses better than any classical music can.

For example, I sat at the front of the Cadogan Hall yesterday and listened to Brahms' First Symphony live. I was right in front of the double basses with their amazing ground shaking low notes. And especially since it was played after a very averagely played Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, the first few bars felt amazing. The oboe part at 02:08 definitely jerked my tear ducts.



On Monday I also went to see St Vincent, and during her song 'Your Lips Are Red', she did this amazing i-don't-know-how-to-use-words-to-describe guitar thing and staged dived whilst playing it. I remember closing my eyes and feeling the whole place rotating in my head. The sound literally shook the ground. Was incredible.

02:53, check it out:


Also this Flying Lotus piece called Heaven, the outro at 02:04 (though only a few seconds) was the climax for me:


Thank you for listening to me rant!! Since it's already practically dawn right now, I'm going to bed listening to Satie's Gymnopedie No.1, which always helps me clear my head. Ima share it here! xx

friendship

After listening to hours of dramatic, soul lifting music, I figured I need to speak to my favourite people in order to just move on with life. I've figured that there are somethings that I can't and shouldn't try to relate to, and there are things that I will never have. I want to make myself understand that.

Anyways my besties came over to visit me today, and we poured our hearts out on absolutely everything. It made me realise how much I treasure and how inadequate a person I would be without them. I feel that when we're together, we talk about life problems rather than fuss over short term girl problems in general. Even though at the moment all off us are in pretty gloomy situations, it makes me look down my life path and think that actually, it might be hard but it will definitely not be lonely. 'Life is hard だけど happy' is the most relevant quote to anyone's life.

They gave me this amazing feel-good goodies basket filled with happy things, made me instantly feel better. I'm not a materialistic person, but sometimes very simple things in life are what it take to turn that rusty cog.

Georgia & Rachel, I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!