Safe

All my life, I've been following a safe path set for me by my parents without questioning. The path goes something like this: get into a good school, get good grades in school, graduate from school, find a good job, climb up the career ladder, find a (rich, tall, good-looking) partner, get married, get kids and settle down. Lenapanda is an obedient daughter so she never defied her parents and also because she thought it was what she wanted. 

I didn't mind working a job I didn't like as long as I could make money to live a comfortable lifestyle. However, my thinking started to change when I went to Japan this winter break. I have mentioned that it was my dream to go to Japan ever since I was a teenager. Saving money has never been my forte but I was determined to go to Japan last year. Accomplishing my dream was such an incredible feeling, no amount of money could buy this feeling! 

After the trip, I worried a lot about internships and finding a job after graduation, so much that I cried many times at night. Worrying to this extent for something that is not my dream... it made me feel depressed.  But this must be normal right? Everyone goes through it I tell myself. 

When I look at the peers around me, sometimes I think: "How happy are these people? Are they doing the things they want? Or are they just trying to make a living because that's the safest choice." 

I have a big dream that I've always been scared of even imagining because I thought it was too grand. But as time goes on, I feel like reaching towards my big dream. Maybe because my trip to Japan has given me a bit of courage to question where I wanted to head with my life. 

On a lighter note, I went to an acapella show on Sunday to support my friend Kevin. We met during my Greek Mythology summer class and I promised him that I'd attend one of his shows. Even though the show was so close to finals and I was hesitating whether I should go or not, in the end I'm really glad that I went! Seeing talented and passionate people always makes me happy : )

I dressed up for the show so ofcourse I forced Monkey to take an OOTD >:D bwuahaha!

 

Navy jacket: Muji (Japan), Olive jacket: Zipia (2.5 years ago)
Flower skirt: G-market 

Because I'm only working with 15 pieces this month, I had to resort to more creative ways of dressing. Hence, I'm wearing 2 jackets, I think this trend has been pretty popular for the past few seasons. I think it's a great alternative to wearing a chunky sweater!

 

Monkey copying my jumping pose lol :-P

 

The show was at Petit Campus, Coco and I got there an hour early because we're so timely lol! I'm lucky to live with fashionable housemates: Coco has the trendiest clothes! She's also an incredible cook and it's thanks to her that I've been able to make my own dishes ;-D

 

Coco jumped on my fashion diet bandwagon after I told her that I was doing a fashion diet. While waiting for the show to start, she was online shopping X-D Our diet is ending in 2 weeks so she's already planning on what to buy HAHA!

 

Tonal Ecstasy was totally awesome! Before the show, I jokingly said to Coco that I should start an acapella group with bad singers but we harmonize each other in a way to make it sound good. Coco looked doubtful when I told her of my plan. At the end of the show, I told her that I don't think my plan will work out : C Monkey and I will just accept the fact that we're bad singers -sigh-

Pretty amazing ending for the show! All the songs were incredible and I can't wait for them to upload the videos on youtube! I'll be linking some of them on my blog so please check them out! If you're a McGill student then I highly suggest you to go to an acapella concert. It's like chocolate to your ears <3

Because exams are starting soon, I will postpone blogging until the end of April! Goodluck to everyone and let's get outta this alive and kicking!

15/30 Capsule Wardrobe Challenge!

How often do girls stare at their overflowing wardrobes and let out a discouraged: "I don't have anything to wearrrrr" sigh? 

Sometimes dressing up in the morning can be more energy draining than an hour of mental math! That shirt + those pants = nahhh, (that jacket + that skirt - those boots) x that bag = hmm could work... At the end of it, I just throw on whatever is the most comfortable and crawl to school.

I've been wanting to do this challenge ever since I read about it last year on one of my favourite blogs: Sam is Home. Basically for an entire month, you can only wear 15 pieces of clothing of your wardrobe, mixed and matched into different outfits. Accessories, underwear/socks, work uniform, pyjamas are allowed and shopping is strictly prohibited. According to Sam: "The goal is to create a better understanding of our own personal style while creating a culture that doesn't rely on buying recklessly and disposing quickly."

This challenge will also encourage us to be more creative with the things that we already have instead of wanting more.

Why am I doing this challenge a midst finals period? Because having less clothes means less clutter and less "options" which can save you more time while getting ready in the morning. I'd love to have more time to study ;D KEKE!

Left photo: cardigan from Topshop, black top from G-market

Middle photo: cardigan from G-market, jeans and top from Zara, scarf from Japan

Right photo: cardigan, top and scarf from Japan, jeans from Zipia

I picked the most versatile and comfortable clothes out of my wardrobe for this challenge. These looks are all very simple and reflect my day-to-day university student attire.

This is the first outfit of 15/30 project: very simple (oh how I wish my dressing routine could be simple too). I asked Monkey to take a picture using the Brenizer method that I raved about earlier. Other than my awkz modelling, the picture is really nice eh?

I'm not quite sure how often I'll be updating seeing as it is finals time soon but I will try my best to compile a big big big collage of all the non-repetitive looks at the end of this month!

I hope some of you will also try out this challenge. Think twice before you complain that you've got nothing to wear, most of the time what we really need, we already have :-) 

Lastly, some food for thought: “It’s easy to feel like you’ve got nothing to wear, but it’s also a signal of identity problems. If you’ve got a well-developed sense of identity, you tend to know what’s you no matter what the trends. Nothing I buy ever looks new, because I have my look down, and it’s classic.” Anjelica Huston (Harper’s Bazaar, September 2006)