How far is too far for vanity?

There are nose jobs, implants, and even barbaric procedures such as limb lengthening where they break the bones in your leg.

Have you ever heard of a laser procedure to make your eyes blue?

Blue eyes are a rarity in the world.

Being a recessive trait not many people have them which makes them desirable.

My question is: how far would people go to acquire them?

Dr. Gregg Homer may have a solution.

For a wooping $6,000 you can have your brown eye(majority of the population) pigment burned off in 20 seconds revealing a set of baby blues in 2-3 weeks. The change is irreversible.

The procedure starts off with a laser hitting your iris in different parts multiple times.  The laser changes the structure of the pigmented cells.

Your body recognizes they are damaged tissue and sends out a protein which slowly takes away the brown pigments.

Dr. Homer claims the procedure is "safe" being tested multiple times everyday, year round.

The procedure only burns off the top layer and has no medical significance to eye sight.

According to a survey done by Storma Medical, 35% Americans said they would seriously consider the procedure.

For me I think I'll stick to my contacts for a color change.

High End Fruit.... What?!

You read it right. Have you ever heard of a melon being sold for $100 or a 12-pack of strawberries sold for $68

Japan takes pride in their quality fruits Voilà!

The interior of an Semikiya fruit emporium says it all; fruit being displayed as if they were Tiffany and Co. pink diamonds.

So why on earth are these fruits so expensive?

For one, high end fruits such as the one seen in the emporium are grown in PERFECT conditions. All fruits in an orchard are hand pollinated and other fruits are grown in controlled greenhouse settings.

Fruit has always been a perfect gift in many cultures. I'm not surprised someone found a way to make a melon greenhouse into a gold mine. The high end fruit vendors claim the fruit to be luxurious not only because the high cost and upbringing of the fruit but the flavor.

 "You never forget the experience of haven eaten something so delicious" says Farhad Kardan, a corporate trainer shopping for prized fruit.

Moving onto square fruit!

The Japanese came up with the solution to make transportation more convenient and efficient with the help of a clear plastic box, creating these cubic melons. The technique has been increasingly popular with other fruits and vegetables. This is especially true because turning them into geometric figures don't change the taste.

Book Recommendation: Nothing but the Truth(and a few white lies)

A few days ago I asked a girl where she was from because she had a unique accent instead of a clear answer of: "Oh, my ethnic background is ________. I got the look of someone who had just been rudely insulted and then a cold cutting reply.

What I summed from that experience is a reminder of you should be proud of where your from and who you are.

I am a strong believer in turning a bad situation into something useful. That way, those moments in your life you think were wasted were not in vain but end up being beneficial. Bittersweet right?

On with the blog post!

Nothing but the Truth(and a few white lies) is about a girl named Patty who is shunned from the Asian community and sticks out on the red, white, and blue side. Patty tries desperately to be a whole of something instead she is looked at as a gawky outcast for being a half Taiwanese, half American hybrid.

Her family doesn't make it any better. Her mother being 100% Taiwanese and her favored brother getting the "mama-looking genes". Patty doesn't feel like even fits in her own family.

Mama is strongly superstitious and takes Patty to get her fortune read.... out of her bellybutton(no typos). The fortune teller predicts she won't be married to the ideal Taiwanese boy "Mama" had in mind but an American boy. Mama is shocked, Patty's American father walked out her when she was little and Mama doesn't want it happening again. Right away Mama sends Patty away to a Stanford Summer Math Camp in hopes of her finding a nice boy to take home.

Patty is miserable; although it's her first taste of freedom the goal her mother set was not what she had in mind.

The future can only await....

Overall the book is fast paced and dramatic. It's a great book young adult novel as an awareness raiser or someone struggling with a mixed background identity. I thoroughly enjoyed the narration, the feelings were realistic and down-to-earth. There are twist and turns in this book setting it apart from every other "boy meets girl" story or a "finding out the family-secret" kind of book.

Uniqueness isn't a bad thing. People spend their entire school life trying to fit in. After that they're in a frantic mess of trying to stand out and be different.

R&J Favorite Cousin: Benvolio

Benvolio is my favorite character in Romeo and Julliet.

Although he is a flat character, Benvolio is seriously the best friend you want to have, he listens to Romeo's problems, pushes him forward, and always has his back(You'll see later in a big event involving Tybalt)

Benvolio means good will and well wisher. (Benvolio Shown Below)

In the story Benvolio serves as an unsuccesful peacemaker between the Montague and Capulet houses. Benvolio is unable to make the Montagues and Capulets understand the bond that Romeo and Julliet have.

I find that Tybalt is very hasty. He cannot stand it when he does not get his way or when he is not understood. Sch as during the feast Lord Capulet held. His blood practically started boiling at the sight of Romeo. Tybalt is nosy which ultimately leads to his end. (Tybalt Shown Above)

Quickie Post

I'm dropping Little Miss Lucifer... for now.

It's just extremely difficult to read. Evan Pham, made a wonderfully challenging book but it's too time consuming. When I read I find the need to capture each character and understand the book to my fullest extent. There are many other books I want to read this year which I will never get to if I continue to linger on this novel.

It will be the first book on my "Holiday Read List". After I get  everything I've wanted on break it gets boring. Personally I can't watch TV for 5 hours before I start to feel guilty that I should be doing something more productive. So I read books, the next best thing. It's TV in your head, except you get to choose your own version of what characters and scene look like.

Smitten as a Kitten

Andy Sachs is doing an interview with one of the the most famous women on the planet, Olive Chase(something of a Hedi Klum in reality.)

Andy seeks to find why this model/actress is going to marry an average Joe from Louisville, KY and not some foreign actor, athlete, or male model.

Andy quickly finds that she isn't like any other famous person she had ever interviewed.

"'So, where do we begin?" she asked. "Do you, like, want to hear about my entire childhood? Should I start with conception?"

From this sentence we can tell Olive is no stranger to interviews and is willing to discuss anything. She list a broad range of topics to start with for Andy to choose to her liking.

Andy shoots straight to the point, how did she even meet her fiance?

'"Oh, that one's easy. We met the same what everyone does these days- online!'"

Olive is clearly eager to talk about her relationship and Andy is excited to listen. She had never heard of an actress or actor finding a relationship online, much less Olive Chase, who wouldn't need help finding a boyfriend.

Olive gets really into it and begins giving answers before Andy can even ask them. She explains how she made a honest profile without any pictures and to her surprise someone emailed her. Also how she stayed in a meager hotel concealing her identity with pseudonym to visit him and how she surprised him with her identity. Olive finishes up by telling how she feels like she has known him forever, she's found her 'soulmate'.

Andy proceeds to push the wedding details which surprisingly Olive knows nothing about.

"Oh, you can just talk to my stylist about that stuff. She picked everything."

Andy is dumbfounded that Olive would even say that. On one of the biggest day of her life she didn't even care enough to pick out a dress for her wedding. I think Olive is more excited about marrying her soulmate than anything else. Being a girl that's gone out with so many people for publicity reasons, I believe she's happy finally finding someone who likes her for her and doesn't care about the wedding as long as it gets a legal document signed saying they're bound together.

Book Recommendation: Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm

During winter break 2012 I took a plane trip to Los Angeles to visit my aunt.

That sentence sounds pretty good until I tell you we were delayed all day. What was supposed to be a relaxing flight turned out to be cancellations, wait list, and weather conditions you can easily compare to Antarctica.  

Luckily my mom was in the Christmas spirit and was willing to fork over $30 to buy me a hard cover copy of Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm. I got through about 3/4 of the novel done in the airport and on the plane until reaching California. Unfortunately I left the novel at my aunt's house and was forced to wait a demeaning 9 months for them to finish up reading the 400 page story book to their toddlers. I wouldn't blame them it's an excellent novel. The book shipped back Saturday and I finished through to the end.

There are many fairy tales I had never even heard of until picking up the book such as The Twelve Brothers, The Three Snake Leaves, and Bearskin.

It was a good read, I highly suggest it! I always find it amazing how old fairytales and stories are past down from generation to generation. It was a nostalgic experience to read traditional stories my parents and superiors read to me when I was little! I assure you each story is as interesting as the last one.

You can read many variations of them here: http://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/index

Vogue June 2013 Review

This was sadly the last issue of Vogue I got through the mail ending my 2 year subscription. I've recently just stuck the little order card through the mail and hoping to get the October issue soon!

I will admit this review is a little bit bias since I have loved Vogue ever since I was 12. My parents who used to own a nail salon would order magazines ranging from People, to those cute home decor books, all the way to Vogue. I would scream in excitement when I found the glossy new edition in my mailbox. It was like Christmas every month.

Anyways onto Vogue!

The June issue features supermodel Kate Uptown on the cover, who was voted 2013 hottest model of the year( no surprises why Vogue chose her)The contents of the magazine are filled up with their usual high end brands ads(Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, MJ, Armani, and etc.) with gorgeous scenery displaying the latest "ready-to-wear" fashion, which is a more fabulous word for mass produced.

The articles that really interested me the most was the excerpt from the novel "Crazy Rich Asians" said to be the 50 shades of grey of the summer. I did enjoy reading through it and coming from an Asian-American family easily understood the humor like second nature. The other article was a perfume lab talking about how ancient Egyptians developed a recipe using animal glands.

I always find it surprising all the new random things I can learn in reading a fashion magazine. It has a little bit of everything!

In all I did really like this issue! Minus the boring one about Ford Cars. I wonder what it's doing in this magazine!

Just a few days ago I learned how hard it was to publish a magazine. I was really knowledgeable of how long and stressful the process of actually making a book or a magazine. There are dates where you absolutely need to get a manuscript turned into editors, a date where you need to finish editing and send it to the printers, know how many volumes or copies you need to print, or even how long it takes to write a chapter or finish the pages of a magazine until it's perfection.

I suggest watching The September Issue(the biggest issue of the year) to see how Vogue is made!

Dealing with the Devil Herself, Miranda Presley

Andy has just been offered a million dollar contract deal from the biggest publisher in the world Elias-Clark, will she refuse it or take it? It's no easy task.

Although a million dollars would seem like a happy pay day for some it's a pressing decision for Andy Sachs. The contract states if she wants to sell the company they need the original staff to work under Miranda for a year to help the transition. Andy could barely work under Miranda for 12 months, how could she do it again when Miranda buys her magazine?

Everyone is putting pressure on her to sell it yet, it scares her to death if she does.

It reminds me of really what I'm going through right now.

This year may be my last year in orchestra. It's something I've always have loved similar to how Andy loves being her own boss. After second trimester when I finish my music credits my family wants me to quit and take up a professional fashion design class. Although I want both I can only choose once since they are both extremely wallet draining. Andy can't think of an even better honor than having her magazine listed under Elias-Clark's publishing and her family, co-founder, and husband are all pushing her to just do it.

Andy's choice may be a window for me to help make my own decision and I'm a bit nervous to read on! But hey, if you do something your scared of you'll be a little stronger at the end of the day right?

A break from the devil? Sort of...

I'm the type of person who can't get through a book completely if it book drags on and on. I'm taking a little breather and  wanted to share another book I've been reading called "Little Miss Lucifer".

Devil Wears Prada and Little Miss Lucifer, I promise you I'm not searching for books about devils, it's just a coincidence.

I was able to meet the author of the book Evan Pham during a youth group camp I went too back in July.

During dinner after he passed out his business cards and I asked him, "Whats your book about?" he told me I just had to read to find out!

So I bought the book on Amazon to find out and support him.

I'd like to comment on the design of the book. The entire book is a sleek mysterious inky black(even the pages!) and doubles as a mini flip comic on the margins. I thought that was an interesting touch.

Moving into the contents.... wow.

This is likely the most challenging novel I have ever read. The book is told in 3rd person and  the vocabulary is fairly easy to understand but EVERYTHING is highly detailed. If you miss something you won't know where the main character is, what she's doing, or how she got there. Nevertheless, I love a good challenge. It takes some time to read this book to grasp every sentence, you may even have to reread chapters to understand.

Here's a sample: "The blue gown floats between her body and all else. She hops forward - breaks from the earth, kicks up sand and stones. Clouds of music roll into her - thunderheads saturated with songs from bird breaks, duck bills, cricket legs, toad throats, bamboo whistles and applauding leaves. She leaps into the waves - swims through the choir, dances with daybreak" (Pham 33). 

This book is a test of patience but is quite interesting. The book has an cool layout. Short chapters, about 1-4 pages each and they jump forward from event to events in chronological order. I have not gotten very far in the book but I have a feeling everything will make sense in the end.

Something I've learned from having to put so much effort to understand every sentence is that I have a fuller feelings towards the story rather than reading a book quickly, getting the main points then giving a depth-less opinion.

"It was so sad she got kidnapped.".

No, it was much more than that.
Just in reading the first few chapters it was tragic. She was ripped away from a lifestyle she once knew, forced to bear a child she never anticipated, and was helpless when all she could do was cry with her sisters.

This book is not for everyone, but I highly suggest it if you are looking to see how well your able to comprehend books, love a challenge, and want something unique.

Make sure to visit the website: http://littlemisslucifer.com/

Revenge Wears Prada Chapter 4 & 5

And.... *insert drumroll* Andrea(aka Andy) and Max finally married!

I'm going to kick off this post by telling you this part really drags on, what should only be a few paragraphs took up a whole chapter to make a decision. However, I didn't regret reading it because I am starting to catch a theme.

"If you don't communicate with others there is no way they can help you"

I discovered the theme when I realized that Andy isn't the most open person. She keeps many thoughts to herself and hides things over and over again, worried that saying what's on her mind will ruin everything. 

In this chapter Andy spends the whole morning in the hotel room with Max yet she fails to mention why he kept the letter his mother gave him or ask him about Katherine and why she showed up at his bachelor party.

Chapter 5

3 days after the wedding Andy finds herself at work with canceled honeymoon reservations. She is still mortified about the fact that Max might have cheated on her during his bachelor party. Emily, being her best friend spots something is wrong right away with Andy and gives her a speech about keeping quiet about the whole thing. Andy gives in and promises herself she'll confront Max once in for all(Honestly I don't think it will happen, in quite a while. Andy tends to hold things off until she's on the brink of going crazy).

Getting home from work Andy and Max both make it to a yacht party where an unexpected guest has been seen... the Devil herself, Miranda Presley. Nightmares of being Miranda's "assistant"(more like slave) come flooding back after 10 years. Max spots what is going on and approaches Valentino and Miranda. Once he starts up a conversation he urges Andy to join in. Miranda shows her cold personality and ignores Andy making minimal eye contact and eventually just walks away.

Revenge Wears Prada Chapters 2-3

I'm back with another post!

This book defiantly makes you feel uneasy. It has the pattern of things being fine for awhile then... BAM! Everything goes downhill.

Chapter 2 was a flashback of how Andy met Max in the first place. I didn't think it was anything really new. It was a "good girl" meets a "bad boy" sort of scenario. The thing that captured me and actually kept me reading is the backgrounds of the couple which leaves so much potential for foreshadowing. Max holds the weight of keeping his family business successful and Andy who has started a high end magazine called, The Plunge has to deal with celebrity clients, the fact that her mother-in-law does not like her, and whatever else life has to throw at her. I wonder if Max's mother will ever accept that she's not rich, old fashioned, and proper like Katherine; the girl she wanted Max to marry.

By now I can tell the sequence in the story. It jumps back and forth from the present to the past(the 10 years elapsed between the The Devil Wears Prada and this book.)

Chapter 3

I adored the title of this chapter "You're walking sister".

The beginning of the chapter starts off with Nina, Andy's wedding planner calming her down after throwing up from "nervousness" which really is the fact Max was with his ex Katherine at his bachelor party. Andy starts to lean towards the idea of calling off the entire event on the day of her wedding, which Nina explains no one has done in history, ever.I think this is pretty realistic that people wouldn't call the wedding off just because they want to. After you've sent out all those invitations out and people travel or fly over just to attend your wedding you imagine how upsetting an wallet draining that would be.

The book suddenly jumps to Andy bursting through the doors and walking down the aisle to the priest and her awaiting groom. This ends the chapter.

I wonder if she'll get nervous and faint or possibly throw up again. With Andy's luck anything can happen.

Revenge of The Devil Wears Prada Chapter 1

I finally got by to reading this book and I'm absolutely trilled to share with you the first 2 chapters!

The book starts off with Andy being in a terrible dream, her fiance Max wakes her up seeing her twist and turn in their bed. By the way did I mention it's their wedding day? Andy immediately chases him out with the superstition that's bad luck seeing your bride before the wedding. He leaves giving Andy time to go through her busy pampering schedule and final touches with her wedding planner. While in the ballroom Andy runs into her will-be-mother-in-law, Barbara who urges her to wear the heirloom necklace(been worn in 6 generations of weddings in Max's family) she had left in Max's suite. Andy gets to Max's suite as fast as she can and searches Max's backpack pockets. She feels around and pulls out a one of Barbara's signature stationary letters. *SPOILER*

Barbara doesn't like Andy, well as a will-be-daughter anyways. The letter addressed to Max speaks of an ex named Katherine who would he should reconsider and how Barbara pleads him not to marry Andy. 

At this point the letter leaves Andy so shocked it makes her vomit! Luckily this wasn't her wedding's planner first time seeing a nervous bride. The planner pulls a trash can out at the right time saving her dress. 

I am LOVING this novel so far. It showcases a realistic down to earth girl who wants everything to go as well as it can but her awkwardness and personality shows when things get bad. I enjoy how she lives in a fabulous world yet she is not "little miss rich girl perfect".   

I thought the wedding day would come later in the book! I never expected the beginning. I'm sure the author, Lauren Weisberger has plenty of surprises coming in the next few chapters. I can hardly wait to find out what happens next!

P.S. a note from moi: Over the summer I officially read word by word all 22 books in Lisi Harrison's best selling series The Clique, including: Cliqutionary, The Summer Collection, The Rise of the Pretty Committee, and graphic novel! All of the fashion references defiantly reminded me of Revenge Wears Prada. I missed the references so much and I'm glad to have finally opened up this book. I highly recommend the series to anyone who loves a witty comeback or is there for just the fashion. 

Summer Reading: The Silence of Murder

The Silence of Murder

The theme of the "The Silence of Murder" was once something has been done you can never take it back. Over the development of the text the theme got stronger in every scenario leading up to the reveal of the mystery. When Chase gives TJ and Hope a rlift back to Grain he shows them a shamrock tattoo on his shoulder blade. It turns out his ex-girlfriend has the same one on her ankle. Chase explains how in one split second a stupid everlasting mistake can be made.

Hope Long the main protagonist in the book started as a weak shy girl with little motive to finish things through. The shock of her brother put on trial, the loss of a friend, and the betrayal of someone she thought she loved hardened and polished her. By the end of the book Hope is a strong girl able to get through anything with just a little bit of motivation.

Chase Wells, a major character in "The Silence of Murder" as well as the pro/antagonist in the story undergoes a major change after meeting Hope. *MAJOR SPOILER* At the beginning of the book Chase doesn't care much about anything besides making his dad proud of him. The truth is, he killed the coach. When TJ asked him to drive Hope home he wasn't too thrilled. Mid-way through, Chase starts developing feelings for Hope as well as Hope vice versa. At the end, Chase is an honest character, though his actions would be seen as inhuman. I felt bad that they took him away at the end, he was a lovable character. When the truth came out he didn't deny it and made it seem like he got something heavy off his chest.

TJ, Hope's long time best friend is always there for her. In matter of fact he has a crush on her. TJ's infatuation will Hope last mid-way through the book until Hope's dense personality finally catches up with his feelings. The second half of the book TJ is hurt and has a hostile, aggressive attitude towards Hope and Chase.

The thrill, twist and turns of "The Silence of Murder" can only be experienced firsthand by reading the novel! Receiving the Edgar award this novel is a must read.