Yes, that is my actual birthday cake. It says, "This is not turkey-shaped, Anh," in order to express Yves' disappointment that the man at Baskin-Robbins could not make a turkey shaped cake. She told him, "Make something a small girl, age 5-7 would like." Bonus, the HK heads are rings and the center is a bubble blower.

So what did I learn in the past year?

Learn people's names. I read it in "How to Win Friends..." It makes such a difference. The courthouse library where I worked could be alienating at times. I greeted my fellow externs by name and noticed little things about them. It changed everyone's attitude.

Don't get discouraged when you make mistakes. I was used to feedback on a piece of paper. A marked up essay, some plus and minuses to evaluate my work. It's much more difficult to receive face to face feedback or to feel like you've done something wrong. I always just carried that weird churning feeling inside, but you know, it's best to move forward. You mitigate the mistake, minimize its effects, and get on with your day.

Always read parking signs. Sometimes I feel like you have to be a lawyer to figure out all the parking restrictions, esp. when there are two signs stacked on top one another. Read them. Or if in doubt, when a street is particularly empty, you probably aren't allowed to park there. There is no such thing as abundant parking in L.A.

unicorn costume how-to

This is way overdue since it's no longer Halloween. Nancy is right. Posting things after Halloween means that no one cares since it's 11 months until the next Halloween and no one is scrambling to find a costume. I'm just going to do it anyway, so I can link to it next Halloween.

These are the pieces you'll need. Two ears, a horn and a headband with two prongs. Yves used wire we bought at Michael's to attach her horn to her forehead.

For the ears:

I used a piece of glitter foam, because it's sturdy enough to stand up on its own. I thought about using pipe cleaners and felt, but this was more convenient.

I freehanded ear shapes and cut out four ear pieces.

I glued the pieces back to back and wedged them into my headband.

For the horn:

I drew a triangle on a piece of cardstock. 6 inches tall and 4.5 inches at the base.

I rolled the triangle into a cone and stuffed it with newspaper to reinforce it.

Then I cut a strip of gold fabric to wrap around the the cone. The fabric is a little messy, because it used to be the belt to my Wonder Woman costume.

I used a combo of these two adhesives to get the fabric to stick.

This is the completed cone.

Remember to leave a strip of fabric at the end to attach it to your headband. I wrapped the fabric around the headband and tucked it back into the bottom of the cone and stapled the fabric to get it to stay.

completed headband:

For the hooves:

I just folded a piece of fabric into a small rectangle, about 5 inches long and secured it with liquid stitch. Then I wore it kind of like an arm warmer.

unicorn costume

I know I said I was going to turn this into a regular blog, but I really have nothing to post. I love Halloween but couldn't come up with anything creative this year. My friend suggested we go as unicorns. Too bad all the costumes we researched online involved 1) unitards or 2) babies. After an unsuccessful trip to a discount dance store, we decided just to wear regular clothes and make accessories. We made horns, ears, hooves and tails. Here's the result:

My friend's fauxhawk looked great. I was thinking more of a curly mane with ribbons. I bought some hair glitter and rhinestones to bling out my face and hair. I couldn't find the rhinestones I was supposed to go out! AND my glitter hairspray didn't work. Ugh.

I didn't do much makeup-wise. I had some pretty white ribbon that had a pinkish purple sheen to them, so I went off that. Here's a pic for now and I'll do a how-to soon.

environmental beauty tip: say no to microbeads

I'm not a big fan of exfoliants, but from time to time, I like the way the scrubs feel. I've buying cheap body soap with "microbeads," not paying attention to what this substance is. Microbeads are finely ground of pieces of petroleum-based polyethylene. They are actual plastic beads that I've been sending down the drain.

(pictures are from Awakened Aesthetic)

The plastic beads go out into the ocean, where cute little critters may mistake them for food, or end up in this big pile of floating plastic in the Pacific. Like all plastics, they take a long time to degrade and we should be careful to keep them out of the ocean. So next time, read the label on your exfoliants carefully and steer clear of soaps that contain microbeads. Salt, oats, and other natural particles do just a good and possibly better job exfoliating and are worth the price premium.

stealing from Macy's

Okay, it only FEELS like a steal. I got this dress for around $10 at Macy's. It was $8.30 before taxes, marked down from $59!

I am loving the mesh overlay and keyhole back. I hate that the 90s are coming back, but this is much better than wearing pants to clubs like that awful 3-4 year span in the early 00's where the club uniform was slinky top and black Express pants.

I also got these tangerine heels for under $10! They were $8.50 at Crossroads.

I've been wearing them with skinny jeans. Can't wait to pair them with this black dress this weekend.

DKNY fave

psychic reading

I was in Sephora today when this lady came up to me and told me she noticed my presence (aura?). She said, "You seem happy and smiling on the outside, but there is a sadness inside you. I want you to call me and we can discuss this." She handed me her card.

I shook my head. Nope. Nothing that I can think of.

"Yes, there is a man. An American man." Well, considering that I live in the United States, just about every man I meet would be an American man. I looked at her to continue. "He is a man that you want, but you cannot have. There is a sadness in your love life."

"Nope, my love life is just fine," I assured her. "I am dating someone and I am very happy."

"What is he?"

"Chinese."

"No, this man is an American man."

"Oh, you mean a white person. Nope, I prefer to date other Asians."

"Then he is mixed, maybe not all American."

I shook my head again. Then I started asking her questions. I asked her when she decided to start a business. She said she was not in business. "Then why did you give me your card? You have a business card."

"Well, people have to know where to find me, how to find me."

"Yes, but you charge for your services."

"No, I don't have a business. I run this out of my home. I have two children."

I asked her when she decided to become a psychic. She said she didn't choose, but she knew at the age of 6 she's psychic. I asked when she decided to become one as a profession. She repeated that she is not in business. I said, "Well I assume you went to school. So at some point, you were considering a traditional career path. What happened at the junction that made you choose this?"

"What do you mean traditional?"

"You know, like a subject you can major in, a job that people typically have."

She didn't have an answer and said to call the number and we can talk about it. I said, "No! I don't want to know about my life. I'm interested in your career."

"Look it up on the internet," she said and walked away from me. haha, I love badgering people.