Coffee Saturday

Hello my dear friends :)

Max and I spent Saturday together playing around with our camera and gambling a little in Blackhawk, in the mountains. Max really wanted to drive his new sports car around, so the trip up to the mountains was more to break his car in than to go up to gamble.

These pictures were taken in Metropolis coffee, in the Broadway neighborhood, where there's a mix of cool, anti-establishment coffee shops, bookstores, tattoo parlors, gift shops, and a collection of cute boutiques and hip secondhand stores. We limited ourselves to just coffee for our visit, though.

I really wanted to showcase my rings, which I have been wearing every day. The chunkier ring is from David Yurman. Max bought it for me last year off of eBay, because I really wanted that style ring. I absolutely adore the mixed metal. I'm also wearing my new WWAKE ring, which I purchased as a promise ring to myself recently. It has three different types of stones, including a tiny hidden diamond, just for me, facing my palm. Both rings carry a lot of meaning for me.

Jewelry is so beautifully intimate, it feels very loving to have at least a couple of pieces which anchor you in yourself. These two rings serve that function for me :)

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday, my lovelies! Please read more for outfit (and lipstick) details n_n

love,

Bao

Moto Shearling Jacket

Hello, friends!

I'm making up for yesterday's photoless blog post with a quick little outfit shoot.

Today went by really fast. We slept in, had a bit of relaxing time on the couch, me writing in my journal and Max scrolling Facebook. Then we went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Aurora for a reunion lunch with a few people from our old company, where Max and I met originally.

Afterwards we went to the central library downtown because I had a book due. I also picked up some Spanish textbooks and reference books - need to start preparing some lesson materials so that I can start tutoring in Spanish! My little side hustle, hehe.

Max good-naturedly took these pictures for me on his phone because I was feelin' my outfit n_n I'm wearing a few new things, like the jeans and the jacket.The jacket was a total steal from Express, and it kept me warm while Max in his fisherman cardigan complained about being chilly.

We drove home at 4:30 and I marveled at how it wasn't yet dark outside. I'm so happy to be getting closer and closer to Spring, though I know it's gonna be a long time yet. Winter in Colorado starts really picking up its pace in February and March, actually. It snows on my birthday more than you'd expect, since my birthday's all the way at the end of March. Lots of light is still something to enjoy, though :)

Hope you all had a great weekend!

love,

Bao

p.s. read more for outfit details. get to know which stores take my money ;)

Life Catch-Up, and Mini Meininger Haul

On our way to our favorite Mexican restaurant :)

Hi, friends! Long time, no see! Again!

Again, I'm really, really sorry! :( I promise to be better!

True, Max pushed me to work on my blog tonight, instead of putting it off for a couple days... but I did have full intentions of coming back full force this year! I will be posting at least once a week this whole year! So you're going to get to know me a lot better! :)

I couldn't possibly tell you everything I've been up to since the last time I wrote, but, well, actually, my life is pretty uneventful, so maybe I could. Some big highlights, though:

• I started bullet journaling. And I freaking. Love it!
• I started working part time.
• I redecorated my room!

So, yeah, that wasn't so hard to sum up, actually! Hehehe.

The first week of 2017 has been chill so far for Max and me. We're coming down from the holidays, still, ya know? Plus, winter in Colorado finally started acting like winter this past week, and we've used that, too, as an excuse to not get out of the house off of our lazy bums ^^''

Today, though, we finally went out. I needed to go to Meininger for some bujo - that's short for bullet journal - supplies, and then I wanted to visit my parents in their mountain-cabin-esque house. (Oh my gosh, where my parents are living now is a story in itself - but it's their own, private story to tell, hehe.) On the way, though, we made a pit stop at our favorite little family-run Mexican restaurant in the Highlands neighborhood, where they make their own fresh tortilla chips, and the best Micheladas ever, and where we haven't had a single bad meal!

Very quick little shoot outside the restaurant, La Taqueria Mexicana, as we were excited to eat here more than anything! It's been a while for us, since this place is out of our way now. We found it when we were living in our old neighborhood n_n

Also, this is the only picture that showed my shoes, too :P

I'm wearing the coat that Maksym got me for Christmas from Greylin. If you guys can tell me what style blogger I copied this coat from, I will send you some airkisses, because that will mean that you and I follow the same influencers online, and in this huge, internet sea, that is quite some affinity-driven coincidence!

Oh, and isn't it great how Pantone named green-gold, or chartreuse as I like to say, the color of the year? That has been my favorite color for quite some time now, so I couldn't be more pleased with the choice! It makes it feel like this is gonna be a good year for me, my year :)

Max missed you guys but he, too, was more interested in tacos at the time ;P

Anyhoo, yes, onward with our journey, we went to my parents' house. We indulged in my new favorite drink to warm up on cold winter days: Lipton tea, mixed with cane sugar and ginger slices. I worked on my bullet journal, and that continued into the next couple of hours, and after we went back home, too.

Here's my little Meininger haul. I don't know how many states Meininger is in, or if it's unique to Colorado, but it's a great art store. It has notebooks and pencils and pens galore, and Max had to drag me out of there today! I behaved and only got my essentials:

Red Fabriano notebook, which is now serving as my trusty bujo, and some fountain ink refills for my Safari LAMY pen :)

Have you heard of Fabriano notebooks? I hadn't until I found them on display at Meininger one day. I fell in love with them slowly, and then all at once! They have the dot-grid that most bullet journalers want, but the grid is smaller than in Leuchturm or Moleskine notebooks. The cover is not as bendable as the Moleskine ones, or as thick and official feeling as the Leuchturms - they're just right in between, so I don't feel bad about tossing it in my purse. They have no fuss to them - just 80 sheets, a little pocket in the back, and no bookmark ribbon which I never paid attention to, anyway.

Some of my favorite tools, in my current favorite colors :) Notice the green gold? :)

Hung out in my sister's bed today working on my bujo. She had already gone back to her college town :(

Well, that's all I have to show you today, lovely readers and friends! n_n

I will be back soon -- I promise - with my hand on my heart - I will be back - soon - very soon!

So, until next time, babies!

Love,

Bao

Summertime, Frugal Weekend!

Hello friends! I'm back again! Sooner than you thought, right? Well I must admit to you that, writing again within the same month, I don't know how to start this conversation, except for in my accustomed style - awkward and abrupt.

Since with my current job I only get one weekend off a month, I've been trying to enjoy these past couple of days off with my boo thoroughly. Saturday, Max and I roamed thrift stores and an international festival downtown. We bought a really yummy jar of crystalized, Colorado honey from a local beekeeper, got Max registered to vote, and ran from the rain. At night we went to a cute, trendy restaurant called North County to enjoy tacos and churros for dinner.

Max sporting his newly acquired "Vote, F*cker" button, outside the Denver Art Museum

Today my friend Yuliya and I practiced our photography skills on each other downtown, in the area around Union Station and the Millennium Bridge. I mostly modeled for her, but she wouldn't show me any of the pictures she snapped of me today, since she wants to choose the best ones and photoshop them. Here's a photo I snapped of her, though.

On the Millennium Bridge figuring out shutter speeds

After saying goodbye to Yuliya, I went with Max south to the Castle Rock outlet mall in search of camping gear. We quickly realized camping gear was not the mainstay at that mall, but of course clothes and accessories were! We had a good time walking and looking around (and again practicing photography) though the offerings at every store seemed to us bland. What's important is that we explored! Later we went grocery shopping, made some sandwiches for dinner, and finally ended the weekend with one last excursion to our favorite hookah spot. Now of course I'm at home writing this :)

Posing at the outlet mall. Don't let the lighting fool you, it was hot!

Finally, I want to take a moment to note how much more frugal I've become recently. Ever since setting some serious goals for myself, I've become more and more driven with the long term in mind. I went a whole week without spending any money, eating only food that we had gotten from the grocery. And I've gotten a lot better at telling myself that the sense of instant gratification I can get from buying things - especially clothes that aren't necessary, just to add a sense of novelty to my life, is not worth putting off my goals anymore! Better to save my money! And enjoy the journey and the people with me, more than transient items acquired along the way.

Love,

Bao