A Glimpse of Glam: braids

OOTD: Houndstooth Skirt, and Other (Food Related) Shenanigans

Hey everyone!

With hard work comes time to relax and have fun with friends. After a long, difficult and studious fall quarter, I can finally sit back and actually do things for fun without that tummy-turning feeling of guilt planting their roots in my stomach. This day's outfit and activities actually happened a week and a half ago, as I have been on break for a bit now. I had some other stuff to take care of before I got around to posting this. But I still wanted to share with you all what I wore and did that last day of fall quarter.

I finished off the quarter with wonderful grades. I feel so proud of myself because of the hard work I've done these past several months. I really hope the coming winter quarter will be great as well, though there will be new classes, new teachers, new worries.

The holidays always feels like a great reward for fall quarter. Except this year, my break is shorter by a week and a half which makes me so mad. Every day of break I have something scheduled because of how incredibly short this break is. I literally only got a couple weeks off, as opposed to almost a month off last year! Okay, yeah, back in high school I only got a couple weeks off, but those two weeks felt like forever. How is it that two weeks felt like so much back then, when now, two weeks pass by in a blink of the eye?

This outfit I'm featuring here is the outfit I wore on my last day of finals. Yes, I'm weird and wore a nice outfit to take an exam. Don't judge. I still felt comfortable, that's all that matters right?

black and white houndstooth skirt outfit

My friend, Sabrina, whom I mentioned in one of my previous posts, and I were planning on hanging out after the exam. Thus, the reason why I decided to wear a nice outfit to take a test. I'm not crazy, I promise. Though promises only mean so much.

I was in the middle of twirling around in this photo

I chose to wear a black and white houndstooth circle skirt, with a gray textured sweater. This sweater is one of my favorites because of the neckline. It's sort of a cowl neckline, but also almost like a boat neckline with the way it fits. I don't quite know exactly. What would you call it? Comment down below! I can't figure it out.

OOTD black and white houndstooth skirt and gray sweater

Anyways, I threw on a blue camisole underneath because I didn't want to flash anyone. That ain't classy. I played with color by adding plum colored tights underneath. My everyday boots and the new jacket I bought from Black Friday, which I featured in my last OOTD, and I was good to go!

OOTD black and white houndstooth circle skirt

I really liked how this look turned out because of the play in colors and textures. It was surprisingly comfortable to wear while taking my exam too. It also was warm enough for the biting chill of Seattle's winter weather.

My inner ballerina shines in this pose. Ignore my face because I was blinking.
Truth? I actually did take ballet for most my life, so it's not that weird. I think...

Don't you just love wearing circle skirts? The way it swishes as you walk, and billows out when you twirl. I really had fun swaying my hips and spinning around, as my friend helped me take these photos. Skirts are so fun to wear!

This is the hairstyle I sported with the outfit. It's a super easy braided half-up hairstyle. I parted my hair in a deeper side-part than my usual side-part, and dutch braided both sides. I then fluffed up and fattened the braid to make it more voluminous, and connected them at the back. It's very similar to the hairstyle I wore for the Fairmont Wine and Dine outfit. Only here, it's even simpler because it's only two braids as opposed to the three I did for that look.

Dutch braids have been my go-to hairstyle lately because of how quick and easy it is to do. I can whip this up in less than 5 minutes, and it looks even better when slightly messy. Plus, it got my hair out of my face, which was perfect for taking my exam. Kudos to me for finding a way to look good while taking an exam. Hahaha

After the exam, Sabrina and I grabbed lunch together because we had the whole rest of the day free. Well, actually, I had work in the afternoon. But we finished the exam by 10:30 in the morning, so there was quite some time before I had to go to work.

We scoured the internet, aka Yelp, for a nearby restaurant to try out. We settled on a Thai place within walking distance. The food was pretty good, and reasonably priced. We ordered a chicken Pad Thai, and a combination pork, chicken, shrimp fried rice to share. They came with this vegetable soup, which was tasty, but also quite salty.

Broth-based vegetable soup

Chicken Pad Thai

Pork, Chicken, Shrimp Fried Rice. There was hardly any shrimp!! Like only three pieces!

When we ordered, we didn't know what to expect for the level of spiciness. This place had a scale of 1-3, versus the usual 1-5 levels of spiciness we were used to. We got a 2 for both dishes, and it was very spicy! It was really good, but I went through several glasses of water because of how spicy it was!

Matcha red bean milk tea and Okinawa pearl milk tea from Share Tea in Seattle

Afterwards, Sabrina took me to this tea place that had good milk teas. She heard of it from a friend, and we decided to check it out for ourselves. I can't believe we still had room to drink them after eating that lunch. Guess we got bottomless pits for stomachs, huh? Or we just digest real fast.

I got a half-sweetened matcha green tea with red bean, and she ordered the Okinawa pearl milk tea, which is a sweetened black milk tea with boba. They were not bad. I don't know if I would go again, but they weren't too bad. I'm pretty picky when it comes to teas. I am a huge tea drinker: sweetened, unsweetened, brewed, as a latte... I like my tea.

Who sits normally and calmly enjoys their drinks anymore? It's all about the random bursts of laughter, and faces you make. That's how you properly enjoy a drink.

I didn't realize Sabrina was still taking pictures of me, while we were enjoying our drinks, hence the pictures of me acting all silly.

That day felt so freeing and fun. After you take your finals, don't you just get that "I just got released from prison" feeling? I know I do! Winter break, in my eyes, held endless possibilities for things to do and places to see. And now look at me complaining about my lack of time off from school. Crazy how time changes perspectives like that, huh?

Anyways, I still got a half of winter break left. My days are all scheduled, with family get-togethers for the holidays, work, and outings with friends, break seems particularly short this year.

On the bright side, CHRISTMAS IS ONLY 2 DAYS AWAY!! Are you getting excited yet? I know I am. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I hope you guys all enjoyed reading this! Lemme know in the comments below your tolerance for spicy foods, and what you like to wear when taking exams! How is the holiday season treating you this year?

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Til next time,
~A

9:59 PM
53 Comments

Easy Braided Half-Up Hairstyle

beauty

7:28 PM
53 Comments

Simply Chic Dutch Braid Bun

braids

Hey everyone!

You know those days when you are just bored in class and don't know what to do? But, luckily you have a friend who doesn't mind and lets you experiment new hair ideas whenever you want? Yeah, I had one of those days this week. And using only one hair tie I created this simple yet chic braid that flows into a bun. I'm not kidding. I only used one hair tie!

Dutch braid and messy bun

This is how it looks from the back. Very simple and straightforward. It's only a braid that travels diagonally down and ends in a nice messy bun. My friend only had one hair tie, so I had to make do with using only a hair tie to keep her hair in a nice style.

This is a great take on a messy bun because it looks like you put more effort in and makes you look more put together as well.

Side view

I always find that when you want no-fuss hairstyles, using a hair tie is always the best option. Same goes for braids. They make your hair stay in place by using other pieces of hair to hold it in, which is way better than using pins.

Front twist into dutch braid

She naturally has a right side part, but I wanted to part it on the left side just to see how it looks. And when I did her hair, I kept it that way. I twisted the front pieces tightly then began a braid. I was going to start a French braid, but I realized that to keep the twist in place a Dutch braid would be the best option because the pieces of hair twist away from her face and a Dutch braid pulls hair under, so it flows the same direction as the twist.

I added the twist just because it gave it a unique look and pulled her bangs away from her face nicely.

How the bun looks

I was going to just braid it off to end it, but I decided to do something else. I thought a bun would look cute. I tried wrapping the braid into a bun, but that didn't hold as nicely with only one hair tie. So what I did was loosened the end of the braid, while still keeping the base of the end braid tight then made a messy bun. I pulled out some strands hear and there so that it sat nicely.

I think this is a great hairstyle to do when you want an easy look that takes little effort, yet still produces chic and slightly bohemian results. It's like business in the front and party in the back! Because of the hair being pulled away from your face neatly and ending in a big, messy bun. Hahaha!

When you are ever stuck with just one hair tie and don't want to revert to a simple ponytail, try out this hairstyle! Let me know how this works out for you!

Til next time,