Fall Accessory Craze...

Sadly it's almost the end of summer while it was good while it lasted, I'm secretly excited for the upcoming fall season. Fall is one of my favorite season, second to summer of course. The smell of pumpkin brings me the most absolute joy! Time to hide those TB Thoras and bring out the Revas!

Fall seasons means layers and layers, not just with blouses but with accessories!!! I'm currently loving everything from Belle Noel (inspired by Kim K's jewelry line), Jcrew, House of Harlow, Bloomies Aqua and even Forever 21! I have a few pieces already and just ordered a few more online and can't wait to get my hands on them...

Best things in life

I was inspired by reading LC's blog about the best things in her life, and I love reading these little things that makes other people happy. So why not make a list of mine... =)

1. Waking up next to my two loves (hubby and son for those who don't know me personally) hehe
2. Finding fabulous sales and when you get to the register it's marked off even more
3. Fall season which means yummy Starbucks lattes and the smell of pumpkin goodies
4. Laughing till you cry and almost peeing in your pants LOL
5. Tapioca Express (boba drink) on a hot day
6. Catching up on The Real Housewives or my reality shows while the baby is finally off to bed (guilty pleasure)
7. The sound of rain when you're tucked in bed
8. Sprinkles cupcakes
9. Reaching your destination on the plane for a paradise vacay
10. When family gets together right before a big party you're planning

If only...

I was tall, skinny and looked like this... (Ha, I wish! lol) Two words: Bad Ass... Time to get those Citizens of Humanity Trousers out and lose these extra LB's. =/ Btw, I looove the denim shirt. I've been hoping for Jcrew's shirt to go on sale... Hurry already.

Pictures via Apartment#34

Sweetest obsession

For anyone who knows me, knows that I have a huge obsession for all things sweet, thus my love for baking. I have the sweetest palette and my weight definitely shows that! LOL Sorry but I always leave room for dessert no matter how full I am. I have the biggest sweet tooth and I guess you can say that's why I have the biggest passion for baking and designing dessert bars. I would love to share my absolute favorite desserts with you so you can see what my obsession is all about. Enjoy!

1. Sprinkles Cupcake - My ALL time favorite cupcakes. I can live off these babies, it's worth the hype and then some. You gotta try the banana, red velvet and mocha! Beyond scrumptious!
2. Molly Moon's of Seattle, WA - Coffee and maple walnut had us coming back for more! Literally... twice in one day!
3. Paulette's Macarons in Beverly Hills, CA - I'm so sad that the one in SF is no longer Paulette. They had the best chocolate, pistachio & raspberry just to name a few. $20 for a dozen sounds pricey but every bite is worth it.
4. Peter's Bakery in San Jose, CA - My favorite cake hands down. Light and not too sweet.
5. Anthony's Cookies in SF, CA - I haven't tried a cookie that wasn't good. LOVE this place!
6. Waoila Shave Ice in Oahu, HI - I can't get over how refreshing their azuki bowl is. I searched far and wide in Ca for something similar but nothing comes close.
7. Tapioca Express in Union City, CA - My absolute favorite of them all. No matter how cold or how hot the weather is, I'm always down for a milk tea boba. It doesn't hurt that it's only a couple of minutes away. =)

I moved again...

For the third time in my blogging experience, I decided to change my blog name. I promise this will be the last time. My first name was A Sugary Soiree but had to change that because we were in the process of creating a little business which almost had the same name. So I had to come up with something quick for my blog and decided on Charms and Cupcakes which never really stuck on me. I have now come up with something very simple and definitely something I can stick with. I came up with my Twitter name.. Love Lissie. Simply me. For my followers, please follow me here...

Terrible nights...

The past two nights has been awful for the hubs and I. My 17 month old has not been feeling himself needless to say he's been feeling horrible. He's been waking up from a cough and congestion and been uncontrollably crying. The night before, he even vomited all over himself, it was not a pretty sight. My eye bags are probably in full effect as I type!

Last night was even worse, he woke up and cried and coughed his lungs out. We tried everything to calm him down but it seemed like he would get aggravated even more. At one point, he was even pretending to cough to get our attention and of course crying at the same time. To calm him down my Hubby turned on the TV and put on his favorite shows (we tried everything and even giving him a bottle so this was the last resort, don't judge us lol). Well big mistake, while it definitely stopped him from crying but he never went back to sleep. Two hours later, I woke up hearing the TV noises I asked my Hubby to shut the TV off and put this little munchkin to sleep!

Hopefully tonight will be a little better for us. Crossing my fingers!

New post... new look

OMG, it's been 3 months since the last time I posted. I'm such a terrible blogger. I apologize to my readers IF I still have some left. LOL As you may have noticed, my blog has a new look. My amazing little sister designed it just for me... maybe giving me a hint to update my blog. Well it worked! I'm updating as we speak! Since my absence to the blogging world, so much things to share. So HOPEFULLY I can start blogging on a daily (crossing my fingers that I don't get lazy). Here are a few things I plan to update with you all:

♥ Hawaii vacation/Sissy's amazing wedding
♥ 1.5 Year old being happy as can be
♥ Out with the old, in with the new home
♥ Process of designing my bedroom
♥ New recipes
♥ pictures, pictures & more pictures

So stay tuned...

Everyday look

I'm definitely no way near a makeup expert as I leave that to many of the youtube makeup gurus but I do love to get glamorous on occasion. On a typical day though, I like to wear more of a natural look. I often think of makeup as an enhancement to your face, it should add the right amount of touch to complete your look. Here are a few makeup products that are my go to on a regular day out or perhaps a night out to dinner...

1. Mac Brush 116 - I use this brush to apply almost everything on my face from powder to blush 2. MAC mineralize skin finish natural in medium plus - a very light & sheer powder, it's so natural and doesn't leave a cakey feel (absolute no no) 3. Mac Paint - I use this as my eyelid primer which doesn't leave any creases 4. Mac Ricepaper - This is an amazing eyebrow highlighter 5. Mac Expensive Pink - my all time favorite go to eye shadow 6. Shu uemura eye lash curler - I can't use anything else, this does wonders to the lashes 7. Benefit Bad Gal mascara - one word amazing 8. Nars Deep Throat blush - my current love (similar to Orgasm but without the gold shimmer) 9. Stila Lip Glaze in Papaya - natural, sheer lip gloss that looks perfect on any lipstick

Reservations checked!

If I haven't bragged enough in my last two posts, I'm sorry but I'm doing it again. This time a whole post dedicated to bragging about us going on a family vacation to Paradise. Sorry, I can't help it, every part of my body is pouring excitement and did I mention that I desperately needed this vacation? Also did I fail to mention that this vacation was almost denied twice by my manager?! Well thankfully I was approved for 10 days of pure relaxation, eating to my heart's content, and just enjoying my time with my two loves aka my king and prince.

Other than booking our flights from Hawaiian Airlines which we did back in December, our next biggest thing to tackle was finding a hotel. The rates for rooms on the beach is insanely expensive this year and found the lowest price at $209 per night. That may not sound too shabby, but imagine staying for more than a week, to some people that's already their monthly mortgage. I've even came to a decision that we should stay at a condo just a few blocks from the beach, but my heart kept telling me it's just not the same. Thankfully, my sis was able to get a group discount for her wedding guests, although it was still pricey, it sounded better than $200+ a night. I am excited to say that we booked our room at the beautiful grounds of Hilton Hawaiian Village, nothing but the best on Oahu (IMHO). We've stayed here for the past 4 visits to Hawaii including the time I got married and we absolutely love it. You never have to leave the grounds! The resort even has wild animals, wild meaning penguins, flamingos, abundance of huge koi fishes and so much more. Check it out for yourself...

Obsessed much?

Okay, for the past month, if you haven't noticed for the people who's been following me on Twitter, that I've been stuck on beauty products. Not too mentioned that I've been wasting all of my time on YouTube watching makeup gurus to see what's the hottest thing at the moment. Well people, this current obsession of mine has taken on a whole new level (my hubby thinks I'm insane). Last week was all about eye shadows, and I was immediately drawn to the Urban Decay Naked Palette. Oh em gee, all those colors looked gorgeous and so natural (my absolute favorite type to wear btw) and I had to get my hands on it!

Well dolls, it wasn't that easy! I thought I can easily get it at Sephora, but every store 50 miles out from my city was literally sold out. According to the sales lady, "Don't even bother getting on the list, too many people is on it, and basically it's first come first serve." Okay, I didn't panic, I told myself I will search online. Well it turns out, it's sold out online as well, and the only place I can find it was at Ebay, of course almost selling the double price. No thank you!

So I decided to wait it out and hopefully I will have it before I leave on my vacay. Well what do you know, being a little bad girl, I decided to call in sick on a typical Tuesday and decided to go to the Valley Fair Mall. Well, this story gets quite interesting. I happened to stop at Macy's to exchange a shirt size for Max (if anyone knows me, I hate Macy's and refuse to go there, and practically never step foot in that department store. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Macy's but plastic shopping bags? C'mon now!). Well on the way out, guess what I see on the shelf at Urban Decay??? Two last palette's left and yes, I finally got my hands on one! I was beyond excited!

The first palettes came out with the 24/7 gliding brush and the cost was about $44, but the one I bought has the eye shadow brush and price increased to $48. I probably didn't need another brush but hey, the brush alone is $26, so I'm definitely getting a great deal on this palette. This set also comes with a primer potion. Ok, enough of my long rant, see for yourself...

Of course this picture just not do any justice, once I open the package, I will take real photos of the palette and update this blog. For now, it will have to be from their website. You can click on the picture to enlarge it to have a better idea on how beautiful the colors look.

Never too late..

To give an update! Whoa! Shame on me that my last blog post was back in the beginning of January. If you noticed, I've had a very busy February.

Here is a quick update:

♥ My baby boy turned one in February and his first birthday kept me quite busy for the past 3 weeks. Although I was ecstatic to plan the event, I'm quite relieved its over. One word: stressful!

♥ Not only I had my lil bubba's big party to plan, but the next weekend I had to figure out what to do for my hubby's birthday. (With minor hurdles and bumps such as the restaurant not having our reservation, we were able to once again enjoy the company of our family and friends, and my husband got pretty chocolate wasted.) LOL

♥ With my grandparents coming back to the US, and all the other little events here and there, I managed to once again to neglect my blog. Hopefully, I can start to blog more often especially after I purchase my DSLR camera for our big trip to Hawaii.

♥ I've been on the hunt for new spring/summer pieces for my Hawaii trip and new cosmetic products (moderate to affordable prices) that I bought and will buy for my trip and for the upcoming spring and summer season. I can't wait to blog about these amazing findings.

♥ Last but not least, did I mention that we're heading over to Hawaii for my sister's wedding and my hubby & I's 2 year wedding anniversary? Pretty stoked, I might add!

New year new start

I think it's always a nice thing to start the New Year with some kind of resolution. I had an amazing 2010! I hope 2011 is even more fabulous! I came up with my list that I hope to all accomplish.

♥ Lose these 20 stubborn pounds by May! (This is a must or else I won't have a bridesmaid dress...well not necessarily but this is what I keep telling myself. haha)

♥ Finish our event planning website!

♥ I need to start working out. Flabby & jiggly arms are so not cute...

♥ I need to find more dinner recipes as opposed to always cooking frozen foods.

♥ I need to learn to be much more patient and stop being so demanding and controlling.

11 months to be exact

Now that I am now an IPhone user (always been with Blackberry) I just never realized what all the hype was about until I was introduced to the "App store." I then began to finally come to conclusion how innovative this phone actually is. I am currently writing this blog on my phone, how cool right? More posts soon to follow! Thank you iPhone!

Back to the title, this post is all about my little bubba turning 11 months, which means 1 more months till he turns 1. I must admit, I'm feeling a little sad, everyday I can see the changes in him. He's getting so heavy that I can only hold him for so long (I'm petite). He has 2 sets of teeth on top and 2 sets at the bottom. He can stand up on his own and crawls and puts everything in his mouth (his favorite are rubber flip flops - eww I know). He absolutely loves watching Little Einstein and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

I cannot wait to see what else is in store for us. Here is a little clip of my lil baby soon to be toddler...

Update..

So I have once again abandoned my poor blog. If it makes any difference the holidays have made it very difficult to just sit down and write. I know, I know that's not a valid excuse but excuse my absence. I'll definitely try to make up for it on the next coming posts. Since my last post, I have celebrated my 29th birthday, Thanksgiving, me and my hubby's together forever anniversary (we've been together for 7 years in the dating years), and Maximus' 10 month (this does not even include all the other events).

During the past weeks, I have spent most of my time working, trying to plan my bubbah's first birthday and not too mention all the Christmas shopping. I am proudly to say that the planning is just about done with exceptions of tiny little details that will need to be managed when the time arrives. I'm just about satisfied of the final designs of his invitations and I decided to go with a Superhero theme - Super Max to be exact!

Aaand with all these events going on, my hubby and I are in the process of finding a place of our own (I'm so picky, I just hope it's not an impossible task). Don't get me wrong, I like living with my parents in this big house and the convenience of a baby sitter, however, my hubby and I love our privacy even more. It was nice that my parents helped us save, but I cannot wait to finally just be on our own. I am even more excited to start shopping for furniture (stay tune for more post on this).

Till the next post, I leave you my last crappy Blackberry photo of Maximus (I am now an Iphone user)... 10 month photo of my big bubbah! He doesn't like the flash :)

Wish List

Well as you may have read from my previous post on how absolutely obsessed I am with the month of November... hehe it's my birthday month! With that said, unlike last year I came up with a wish list. This wish list is not specifically for my birthday but for Christmas as well. I'm one of the lucky winter babies who was born just one month before Christmas (this means I get two gifts and not just a combined birthday/Christmas gift) haha!

This list is in no particular order, as you can see, my list is on the pricey side in hopes that black Friday would be a successful one... ♥

Nikon SLR - I think this is a great investment. Now that I've noticed how fast Maximus is growing up, I would like to capture every minute of it.

Diamond wedding band - I suck! I lost my wedding band while I was pregnant due to swelling. Not trying to make any excuses but yes, I blame it on the swelling. I can't wear my engagement ring because it doesn't match with my gold replacement. =(


Macbook Air - ok, I might be a little over my head on this one but I sooooo want one. I dropped the Macbook Pro a couple of months back, so my brother took it with him to LA to get it fix and now I'm stuck with a Toshiba. I can do wonders with this laptop. Maybe after our Hawaii vacay? A gift to me & my hubby for our 2 year anniversary...

Marc by Marc Jacobs Bag - If I don't get this for my birthday or Christmas, I'm getting it for myself. It's my baby bag. I'm tired sporting a Petunia Pickle. I love how there's pocket on the sides (great for bottles). I especially love how it's nylon, so I don't have to worry if it gets dirty or wet.

What is she thinking?

I'm not sure if anyone noticed but I am officially back on the blogging world. One of my besties (Auntie Myrna) inspired me to write a lot more. She says she loves reading my blog. ♥

Remember back in May when I blogged about how I looved how the new mom Kourtney Kardashian was dressing this past spring? You can find the post here. Well, I'm not very sure that I'm in love with her winter trends right now. I'm not sure what has gotten into her lately, but I am definitely not loving some of her decisions. Not too mention that she is way too thin, so thin that her clothes does not look very appealing on her. She's in New York (fashion capital) for goodness sake! Although, there we're a few outfits I loved but majority just did not look very cute. You be the judge..

Holidays (my favorite time of the year)

Wow! Was it just me or did everyone notice October went by super fast? Now it's already November! One of my favorite months (ahem the month of my birthday), and it holds the only day where there's million of excuses to eat whatever you want and absolutely no limitations (that would be Thanksgiving day). This year my birthday happens to land on Thanksgiving (whomp, whomp, whomp), sorry but I was not looking forward to this. Not to mention everyone greeting me on a holiday which reminds me of how older I am getting (29 years old), but having to spend it with all the relatives was not the most idealistic. I would actually prefer to spend it more intimate with my two boys, but I guess more people the merrier, right?

This year, like last year, I really don't have anything on my birthday list. I haven't been to the mall in almost one month. Well I did stop by H&M today after the Giant's Parade to grab a couple of small essentials. Does that count? I've been really good trying to manage our money for upcoming events and vacations and this means no shopping every weekend. I can totally recycle some of my winter pieces from 2 years back (clothes that I couldn't wear last winter due to my over weight pregnant self). The only thing I would love to receive would be a new designer baby bag, I'm so over due! *hint hint hubs*

So many things to look forward to in the next coming weeks, did I mention that Christmas is next month?

Sleepy Dragon

This year for Halloween was surprisingly a fun one! I guess a huge factor was Max (kiddies always makes a holiday much more wonderful). It made everything so festive and picking out a costume and eating Halloween candy was my favorite part. I had no idea what to dress Max this year, I was torn between a puppy or spider from Pottery Barn. I finally decided with the puppy but with my luck, all the sizes we're all sold out. A procrastinator such as myself did not surprised me one bit. I researched for more costumes and stumbled upon Old Navy. Not only their costumes looked cute but they we're budget friendly (SCORE!!!!). I also loved how warm they we're which really helped in this cold October night. Here are some photos of my little bubs (aka Max the sleepy dragon). I call him the sleepy dragon because half way through trick or treating, he fell asleep. LOL

The old me vs. The new me

♥ I looooved watching scary movies, not just frightening but the gory kinds (I seen the first 5 Saw movies!), now I can't even bare to see the Paranormal Activity previews. These days, Twilight Saga are the only movies I can watch. LOL

♥ I never hesitated to drop $100+ on a pair of shoes or $500+ on a handbag, now I always think twice to spend more than $100 for a whole outfit (I rather shop for Max than for myself - sad but so true!)

♥ Every weekend used to be wining, dining and going out to dance the night away, these days, weekends consists of grocery stores, parties or gatherings, and Costco (occasionally date night with my hubby - love those moments!)

♥ I couldn't miss an episode of MTV's The Hills, now I can't miss an episode of Bravo's Housewives of Beverly Hills or New York.

♥ YSL/Louis Vuitton handbag was my preferred choice and now sport a Petunia Pickle baby bag! ha!

♥ Hennessy and mix drinks was my preferred drink when I partied and now I cannot stand the smell of Henn. I can only have the clear drinks but definitely my preferred choice is the bubbly! =)

♥ My hobbies used to be shopping, shopping and shopping, well now it's baking, event planning and more baking. =)

Being a wife and a mommy definitely changed my life, not for worst but for better. I am much more responsible, very much domestic and taking a whole new way of life. I love my new life and wouldn't change it for the world. Before having Max or being married, the only thing I worried about is having the latest sunglasses or bag, well now it's the little things such as making sure we have dinner on the table, making sure our laundry is done and most importantly Max is well taken care of. I cannot wait to see what the future holds. =)

Patches of pumpkins

I can happily admit that I wasn't very much of a Halloween person nor very festive. I think as an adult, I only dressed up once and that was a couple of years back as a french maid. It was certainly amusing but just wasn't my fortay. Now being a mother, I can completely understand how this holiday can be so much fun for the kiddies. Candy, costumes, and pumpkins... what else can a kid ask for!

Last weekend, my sister and I took the babies to the pumpkin patch and it was definitely a memorable moment. Both kiddies we're amazed by the orange objects and at first very shy. Soon, they seen all the children play and began to play around as well. They both had a blast and came home with tiny pumpkins that they picked all by themselves. As you can see by the photos, they had a grand time!