The raindrops keep falling!

I hope you are all doing well, especially for those of you in Southern California. It's been raining cats and dogs all week non-stop, and I can't even say how many times I got soaked this week while going to class. Giant trees have been falling over on my college campus, and a lot of downhill places got flooded when the rain poured. I'm so glad to be done with classes this week. But anyways, I've been a busy bee lately with school, and my stress levels have been off the charts, but this weekend I finally get a little break. That means it's also time to catch up on all my non-academic related business!

It was my 20th birthday yesterday, but I spent my whole day in class, finishing up an essay that was due, and running around in the rain. Not much of a special birthday, but school really doesn't permit me to make it much of a big deal anymore like I did in high school. I went home last weekend to celebrate it early with my parents, and they got me a pretty cake since it's tradition even if all of us are too busy to do anything else.

Isn't it pretty!? It was coffee flavored with my favorite fruit, strawberries, in the middle! I brought a few slices back with me to school. I ate some on my actual birthday so that still makes me a happy camper even though I didn't really get to celebrate it. My parents also got me a HD camcorder so perhaps that will motivate me to make some videos for you all.

Got it in a snazzy red! I like my electronics to have some color besides the boring old black or silver, unless it's like something classic that has to be in a basic color. Anyways, so far I've only used this for my art class, and the video and sound quality is pretty good.

My suitemates were also very lovely and surprised me with a cake. I thought that was very thoughtful of them. Sadly I don't have pictures of that since the cake got devoured pretty quickly and I wasn't prepared for that little event. I certainly had plenty of cake this week! :p

Besides that, since my birthday has passed, that also means that my first blog giveaway has ended. Thank you to everyone who has participated and followed my blog. It was quite a success, and I've hit 250+ followers because of it. I haven't picked a winner yet because I haven't written all the names down, but hopefully, I can get that done as soon as possible. Please bare with me! I'm truly grateful!

And finally, I shall leave you all with a shopping deal, because we all love deals right?

Benefit on Amazon is having a sale on select items with certain lipstick shades at $9 and various other items. The best value I think is the Girls' Night In!!! set which is now selling at $33.60 (retail $48). It comes in a pouch with 2 creaseless cream shadows in Birthday Suit and Skinny Jeans, Full-finish lipstick in Lady's Choice, a brush, and cute magnets. I love all the shades for this set so I thought it was a really great deal since I've been wanting to buy all of those items individually for awhile. The set itself also ships free so even better!

Mini Update & Sephora F&F

Hello my fellow readers and new followers! I finally hit 50+ followers recently, and I would have to say that that is a big accomplishment for me since I don't even update as much as I should. However, as promised I am currently organizing a giveaway to thank you all, which I will hopefully have up sometime next month. I need to gather all the prizes and such. Hopefully, they will be things you guys will all be looking forward to winning. :) If you guys have any ideas what you would like to see in the prizes please comment and let me know. I will take it into consideration.

Anyways, I've been overwhelmed by all the mid-terms, papers, and studying, that I really haven't had to time to really sit down and just crunch out a post for you all. (I am currently taking a break from studying). Hopefully, after next week, when my midterms are all done, I will be able to post up a real post with some interesting stuff. I have lots to tell (jewelry, gmarket, clothes, makeup etc.) But for now this is all that time permits me to write.

And finally, have you all placed an order for Sephora's F&F sale. I surely have :) Here's what I got.

Pink Clarisonic Mia Set - Yes I finally got it! My mom is paying for this because she thought it would be a good investment if it really made a difference on my face. I'm so excited to get this. I will most definitely be doing a review on this, perhaps even a video review!?

MUFE Aqua Eyes Collection - I've been wanting some MUFE eyeliners since everyone raves about them. I am crossing my fingers that it will not smudge on my waterline. I was originally going to get the full size black eyeliner, but I love the colors in this set so I opted for this instead.

That's all I got, but I am so happy already :). The two things I've been eying for months are finally on their way into my hands.

Follow me on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/tralalalisa

Appreciation...R.I.P

This is totally not beauty related, but I thought I'd post it anyways because it is really a big issue of matter.

Yesterday, I lost one of my childhood friends that I have known since 5th grade to a drunk driver. She was a great person who helped so many people. She was also a very independent person and she never gave up on her dreams. I'm going to miss her a lot but I know she's in a better place now watching over all her loved ones.

It's true when people say you don't know how to truly appreciate someone or miss someone until they are truly gone. The reason why I posted this is because I want you all to learn to appreciate the people around you every minute and every second because you never know at an instant who will be taken away from you forever. I know a lot of people see these things happen on the news but in their minds they always say "That will never happen to me or the people I know", but IT CAN. You never know and when it does happen it will just all feel too surreal.

Go tell your loved ones to not drink and drive, and be careful when driving late at night. Go tell your loved ones that you do indeed love them. Try to keep in contact with all the people you care about. Don't settle for anything less. It's better to just say a simple"hi, how are you doing?" once in awhile than to not say anything at all. Don't expect you will have all the time in the world to say things. It's not that hard. Just do it, and I guarantee you won't regret it.

R.I.P Vicky 09/12/90-10/12/09 ·♥· I miss you

Mitsuwa Torrance Trip

So two days ago I decided to head over to Torrance to check out the Mitsuwa market. The one near my house is very small so I never really find anything much. It's definitely 5-6x bigger than the one near my house.

There's a food court and a bookstore. I checked out the bookstore to see if there were any magazines I wanted to pick up, but I didn't really want to fork over $10 per magazine. I remember in my early high school years Japanese magazines use to be only $5-6. I miss those days :( Anyhow, the market was really nice. There was 4 rows of snacks&candys galore. The beauty section was decent, but I wish it was a little bigger.

I picked up a liquid eyeliner, which was on sale and some serum-less facial masks. I thought I would try using them with homemade masks that were more liquidy. I also got some Pineapple candy. I absolutely love pineapple flavored candy. I am not sure what it is but they are just oh so yummy. Finally, I picked up two drinks. The Gokuri Peach can was too cute. I pretty much bought it for the can. It has subtle heart designs in the black background. Finally, I got the Pokka Pineapple jelly drink. I got this because I have heard about the Fanta Shaka carbonated jelly drink from Japan that a lot of people claimed to be quite good. However, the drink can be only found in Japan so when I saw this I immediately grabbed it.

The "directions" are on the back. You have to shake it to sort of mix up the jelly so it's not one giant clump in the bottle. If you don't, only some juice will come out! The drink itself is quite strange. It took me a few sips to get use to. I definitely wish it was more carbonated though. I think it would of tasted better. I wonder if the Fanta version is better? I am not sure how I feel about it yet. I originally was going to take pictures of the drink, but it didn't really show up on camera. Perhaps I will do a video the next time I get one of the other flavors for my boyfriend to try.

Anyhow, I will be at Universal Studios Hollywood tomorrow with a few of my friends because one of them got some free tickets. So perhaps more pictures to come?

IMATS 2009

Hello again! I apologize for my lack of updates lately. I know I promised to show pictures of my hair cut and all, but that day I was in a bit of a rush so I totally forgot to take pictures. Sorry about that! I've been quite busy. Last week I was practically out everyday and blogging was just not the first thing on my mind when I got home. This whole week so far I've been spending most of my time just cleaning my room, and I mean literally. I was a pack rack most of my life so I don't like to throw away things, and I still am but I'm getting a little better at it. I just realized there were so many things I didn't need anymore after cleaning out my boyfriends closet about a month ago. I've also cleaned out my closet of clothes and reorganized everything. I am slowly finishing up my cleaning. I just need to get a few boxes to store things to put on my bookshelf, and I should be done. I am still working on setting up my makeup storage up. I just need to go pick up a few my things and that should be done as well.

On to the better news, IMATS! Yes, I did attend IMATS with my best friend. It was a bit of a last minute decision as we didn't decide to go until the final day they were pre-saling the tickets. It was a bit overwhelming because there was just so much people and so much going on; however, it was a lot fun nonetheless.

We saw Eve Pearl do a demo on one of the ladies. She was very enthusiastic, and it was quite enjoyable. We didn't stay the whole time to watch her demo though.

This was just a random shot. You can see the Frends' booth where they had Stila and Kevyn Aucoin for like 20% off.

I saw many makeup gurus and bloggers walking around, but I only took a picture with Pursebuzz. She was gorgeous and very nice! My best friend asked her for some advice and she also took a picture with her. I should of stood up straight, but I was feeling kind of crappy that day because I didn't get enough sleep and my wisdom tooth was aching. I need to get it pulled it soon.

The infamous Crown Brush stand. There was a lot of people crowding around buying a lot of brushes. Most brushes were $5 or under. They also had all the 88 shimmer and matte palettes from Coastal Scents. I didn't buy any brushes though because I didn't feel the need to. I was trying to save money. My best friend did buy a concealer brush though.

We left IMATS around 1 or 2 because we were getting hungry. It was sprinkling, which wasn't all that great because I was in shorts. We went to Island's for lunch and had some delicious Cheddar Fries!

Now for what I got at IMATS; I didn't get much at all. I spent about 80 bucks, which is nothing compared to what other people spent there. There were a lot of brands and great deals, but I only got things that I know I will use. I was trying to restrain from splurging on things I will just use once or twice. One thing I regret though is not stopping by Makeup Forever. It was a long line because everything was 40% but I just didn't have the patience or energy to do the whole process.

But anyways, I got Lise Watier's Base Miracle and their Portfolio Concealer Wheel. I also got Bobbi Brown's Gel Eyeliner in 'Chocolate Shimmer' because I've been wanting to try their gel eyeliners and I wanted to get a brown eyeliner for the summer. So far, I am really loving the color. It's a nice change from all the black eyeliner I usually wear.

Overall, IMATS was a nice experience. I will most definitely attend next year, and hopefully take more advantage of what the show has to offer now that I know what to expect. I am glad I went.