lily.

i am now part of the way through the big move.
i finished packing up all of my things in my room, packed up the car, and then mom and i headed up to philadelphia for the night.
as i was packing up my room, deciding which odds and ends i wanted to take with me, i found myself feeling oddly sad, sentimental, and conflicted about whether or not i should take my favorite and only childhood rag doll, lily.

when i was very young we used to get toy catalogs around christmas time. i would daydream about rose window kits and having my very own pet sea monkeys, but one christmas i picked out this doll, among other things. and my bestemor (norwegian for grandmother) bought her for me.
she came in a different dress than the one she is wearing now, but i took all of the nice dresses from my american girl doll, kirsten, who i did not like or ever play with, and gave them to lily.
i loved her and would carry her around the house with me. i still love her, which is why i felt so conflicted as to whether i should bring her along.

in the end i decided to leave her at home. i figured she'd be safer there, and i set her on the chair with the rest of my stuffed animals i had in my room. i figured she could stay and hang out with her friends while i'm gone.

we're heading out at 6am tomorrow, planning to get in tomorrow evening. i'm so excited about the move. we have freshly baked homemade cinnamon rolls for the carride, and one nervous but adorably cute and fluffy mini-tiger named joey to keep us company on the road trip up.

all the best,
laura <3

birthday.

so yesterday was the big 21.
and it was a lovely day, if i do say so myself.
i had to fill in as music director at my sister hana's church in the morning, but then we picked up some bagels for lunch (egg bagels are my FAAAVE), went to a matinee of the new woody allen film, midnight in paris, which was exquisite, hana's boyfriend jeff took me out for drinks when we got home, and then we finished off the night with a yummy steak dinner and a homemade birthday cake. so overall i'd say it was a total win.
it's a little hard because i'm mid-move, and so that detail plus the fact that i've grown apart from all of the friends i have in maryland made it a bit of a bummer to not have a whole crew of friends to go drink with last night. but it was still very fun and i will be one of the few people in my generation that can gladly say i remember every part of my 21st birthday.

there's the limerick pub, where i had the ceremonial first beverage. and second. haha.
the area seemed a little sketch so we were a bit wary at first to go in, but it turned out to be very nice inside. and also very irish.

my first drink if i remember correctly was called an egan's o'thentic irish kiss. it had something like irish whiskey, orange juice, peach schnapps and ginger ale. i would say it was pretty good, i'm not a super big fan of whiskey but it was diluted enough with other sweet and delicious things that the taste was definitely not unbearable.

i got an apple martini after that. i just really thought that sounded good. and on an empty stomach i was definitely feeling it when i left. one marlboro red in the parking lot after was the perfect finishing touch.
jeff had a small mcsorley's beer and i guess he was feeling it too. and then when we were driving back to the house we got lost. and it was hilarious.

most of my presents will be lovely things like gift cards to target and ikea to buy fancy new apartment things. i am quite excited to make my room look spectacular.
and that's it!!

all the best,
laura <3

short note on baking.

i am not much of a cook.

nor am i much of a baker.

i am pretty much not super gifted in the home/domestics/housewife area of life.

i guess i haven't really tried all that much at some of those things, i.e. sewing and knitting and having babies. but there was a recipe that i stumbled upon on stumbleupon for cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread.

and yes, it is as amazing as it sounds. i have officially baked it three times now in the last two weeks. and it comes out incredible every time.

so perhaps i could be a real baker someday..

 

if that doesn't look amazing to you..

it's probably because my camera sucks. but you should take a look at the website/recipe.

all the best,
laura <3

post apocalypse.

well, apparently we survived.

or we didn't. and we are now living on the post apocalyptic earth, fighting to survive.

but either way, we should have all figured that the world couldn't get any worse, so it didn't really matter if things went bad or not. i guess we'll never really know.

the morning after i got back from the chi-town, my older sister hana graduated from the university of maryland, with a degree in piano performance. what a rock star. she's such an over-achiever. in the best way.

there's our star!! haha. we're very proud.

so, we had a nice dinner, dessert, etc.

in other news, the search is finally over. why? because...

I GOT THE APARTMENT.

i know. i can't believe it. which means that i will be moving to arlington heights within the next week.

so i've been trying to teach myself how to drive stick shift, so i can take my mom's car with me when i head out there.

i'm stoked. and that is really all for now..

oh and i'm turning 21 on sunday. awesome.

in other other news, i took a picture of the rhododendrons by the driveway, whose flowers are now completely wilted. but they weren't when i took the picture. so here it is.

 

i thought there was more going on in my life lately. apparently not. but the fact that i will be moving and have a job interview in the next week and a half is really exciting.

all the best,
laura <3

chicago: the visit.

wow. it's been a while since i've posted. things have been busy/hectic/crazy/exciting/fun/interesting/complicated/all of the above.
but i will now go into brief detail about how my trip to chicago went.
so sunday i flew in, and you saw how all of that went.
and then on monday we woke up, hung out around the house for a while and then we went to glen ellyn to look at an apartment.

needless to say, it was a pretty big disappointment. we drove around until we finally found this awful brick building, then we walked up to the front, or at least what we thought was the front, saw the banged up doors and smelled the awful smell, and then i decided i didn't even want to look at the inside. so we left.
phil went and got his eyes checked because he was having some trouble with his contacts, then after an early dinner at lou malnati's with tony sorrentino, we went and looked at the next apartment that i had lined up.
it was ideal. it was in arlington heights, 10 minutes from church and 15 minutes from phil, stores down the street for potential jobs. a two bedroom apartment, low rent with all utilities included, and an awesome girl living there with her cat looking for a roommate. so after i filled out an application, we left and i was feeling anxious and nervous and excited all at the same time. then we hung out with some friends that night and went to bed.

next day we spent all day recording. i tracked piano and cello for brandon grissom's cover of all the poor and powerless by sons and daughters. it's an awesome song. look it up if you have the chance.
that was the majority of tuesday, then wednesday i tracked harmony vocals and played at axis, the college youth ministry at willow creek. it was awesome.

there's my man on drums. what a stud. then we left after hearing much good feedback and having many good conversations with people there.
when i came home with phil, i walked into a completely dark front hallway to find that my baby had thrown me a surprise birthday party.

he had all of our friends over and they had cupcakes and pizza and some other snacks, and we all just sat around the table and talked. it was really fun. and i've never had a surprise birthday party, nor had i ever had a birthday party in general before. so it was definitely a big surprise, and super sweet. :)

thursday was the final day. we got breakfast with tony sorrentino and then we went to willow where tony got some film footage of me playing piano for a video that he's making for the sons and daughers cover.  then phil and i made a stop, had a quick squiz and then i packed and we headed to the airport, where i flew safely home.

my mom brought joey, my little beast, home to stay with me in maryland while no one is at the apartment in philadelphia. so he's just been hanging out with me during my late nights surfing the internet, and then during the day he runs around in the basement so the other cats don't terrorize him. poor little guy.
and that was my trip! more posts to come shortly after this on the rest of my life happenings!

all the best,
laura <3

freja/tattoo.

so polyvore's style report has informed me that freja beha erichsen is an upcoming trend as a model inspiration. that's cool.

i love freja beha. she's so rock 'n' roll. she has gorgeous dark features, and stands on the border between rock hard masculinity and soft feminine beauty.

i really love when models have tattoos. and freja beha has some of the coolest ones i've seen, her and erin wasson.

freja's float tattoo on her neck was actually the inspiration for the one i got not too long ago in a similar location.

 

mine is the chinese character of my last name, cai. phil actually was the one that suggested i get a tattoo on my neck. i originally wanted to get my last name on my wrist, but this location is a little less cliché.

that's all for now!

all the best,
laura <3

red wheel no. 2.

got in safely to chicago.

i didn't sleep at all last night, but i was very glad to get to the airport and make it through baggage check and security with absolutely no problems at all. the last time i made this trip my airport experience was absolutely miserable. darned TSA.

anyway. my lovely amazing boyfriend picked me up and we went out to breakfast, then we headed over to his studio located at willow creek to potentially record some piano tracks. unfortunately, after walking around that GIANT MASS of a building for what was probably about an hour and a half or more we could not find a sufficient acoustic piano that was in tune. so we scratched the whole plan and decided to head home.

i've been deprived of my daily smokes for a few days now, which doesn't bother me all that much but i do have a hankering for one now and then. so we stopped at a gas station, picked up a pack of marlboro 27s and took a short detour to find a place to have a squiz (squiz being phil's word for smoking).

we found a little industrial railroad area that had a parking garage, and by one side of the area was a little alley where we finally camped out for a few minutes to indulge in our addiction.

kind of cool, eh? i insisted on the two of us taking a picture by one of the big red wheels to document our little rendezvous.

there's the gorgeous man himself, and of course he and i together with red wheel no. 2.

we headed home, watched food network (we are both big, big food network fans..giada is my faves!!), and eventually we went out to dinner with his family to a quaint but cute authentic mexican restaurant.

a little later we were blessed with an absolutely gorgeous sunset on our short errand to get some starbucks coffee, then we came back, did a little of this and a little of that, and that was our evening.

minus our extreme tiredness very early in the evening, today was a fun day. it's really nice to be with phil again, and the rush of seeing him for the first time since early april is incredible.

i am now on a relentless search to find an apartment in the suburbs, so i can move away from the dreaded east coast and be closer to my love, friends, a great church, and a large network of people that i cannot find anywhere else. tomorrow will hopefully bring more exciting news for the future. and otherwise, i will really just enjoy having some kind of social life even if it's just for a few days, making some good memories, and spending quality time with the man i love.

i'm exhausted. time for bed. :)

packin' up.

headin' out in the morning. early in the morning. for the chicagoland.

i'm super pumped to see phil, it's been forever.

today i woke up early, checked in to my southwest flight, slept, then woke up late, and headed out with my mom to my dad's house to drop off some of my sister's belongings. then i randomly saw my old best friend, after what seems like decades, and we're gonna hang out next weekend. i'm excited for that.

now i have lots of cleaning to do in my very messy room, and then i have to pack up my suitcase so i can be out the door by 6:50 tomorrow morning.

this is what i have to work with. even after a freshly made bed i have tons of crap to get done. nothing like a blog post as a little incentive to get things done, eh?

*update

 

 so here are a few clothing articles i am packing for the trip. my wardrobe seems to be very limited at the moment, but i do have a few things that i feel good in, as well as comfortable in and that also express me.

the heels are from agaci, purchased and shipped to me by my boyfriend phil. he's so sweet. and the oxfords are from forever21. dresses one and two are both from ross, totally not where i prefer to shop but i bought these two as well as one more for only $30 total. amazing. and they're awesome dresses. dress three is also forever21, and the last item is a shirt that i bought from an antique store in traverse city, michigan for $8. i need to spend more time thrifting. you can really find some awesome stuff.
still working on cleaning my room. and i'm also not finished packing. and i'm catching up on glee.
i'm so productive, aren't i?

*update

oh hey, will schuester.
it is now 2:39am. and i still have not showered, nor have i successfully finished cleaning my room. but it's better than before right?
i did my best..at least the best i could whilst being distracted by clothing, the internet, and glee.
and i am out for the night. wish me safe travels!!

all the best,
laura <3

the lipstick search.

these are my latest favorite nail polish colors. sally hansen hard as nails xtreme wear nail color in gunmetal and lime lights. i tried lime lights on my toes a while back, and it didn't get the color that i wanted, so i put it away for a while, and then i felt daring the other day and i tried it on my nails..it was bliss. and gunmetal is just as awesome. and a nice alternative to just plain black.

i went on a search for the perfect bold shade of lipstick to fit the season's trend. well, the perfect shade that i could get at the cost of a very reasonable sum of money.
the first shade pictured is wet 'n wild silk finish 505A. i was at CVS yesterday looking at lipsticks, and this particular brand was only 99 cents each. i figured since i'm not big on wearing lipstick wet 'n wild would be a good test product to search for my desired shade. it turned out to be a little on the light side, and i'm not sure it was totally great with my skin tone. but it's a really pretty frosty pink with just enough brightness but subtle enough to not be too over the top.
then i made a trip to the grocery store today with my mom and sister and was able to invest another 99 cents into a lipstick that was exactly what i was looking for, from the same collection; wet 'n wild silk finish 521A, pictured above. much more vibrant and bold like what i was looking for, with a pearly blue base. i'd say for 99 cents that's pretty good.

on another note, i had dinner with my mom, her husband, and my sister and her boyfriend, and then played a game of trivial pursuit. that was my super exciting day.
can't wait to see what insanity tomorrow brings. ;)

all the best,
laura <3

the beginning of a new not boredom.

hello. my name is laura.

i will be 21 at the end of this month, i currently reside in philadelphia, pennsylvania, and also in silver spring, maryland. i have a cat named joey, a boyfriend named phil, and i love music. i'm not in school, i don't have a job, and my life is particularly mundane right now.
i thought i would start this blog, and try to write something about what i do every day. whether it be something i was thinking about, a style i'm into, a song i discovered, or whatever other things i might have done throughout the course of the day. maybe it will spring me from my pit of boredom that i can't seem to get out of.
i also thought it would be cool to document my progress as i go from doing a whole lot of nothing to actually having a real life.
so here is my blog, my life the prosaic, and i hope that you like it.

all the best,
laura <3