Yet Another Life Update // {P.O.V + Let's Eat Here!}

It's been 2 years since my last update. Let me let that sink in, 2 years (´⊙o⊙`；)

A lot can change in two years, and I hope that I was able to change during the time that has passed to a better person.

Anyways, let's get to it!

🔽What Courtney Has Been Doing Instead of Blogging🔽

- Started learning how to Ballroom Dance!! Competed in 3 competitions so far!

-Will be doing Graphic Design program this April ೭੧(❛▿❛✿)੭೨

-No longer works as a Barista...but now works as Medical Office Assistant

-Watched Vance Joy twice now. This makes it a total of 3 times 

- Begun doing Barre Fitness!

- Hiked Joffre Lake, The Chief and many more places

- GRADUATED with my Bachelor's!!!

- And now sadly, paying off my loans...

(Please note that the rest of the content below ↓ was written back in 2016...)

|| Places of Vancouver ||

If there's one thing to know about me, one of my hobbies, is hiking. I love exploring new places and looking at the scenery. Sadly, this year, I wasn't able to hike too much, in fact, I think I only hiked twice this year ●︿●

Luckily, I was able to explore a new place in Vancouver. During the last week of August of 2016, my close friend and I went to Rice Lake.

The side view of Rice Lake.

The water looked so clear here...in reality it was mucky and brown :c

Aesthetic picture, haha.

Posing, cause I need one for Instagram.

It was a peaceful hike, quite small, but it was nice and enjoyable. I do have to say that the water was mucky and not clear at all.

However, if you guys fine yourselves in Vancouver and want to hike, I would not recommend Rice Lake, only because there are other places such as Deep Cove, Cypress Falls, etc., that have a much better view.

Let's EaT Here!

If you must know, from the time away I was from blogging, I became interested in trying new food places in Vancouver! In fact, I made another Instagram account to document the places I tried and the dishes of food. 

(Check out my new instagram account)

Shameless promotion

Due to this new hobby of mine, I was able to find new places in Vancouver that I enjoyed eating at. And one of those places was Fanny Bay Oyster Bar. 

A closeup of the menu.

Can you feel the ambiance?

Located on 762 Cambie Street, it's actually quite easy to miss the restaurant, seeing how the entrance is a bit small. However, once you enter in, the place is quite spacious. They had multiple seating for dining, places to sit at the bar and as well, part of the restaurant was a shellfish market, where people can go buy their own seafood.

The time my friend and I went there, it was happy hour. This meant the oysters were $1 a piece!!!  ٩(◕ั ∀◕ั๑٩)

Oysters galore.

Because it was our first time here, we were a bit cautious on how many oysters we wanted to order. However, that thought went away as soon as we ate an oyster each. It was very fresh.

More pictures, because why not?

Given with the oysters was a complimentary bucket of fried potato chips. More so, we were given half a lemon, cilantro and cocktail sauce to give more flavor to the oysters.

Colorful sauces.

If that wasn't enough, at our disposal, we had also 3 more additional sauces. I believe we had apple cinnamon cider, mango and watermelon. From the three, I enjoyed the mango sauce with my oysters the most.

Overview of what we ate.

In addition, my friend and I also got the deep-fried oysters, which was the first time I tried it. I would actually described to be savory and sweet.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience of the Fanny Bay, I would recommend going there during happy hour! There's a lot to choose from for half the price.

Since I haven't technically posted a really long long post for a long time...I decided to finish this one up with some of the songs I found enjoyable. Hopefully, you guys will like them as well.

The Head and the Heart - All We Ever Knew

Reuben and the Dark - Heart in Two

Meiko - Stuck on You

Thanks for reading,

Courtney ♡

Ootd #4: Celfie // { Face Shop Haul + P.O.V}

It's that time again, time to post my recent outfit of the day! This time, I present to you an outfit I simply call Celfie.

Awkward poses, for the win!!!

What I like about this outfit, is that it can be either worn casually or look really polished, depending on the design of overcoat or blazer that is styled with the outfit.

Let's take a closer look.

-I love this celfie tank, it's smooth and comfortable and what I like the most is that I was able to buy it when it was on sale! ٩(●˙▿˙●)۶…⋆ฺ

-I'm not a huge fan of H&M but I have to say, they have great sales! The tank top is cute, yet simple, it can match with anything, since the colour is white and basic. 

-What I enjoy most about the skirt is the unique colour. I never owned any coloured skirt that was violet, so when I saw it at Forever 21, I had to get it. The skirt I picked up was small, yet I would have to say the length is pretty long, although I'm sure its due to my short height (Θ︹Θ)ს

-Another thing, is that the elastic was a bit too loose for me, However,to end on a positive note though, the material of the skirt makes it feel nice  and when you peer closer, you can see little zigzags for design.

-Also from Forever 21, was this heart necklace.The neat thing about it, it's that it can open, serving as a locket. However, the necklace can sometimes open up easily, making it an annoyance at times, and if not properly and carefully taken care of, it can dent pretty easily.

A simple difference

A variation of this outfit can be adding additional accessories such as knee high socks. For example, such as this:

Another variation for this outfit, is by also adding a cardigan sweater, with ankle boots:

Overall, this outfit is more suitable for the Fall and Spring. It can go either way of giving a casual look or appear polished and preppy.

✚Where can you get these items?✚

Blazer from: Urban Planet

Tank from: H&M

Skirt from: Forever 21

Heart Necklace from: Forever 21

 {Haul}:

 THE FACESHOP

I actually got these masks quite a while ago, most likely after spring semester, since that was probably the time my face was breaking out due to final exams.

Small haul.

The face masks that I got were:
-Aloe
-Green Tea
-Kelp
-Mung Bean

From the back of the package, all the masks are described as:
"This mask contains a serum with moisturizing and nourishing properties to leave skin soft and healthy looking."

Let's go EaT here!

I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore "foodie", but if there's one thing that I do enjoy, is that I love trying and eating at new places.

And for all your poor students in Vancouver, The Famous Warehouse, which is located downtown, is a great place to eat at, because....ALL the food they serve is only for $4.95!

While The Famous Warehouse is considered a restaurant, personally for me, I found it to be more pub-like than anything else.

A thing that I really liked about the place was that the water that was served to us, was in a beer bottle, I thought it was quite cute and appealing.

Longboards as wall decorations.

Overview of the wall decorations of The Famous Warehouse.

Besides the food, I thoroughly enjoyed the decorations of the place, it just gave off a cozy and relaxing vibe to me.

The Works Burger, and it's all deliciousness.

Since it was my first time there, my friend recommended me the "Works Burger", which was delicious! While the size of the plating appears small, it actually isn't and I was filled up by burger and fries, fairly quickly. 

To get to a more personal note, I will be graduating from college in the next couple of days, which is exciting! To be honest, for the majority of the time I was in college, I lost interest and I really didn't have that much motivation to study, to be frank, I believe (and still slightly) that college isn't for me.

But, after being granted an associates, I feel happy and accomplished, and it has given me a new sense of renewed energy and I now have my sight on a couple of different certificates and hopefully a degree in the future!

Thanks for reading!
Courtney ♡.

Salted Nails // {Quick swatch ft. Urban Decay, P.O.V. + Outfit pics}

When it comes to nail designs, I would consider myself a very detailed person. (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و I usually tend to go for designs that are more complicated than some, but some days I feel lazy and don't want to put that much effort of my nails. That being said, I'm here to share with you, a simple, yet cute nail design that looks cool and complicated, but in reality, it's easy.

Today, I shall show you how to create a salted manicure, making your nails look cool, without that much effort.

For this design, you can pick any colour(s) you want, you can mix and match or stick with one colour. The last time I did this design, I did a pastel coloured theme, but for this one I'm going to stick with one colour.

The required products.

♢ What I used ♢

-NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in 147 Lexington Lilac

-Island Girl Top/base coat

-Salt

Getting into the TuToRiAl...!

Never skip out on applying base coat!

1) The very first step and for every nail tutorial, is to apply a base coat on your nail plates. By doing so, you can provide protection from the chemicals nail polish have and to keep your nails looking clean and nice, once the polish is taken off.

One coat of the nail polish.

2) After waiting for the base coat to dry, the next step to do is apply one coat of the nail color(s) of your choosing, make sure to wait for the coat to dry, before heading onto the next step.

3) Once the first coat of nail polish is completely dried, this is the time you want to add a second coating.

Cool nail effect by adding salt.

4) Before the second coat dries up, this is when you want to sprinkle salt all over your nails. To ensure the salt particle stays, gently press against it on the nail. You can easily shake off the excess salt if it gets in the way.

5) Finally, after you complete all the steps, finish off by applying a top coat. For me, I had to apply 2 top coats, to get everything covered.

The end ReSuLtS!!!

Let's Get Naked
-Not too long ago, I purchased Urban Decay's Naked Foundation in shade 3 from Sephora.

-What I like about this foundation is that feels absolutely weightless, just as advertised.

-Even with a pump, I was still given enough foundation to cover a large area of my skin.

-Spreading and applying the foundation around, was very smooth-like, which is great!

Overall, when it comes to foundation, I'm the type to spend a little more than other makeup products. I really like the Urban Decay Naked foundation and I have no problem, in the future, buying it again.

Spend the Day with Me!
(AKA Places of Vancouver)

Last week, was the first week of summer school for my college and since I'm not taking any courses, I decided to volunteer as an information guide for new students and tell them where to go and what do if they had questions.

This went on for the first two days of the week and while the first day was pretty busy, on the second day only 2 people came up and that was it.

I really didn't have anything to do after volunteer, so I made plans with one of my old high school friend and we went to the Vancouver Aquarium for fun and nostalgia.

So before heading to the aquarium, I made my friend take a picture of my outfit of the day, since the scenery at Stanley Park is very pretty.

(On a side note: SHOUTOUT to my friends for putting up with my eccentric ways, especially when it comes to dealing with outfit pictures).

The outfit I wore to the aquarium!

{I'm not too of a huge fan of plaid, but when I saw this dress at Forever 21, I thought it was too adorable to pass up, so I bought it. 

Also from Forever 21, are the laced flats. They're very comfortable and can be easily be matched with anything, same goes for the heart necklace (if you want to see a closer picture of the necklace, check out my previous post).

The cardigan at the moment is my favourite piece, I believe I got it from American Eagle and the belt is from Urban Planet.}

○The Aquarium Life○
[So, I realize I suck at taking pictures in my phone some of them are going to be blurry, sorry!]

Hopefully this nail tutorial inspired or helped you create a similar design. If you don't want to use salt, you can definitely use sugar as a substitute, it will still create the same effect. Although, for me, I tend to stay away from sugar, just in case it attracts insects (yuck). 

Also on another completely different topic, I cut my hair shorter! :A: it's been years since I cut it short, since I do like my length and I can style my long hair into more styles.

On a plus side though, the length is perfect, since it's getting a lot warmer, here, in Vancouver. As well, I don't need to wait as long for my hair to dry and even better, my haircut only cost $7 since I got it cut by a student hairdresser. ヾ(。◕ฺ∀◕ฺ)ノ

Anyways, I will stop rambling and I'm hoping to put out more reviews during this month because I know made promises that I would do so, and plus, I have some new products that I've been dying to tryout.

Thanks for reading,

Courtney ♡