FASHION | Back to School WISHLIST

Now I know I just made a Back to School LOOKBOOK  but there are still many many oh so many pieces of clothing that I wish I could have incorporated into my outfits. Some of them way to expensive for me to purchase, and some of them I really wish I could have but missed/didn't have the chance to buy them! So I decided to make a Back to School WISHLIST to display some bonus outfit ideas that I put together! Ready to be campus-ready? Fasten your seat belts and let us begin!

Número uno

FASHION | Back to School LOOKBOOK

The one week countdown to a new school year began yesterday!

Well, sort of. 

As some of you may know, university(slash college) classes don't really start until after Frosh week; so technically, school doesn't start until the 8th of September for me. But to make up for the lack of videos I have produced this summer, I finally pooped out a "Back to School LOOKBOOK". 

Here is a little rant - for a video that is less than 4 minutes long, the time I spent on making this video is kind of ridiculous. As a newbie to video making, I have yet to figure out a more efficient way to produce videos. 3 hours of filming, 5+ hours of editing, 3+ hours of more editing (voice-overs, thumbnails, etc.) seem rather preposterous for such a short video. I still have so much to learn! (◕‿◕✿)

Alright, enough talking. Here is the actual video! I hope you guys really enjoy it and find it at least somewhat helpful!

YOUTUBE | 8 Facts You Probably Did Not Know

Hey y'all!

I came across a cool app called 8FACT - it has a plethora of interesting facts that I personally did not know. And guess what? I made a video about it! 

Bet you didn't know at least one of these facts eh?

You can find it here if the video does not play.

Enjoy.

Not A Film Critic | "The Book Thief"

*spoilers and things that may make you cry ahead* 

You have been warned.

Movie Poster

FASHION | Currently Loving: Breton Stripes

  Breton Stripes    

>>  With a rich history in fashion, the Breton stripes originated from France and were made for sailors. In its most common form, the Breton stripes usually have boatneck - or a wider round neckline. Personally I think it's a very flattering neckline on females, as it shows off the neck as well as collar bones. By itself, a Breton stripe t-shirt is a rather loose fitting piece, which is why many choose to have it tucked into their bottom wear, leaving a more fitted silhouette.

FAVOURITES | July's Happy 10

As the month of July slowly comes to an end, I wanted to dedicate a blog post to the 10 things that made me happy in the past 30 days or so. Similar to most of my summer days, July has not been super eventful or exciting, but it was still quite relaxing. I think it's important to find happiness in the little things around us, so what we didn't get to travel to New York City or go backpacking around Europe? We can still appreciate the fact that summer is here and the weather is beautiful and we have plenty of fruits to eat. :)

Before I continue to blabber on about everything, here are a few of my favourite things, of July!

REVIEW | Sally's Cereals - Cocoa Sweets

I found a new brand of cereal in the Walmart aisles in yesterday - Sally's Cereals. They were in very large bag packages - instead of boxes like most cereals are, and that immediately caught my attention. Perhaps not for the right reason: I thought they were beautifully packaged dog food...the bags were misleading.

I love eating cereal in the morning, with milk or yogurt, and ever since I started this 'clean-eating' journey I have been on the lookout for healthier options. I've heard about brands like HOLY CRAP but $10 for a <250g bag of cereal is not exactly affordable for a student. As I looked at the bags of cereals on the shelf, theses phrases stood out to me, "gluten-free", "no artificial flavours or colors allowed", "sweetened rice cereal with real cocoa". These all seemed to be good qualities, plus it was only $3.94, leading me to throw it into the cart.

Aspiring Couch Potato: Modern Family

Hey guys! I am so excited to start something new on this blog!
As I failed to mention in my very first post, I am a complete television junkie. Not to sound like a hermit with no social life whatsoever, but one of my favourite activities is probably staying in and binge watch television series... I am not ashamed to say that I finished five seasons of Modern Family under a week. And all of this 'healthy' TV watching has inspired me to test-run a new category on my blog here, focusing on reviewing various television programs - whether it be a drama, a sitcom, a reality show - and perhaps even specific episodes if certain ones really catch my eyes!

I will start with what I have been obsessing over most recently - Modern Family. As I mentioned previously, I did marathon through all five season within a week of time. Do keep in mind though, the episodes run for about 21 minutes each episode, so it's not too too bad on my part. I have heard lots of good things about the show before I started watching; which I remembered when I was at that in-between phase of TV land (you know, when you find yourself asking "now what?"). Yeah, that phase, the in-between, the TV purgatory.

JULY WISHLIST

Hello lovely people!
I decided that starting this month (July), I will be doing a monthly 'wishlist'. I find that a great source for styling inspirations as well as for keeping up with current fashion trends is browsing the catalogs of online stores and boutiques. Whether it is larger corporations like Forever 21, American Apparel, etc., or more online-focused ones like ASOS and Nasty Gal, I always find so many pieces I like - (cue sad record scratching noise) - but cannot afford or unwilling to splurge on. The struggle is so real here (seriously, no. First world problems). I thought I could share with y'all some of the stuff I like and maybe you will find something here you are interested in as well! c:

Since it's the summer time, I've been really on the look out for dresses.

FOOD | Banana Oat Balls

Hi lovers!

Today I am sharing with y'all a healthy snack recipe! I was browsing the web the other day and stumbled upon this recipe for banana oat bars. If you are following my Instagram (http://instagram.com/michelleguuu), you would know that I am a huge foodie and 90% of the people I follow are healthy/vegan/food accounts. XD 
Anyway, I followed this recipe here from The Kitchn - http://www.thekitchn.com/healthy-snack-recipe-5-ingredi-156571 and altered it a bit according to the ingredients I have and I like. These are healthy, simple, and delicious and I really hope you guys try and make them! :)

This was my first time posting a video tutorial on a food, hope y'all find it helpful! Please let me know what I can improve on!

REVIEW | Table For Seven: The Works [and Haul]

Last night I got spend some quality time with a few of my favourite girls over dinner and I thought I would write a blog post about it because why not right? 

It was sort of a birthday gathering. Because my birthday is in June - which is during the summer time for university students - I was really glad that I could celebrate it with my friends back in Ottawa now that everyone is back in town! We went to a restaurant called 'The Works' which I believe is only opened in Ontario so far. It was my second time there but  have to say I was a bit disappointed :( The last time I was there was over a year ago and last night when I looked at the menu, I realized they had changed it completely! 

REVIEW | THEFACESHOP, MAKEUP FOREVER, and More!

Hiya! 
Hey guys!
So a new THE FACESHOP recently opened in the area I live in and I headed over there for an interview a week ago (fingers crossed!). I was looking at some of their products and purchased an item! Yay exciting eh? I bought the 'Lovely ME:EX Angel Skin Foundation' that THE FACESHOP carries. When I was at the store I thought the packaging looked really familiar and when  I came home, I realized my friend had actually got me the BB cream from the same series. So I will be reviewing those two items below. On top of that, I got my hands on some mini-sized MAKEUP FOREVER products, so those will be in this review as well. AND! Oh yes, there is an 'and' - I have a wonderful product that I would like to share with you all! (HEY YOU. YEAH. DO NOT SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE MYSTERY ITEM YET. I'M WATCHING YOU.)

Here's a pickey of everything! (Oh yes, mystery item!)

YOUTUBE | Brunch Vibes: Yummers and OOTD

It's raining outside. Pouring, I should say.
Here, click on this so you know how I feel right now. http://www.rainymood.com/
I think I am just such a contradictory person - as much as I love those sunny days, I quite enjoy the rain too. Especially when it pours, and when there are lightening and thunder storms (though they scare me a bit). 
Try to picture this. Sitting in a nook/cranny, sipping on a cup of passion fruit tea, listening to the rain outside with a book in your hand and a pillow behind your back. Yeah, that's what I call #Perfection right here. If you are wondering what a nook or cranny is, it's something like this. To be honest, I'm not sure if those are the most accurate words to describe them, but you get it right? 

I need one of these in my future house c:

Anyway, all this raining just made me think back to last Sunday - a true SUN-day - when my friend Katie and I had a chance to catch up over a nice brunch at Cora's.

DIARY | Bits and Bobs

Nothing extraordinary today but I felt like writing so here we are.

A few days ago I received an email from TIFF - and for those of you that don't know, it stands for Toronto International Film Festival - informing me about an orientation session that I need to attend some time in July and August. I finally booked my Greyhound tickets today! So I will be back in the big city in early August. Normally I would just print out my bus tickets but my printer actually broke I think early May - yes I come home and I break things, literally a home wrecker. So I thought I could just email it to my friend and have her do it for me. But for what ever reason, the Greyhound website would not let me email my tickets this time! So my mom and I took a trip to Staples and bought a new printer. Tada! I think I'm going to name her Ruby. Yes it's a she. Yes it just works. Okay. It's the HP Envy 5530 wireless printer. I've heard good and bad things about wireless printers so we will see how it goes. I've printed some stuff already and so far it seems good to me.

One thing y'all need to know about me is that I love, LOVE, opening up new things - especially packages, as do many people I believe. I'm not saying that I can financially afford to buy new things like every single day but when I do, that moment when I open those boxes, the feeling of pure satisfaction and joy really rush through me. #weirdo. I also found these ink cartridges and I love the packaging! The one on the left came with the printer and it just reminds me of cookies or crackers? Like those little packets? You know what I'm saying?

FOOD | A No-Bake Greek Yogurt Birthday Cheesecake

Be thankful. 

With the woman who brought me to this world, I celebrated my 19th revolution around the Sun. Woo! I feel like as I grow older I become less creative in terms of things to do on my birthday as well as birthday gifts. When my Mom asked me what I wanted this year, I really couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. I think people these days are often too caught up in materialistic things, of course that includes myself. This year, I just want to be thankful that I had an amazing year at university and now have finally came home and can be with my Mom. Honestly, what more can we ask for other than just being alive and healthy and happy? 

While I was getting ready to go out, as I brushed through my hair, I remembered how my Mom used to do my hair in all kinds of creative styles back when I was in elementary school in Shanghai. You know them Chinese mamas have got the best hand in creating art pieces with the little amount of hair on your 7 years-old head. And the hair ties they use, the ones with the little plastic charms on both ends? These things hurt like a real mofo when your Mom accidentally snap them onto your head. Someone please tell me you know what I'm talking about...

Time sure flies by. I can still remember holding onto my Mom's fingers asking her to buy me chocolate - okay, confession, that may or may not still happen today. Shameless. But nonetheless, I have grown up and in the past 19 years she has been my rock and has bathed me in love, care, and support. 我的生日同时也是妈妈的受难日. This is a Chinese saying that loosely translates to "my birthday is also Mom's suffering day". Ten months of discomfort and hurting, our mothers give us life. Every year on my birthday, I can't help to imagine the amount of pain my Mom had to go through when she gave birth to me. I mean, I moan over a half inch paper cut for God's sake... And on top of that, all these years of worrying about me, taking care of me, raising me had brought my Mom (and of course everyone's parents) wrinkles and white hair. As much as I would like to, I have yet to gain the skills to have a proper and well-paid job to repay my Mom for all her hard work. So I take small steps. 

I made this cake not only to celebrate my birthday, more importantly to give thanks to my mother.

Anyway, let's get to the meat of this post!

NO-BAKE GREEK YOGURT CHEESECAKE

*this recipe makes about 12 mini cheesecakes

You will need these ingredients:

CRUST

• 1 C graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 C regular granulated sugar (or you can substitute for healthier alternatives like stevia,  4-6 packets would be ample)
• 1/4 C melted salted butter 

FILLING

• 1 package of Philadelphia cream cheese (250g), room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 C plain Greek yogurt (I used Liberté, but OIKO or Chobani would work just as well)
• a pinch of salt
• 1/3 C liquid honey
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Some fresh or frozen blueberries

Of course, feel free to adjust the recipe to your like!

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix together the crust ingredients until well combined. Using a spoon, firmly press the crust mixture into a muffin tin (or if you have cupcake linings, you can use those and then place them on a tray). 
2. Place them in the freezer for at least 20 minutes.
3. Using a stand mixer, mix the cream cheese until it has a creamy texture.
4. Add in all the other filling ingredients except for the blueberries. Mix well.
5. With a spoon, fill the muffin tin half full with the filling. Place a few blueberries on top, and add another layer of the cheesecake filling.
6. Once you are finished with that, cover the trays with some plastic wrap and leave in the freezer for about 8 hours.
7. Take them out about 10 minutes before you serve them. Add toppings as desired.

And voila! 

Good luck and Enjoy! :)

Michelle, xx

YouTube: youtube.com/user/mishywishy00
Instagram: http://instagram.com/michelleguuu
Tumblr: http://vvildflowher.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/heymishhh
Pinterest: pinterest.com/missnotdior

YOUTUBE | Outfits for Spring Episode 3: Birthday Behavior

Hello lovelies!
I have decided to move my OFS (Outfits for Spring) series to my blog as well. I have already completed the first two episodes, which you can check out on my YouTube channel if you like.
Ep.1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QstY_Heg77U
Ep.2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf2Qhd_yvsw

And on we go with episode three! Also this will be the last episode of the spring series, because summer is finally here! Look forward and stay tuned for more summer outfit ideas! ♡

The weather yesterday was lovely - lots of sunshine with the perfect amount of wind to blow your hair up like in the movies! My Mom and I drove downtown for a little birthday dinner to celebrate my 19th birthday. #YayForLegal. There is NOT going to be any #FirstLegalDrink hashtags on my Instagram because I ain't no your ratchet basic bitch. Just kidding. But seriously. Homegirl is not about that alcoholic life. Me? I'm chocoholic.

#DramaQueenForLife

I have always been a summer girl. The nice sunny weather was the perfect opportunity for me to break out my dresses! I mean, it's about time right? 

This dress is from Express. I thought the vibrant orange color paired up with a more subtle beige make a perfect spring/summer stripe combo. As the dress is fitted to the waist, I added a rust colored belt (thrifted) that has braided details. The texture definitely highlights the dress, and at the same time the belt helps to accentuate the horizontal effect the dress brings.

YOUTUBE | Outfits for Spring Episode 2: A Style Guide for Mother's Day

Hello hello! So I started a series on my YouTube channel a few weeks ago focusing on spring fashion. Here's the behind-the-scenes styling log for episode 2. Enjoy! 

This episode is dedicated to this year's Mother's day. Moms are probably the most hardworking and caring people in this world. To show my gratitude to my mom, I decided to style two outfits using her wardrobe. Remember how we used to be so eager to wear our moms' clothes? Well that hasn't changed! It's always a pleasant surprise when I raid my mom's closet. 

Items used that do not belong to my mom will be listed below. 

Made Personal: A Beginning

Hello friends! This is Michelle speaking.

So uh, welcome to my blog. I guess for the next little while, this place will be my sanctuary - somewhere I can express freely regarding ... well, everything. So far, I have imaged this blog to mainly consist some of my thoughts and ideas on the current, past, and future trends of fashion and styling, as well as bits and bobs about my personal life and where my interests lie - food, people, travelling, music, DIYs, photography, you name it!

I am currently a university student who is, of course like everyone else, "trying to find herself". While I'm at it, I spend most of my time on the internet, finding inspirations here and there. I guess for now this blog is where I will be sharing with all you awesome (and hopefully not creepy) peeps out here in the Wide West (aka. zee internet) a bit of my life. But I mean who knows, maybe it will grow into something completely different in a couple years, maybe in even just a few months.

Hopefully this post has put my little blog to a somewhat interesting start. I also have a Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/mishywishy00) where you can watch me talk to a camera and, I mean, my mom likes my videos, so perhaps you will too. 

[here is a picture of little old me in this big big world, enjoy.]

Michelle, xx

Find me here!

YouTube: youtube.com/user/mishywishy00
Instagram: http://instagram.com/michelleguuu
Tumblr: http://vvildflowher.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/heymishhh
Pinterest: pinterest.com/missnotdior