5ive

Posted: March 14, 2013 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: Clothes, Remix | Tags: black, black pants, gray, gray cardigan, gray floral shirt, necklace, purple loafers, take one pass it on | 4 Comments

I’ve been tagged by Kate of The Perpetual Student’s Wife in the “5 Random Facts” thing that is going around (OK that makes it sound like a stomach bug), so here goes:

1. This shirt was my mom’s, I just found it after another closet purge, and I’m looking for some loose blouses right now so it’s perfect.

2. Mosquito season has begun, and I’ve returned to my post as the official Mosquito Hunter of my family. We have these things that looks like a tennis racket, but the netting is electrified, and when you zap a mosquito with it, it makes the most satisfying pop. I may enjoy that a little too much…

3. I haven’t been to a lot of concerts. Well, OK, I’ve only been to two: Snow Patrol back in LA & Simple Plan for MTV Exit here in Hanoi. But then again there are only a handful of bands I’d like to see live: Linkin Park, Snow Patrol (I’d sell the first knuckles of my hand, à la Davos Seaworth, to see them live again), then maybe Athlete and Travis (but they haven’t done anything new in forever). Oh and Lisa Hannigan. I’d love to have been able to see Detektivbyrån live before they broke up too.

4. I miss baking. We don’t have an oven here and there’s no room for it anyway, but my sister is going to get one for her apartment, so I’m planning on visiting her every weekend to bake bread and cookies and stuff. I’ll chip in if I have to.

5. I’m doing this to avoid reading the scripts I’m supposed to be reading, so better get back to that.

Incidentally, this outfit reminds me of Kate too, though she’d look a lot more put-together. She can rock the skinny black pants and loose blouse like no other.

I used to tag people back in this kind of things, but now I don’t want anybody to feel left out, so go ahead to do the 5 things if you want to. I’d love to read them!

Shirt: hand-me-down, Cardigan: Forever21, Pants & Loafers: thrifted, Necklace: self-made

Day… uh, 6 of Take One, Pass It On:

Nite Owl

Posted: February 19, 2013 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: Clothes | Tags: green, necklace, orange, orange tee, polka dot jeans, purple loafers | 2 Comments

I used to be a real morning bird. It comes from having to wake up early to catch the bus to school for twelve years, and even during my college and grad school days I still managed to get up fairly early. Lately though, I’ve been staying up later and later, because it’s the only time I can write – I can’t seem to concentrate during the day. I don’t like it, because I feel so lazy getting up late in the morning, plus I have to eat breakfast by myself. But at least it’s paying off; I’m steadily hitting 1000 words a day, and getting closer to the finishing line. The story still reads like a Vietnamese remake of American Gods, but I’ve decided not to worry about that right now.

And yes, that’s a Watchmen reference in the post title. Back in LA my friends and I have once discussed dressing up as gender-swapped Watchmen for Halloween, and I picked Nite Owl – Nite Owl II, to be exact. I would’ve liked to be Rorschach – he’s more me, and that costume would’ve been a lot simpler. Alas, he was already taken.

… Come to think of it, my story is a bit like Watchmen too.

T-shirt: Old Navy, Jeans: refashioned by me
Loafers: thrifted, Necklace: Modcloth

The Slivered Gold Of Dying Days

Posted: November 8, 2012 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black Target jeans, blue, blue striped top, necklace, purple loafers | 1 Comment

The outfit is nothing to write home about (or, rather, nothing to blog about), but between NaNoWriMo, my script reading, helping my sister taking care of my niece (she’s getting better though, thank Heavens), and taking care of the garden and animals while my dad is away (we have chickens now, so that means more work), I just want something simple. Stripes, skinny jeans, and sensible shoes fit the bill. Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I finished the second story, but it’s less than 3,000 words, so looks like I’m going to have to write more than 10 shorts. Is it cheating if I translate the stories I’ve finished into Vietnamese so that I could submit them?… Yeah, I think it is. Maybe once my well for short story ideas runs dry (it’s not a very deep well, I tell you), I should dig out my novel ideas, and write as much as I could. Even writing half a novel is better than writing none at all.

Shirt: H&M, Jeans: Target, Loafers: thrifted, Necklace: Modcloth
Post title: lyric from Snow Patrol’s Engines (I found a bunch of videos for “how to get your car out of the snow” while looking for this song. Understandably, but I still think it’s pretty funny.)

Women’s Day

Posted: October 19, 2012 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: Clothes | Tags: baseball tee, black, bracelet, navy skinny jeans, purple loafers | 3 Comments

Tomorrow, October 20th, is Women’s Day in Vietnam, which we celebrate by giving women overpriced flowers and gifts. When my dad found out it was actually the day the Women’s Union of Vietnam was founded back in 1930, he got into this whole rant about how commercialization is robbing these days of their meanings (we also celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, and people give women flowers and cards on that day too.) I agree with him, but that got me thinking – why do we need a day (or two, in this case) devoted to women? Shouldn’t we do that all the time? And don’t tell me it’s for feminism and stuff. If anything, these days only give some men excuses to treat women like crap the rest of the time. Back in high school I always felt so awkward receiving flowers from the boys in my class on Women’s Day. I felt like I was being treated differently because of my gender -the exact opposite of what feminism is about. I would much rather the money spent on flowers and gifts be used to help the women who actually need it.

And that concludes my serious discussion of the day. Though I do find it fitting that this outfit is the most tomboy thing I’ve worn all week (it’s a direct rip-off of this, down to the patent loafers.)

Shirt: Amazon (I think? It was old. I got it along with some books to get the free shipping deal)
Jeans: Forever21, Loafers: thrifted, Bracelets: from Sapa

Spring Flowers

Posted: April 25, 2012 | Author: Salazar | Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black slingbacks, flower sweater clips, purple, purple loafers, white, white embroidered cardigan | 4 Comments

Usually when looking for a location to take pictures for the blog, I pay more attention to the lighting than to how my outfit would look against the background. Though there are several instances where my outfits matched the locations, most of those were accidental.

This outfit, on the other hand, is directly inspired by the location itself. I was walking home from the bus stop one afternoon and saw how beautifully the setting sun hit these orchid rock-roses, so I filed it away as a possible location. Then when I was thinking of what to pair with this dress, I remembered the pink flowers against the green and pulled out my embroidered cardigan – and it worked!