Monet inspirations

One thing that has changed about me over the years is that I'm now a dedicated online shopper, not the mall mouse I used to be. I partly attribute that to living in Berkeley for the last few years and to be quite honest the nearest (quite far) malls weren't the same to me as walking through South Coast Plaza. It was practically my second home on the weekends in high school and I would count it as my exercise walking at least 2 miles around the mall every time I go. Even though I'm back near SCP, my lazy online habits have stuck with me. But the one time I did venture to the mall, specifically Nordstrom (which I just LOVE!), I found this eye-catching dress in the BP section. It greatly reminds me of a Monet landscape, like the water lilies, although if you look closely the painting is of a house in springy woods. I can’t resist anything Monet-inspired since he is my favorite European artist. This “dress” is originally a “shirt tunic” so I bought a large to fit it as a dress, which makes me much happier. The dress is a work of art itself so I minimize any accessories that can be distractions. I opt for simple gold jewelry to “frame” the dress. It's super cute paired with heart tights, which is the outfit I wore for Valentine's Day. I wish I had gotten a shot because the heart tights, which I bought a while ago from ASOS, ripped after one wear >:( It's Pamela Mann brand, so be weary...I don't think I'd order another pair again. But I am on the hunt for an equally adorable pair of heart tights and slightly praying Wolford will come out with one. Oh and can you believe I got the underlying black slip for just $0.01?! Yes ONE cent. It's from the same Nordstrom dept, BP, and it's super comfy and soft with a bit of thickness to it. When the person rang it up, we both were surprised, but she didn't do anything about it because it was set in the computer. It was labeled $26 on the tag. I was so happy because although I loved the dress so much, it pained me a little to have to buy another slip to go with it, which almost cost as much as the dress. So here's to the cheapest thing I have ever bought!!

I also copped a new camera! The Panasonic Lumix LX5. I've been eyeing this baby for half a year. It just went on sale at Amazon and has an amazing deal where you also get a $75 Amazon gift card! Like I said I'm a dedicated online shopper and Amazon is my home field, so the gift card will be put to use. It's a great offer to get accessories, like a camera case or sd card, for free. It's my first introduction to dslr and I love that it's also compact, which I just can't sacrifice (yes I've been using point and shoot for my blog the whole time). So far, I have nothing but rave reviews for the camera. You have a lot of manual controls over aperture, shutter speed, and focus. It takes great low-light pictures at high ISOs. So I tested the camera out with these outfit shots and I love them EXCEPT I know I messed up because I left the ISO on 1600 in the daylight!! That's why these pictures aren't clear and have a bit of noise to it. I was so sad when I realized I forgot to change the settings from the night before. Anyway I'm learning and hopefully learning quick so my next shots should be better :) 

dress: Nordstrom

slip: Nordstrom

socks: Urban Outfitters

shoes: Forever 21

bag: Urban Outfitters

necklace: Forever 21