O Canada!

Finally, here it is! As promised, a post about my family's 4-day cruise trip to Canada. How much more befitting is it to publish this on Canada Day. The part of Canada that we headed to was New Brunswick, and Saint John to be more exact. We hadn't gone on a cruise since I was 6, which I don't even remember very well. Cruises are kind of...interesting, to say the least. However, being out in the ocean/middle of nowhere is really nice and freeing.

Onto the pictures! And a fair warning, there are a lot.

Recently

Some recent snapshots/happenings of life. Just checking back in before I bombard you with travel pictures from my cruise last week!

Recently read:

Just gobbled this up. The illustrations in this book are beautiful.

Recently purchased:

Art supplies are the bane of my existence. Highlight of purchase: watercolor brush pens!

Recently painted:

My outfit yesterday. Testing out said brush pens!

Recently made a wish:

Nothing says screams 'summer' better than this picture.

Next post will be the cruise post! Prepare yourselves for quite a few pictures. :)

I Made a Cake!

So, I'm really not a baker. Every time I tried to make cookies from scratch, they'd end up as biscuits. My baking is pretty much limited to funfetti cake mixes...which is really bad. Clearly. But with proper guidance (a recipe book and a very anal friend), I (along with a team of friends) was able to bake a beautiful cake for one of our best friends for his birthday. I got quite a workout on my right arm from all the mixing.

I was in charge of decorating the cake, and I gotta say, I'm pretty darn proud of it.

The fork is my sword!

Practicing the icing on a plate of leftover zucchini (from our barbecue).

The finished product!

It was a 2-layer vanilla cake with chocolate ganache frosting. We put a layer of the frosting and sliced strawberries on the inside. The little chocolate "trimming" and what not is just melted dark chocolate.

The candles are in the shape of a K.

If my architecture dreams don't come to fruition, I guess I can become a cake decorator, aha! I'll work on the baking, though.

Hmph.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I disappeared again.

*sigh* -____-

I guess that's a thing with my blog, huh? It shouldn't though.

Well, remember last year when I also disappeared around this time of year? I was making the stage backdrop for my club's annual Asian Night show. This time around, I was the one planning the whole show so I had no free time at all. When I got home, I'd pass out on my bed, skipping dinner many times. It was a lot of work, but I'm glad it turned out almost hitch-free.

Here's a shot of our grand finale! I'm holding the sign right in the middle -- yup, I'm just a pair of legs.

But anyway, that's over and done with now so I have, literally, N-O-T-H-I-N-G to do. I'm just waiting to move out to college (which is pretty far away from Boston by the way). Time to start blogging again!

A blog lost in time...

Yes, you're right.

WHERE THE F*CK HAVE YOU BEEN, MAGGIE?!

I know, I dropped off the face of the earth. Especially after promising that I'd be back soon. I'm terrible. At first, my excuse was that I had to finish my senior research paper (a graduation requirement at my school), but then I finished that almost three weeks ago. And now, all I've been doing when I come home is pass out on my bed and catch up on all the sleep I've lost these past six years. I've been awful. I've been a mess.

This blog has been crying out for me in my head all this time, but those cries have been left unanswered. I'd tried many times to appease those cries by taking pictures of some new acquisitions, but never got to posting them. I've lost the spark. But it's still lit, just barely, singeing the edges of my mind, occasionally, to remind that it's still there.

How poetic.

In short, I really regret neglecting this baby of mine for so long. I need to get back.

Wearing MAC Satin Taupe on the eyes and NARS Flamenco on the lips.

In other news, I've heard back from 6 of the 10 colleges I applied to. I've been accepted to all of them so far, and I am bracing myself for the last four which will come out in the next two weeks. Life is moving so fast, but this blog has been stuck in the past. Time to change that.

I've also missed talking with you gals oh so so much.

Hrrrrr...

Greetings from Planet Maggie.

It's been some time, hasn't it? My apologies, but in the past few weeks, it seems my immune system had kind of...broken. First I caught a cold, then my blood pressure dropped too low so I had these horrible headaches and dizziness, and then I caught a stomach bug. Amazingly all in a matter of two weeks. Kind of a sorry state of affairs at the Maggie HQ lately, so I kind of abandoned the blog/twitter for a little bit.

But now, I'm back! I'm feeling a lot better now and as long as another sickness doesn't throw itself at me, I'll be fine. And blogging! My giveaway ended at the height of my health issues, so I didn't get to post the winner. Anyway, I used random.org and it generated...

...15, which was Makeup Morsels! Congrats, MM! :D

So, I just wanted to check in with you guys and update my sorry blog. I'm alive!!!!! (I actually felt kind of nervous writing this post because I felt like I disappointed you all. Sorry. u___u)

Looking Back: 2012 in Blogging

I know it's been a week and a half since New Years, but I thought it would be nice to take a look back at 2012 on The Polka-dotted Jellyfish. It's actually so rewarding to blog and document your life. Looking through the archives and picking out these pictures really brought back such pleasant memories. Let's take a trip through Maggie's year, shall we?

Click the captions if you would like to go see the posts themselves. 

In 2012, I...

JANUARY

...returned to blogging thanks to this blush sparking my curiosity,

...started my 'Color Play' posts,

FEBRUARY

...had a lovely Valentine's with my friends,

...did my first look for the blog,

...received quite a 'treasure' from Jian,

...went to California and tasted my first In-N-Out

and jumped for joy,

MARCH

...found five things,

...bought my first red lipstick,

APRIL

...became consumed in quite a big project,

MAY

quite BIG indeed,

...kicked off the summer with a rooftop barbecue,

JUNE

...wrote a little story,

...found an everlasting love,

JULY

...went to Puerto Rico,

and made a video,

...created a beach on my arm,

AUGUST

...concocted some rose gold,

...became 3 people in 1 post,

...created a design about depression,

SEPTEMBER

...ended the summer with some fishin'

and welcomed the fall with some pretty colors,

...said 'bye bye' to brights,

and said hello to a few sisters,

OCTOBER

...got my first Birchbox,

...'played' with some MAC,

...took you along with me on a hike,

...became a panda,

NOVEMBER

...started finding colors around the house,

...experimented with grays and purples,

...reconciled with an old friend,

...became caught up in college applications so I shared some art,

DECEMBER

...finally bought a Korres lip butter,

...fell in love with churches,

...shared some more art,

...and FINISHED my college apps in ever-so-fabulous fashion!

Blogging has been so fun and it is such a great creative outlet for me, and all the while I'm documenting precious memories. Upon this reflection, I've realized what a great year it has been. Really, such a great year. 

There are so many ways to approach blogging. While I still haven't really found my "niche" yet, I am starting to see a style/trend in my posts. However, I'll never stop experimenting. (Also, I'm glad that I never made self-promotional comments!) My apologies for the long post. Back to regular scheduled programming in the next one! 

Happy Sunday! Now I want to ask you, what does blogging mean to you? Do you ever just take a few moments to look back through your archives? 

NYC Food Adventure!

This past weekend, my family and I decided to embark on a less-than-24-hour food excursion to not only celebrate the new year, but also because my parents' vacation time was winding down. They picked me up right afterschool on Friday and we drove to New York City. We stayed for one night at the Strand Hotel (which is so swanky, damn) and left Saturday afternoon. For our little food fest, we ate a dinner at Sik Gaek and a lunch the next day at Momofuku Noodle Bar.

Sik Gaek was quite an experience. The waiters all wore ahjumma pants (which was hilarious and cute at the same time) and yelled/blew horns/hazed people with a giant black afro if it was their birthday. There were three victims the night we went. We sat in long shared tables with tall plastic stools. The place looked so purposefully rundown. It was pretty...pretty...one of a kind.

Complimentary self-fried fried eggs.

Hung our jackets on floating coat racks in the middle of the restaurant.

The stools we sat on.

Complimentary tteokbokki.

Live Octopus Sashimi!?! I was too scared to try this, it was MOVING.

Kimchi pancake.

HUGE Seafood hotpot. HUGE.

The claw kept clamping and unclamping over and over again.

Night//Morning - perfect view of the Empire State Building from our hotel window.

Times Square Disney Store -- hadn't been in one in years.

Times Square! The ball was still up.

Momofuku Noodle Bar was a lovely little lunch (hah, alliteration). The famous pork buns were heavenly, the ramen had the perfect soup-to-noodle ratio, and the noodles were perfectly cooked. However, I hate to say it, but it was just a tad overpriced. I did love their restaurant design! The bright wooden (I'm thinking bamboo) furniture was on point. I would go back with friends one day, though, when we can all split the bill. But I will have to find a cheaper alternative to get my ramen fix next time!

Their menus change everyday.

Those famous pork buns!

Momofuku Ramen.

And that concludes my family's mini food feast this past weekend. It was compact but still so complete. With a little advanced planning and a GPS, we can fill our bellies with delicious foods we can't find in Boston! Have you ever gone on a one-day food trip (or just a one-day trip) before? If you haven't, you must! It is quite an experience. Have a great week! :)