Valentine's Surprise

Hi lovelies!

It's Valentine's Day! Actually, as I sit in Starbucks typing this, it's only 1/30/2013. The month of February marks my 2 and a half year relationship with Keith, definitely the longest relationship I've ever had,. I can't express in words how much I love him, but he was the first one to love me unconditionally, the first one that I hopped on an overnight bus twice for (we were long distance our first year together).

 

I met him at a convention a long time back, we hit it off and never looked back. We've had our fair share of arguments, but we've always pushed through it. A year ago, he came up to North California for school and we've been inseparable since. A year and five months ago, we got a beautiful dog by the name of Mishka. He's like our kid now, I could never give him up.

Anyways, Keith has been using a broken laptop since he's trying to save for a very good one. But between car maintenance, rent, and other expenses, it's been a long process for him. But I know he wants one. So this Valentine's day and in honor of our two and a half years together, I splurged and got him the laptop of his dreams instead of the Chanel bag I was eyeing.

I know he's going to cry. It's an HP Envy 15.6" with AMD HD 7640 graphics card, perfect for gaming (He's a League of Legends fanboy). It has the exact specifications he wanted in a laptop and it's the perfect size for bringing to school, as well as using it as desktop. The smooth black finish is gorgeous and classy.. suits him to a tee!

 

But I don't plan on giving it to him until the very very very very last minute. The plan is to pretend like I didn't do much for Valentine's Day at all besides the generic cupcake baking. Then at night, I'm going to whip it out and be like BAM!

*Edit* Actually, his favorite car is a Nissan 370z in red, and I found a small 1/24 scale model of it with openable doors and trunk. I'm going to wrap it up cutely and pretend that's his Valentine's gift. It's cute, thoughtful and he won't suspect the giant surprise I have for him.

The actual car (not my photo!)

The really cute 1/24 scale model (not my photo!)

Isn't it a perfect replica? I'm going to wrap it  up in cute ribbon and stuff and bake him cupcakes along with it. But yes, I'm definitely aiming for this Valentine's Day to be the best ever. Who knows, maybe I'll get that Chanel for my birthday ;)

xoxo - Cathy

Floral Winterland!

Hi lovelies!

I actually had an amazing thing happen to me on tumblr recently. One of my outfits (blue dress, pink tights) has been making its rounds on tumblr and my friend from school sent me this on Facebook:

But yeah! It was super duper cute, especially since I never think that I'm cute/well dressed.. especially compared to the gorgeous girls on tumblr!

Anyways, here's today OOTD!

~~~ Outfit Rundown~~~

Dress: Charlotte Russe - $10 (sales yay!)

Scarf: Zara - $10

Cardigan: H&M - $15

Flower Clips: H&M - $6

Tights: Avenue - $6

Boots: Steve Madden - $130

Bag: Louis Vuitton Neverfull GM - $980

So funny story about those boots. I bought them six freaking years ago. In high school, I loved those cowboy boots. I'd wear them with everything. Jeans, skirts, dresses... everything. But then the cute little wooden heel on the back got worn down over the years.. to the point where I couldn't even walk in them anymore. I didn't wan't to throw them away so I packed them in their box and left it in my closet. 

Fast forward all these years and I rediscovered them in my closet two weeks ago! Imagine my happiness as I pulled my favorite boots out and realizing that next to my university apartment I had the most amazing shoe cobbler. I got them repaired for just $20 and the cobbler used a rubbery material this time so it wouldn't wear down again. The whole process took about 3 weeks, but I'm finally reunited with my gorgeous boots <3 

xoxo - Cathy

Hi lovelies,

As promised, here are a thousand photos from my trip! I seriously had the time of my life with my super romantic boyfriend. I can't stop gushing about how beautiful and lovely it was.. and how everyone should definitely go to Napa if they have the chance.~

So this morning after we got ready to go out, I saw these two adorable ducks chilling by the lake in our hotel. Yes, the doubletree has a freaking lake and two pet ducks!

And of course I couldn't resist taking photos of myself by the lake!

~~Outfit Rundown~~

Hat: DreamV - $20

Cardigan: Caidoble - $15

Dress: BCBG Maxazria - $298

Heels: Miu Miu Cork Wedges - $695

Bag: Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 - $815

Bag Bow: Louis Vuitton Monogram Maps Bandeau - $150

The lake is absolutely gorgeous.. you can kind of see the rooms in the background!

We then embarked to our first destination, Bouchon Bakery. Check them out on yelp here. Bouchon Bakery is a famous french bakery with shoppes in New York, Las Vegas, and Yountsville. They're super delicious too! 

The line was super long! You can see my boyfriend at the end of the line <3

And they had the cutest trashcans. Oh my goodness, I just wanted to take one home!

Inside the bakery were amazing selections of pastries, breads, and sandwiches.

My boyfriend and I couldn't choose between the thousands of different macaroons, so we decided to get one of each! (There were 9 different flavors~) Here they all are!

Pistachio!

Passionfruit!

Raspberry!

Chocolate!

Caramel!

Espresso!

Coconut!

Hazelnut!

Vanilla!

And of course, group shots of 3~

And my boyfriend also wanted to try the Chocolate Ganache Tart, so we got one! Unfortunately, I dropped it a little bit when I was trying to take it out of the box, so part of it cracked. 

Boyfriend happily nomming!

oh deliciousness~

While waiting for my boyfriend to hurry up and finish his food, I decided to camwhore a little bit.

Then this adorable little bird came by to beg for food.... but I just took a picture of him instead!

We couldn't even finish the ganache tart in the end and had to throw it away. ;___; So good, but waaay too sweet for our cavity-filled mouths!

On our way back to the car, we saw an adorable dog and gorgeous flowers.

Then it was off to Castello di Amorosa! Castello di Amorosa is a gorgeous castle that you can actually tour while doing wine tastings~ 

There were countless animals running around too, such as sheep, chickens, and cats! It definitely added to the medieval flair this place had.

The architecture of the castle was simply gorgeous!

Since we weren't quite 21, we weren't able to go on the wine tasting tour, but we did get some juice :) 

After our long day, we went back to our hotel to unwind and relax. I wanted to go to the whirlpool, but I didn't want to get my hair wet since I had dinner reservations, so I wrapped my hair in two buns. The pool was super hot and relaxing, but I could only stand the heat for 10 minutes before I left to shower and cool down. 

asecondtoforever... swimsuit edition!

And then it was dinnertime! The restaurant I wanted to go to originally didn't have any reservations open, so Keith and I opted to go to Olive Garden instead, I usually don't like Olive Garden, but Keith had never gone so off we went to Vallejo and I was pleasantly surprised! 

What I wore~

I got the Sampler Italiano with Calamari and Ravioli for appetizers, Chicken Gnocchi soup, and Penne di Mare. Keith had Minestrone soup & Classic Lasagna. We then decided to share a Dolcini Amaretto Tiramisu, which was the most amazing thing on earth. 

Strawberry Daiquiri

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Minestrone Soup

Penne di Mare

Amaretto Tiramisu

We're planning to stay in the hotel for the rest of the night and watch movies on netflix. Blue Valentine anyone? 

xoxo - Cathy