Year In Review: 2016

Ahh so this is quite an overdue post actually! I had so many things that went on in 2016, such as travels and outings, that I meant to post individually about but.... never got to OTL >< So I'll take this opportunity to briefly go over them all as well as my personal highlights! 

Also, since my computer went through a few...... ordeals....... in 2016 I lost my emoticons and most of my files for pixels so please bear with the text emotes! 

The events are in no particular order aside from what I remember first! I'll try to organize it chronologically but keep in mind some of these happened towards the beginning and/or overlapped and I may have mixed a few up a little but overall it should be about right chronologically LOL.

 I dyed my entire hair Pink/Purply Pink

I guess the best description for my decision of dyeing my whole head of hair was... yolo? I've always wanted to dye my hair a shade of pink but never had the guts to do it until earlier 2016! I also chopped off a bunch of my hair. Not only did I want a new refreshing cut, it was a way for me to let go of certain old memories -- a fresh start if you will (sort of).

Around the beginning of the year:

I dyed it back to black for a while then redyed it to more of a pink! :

I've been sporting short hair since then! However I do plan to grow it out this time.

As I'm finishing up this post... I'm re dyeing my hair pink since it has faded a bunch since this picture above! I think after this last dye, I'll go back to either dark brown or maybe dark purple. I can never stick to one color >< (hence why I have sooo many wigs, it keeps me distracted LOL) this pink is actually the longest I've stuck with a color!

 I drove to Dallas by myself and visited a friend I made online

Back then, it was highly encouraged to never meet up with people you met online, but now it's quite the norm LOL. This was my first time driving out of the city by myself and to Dallas at that! It's about a 4 hour drive for me, so it was kind of nerve wrecking at first despite that fact I've gone to Dallas a few times with friends (although I was never the one driving those times eheh..) I met up with Crystle and ahhh it was such a fun time! She took me all over the place, we went to cafes, cute stores, a conveyor belt sushi that gives you a free gashpon when you finish x amount of plates, daiso and Round 1 (which my city doesn't have so it was new to me!)

I also played with a UFO catcher for the first time! I caught the cat plushy above and its huge!! (I went again with my boyfriend celebrating our 3 year anniversary and I caught a bunch more plushies LOL.) We also took pictures in the PuriKura machines (first picture above).

I stayed in Dallas for one night at a Hyatt nearby where she lives. Boooy sleeping alone in a big hotel room is kind of scary?? I'm not use to it OTL. on the day I was leaving we went to eat the conveyor sushi belt that I mentioned earlier and then we parted ways.

I can't wait to visit again soon.

 I drove to Houston by myself

This was a fairly recent accomplishment for me since it happened during Winter Break! Again, I've never driven out of the city by myself before until this year to Dallas. I went to Houston to visit a few of my friends and to exchange Christmas gifts. Houston was about a 3 hour drive for me, and getting there was easy but the way back was terrifying!! I'll talk a little more about that later!

My first day in Houston my friends and I went to eat at a really nice cafe, wish I took pictures of the area but I didn;t... too occupied with eating the food and chatting I guess LOL, then we went to the mall in hunt for the Sanrio store because last time when I went to HTX with my boyfriend the Sanrio store had a bunch of Pom Purin and Gudetama stuff but when my friends and I went the store was emptied out because they were closing!!! After that, my friends and I went around and got boba, Took lots of pics and stuff. I stayed for one night at one of my friend's house (thanks Trang!!).

credit: barechatta

On the day I was leaving, we decided to eat some sushi, and roam around the Chinatown area for a bit and took some more pics at a different cafe. It was a fun couple of hours!
When we parted ways and I was driving to go back home, I pretty much missed a few exits. Which shouldn't be too scary right? But the highway/free way in Houston is a lot bigger than where I live (Houston is like 5 lanes while where I live is 3 lanes, slowly making 4 lanes) and (most) of the drivers in Houston are scary and reckless?!? I can't handle LMAO I wasn't use to all of it and to make it worse I was leaving during the Holiday weekend, so there were more traffic and more people driving out and about. Note to self: don't leave on a Holiday weekend.

 I Fostered My Friend's Cat

I was able to foster my friends cat, Mochi, for a few months! He pretty much took over my snapchat story for a bit LOL. Had to let him go today though (well on the 2nd) but it was fun while it lasted!

 Visited California & Las Vegas

This happened during summer break, roughly the first week of August. My family and I took the car! Most people will hate the idea of that but to be honest I like long road trips? I really enjoy looking at sceneries and wondering what people do and how they go about their daily life. Especially when we pass by homes/places early in the morning and I notice people are awake or vice versa at night and their lights are turned on, it's really interesting to me albeit probably kind of creepy LOOOL.

It took us roughly 2 days to reach our destination in San Diego? Give or take it was 2 days ^^"

*Did you really go if you don't take a geo-filter of it? HAHA just kidding*

Can Snapchat bring back the doodling filter though, I actually really enjoyed that filter!

San Diego was really fun! It's been roughly 5-7 years since I last visited! Wish I could've gone with friends though, going with family kind of restricted me from wanting to go to other places hehe.. one day! But nonetheless it was fun with family <:

Some pics wandering around the strips of vegas:

This wasn't my first time going to Las Vegas either! Not much has changed since I last visited, we even stayed at the same hotel haha. We also visited this really awesome store in Las Vegas (I'm not from there so correct me if I'm wrong) called Tokyo Discount that sold a bunch of cute things.

Anyway I had a tons of pictures of Cali and Las Vegas but I lost them!! So these will do u-u

 My Manager Let Me Manage our Work's Instagram Account

Probably not a biiig or noticeable accomplishment but it's definitely something I thought I should add! It's not often your manager lets you handle your work instagram LOL.

 First Work Dinner On Christmas Eve

My manager took his girlfriend, my coworker and I out to eat at a Brazilian Steak House, and it was super nice! The waiters come to you and set the desired meats on your plate, it was a fun experience.

 I started Collecting Enamel Pins

Pins are so cute why didn't I start earlier?!?! I only started around the end of summer time! My collection has definitely expanded since. This is my current collection so far:

But I lost one when I was out in Houston! It may have fallen off when I was grabbing my backpack out of my car to transfer to my friend's room and I never noticed OTL. My goal is to fill this entire board with pins.

 I bought Ufufys

CUTE LITTLE PLUSHIES WILL BE THE END OF ME. These are currently not released in the US! At the moment, I believe they are Japan only but I was able to get them through a personal shopper!

If you're interested, you can find a personal shopper on a Tsum Tsum Facebook Page or googling Personal Japanese Shopper!

They are super duper cute and smell so sweet, to me they smell like cotton candy or bubble gum. They're also super soft it's ridiculous.

 I reached 50k followers on Instagram.

Exactly 1 year ago I only had a couple thousand (like... maybe 2k or 5k?) and I was on that 2k/5k for months! Never would I have thought I'd get 50k in that same year -- that is incredible to me. I don't even do anything interesting on Instagram I'm not worthy!!!!! T-T Actually, I've been thinking of making makeup tutorials or something and posting them on IG, that is if I can figure out how to make 15 second videos and get them on Instagram! I'm not very good with anything technology wise HAHA. But we'll see! I'm really thankful for those who chose to follow me though, I'm always astonished at the amount of followers I have, thank you so much for the support!!!

 I got an Industrial and 2 new lobe piercings

I've been wanting these for years!!!! But I was always too scared to get my ears pierced LOL I always wanted a helix piercing... but I decided to go big and get an industrial HAHA. I don't exactly remember the dates or month when I got them but I got my industrial first then a few months later I got 2 new lobe piercings on my left ear, placed above my other lobe piercing I got as a baby.

Pictures below are when I freshly got the piercings.

Since I got my cartilage done first (by getting an Industrial) the pain for my lobe piercing wasn't too bad. Surprisingly, my industrial piercing healed much better, easier and quicker than my lobe piercings! With that said, (TMI) I did have to take one of my lobe piercing out recently because it kept getting infected OTL but otherwise, I'm thankful I'm able to keep one of the new lobe piercing and that my industrial healed quicker and better than I thought!

I do plan on getting 2 more piercings but on my right ear to balance it out!

 I started to Cook and Bake More

I've always had an interest for cooking and baking and never really had the time or motivation to do it often. But lately, I'm starting to do more and it's honestly really nice! It helps me save money, it's fun especially when the outcome is delicious and it helps pass by any spare time. I can't wait to try out new recipes!

 I played Mirrors Edge Catalyst

Mirrors edge is my favorite game series!! I'm not much of a gamer (I'm not "good" but I really do enjoy playing games when I have the free time and urge) but ommg I love Mirrors Edge so much. I bought Mirrors Edge Catalyst around the time it released. I really enjoy the game play, it revolves around parkour and personally I've always admired parkour! However, I don't have the strength or stamina to jump on and off buildings and places irl LOL. The graphics is really nice too, Catalyst was so gorgeous, I love how bright the city was (I'm a sucker for city views) everything was pretty much.... ~aesthetics~, the graphics definitely improved since the first Mirrors Edge.

• Blog More. I've been procrastinating on blogging so much and I really need to step up. I enjoy reading other blogs too, it's always nice knowing there are still other people out there who blog instead of vlogging (nothing against those who vlog though! It's just a personal preference of mine that I prefer reading about people's lives, reviews, etc than watching a video about it ^^"). Also it helps motivate me when I read other people's blogs! 
• Study Better. Ahh I'm at the point in my life where I'm not really sure about what I want to do, but I should make the decision soon. I've never had a really good work ethnic in school, oftentimes I feel like I underestimate myself to be honest, but to sum it up the best I just feel like I'm just... not really interested in school? I'm always comparing myself to my friends as well, which is never a good thing comparing yourself to others. However, I know it's important to finish up and graduate and because my mom really wants me to have a 4 year degree ^^" It's complicated when you know you should be doing this/that but you also really want to do something else ya feel me? It's even more complicated when your future depends on it LOL OTL.
• Get 2 more piercings but on my right ear.
• Fill up my pin board.

What are some of your highlights? What are your current goals and/or resolutions for this year?

I hope your 2016 was overall a good one! I believe every year has it's ups and downs, but its all about how you power through/deal with it. You can either learn from the not so great things or let it negatively effect you, it's all about you. With that said, I hope this new year of 2017 will treat you well!

Thank you for reading! <3