Until we meet again...

This past weekend has been really tough because of another round of wildfires here in Southern California. On my way home from dinner Friday night, we could see the flames on the mountainside by our house, and this was from about 20 miles away! The current Sayre Fire, the closest one to our home, is about 40% contained now, but there were so many homes lost. Thankfully, our immediate area was not affected by the flames, but the air all around has proven to be hazardous for many. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims of these fires. Let's hope that these disasters end soon.

For more info on these fires, click here.

With Thanksgiving around the corner and our trip coming up the week after, things will definitely be a lot hectic for me, so I'll be taking a short break from the blogosphere. I'll try to pop in on everyone's blog from time to time, so I won't be too far away. I just want to thank you all for your continued support. You're the best! I can't wait to share my trip with you all when I get back.

Just in case I don't get around to it... Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

Take care!

<3,
Tracy

"You've got to be a real man to wear tights!"

With the cold weather upon us, I felt the need to update my wardrobe with some warm-wearing attire, including tights. :D

Far left - black over-the-knee socks from H&M
Middle top - gray sweater leggings from Wet Seal
Middle bottom - gray ribbed footless leggings from Target
Far right - heather gray tights from Target



Boots made in Italy from Loehmann's



Black long cardigan by Exhiliration



Dress shirts by Express



Sweater by H&M



I took advantage of the recent Bebe sale (buy two tops, get the third one free), and these are what I scored.







I've been somewhat MIA lately because I will soon be going on vacation. I even added a counter here on my blog because I literally am counting the days until I leave! Zac and I will be heading to Hawaii on December 4 and returning December 14. We originally planned on going the day right after Christmas and returning sometime after the new year, but his family is having a big celebration in the beginning of next month for his nephew, Jaythan's, first birthday.

Before each of our Hawaii trips, Zac asks me what I want to do, and here's what I've got so far:

- SHOPPING : Ala Moana, swap meet @ Aloha Stadium, Marukai, and any other shopping outlets/malls we come across.
- SKY DIVING : I've never been, but Zac has done it. Zac's boss-lady's daughter will most likely join us because she's currently stationed in Oahu and she really wants to go!
- SURFING : I still haven't tried this yet! I'm pretty good at snowboarding, so I hope I'll pick it up easy.
- FISHING: I've never gone fising EVER, but I eat a lot of fish. :D
- ATV riding @ Kualoa Ranch
- EATING: Mitsu Ken (GARLIC CHICKEN!), Wailoa shave ice, Spam musibi @ 7-11, Zippy's, "real" poke, Soon's meat jun, "real" malasadas, cake noodles...

Any other suggestions?

"It's Just Like I Dreamed It!"

... I exclaimed as we watched the fireworks at Disneyland, and of course, my friends (who are also Friends fanatics) were laughing hysterically.

Part 3 of my birthday celebration took place at the happiest place on earth, and we also celebrated the little fat man's 2nd birthday.

Here are some pictures from the land of Disney.



Less than a month away until I'm back in Hawaii! I am so excited, but at the same time I'm bummed out because that means I have so much to do at work that I need to finish before I leave. Boo! The upside to that is that by the time I get back, work should be slowed down because all the end of the year stuff will have been done before I leave for vacation.

Anyway, I'm hoping to do more posts, but they probably won't be as frequent as before since it's almost that time of year where everyone is hustling and bustling, but I'll do my best!

After seeing some amazing looks that the gorgeous xppinkx has done using MAC's Paint Pot in Blackground, I decided to get it, but it was in the form of a birthday present from my cousin. She asked me for boots, which I delivered, only to have to return them because the heels were too high (per my aunt), so I ended up buying her some clothes instead. I did a quickie EOTD with just one eye using Blackground and Amethyst pigment from Coastal Scents. It's nothing special, but it just goes to show how versatile this product is. You can achieve any type of smokey eye with it, and you can pretty much layer any color you want on top of it. Like I always say, "Black goes with anything and everything."







Now off I go to get my free flu shot at work!

Prepare for glory!

You may have heard this a million times, but this year's election will probably be one of the most important ones in our lifetime. I haven't voted in an election since I turned 18, but today, that is definitely going to change! I can't tell you how to vote or who/what to vote for, and it shouldn't matter to me whether you have the same views that I do with respect to the candidates and measures on this year's ballot (believe me, not even my mom has the same views as I do!), but if you are able to vote today, I urge you to ROCK THE VOTE and help make history!

Now, on to more important news... Haha, just kidding!

I know a lot of you were eager to see my Halloween costume, so here I am (along with the Spartan).



I did a simple smokey brown look using MAC PP in Blackground and a TKB gold-brown pigment. I put more focus on highlighting my face and used MAC MSF in Soft & Gentle on the forehead, nose, above the cheekbones, and chin. I lightly dusted my cheeks with MAC blush in Flirt & Tease and contoured the cheeks with MAC blush in Blunt. For the lips, I used MAC lipstick in Peachstock topped with Smashbox lipgloss in Illumene.





Here is my brother as Nurse Joker. The white face makeup came with the kit he bought (he mainly got it for the scars). He wasn't satisfied with the black eye makeup or the red lipstick, so I let him use some stuff from my stash. I lined his eyes with Indelible Gel Eyeliner in Blackout, primed his eyes with MAC PP in Blackground, and applied La Femme eyeshadow in Black all around the eye. The lipstick is a deep red color by N.Y.C. (I can't remember the name of it!) He ended up melting some of it and applying it with a lip brush. He actually went to another party that night, but when we met up with him afterwards, all his makeup was still on! I think it took him 10+ cotton balls of Mandom to completely remove all the makeup!





Group shot with the boys before we left the house.



Tin Man, Spartan, Sailor, & Ghostbuster



Dorothy, Queen Gorgo, and Ghostbuster-ette (LoL)



People keep covering the flash with their finger!



Guess who's not ready for this picture?



Couples of the night



2 of 300



He had a little too much fun with this guy's costume!



Best costume of the night: Leeloo from The Fifth Element

The straps to my costume ripped, so I had to improvise!

Happy Halloween!

Thanks to the lovely Anne of yummiebitez.com for this awesome deal at Sephora!

Shop online at sephora.com from November 6 - November 10 and enter code FF2008 at checkout to receive 20% off your entire order!

As I mentioned in this previous post, I will be dressed as Queen Gorgo from the movie 300. Zac's costume is technically entitled "Hercules", but he may as well be a Spartan. He even has a costume sword! This will probably be the sluttiest costume I've worn to date (LoL), and it looks so gloomy outside as if it's going to rain! OMG! I better be prepared later tonight.

We had a potluck at work today, although I didn't bring any food. I did pitch in $5, though. I just grabbed a plate of food and scarfed it down. LoL. I didn't want to waste my lunch hour at the potluck because I wanted to go to the mall to grab some stuff (that is a total understatement!). Last night, I purchased MAC Studio Fix pressed powder because my mineral foundation from Meow Cosmetics in Naughty Mau looks way too dark on me now, and it was a perfect match 2 months ago! The retinol is making my face lighter and lighter (maybe it's also because of the lowering temps), and I figured I'd try the MAC stuff out, since it's more easily accessible. As of now, I'm an NC42. I thought I'd be an NW, but this one turned out to be a really good match. The MUA applied it with a 188 brush, and it came out really well on my skin. I don't own any MAC brushes, and when I applied it with the duo-fiber brush from Coastal Scents this morning, it didn't have the close-to-flawless finish as I had with the MAC brush. One of my mall stops at lunch today was Nordstrom, and I picked up ALL 3 Adoring Carmine brush sets! I know a lot of people weren't impressed with this year's holiday collection brush sets, but at only $35 each at Nordstrom, I just couldn't resist! I also stopped by Target and found a pair of gold flats and an off-white pashmina for my costume.

I don't have any pictures of the stuff yet, but of course, I'll share them all with you after this Halloween madness is over.

So you don't get completely bored of this almost plain post, here is a picture of one of the souvenirs I got from my recent trip to Disneyland.



Isn't it cute? Even Zac decided to get one for himself! There's actually a funny story with this mug, but I'll save that for later.

Here are some mini cupcakes I got here at work from our marketing department. They were so yummy! I want to go back for more, but I don't want to seem greedy. LoL.



Happy Halloween! Have fun, and stay safe!