Transformation Tuesday: Who Wore it Better?

I wore the same dress to both semi formals, but I completely transformed my outfit from last year to this year from top to bottom, and I think 2015 Chanhong definitely wore it better. Here's why:

1. Hair: Downdon't v. Updo
I personally think I would look great bald, so that's why I'm going with the updo (Credits: Truc Vo) in this category. I was also wearing significantly more makeup (Credits: Sara Lee) this year, so the updo drew attention to my face while not taking away the details of the dress that my downdon't covered.
2. Makeup: Done by Me v. Done by Sara
I don't think this is even a question. Sara had previously done my makeup before, but she did a smoky eye, which I don't particularly like on myself. I think I look a lot better with a more natural look and she accomplished it perfectly this time (on short notice too).
3. Earrings: Pearls v. Statement Earrings
I wore pearls last year because I was going for the white and silver theme to match the sequins on my dress (see #4), but my new Alex & Ani bracelet is gold, so I had to go with gold this year. I was just going to wear gold studs but realized that this outfit needed something else to stand out, especially since my ears would be out in the open due to the bun and wearing a necklace was completely out of the question due to the asymmetry of my dress. These earrings also drew attention to my face without taking anything away from the dress. The earrings are pink and gold and not purple and gold, but purple and pink go well together in my opinion and contrary to what Kathy believes.
4. Shoes: White Flats v. Nude Pumps
This is another no-brainer. Pumps make me taller and my calves look better therefore making me hotter overall.

Love Connection: Chanhong and Chanhong

www.campusdish.com

I had a fantastic date with myself today at Got Dumplings (I would rate it an 8/10). The date definitely would’ve been a 10 if I hadn’t eaten the last dumpling. I was full and tired of eating the fried and oily being, but I forced myself to eat it because I didn't want to waste money--the date was pretty expensive ($13 for five dumplings, a seaweed salad, shrimp chips, and a royal bubble tea served hot). Looking back, I should’ve just gotten one side, but I wanted to confirm that the shrimp chips, a new item on the menu, were indeed bánh phồng tôm (confirmed). I ended up leaving four chips at the restaurant with a little bit of seaweed salad. They served the shrimp chips with peanut sauce, which was a little weird to me, but I hope someone likes the combination. Anyways, the hot bubble tea might be better than the cold one, and I’m not usually a fan of hot drinks. Given the success of the store, I also started thinking about the possibility of opening up a bánh mì shop in a college town (the main topic of our date): the menu would only consist of six-inch bánh mì and cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee). It's simple and straight to the point. With the warmth of the bubble tea and meal absorbed in me (science) along with the idea that would get me rich in tow, I ventured back outside the cold feeling satisfied with the date and would for sure consider going on a second date with myself, but honestly, I could’ve just sat there all day observing the type of people that come in (are they all Asian?) and their orders (I actually got there just as it opened, so it definitely would've been fun). 

Winter Look #1

I was disappointed with my Minimalist's Guide to Winter Fashion (below) because I felt like it was lacking something (my outfit just felt so plain). In an attempt to resolve this issue, I've decided to continue to update you guys on my journey to keeping warm during the winter, while trying to look as good as possible. Today, I wore undergarments (got to have those), a camisole, an extra (plain & red) long-sleeve shirt underneath my sweater, thicker leggings ($5-$6 at Stein Mart), boots (seen in a previous post), a headband (I wore it on a whim after noticing that the colors matched my sweater), and red lip stick in addition to the infinity scarf, winter coat, and gloves seen in the video. I'm really proud of my sweater picture lol. Anyways, the high was 41 and the low was 32 in addition to the rain, but this outfit sufficiently kept me warm, so I am a happy camper. I think the headband and lip stick made this outfit, so I would add one bold accessory to the guide to complete your winter look. Stay tuned for more :)

Finals

I get the most depressed during finals, not because of the actual exams, but because it's a big break from the norm. I'm usually fine if I am overwhelmed with work, like I usually am, but most of the time I get really really bored when I don't have much to study for. I can't hang out with anyone because they're all busy, so then I get really really lonely. There's so much I could do with my free time, but because I'm so used to having work, I often forget what I want to do when I actually have free time. Hence, I've been in a really bad mood the past week, making me aware of some personal problems that I still need to work on, but thankfully Vicky reminded me that this feeling is just temporary and that finals affect everyone whether they have one or six exams (well except for Eugenie because she's not human but that's a different story) "Honestly most people are drowning in shit; try to see the bright side" (Edit: It was Dan who actually reminded me that finals affect everyone, but the rest including the quote was all Vicky).

Today, I took Vicky's advice and got it together or at least took my first steps in trying to get it together ALA Elastigirl style. I went to Belmont BBQ and got a slop bucket to check off one of the 115 things I have to do before I graduate. I hung out with Chanlee (I often forget that my sister will always there for me no matter what). I hugged our stuffed animal, Smudge. I went shopping #retailtherapy (for real though, take a look at Jackson Lears' “From Salvation to Self-Realization”). I went to JCPenney and got a navy cardigan to replace the one I lost. I went to Victoria Secret's because I was inspired once again to shed my good girl image after watching the fashion show, but alas I was too poor to buy anything. BUT 2 bras for $49. 50 is a good deal when you consider that one bra is $34.50...one day I will be hot. I then went to DSW in hopes of finally finding the perfect nude pumps, aka ones that will fit me, with the $20 gift card I got from Secret Santa in hand (Thanks again, Katin!).

One of the shoes I tried on to decipher my shoe size were super cute Lulu Townsend shoes (left) that were originally priced in the upper eighties but with a sale price and an additional 70% off, they were down to only $15. I wanted to buy them so bad, but I knew I would never wear them. Plus, they were too high and a little too uncomfortable, so my wallet is forever grateful for that. I also had to save the money for my nude pumps.

As a result of trying on shoes, I now know that size 5 is what I need, and what I needed (size 5 nude pumps) wasn't available in the stores, so I had to go home and buy one from the online store. They weren't the exact height I wanted nor the pair of shoes I really wanted (right), but hopefully these shoes will help me land my dream job so I won't have to worry about using my parents' money for wants rather than needs anymore.

Martinsville: First Friday Art Walk

Whenever one imagines the word “art,” images of swanky people drinking wine and eating cheese while debating the meaning of a piece of abstract art comes to mind. The Uptown Martinsville First Friday Art Walk aimed to dispel this myth by offering everyone in the city the chance to experience art without a price tag attached to it and be inspired to use their own creativity to give back to the community, while simultaneously giving the people a tour of their beautiful city.

My sister was super excited to go to this event to check off items for her internship’s scavenger hunt, but I was a little more ambivalent. While the concept of the event was promising, I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to its’ lofty goals. Nonetheless, my sister convinced me to tag along, promising me that it would be fun or at the least, they would have free food and live music.

There would be no free food or live music as we arrived late. When we arrived, there was no one in the parking lot. This is not a fabrication: there literally was no one on the streets or in the any of the stores we visited. I was right: the event was a huge disappointment turnout wise. In spite of that, I was able to see the art that the event had promised, including three of the then five murals of Martinsville/Henry County.



The first person we actually saw on our tour was the owner of Gallery 22, a glass art studio and antique store that recently opened. No one was in the store at all except the sweet little old lady who owned the place. She gave us a quick tour of her studio in the back of the store. I did most of the talking as I quickly realized that while I may be awkward, my sister is even more awkward. The antique pieces were lovely to look at, but sadly for the old lady, we didn’t purchase anything even though we might have been her only customers for the night.

We ended up walking in a circle two or three times before finding some of the places after over looking them, but it took us less than five minutes to do so. You can hear me in a video saying, “This whole place is smaller than UVA’s campus.”

Other stops on our tour included The Artisan Center, which also served as the Martinsville/Henry County Visitor Center. The Visitor Center has since moved, but once again, the story was the same: There was no one except us in the vicinity, and I did most of the talking.

We visited Uptown Sweets, a new bakery in the city. The girl who was working there knew my sister, but they barely uttered a word to each other.

I promised the owners of a new baby boutique, Sleep, Love, Play that I would take my aunt and uncle and their two kids to their store in the future, but I knew it was a lie, as I was only being polite.

Lastly, we walked through Studio 107, an art studio, and while the artwork was at best mediocre, it gave people hope and a creative outlet.

Martinsville is not the place it once was. Long gone is the tobacco, textile, and furniture industry that gave the place its energy and life. All that remains are remnants of the past like the murals and old buildings uptown. There are murmurs of hope for the future, but right now, it is not enough for the creative young to stay and give back: their motivations lie else where, just like mine.

Liberty Fair Mall Adventures

A couple of months ago...one-inch pumps that my mom originally bought for herself for only $7 at the now-closed JCPenney Outlet; they're too big for me, so I have to stick padding in them and the hill is a little shorter than I want, but hey, I have to find a job first before I can buy myself better-fitting ones i.e. hooray for finally owning more formal interview shoes

Saturday...a new cross body bag for my sister at Belk; it's made from recycled plastic bottles and was originally $39.99, but with a sale and $10 reward coupon, she got it for only $10.50; hooray for my sister finally owning a purse that looks like someone her age would actually wear

Where Are All The Black People At?

www.wikipedia.org

I was editing my Facebook profile one day by deleting or “unliking” musicians, television shows, etc. that I didn’t actually like in real life anymore. When I got to my “Movies” section, I wanted to delete Will Smith because I hadn’t seen him in anything recent, but then I realized I had to keep him because if I unliked him, then I would have no black people whatsoever under that section. I immediately ran off the list of movies I had recently seen, and none of them featured black actors. I didn’t want to come off as racist, but it wasn’t my fault (Disclaimer: I’ve watched films with black actors in them thanks to my Racial Borders and American Cinema class, but hardly any outside of the class). Shawshank Redemption was on my list, but that movie was made in 1994. Ultimately, this lead to my question, “WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE AT?” Black people represent 13% of the U.S. population according to the 2010 census. Thirteen percent seems like a small percentage, but 13% of over 300 million people is a lot. Yet, African Americans and the American public and even the world are still seeing representations of life through the lens of the white majority.

Since that unliking spree, I have watched 12 Years a Slave, a movie with a predominately black cast and director. 12 Years was popular with the black and white moviegoers, winning three Academy Awards, but while it is a good thing that these slave narratives are reaching the masses without the so-called “Blaxploitation” and that slavery is finally portrayed accurately on the silver screen as opposed to films like Birth of a Nation (1915), contemporary black films still have to rely on old themes like plantation narratives in order to be wildly successful [1].  

Tyler Perry has become a star with his Madea films in recent decades, yet his predecessors, including Spike Lee, have criticized his portrayals of the title character, Madea. In movies that follow a modern day black family, Perry plays the elderly Madea in drag. These movies have given blacks much screen time and a creative outlet, but it has been done through comedy and cross-dressing, bringing up remnants of overtly racist caricatures of blacks in the past.

These examples of recent contemporary black films, where blacks and whites do not coexist shows that we haven’t gotten “there,” the post-racial state imagined by some after the election of the first black president. While the likes of Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Denzel Washington have been successful, these people are getting older. The YZ generation (think Emma Stone) is absent. The only person I can come up with at the top of my head is Michael B. Jordon, who’s latest film, That Awkward Moment with white costars, Zac Efron and Miles Teller garnered negative reviews.

Jordon plays a doctor in the film, which frankly I’ve never seen portrayed by a young black male before. Well, Sidney Poitier in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was a doctor, but he was never explicitly shown as one (Jordon’s first appears in the movie in scrubs). Jordon is playing a successful black male, but in large part to the lack of success of the movie, no one has or will see that image. Birth of a Nation, the birth referring to the birth of the Ku Klux Klan nation, was the first time that many Americans saw an African American, thus providing them their first impression of them, illustrating the power of film to provide knowledge and images of supposed normalcy.

Thankfully, the failure of That Awkward Moment did not disrupt Jordon’s movie career as he is set to star as The Human Torch, replacing Chris Evans, a white actor, in the reboot of The Fantastic Four series. Blacks have come a long way in society, but have not done the same in Hollywood, leaving black and other minority audiences without an influence on the big screen or a feeling of inclusiveness. Hopefully, casting decisions like the one in The Fantastic Four will provide a new normalcy for black Americans and other minorities and provide someone on the big screen for younger African Americans to look up to and emulate, so the lens of the movies won’t always be through that of a white person.

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[1] Professor Shilpa Davé