Lovely Day =)

I woke up extra early today around 5 am. It was horrible. It was extremely hot, though my window was opened, and I couldn't stop thinking about the scary movies that Ka and I watched. (shivers). It looked like it was 11pm because it was so dark and there was no peek at all from the sun. I think I stayed in my bed, burning and terrified for about 30 min... until my BF called. =)

As my younger siblings got up around 6am to get ready for school, I was up getting ready to hang out with my BF. And let me tell you, it was a WONDERFUL day despite my awful morning.

We did hang out the whole day because I didn't see him at all during the week. Haha, it's funny how we still, er... 'I' (correction), still yearn to be with him being it's been about two years.

Anyhow; just thought I'd drop by and share a little of my day. Don't want to be neglecting this blog for long. =)

Until then,
MaiNou Vang*

Look of the Day (Mon. & Wed.)

Like I promised, I am posting up and sharing my looks of the day. And mentioned before, don't expect too much! So on Monday, I was rather bored and started playing around with my eyeshadows. I also wanted to try out something new instead of the same old neautral colors I use practically everyday. This is what I came up with:

I thought I'd add my faux lashes for a little spice and curled my hair for the extra fun. I used four main colors: brown, gold, gray, yellow. Here listed are the products I used and where I placed them:

Eyes:

-L'Oreal De-Crease (primer)

-AquaCeuticals AquaMousse Eyeshadow in BeachComber (outer corner)

-Cream Eyeshadow/Very nude color (inner lid)

-Lancome's Pampered and Priveleged Pallette, color used Elite (over nude cream base, blending out towards the outer corners)

-Maybelline's Utaupia, picked up the gray color (over the crease area)
-Lancome's Pampered and Priveleged, VIP Scene (over BeachComber, outer corners) and Enamored (brow bone highligheter)

-Hot Looks 36 Eye Glamour Palette, Yellow (under bottom lashes)
-Mary-Kate and Ashley Shimmer Plus/All Over Stick in Chill Shimmer (inner tearduct)

-Ardell faux lashes in 110

-Revlon's ColorStay liquid eyeliner in Blackest Black
-Maybelline's Define-A-Line in Ebony Black

-Maybelline's Mascara Lash Stilleto in waterproof
Lips:
-The Giving Bee Lip Balm in Wild Strawberry and Forest Honey
-Revlon's Matte Lipstick in Nude Attitude

WHOO! What a list; I didnt realize how much eye products I used until I listed them out. =P I know I didn't list out what I used for my face but it was mainly just foundation, mineral power, and n0 blush! For my hair, I just used CHI Silk Infusion and curled my hair with a flat iron. And.. I think that concludes my Monday look =). Haha, now on to the next one.

So yesterday, I also tried something different. Not a whole lot different but I used a color I've never used before and it turned out looking something like this:

I really liked how this look turned out. The eyeshadow that I wanted to try out was actually the shimmery white shadow I placed on the inner lid. I basically used some of the same products as the first look but the shadows are different:

-Icing's Cream Black Shadow with Shimmer

-Revlon's Illuminance Cream Shadow in Vintage Chic, Black Cream
-Urban Decay's Polyester Bride

-Hard Candy's Pixie Palette, White shadow

-Sonia Kashuk's Ink, dark matte blue/gray

-Hot Looks Glamour Palette, Purple with blue undertones

Everything else was the same, such as the eyeliner, lashes, mascara, etc.

Anyhow, I really hope you guys enjoy my make-up looks. I take A LOT of time doing my make-up to try to perfect it, though we all know perfection doesn't exist. =P I will be trying out different day-time/night-time looks in the near future and of course, share them! So don't stray too far and stay-tuned,
MaiNou Vang*

Look of the Day

I will be posting up blogs of looks of the day. Already I want to share two looks of how I did my eye make-up. I won't be posting them up now but I will soon! =)

Don't be expecting too much because I am not a professional or have legit knowledge on how to apply make-up; but who needs knowledge in cosmetics? As long as you have a brush in one hand and an eyeshadow in the other, go crazy! Haha (my motto). As they say, 'If life gives you lemons, squeeze away.'

I am just starting to get into make-up and therefore, have been watching a lot of gurus on youtube =), and I want to share my little knowledge and experience to people. I do not make video tutorials but I do take photos of my work so check them out if you are interested.

Please don't discriminate me because I take my time on my make-up, if you don't like that fact, simply look away. I am who I am and I won't change for no one. Just respect my interests as you'd expect me to yours.

So bloggers, until then! =),
MaiNou Vang*

Update on BLOG!

And HELLO everyone! This blog was originally created for school purposes but for personal reasons, I dropped in and thought I would continue this blog. =)

I am a passionate writer as it is and figured that if ever I find myself needing the satisfaction of typing out restless words stufffed into my head, why not do it on this blog?!

So, I am considering on completely deleting and erasing everything on this present blog up until now because I am following other students from my high school (I am a graduate now) and don't know if I would still want to see their updates. (*laughs* am I being too frank and selfish?). On the other hand, I could follow them still but wouldnt it be rather annoying? Hmm... what to do? What to do? (No worries, nothing important)

SO, quick updates on myself. I'm a graduate from Central High School and I do miss my friends dearly, however my schedule during the summer and fall has been quite busy; mainly with family and long-term BF, Doua =). I am looking for a part-time/full-time job right now because I will be entering college in the Spring at the UniversityofMN. I regret days and nights when I dont think about school and I do beat myself up pretty bad about it so one of these days, I promise I will get off my butt and take care of all the things I need for college. Hmm, is that about it? I think so, =).

Besides updates on myself, I am going to also be posting up random poetry, short stories, and pieces that pop into my head on restless nights or melancholy times. So check them out, first series of my short stories: Ransom of Tears.

I think that will be all today. Tune in soon and hopefully I will have a new blog awaiting...
tata. _MaiNou Vang

Ransom of Tears

I gently uttered a few words beneath my breath as I fell on the floor. The beautiful shining wings of the creature captured me into its mystery and promises. Before I could stand, the creature glanced over to me in such a manner that made me gasp. Is it really looking at me? How am I to respond?

With slow and delicate strides the creature came upon me, flapping its enormous wings. Gorgeous and all glory. And it spoke.

"The Angels awakened and dressed to come for the great white whale. " With a low and bold voice, the creature kidnapped me of my thoughts. "Come."

"Who is the great white whale?"The creature didn't answer. I noticed that though the creature was unexplainably exquisite with shimmering eyes and glowing hair, it did not have ears.

It turned to me and lured me into its gleaming yellow eyes. I had an urge to reach out and touch it; my eyes paralyzed at its strange allure. Startled when it spoke again with such a powerful voice, I stumbled back.“My heart sits beneath my chest in a wretched box full of chains. Only until I find the river of tears and the white snow that holds the whale prisoner can I escape from this restraint.”

“What do you mean?” I managed to ask. But as the creature abruptly turned to me with agony in its eyes, I suddenly regret asking. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know, scared for the truth of the sacred secrets inside of the creature.

In silent and slow steps, I realized that I was no longer on ground. I was walking across a vast green body of water. Water?The creature swiftly moved across with its wings barely touching the water. “Stare not into your own reflection for it may hold a truth stronger than you can bear.” Scared and trusting what it said, I shut my lids closed. I nervously walked on with the little hope I had left that all that was happening now was only a dream.

(continued)

Memoir: On Gold Mountain Final Review

In the book, On Gold Mountain, Lisa See writes about the history of her one hundred-year-old Chinese-American family. This book first focuses on the life of her great-great-grandfather, Fong See, but later revolves around the lives of Fong See’s children and their children’s children, Lisa See involved.

While living in America, the See family finds success in their family businesses and prosper. Some may even say that the See family lived the ‘American’ dream.

The book totals up two different cultures intertwining into one, love, marriages, business and love affairs, racism, and the meaning of family. Each theme is brought up in the memoir and focuses on many characters’ lives to conceive these themes.

See does a wonderful job in providing to readers the authentic history of a hundred-year-old story but the historical facts that she adds in her memoir are a little distracting. I personally felt as if the historical facts kind of lowered my opinion of the memoir because it was taking over the stories of the characters’ lives. I sometimes found myself dreading to read the book because of the history it covered and not the actual story of the people’s lives. But overall, I enjoyed reading the book. I don’t think that I would necessarily recommend this book but it was interesting to discover facts about the Chinese history in America that I’ve never learned.

Memoir: On Gold Mountain Section 3

MaiNou Vang
Ms. Peifer
Creative Writing hr. 3

In the third section of the book that I have read, the young See family is now all grown up. First, the book was relatively focused on the life of Fong See, the author’s great-great-grandfather but now the book is relatively focused on the life of Fong See’s children and his ex-wife, Letticie. Each son: Ming, Ray, Bennie, and Eddy married Caucasian women. Sissee alone did not marry. Ming married to a woman named Dorothy who was a party-goer, Ray married a woman named Leona, Bennie wed a girl named Bertha, and Eddy married Stella Copeland, the only sister-in-law in the See family that the author really wrote about. Letticie stayed unmarried after the separation with Fong See.

Since the separation, Ming and Ray decided to start a new business of manufacturing furniture and built their own goods. Later, Eddy and along with his two artistic friends, Tyrus and Benji, opened up a restaurant beneath their shop. Even during the Depression, the two businesses attracted customers and resulted in success.

Until now, I discovered that this memoir is also a story of love. Lisa See wanted the readers to understand the relationship of certain couples in the story. Since the separation, Fong See lived his life with his new wife and children, only occasionally meeting with his first family. Through the years, Letticie’s hatred towards Fong See grew but eventually died down and created a hole inside of her. Letticie’s “anger at him had long burned out, to be replaced by grief, then a final, horrible emptiness” (pg 174). Everyone knew that Letticie missed him as she “sat in a wicker chair at the back of her store on Los Angeles Street, looking out the window and wondering if Suie would stop by on his walk either to or from his compound” (pg 174). From this passage, you can see the desperation that Letticie had and how she yearned to be with her ex-husband. Later in the story, the core was based on Eddy and Stella. Stella loved her family but she thought she would live an easy life when she married Eddy because Eddy came from such a wealthy family. But effects of the Depression caused Stella to be a hard-working woman, just like how she used to be living with her intermediate family back then. A hard-working mom and wife, Stella found “a piece of stationary folded over and over again into tiny squares. A feeling of dread crept over her. Somehow she knew what it would be, as she unfolded the paper crease by crease” (pg 200). Eddy had been cheating on her with a married woman named Helen Smith. Stella’s first reaction was to scream. After confronting Helen, Eddy apologized and promised to never see her again. But only a few weeks after that, Stella received anonymous letters informing her that her husband and Helen were still momentarily together. With love and strength, Stella decided she would hang on and wait, “for she knew that if she left, she would not only be losing a husband, but also the only real family she had ever known” (pg 205).

The memoir is intriguing most of the time now. It covers less of the historical facts and focuses on the story and the characters’ lives which I genuinely am interested in.