Happy New Years Eve!

How are you ringing in the new year? Here's some cute DIY ideas i saw to enhance your celebrations:

Decor ideas:

Little balloons that looks like champagne bubbles here

Roasting Garlic 101

Love garlic? This is one of my favorite and easiest ways to prepare garlic. You can use this for your holiday feasts also! Roasted garlic is great to add to mashed potatoes, mac n cheese or just to spread on a piece of bread! Here's how you do it.

Dazzle On!

I love the holidays because it calls for getting together with friends and family to celebrate. Holiday parties are the best because they bring together people for food (my favorite) and we always dress up and be classy (or try to be ;P). Here's some holiday dressing inspiration on my pinterest board.

Follow Mindy Nguyen's board Holiday Dressing 2013 on Pinterest.

Cracked Makeup Rescue

This one's for my girls... everyone knows how sad it is when you open up your makeup bag and find this....

Whether it be from accidentally dropping your makeup or from traveling, I think we've all had to deal with a broken eye-shadow palette or blush/bronzer. Here's how you can save it without having to carry it around an a zip-lock. I originally learned how to do this from the Beauty Department check out their tutorial here.

Holiday Gift Ideas For Him

How's that holiday shopping coming along? Here's some ideas for gifts for the guys in your life!

For your boyfriend, your bros, your actual brothers and your pops!

Holiday Gift Ideas For Him by threadsnbreads featuring a coin bank

Crew socks
thinkgeek.com

Sprayground The Chenille Woodland Shark Backpack in Camo
karmaloop.com

Brooklyn Brew Shop tube rack
urbanoutfitters.com

Coin bank
urbanoutfitters.com

Urban Outfitters white coaster
urbanoutfitters.com

Bar tool
uncommongoods.com

Build-On Brick Mug
thinkgeek.com

Game Boy USB Flash Drive by 8BitMemory on Etsy
etsy.com

Holiday Gift Ideas: For Her

It's December!! It's now time to get on that Holiday shopping and get your gifting list done. Here's some ideas for gifts for the girl, lady or woman in your life!

For your girlfriend, your bestie, your sister and your momma....

Holiday Gift Ideas for Her by threadsnbreads featuring:

Drawstring purse
dailylook.com

Zara multi color handbag
zara.com

Gold ring
nastygal.com

Initial jewelry
etsy.com

MAC Cosmetics lipstick
nordstrom.com

Marc Jacobs daisy perfume
sephora.com

Neon nail polish
sephora.com

Pottery Barn antique jewellery box
potterybarn.com

Stoneware mug
anthropologie.com

Blossom tree
lushusa.com

Giraffe home decor
anthropologie.com

Urban Outfitters bunny home decor
urbanoutfitters.com

Sakura
lushusa.com

DIY - Bling Chain Bracelet

DIY Bling Chain Stackable Bracelet

Here's a quick and simple DIY project to add to your arm party swag --

Materials needed:

• large metal chain
• rhinestone chain
• large needle
• embroidery thread
• jewelry clasp and jump ring

Measure each chain to the length of your wrist, mine is about 5.5" long. Line the two chains up and start "sewing" together the two chains with the embroidery thread. Tie a knot on each end and connect the two ends with a jewelry clasp and jump ring. Now you've got some added bling to your arm.

Do you Cyber Monday?

Sooo.... most of my friends know I LOVE to shop, and this is the best time of year for deals. I'm trying to buy less stuff for myself and really think about my holiday shopping for friends and family. Did you guys pick up anything good for Black Friday? I had some self control and didn't go overboard.

Not done with your black friday shopping? We all know there's still time to catch some deals as most retailers try to capture the last of the deal seekers on Cyber Monday. Here's my picks for Cyber Monday:

Makeup
e.l.f. - 50% off site wide
bh cosmetics - up to 75% off
em cosmetics - buy 1, get 1 of the same item (I've been wanting to check out Michelle Phan's new makeup line)
Julep - up to 80% off

Clothing
LuLu's - 40% off sale
Tobi - 50% off site wide
For Love and Lemons - 50% off all clothes
Nasty Gal - 30% off site wide
Kovey swimwear - 50% off

Shoes
ShoeMint - 50% off regular priced items
Steve Madden - 35% off

Happy Cyber Monday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the bottom of my heart! 

I am thankful for the family and friends in my life. Thank you for being the people that you are and being a part of my life. My favorite part of thanksgiving? The FOOD of course! Here's what I've got planned on my Thanksgiving menu for tonight. What are you all making?

If you still need some ideas for tonight or any friendsgivings this weekend-- here's some recipes that I've bookmarked for Thanksgiving. 

Mac & cheese: here

Potatoes: here and here

Veggie dishes: here and here

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Eating!

Snickerdoodles - Throwback Thursday

A special Throwback Thursday edition of Threads n Breads - this was an old post from my old blog -- oldie but goodie :)

Snickerdoodle cookies

Washi... what?

My latest obsession... Washi tape!

What is washi tape? It's been around for a little bit now, but i'm finally building up my collection of this tape and finding things to do with it. It's a Japanese type of masking tape with  lot of different colors and patterns. You can easily tear it, write on it, stick it on stuff and also re-position it pretty easily! There's a ton available on Etsy and even Scotch makes their own. I got some fun Christmas ones that I plan on using for cards and gift wrapping.


Here's some other ideas for use:

Keyboard make over

 

Wall Decor like this and this

Home decor like this and this

And who doesn't love mini buntings like this!

See more washi tape ideas: here, here,and here

Weekend recipes to try

Happy Friday! I always love browsing for new recipe ideas, and what better time to try them than the weekend. Here's some of the ones that I may have to try this weekend:

Croque-Madame

Who doesn't love ham, cheese and egg all together?

source: Cupcakes and Cashmere

Wanderlust

Even though summer is over, that doesn't mean that the adventures have to end. Today's idea on my mind is wanderlust: exploration and inspiration. I'm hungry for life and love to explore new places, foods and things to do. Here's some inspiring destinations I've been longing to experience:

To put a lock on the Lock Love bridge in Paris,  to explore the light caves in the Antelope Canyon in Arizona, to walk through the Wisteria tunnels in Japan, to explore the world's largest cave Son Doong Cave in Vietnam,to eat croissants in Paris while basking in the view of the Eiffel Tower, and to witness the natural wonder of the amazing marble caves in Patagonia, Chile.

 

To see more day-dream worthy photos, take a look at my Wanderlust board on my Pinterest. What destinations are you dreaming about visiting?

Sharing plates

Tapas, small plates, family style, whatever you want to call it, I love to share food. Sharing food means that I don't have to pick just one thing, and I get to try a variety of things. Sharing food is also a way for people to connect on another level.

Here's some of my latest foodie adventures in LA sharing plates.

Dinner @ Lukshon by Top Chef Master Sang Yoon

Chef Sang does Asian fusion ins a sophisticated way. He brings unique flavors from schezshuan spices into all of his dishes in a subtle way. I can't wait to come back and try other items from his amazing menu. Here's what we had:

kurobuta pork ribs spicy chicory coffee bbq sauce
hawaiian butterfish pickled watermelon radish, daikon, nahm jim, rau ram
dandan noodles kurobuta pork, sesame, preserved mustard greens, sichuan peppercorns, peanuts
heirloom black rice lap cheong, onion, roasted garlic, lilly’s farm fried egg
chocolate cake sesame brittle, chili caramel, sesame ice cream

Life in pictures behind a filter

Here's a summary of how i spent my October in pictures from my Instagram.

Follow me on instagram!

Last minute DIY Halloween: lace rabbit ears

I know Halloween is over now, but i thought I would share this last-minute DIY bunny ears project. I drew some inspiration from Maison Michel's version and the Louis Vuitton runway for this look. Here's how i did my own version of this for my dead bunny Halloween look. (Top: Urban outfitters, skirt: F21)

Here's what you'll need:
- a black plastic headband (I got mine from a drug store)
- some thick black jewelry wire (mine is 16 gauge)

- wire cutters
- some black non-stretch lace

- black thread and a sewing needle

- fabric scissors

Bend the wire into the desired shape for both ears and twist to secure.

Secure the wire with pins to the lace. Beginning sewing the lace to the wire with some black thread and continue all the way around. 

With fabric scissors, cut the lace half an inch around the wire.

Once the ears are cut out, secure the ears to the headband by wrapping the wire around. Trim the ends with a wire cutter. Remember to leave the ends on the outside of the headband so that they don't end up poking your head when you wear them. And remember, you can do this with any animal ear shape! Can't wait until next Halloween!