Once a Betsey Girl ALWAYS a Betsey Girl

Tomorrow is the Honolulu Betsey Johnson's last day open.

and I am sad.

six years ago I bought my first Betsey Dress and this changed my world.

With this one dress my eyes were opened to the world of high-end fashion. I saw it and I fell in love.

It was the beginning of 2006 and I had an 8th grade banquet to attend, my mother took me in to visit my sister Devon who worked there at the time and I picked out this amazing dress.

Sadly, I have no photos from the banquet for reasons I do not know, but all my fellow classmates remember it!

This bubble dress was my first poofy ever and it is historic in my collection of clothing. 

This poofy sparked my love of fashion and of Betsey Johnson and turned me into a lifelong customer and later employee!

Betsey Johnsons clothes taught me that it is more than okay to experiment with clothing, and color and texture. That life is more fun when you dress the way you want too, and that your true self should be expressed with the clothing that you wear.

I've worn Betsey to every single important function in my life whether it be school dances, weddings, baby showers or sadly even funerals because when I'm in a Betsey Johnson dress, I'm reminded to be my self. 

I met Betsey herself when she visited the store around December of 2009

She was such a beautiful woman with a heart of gold. She treated family like we were hers, meeting her was not like meeting some other famous person, it was like seeing an aunty for the first time in awhile. She gave us all hugs and gave my mom the breast cancer high five (they are both survivors). Her clothing and her spirit always cheered me up when I was blue

and when I was absolutely miserable in a job I did not want, I got the opportunity from my sister Devon to work at the store

I took this picture right before my interview

I was so excited! And I've learned so much from this entire process. I learned what it means to be a good sales person, I learned how to be brave during uncertainty with a job and I learned how to have fun with the best fellow employees a pink haired girl could ask for. 

and so I leave you with this note Betsey faxed us the other day

Once a Betsey girl, ALWAYS a Betsey girl,

I hope you have a wonderful day

and wish me luck tomorrow,

I will make sure to take A LOT of pictures!

Have a beautiful day

and PLEASE

keep it sassy

xoxoxox

And She Lived Happily Ever After

So this is my blog, aka my rules I'm gonna post about something that just made me so incredibly happy.

I just got out of the movie Brave by Disney and oh lawd, was that movie made for me.

While following the similar, rambunctious-princess-destined-for-a-life-of-conformity-when-all-she-hears-is-the-call-of-the-wild type cliche, this film begins no different. 

But there are several facets to this film and specifically the protagonist, that sets her apart from her fore-princesses. 

First off, let me just mention her hair, seeing a princess without perfect hair made me so happy, my sister Devon (who has hair of that sort) was always sad when she was little because she didn't have the hair of a princess, but now little corkscrew haired girls have someone to look up too!

Going on, this movie was set in Scotland, and as y'all know, I just returned from my trip across the pond and I fell in love with Scotland. While driving to Loche Ness I stared at the rolling hills and the beautiful Scottish landscape for quite some time (8 hours...) and I think Disney perfectly capture the spirit of Scotland. The scenes were visually breathtaking and the animation was spectacular.

More over, this film was probably one of my favorite Disney movies in awhile for its total feminist values, something groundbreaking happened in this film, something that ladies and gentlemen, I'm not sure if you are prepared for.

*spoiler alert*

Princess Merida DIDNT HAVE A PRINCE CHARMING.

No knight in shinning armor saved the day, she and her mother saved the day and that literally brought tears to my face (I'm not a graceful crier)

This shift in Disney films is such a positive one. When we are little girls Hollywood feeds our brains with this idea that we need a man to save us, no matter how self sufficient we are, or how much we've accomplished, Prince Eric will destroy Ursula, The Beast will destroy Gaston etc, while we are left to run into his arms, kiss him on the cheek and allow him to carry us into Happily Ever After.

This ideal doesn't end here, its carried throughout teen girl films and into chick flicks and those all just make me gag.

We are women, we can save the day too! We can kick ass, and correct our mistakes all while being beautiful inside and out!

This movie shows an important change and something we will all hopefully see more of it in future children's movies and television.

 And if this movie wasn't perfect enough, THEY FEATURED MY SPIRIT ANIMAL!

Y'all know how much I love bears

ugh

overall I was extremely impressed with the film, and it was the first movie that made me cry since Rugrats Go To Paris

so congrats Disney, you're doing something right

What did y'all think of the movie

Let me know

and PLEASE 

keep it sassy

xoxoxoxoxoxo

♡かわいい♡

When you hear the word "Kawaii" what comes to mind?

well...If you don't speak Japanese, nothing probably, but for those of us that are more familiar with the language Kawaii is the quintessence of cute and all things adorable.

Living on this rock in the middle of the ocean, and working in the heart of retail I come across many Japanese tourists and if I had a dollar every time I heard the word "KAWAII" I would be a bajillionaire.

(Old photo but man, I love my job)

But my extensive love of all things kawaii does not merely come from my retail experience

as a young girl I was raised on Kawaii and its comes in 4 parts:

One of course being the fact that all my friends were Japanese, going to their houses, seeing there cute bedrooms and their cute bentos and looking at my pathetic sack lunch and thinking....I wish I were Japanese!

The second of course being HelloKitty

The no mouth, bright eyed kitty that has captured the hearts of millions with absolutely no emotion.

She's gathered respect from Kimora Lee and Paris Hilton and while creating a global empire she hasn't aged a bit, (she aint no Grizabella)

I used to save all my loose coins that I found at the bottom of my sofa and scurry to Sanrio Surprises (if you don't have one, I'm very sorry for you) to buy a HelloKitty mechanical pencil or tiny pack of gum or some sort of memorabilia because lets face it, in third grade you weren't anybody if you didn't have a HelloKitty lunchbox.

Thirdly Sailor Moon

This show, THIS SHOW,

oh man

I loved this show, school girls who were actually superheros named after the planets, each girl possessed a different superpower, I was Sailor Mars (second from the left) who had the power of fire...maybe thats why I have rage issues?

Anywho this show was quintessential to my imagination and despite the blatant sexism, I find this show to be very feminist.

Then, Lastly

Anything by Miyazaki,

Hayao Miyazaki is japanese artist and film maker who has created movies such as My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away and many more

These films made my childhood, whether it was the original story lines (and for a kids movie, that is saying something) or the beautiful art or the complex messages delivered throughout these stories, they never cease to be compelling. 

The best part of all is that he keeps making films which makes me really really happy because that means my love will never stop!

  

These initial loves lead me to Harajuku inspired fashion which is something that inspires me daily

 I love ultra feminine things like my ruffley blue cape or my pink hair but I love the added edge of the spikes and all the black.

Its like part anime character part Alien and frankly I love it all.

also, note the Vivienne Westwood necklace, omg, I had to buy it, its an absolute dream come true!!

So tell me, what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear "Kawaii"

and how do you stay Kawaii everyday?

Let me know

and please keep it sassy,

xoxoxox

Sasssquatch

ps. I did a Purikura photoshoot with my friend Paisley the other day

私たちはかわいいです

Final Travel Post

Okay, these posts are getting boring.

I'm gonna just post a ton of photos from the rest of my trip with a few word explanation 

Greenbus tour

GUINNESS FACTORY

GRAVITY BAR

Irish Museum of Art

Jameson Distillery

So, I was trying to take a scenic picture when these two girls ran in front of my camera, They posed, asks a bunch of inaudible questions that I couldn't answer, and tried to hoodwink my fur coat. NEW BEST FRIENZ

Irish pub!

The Irish coast

Apparently where they shot some scene in the cheesy movie PS I love you

whatever it was pretty

graveyardd

THE CHUBE (we went back to England)

The Tate!

Harrods

And that was it

I'm done with my trip updates

look forward to more actual posts and let me know how your european adventures were like

<3

Keep it sassy

xoxox

Sasssquatch