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5 Things to Try This Month – April 2024

04/22/2024 Shirley

It seemed like Year 2024 had just started not too long ago, but we are already in April. Working from home has saved me some commute time, but it also keeps me busier than ever. I feel like each day goes by much too fast for me.

The consolation I have from working from home is to choose where I want to work in the house. I have set up my desk by the window and it gives me the opportunity to watch Spring puts its magic touch on all the plants and flowers in our backyard. I got to watch the plans coming back to life from their dormant state. I guess working from home is not that bad after all.

To enjoy the Spring to the fullest, I have several things I am doing this month.

Food/Drink

New Coffee for Afternoon Pick-me-up: I am a big fan of Nespresso coffee. In addition to my daily morning Nespresso coffee routine, I like to drink a 2nd cup of Nespresso coffee in the afternoon when I work from home.

Nespresso recently released a new limited edition Maple Pecan flavored coffee. This is supposed to be a medium roast blend. In my opinion, this Maple Pecan coffee tastes a little bit more on the lighter side. However, I really like the Maple Pecan aroma and it’s perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up.

Accessories

New Versatile Handbag: My new favorite accessory is the red Marc Jacobs’ Small Leather Tote bag. I have been using it on my recent wine tasting trips. It’s a perfect bag to hold all my essential stuff, such as wallet, phone, lip gloss and sunglasses. See more information on the bag.

Shirley Style April New Accessory - Marc Jacobs Small Tote Handbag in Red — Shirley Style April New Accessory – Marc Jacobs Small Tote Handbag in Red

Lifestyle

New Piano Song to Learn for Self-fulfillment: Playing the piano is one of my favorite hobbies. While I enjoy practicing the songs I’ve already known how to play, I also love to learn new songs on a regular basis. My recent new favorite song to learn is Chopin’s Nocturne No. 19 in E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1. To me, this is a very beautiful song, but has some unspoken sadness in the melody. I think it will take me a while to master this song, but I am confident that I will keep at it until I do.

New Chopin Piano Song to Learn in April 2024

Nail

New Red Glitter Gel Nails: Red is my go-to color when it comes to getting my nails done each month. For this month, I have red nail covers covered with glitter and rhinestones aligned on each finger.

Travel

Wine Tasting in Lake Chelan, Washington: I’ve heard many great things about Lake Chelan in Washington, but I have never visited there before. I finally got the opportunity to visit Lake Chelan at the beginning of this month. The weather was very nice. Given that it was still off-season, the town wasn’t crowded. It was a perfect time to visit the town and the wineries.

Shirley Style April 2024 Wine Tasting Trip

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The Journey of Resuming Playing the Piano

04/06/2022 Shirley

It has been over two and a half years since I started to play piano after I quit playing it when I was 13 years old. The idea of picking up playing the piano again came to me during the pandemic in Year 2020, when my mom asked me to teach her how to play the piano.

My parents gave my piano to my cousin when we moved to the States. So, to teach my mom, I bought a Yamaha P-125 digital piano which had weighted keyboard action that mimics the sound of an actual Yamaha grand piano.

I was a bit nervous when I first received the digital piano, because I wasn’t sure if I could remember how to play a piano. Luckily, my parents kept all of my piano lesson books, and I was able to pick it up quickly.

When I was little, I could barely meet my parents’ one-hour minimum practice requirement each day, but during the pandemic I found myself falling in love with playing the piano for hours every day. I’d be playing it right after I get off work, in the middle of night and first thing in the morning on the weekends.

I initially bought the digital piano because I wasn’t sure if I could follow through playing the piano the second time. After I realized that I truly enjoy playing the piano, I decided to get an actual piano if I could continue to play for three consecutive years.

It has been over two and a half years since I started to play the piano again. I now know for sure I want a real piano. I finally went to the piano store in January. After trying different pianos, I decided to get the Yamaha’s GC2 baby grand piano.

I am currently on the wait list for Yamaha’s GC2 baby grand piano and I was told it will take up to 5 to 6 months to receive the piano. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. By the time it reaches me after the 5 to 6 months waiting period, I would meet my 3-year goal.

I am very excited about my new piano. I already have a list of piano songs that I want to play immediately after the new piano arrives to my home. The piano song list includes Claude Debussy’s Clair de Lune, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata 1st movement, Chopin’s Nocturne No. 2, and many others. In the meantime, the only thing I could do is to wait patiently and continue to play and learn new piano songs.

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Nail Design Inspired by My Nieces

12/22/2021 Shirley

I got my nails done the day before my nieces visited me last month. Instead of getting my usual red color with glitters I decided to get something different. I wanted something that was perfect for the warm weather and fun. And I wanted something that I could relate to my nieces.

I asked my nail salon artist to put both of my nieces’ favorite colors on my nails. My older niece loves pink and my younger niece loves purple, so I used both colors on my fingers.

(My nail design that were inspired by my nieces’ favorite colors.)

I had the purple color on my thumbs, index and ring figures on both of my hands. And I had light pink on my middle fingers and pinkies. All fingers were covered in white glitters. With the white glitters layered on top of the pink color, the pink unexpected became a little less visible.

I kept my nails short, so I could teach my nieces how to play piano while they were visiting. For decorations, I kept the design simple, by having a star, heart and crystals on my fingers.

Overall, my nieces really liked my nails, especially when they saw I had their favorite colors on my hands. They even asked me to put nail colors on their fingers during their stay with me.

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My Experience of Using Bobbi Brown Extra Repair Moisturizing Balm SPF 25

12/22/2021 Shirley

A while ago I tried Bobbi Brown’s Extra Eye Repair cream and the result was unexpectedly good. I decided to try Bobbi Brown’s Extra Repair Moisturizing Balm SPF 25 to see if it’s as good as the eye repair cream.

The Extra Eye Repair cream by Bobbie Brown provided plenty of hydration for my eyes and diminished the fine wrinkles around my eyes. I was hoping that the Extra Repair Moisturizing Balm would hydrates my face and reduces my smiling line and the lines on my forehead.

Upon opening the Bobbi Brown’s Extra Repair Moisturizing Balm SPF 25, I could tell that it has the same creamy and rich texture as its Extra Eye Repair cream.

A few hours after I used the Bobbi Brown’s Extra Repair Moisturizing Balm SPF 25 on my face and my neck, I noticed that I had bumps around my cheek and jaw areas. This most likely means that the moisturizing balm was too rich for my skin. Luckily, the bumps only appeared on my face, not on my neck.

In conclusion, when it comes to using the skin care products, there’s no guarantee that if one product from a brand works for you their other products would work too. In my case, the skin around my eyes absorbs the Bobbi Brown’s Extra Eye Repair cream well and showed the positive results, but my face can’t take the Bobbi Brown’s Extra Repair Moisturizing Balm SPF 25 and had unexpected negative effects.

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The Classical Piano Songs of the Romantic Period

08/23/2021 Shirley

I recently purchases a new classical piano music book with songs from the Romantic period (1830 to 1900). In the book there are many of my favorite classic piano songs by famous composers, including Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, etc.

(My new piano book with sticky notes on the songs I want to learn.)

When I received the book and scanned through the content I felt like it was Christmas arriving early for me. There are so many songs I wanted to learn how to play. And I found myself putting sticky notes all over the book. It was impossible to contain my excitement of knowing that I have access to these music pages on my finger tips.

There are a total of 51 songs in this book. It would take me years to learn all the songs I wanted to play in this book, but I have my entire life to learn and play at my own pace.

Instead of focusing on learning one song at a time, I decided to start with multiple songs and make some progress everyday. I think this will make learning new songs less challenging and more fun.

Right now, I am learning Tchaikovsky’s June: Barcarolle from The Seasons, Op. 37b, and Chopin’s Étude Op. 10, No. 3., Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2 and Prelude Op. 28, No. 15 (aka Raindrop). These are some of my favorite songs. The process of learning how to play these songs and hearing myself playing them gives me a thrill and great joy.

(A picture of the song I am currently learning; taken with the flowers from my garden.)

I enjoy learning and playing these songs. I’d play them right after work and on the weekends. Sometimes I’d take small breaks (if time allows) during work to practice. I think I am very lucky that I can play these songs when I want to. And I can’t wait to learn more new songs from this book.

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How a Small Gadget Can Change Our Behaviors

08/13/2021 Shirley

It has been over 10 years since I wore a wrist watch on a regular basis. I didn’t like how a watch looked and felt when it tucked under my long sleeves. And I didn’t like the sound of the watch band scratching against my desk when I worked. If I needed to look for time, I could always rely on my phone.

After staying home without much exercise in the past year, I wanted to start doing some simple exercises at home every day. And I needed a way to keep track of how much I moved each day.

The Apple Watch seemed like a good solution to my problem. After doing some online browsing on different versions of current Apple watches, I bought an Apple Watch Series 6 in gold aluminum case.

(This is my new Apple Watch Series 6 with a pink preve crystal case.)

Today is only my second day using my new Apple Watch. I am surprised how quickly it already changed my behaviors in many ways.

First, adaptation. After not wearing any watches for over 10 years I didn’t need any time to learn to rely on my wrist watch for the time. This morning I was sipping on my coffee and wanted to know what time it was. Without thinking about where I could get the time, I automatically raised my arm to look at my watch. It wasn’t until I found out the time that I realized how quickly I adapted to the convenience of having the time literally on my wrist.

Second, motivation. After setting up my daily activity goals on my Apple Watch. I started to check the progress I made throughout the day. The idea of reaching my daily goals became my motivation to exercise.

Third, persistence. The Apple Watch is not perfect, and it won’t detect all the subtle exercise movements I made. However, this minor functionality shortcoming doesn’t discourage me from using the watch. I will do a short cardio exercise just to get the app on the watch to make the progress on achieving my daily goals.

The idea of working extra hard to get the app on the watch to show the progress on my movement more accurately seems silly. After all, what’s the point of getting a gadget that doesn’t paint the accurate picture or function correctly?

Well, I understand there’s some limitations on the accuracy of the devices like Apple Watch. For me, the point of getting the Apple Watch was to encourage myself to exercise regularly. If the watch can help me make positive change for my health, I think it’s money well spent.

In conclusion, I am happy I bought the new Apple Watch. It’s a small gadget, but it already changed my behaviors in many positive ways.

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The Joy of Finding Something You like after a Shopping Hibernation

08/04/2021 Shirley

How often do you buy a pair of shoes right on the spot simply because you like them? And how often do you think rationally about whether you really need them or not?

Staying home during the past pandemic year changed my life in many ways. One of the things I realized was that I don’t need a whole lot to maintain my everyday life. Besides having food and a home to live in, I don’t need a lot of fancy shoes and pretty clothing. All I need are slippers and simple clothing like sweatshirts and leggings.

As a matter of fact, I haven’t shopped for fancy shoes for almost 10 months in Year 2020. The reasons being 1.) with everything that went on I wasn’t in any mood for shopping for unnecessary goods, and 2.) there wasn’t any point of buying things that I don’t know when I could ever wear them.

However, my idle shopping mode was slowly shifted as the vaccine became available. I started to pay attention to some of the promotion emails in my inbox. Then, I saw a pair of Stuart Weitzman boots that caught my attention months ago and now are on sale, and available in my size.

(Stuart Weitzman’s Carine Crystal boots covered with sparkling crystal balls.)

There’s no better time to shop than seeing something you like at a discounted price. Right on the spot, the boots sparked my hibernated love for shopping. Once again, I can feel the joy of putting the accessory in my online shopping cart, making the payment, and waiting for the boots to arrive at my house.

All of my rationales of not needing anything other than food and housing suddenly were all thrown out the window. What was left, at the moment, was the happiness and anticipation of seeing my new boots in person.

The anticipation was well worth it. I love the boots and looking forward to wear them.

The Cover Image: I really love this pair of Stuart Weitzman’s Carine Crystal boots covered with sparkling crystal balls. The picture is no near being close to justify the beauty of these boots.

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One Lost Benefit of Working from Home

08/03/2021 Shirley

How often do you turn your camera on when you join online work meetings? I am not a big fan of live video calls for work, because I enjoy taking every advantage of working remotely – meaning working in my comfortable hoodie sweatshirts and putting on my dorky glasses.

I’ve been holding off on turning on my camera for as long as I could — until yesterday. I had a work meeting with a new director who prefers face-to-face video calls with attendees. One hour before the meeting, my colleague suggested to me that I use the camera for the first impression.

I found myself in an uncharted territory and scrambled to figure out 1.) how to turn my laptop camera on for the meeting, 2.) how to adjust my camera, so I look like a normal human being (believe me, the built-in cameras on the laptops are rarely meant to make people look normal), 3.) how to put on the minimal makeup to cover my dark under-eye circles and add some color to my lips without looking like I have any makeup on, and 4.) the lighting – the key to the clarity of the video image.

I spent 45 minutes just to solve the four problems above. All of these were just to get myself looking normal enough to make a decent first impression for work. The thought of caring about my looks for a remote work meeting seems obnoxious at first thought, but, this shallow action is so important because you want people to take you seriously. Once the first impression is formed, there’s no second chance.

I have some friends and colleagues who are fed up with working from home and found face-to-face video calls their only connection to the real world. But for me, on the other hand, I want completely the opposite. I want the luxury of sitting in my home office taking calls without having to think about how I look on the screen.

In conclusion, with the advancement of technologies available for working remotely, there’s pros and cons for people like me who prefer comfortable over accessibility.

The Cover Image: It’s a picture of my cat, Inca. I took this picture when she wanted to sleep. Her facial expression clearly shows how much she wanted to be left alone, but she had no choice. And that, is exactly how I feel about turning on my laptop camera for work.

All Posts, Beauty, Lifestyle

Skin Care Remedy: How to Diminish Wrinkles around the Eyes

06/11/2021 Shirley

Six months ago I was stressed out about work and I didn’t have time to take care of my skin. As the result of my negligence, I saw that some micro fine lines grew around my under-eye areas.

I have a combination of dry and oil skin. The skin areas under my eyes can be very dry and the Dior’s L’Or de Vie Eye Crème I was using at the time didn’t seem to help with diminishing the new fine lines. I thought that I needed to try something more moisturizing for my eye areas.

After doing some online shopping I decided to try Bobbie Brown’s Extra Eye Repair Cream. This cream costs less than one forth of the Dior’s L’Or de Vie Eye Crème I was using. If the pricy eye cream didn’t help, it couldn’t hurt to try something else.

When I received the Bobbi Brown’s Extra Eye Repair cream, I used it over my all-time favorite eye serum, Lancome’s Advanced Génifique Eye Light Pearl Eye Illuminator Youth Activating Concentrate. The result was surprisingly good.

Within a few days, I noticed that applying Bobbi Brown’s Extra Eye Repair cream keeps the skin areas under my eyes well moisturized, and it makes the new micro fine lines less visible.

If there’s anything I learned about skin care products, it’s the fact that high end products don’t always guarantee a good result. I always know that part of the price we paid for is to cover the expensive marketing costs. However, from my personal experiences, some of the lower-priced skin care products do work very well for me. (Click here to ready my skin remedy post on the time when I over-exfoliated my face.)

Everyone reacts to the same skin care products differently. Disregard what product lines you use — the most important thing is to find the items that work the best for you.

For more skin care products I recommend, visit Skin Care page.

Beauty, Fashion, Top Five

5 Things to Try This Month – March 2021

03/25/2021 Shirley

Have you ever seen any house plants that die completely and regrow months later?

Right before last Christmas holiday I bought a fresh catnip plant for my cat, Inca. The catnip plant died a few days after I bought it. I’ve bought numerous catnip plants in the past years, but none of them died on me that quickly.

After the catnip plant died, it was forgotten and left in the corner by the window. Fast forward two months later, and I noticed a tiny green catnip leaf sprouted out of the the dirt in the small pot of the dead catnip plant.

I decided to do a little experiment and feed it with water every few days. And guess what? The catnip plant actual grew from a tiny leave to an actual plant. (See the cover picture of this post, taken two weeks after it came back.)

For someone who doesn’t know how to take care of plants, it sure was an unexpected miracle. I was given a second chance to take care of this catnip plant who died under my watch.

In life, we don’t always get the second chance, but when we do, we definitely should hold on to it and try our best.

Below are the five things I am trying on this month. For sure, it won’t involve ruining my new catnip plant.

Nails

I could never get tired of red nail color. If I could come up with 365 designs for red nails, I’d have red nail colors all year long. For this month, I have red sequins over the red glitter nails,

(My red glitter nails with red sequins.)

Coffee

I drink coffee or Caffè Americano everyday, but I usually only add some milk without any sugar. I saw Nespresso’s Irish coffee recipe for March and it inspired me to make my own version of sweet latte drinks.

Below is a picture of my new afternoon pick-me-up drink, made with Nespresso’s Peppermint flavored coffee, Double Espresso Scuro and hot frothed milk, then garnished with whipped cream and peppermint chocolate. This is the best afternoon pick-me-up drink to get me through my work meetings.

(My afternoon pick-me-up drink.)

Accessories

It has been a while since I bought any high heels, because I’ve been staying home to avoid the pandemic and there’s no immediate opportunity to wear any fancy shoes. However, when I saw these red platform sandals “Dania” by Rene Caovilla (covered with red crystals) online, I couldn’t resist the temptation to add it to my own collection.

I don’t know when I will be able to wear them, but I definitely enjoy trying them on at home and admiring my new addition.

(My new red Rene Caovilla shoes covered with red crystals.)

Piano

A new song I am learning this month is Chopin’s Op. 28, No. 15 Prelude in D-flat Major, also known as “Raindrop”. I love the first section of this song. The melody give me a sense of calmness and reminds me of why I like the classical music. In my opinion, the second section of this song is a bit challenging to master, because it takes some practice to play it well enough to convey the beauty of this song.

Entertainment

I’ve seen some great reviews about the show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I finally start to watch it. I was hooked after the first episode.

The show is about a sunny, energetic and well-off Jewish housewife who lived in a perfect life, but it all changed overnight. She was a supportive wife to her comedian wannabe husband (who failed miserably on this), but he walked out on her. She had to regroup her life and eventually became a successful stand-up comedian herself. Of course, there were plenty of challenges she had to overcome to get to where she wanted to go.

Another thing I really like about this show is the fashion, the silhouette. I love many of Mr. Maisel’s dresses and her lipstick colors.

(The show I am finally have time to watch and can’t stop.)

The Cover Image: This is the catnip plant that regrew in the small pot from the catnip plant that died last during the last holiday season.

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