Dents on My Credit Card

Recently, I have not been on my other tumblr as often because I have been working on developing this blog. But yesterday, I went on to my old tumblr and I saw on my dashboard another possible dent on my credit card!

Oh man. That really was one of the worst decisions I could have done because I saw this on my dashboard!

I don’t need this bag actually. I really don’t need it because I have this camera bag insert that I had gotten around half a year ago. But I really don’t like the insert because it doesn’t fit in most of my bags. It’s super bulky and I am only limited to shoving it in my Longchamp bag. And seriously, I never thought that lugging a camera around in a tote bag is extremely uncomfortable when you out. It’s like I’m carrying a whole bunch of novels in my bag. Also, my mom gives me crap about carrying bulky bags around. The insert really makes it super bulky.

But this camera bag? Man, it’s like everything I want and more. First off, it’s PURPLE. (I don’t think you guys know this, but I love the color purple. I’m serious when I say LOVE). Also, it has so many pockets. I love pockets in this thing because that means I can shove my wallet, my keys, my phone and all my other crap in there along with my camera. It would be perfect for when I go out and want to have a cross-body bag. It would give me more mobility. Man, the more I write about this, the more I want this bag! 

Ugh, but I don’t know if I am ready to fork another $60 bucks for another bag. I mean, I have that camera bag insert and I should be happy with it…right? But the more, I stare at it and the more I show my friends and gush and obsess over it, the more my fingers are just itching to hit the “add to cart” button. 

Why are my hands itching to make another dent on my credit card????? 

I recently splurged for this bag that I had been eyeing for the longest time. I’ve seen plenty of girls running around San Francisco with this bag. It goes with everything and it’s so light and looks so classic. It can be casual and business-y at the same time. So what is this bag that I got? The Longchamp Le Pliage Large Tote.

Originally, I had put off getting this bag until the far, far future, like maybe around my birthday in October. But when I went into the SF downtown Nordstrom and the sales rep told me if I signed up for a Nordstrom’s card and spent $100 then I would be able to get a $20 Nordstrom note (a.k.a. gift certificate) in the mail, I was sold. This is just me being a sucker for any kind of “deals.”

Now on that day, my cousin M was with me and she was shaking her head the entire time we were at Nordstrom and I was picking out the bag. She kept on saying, “It’s just a nylon bag. Why would you pay around $150 for it?” Man, she made me feel so guilty about the bag. But I could not convince myself that I didn’t need it. I had been eyeing that little sucker for quite a while and seriously, I just could not say no.

What color did I end up picking for myself? I decided to go with the classic black bag because it would just go with everything. I also had seen various business-y women carrying this bag around and I thought it would look great with a suit too. 

Now, this bag is really roomy. I have a camera bag insert for tote bags and this fits it perfectly. This bag also keeps it’s shape really well. You know how when you sometimes put stuff in a bag and everything just sinks to the bottom? I think that’s one of the ugliest things that a bag can do. It makes it look like a sack instead of a classy, chic bag.

Right now, I barely use this bag because I am so scared of getting it dirty. I also think since it’s new and all pretty and nice, I can only use it on the weekends. I can’t bear to think that I can carry around at school and throw it around. 

This is seriously one of the biggest dents on my credit card currently. $145 plus tax! It amounted to around $157.33!!!!!

Sunday morning brunch with the besties and one of the bestie’s bf. Originally, since one of the besties lives in the San Mateo area, we were just going to go to Stack’s. I wanted to change things up again and not always go to the “regular” places we always go to and decided to hop on Yelp and do some researching.

I discovered Alana’s Cafe and thought this would be the best place to try a next breakfast place. We were going to go to their Redwood City location but since a lot of the yelpers were saying that there was a long wait at that location, we opted to the Burlingame location.

There was so much parking at the Burlingame location so it wasn’t hard to find a spot. When we got to the Cafe, we ended up putting ourselves on the wait list but within five to ten minutes, the server asked if we mind sitting at the counter (which of course, we didn’t) and we took it. We ended up sharing orders. S shared with F (naturally). I shared with V. V got the Company’s Something (it’s the only with Company in the name). And I got the Oatmeal Pancakes with Lingonberries. 

I have never had oatmeal pancakes before, so it was surprisingly interesting. It tastes like a pancake, but a little more chunkier. But I think that oatmeal pancakes are pretty good choice for breakfast because they keep you really, really full. We ate at 10 and I did not get hungry until around 5 in the afternoon and I only ate half a stack. 

The Company’s dish that V ordered was ok. The poached egg was very bland. But I did like the house potatoes underneath the eggs.

Overall, the service was good and so was the food. Staff was attentive and friendly. We were going to split the bill but F was nice enough to treat us to breakfast!

So here’s a bit information about little old me. I currently go to UC Davis and am a business major. My weeks are pretty hectic and calm at the same time. I work and have class Tuesdays to Thursdays and then basically I have the other days off. But on these other days that I have off are also my catch up days. I end up having to do homework or do some extra studying or running errands that I couldn’t run on the other day.

But this recent monday, I was lucky enough to not have much to do and be able to kick back and relax. Originally, my housemate, V and I wanted to walk around downtown Sacramento and window shop while people watching. We did end up walking around but also had quite an escapade.

V and I had started walking around the State Capitol and looking at the huge lines and groups of people looking at the State Capitol Building. As we continued through the gardens that surrounded the building, there was an old chinese man who was trying to talk to the police. Since I couldn’t speak a word of cantonese, I asked V to go over and help the old man translate and see what was wrong. Apparently, this old man came from San Francisco and somehow lost the group he came with. He needed to go back home and the only way he could was to take Amtrak. Since he didn’t know a word of english and could only wave his California ID around, V and I decided to walk with him to the Amtrak station, which was near Old Sacramento. 

But the old man got lucky. I had heard his phone ring and the group that “abandoned” him was able to reach him and come and pick him up. V and I ended up waiting with the old man until the bus with his group came. We were so relieved that he was able to get back home with his group.

After saying our goodbyes to the old man, V and I decided that we probably should go to Old Sacramento and explore since we were almost there anyways. I was starving by the time we walked into Old Sacramento. We went to Steamers and had a lunch there. But honestly, it was pretty over priced. A bottle of root beer with half a egg salad sandwich and a small salad cost me around 11 bucks. But that’s what happens when you eat at a touristy area huh? The food was alright. But it wasn’t amazing. I think it might have even tasted better because I was so hungry when the food came. 

We explored Old Sacramento for a bit longer and walked into some of the shops just for kicks. I didn’t get anything.

As we walked back to our car, I managed to get some pretty photos of the flowers. Spring is coming and you can see it in the flowers. 

I recently have been eyeing this brush set from Sigma. Now I’ve been watching a ton of youtube gurus rave about Sigma brushes and how they are great. I’ve been listening to them talk about these brushes for ages and I really am itching to get them now. Even one of my high school friends, D, recently got the set for Valentine’s day from her boyfriend. 

These beauties look amazing. And what’s really selling me on this is that it’s a travel kit so that means that I can take them everywhere I go. Since I always commute back and forth from school and my home in SF, I want my brushes to be safe a portable. I don’t want them shoved into a bag and ruining all their bristles. 

Also, since I’m such a girl, isn’t the colors on these brushes so pretty? The light blue and cool pink is such a nice combination. 

Anyways, these brushes are priced at $59 but I see codes online that give me 10% off too! You can see more of the details here! Currently, I think the code is MARCH2012. When you add the shipping on top of the whole thing, the grand total should be around $63-64. I am trying so badly to justify this sixty-something amount for these brushes. 

What do you all think? Is this worth a dent in my credit card?

So one of the major dents that I had put in my credit card recently is a food dent. Now where did I splurge and indulge myself? Brenda’s French Soul Food.

Now originally, I had no intentions of eating at Brenda’s in the month of February. But my cousin and I had not caught up in a long time, so we decided to grab breakfast there since she and I had not been. Now she made me so paranoid about waiting for a super long line and forced me to get to the place before 8AM. I ended up arriving 10 minutes early and to my surprise, the line was not as long as she described it.

While waiting for her, I was convinced by the waiter to order their Watermelon Ice Tea. That was definitely a good recommendation. The iced tea is a mixture of just regular sweet tea with really, really tiny chunks of sweet watermelon in there. My mouth was having a battle with the watermelon sweetness and the slight bitterness of the tea.

The first thing that the cousin and I had to order for sure was the Beignets because that’s what Brenda’s is known for. We got the sampler, which included a crawfish beignet, a original beignet with powdered sugar, a chocolate beignet and an apple beignet. 

We were definitely not expecting the beignets to come out that big. But man, we were getting our money’s worth for these things. 

The apple beignet was definitely the best. It wasn’t too sweet and was slightly tart. M (my cousin) and I were sad when we finished that one. But on a side note, we did get the “chocolate beignet” packed for to-go, and later on when we decided to devour the last beignet, we discovered it was this lovely apple beignet instead. We were quite the happy campers that day since we aren’t big chocolate lovers.

The crawfish beignet was something that my mouth had never experienced before. It was warm and savory, something that I didn’t think would sound good as a “donut.” 

I also ordered the eggs benedict as my “main course.” Since I had not accounted for those huge beignets that we couldn’t even finish, the benedicts were daunting when it arrived. I am a huge lover of egg benedicts. But this benedict was good but oh-so heavy. The biscuits underneath the eggs make the meal very dense. After just eating one of the eggs, I was already in a food coma.

The house potatoes were not really much to write home about. They were just regular old potatoes but I’m thinking around the time I did get to the potatoes, I was already hitting the uncomfortable feeling of full.

The full tab for this southern brunch was around $40, that’s including the thing my cousin ordered but I was too full to remember.

Good thing that after brunch, we walked around downtown and into the new Forever 21 store. Man, they have the best view there.

Hope you all enjoyed reading about my first dent in my credit card! More updates soon!

Hello to Anyone that is reading out there!

My name is Jess and I am from the Northern California! I am currently a college student and was born and raised in San Francisco. I have been following various bloggers about fashion, food, and beauty. And I finally have decided to start a blog since I have been so inspired by all the other bloggers out there. This blog will be dedicated to my many food adventures, make up products I bought and clothes that I have. 

I also will be sharing with you all my current obsessions and things that I really want to try. You’ll see me wanting a ton of stuff and know the reasoning why!

I’ll also be sharing with you all what my friends think and what they are currently excited about with mini interviews or peeks into their closets and make up bags!

Thanks for reading this introduction post! And here’s to the road ahead with many wonderful adventures and finds to tell!