Can I get some service please?

** This is an entry I wrote a few months ago... lol I actually write a ton of entries - they just never make it to my blog! lol my camera hasn't been working.. which is my excuse and i'm sticking to it ;) but i'm going to try and update more because its so unfair I yell at others for not updating THEIR blogs.. haha sorry! :)

I have had the worst treatment from Sales Associates lately. From New York to San Diego, SA's would either look me up and down or glance at my purse before responding rudely to me. (Skip to New York if this is tl;dr)

This is honestly a new experience to me. Before my aunt started giving me expensive gifts for looking after my family, the most expensive item in my possession was a $110 Coach purse I picked up from the Outlets back in high school, but even then, no one ever treated me poorly.

While in college, I shared a bedroom with 2 other people miles away from school because it was all I could afford. Before I moved in, my future roommates asked me about my financial situation, etc because honestly, who is willing to share a tiny room with 2 other people?! (6 other people total in the house, so 9 total). I told them the truth but it turned out that they didn't even believe me. Only once I moved in and they saw how I really lived, was when they finally believed me.

They told me I "looked like I had money". I laughed SO hard when they told me because I couldn't figure it out. I was just wearing a clearance sweater with clearance jeans when we met so I didn't take them seriously. I have been told stuff like this in the past before from other people also, but what on earth is that supposed to mean!?

All that has changed now. Maybe its the stress from taking care of my family full-time, my outdated wardrobe, or who knows what, but I do think I look "poor" now. =(

New York!

Out of all the things I looked forward to for my trip, I was most excited about hitting up the Chanel boutiques. Even though I can barely afford my cell phone bill, the possibility of being near my dream bags was thrilling. Who doesn't love the smell of leather!? My excitement soon turned sour when I was treated rudely by the SA's.

Saks Fifth Ave's Chanel Boutique was my first stop. Right when I entered the store, I decided to use the restroom first (there are NO restrooms in New York!!!) so I can look at my Chanels in peace. So it was pretty sad when some random scarf SA looked at my PURSE before telling me where the restrooms were. I tried not to let it bother me and decided to go straight to Chanel instead.

Now get this: Right when I walked in to the area, 2 of the SA's looked me up and down, and walked away. My boyfriend was pretty pissed at this point because he knew how excited I was so he decided to ask about the earrings I wanted to make me feel better. Right before the SA went to go check their stock, she went to the Security Guard, whispered something WHILE pointing at us, and then left. I was seriously close to tears at this point!!! Who does that?!

Its not like we were dressed like bums or anything. I was in a long white Banana Republic coat, black tights (forever 21, $3.80) , and Steve Madden boots (their Bonanza boots for $29) and my $110 Coach bag from high school since thats all I have left now. Yeah I got the coat at the outlet ($40 from $120) but how would they know!? lol

This is why my bf bought me so many Chanel items in NY. It was because we were treated pretty badly from all the stores so we were trying to "earn their approval'. (I still haven't decided which to keep... oops!) After we purchased the earrings, most of the SA's were so nice.

Rest of the Chanel boutiques:

Bergdorf's = SA was rude UNTIL we purchased earrings. Then we were like best friends, haha. She even let me hold some of the bags..

Madison Ave Boutique = SA was incredibly nice.. once we purchased something.

Bloomingdales boutique = nice SA but still looked at my purse before approaching me..

Soho Boutique = SA's didn't even approach me. I walked around the entire store at least 3 times before leaving.. played with their wallets and everything!

Other Boutique = SA looked at my Chanel earrings weird as if they were fake and ran over to me when I tried to look at a bag.

It was pretty ridiculous. Its been a few months since my visit but I still remember exactly how the scarf SA looked at my purse before answering me. Its not even that ugly? Lol its just plain black. I'll have pictures once I steal the bf's camera.

I've also been ignored at my hometown's Bloomingdales but I noticed if I wear my Chanel mini earrings, I get treated with extreme niceness. It only works when they're in close proximity though because just last Tuesday, I was looking at some Tory Burch flats (go here and here if you love TB and didn't realize they existed for cheaper prices - and then want to die from jealousy) and a male SA just GLARED at me while walking to the sale section. I even smiled at first out of nervousness but that just seemed to make him angrier!

So I've been dying to know - Has this ever happened to you? Did a sales associate judge you just by your appearance and deem you not worthy of their time? Can you give me tips to not look so poor? lol =(

Midterm season - Need I say more?

My roommate's dog. Whenever I have to babysit her, I put ribbons on her and blind her with the flash from my camera. =) Jk, I try not to use flash! She's adorable but my roommate never washes her... lol so she's like this cute stink-bomb that loves sitting next to you but ughhh when she does =\

I realized I put way too much time and effort in to everything. For example, I've been in the process of selling my last brand new Louis Vuitton Neverfull but it took forever because I took so many damn pictures! lol After deleting the ones I don't want, I still have 42...that is about 38 more than everyone else's! Yikes, right? I just really wanted to prove it was authentic... lol The worst part though was figuring out how I should ship it. The bag is about 15"x13" but when its flat, its freaking 24"x16! So I spent over an hour trying to create a box just to ship that sucker.

Here's what happened:

my first attempt at using a box cutter. can you tell I struggled??

Box #1! This would've worked except I needed to fold the sides of the bag. The Neverfull technically is able to be a bag that has folded sides but I wasn't comfortable folding it while it was flat. If I buy a bag off of Ebay or Bonanza, I would want to know it wouldn't come all folded.

Box #2. Can you tell how many pieces this version had? 7. Such a waste of tape! This box was bigger than the first but I still had to fold it, just not as much.

Final box. All that work for nothing! lol I heard there are outrageous fees once your box hits the 21" mark (and this is 25? I think?) but I decided to screw it. I want my buyer to receive their bag in perfect condition! I'm saving my other boxes though just in case the fees are too much for me to handle.

I even take off the lint on the dust bags! lol Notice the plastic on the ground? I wanted it to be extra clean. =)

Bye bye my brand new Louis Vuitton Neverfull in GM.

Did you know Louis Vuitton lowered and raised the prices on some of their items? This bag cost $750 when it was purchased but now its freaking $725!! I had to re-write the listing today. I wonder if my buyers think its weird how I always have brand new items to sell... lol I was hoping this item will sell for at least $700 since older versions have sold for around that much but now I'm not sure! =(

Financial woes with Chanel blessings

**Feel free to skip down to the birthday part. =) I'm just rambling.

As a pre-med student in one of the best colleges in Southern California, the struggle to balance my heavy workload with my family troubles was just been too much to bear. The strain on my life was so difficult that I decided that the best thing for my family and I, would be to take some time off of school. So it would make sense if that would take off some burden from my life... right?

WRONG. Apparently not all school loans start requiring payment a full year after you graduate. Even a temporary leave of absence from school is reason enough for student loan distributors to start asking for money. Also, because I left while school was in session (The second week of classes), my school is also requiring that I pay for the entire quarter. Everything from the cost of classes, dorm fees, and meal points that weren't even used. To make matters worse, the financial aid I already received for the quarter were nulled the second I wasn't enrolled in at least 12 units.

Basically, the amount I owe currently is much larger than what it would have been after I graduated. tear* So it was ridiculously stupid for me to take a leave of absence. If you ever considered it... forget it.

So I went from X amount of debt to XXXX in a matter of days! I'm supposed to do pay for all of this while still taking care of my family full-time? Ohhhhkay. Because a student that has been relying on scholarships and student aid to pay for tuition can afford to shell out a couple thousand dollars just like that? And its not as if I can just go out and get a job like most people because of the stuff going on with my family. Not to go too much in to detail but I pretty much have to be with them 24/7.

And forget about just enrolling back in to school. I now have a financial hold on my account, meaning I have to pay off my school fees before I can even become a student again.

Typing all this out just makes me want to scream!

So since I don't have the time to get a job, the only option I had left was to sell all of my things. I said goodbye to:

- LV Palermo PM

- LV Pochette
- LVPapillion

- LV Batignolles Horizontal
- Gucci tote

- Gucci sunglasses
- Prada Saffiano Wallet
- Several Chanel sunglasses

- Tiffany & Co bracelets

- and soo much more.

How.. could I afford all of these things? I didn't. The only thing I purchased my self were the Gucci sunglasses as a high school graduation present. The rest were all gifts by friends or family members. I was very blessed earlier in my life!

Its sad but I never cared for designer items back then since I received so many as gifts but now that I no longer have them or receive them, I developed such a desire for them! Little things like getting treated poorly in department stores or just not having a wallet to organize things really get to me sometimes. Window shopping is also a nice distraction from my life. =( I literally go to the LouisVuitton website several times a week.. lol

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So on a happier note: My birthday is coming up!! I'm an October baby. Do you know what that means? It means my parents got. it. on. because of Valentines day. absolutely gross.

Anyways, my boyfriend surprised me with a trip to New York! I've never had a vacation in my life or even stayed at a hotel before so you can imagine how crazy excited I was! He even planned it specifically for when my auntie would be in town so my family would be taken care of. How amazing was that!? Not only that, the cost of our hotel and his plane tickets were completely free because he had to do work related things during the trip. It was just so meant to be!

I had the BEST time! I was nervous about flying for the first time but it was such a breeze. I didn't even get nervous on the way back! I was such a pro :)

The only downside was that we didn't get to do much since he was working half the time. We did eat at a bunch of yummy places though. It's true what they say: New York DOES have amazing pizza!!!

The highlight of the trip? My CHANEL haul. There are 7 Chanel stores in Manhattan - 3 free standing stores and 4 boutiques inside department stores. And I went to every single one of them.

The bf bought me 3 pairs of Chanel earrings and a Chanel card holder as an early Christmas present! But I only get to keep 1 item.. lol. He only bought me 4 things because I couldn't decide in the store. Whooops.. lol It's been a few days and I STILL haven't decided. Opinions are appreciated =)

(Why are two of my pictures sideways? And how come I can't turn them!??!?!? Fail.)

Anyways, I can't find the third pair right now but they're the Baguettes in silver. The cardholder is definitely going back to the store because the slots are all stretched out to the point where my cards just fall out. About the earrings: I had my heart set on the classic CC's since I've admired them since high school but none of the stores had them. =(

I'm leaning towards the ones with the Bergdorf Goodman tag but they're sort of obnoxiously big. very "IN YOUR FACE". lol but if you're going to wear Chanel earrings, thats the way to go, right!?

My boyfriend is off to San Francisco this week for work again and his hotel is exactly 1.1 miles away from a Chanel boutique. =) I'm hoping they'll have my CC earrings there. If not, then I don't know. =\ Maybe they all go back!!!

No, totally kidding. lol This is the first time in a LONG time I have the opportunity to have a designer item in my possession and who knows when the next time would be!? So I might as well =)

Technically, I have a brand new Chanel Jumbo from my aunt but I'm waiting until the next price increase (November) to sell it. It's hard because I'm always so tempted to take it out of the box and touch it but I'm good! lol She gave it to me as a "thank you" for going home immediately everyday after classes to take care of my grandma but even back then, I had a feeling I shouldn't cut off the tags. What would you do with a brand new Chanel Jumbo in delicious lambskin sitting in your closet? lol T_T

One day, I will be able to own a designer bag.. and actually get to use it!