Hi everyone! Sorry for being M.I.A. this month! Putting off all my work throughout the semester finally kicked me in the bum when I had to study cram for my finals...

This is one of the easiest skirts to make in my opinion because you barely need to sew! I love the shape that it gives you because of the fullness of the fabric. I know there are a lot of tutorials out there on how to make this but this is the way I do it. If you want to learn how to make a circle skirt, keep reading below.

So as you can see, a nice blanket of snow has fallen! Goodbye green grass! Everything just seems so still now: less animals, less cars, and less sun during the day. I was (and still am) pretty excited for winter to start because that means it's almost Christmas time! LESS THAN ONE MONTH AWAY. The Christmas tree is already up at my house too!

This is a little different from what I normally post but I think I might start getting into it more. Let me know what you think! :)

Since I moved into the house that I'm currently living in with my family 13 years ago, my room does not have a usable closet. "Joyce, I see that you appear to have a closet door in your room; why is it there?" I will get back to that question in a minute.

So where exactly did/do I store my clothes?

1. I had a separate dresser with five drawers to store most of my clothes.
2. When I grew older and my clothes accumulated, I used the three drawers built into my bed frame to store the rest.
3. Things I needed to hang such as semi-formal or formal dresses, and coats were stored in my sister or parents' closets.

Christmas is about to roll in (less than 2 months?!) and I've been excitedly waiting to talk about this awesome charity project by Samaritan's Purse. Operation Christmas Child is a yearly project whose main purpose is to share God's great love. It started in the '90s and people participate worldwide to pack shoeboxes full of items to gift to children in developing countries. Everyone should experience the joy, hope, warmth, and love that Christmas is supposed to bring!

You're probably questioning the title of my post right now and thinking why this post isn't about grape jelly waffles. Well, the longer I stared at this outfit trying to think of a name, the hungrier I got and the more my outfit began to resemble waffles. Adding the purple in it made me think of grapes. A name was born.

I have been wanting to compose a "time lapse" type of photo for quite some time now and I finally got the chance to. This image took me almost a full year to compose. I know I couldn't line up everything perfectly because I wasn't in the exact same position everyday to take the picture. I tried my best! Here is the time to appreciate the beauty of nature and how amazing it is.

From the changing of colours to the heavy snowfalls; to the pouring rain and the scorching sun. Every season has something great to love. I for one can't wait for the snow to come. It has already begun snowing for some of my friends living more North! Bring on the tobogganing!

Hope you have a great week! :)

After what seemed like forever, I finally bought a denim/chambray shirt that fit me well and within a price range that I thought was worth it for quality ($13 :D ). Generally, I invest in a lot more versatile and basic pieces because I know I'll wear them a lot. That explains the lack of prints I have in my closet because I find it so difficult to incorporate into outfits! On another note, guess how cold it was today where I live? It was around the 5°C area (41°F) in the morning. Time to pull out those thick knits! Where did autumn go?! Soon, I'll be putting on my winter jacket before November even comes.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the land of maple syrup! Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers! :) It has been quite awhile since my last post (insert school-related excuse here). As I'm typing this post up, it's raining and the sky is gloomy. It kind of brings my mood down but the sound of the rain is super calming. Since it's raining, that means it's the perfect time to pull out my boots! Wearing loose tops also means I can stuff myself with lots of food :D

Today, this post might be different from most things I usually write about, but I just thought that I would share about my week in summary. It may not be the MOST exciting week of my life... it's like watching grass grow.

1. Midterms: midterm season has finally arrived which means it's time to study! This has just been one of those weeks where I honestly have been so lazy, tired, stressed, and who knows what else. When I'm in a mood like that, wearing some stylish, nice outfit is not in the picture. I'm at school for 9 to 11 hours a day on average and I have to be in the most comfortable thing I can wear.

I'm not really one to take risks in life so fashion hasn't been one of those things. And here I am, wearing my first coloured pair of pants! Thanks to my sister for letting me borrow them (the perks of having a sister who is the same size as you).

Last year, I definitely was not involved in school. I'm a very shy person. I'm not quick to trying new things, especially when I'm on my own. When I look back, I feel like I wasted a whole year just studying and doing nothing else! This year, I'm slowly but surely trying to step out of my comfort zone to be a bit more "involved" at school.

This is one of the biggest events that happen in Toronto each year. The first exhibition started in 1879! I thought that was a pretty cool fact since Canada was officially named a country just a little over 10 years before then. The main attractions include carnival booth-type games, rides, shows, shopping, a petting zoo, and the outrageously weird foods. It was really good weather when I went even though the forecast said it would rain. Thanks to my friend, we got into the Ex for free!

If I counted correctly, this would be my 18th first day of school. I went to preschool for 2 years, kindergarten for 2 years, elementary school for 8 years, high school for 4 years, and now I'm entering my 2nd year of university. That's a lot of schooling right there! Even after so many years, I still try to plan out my first day of school outfit.

I can't believe that it's almost fall! That means it's time for changes- new clothes, new hair (rocking my new 'do), new teachers, new classes... you name it. Even though September is partially still considered summer, the weather no longer feels that way. I've started to get some cooler days where I live already. It's much more enjoyable because the air conditioning doesn't need to be blasted on high. I hate it when it gets extremely humid because I literally have to wear a sweater indoors and then tank top and shorts outdoors. I say the temperature around low to mid 20s feels the best.

Hair donation is something I've been wanting to do for a few years now. I actually haven't heard about hair donations until my time in high school when a few of my classmates donated their hair and when my school hosted a few hair donating events. I was like, "wow, that is something I want to participate in!" So for the past year, I've been growing my hair to get it to the length it was.

Over the past year or so, macarons seem to have become unbelievably popular in North America. At first, I was like, "what is a macarON? I've only heard of a macarOON." Yea, it bugs me when people pronounce this treat as macaroon. I never knew what it was made of so I did a little research. It is somewhat like a meringue-based treat mixed with almond flour, baked to look like delicate cookies.

I've heard a lot of say that macarons are extremely difficult to make so the hunt for a foolproof recipe was on. You can't go wrong with Martha Stewart! A baker made a video on how to make the macarons based on Martha's recipe which made it a lot easier to make. With the help of my church fellowship gals, the macarons turned out awesome! It was our first time making these and I believe they tasted and looked just like store bought ones. Maybe they were a little better than store-bought ones? Nah, now I'm just flattering ourselves.

It's a long weekend here in Canada! This time, my family and I ventured to the Farmer's Market in St. Jacobs. It's a really small village but it's full of delicious, fresh food! Just look at those peaches! People also sell their own products and clothing there but the main focus is no doubt the food. Because it was the long weekend, there were a lot of people. It wasn't exactly comfortable walking around. Luckily, the weather was amazing that day so it was really nice to spend the day outside.

I've ALWAYS wanted to have some pictures with my guitar. Maybe it's due to the fact that I see all these amazing photos on the internet of musicians. On the other hand, it may be due to the fact that the pictures I have with my other instruments are not very good. Exhibit A and B:

Did you think I meant crop tops? I've never been a fan of crop tops and I probably never will be. I prefer longer shirts that start below my hip. The longer the shirt is, the better it is for me! Haha, it's more worth your money too because there's more fabric.

Not too long ago, the Night Market came to my city. There were a lot of booths selling delicious street food; the only problem was that most of them were priced too high. I was planning to wear something nice there but I realized that it would be too crowded and hot, so I stuck to a solid colour t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. With the numerous grills, woks, and stoves cooking away there, I came home with clothes and hair smelling like smoke and food.

The most prominent smell at a night market is the obvious stinky tofu (臭豆腐... my knowledge of Chinese characters is very limited... thank you Google Translate ^_^). There were also meat skewers, takoyaki, fishballs, seafood, noodles, tornado chips, and much more. My friend and I shared some delicious 雞蛋仔 (direct translation: little chicken eggs). It's kind of like an egg puff; they are made from batter cooked to look like what the name implies.

Hi and welcome to my blog, "A Splash of Tan"! After a long, tedious process of planning, designing, and actually trying to learn the html coding (thank you to all the people who post the help codes online!), I'm proud to announce the start of my blog. I've done a lot of trial and error to make it look nice and to format it in a way that is efficient to look through posts.

To start it off, here's a simple outfit, reflecting pretty well what my style is- simple and comfortable. Thank you to my friend who helped me take these photos! I can tell you that I am the absolute worst at posing and acting "natural" in front of the camera, but I try my hardest! I hope you'll continue to read my blog from here on out. If you want to be updated easily, follow me on Bloglovin' or GFC. Thanks for stopping by! :)