My Little Pony Twilight Sparkle for Halloween

I saw this Little Pony hoodie in a Kmart advertisement last week and thought to myself "I need this for Halloween!" Granted I don't really celebrate Halloween anymore, but if I had to wear a costume, I just want to wear this hoodie:

1. There is more than one purple shades in it.

2. The pony has bangs (so do I!)

3. I probably can fit into size girls XL (yay for being a petite)

4. I read about "Twilight Sparkle" online, and the character is very similar to my kind of persona (student, librarian, magic, friendship...love her!)

Best toddler recycled dinnerware ever

I may be on a roll with amazing purple sightings on Instagram for a long time! Today, it's these Re-Play recycled plastic dining sets for kids! Spotted from one of my favorite fashion blogger Nini's Style instagram:

Lavender purse on sale at ASOS

Pieces Leather Mini Shoulder Bag

 Why I'm loving this:

• Sleek minimal classic style
• Lavender of course!
• On sale for $27 (from $63)
• The small size is perfect (not too tiny nor too big, just right to fit the necessities)

Donating toys with purple hair

Speaking of purple hair, this weekend I went to Target to buy toys to donate for my local children's hospital. Wow, July is a good time to buy toys! Lots of clearance items. A true girly girl at heart, I spent almost all my time in the Barbie doll isle and became inspired about toys again! I was excited to get these with the purple hair and purple outfits of course..

I know there's a lot of controversy over Barbie dolls over the years and present-day for being unrealistic bad role models for children, but I grew up wanting to own a Barbie doll, and it did not influence me in getting plastic surgery, nor spending my money on figure-tight clothing, nor having low self-esteem in comparison to my own image. I just love Barbie dolls because they have cool hair to play with, one can get creative with her outfits (use of arts and craft skills), imagining fun stories of the places she'll go with her makeover, and just appreciation of fashion and beauty. Barbie dolls are pretty, and when I see something pretty, it makes me happy! There is a saying..."a thing of beauty is a joy forever!" - John Keats

Trending ombre purple haircolor

I'm usually a lazy all-natural girl who grimaces at resorting to chemicals to maintain my outer appearances, but there is one thing I dream of trying when I'm old and graying...to dye my granny hair PURPLE! Thanks to the inspiration from this old-lady character (Mrs. Slocombe) portrayed by actress Mollie Sugden in Are You Being Served? on the PBS channel that I grew up watching. I had no clue what the show was about, but I enjoyed seeing the changing hair colors from this old lady:

I was also re-inspired when I saw this picture on Instagram recently from one of my favorite fashion blogger, Ella Catliff of La Petite Anglaise. Her friend with the gorgeous purple ombre hair! Perfection!

Discovering the purple cow

As I was perusing the July 2015 issue of Bon Appétit Magazine with the catchy blueberry-purple title font...

...I came across this tiny blurb on soda ice cream floats, particularly the words "Purple Cow". 

Wow, of my 33 years in life, I have never thought of or seen grape soda ice cream floats. Yes, I've had root beer floats and whatever-soda-one-has-on-hand with vanilla ice cream...but not grape (or any crazy colored soda come to think of it.) Well, probably because I'm not fond of the artificial grape flavorings. But man, I've been missing out on the wonderful color it would create in a tall icy crystal glass. My next goal in life is to attempt this Purple Cow! 

Some interesting tidbits I've come across while searching on "Purple Cow":

• Purple Cow Restaurant in Little Rock, AR - purple theme decor and famous for their purple ice cream floats; a trip to Arkansas, anyone?
• Welch's Purple Cow recipe - instead of unhealthy artificial soda, try real grape juice with Welch's. I remember Welch's use to have the cutest kids for their tv commercials too. 
• Serious Eats ranking of best Grape Sodas - sodas to keep in mind for my home experiment with the purple cow...future post to come! 

Wishing I loved Taro more

Of all the shades of purple, the palest lavender hue is my absolute favorite! This beloved shade is often found in "taro root" flavored Asian desserts and drinks...like my recent splurge on this taro milk smoothie with rainbow jellies at Arizona Donut Co, forgetting that I'm lactose-intolerant and had an upset stomach after consuming this.

Honestly, I don't even like the earthly sticky back-of-throat taste of taro, yet I keep gravitating towards picking this flavor all for the pretty color. That's when I realized I have a purple problem.

My problem must be rubbing off on people around me too. When my sister took a short trip to California last weekend, she couldn't resist taking a picture of this taro dessert from the trendy Taiwanese 85°C Bakery just for me!

So pretty! My awesome sister also brought back a bunch of their desserts home for us to try and yummm! Now I know what's all the hype about. If I ever visit California, I would definitely love to drop by this popular bakery (and remind myself to stay away from the enticing taro stuff that might not be as tasty as the others, haha.)