bring on da funk!

i'm a huuuuge fan of quirky jewelry.

today i'm wearing my precious weapons earrings -- dangly gold gun and silver heart with a bullet hole.

imagine how thrilled i was when i discovered this alex&chloe necklace today, appropriately (well, depends on how you look at it) named "coco is dead." love it! hopefully it looks good on, that image of it is pretty shoddy. i get really annoyed at some sites that sell jewelry though... im very picky about the length of my necklaces. anything too short makes my neck look fat. im convinced of that. i can only deal with 18" or longer chains. hahah, i supposed im a little weird like that. but i hate it when these sites dont mention how long the necklace is and dont provide an image of it on a model. and i also dont like it when they dont tell you how big the pendants are. they always photograph so much bigger than they actually are. its very misleading!!

im crossing my fingers and hoping this one looks ok!

"shot through the heart" by the fetty

cheap trends

as a follow-up post to yesterdays...

after work i ran over to forever 21 at union square, always my plan B for cheap trends! i had already browsed their entire online site, searching for some nice fall dresses, keeping in mind the babydoll silhouette i had a craving for. i scoured rack after rack, frustrated by the crowds pushing and shoving through mounds of clothing, everyone looking to find a worthy steal. an armful of dresses later, all in some different variation of plaid (not exactly by choice, they just had a lot of plaid dresses), i found myself at the back of a mile-long dressing room line.

for some reason i can not explain, forever21 had decided to use only 10 of their 30 available rooms, leaving the rest of us girls impatiently shifting from foot to foot, necks craning for any curtain movement from inside, signifying that indeed, there were live women inside trying things on. finally, it was my turn.

i emerged, 10 minutes later, with only one dress. and this was it. a plaid version of the grey babydoll jumper i had posted in my previous entry. the closest replica i could find. sure, the pattern wasn't exactly the most desirable, i would have gotten a lot more wear out of something in a solid color or a more subtle plaid, the tailoring wasnt immaculate, threads coming undone, even an uneven hem, but for $24, it was a safe bet. something i can wear as a test run, to see if i can make this piece work!

job well done! $24.90, available at forever21.com

what a cutie patootie

i absolutely adore this babydoll dress. it is apparently a popular choice for the olympus fashion week attendees, as documented by the sartorialist... so when i was walking along the west village the other day, i had to stop in a boutique to try it on.

the verdict? well... its definitely nice... but for around $300? there was no lining, the fabric wasn't extremely luxurious, and it was just too poofy. i felt and looked preggers in it. who knows if i should blame it on the dress or too many cookies. but everytime i see it on that slim and perfectly proportioned albeit headless mannequin, i fall in love with it all over again.

it looks simple enough to replicate so i guess my only option now is to keep my eyes peeled and see if i can find a cheaper and less poofy alternative elsewhere. or maybe buy some fabric and see if i can crank one out on my own.

meanwhile... i shall shop for some other babydoll fall dresses!

uh oh.. winter already?

just as we are starting the transition into fall... i've plunged headfirst into winter territory. i've been wanting a new winter coat since, well, since a month ago when i made my monthly visit to bloomingdales and noticed the huuuge section of winter coats. i wanted to get this above-knee length white coat from mackage, and then decided against it when i realized i looked a little pirate-esque from the wide sleeves. and besides, my mom started rattling on about how white is not a very logical color to get a coat in because the dry cleaners would probably see it more than i would. i agree, but whatever! when was fashion logical anyways? i still want a white coat, but i will not be dropping $600 on it.

so how thrilled was i when i saw this wool coat from free people? i love it! i love all the details on it, the attached faux second layer with the plaid fabric peeking out, the low slung belt which makes it look so utilitarian-chic, the longer length of the jacket which looks really cool with narrower pants. it's casual in a very downtown way. and it didnt make my cc cringe!

lazy days

ever since i got sick a while back and had to take a break from my regular 3-days a week gym schedule, i've been having trouble going back. i've become so grossly lazy, every evening at 5pm i'd suddenly morph into a whiny depressed little sloth... "mmmm...im too tiiiired... im exhauuusted from work... i'll go tomorroow..." and of course, i find a different excuse the next day. it used to be so easy for me to go at the end of the day, it was my time to de-stress. and it worked so well!

i've been trying to think of some ways to make the idea of going to the gym seem fun again. because we all know, as winter quickly approaches, whatever desire i will have to get in shape will slowly diminish. "its too cooold..."

i was browsing through adidas.com today and came across this stella mccartney bra top. its so friiickin cute! it could be my ticket to loving the gym again, or not, i dont know if im too comfortable with exposing my stomach since, well, i havent been to the gym in a while... i dont know if i'll get the top, but i am drooling all over my computer screen right now!

mosquitos are not my friends

today, i killed a mosquito who bit me 10 times. woohoo!! im so proud of myself and im glad i smushed that sucker to pieces. dont bother me no more!! my legs are itching like crazy but my skinny wool pants are scratching them for me hahaha.

yes, btw, i decided to buy the alice&olivia plaid pants! (tiff, they fit really nice! and the plaid is subtle and not as crazy as i thought it would be) i was making my usual rounds at barney's new york one day when i noticed the rack of alice&olivia clothes and since i was unsure of what my size would be, i decided to try on a buttload of their skinny pants. i found a pair, same cut as the plaid sierra ones, in a different print (which i cant seem to find online) that was more grey-tweed than solid grey, and they were really fantastic. the fabric looks really nice and classy and just putting them on caused visions of skinny balenciaga models dancing in my head. i didnt buy them though because i figured i'd find something better at a more affordable price. and i was buying jeans already that day too. 2 splurge/purchases in one day sometimes scare the hell out of me. haha

well, they dont have those pants anymore, which was a major disappointment when i checked the other day. so i had, just haaad to buy the plaid ones online while it was still in stock.

while waiting impatiently for the package containing my pants to arrive, i discovered yelp and yeap... im an addicted member now. its a great online community that enables people to write reviews of restaurants, stores, anything, which are shared with other people. for me, it was just fun writing up ridiculous things to say about the places i really liked. and it also helps me make a catalog of all the restaurants i love, and all the ones i should remember not to go back to. having other people's opinions and experiences are also helpful for choosing new places to go. looove it! and some people write really really funny and entertaining reviews. i love reading those!

alice&olivia sierra plaid skinny pant, available @ shopbop.com

selling fakes to fakers

i can finally throw my old ratty handbag into the garbage now. but i probably wont. because i have a hard time throwing things away. im just a junk collector!! i should at least empty the old handbag though... theres probably a good cupful of sand in there, from toting the old fella around the beach! what? pleather makes a good summer beach bag... hahaha

this is probably the first leather bag i've ever owned which was able to make my whole room smell like leather. its delicious! i was stalking the thomas wylde skull bag (my dream "if i win the lottery" bag, which retails for more than $2000!!!!! yikes!!!) via ebay and noticing that most of the bags (definitely fakes) were being auctioned off not only as authentic but also for around and more than 300 dollars! isnt that insane? so i resorted to a print out of the real bag, which i then flashed around chinatown and this is what happened...

the first place i went to is known for selling expensive fakes. in case some of you dont know, there are actually different "levels" of fakeness now. its easy to find a $15 chloe paddington, but its also easy to find $250 chloe paddingtons too. the more expensive, the better the quality and duplication -- real leather, correctly stamped padlocks, etc. so anyways, the first place i went to sold expensive fakes and the people there are kinda stuck up. (can you believe that? as if they were the barney's of canal street!) i showed the picture to a blonde asian girl with grey contacts who leapt out of her stool to say, "we had that bag! i just sold the last one the other day! gorgeous bag, studs all over it, but its expensive." i ask how expensive and she replies, "around 350$ because its a new bag and its a really good copy. real leather, studs, everything! we also have the thomas wylde scarf here too, and its real silk." she slides open a glass case and takes the top off the scarf box, and i notice, nestled in the soft fabric, a price tag with the retail price on it, printed from Barney's New York. sneaky!! she tells me to call her in 3-5 days and see if they get more of the bag in. i thank her and leave to check out some other stores.

3 stands down, i find a place with some impressive fakes hanging on the bag wall and a man and woman sitting in the middle of the room, staring at their laptop, chatting in some asian language im not familiar with. im standing around the back, checking out all the stuff and the lady turns to me to ask if she could help. i take out the picture of the skull bag and i show it to her. she looks at it for a while, and asks me who makes it. i explain some of the details to her when her eyes get all wide and she yells at the guy... "look at the bag! i showed it to you the other day and you said that nobody has heard of it! nobody wants it!" the guy looks at the printout and then turns to me, "is this bag hot? they're selling this bag?" i told him that its becoming a really popular bag, people on ebay are selling fakes for a lot of money, but that i wanted to see a real fake (haha) before even thinking about spending so much money on a replica. he then says, "we have this bag! not in the store, but i can get it! here.. let me find it." he's clicking away on his laptop and pulls up a window with a bunch of pictures of bags and descriptions... scrolling down, he locates the thomas wylde bag. "this is it right?" and sure enough, there it is on the screen, the same images i was now familiar with thanks to ebay. he asks me if a lot of people like the bag and why people like it and somehow i kicked it into salesgirl mode, explaining all the famous celebrities who have it, why its popular, blah blah blah.

it all felt so wrong. i was selling fakes... to people who sell fakes. anyways, in the end, they said that if they ordered it, it would take a couple of weeks and to check back.

the third and last place i went to was run by an obnoxious and young chinese guy who decided it was necessary to name-drop "we only carry the good bags -- dior, fendi, hermes, chloe, prada, blahblahblah -- and i've never even seen that bag you're talking about." seriously, dude, relax. its not like i was asking you to locate a bag that grandma made out of leftover quilts. i asked to see the dior gaucho bag and he left me around the back of the store into... the first place i went to. apparently he owned both and they were connected, which really explains the nasty attitude of both places. the blondehair/grey-eyed girl was gone, and the rest of the guys just smirked at me, looking at a picture of a bag they had never seen outside of their fendi/prada circle.

i never did check back, and even though i'd love to have that bag, it just feels a little silly to spend so much money on a bag that is only replica, even if the real thing is completely unaffordable. i can just imagine the embarrassment, when someone finally realizes that i had spent $250 on a fake. so much money... on a fake?! i dont know... it felt dirty!

so anyways... i spent a more than that on the gryson olivia, and i love it. and i can be proud of it and not have to hide all its little tags and zippers and whatnot from keen observers.

whew! long entry, but thats it, just wanted to share my chinatown experience with y'all and watch out for the expensive fakes on ebay!

nothing to do with fashion and everything to do with hair

im suprised that the hairdresser i go to isnt scared of me yet...

ive been getting my hair done with my mom recently, going to the place that she goes to. the first time i went, i got so upset because the lady kept trimming and trimming my hair until it was at this not-quite-short, not-quite-long, 2-inches below shoulder length that i hate. and im not very good at concealing my emotions, especially when im upset. needless to say, it was a little embarrassing, as i sat in the chair after it was done, trying not to cry. seriously.

the second time i went to get my hair dyed and highlighted. the dye came out great, it was a dark shade of chocolatey brown, i loved it! and then... on went the highlights... it came out way too blonde and light, and too obvious. i hated it. once again, "upset-face" on.

so yesterday, i went again, for the third time, to get it dyed again since i already had more than an inch of re-growth. i decided i wanted to go darker than last time, to cover up some of the highlights. after time was up and the dye was washed out, i prepared myself for the worst...

the roots of my hair, close to the scalp looked really light. she apparently chose for me a color that was not as dark as i wanted it, to preserve the highlights, so that not all of it would be gone. i was like, oh my god, why is the part near the scalp so light? and she goes "dont look there! its always lighter at the scalp, color develops faster there!" and im thinking... well, arent you supposed to be skilled enough to time it so that that doesnt happen? greeeet...

then she started trimming, and i have to admit, i started getting a little antsy and nervous because this lady has this terrible habit of trimming, and retrimming, and trimming some more. after she was done with that, she started to dry my hair. she asked me in chinese, something about drying it in waves (my chinese isnt that great) and im like... uhh ok, sure!

she reached for the round brush which immediately caused flashing images of "hair-getting-stuck-in-brush." she started to wrap sections around the brush... as im preparing for pain... it got tangled a bunch of times. the ends of the hair started to take on a curl shape which caused flashing images of "im-going-to-look-like-shirley-frickin-temple-cupcake-girl." but she was already 1/3rd of the way through, so i said nothing. i saw puffs of smoke and steam rising from my head... and flashing images of burning hair. after what seemed like forever, as i was sweating under the layers of capes they made me wear, she was done abusing my head. and it didnt look too bad! i looked a little "done" but... likeable! and the scalpy-lightness was not noticeable once the rest of my hair was dried. whew! 3rd times the charm, i guess?

so... neatly done.

lame, rainy friday

work isnt terribly exciting today. the boss is out all day, and i've run out of work, and believe it or not... theres only so much online that can keep me entertained. i've already read way too many blogs and journals. why cant people update like, every 5 minutes or something so i'll never run out of stuff to read? maybe i should get a book. i havent read any books in so long, i cant even remember the last one i read. ashamed to say, it might have been the latest shopaholic book.

i need a good book to read. something that wont bore me out of my mind.

i work in park slope, and this neighborhood gets cuter and cuter every day. which may or may not be a good thing. on the one hand, its great because there are all these cutesy boutiques, one in particular called Goldie&Mac, which carries all the kinds of clothes you'd find at a high end shop, but at really great prices. unlike your typical cheapees clothing store, i feel like the buyers at Goldie&Mac are picky about what they sell and do the weeding out of the "obviously-looks-cheap" stuff for you. niiice.

theres also a new patisserie in town, called Sweet Melissa. (i think theres one in manhattan too) the cupcakes there are goood. and just look at this picture of the delicious cakes they have. how can you say no??!

lotus

keanan duffty's party last night at Lotus was certainly interesting... I had started to wonder a bit how difficult it would be to get in, seeing as neither jen nor i had rsvp-ed to the invite, but there were no problems at all since we were with her friend, who used to work with keanan. the wood blocked walls were soo cool, and i had to resist all urges to poke at them all night AND there was an open bar!

this was probably the first party i've ever been to where i felt so... achingly normal. hahah! im not saying that all the people there were freaks or anything, no way! it was your usual crowd of blazer-clad men and dressed-up women, but last night, "chic" duds were out. you couldnt even get noticed unless you were wearing something you mightve worn last halloween. there was this one dude whom you could notice from across the room. his anything-but-short physique was elevated to a godly level by the top hat he was wearing. and he was also wearing a multicolored, multipaneled velvet blazer. apparently, he is known as "the guy who threw all the parties in the 80s." everyone else was unnoticeably blah, except for a mohawk-ed, underwear-wearing guy, and a pale as snow drag queen in a puffy white dress. oh! and our friend who is also mohawked, wearing a very 80s looking camo zip up jacket with a vintage japanese flag back, slim stonewashed and ripped jeans, camo kicks, and bright yellow t-shirt. take a hint from him, dress crazily and the girls will swoon! he was tres popular that night and photographed left and right! i think i may need to borrow that camo jacket one of these days...

festivities!

yaay! so tonight, my buddee jen's invited me to go to a party for keanan duffty to celebrate his collection! woohoo! this is probably as close to celebrating fashion week as im going to get, haha, unfortunately this year, i was too shy to ask to take part in the biannual "big-top-rolling-into-town" festivities. :( i missed my chance! unless... i can find me a partner-in-crime to crash fashion week with... >:)

work's been a bore... but i finally got a copy of dreamweaver, so now i just need to install it onto my super slow, super old, laptop. i... cant... wait. no seriously. my laptop is so slow. i have no patience for it. but as soon as i get that shizznitch onto my computer, i can work on my websites! woohooo! that'll give me something to do, besides spend money.

speaking of spending money... these wedges are cute, and not too scarily unaffordable at $58. (urbanoutfitters.com)

lately, i've been obsessing over shrimp tempura rolls... something about the crunchiness of the tempura... i love it!

rooftop films

one reason why living in the city is wonderful is that you'll never be hopelessly bored. even though it is the end of summer, the best nyc season (shakespeare in the park, free movie nights at bryant park, plays and concerts in central park, only to name a few...), for another couple of nights in september, rooftop films is showing some interesting stuff.

this weekend i went to my first rooftop film. after getting lost in the projects in brooklyn (scary), we finally found ourselves across the street from the open doors of a rowhouse, littered with bicycles chained onto anything rooted in the cement. the films playing that night? dark 'toons: a collection of "evil animation."

it was amazing, being outside, on top of a roof, no less, in an area of nyc where you can actually see sky and miles and miles of 6-stories-or-less buildings. the air is buzzing with chattery hipsters, smoking in cliques, some sitting cross-legged on the roof, and others sharing couches and fold-up chairs. some people brought wine and beer, and i felt like i shouldve brought a blanket. it got chilly by the end of the night, but im sure a lot of people warmed up with some free dewar's at the after party! the crazily disturbing films were enough for us that night and we end up walking through the quieter part of the neighborhood to take the L-train (whose platforms serves as a catwalk for the trendy) home.

cookies

i've been having the craziest cravings for these italian cookies and was finally able to find them today at a little deli/bakery in chelsea... mmm i've been muching on them all day! they've got the most delicious jam filling... and my favorite part -- the sprinkles! sprinkles instantly make anything taste better!! except.. food that shouldnt have any sprinkles on them.

so you gotta figure.. its really easy for me to post up pretty pictures of clothing, shoes, and bags that i want every day. there isnt a day that passes that i dont find something new that i want. sooo... when some time passes in between entries... i must be up to no good, i.e. saving money. hahah, just kidding! saving money is good! i really should be more serious and diligent about it.

oh yes! and most of you have probably already heard of all the recent collaborations following the successes of h&m/karl lagerfeld, h&m/stella mccartney, target/paul&joe, etc. and the most recent stuff from nine west and vivienne westwood!! pricey... and i dont know about the stuff.. i mean, i know vivienne westwood is one crazy lady, but i dont know if im ready for her look hitting mainstream yet...

these are kinda... interesting! i cant decide whether i love them or hate them. they definitely are a very loud fashion statement and one could pull them off with a more understated outfit... but i can also see them looking completely horrifying, screaming "what was i thinking?!!" i want to try them on. just for kicks.

bags galore!

i really do think its time for a new handbag. i am completely serious and i ought to remind myself, every time i feel compelled to spend money on another article of clothing, that if i were a "smart" shopper, i'd put the cc away, and only whip it out when i've found the perfect, beautiful bag.

i can completely justify this purchase. i've been using the same slouchy brown handbag, for 2 years now, and this bag cost me around $15. and i love it! it is big enough for me to carry my life around in -- magazines, spare pair of shoes or flipflops, makeup, 3 diff. wallets (yes, i carry 3 wallets around with me...), cell phone, chapstick, sketchbook, pens, bills, and chewing gum. and for a cheapo pleather handbag, its actually gotten me a lot of compliments.

however, after "lovingly using" it for 2 years, the 3-small pockets + 1 large pocket handbag has turned itself into a 3-small pockets + 2 large pockets handbag. in fact, the whole handbag itself has turned into 2- giant pockets. you know the lining inside the bag? well its got a hole in one of the smaller pockets, so everything i put into that pocket falls into the pit between the main compartment and the pleather exterior. its such a pain to have to reach arm-deep into my handbag to retrieve my wallet from the pit that now contains countless pieces of random paper, napkins, candy wrappers, and the occasional tampon.

so yes, its time for a new bag. and a very specific kind of bag too. i want something slouchy, something big, something i can carry around every single day, and definitely something that sits on my shoulder and NOT the crook of my arm (such a pain to tote around shopping). i loove love love the thomas wylde bag (image, top right). its got the perfect amount of zippered pockets, is slouchy, the other side is studded with a skull print, and its got cute little hardware details like silver chains and mini-skull embellishments.

and here are some more of my favorites:

gryson "olivia"

gryson "rachel"

anna corinna "city tote"