LOW LUV x ERIN WASSON

Even though I am not a fan of Erin Wasson's face (No offense, Erin), I am a BIG fan of her style and her contributions to beauty and fashion have not gone unnoticed.  Take for instance her collaboration with Low Luv jewelry....great stuff at great prices.  I'm rocking the Double Finger Ring in plated 14kt yellow gold today, although I had to remove it to do anything that involves my hands at work, so basically I've gone ring-less all day.

I found it on sale on tobi.com and used a coupon code for an extra 15% off sale items, not too shabby!  My hands are tiny, and the ring is quite large, but it's okay it's a bold statement piece and I'm not ashamed of my midget hands.  Now I get to join the ranks of celebrity fans such as Rhianna and Miley Cyrus who have also, more literally, "rocked" this piece.

JULIAN LOUIE x ALDO COLLAB

I'm loving the newly launched Julian Louie for Aldo collaboration.

They have 2 different open toed wedge bootie styles with 2 different mixes of prints (well 1 is just a solid taupe for an easier pairing).  I popped into the Aldo store on 5th Ave yesterday and almost bought these suckers on my lunch break, but figured it might not be such a good idea to walk back into my office with shopping bags.

All priced at $125 a pair, these limited editions are going to go like hot potatoes.  Since I'll be in suburbia this weekend, I might pop into the local mall Aldo and see if these are available.  If so, watch out wallet!

恭禧發財! 紅包拿來!!

(Gong xi fa cai! Hon bao na lai!!)

Rough translation:  "Wishing you a prosperous New Year!  Give me red envelopes!!"

2011 is the Year of the Rabbit.  People born in the year 1963, 1975, 1987 (and every other year plus/minus 12 from those years) are born under the zodiac sign of the Rabbit. I don't think it's particularly auspicious for people who's signs fall on the year of their sign, but I'll leave the horoscopes and superstitious stuff to people like my mom.

Everybody should enjoy a nice meal with sticky rice, a whole fish or chickens and noodles, all which represent longevity and long life, which is a very good fortune if you ask any Chinese person.  Also, wear lots of red and gold. 

Live long and prosper! *Vulcan salute*  (maybe Spock was part Chinese?!)

SNOW SNOW & MORE SNOW!

(Last year's blizzard and me looking like an Eskimo)

These non-stop snow showers are really taking their toll on my mental sanity.  I've been stuck indoors for most of this week and when I did leave the apartment all I saw were people slipping and falling on the slushy snow covered sidewalks in NYC.  

Other than small children and Eskimos, I don't think anybody else really enjoys these blizzards....well maybe online retailers since their sales must be doing very well among all the bored men and (mainly) women stuck indoors with no access to their traditional brick and mortar retail therapy.

With that being said, I've been receiving a slew of "Snowed in" sale emails and one-day discounts for online retailers who are obviously trying to take advantage of us being stuck indoors with nothing but a computer and a credit card (a very dangerous combo).  Although it is clever.....these days, it takes more than a 10% coupon code to get me to order anything.  Let's try a little harder, guys.

MY 2010 YEAR IN REVIEW (A BIT LATE)

I know I'm a few weeks late, but I feel it necessary to post a 2010 review on here.

2010 was a pretty great year, I must say.  Even with my limited budget, I was able to take advantage of my time and enjoy my life fully and do all the things that I love with the people that I love - Travel, food, pilates, and more travel.

I don't really feel like rambling on and on about all the places I've been or all the delicious foods I've consumed in the past year, so here are some of my favorite highlights of 2010:

- meeting my current boyfriend (almost exactly 1 year ago at a friend's karaoke birthday party)

- Taste Nirvana's Real Coconut Water w/ Aloe (the best coconut water out there.  Seriously, I've tried them all)

- discovering the benefits of pilates

- moving out of the Lower East Side (thought it would never happen)

- de-cluttering my apartment...and life (i know, so profound...)

- a new apartment with enough space for a REAL dining table

- staying in and cooking healthy meals

- catching up on sleep
- finding the perfect travel partner, finally.

- "out with the old, in with the new" has never been so true

- "SKINNY2010", my 2010 motto that never really came to fruition :x, but there's always SKINNY2011, right?!?

- learning Spanish so I won't be completely lost when I go there in May

- reconnecting with old friends (abroad!)

- meeting new friends (local!)
- realizing my love for nail polish

- my crazy addiction to cash back reward sites has made me a lot of free $$

- no handbag purchases made in 2010. i don't consider this an accomplishment, but more of a shock that I was able to not blow my new unemployed budget for an entire year! at least not on handbags :P

I don't know what 2011 will hold, but I'm pretty excited to find out.  My mother, the obsessive horoscope reader that she is (Chinese zodiac, Japanese, regular zodiac, numerology, etc) has told me that 2011 will be my super awesome and lucky year, and according to a friend, it is also my "Golden Year", which is when your age corresponds with the day you were born on, so I'm 28 and born on the 28th day, and apparently good things are supposed to happen.  I'm not that superstitious and I take horoscopes with a grain of salt, but I'm definitely staying positive and making myself open to as many great opportunities that may be bestowed upon me this year.

HAPPY 2011!!!!!!!!

BRR....IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!

If 2010 was one of the warmest years on record....does that mean 2011 will be the coldest? 

This freezing cold and snowy start the New Year is making me consider buying a new puffy coat or some new cold weather accessories.  My trusty Andrew Marc black puffy coat has kept me warm for over 4 years and I'm starting to wonder if these sorts of things have expiration dates.  Probably not, but I can't justify purchasing a new puffy coat if my old one is perfectly functional. 

So what about this Maison Martin Margiela Fur Headdress that's on sale for $3,115.00?!?!  If this thing doesn't keep you warm, I don't know what else will.  Also, it reminds me of Domokun :)

RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH AWESOME SALES!

 (extra 20% off sale at shopbop.com. GO!)

Start the new year with a bang....in your wallet!  I love all of these end-of-the-year sales on top of sales.  I just wish I could partake in all of these said sales.  But, as I've stated many times before, I am on a strict shopping diet and cannot make frivolous purchases  because, quite honestly, I have everything I "need". 

Although a pair of these Alexander Wang booties at 60% off wouldn't hurt. But  no no no, don't you worry.  I'm sticking to my diet. BAH HUMBUG!

PATIENCE IS THE GREATEST VIRTUE....when shopping

Persistence and patience are most certainly great virtues and as they say....it usually pays off to have those said virtues.  Especially when you are holding out for a great sale on something you really want.  

Not only were these huggable hangers by Joy Mangano on sale (20% off!) but they shipped for free on HSN.com.  I ordered 150 lavender huggable hangers, and after spending over 2 hours ridding my bedroom and coat closets of my bulky old hangers and re-organizing them with these new hangers, I still don't have enough.  I had to order an extra 30 to complete the bedroom closet and thank god for the free holiday shipping!!!  And you all know how I feel about paying exorbitant shipping and handling fees for online purchases (see previous huggable hanger blog post from 11/8).

I'd also just like to say how wonderful my boyfriend is because he not only bought these hangers for us, but he also let me get them in a pretty lavender color.  Now our closets are streamlined and I love the way it looks with the brass and lavender hangers consistently hung throughout.  It really does make a huge difference....I just wish I made the big switch ages ago. To any organizational freaks and people in dire need of a closet make over, these hangers are worth your money and time.

Here is the finished product:

EXCLUSIVE HELLO KITTY BEAUTY @ SEPHORA

I know I'm 28 years old, but I still LOVE Hello Kitty.  I just got an email from Sephora for an exclusive Hello Kitty Beauty event for their VIB's, so of course I jumped on it and bought some unnecessary but adorable products.  A lot of the products sold out within 24 hours, luckily I still got to order a couple of the things I wanted, such as the chrome compact mirror in the shape of Hello Kitty's face, some nail art stickers and a lip gloss stick.  Prices weren't bad, but I'll have to wait and see if the quality lives up to the Sanrio standards.

HAPPY FRUGAL XMAS!

In an effort to conserve our monies this holiday season, my boyfriend and I have agreed to not buy each other Christmas presents.  We're at the point in our lives where we've already accumulated way too much "stuff" and we don't need any more material goods.  We're willing to forgo unwrapping Christmas presents this year in order to save for more practical purchases such as apartment furnishings and future vacations.  

I have also realized how wasteful the American culture is, and I am no exception.  This New Year, my goal is to waste less, conserve more, and just be more aware in general.  I know I have a long way to go, but being in Asia this past month has really opened my eyes on how ignorant and wasteful Americans really are.   I guess I never noticed before when I was living in Taiwan and Japan because I was younger and immature, but now that I know the environmental repercussions, I will no longer be part of the problem.

BACK LIKE A HEART ATTACK!

My 2 week vacation turned into a 1 month stay in Asia.  When we were in Singapore, JP bought the PUMA x Hussein Chalayan collab sneakers - the collab project is called Urban Mobility and it's been out for a while, we just never noticed it in NYC.

JP bought these for himself...

...and then decided that we should be twinsies so he bought me the matching women's sneaker:

The men's sneakers are way cooler, I know. I mean, they're pretty much Justin Beiber shoes, but it's okay. My wedge sneaker boots are really cute and I love the added height.  We're still planning the day to wear them out together, don't laugh.  It was JP's idea.

MORE GOLD!

While I'm on the topic of gold glittery nails....I saw this double gold manicure on bellasugar.com.

I am going to try this glitter-tip technique as soon as I get back from Asia! (I leave tomorrow morning!!)  Except I don't have gold metallic nail polish.  I think I'll try it with a darker shade instead, maybe black or dark green with gold glitter or grey with silver glitter.  I have a stack of 6 different colors cosmetic glitters by Estey International that I purchased back in *eep* high school.  I'm a pack rat and hate throwing things out so of course they're still in my sephora train case filled with other make up I barely use.

Also, my nails are pretty short, the "dipping" technique probably won't work for me so I'll let you guys know how it works out with a brush. I can't wait to try this out!!!

BLACK GOLD!

No....I'm not talking about oil here...

I am obsessed with OPI for Sephora nail polishes and I finally picked up the "Only Gold For Me" top coat, a clear top coat with large and small gold glitter, after eying it for the past couple months.  I applied it on top of my "What's a Tire Jack" matte black polish (also OPI for Sephora, currently discontinued) and made a very sparkly slash celestial combo that I can't wait to wear again!

 +

=

* I didn't do a great job with this manicure, I was in a rush so sorry for the messy edges! Plus, it looked a lot better in person :)

HUGGABLE HANGERS, are they worth it?

I love to organize things.  This may explain why I have so many things....just so I can organize them.

Closet organization is one of my favorite past times.  Why you ask?  Because I need to make the most out of my small NYC closet space and make sure that as much of my wardrobe is visible to me.  You know that old saying, "out of sight, out of mind".   If I can't see a top that's buried in the back of my closet, I definitely won't be wearing it any time soon, which is a damn shame if you ask me!

So I've been e-window shopping and looking for new ways to spruce my closet up and am really considering purchasing these huggable hangers by Joy Mangano from Home Shopping Network.  

I've watched several of her HSN shows and she seems like the ultimate organization freak and I'm obsessed with her products.  Although the only Joy Mangano product I've actually purchased is her mini travel steamer (in lilac!).  It's travel-friendly and small apartment friendly as well.  My boyfriend and I use it all the time to steam out wrinkly clothing and we even took it on trips with us, it's that handy.  So back to these hangers.  They're a bit pricey, about $0.90 - $1.00 per hanger depending on what set you purchase.  But that's not what's stopping me from buying them...it's the fact that HSN.com charges you an arm and a leg for shipping and handling.  They charge you S&H PER item.  So I have 2 items in my shopping cart, hosiery by Twiggy (super cute designs, btw) and a set of these hangers.  The total for the products is only $62, however they are charging $13 for the shipping - $5.50 for the hosiery and $7.50 for the hangers.  I can't seem to find any free shipping coupons online and it's driving me crazy because YES I am THAT stubborn that I refuse to pay shipping for online purchases.  Especially when I feel like it's such a rip off.

What to do, what to do......anybody have any suggestions on where else I can get a good deal on these hangers and if they're even worth it?  They have great reviews all over the place.  Maybe if I wait it out, HSN.com will offer free shipping soon.  What do you guys think?

UGGS IN ASIA

Guess who's going to be rockin' her UGGs all over Asia next month?

THIS GIRL!!!!


According to the Wall Street Journal, UGG boots are all the rage in Hong Kong.    Too bad they're not waterproof.  I'd certainly get more wear out of them when I travel around Southeast Asia during monsoon season.  But I just bought my first rain coat by Patagonia, so at least I know that will keep me somewhat dry during the torrential downpours in Singapore and Malaysia.

PS - why is Patagonia so expensive?!  $200 for a fleece? Get out of here!