Orange Circle

Playing: Enola Gay-Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Reading: Smoky Pink Core of Omega Nebula

Not too long ago, I went to Orange Circle with my friend, Sophie. We mostly ran around the antique malls there and tried on random clothing like the horse riding hat that Sophie is wearing above. We love how cluttered and random all of the antique malls are!

At the same antique mall, I found a rock purse for Sophie to try on. No joke, it's a plastic purse made to look like a rock. Who comes up with these ideas? It still had its original tags on and apparently, this rock purse comes in multiple colors from black to white. I wonder how popular these things were...

We then went to our favorite vintage store, Elsewhere Vintage, to try on dresses that we would love to own. Sophie wants a polka dot 70's ensemble, while I opt for an 80's cocktail dress. Unfortunately for both of us, the price tags were far out of our range.

I believe this was at the Orange Circle Antique Mall, where Sophie found a Mr. T coloring book. This led us to a discussion about how we were going to raise our kids together and teach them to love the 80's as much as we do, which led us to a satire based on Asian parenting. We decided if we want to get our kids into any Ivy League college, we would have to skip on the fun and become Tiger Moms. Therefore, no bedtime stories. Instead we would read to them Guns, Germs, and Steel to help prepare them for AP classes because after all, that's all that matters, right?

While we were walking around the Orange Circle Antique Mall, we came across lolita clothing, which let out my inner princess. "Ooh, Angelic Pretty! I want it!" I exclaimed, as I tried on the hair pieces...I found Claudia's business card, so maybe it's her shop? I'm not sure though, because there was another business card there. Either way, I kept on going around like a little girl wanting everything. What a marvelous surprise! I wish I could buy all of the clothes at Orange Circle, but alas, that is not realistic, so it's not going to happen...Well, I'll have to explore more antique areas soon and you should join me. You really should. Thanks for reading!

New York The Last Bit of Day 6

Playing: Fly Away-Moulin Rouge
Reading: W March 2012

For the last day of my vacation in New York, my family and I met up with my uncle for the afternoon. We grabbed lunch at Ben's and ate to our stomach's content. I got the Fried Kreplach to share with everyone, which were basically large dumplings deep fried and topped with mouth watering onions. It was so good, but the chopped liver my brother ordered was even better!

For myself, I ordered the Hungarian Goulash, which came with a side of peas. The meat wasn't as tender as they claimed, but my definition of tender is ten times more tender than the average American. The sauce was good and the noodles tasted home-y. Ben's is great, if you're willing to wait for a table, but just be warned, the portions are gigantic!

Afterwards, we walked to the Intrepid Museum except my parents didn't tell my brother or me what Intrepid was, so I asked my brother, "What's Intrepid? I hope it's a good bakery. I could go for a cannoli." "We just ate, so I doubt it. Stop obsessing over cannolis right now," my brother responded. Yes, that's what a pig I can be. While we were at the Intrepid Museum, I spent a long time looking at the self eject seats and I would like to get those installed in every car. It could be fun; you never know! Even if you're not into airplanes, Intrepid is a lovely place to go to because the view is lovely!

We then headed over to Little Italy again, since I adore Little Italy more than most places in New York. The food is sublime there. At De Gennaro, they give you complimentary bread with an olive oil spread, but I only like the center parts of bread, so I only ate that, thinking no one would notice. My mum picked up the bread and looked at the middle and then glared at me. Then later on, my uncle picked up the same piece and went, "Who did this?" Who else other than me? I thought they would never notice, but I was wrong.

This is probably my new favorite dish at De Gennaro. It's the Penne alla Gennaro and it had, if I can remember correctly, pancetta, peas, and mushrooms in a tomato cream sauce. It was literally perfection and it wasn't too heavy, nor too light. This is probably one of my favorite pastas I've ever had. No joke.

Finally, we went to my favorite eatery in New York, Ferrarra Bakery for my favorite cannolis in the world. I probably got over 3 dozen of these beauties, while I was there to share with my family and I brought a dozen home back to California. These are one of the main reasons why I love New York and why I always want to go back. My brother also bought a cream filled lobster tail to share with me and my dad bought a baba rum for himself and only himself.

On the last night of our trip, we watched the light show that Saks Fifth Avenue was putting on. It was nice and it attracted quite the crowd, so it was good advertisement for Saks. I really like how New York does these types of things, just putting an ounce of magic into everything. Even though this was my last day there for this trip, I like how I always know it's not my last time there. I like knowing that one day I'm going to have another Ferrarra cannoli, visit more flag ship stores of my favorite designers, and that New York always has something more to offer me. One day I want to see the High Line and next time, I'll explore more of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Until then, I'll be sitting in my classes, dreaming about the next time I'm in this wonderful city.

What's your favorite part of New York?

Barney's Legendary Warehouse Sale

Playing: How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep-Bombay Bicycle Club
Reading: Harper's Bazaar March 2012

Last weekend, I ran off to the Los Angeles Convention Center for a wonderful day of shopping and hopefully bargains. I love the Los Angeles Convention Center's inside with all the glass walls and I like how the poles interlace to create a web. However, I couldn't get the whole ceiling that I wanted and I was already crouched on the ground almost to the point, where I was lying on it, so I wasn't willing to bend down any closer to the floor.

This was my first year actually finding something that fit and was within my price range. Since, I'm an extra small/size 2, I can usually find great pieces still, but Barney's Wearhouse Sale is an exception to the rule. The clothes are either still very expensive or have damaged parts, so I find it hard to get what I want at a price I want.

I actually found these shoes by accident, since someone else had hid them under my chair, while I was trying to convince my mum that the Barney's Co-Op glitter boots were totally reasonable for school wear. My mum told me that no way was I going to wear glittery boots to school, so I sat around trying on shoes that were all over $700 figuring never again would I have the chance to try on a Prada's two toned boots. Then just by luck a lady asked me if I was planning on trying on "those gorgeous Chloe's beneath [my] seat." I took one look at the size and saw that it was my size and told the lady that, "Yes, I am going to try them on. If they don't work, I'll let you know."

They're a tad clunkier that what I normally wear, but I decided these didn't make my feet look too big. A major winner for this pair was the fact that it was fairly comfortable for heels and that the leather didn't cut into my skin like I was expecting it too. These were actually less expensive than the Barney's Co-Op glitter heels and were my size unlike the boots, which were one size too big. The heels measure at 4.5 inches with a 1.5 inch platform, so they wear like a three inch pair. I really like the chocolate, almost black color of these because I can wear them like black or brown shoes. Overall, they're just different from what I usually wear and I like expanding my look as much as I can.

And here is my shoe collection minus my sandals, sneakers, and the ones that I no longer wear. The only thing is, I wanted my rows to be equal so my mum's pastel pink heeled sandals made it into the photo. The coral heels, cream flats, and black boots in the second row also belong to my mum, but she no longer wears them, so I kindly adopted them for her. How sweet am I? My favorite pair are probably my Alexander Wang's in the middle of the front row or my Marc by Marc Jacobs in the upper left corner, but I love all of my shoes tons and tons. I didn't even know I had collected this many shoes over the past five years. Yes, it's true my feet have not grown much within the last five years, so from now on, I'm just adding to my collection, but this is nothing compared to my purse collection, which I'll hopefully photograph soon.

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

New York Morning of Day 6

Playing: Young-The Summer Set
Reading: Elle March 2012

On the last day of my fabulous trip to New York, my family and I started off the day going to Macy's to look at the window displays because we heard they were better than the ones at Saks. Not true. I mean they were creative and had a beautiful set, but Saks weaved wonderful designer gowns into a children's story. That wins in my book.

Afterwards, I forced my parents to take me to the Meatpacking District to see the lovely Moschino store. All of the furniture was so adorable from the plush heart chairs to the coin purse inspired couch inside. Then again, what do I expect from the designer that brought the perfect blend of cute and high fashion to us? The employees were all very kind and took out anything you wanted to see too, so that's always a plus side!

The Alexander McQueen store was one of the things at the top of my list to visit. Long before Lady Gaga and his suicide brought his name to attention, I have admired his work. Sarah Burton has done such an amazing job taking over from him. She remains true to McQueen's original edgy style, but has brought a softer, more feminine look to the house.

Inside, it felt like a futuristic tunnel with curved walls and corridors plus mirrored rooms lit up brightly. I liked how the store was just as interesting as the clothes. However, the staff really needed to pay more attention to the guests. They didn't catch me taking photos as most stores do and I took photos right in front of the workers. Also, the most acknowledgment I received was, "Excuse me, why are you taking more than one look book?" Because I wanted to bring some home for my friends, duh. The clothes were so much more magnificent in real life though. I'm so used to seeing them on the runway.

While walking back to the subway, I saw this brick apartment building with another all black one popping out of it! I love how New York has all of these interesting buildings and wouldn't it be great to live there? I wonder if the black part was just added on or if it was designed that way for "artistic" purposes. Also, if they built on, why didn't they just build it right on top, instead of meshing it into the original building?

Then we headed off to the Garment District to meet my uncle for lunch. While walking around, I passed the one and only, Spandex World! What do you think? Should I buy fabric for my prom dress here? Jokes or course...But seriously, all my friends saw this photo on my Facebook and questioned me about this place.

Ooh and just because I want to save the rest of my last day in New York for another post, I'll leave you with the two other items I bought in New York other than my Alexander Wang shoes. I saw these NYU students all in suits wearing top hats having a photo shoot and I fell in love with them, so I decided to get my own top hat at the Metropolitan Opera Store. I have actually worn it quite a few times already and people always stare at me when I wear it, which is pretty fun, I guess. Then I got the pocket watch at the fair in Central Park. I seriously dress like a dandy sometimes, but it's not because I want to be a pompous male from the 1800's. It's because I quite like dressing up and I like being "quirky" and wearing this type of stuff gives me great joy.

What's your favorite store/boutique?

Jason Wu Made My Weekend Picture Perfect

Playing: Mr. Brightside-The Killers
Reading: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Actually, my weekend wasn't perfect. Only half of it was because Saturday was pretty horrible. I spent my day inside doing my homework for English, French, algebra, history, and chemistry. That was about the extent of my Saturday activities, but Sunday redeemed my weekend! Why? Because Jason Wu saved it with his collaboration with Target! He's like my Superman. Haha, I must sound so silly, but seriously, it's Jason Wu.

My mum and I bought two dresses, the black and white one and the peach one. The monotone one belongs to me, while the other is my mum's. I like the really clean cut of these and the collars on them. I think a skinny black belt would be perfect for my dress and it might look cool with my boots...Must check my proportions first!

Part of my plan to wear less t-shirts is to get some blouses into my wardrobe, so I decided these two blouses were the perfect opportunity. Truthfully, I prefer the blush one, but I'll probably wear the navy one more, since I'm not much of a pink person. My friend, Jessy, got the blue blouse too, so we're planning on twinning like good kindergarteners!

Both of these tops are my mum's but how lovely is that blue blouse? I simply adore the sheer top part because it adds some interest to it and lends a sense of maturity to an otherwise youthful print. I can't fit into either one, since both are size smalls, not extra smalls, so I'll have to cinch them or something to make them work for me!

One of the things I wanted the most was this pleated skirt, which actually looks more expensive than it was. I also wanted the white blouse with the black bow, but that was an online exclusive. I was actually quite upset to see that the Target I went to didn't have the trench coats, cat tote, cat scarf, the pleated shorts, or the saddlebags. However I'm glad that they had this purse, which comes with a cross body strap. It's like he had me in mind and said, "A shoulder strap will appeal to Audrey so I shall put one on it."

Afterwards, I grabbed some lunch at my favorite bagel deli to get some lox with cream cheese on a garlic bagel. Although, in this photo, all you can see are tomatoes, huh? I suppose tomatoes are fun to look at then...Lately, I've been obsessing over cream cheese with lox on bagels and I get them anywhere I can. They're so fresh tasting and I love the smokiness of the lox with the creaminess of the cream cheese and the sharpness of the onions.

After lunch, I finished up my homework and went to Chelcee's place to watch Titanic and then we decided that a cruise vacation no longer sounded pleasant. In fact, I discussed my whole plan for how to survive should you ever be on the Titanic and should it sink plus how Jack and Rose should've died earlier, since she went back to save him and went through the ice cold water. I'm telling you, hypothermia kicks in faster! And then we went to church for a Super Bowl Party and then left early, since neither one of us are into football...

Then at the end of the day, I finally cooked my rainbow soba for dinner, which was the perfect way to end a perfect day. I quite like the colors and the texture of these noodles. Also, how can the colors not brighten your mood? It's like having the rainbow for dinner, only this on won't get you yelled at by your mum like Skittles do! Thanks for reading!

How were your Valentine's Days? I spent mine doing homework!

San Diego Serenade

Playing: This is How We Live-The Summer Set
Reading: Variations on the Word Love by Margaret Atwood

Over winter break, my brother decided it'd be fun to go to San Diego, since I'm always forcing him to go to Los Angeles. Originally, we were supposed to go to the San Diego Zoo to watch pandas be pandas, but then they were closing within two hours, so we didn't end up going.  However, we did stop off at Harar Ethiopian Restaurant, where we ordered gored gored, yequanta fir fir, and the eggplant. It was all very tasty, but we had to wait around 45 minutes just for our food to come, so we won't be doing that again.

We ended up heading over to Old Town San Diego instead and it has a distinctly Mexican vibe. I was expecting it to have a vintage 1950's/1960's feel like Old Town Orange and Old Town Tustin, but this was so different, as you can see.

They had these street vendors there for the day and I loved this stall. They had all these clear glass flower pots that were just so creative. I would never have thought of decorating my flowers like this, but they're so simple and intriguing. I also like the sleek modernity of the vase with the delicate flowers. Very nice.

We headed over to the area that felt more Western and walked around. There were some really cool stores here like a Chinese antiques store, a rock store, a book store specializing in ghost stories, and a soda store. Old Town San Diego just had tons of neat stuff that I had never seen before like a store with over 100 flavors of soda.

My brother bought a chocolate bar for us to share, but we haven't tried it yet. Fingers crossed! Hope it tastes good! Then I bought my favorite crisps from this little Irish store. The lady told me, "Oh, you're going to love these! They're so good!" "Oh, I know. I used to eat them all the time, when I was in London, " I replied and her response was, "I knew you were from England the moment you opened your mouth! I can tell by your accent!" That awkward moment when someone thinks you're from England and you've really lived in California your whole life. When I told her I was in London, I meant my trip there, not me living in there as a resident and all. So there you go, that was my day in San Diego! Thanks for reading!

PS Yes, my title is a song from Tom Waits.

The Original Farmers Market

Playing: This Kingdom Perfect-One Night Only
Reading: Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney

Welcome to the Original Farmers Market! This being my first time there, I looked at everything and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be and there wasn't as much fresh produce as I was expecting. However, they did have butchers who made ground beef look like hippos and that's a plus side, right?

I went to the Gumbo Pot, where I ordered the jambalaya (right) and my mum got the seafood gumbo (left). The seafood gumbo lacked meat, while the jambalaya was a bit too spicy for my liking. Although, the first half of it was rather delicious. It's a lot of food and I definitely recommend sharing!

I also ordered one order of the beignets to share with my family, they had way too much powdered sugar. While I was taking a bite, I inhaled a tad, so I choked on the powdered sugar and my brother laughed at me. They were only ok, but the Los Angeles foodie magazine highly recommended them, so who knows? Maybe my taste buds are off...

They had a vintage memorabilia store that was selling these pins and since it's never a bad time for bawdy political humor, I thought you may like this! It certainly made my brother and I chortle quite a bit, while my mum slapped us and told us to behave. Perfect family bonding tool, eh?

Just one more photo to show some cute donuts I saw. They had kitty and dinosaur donuts that were almost too cute to eat. Wish I had bought one to see how they tasted! Afterwards, I walked around the Grove and frankly, I don't see what the big deal is. There are better shopping areas closer to where I live and personally, I found it uncomfortably crowded. Apparently, celebrities like to spend time there, but I didn't see anyone, but then again I wasn't keeping my eyes open for them. The Grove was done beautifully though and it was made to look like a European village, which was pleasant. Have you been to the Grove of the Original Farmers Market? If so, what do you think of it?

Dior Fall/Winter 2010

Playing: They're Not Waving-Vyvienne Long
Reading: Helped by an Obama Stimulus by Alexandra Jacobs

Ok, I know I'm very late falling in love with this show now and I'm terribly upset that there is absolutely no way I will ever see these pieces in person or own one. But here I go anyways, I'm really into the extreme romanticism of Dior's Fall/Winter 2010. I like the old English newsboy look mixed with the romantic Equestrian style.

I mostly paid attention to this collection because Youtube recommended it to me and I saw the hat on Karlie Kloss, which reminded me of the hat I bought in New York. (Pictures to come.) I had seen a few photos from this show in my magazines, but for some asinine reason I didn't watch the show or go onto style.com to look at all the photos or anything.

The wonderfully poufed hair ending in a braid reminds me of Dante Gabrielle Rosetti's paintings. I love the extremeness of this hair style and how terribly romantic it looks. It looks messy, but pulled together and these are the times, when I wish I could be a white person that has classic beauty and mounds of brown hair like Keira Knightley or like Ksenia Kahnovich up above.

Look at that, they look like porcelain dolls. There's something darkly romantic about this collection and the way Galliano presented his models. Almost like their lighter than air or ghostly. Stop me, if I'm talking nonsense please.

These are the types of gowns that I want to wear and dream about during class. I can't find a word more perfect to describe this other than romantic. I'm not one of those people who chases romance, so stumbling upon this collection and discovering something that is truly romantic to me is pretty amazing. The lightness of the gowns and how they trail behind the girls is simply wonderful. So what do you say? Let's be darkly romantic and look like we're from another century. This is seriously competing for my favorite Dior show ever and it makes me miss John Galliano even more.

New York Day 5

Playing: Little Trip to Heaven-Tom Waits
Reading: Style.com/Print Spring 2012

Started off my morning the same way as usual, just walking around and enjoying the sights. When we headed over to the Metropolitan Museum and found ourselves in Little Germany. We stopped off at Heidelberg to grab lunch and I got the recommended Apple Pancake. It was extremely tasty and massive, so I gave some to all of my family members. I wasn't expecting it to be so dessert like, but I'm not one to complain about having dessert for lunch, now am I?

Once we were done eating, we walked to the Metropolitan Museum to see the Egyptian exhibit, which I read about in a book. Ever since reading about the temple they have, I've wanted to visit it. It was wonderful and I loved how the fountain surrounded it!

This central court area, not sure of the name, was really beautiful! The glass ceiling allowed plenty of natural sunlight to come in and the statues were magnificent. I think this might've been my favorite area in the whole museum, but I can't say for sure, since there was no way I could fit the whole museum in one day!

When I walked out of the contemporary art section, I saw these Japanese tourists sleeping. It was kind of hilarious, when an employee asked the two of them if they were feeling alright. The two of them looked so startled and the employee was genuinely concerned for them.

The medieval weapons area had so many suits of armor, which scarily, were my size! I stood next to them and most of the suits of armor were my height or just an inch higher, so that means, I'm as tall as the average medieval male! I really liked this section, which made me feel odd because I was one of the few girls there that was enjoying it as much as the boys...

We then headed off to the Roman art exhibit, which was lovely, but our dinner reservations were coming up soon, so we had to zoom through this area. There was this really good artist there that was sketching all of the statues. I should've asked the man for a picture, but I thought it would be rude of me to disturb him, while he was drawing.

We then took a subway over to Bobby Van's to celebrate my brother's birthday. We ordered the porterhouse with sauteed mushrooms and creamed spinach. You can't tell by the photo, but they overcooked our steak majorly. We ordered medium rare and received medium well. I've been to Bobby Van's twice and both times, they overcooked my steak, but my brother and father insist that the steak is really good, when done right, so I'll have to see. Thank you for reading!