Garden in the Woods

One of the best ways to spend Sunday is to walk in a shady, tranquil woods with all sorts of exotic plants.

Picture 1: i was reading a map of the place. it was a lovely house in the woods...
my odj - Escada blouse; RL Bermuda; Gucci sneaker; shanghaitang white messenger bag.

Picture 2: DH took a picture for 3 of us on a bridge in the woods.
mother in law is 5'7 tall. she used to describe me as petite. - i think she calls all Asian petite, or tinny tiny without thinking. one day, she told me i have a nice slim body with a right amount of curves, and she wished she could fit into my gorgeous clothes. haha..

Picture 3: we went for Chinese as our early dinner after our beautiful day in the woods. DH thought it was weird of me to take pictures in the restaurant. i said to him, ' my other friends (such as Rachel, hehe) takes pictures in restaurants. ' yay!

Who Wears it Better

I spotted this Peter Som sweater dress on R.Zoe when I was watching 'Rachel Zoe Project Season II' on Bravo - I got the exact same one from last winter!

It seems she likes her big furry fur vest so much that she added it onto several appearances/looks. sleeveless sweater dress + fur Vest...hm, R.Zoe's poor arms were left in cold!

Red Carpet - Chinese HuaBiao Movie Award

**all pictures' origin are marked on the bottom.

Finally, a pair of new Shoes!

these Proenza Schouler are very current.
the only thing i don't like about them is the height of the heels. i think they are more like 4' high instead of 3.5', which was stated in the description.

Home Improvement Project

Picture 1: the bamboo floor we are about to put down to replace the carpet they are sitting on.

pink long stem roses from our backyard;

Picture 2: Chanel PST

Picture 3: the outfit i wore to the mall 2 weeks ago.

Half of the Week has Gone by

we did our Wednesday routine today, and had a picture taken in front a ferret's house. i love how DS showed his confidence in this picture.

a big day for DS and mother in law - they both had haircut. luckily everyone is happy with their new hair.

i start to enjoy to have mother in law around. DS gets more love and attention. he is spoiled to the bone.

the other day I saw Rachel's mustard beret outfits pictures. it reminded me of mine. I bought it after I saw hers last winter.

It took me a while to move on to my next shoes purchase. got a pair of Proenza Schouler. will receive them on Friday. can't wait!

Wearing a DvF dress today

many years ago, when i was single, someone said about me, 'still water runs deep' -sure,maybe i looked like that way, but i knew i was more like boiling water underneath the surface back then.

although my life now feels like still water. it is still and it is shallow.

we got dressed this morning and went to shopping district. first stop was Barnes & Noble. while mother in law was in search of her books to buy, DS was reading Car magazines, I was reading Marie Claire, since i don't have them at home.

One title on the cover grabbed my attention, The New Trophy Wives: Asian Women.
OMG, it's provocative! the author is a Shanghai girl.

I bet you would want to read the whole article when you read the sentence like this '...are these women just glorified opportunists? What's so perverse is that while Asians have always revered their elders, sleeping with a guy old enough to be your grandfather is just creepy — in any culture. '

Sunday is a Fun Day

we decided to go to the zoo again this morning. it was a hot day to be out and about. I was using a fan while walking. I heard some kids asked their mommies' why didn't i have a fan, mommy?' so funny...

a lot of animals were awake this time. we had a good look at them. they are beautiful. we are lucky to have them.

very unusually, i forgot to bring my camera this trip. a couple of pictures posted here were from a trip in June. ODJ i wore was a short BCBG skirt, Shopbop grey tank top, messenger style Coach bag.

I took a picture for one of our indoor plants while DH cooking dinner. The plant is here as long as we live in this house. it is planted in this gorgeous Chinese Koi (Japanese word for gold fish) pot. the wall art is completely hand embroidered, we got it from one of our trips to Shanghai.

Just another Reason to be a Practical shopper

It becomes a routine that i clean up my desk during the weekend when there is no big activities going on, like today.

My desk is covered with magazines, coupons, letters, cards, DS' drawing paper and bills (I usually take care of bills right away).

When I saw this one from People magazine: Rihann's "Casual Style", I thought it was so funny. Those are the outfits she wore for a lunch with friend, fast-food run and afternoon shopping.

To not let our wardrobe go to waste, we tend to over dress for everyday activities. In my case, I can't even do that - my DH stops me from going out over dressed. there are a lot of clothes in my wardrobe are kinda wasted. ' for now anyway', he says to me when i get a little upset.

But when?... when most people start to dress up, when the trend is to be dressy, or when my life style is changed - somehow, I dont see that happen. unless i change husband. lol.

The truth is as much as i love to be dressy, I am ok with causal wear without heels- It allows me to play with my little boy freely.

Thirsty Thursday

not much going on today. it's another hot day. smart people stay indoors with air conditioning. hehe..

DS and i went to the gym this morning, he had his Tumbleweeds class and i had Aerobic class.

my odj was inspired by an outfit from Jessica Biel (see her outfit here: http://conservative-elegant.blogspot.com/2009/07/style-weekly.html). i made a couple of changes to suit my today's activities, which was nothing glamorous. we went to a sandwich store for lunch, then Asian food store, and a grocery store nearby.

my mother in law is not too passionate about taking modeling pictures. so i did it in the mirror.

later i may go to one of mommy friends' house for some tax lesson. hopefully it would be a good social time without DS.

Fabulous Wednesday Routine

I know DS is getting tired of his pre-school program in Eco on Wednesday. Since his grandma is here and he had this burst of passion to show her around this morning.

during Story Time, they showed three animals today. I could not spell the name of first two, but i know the last one is a Lizard from Australia. they are lovely animals. to think that some of our shoes/bags/belts are made of lizard skin made me feel bad for a while.

i got my mother in law take this one picture for me and my son in front of a deer alike (don't remember its real name).

i was wearing a cami (about the cami, see http://conservative-elegant.blogspot.com/2009/07/style-weekly.html); Vince blue stripe shorts; MK belt; and Prada sandals.

my mother in law was wearing Talbots, one of her favorite brands.

in the late afternoon, DS and DH went to swimming pool; i went to Zumba class.

the day was ended with a great movie by Clint Eastwood. Gran Torino.

ahh, wonderful day it was!

A mellow day in the Mall

weather has been super hot lately. it is 95 degree today. we decided to go to the mall and stay cool, and shop. :)

my mother in law loves malls (duh, who doesn't?). she always ends up buying some stuff if she goes to a mall. I was a good girl today - i did not buy anything for myself.

picture1:
the floral dress with bead works on the neckline is MaxMara.
the white slides are Fendi;
the white bag is Shanghaitang.





















picture2:
my mother in law was teaching my son to keep his shoes on in public playground. so he doesnt end up getting some foot virus.

her whole outfit is Lauren by RalphLauren. Shoes are Sketcher, which she bought in the mall today. she could not wait to put them on for comfort. :) earlier on, she had her black patent leather Birkenstock on.



picture3:

ds' favorite store in the mall - LEGO store!

he left the store with a big smile on his face and a bright yellow LEGO shopping bag in his hands. It was almost as big as he is, but he insist to carry it himself.


** click on the pictures for their original sizes.

Vacation pictures

Good time with Family!

What a trip

Every summer and Xmas we drive 11 hours in total to visit my in laws. They live seperately in their state with their respective spouses.

After 5 wonderful days for my son being with his grandparents and uncles, we finally got back home - this time, instead of 3 of us, my mother in law came back with us... nothing more to be said here.

but with this change in my life, i become busier.

There are a lot of pictures from our visit/vacation to be downloaded yet. will select some to post later...

* * *

I got The Book from NM today. this year's trends includes: Red; Leopard prints; leggings; Motorcycle jackets; Metallic shoes; Cozy knit; Accentuated shoulders; Accessories with Hardware; Black dress; High-impact Jewelry.

I happen to love them all. these wardrobe mainstays are what i like to refer to as perennial favorites.

A Day in Salem

Last Sunday, we went to a charmed/spirited town by the ocean, Salem. It was ds' first trip there - just about every place will be his first. he is so new to this world. We are as excited as he is to visit all these cool places we have been to before him.

We had lunch on the deck of a restaurant by the water. It was quite windy, I had my scarf on and wished i had brought a light jacket with me instead. The view next to me was pleasing. watching my cute boy and loving husband across the table made me feel very content without eating anything.

After some running around by the water, we went to Salem Museum, they have Chinese House there - wonderful!

Dh likes anything associate with boats. ds likes cars, mighty machines and boats... men and boats.

**the t shirt i wore that day was one of new Calvin Klein i bought last time i went to the mall. it was a good piece for what it cost. less than my lunch i had that day.

The Book I read: Short Girls

I have not been updated my blog for a while. The reason is I was sucked into a book written by a Vietnamese author, Short Girls. It's about two Vietnamese sisters, Van and Linny.

I am also an Asian immigrant myself. Although i could not quite relate myself to being short/small, and being second generation of Vietnamese refugee, I smiled now and then while i was reading the book.

I also learned a lot of new stuff, things like "Asian Once-over". what is it? -" it's the accessing look so many Asian American girls had to give each other upon meeting or passing on a street. A way of gaining cred and territory. as if to determine which of them was going to be the alpha girl"

I do pay more attention to Asian girl than to non-Asian girl. i am not too sure what my reason is though. I picked this book because the author is an Asian American woman. I tend to make friends with Asian because I am more myself when i hang out with them...

oh btw, here is a picture of new appliances we bought last week, the new wall color dh just painted. i like the combination a lot. Next he is going to replace the carpet in our living room with bamboo hardwood floor. i hope ds will adjust to it well and not to have more bruises on his legs. hehe..

some thoughts on this year's Costume Institute Gala

Somehow, I found my July Vogue still unwrapped this afternoon. I must have been busy in July!

I am not going to blah about many glamorous appearances here, as it was talked by millions of pages already.

Met gala is a much better party than Oscar when it comes to the eye candies on the red carpet, well, in this year's case, it was a zebra prints carpet. oh so sexy glamorous.

just before I turned over the pageful of major players' pictures, I saw a tiny picture of Zhang Ziyi's on the corner- the most unnoticeable place among the 2 pages.

And she was the only Asian face among Met gala pictures on the most prestigious fashion magazine!

wait a minute, I saw Vera Wang's face now... as a designer though. btw, her two gowns were lack of excitement to me.

Zhang Ziyi's Armani choice wasn't working for her either. The look fell flat for the party like that. She did not even look like she was confident in the picture.