lyc & co. went fishing

This time when "T" and I went back home, we went fishing at Whidbey Island. It was freezing and windy, so much so that my lips turned blue. We ended up not being able to catch any fish but it was well worth the trip. Do you see how serious my dad is about fishing?? hahah.

Now what to do with all this wrapping paper.....

That last photo of me is when I was in a rush to go back home to pack and get ready to go to the airport. I almost didn't make it for the holidays this year because I wasn't sure if I was able to get time off work, but at the last minute I somehow managed and was able to come home for a week for christmas.

I love it when I come home because not only do I get to see my loving family and friends, mom always cooks the best meals. No matter how many times I eat korean food in nyc's ktown, it's never the same as mom's cooking and when I got home this year, literally 5 min after I walked through the door, I started eating and then passed out due to food coma. It feels so nice to be home because it's been about a year since I've been back. It's always as if there's something a little bit missing when I'm in ny but when I come back to seattle, the void is filled again and I think some people take it for granted when they can go and see their family every weekend or everyday because you're so used to be being around them all the time. I most definitely was like that but now that I'm rarely home, I feel like I need to make the most out of every waking minute which is why I'm writing this post now because everyone else is asleep. lol

Also, do you see that amazing chloé bag I'm holding??! "T" bought it for me for xmas. He spoils me, he really does. You should've seen the big smile I had on my face when I saw him walking down the block carrying a bergdorf goodman shopping bag. I knew he'd gotten me something good this year for xmas like he does every xmas. I seriously felt like a 7 year old all over again and I was squealing and getting giddy. haha.

I hope everyone had a nice, safe and happy holiday with your family and friends and I also hope that you'll all have a happy and prosperous new year. I can't believe it's already 2012. Time goes by too quickly and it's not okay. I'm still stuck in the 90's. lol.

ho ho ho

Don't know if you guys realize this, but you can see T's shadow in all of these photos. haha. Also, today is Santacon in New York and for those of you who don't know what that is, it's pretty much drunk people dressed up as Mr. or Mrs. Clause, walking around the city, looking for an early xmas gift to unwrap for themselves. If you know what I mean...

In other news, xmas is so near and I still haven't bought my ticket to go back home to celebrate the holidays with my family. Pretty much I'm going to have to spend a fortune to buy them now and at the same time I don't even know if I'm going to be able to take days off work to go, so as of now, I've been crossing my fingers.

I've also been thinking about dyeing my hair to a lighter color. My hair is raven black, really really dark. So much so that a lot of people ask me if I dye my hair black. I get it from my dad and I'm not complaining because he's 60 years old and does not have one grey hair on his head. It's not that I hate my dark hair, I just want a change. What do you guys think?

Lastly, I just wanted to leave you guys with a photo that I took last week. It was such an awkward pose that it made me look like a turtle so I drew it on. It's me! The awkward turtle.

sorry guys

My sincere apologies for the lack of posts this week. I've been extremely busy with my freelance work and at the same time, I started freelancing in-house at a company so when I get home, it's far too dark to take pictures of my outfit :( Also, it's been super disgusting out in NY. Remember when I said that all that sunny weather last week was only a forewarning to disgusting weather? Yup. It happened. But these may all be excuses. I will try my best to find a balance between this blog and work and in the meantime, please forgive me. Please?

the cool air will put your hard heart away...

 I kicked everyone out of the playground just to get this shot... haha. No I really didn't. Surprisingly no one was at the park, not even the little kids who have their weekly playdates. So, naturally I took this time to shine and retake my senior photos because the ones I took back in highschool, I cried over them. Not because they were amazing, but because my expectations for them were so high and the results barely met them. In fact, I had to take them twice. The first time, I had gotten an appointment with a makeup artist to get my makeup done and she put blue eyeshadow on me. Blue. With pink lipstick. Blue and pink. That girl must've thought that I wanted the malibu barbie look because that's exactly what she gave me. Slap on a blonde wig and I was ready for halloween. Since I was short on time, I couldn't redo my makeup, but long story short, I got the pictures taken, saw the pictures, cried and retook them but this time without the help of a makeup artist. Ahh highschool, there's always so much drama in highschool. So in honor of the past, I titled this post with a line from death cab for cutie's song, photobooth. Because, who doesn't love death cab for cutie?

yet another beautiful day...

When I see all this nice weather happening to us right now, I get a little scared because I feel like it's the calm before the storm. Rumor has it that this year's winter is supposed to the worst/coldest winter that New York's had in 10 years and from the 5 years that I've been here, they've all been pretty unbearable. So if this year is supposed to be the worst of them all, friends, consider me missing due to hibernation because I am not leaving my apartment. I'm not good with extreme cold, at all. I'm from Seattle, where the temperature is pretty neutral throughout the whole year and it never get too hot or too cold. Which reminds me, I still need to get some holiday shopping done before I head on home for the holidays...I need some suggestions on some really good holiday gifts...

haha we've all been there

SHOPGIRL from SRSLY. on Vimeo.

Perfect... they've got it down so perfectly. We've all been here at one point in our shopping experiences when the salesperson is just so pretentious and could not give a %&$# about you. Haha. I cracked up in the scene where the salesgirl doesn't smile and adjusts the hanger while the shopper tries to make conversation. I've totally been there.

saturday mornings

Saturday mornings are always relaxing. Usually the routine is to wake up late, get dressed and go out to brunch. Today I went out to eat korean food for brunch and ended up running into a really good friend of mine. Love it when that happens because a lot of my friends live in different boroughs of new york and they rarely leave them. lol. It happens to me too. When I think about all the subway transfers and the commute, I get lazy and I settle for staying close by. A part of it is also because I'm subconsciously scared. It's really silly, but before I moved here, my mom would tell me stories of how dangerous it is to walk late in new york and that if I stepped foot into queens or brooklyn I'm just asking to be mugged. This coming from a woman who's never lived a day in new york and is apparently still stuck in the 70's. ha. Times have changed ma! I've had some of the best shopping and eating experiences in brooklyn and queens.

Just a reminder for you folks... do you realize that today's the third of December??! It's time to start doing as many things as possible, albeit last minute, to make the most of 2011. It's never too late. Go, go, go!

xmas trees are here

The christmas trees are here!! It's strange because back home we usually went to a xmas tree farm to get our tree but in new york, without a car that's purely impossible so we rely on the rugged lumberjack men to bring them to us to sell on the corners of the block. I walk by them pretty much everyday and the smell of the trees makes me feel so nostalgic, it makes me want to buy one. Unfortunately, my apartment isn't big enough to house one... so I'll have to make do with the morning walk-bys or I'm going to try to convince myself that buying a small one is worth it. 

Did you know that even though it's the end of november, I still have mosquitoes flying around in my apartment?! I don't know where they're coming from and just last night I got bitten 11 times. 11 times! It's winter, please spare me. I've already gotten bit so many times over the summer, please just spare me. I even stopped eating bananas because someone told me that eating them attracts more mosquitoes. I guess it's not working. 

croissants and cappuccinos

For those who live in (or are visiting) new york, I must recommend having brunch in this little cafe in the west village called Tartine. They have the most amaaazing warm croissants with homemade jam, it's quite delicious. I'm not a huge pastry type of girl but "T" is and he happened to order one by chance that day, and I just happened to steal a bite. I'm forever hooked. It's a shame that I live on the east side because if I lived closer to the west village I would probably order them in bulk. If you're still not convinced, they also have just an all-around topnotch brunch menu that's below $15 (which is a decent price in ny). I'm actually craving their croissants and cappuccinos now as I write...

This is my parisienne outfit of the day. The vest is makeshift–it doesn't really have that bow. I just added that finishing touch with a silk ribbon that was lying around. Voila! The real looker here is the fact that 1) I have red lipstick on, which rarely happens and 2) my nails. I tried to do an ombre look but it just turned into a dip-dye look which is equally as cool. Yay for nail art!

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2011

I'm assuming that there's a huge probability that gym memberships are going to increase exponentially within the week after many tuned in to watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show. For those who don't know, the actual fashion show is held a couple weeks prior to the airing of it on TV and it just so happens that I had walked by the red carpet for it the event a couple weeks ago because I live only a few blocks away from the venue. This obviously sparked my interest so I tuned in tonight to see the many costumes that you can make out of lingerie. The one thought that kept coming up in my mind was the curiosity of how much fun it would be to be part of that design team who has to come up with the concepts for the costumes. It's pretty much coming up with luxury halloween costumes year after year and you can create any look you want. One collection that really stood out for me was the Passion line this year (pictures above). I was working while watching the show at the same time and I literally stopped what I was doing when I saw these designs going down the runway. The design, the jewels, the sparkle and of course the models are breathtaking. Seriously breathtaking. If someone makes a jewelry line using these as inspirations, I would be first in line to buy one of the statement necklaces. 

(images via Victoria's Secret)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

pictures of thanksgiving dinner

our table setting

poor lobsters.....

the outcome of 5 hrs of cooking

notice how much food i've piled on my plate. I went back for thirds. lol

10 min later, I succumbed to my food coma




I know I said in my earlier post that we wouldn't have turkey for thanksgiving this year, but I managed to convince people that it just wasn't thanksgiving without the turkey so we ended up with turkey on the table thanks to my friend Jon. lol. Now I'm drinking as much green tea as possible to make up for how much I ate since it supposedly breaks up the toxins in your body and gives you a faster metabolism.

the outcome of 8+ hrs in the shivering cold... plus more

(sweater: H&M /// shoes: zara /// tights: topshop /// shorts: macys /// necklace: forever21 /// hat: vintage)

This men's Versace H&M sweater (among other things) was the outcome of 8+ hrs of waiting in the cold outside the H&M store. The first few hours weren't so bad, but then around the fourth hour, I started to lose feeling in my toes and fingers and pretty soon it turned into a semi-cuddle fest with strangers around me. Luckily, I was one of the 280 fashionistas in line to receive a bracelet with a time slot to shop in the ladies Versace H&M but I had to keep standing in line because the same system wasn't set up for the menswear so that meant that if I dared to step out of the line to go get some breakfast, I would for sure lose my spot in line to shop for this brilliant sweater pictured up above. When we finally got through the door, people started running up the escalators to get to the men's section of the store, but we were far too late. People were going bat-shit crazy over everything! Arms, hair, legs were flying everywhere in all direction. I managed to grab a printed t-shirt from the rack that was in my size but the moment that I picked it up, a hand came out of nowhere and poked me in the eye and then proceeded to rip the tshirt out of my hand. Is that even allowed?! Even though I'd lost to the battle of the t-shirt, I guess the end conclusion of everything was pretty satisfactory because I still managed to get everything I wanted aside the leather jackets but they were sold out within 15 min so I barely had a chance :(

how do I do this again...?

I'm an awkward person when it comes to cameras. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to smile, pose or act when in front of one. I'm self-conscious in other words, but honestly, we all are at times. If you're one of the special people that's never self-aware, you're either lying to yourself or you deserve a slow clap and an invitation to teach the rest of us of how not to give a **** about what others think. Hopefully I'll grow out of this awkward camera shy syndrome... 

In other news, it's almost thanksgiving and I'm not sure what to do. This year is the second year that I won't be home for thanksgiving and I'm a little bit sad that I won't get to feast on the 20+ lb turkey that they always have at home, yet again. In my nyc household this year it seems as though my fellow friends and loved ones do not share the same opinion with me about having that perfect bite of juicy turkey, with the sweet and tart cranberry chutney and the mixture of the salty and buttery gravy followed by that bite of stuffing right afterwards (yummmm)...in fact, they hate turkey. It saddens me, really. SO, this year we're doing a lobster fest. YUP. Lobster for thanksgiving. It'll be new and I'll have to wrap my head around it but I like lobster so it can't be that bad... I'll be sure to take pictures of our turkey-less thanksgiving dinner so that I can post it here later on.