Happy New Year!

As we look back and reflect on what we have been through in 2008, don't forget that we have a brand new year to look forward to.
Another year, a fresh start, a new slate to pursue our dreams and make them come true.

2008 has been crazy for me - I got new assignments at work, became an aunt and finally finally got accepted into an MBA program at UC Irvine! Yes, I'm going back to school!!
And all this time, I did it buying more shoes/clothes than my husband can bear ;)

Here's looking to 2009, and wishing exciting times ahead to everyone!

Best,
Rebecca

A winter-white California.. and Las Vegas

I can’t believe I have been such a S.L.O.B for the past few days!
It’s the year-end break for me now (save for 2 days at work this week), and I have pretty much spent it lazing around at home, playing computer games and watching endless re-runs on TV.

Anyway, about my trip to Las Vegas on the 19th, which I still look back on so fondly :)

The magic really begun on the drive to Vegas from California. Honestly, I find the drive to be dreary most of the time, but this time, the snow blanketing the landscape made everything 10 times more beautiful.


My husband and I stopped at MacDonald’s for lunch:

And then pretty much spent the next half an hour playing in a snow field that we found. Who would have thought that a snow field could exist in Southern California?
I had my first snowfight and made my first snow-man there and got dragged down by my husband into the snow:

Stuck in a rut, literally!

(Okay, I lost!)
I have to say, my Ann Demeulemeester boots held up really well in the snow, my socks didn’t even get wet!

Then it was onwards to Vegas! It wasn't our first trip there, nowadays we just like to drive up to Vegas to escape from work and catch a performance if possible. This time round, it was one of the Cirque du Soleil's shows, Ka. No cameras were allowed inside the theater so I have no pictures. I have to say I was fascinated more by the spectacular revolving stage and costumes, rather than the acrobatics that I saw. And is it so wrong that I was ogling the shoes of one of the villains, because they reminded me so much of the awesome wedges that Stella McCartney showed for her F/W 08 collection?

This:

From cirquedusoleil.com, note the awesome wedge heel on the left.

Versus:

From style.com

Other than that, there were new attractions (at least to me) to be enjoyed. Mirage revamped their volcano and the Palazzo had this new show where people dressed up as statues to dance at a fountain. There were even swaying trees! :D The shopping at Palazzo was just awesome, there's a Barneys there and the shoe sale was unbelievable! I saw lots of pieces from Balenciaga, Givenchy, Pierre Hardy, Miu Miu, Louboutin and even the aforementioned McCartney wedges at 70% off! But I am proud to say that I did not buy a single pair, and my husband wasn't even around to give me grief! I simply decided that while I liked most of the shoes I saw, they weren't on my "must-have"list in the first place and I should really be saving my money for items on my list, among other things.

As for gambling, I'm afraid to say that Lady Luck wasn't smiling on us. Not only did we not win anything, we actually lost all our gambling principle! Which was a princely sum of $2.. on video poker! ;)

My husband got me a pair of gloves as a Christmas present for our Vegas trip. That was really thoughtful of him because I hate to get my hands cold (maybe that's why I lost the snowball fight?) and this pair is just simply perfect!

Those Colin Stuart studded booties

Colin Stuart studded booties, from victoriassecrets.com

I know, these booties have spreading around the blogosphere like a wildfire for sometime now.

But at $49.99 per pair (on clearance at Victoria's Secret's website), the little biker-chick wannabe in me couldn't resist.
Click, click, click and they are now on their way to me!

I'm still tidying up my Vegas photos and will be back with a proper post soon!

My bags are packed and I am ready to go...

..to Las Vegas!

Credits: www.weblo.com

I wonder if I'll still be able to see snow on the Strip?
I'll be back with updates on Monday!

Military goth

Man, it's cold.

Temperatures have been around 50-ish for the past two days, with brisk winds and incessant rain today. (Now I sound like the weather girl from KTLA prime news ;))
That, coupled with the extreme change in temperatures when I enter the office (i.e. cranked-up central heating) is not helping with the bout of flu that I am attempting to fight off.

Main aim today is to stay WARM. And another chance to wear my Ann Demeulemeester lace-up boots again!

Zara military blazer, Gap sweater, AA black tee, Ksubi jeans, Ann Demeulemeester boots, YSL besace bag

Ann, please meet Junya

Ann Demeulemeester boots, Mary Meyer drop-crotch pants, American Apparel long-sleeve tee, Junya Watanabe shrug.

This outfit pretty much sums up how I dress, fashion-wise, nowadays.

A lot of black, and layers to keep me warm.
Oh and pants definitely, especially drop-crotch for that little extra swagger ;)

My favourite pair of boots from Ann Demeulemeester, the triple rows of laces, the slight faded black leather, it’s all a little goth-meets-mad Maxine! (kudos to luckyme@TFS for coining the last phrase ) These are so iconic and seem to make everything I wear it with, so much better to me. I would have never imagined that it would be possible to be in awe of a pair of boots, but with this pair, I most definitely am!

And my Junya shrug, it’s so incredibly soft and warm with a faux fur collar, which I am so happy with because I just cannot wear real fur. Mostly because of my bunnies and mostly because I am not comfortable with the idea of wearing real fur. It’s really a stylish blanket of sorts and I say this because the fluctuating weather in California has given me a bout of flu and it’s just so comforting to have something cosy to cuddle up to in the car, at the office, at Starbucks..you get the idea. In fact the shrug is laying on my lap right now and I am sporadically squeezing it and sniffing it as I type :P

Pants, pants, pants!

I love pants.
I cannot imagine what my wardrobe would be like without pants.

High-waisted, boot-legged, flared, cigarette, skinny…you name it, I have probably tried it all.

I work in an engineering company and being the only female in meetings most of the time, has led me to seek out pants as part of my corporate armor. It’s even gotten to the point where I usually do not wear skirts on their own to work. Meaning if I have on a dress or skirt, it will be layered with pants of some sort, ie leggings.

So, meet my latest obsession – the baggy pants. (aka drop-crotch pants, Hammer pants, carrot pants, harem pants, Humpty-Dumpty pants, god-awful pants, etc)
They are probably overtly trendy and extremely figure-picky, but what can I say, I like them very much. Baggy pants are a refreshing option after seasons of skinny pants/jeans and leggings and I do relish the challenge in styling them. Plus the comfort factor is pretty much unbeatable. (Try working early into the mornings with a bunch of engineers in a freezing lab for a couple of weeks straight and you’ll appreciate the comfort factor so much more!)


They did take some getting used to (for me, it took about 5 minutes!) and I couldn’t get visions of MC Hammer out of my mind when I started wearing them initially. The response from my colleagues didn't really help too. (Case in point - my manager: "Those are some funky pants!") But damn it, I just love the feeling they impart and the swagger that they bring to my walk!

My interest was first sparked by this picture of Kate Lanphear wearing them:

And then, everything came together and crystallized in my head, with sartorial angels singing, when I saw this:

Black, the loose easy fit, the random pocket on the pants, the fold-down waist plus drop-crotch.. I'm especially in love with the lace-up details going on between the pant legs and shoes.

That outfit is pretty much the pinnacle of sartorial perfection to me and compelled me to take the plunge with baggy pants.

So, here are some of my recent efforts:

Shoes vs Bags

Courtesy of jakandjil.com

I have always been very much a bag girl.
In fact, it was while googling for bags one night, that led me to The Fashion Spot, that led me to become infatuated with fashion.
So you can pretty much say that bags were my primer into fashion-proper.

Yet lately, (I think this pretty much started mid last year?) I have become obsessed with shoes.
I don’t know if this is because of the proliferation of websites like Yoox and eBay, where designer shoes can be found at discounted prices (though this may not be so true for Yoox now with the greenback’s ups and downs and eBay is pretty much a caveat emptor case.), or is it because shoe designs have become a little more outrageous, a little more architectural, a little more interesting with every passing season, which me likey!

I suspect that it’s more likely the latter and shoe “porn” sites like Jak&Jil, are not helping me curb this fascination. ;)

I tend to pay more for bags, instead of shoes as I used to feel that bags are a sound investment versus shoes which get “devalued” the moment they are worn. But perhaps this is not the proper way to look at things, as now I feel that the trippy feeling that the “right” pair of shoes can impart is pretty much incomparable and so is the confidence that it gives me. This is not a reason however for me to go on an indiscriminate buying spree, but I do see this current mentality as natural evolution of my style.

As for my bags, I still love them very much (Geez, I talk about them like they are my kids!) but the time for growing my bag collection has passed. I’m extremely happy and contented with the bags I have now and don’t foresee purchasing another new one in the near future, unless of course the Birkin of my dreams comes my way! ;)

My Preciousssssssssssssssss....

Givenchy feather collar booties

I have had my eye on these booties since the start of this season, when I first chanced upon them on Zappos.

There was something about the feathers that seem so frivolous and fun, plus the open-toe makes it so different from the other booties that I have. Yet I wonder if it was too trendy and I wasn't quite ready to take the plunge at its retail price.

I missed the chance to get it when it first went on sale at Zappos. I didn't know when it happened and was moping for quite sometime.

Yet when I was randomly browsing Zappos last week, I saw a pair up in my size and available at the sale price! Just like that and a few clicks later, I have ordered this pair of feather booties! (I chalk this up to good shoe karma! ;))

I received my pair today and it is high. 

I am used to 4, 5 inches in high heels, yet somehow this pair of booties seem higher than 5 inches..maybe closer to 6 inches? I shall have to measure it next to my other pairs of shoes to be sure.

It's surprisingly comfortable though and I chalk this up to the platform that's built into the shoe.

Did I mention that the shoes are gorgeous in real life? ;)

This pair's definitely a keeper!

Meet the family

My kids ;)

Raisin

Age: Unknown. (I do know how old she is of course, but it’ll be rude to reveal a lady’s age without her consent)

Loves:

• Fashion magazines (This I know from the voracious manner in which she literally goes through them, ie chew. She seems to show a penchant for Harper’s Bazaar over Elle though, mainly because of the magazine’s content? No comments on American Vogue.)
• Jeans, jeans, jeans (Just look at the hem of my JBrands!)
• Flip-flops

Tobey

Age: 2 years old in January ’09!

Loves:

• Scientific American and Wall Street Journal (The tearing sound just drives him wild. He loves to get his paws on the Victoria Secret’s catalog too, whenever I happen to leave one within his reach.)
• Cargo pants (He goes for the pockets ;))
• Sneakers (Oy, my husband has a lot to say about this, especially since Tobey seems to prefer chewing his up!)

Hello it’s me

I know I have pretty much AWOL since starting this blog 3 years ago. (Man, has it been this long?)

A lot of things have happened to me since then. I got a job promotion that resulted in a really heavy workload that resulted in me neglecting my blog. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to update this blog as much as I would have liked to, but I would definitely like to start again, now that things have settled down and I am getting better at time management.
My style has also changed since ’05, I think I was really into everything girly and pretty at that time. I still like a little prettiness every now and then, but now I prefer things just a little darker (black, black, delicious black!) and more interesting. Maybe all those hours on The Fashion Spot have finally gotten to me, or maybe it’s just part of getting older ;)

I will be tidying up the blog as the days go by and hopefully start to update it regularly. Anyone and everyone is welcome! ^-^