That ramen place again

Food, glorious food....

It's an ongoing challenge for me and KL to eat through the entire menu at Honda-ya. It's probably not possible, but that doesn't mean that KL and I aren't going to have fun doing it. Which was just what we did once again on a random cold night in SoCal. And speaking of cold nights...why do I have this feeling that we are just going to skip right past the mild spring weather and head straight into warm summer weather in a couple of weeks?

Me grinning after a good meal...a food coma does that to me :)

Wearing Rick Owens Lilies leather jacket, Complexgeometries dress, F21 tights, H&M leopard scarf, Surface to Air wedges and Balenciaga clutch.

Out for Dim Sum

Over the weekend KL and I decided to head out for some dim sum at the much hyped Capital Seafood in Irvine. It was great to sit down and have a nice lunch with KL, something that we haven't been doing since I was crazy busy with school and him with work. The service at Capital was great; unfortunately I can't say the same about the food. I was expecting to get my socks knocked off given all the great reviews online, but the food was just....okay :/

And looking at the food pictures, I think one of the first things I want to get when I start working again is a D-SLR. I love my point-and-click Lumix, but I think SLR pictures seem so much "warmer".

It was a gray and overcast day, unusual weather for this time of the year in California, but it was a great chance for me to break out my oversized Ozetta warmer and relish the last remnants of the chilly winter weather.

Wearing oversized leopard jumper from ShopNastyGal, Ozetta warmer, black Balenciaga clutch, Forever21 leggings and Ann Demeulemeester shoes

Vegas baby!

I gave official notice to my manager last Friday. Now going back to school has never felt more real! Some of you out there might be aware that I had decided to pursue a full-time MBA program at the start of this year. It was really time to go, from the moment that I received offers from the schools that I had applied to, it has been a struggle trying to motivate myself to put in the hours and the effort that I used to. The reason for the change in my attitude is finally out in the open and I guess I can "slack" easy ;)

For my birthday on June 11th, KL and I decided to re-visit a very familiar city. We went back to Vegas!
We got a room at the Signature hotel at the MGM Grand, which is a really great place to be! I had great difficulty leaving my room every day and I still cry when I think of the jacuzzi tub in the bathroom - I miss it so much!

What I wore for the car ride from Orange County to Vegas. As you can see, comfort is of utmost importance:

F21 tee, Elizabeth and James pants, Dries Van Noten sandals

A shot of the view at night from our room:

One of my favorite stops in Vegas (besides Barneys at the Palazzo ;)), is the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanic Gardens. As the name implies, it's a magnificent display of landscaped gardens, meant to invoke the essence of each season. Besides changing the displays with each seasons, I think Bellagio also comes up with new displays for special occasions like Independence Day and Christmas. When KL and I were there, it was the Summer display.

The flower ferris wheel that dominated the display:

Ladybug! One of the very few insects that I am not squeamish about:

I love how rosebuds were used to recreate the snails' shell. It took me some time before I coaxed the right expression out from the snail ;)

Lovebirds!

They were so cute and couldn't stop grooming each other. Some of them were already asleep when KL and I were there (it was 11pm plus after all!) as the lights were switched off.

And of course what would a blog post be without food? In place of a cake this year, KL told me that I could pick whatever sweets I wanted from Payard!
Macarons from Payard - the chocolate and strawberry ones were heavenly! I can't remember what flavours the other colours were, I think I need to go back there for a second tasting!

More sweets from my sweet:

On the left is a little slice of berry heaven named Joie, complimented with a dark chocolate-hazelnut creation named the Louvre. I have a hard time deciding which one is better, so I'm gonna cop out and say I love them all!

On the day of my birthday itself, KL took me out for dinner at the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill. I have always said that I wanted to try out this restaurant whenever we were in Vegas (yes, even though I know it's so much nearer to drive to the one in L.A.), so my wish was finally got granted ;)

Our appetizers:

Left: sweet corn crab fritters, right: chilled tomato gazpacho

I ordered the sweet corn crab fritters with a zesty aioli while KL got the chilled tomato gazpacho with a dollop of crème fraîche and croutons. Halfway through, I had to give up my fritters to KL...veggies are his Kryptonite and he can only stomach so many mouthfuls of "veggie stew"! My apologies for the photos everyone, it wasn't a candle-lit dinner, but somehow the pictures turned out darker than expected!

For the main course, I ordered grilled tuna with a red onion salad, while KL had beef filet, with herb creamed corn, pesto and balsamic.

Dessert! Apricot melba with toast almonds, vanilla ice and raspberries! No fighting here, we each got a share.

Then it was off to catch the Criss Angel's show, Believe.

It seems that the reviews for this show weren't too good but I have to say it's really bad at all! Just don't expect a usual Cirque du Soleil show, this show is really more of a "Best of Mindfreak" performance with surreal imaginary thrown in to link up each illusion. Personally I felt that the "links" were really the weakest part of the show, some of the performances felt a tad too contrived at time, but in all fairness I did enjoy the dancing bunnies. That's all I should say I guess, without giving too much of the show away.

Lastly, I shall sign off this post with pictures of my birthday outfit, worn with Dries sandals during the day and my trusty Ann Demeulemeester lace-up boots at night!

Lanvin dress, various necklaces from F21 and Made Her think, Dries Van Noten sandals (left), Ann Demeulemeester lace up boots (right)

Pictorama: A random night out at Irvine Spectrum

First of all, I am extremely honored to show off this lovely award given to me by Hanh:

Hanh is an extremely lovely lady with an impeccable sense of style. Check out her blog here. It's so inspirational and chock full of pictures of her lovely outfits and yummy food, some of which were whipped up by Hanh herself! I love that the blogs that I frequent are featuring food more and more, I confess to be a diehard foodie and I feel that truly great food satisfies not only our palate, but also our eyes!

A pictorama of tonight's event:

I worn: Rick Owens leather jacket, Lanvin t-shirt dress, charcoal gray ribbed socks, Ann Demeulemeester lace-up boots, Chanel baby cabas and Forever21 necklace.

KL and I went to: Irvine Spectrum

I lusted over: the 13.3" Macbook Pro from Apple. (hint, hint, KL - I need a laptop for college!)

We drank: A humongonous serving of Wetzel's Pretzels' lemonade. (which I'm convinced is one of the best lemonade ever! I always have to fight KL for this.)

Outside: The Verizon wireless store

And ate a cheesedog from Wetzel's Pretzels as well.

Sometimes junk food is just immensely cathartic and the hot, greasy dog hit the spot on this cold night! Yum, yum, yum....

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone! :D

The Inside-Out Jacket

Thank you thank you to the very lovely blogger Legyviel for her very sweet award to my blog. It's my very first blog award so this is definitely something extremely special!

So the instructions for this award are:
-Put the logo on your blog or post. -Nominate at least 10 blogs which you think are fabulous. -Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. -Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog. -Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

So, in no particular order, here's my fabulous 10:
1. Inaya
2. Chauss
3. Lucrecia
4. Nina
5. Dominica
6. Dottie & Stephie
7. Nini

8. The Divinitus
9. Vanna
10. The Search for Chic

Each of these bloggers have their own sense of style and take on fashion and are so inspiring. Do check them out and they are on my blog roll as well!

Maison Martin Margiela white jacket, F21 grey sweater, Zucca black wool leggings, Bakersshoes heels.

I debuted my Martin Margiela white suit jacket today. It was an impulse buy from eluxury.com, and I wondered if I was attracted to the jacket itself or the price? After receiving the jacket, I have to happily say that it's the jacket, but the price made the purchase even sweeter!

I'm literally in awe of the construction and the details. The strong shoulder is a definite Margiela trademark, but the quirky touches like the reverse jacket lapel and buttons that button inward are the icing on the cake.
It's finally near enough to Spring to start wearing white, though to be honest, it will be hard for me because I love black so much! This jacket definitely makes easing into a lighter palette effortless and I expect to see a lot of action with it in my outfit posts!

A touch of colour

Things have been a little crazy for the past two weeks! There's work, and KL and I have been busy spring cleaning in preparation for the Chinese New Year, and the first day falls on the 26th of January this year. So that means visits to Ikea to stock up on storage solutions. We have been such slobs for the past 2 Chinese New Years' that surprisingly we were inspired to get off our lazy butts this year! It's still a work in process though, I still need to get more shelves for my shoes, recycle old magazines, arrange my accessories, tackle a big pile of ironing, sort stuff out to eBay/donate, etc. That and in the midst of this craziness, a dear friend from Texas came to visit. So I am a little tied up now and haven't really been responding to comments as much as I'll like to, but I will be working on that soon!

Here's my most recent outfit post. I'm trying to work some colour in, it's always been a tradition for me to wear red on the first day of Chinese New Year, so this orange is just a "warm-up" for the actual event on Monday. Monday's outfit should be interesting, because I haven't purchased anything red for a while and I am used to wearing an entire new outfit on the first day, according to yes, another tradition!

Topshop jacket, F21 sweater, Zucca leggings, Tripp boots

I love those boots because they are just so wacky and ugly in a glorious way. That, and one colleague called me a KISS (the rock band!) escapee when he saw me wearing these boots. The wool leggings are surprisingly warm and I am intrigued by the bandaged details on the legs, which I hope the photos show clearly.

KL and I will be meeting up with some Singaporean friends who have also relocated to CA, for reunion dinner today. The atmosphere is just not the same compared to Singapore, but it's still nice to meet up with friends to commiserate ;)

To all those who do celebrate this occasson, have a very happy and prosperous Year of the Ox!

A full work week

Gap cowl-neck sweater, JCrew jacket, Ksubi skinny jeans, F21 shoes

Gosh I am tired.
It's been a full work week after the holiday season but I am still battling a persistent cough and stuffy nose that wouldn't go away.
I have almost finished my bottle of NyQuil as well.

There are a few Junya pieces that I'll like to debut, but right now it's all I can do to throw on the nearest things that I can find and scramble out of the door.

Friday's tomorrow. Can't wait!

P.S. I really like this J.Crew jacket a lot, too bad I missed out on the chance to get it in bright berry. I'm now on the hunt for something red to wear for Chinese New Year!