animals & anthro

Pretty much loving the November 2010 catalog from Anthro I just thumbed through. It was a mixture of silly animals posing with accessories and cardboard cut-out Wonderland-esque.  The sheep in boots and llama with 3 necklaces (though I couldn’t find a jpg of it) were my favorite. Maybe also the three little piggies in scarves too.

Seriously, creativity masterminds at Anthro… no joke.

like the movies

via The Sartorialist

Pictures like this cause me to swoon. I love New York. I think a lot of my infatuation surrounding New York is just how a lot of my favorite shows and movies were set in the city, and it was exactly like I envisioned when I visited it. One of the biggest reasons I love San Francisco is the amount of character packed into each distinct district; NYC is exactly the same, but with even more character packed in, as it’s far bigger than SF.

Gosh, a perfect mix of urban and vintage style. I am especially loving the girl’s shoes and the motorcycle with the leather case in the back.

Totally considering a second visit to NYC this summer since I should get the best bang for my buck out of my last free flight. We shall see though. Probably more wishful thinking than anything else.

thrifting

I really dislike the use of the word “thrift” as a verb. But I don’t really know how else to explain rummaging through the local thrift stores. Most of you may know that since moving home, I’ve been in the process of (very, very) slowly deep-cleaning and rearranging my room/house to make it more suitable for the 22-year-old me rather than the 10-year-old me. So while I am a rummager, it doesn’t make sense that I go to local thrift store to drop off some donations, only to bring home some more stuff. But honestly, sometimes I can’t resist. Part of it is just curiosity if there’s a great deal or something adorable waiting in that store. Part of it’s just being an unintentional collector of sorts (*aka pack rat). Regardless, going to the thrift store usually means exercising some sort of restraint from buying stuff I really don’t need, but occasionally I run across something I love and would actually use.

Case in point: this week I stopped by one of the thrift stores I frequent.

I found this glass coaster that I absolutely love (black and white.. one of my favorites!).

I want to believe I still understand German, so guessing by the language it’s probably German.  (edit: I found out on wiki that Schwaben is a place in Germany. I was right!) I don’t know. It also came in a set, but I couldn’t justify using the other pieces, and I didn’t like them as much as this. Although I did feel bad about separating the set…

Also, it’s probably some souvenir, but I love it anyway.

Plus I love the watermark on the bottom. A cross AND a sailboat?! Color me SOLD.

Ok, enough about my rambling. I think what can be concluded from this post is that I like junk. Haha.

SF–the touristy side

a catch-up post, but JC and i took a touristy trip out to SF a few weeks ago. we ended up getting clam chowder and oysters on the half-shell at fisherman’s wharf (and a slight tour of the boudin bakery) and then caught alice in wonderland in 3D. no pictures of alice here, but i did take the dSLR out for a spin, with a few quick lessons from J.

oysters on half-shell, though the focus is on the lemon?

creamy, touristy goodness

preeeetty. (am i creepy yet?)

in other news, i’m heading off the hong kong & tokyo in the morning. it’s my first time leaving the country since coming back from studying abroad. i’m a little anxious about the HK leg of trip (approx. 7 days) since i’m going by myself and mostly spending time with family… and my chinese has deteriorated greatly since i was last back. regardless, i am excited to have a change of scenery and to come back with a pair of fresh eyes. yay for the travel bug!

fresh cut flowers

i’d like to think of myself as a practical person. so it makes sense that for the longest time i didn’t understand nor appreciate cut flowers. while pretty, they’re expensive, die within a couple days, get thrown away, and are therefore a waste of money.

but as i’ve started frequenting the local farmer’s markets more often (another post on my newest fascination in farmer’s markets soon), i find myself enamoured over the flower stalls. i think i just didn’t appreciate flowers before because i don’t think roses, the most commonly sold flowers, are particularly pretty or interesting. but daffodils!, hydrangeas!, ranunculus!, peonies!… so swoon-worthy and springtime appropriate.this is probably also due to the fact that i’m looking at a lot of wedding blogs these days (more out of interest and inspiration than anything) and until then, i didn’t know different kinds and combinations of flowers could convey so much style.

in the past couple weeks, i’ve brought home all of my favorites: paper whites, daffodils, and most recently, hydrangeas to set on our dining table. on saturday, i found this beautiful, full bouquet of white and all sorts of colored hydrangeas and leaves… so rich and rustic! i think i bought it just because i felt like it was ready to go down the wedding aisle. a little sad that it hasn’t lasted long–by the next day i was already pruning off wrinkly bunches. but despite the potential money drain that flowers pose, i think it’s totally worth the temporary aesthetic it brings to the house. plus, last weekend on our drive home through our neighborhood, my mom and i detailed which flowers we could cut out of the yards we passed (=free flowers).. much to the dismay of my brother in the driver’s seat. lol.

new directions?

blossoms outside our house on a particularly crisp morning.

my dearest julia has encouraged me to start a food blog.

i’m not sure if i’m an intense enough foodie. most of my mad raving about food gets directed into my yelp, and i really don’t have that great of a palate. two of my friends were surprised to hear that i enjoy mcdonald’s, and they concluded that i just like food (period), not only “good” food; in fact, i had and fulfilled a craving for a mcdouble, fries, and coke today for lunch.

but regardless of my lack of discrimination of food, i think for now i’ll write more frequently, even about random day-to-day things, things i eat (5 straight days of honey nut cheerios, anyone?) or cook (burnt stuff.), or the long-forgotten resolutions i should be working on.  i’ve been trying my hand with a DSLR (read: using it as a point-and-shoot), like above, but hopefully something good will come out of that too.

despite all that, i love julia for encouraging me to pursue something i enjoy–especially as she lends an ear when i blather on about beautiful blogs and weddings i love. i am blessed with good friends. not that this is how i define love or friendship, but this is definitely a good characteristic of it, forsure.