A Love Letter

Thursday usually is the day I want to dress in absolute comfort. It is the day I volunteer in my daughter's Kindergarten class.  I avoid anything that would prevent me from bending down or sitting on the floor comfortably or too low cut or delicate to withstand the innocent pulling of young children.  I have seen other bloggers who are teachers, looking gorgeous in their pencil skirts.  I am always curious how they manage to do that.  Maybe they are upper grade teachers.  I love pencil skirt, but  try getting down to the eye level of 5 year olds, it can be a difficult task.  

(Outfit detail: Top: Nordstrom Caslon color block tee. Cardigan: JCREW Bottom: Vince Camuto Riding legging. Boot: from Hong Kong 10 years ago.)

On aiding day, I also make sure I go to bed extra early the night before.  I tend to be very impatient with kids when I didn't have enough sleep.  

Today's greeting is something I haven't seen in the past few month.  They each take off a shoe and put in the center of the circle.  Starting with the child of the day, they pick up a shoe, match it up to the owner and say Hi!

Thursday routine usually consist of writing and making pretzels and choice time.  While the pretzel starts to get a bit boring for me now that we are onto letter "M".  I also realize the mistake of wearing black.  The dusting flour shows too well on the black pants.

Writing time is always fascinating to me.  The classroom takes a free spirit approach during writing.  Children write, or mainly draw at this stage, anything that they might fancy.  It is amazing to see the different ideas flourish during this time.  You definitely see the difference between boys and girls.  While girls carefully details out rainbow, flowers, dog,  princess, or other beautiful things and write things like "I like flowers" or "I love you",  boys boldly explodes not only with colors and lines, but also sound effects during the process of making laser guns,  black hole, or ninja and write things like "blizzard", "Poke ball (as Pokemon's weapon)" or some other fancy sci-fi world that completely out of my comprehension.  

Choice time is always the children's favorite.  Today it seems everyone is into making something.  The crafts table became really crowded.  There are a group making airplanes and flying ships.  Later two boys ask me if they can go outside to test out their results.   I thought that would be a good idea and accompanied them to the kiner yard.   Today is a very windy today.  One flied and the other one plunged like a rock with all the stables. I ask them to observe why one worked and point out the winds and hollow body and why the other one not (it was a chunk of paper with lot of stables)  Another group was making shields and swords. 

My daughter generally love making something. but today she was busy writing something on a chair.  There were no room on the table.   Since she didn't complain about it, I let her be.  A while later, she handed me a letter, with a hand made envelope:

 

Oh, I love you too, baby!

Look for less

Madewell  silk high tea top

Frenchi® Pintuck Blouse (Juniors)

Kate Spade FLORAL AUBREY WRAP DRESS

Nordstrom Rack Adrianna Papell Ruffle Trim Chiffon Dress 

Got Milk?

Have this happen to you? Rubbing your eyes after cutting hot pepper?

 My allergy flared up in the late evening and that is many hours after evening meal. God knows how many times I had washed my hands after the meal preparation. Yet, my eye lid went on fire. I try to wash it, putting eye cream on, closing my eye and hoping the pain will go away. Nothing works. Finally I begged hubby go look up the internet for some remedy.

 A few minute later, he came back with a wet paper towel. He dab it on my eye lid, like magic, the pain went away instantly. What created that miracle?

 Milk.

 Ah, not only does it strengthen our bones, but also it reliefs burns, sunburn and pepper burn alike. It is also known to help with cold sores. I seem to recall seeing it on TV that someone drink milk to neutralize poisons.

Love it!

Do you know any effective homeopathic remedy that works well?


 **************

I really liked it this look when browsing the photographs on Sartorialist.   Here is my take

The Sartorialist inspiration by inkmark featuring a tiered lace skirt

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale July 15th

Somehow I always end up buying some of my Christmas gift during this event.  That far ahead? Yes, that far ahead.  But then the whole fashion industry is crazy for selling fall/(winter for bay area because we get pretty warm fall weather).

This year seem the sale day is even earlier.  Here is the link to the catelog preview. You cannot order on line yet, but you could call to order them to get the early access.

My favorite? Page 48, the Mackage coat in Carmel. Then I always have a thing for package coat and I had always wanted a carmel color coat.  This one seem to have the perfect combination.

What is your favorite?

Red stripe?

I was returning some stuff at Anthro last night and there is a lady came in asking for suggestion because she is attending a 4th of July parade.

This is what I immediately thought of.

And guess what did the SA pull out?  The same shirt, haha, except they only have the navy blue left, but then you can just reverse it by wearing a red cardigan over it.

In fact I like the simple stripe red stripe the other stores carried more.  This anthro shirt is a bit over the top for me. Somehow when I think of 4th of July, I felt more casual.

 Here are some choice:

JCREW version:  Whisper linen stripe tank.  Honestly, although it is made of linen, I don't see how it justify the $41 price tag

From nordstrom: Splendid Rugby Stripe Slub Knit Tank on sale for $34.90

Old navy: Women's Diagonal-Stripe Jersey Tanks

Even gap kids have one and it is $4.99 right now.  who knows, the XXL plus might work out fine.  The red is the most crisp.

Now here is the disadvantage of on line shopping. You can not feel the fabric, try out the fit.  It is pretty much a wild guess.

What would you pick?

 I ordered the gap one.  I know, it is shameless, but the price is too good to pass.  Here is another shameless outfit featuring the anthro cat dress, and a Crewcut cardigan.  I love this cardigan, it is very light weight and the color calls for a sunny day. I love it so much that bought both my daughter and myself one.

Summer stripes

Hope you all had a good memorial day weekend!

Hubby started the Memorial day weekend by renting the "Green Zone", claiming it is a "chick" movie because it's got Matt Daemon in it.  I told him he should know that I don't even think Matt Daemon is very handsome.  Did I mention Hubby is a fan of war movie and had watched "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List" multiple times?  I on the other hand, cannot stand any movie base on reality, especially of wars or disasters or suffering that is cause by human stupidity and greed. It stresses me out big time! Needlessly to say I bail out of the movie half way.

I guess by tradition, this weekend is the official start of the summer.  It doesn't feel summer though. Highest in 70 and that is not till the mid day.  This is a half day outfit over the weekend because the other half I changed to Pajamas tot take a nap mid day. Yay! Then I change to  jeans and oversize sweat shirt to work in the garden.  My husband actually felt it very refreshing to see me in those old jeans and sweat shirts because I don't wear that kind of cloth very often any more and it kind of remind him college years when we first met.

Thanks to Jen who eased my embarrassment wearing Junior items.  So here is the debut for the Trixxi Eyelet stripe dress.   I would probably only wear it on the weekend even though my company don't really have a dress code.  My current manager already teased me about needing a curfew last time I got purple highlight, which I return the favor by asking when will he get his social security benefits.  I wasn't his direct report back then.  Things have changed,  I felt I lost a friend when I was told I would report to him because my previous manager wants to be an engineer again.

(Dress: Trixxi Eyelet stripe dress at Nordstrom, Sweater: Anthro 2010, Legging: Zala Denim legging, Belt: Gap)

As for the gardening story, let me tell you, California soil is no joke.  The clay soil dry up like cement and the raining season is barely over.  I dig and dig and dig and couldn't even make much of a dent.  I finally have to call hubby to rescue and he told me not to buy anything over 1 gallon next time :-(

Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale

Nordstrom is having a half yearly sale for women and kids right now and you get double the reward points if you have a nordstrom card.  Here are some of my picks.


Willow & Clay Short Sleeve Print Dress  I like the shape of this dress. It reminds be the Betty dress sold out at Madewell at one point. Carol from In pursuit of the pretty things did a review on this a while back.  I'm not sure how I would feel about the polyester material because I order it on line, but with it on sale, I am going to give it a try.

Trixxi Eylet Trim Dress The dress doesn't look good on the picture and it is not on sale,  but it is super cute in real life.  Our local Nordstrom put it on the manikin and it was sold out within 2 days.  We walked by when we were doing a fitting for my daughter's shoes.  The one on the manikin was the only one left.  I must admit I felt embarrassed buying junior dress. But the fabric is heavy enough and hey, it is got a Bow and stripe and Eyelet, How can I resist? It is a bit on the short side since it is a junior sizing so I will wear legging with it. I took a 5 but I could zip up to 3.

For those of you have little ones who outgrown their shoes in lighting speed, I highly recommend Tsukioshi kids  shoes, especially if they have somewhat of a wide feet.  Those shoes are super light weight and super comfortable.  They are even machine washable!  No break in needed.  My daughter wears them 80% of the time comparing to other shoes she had.  They are a bit pricy and doesn't go on sale very often, but really worth it.  Keep in mind they do run half size bigger than other brand.  Apparently the 40% off Mary Jane for toddler is already gone.  I felt lucky to got 2, my daughter's current size and the next size up, but hey, there are always chance for pop backs.

D'armee Dress

How is everyone adjusting to the daylight's saving time so far? I was really late this morning to work.  My daughter this morning decided that she is old enough to tie her hair. so here is the result:

Half decent huh?  That is if you don't look at the back... But we let her off to school the way it is at the risk of leaving the teacher a bad impression of me being a sloppy mother who forgot to comb her daughter's hair.  One should always encourage the little ones when they are willing to try :-P

Remember I was worried about D'armee Dress being too shiny?  I love it! It surely took a long time for it to arrive.  I decided to go with Grey instead of the green at the end. What a comfortable and easy dress!  I love how you can just throw it on and go.

Speaking of sale, did anyone notice this at nordstrom? I wish I know how to walk on a 3 inch heel.  I just love the pearl like color. It is on sale for $59.90 right now.

A forgotten dress

Do you have a dress that you felt you have to have it in the beginning and then at some point, you forgot all about it?  A sign of too many cloth, right?  That is the case with southward stop dress.  I saw Kristin rocking her Southward Stop Dress (here)  the other day and it had recharged my love for this dress.  I also had a problems with sameness, that is with food or clothing.  I can never eat something repeatly even I love it.  I don't know how one of my friend can have a turkey spinach Sandwich 5 out of 7 days and still wants to meet at Sandwich shop after we haven't seen each other for a while.   Luckily that problem with sameness doesn't apply to people.  For a dress, it is difficult to get a new look with it so that is why I don't wear a dress too often.   Here is my attempt to create another look with it and then I forgot about this outfit in the camera, haha. 

Dress: Anthropologie Southward Stop Dress

Sweater: JCREW cashmere sweater

Jacket: Kenna-T Leather Military Jacket

You can see my other outfit with this dress here and here.

Spring has arrived....

Spring has arrived, so has Nordstrom's February Catalog.  I had always love the quality of the glossy photo paper those catalogs are printed on.   This month's catalog is particularly beautiful and romantic with the overall beige and pink tone. It somehow reminds me of a blooming pink peony.

Although I don't usually rings, not even wedding rings because it tends to scratch the kids,  I still like to look at those candy looking  rings.

I love this oversized bag in the photograph, and is very tempted to get one.  However the real bag is darker and greener than the picture to my liking.

And these scarfs are so beautiful, may I have one color each please?

And the lace dress model is wearing is so romantic.

Actually most of the time I am not sure I am drawn to the product itself, or it is the glamor created by the beautiful photography romanticized the material.  It is probably the later.  In general I like Nordstrom's impeccable service, but the place is too big to shop for a lot of times.  The pricing is good and they are quick to move their inventory.   They carry many of the brands Anthropologie carries, such as Leifstottir,  bailey 44, three dots, splendid just to name a few.

Also I notice this  Orla Kiely bag for $40.  I had a cross body one and really love it.  It is light weight and the print stands out against  a black or dark grey coat.

Classic Shoulder Bags In Sky Color by Orla Kiely $165 $40 eDressMe

Last I leave you with a not so spring outfit of the day.

Top: JCREW sequent ruffle tank,
Cardigan: Anthropologie set the course cardigan
 Bottom: Chalk and Charcoal skirt

San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers -- OOTD

Well, this post is more for outing of the day, rather than outfit of the day :-)

All these years living in the bay area, I had never been to the inside of Conservatory of Flowers.  It is either close for renovation, or it happens to be the day it is closed when I visited San Francisco.  This holiday, I made sure that we are there in a day that it is opened.

There was a long line outside.  Kids under 5 does not need a ticket, so we kept teasing my daughter about she can't get in because she doesn't have a ticket.

Inside is really warm.  Most plant in display are the tropical flowers such as orchid.  However the variety is not exotic enough so it felt like a nursery houseplant section.

Is this the insect eating plant? We suggest my daughter put her little finger in it to test it out, but she refused.

This one reminds me Halloween candy.

How about some sur realism?

Here is a spot where you can be framed for a picture.  Hubby and I were taking picture of each other from the opposite ends. Kind of fun.

(I guess this would be my OOTD picture?  Lots of Layers...Top: Ann Taylor Cowl Neck Woll Sweater in gray, North Face  'Animagi' Jacket (Similar here). JCREW crewneck cashmere in deep coral. Gap scopeneck vintage longsleeve T(Love those, so soft)  Vest: North Face "Carmel" Down Vest (45% off right now).   Pants: JCREW Chord,   Boots: UGG,  Bag: Orla Kiely Crossbody)

To be honest, the flower collection is not very impressive, much less varieties than the one we went in Chicago this summer. It also needs more labeling and description for educational purpose.  But the special Edition was quite interesting and make the whole trip worthwhile. You can find detail description here.  The little railway sets in the minatures of plants with architecture landmark models made out of recycled and repurposed materials.

Hubby didn't even realize they are made out of recycled materials.  Kind of missing the point, eh? Can you tell what they are made of?

Being a techie and Chinese, this one has to be my favorite. It is made out of old computer cards and Majong.

And of course no kids can resist Thomas.

Nordstrom sale finds

Nordstrom really have a lot of similar items Anthropologie has or perhaps even more? And their price cut are usually pretty aggressive compare to Bloomingdale's or similar. The other thing is their database system and customer service made returning items to store so painless. They offer rebates on store card and beats which made shopping there that much more attractive than anthropology.

I love the soft pink flower print and the drape neck.  The length looks a bit short on the model to be work appropriate however, but it could be that the model is very tall.

Hinge Drape Neck dress $51.90

Really like the blue and gold contrast on this top.  It reminds me a peacock for some reason. 

Filtre Crochet Inset Top $31.90