The award goes to.....

 Lisa from Confession of a Call Center Girl had given me the Stylish blogger award last week. I must said it is a real surprise.  Thanks Lisa, you are too sweet.


Now I think I am supposed to give away 15 more awards.  This is what took so long about this post. First of all I don't even go around 15 blogs regularly :-P Some popular blogger probably already have this reward.  If this hasn't come from Lisa, I'd put her in my list too.  At first I attempt to avoid repeat, then it became impossible.  So I'll just put down the blog and not do the research of which blog already go this award.  There should be no harm done with getting the same award twice, right? So here it goes.  The stylish award goes to 

1. Anthrodottir 
2. Respect the shoes
3. Belle Seattle
4. Sweet Laundry Love
5. That damn green dress
6. The Girlest Boy Mom
7. Top Drawer
8. Where the Lights Are Bright
9. Lovely Apidae
10. Adiaphane
11. Love at First Shop
12. Liziologie
13. All Things Aimee.
14. Ro Ro Ro your blog
15. Running on Anthro

I don't know if I need to share something about myself, but I guess it doesn't hurt, so here are some little facts:

• I am an equal opportunity eater.  I am extremely picky in terms of quality of the food, but there isn't any particular ingredient I don't eat
• I am terrible at sport and extremely unfit.  I cannot do a single push up.  However I carried my 35 lb son even when I was 9 month pregnant with my daughter. 
• I love gardening and can tell many plants's names by just looking at the leaves.  My favorite flower is peony.
• I like quirky cars.  I had a SAAB and now drives a Prius. Neither of which has a conventional engine starter.  So whenever I am in other people's car, it takes me a while to figure out how to start the engine.
• The highest place I have been to is Mt Everest base camp.  The lowest? on a submarine in Hawaii -255 feet blow sea level.
• The most beautiful scenery has to be one evening driving towards Monument valley.  The pillar of red orange moutain appears at the end of the road, flowing on top of a layer of purple evening fog.  It was so surreal  I was questioning if I am still on earth.
• My mandarine is very close to standard except for certain word I don't' know wether I should curl or not curl my tongue.  Most time I just randomly pick one and 50% chance I'll be right.  Hubby kept teasing me about it.  He said I also sometime make a pronunciation that is in-between a curl and non-curl sound...

Happy Mother's Day!

Just want to wish every mother and mother to be  and mother to be one day a very happy mother's day!

Tangled

It may be a while before I post any OOTD pictures because I had a bad hair cut recently. I have to figure out how to make it work. I heard a nice blow dry would fix almost any bad haircut, but I am sure how yet.

Getting a hair cut is always risk especially if you are trying out a new hairstylist.  We recently discovery a hairstylist near our home.  The biggest advantage is that she cuts hair super fast.  For men, 4 minute per hair cut and it is cheap.   I had send hubby, my son, my daughter and my mom to her as a guinea pig. All of them were satisfied with her.  So I  gave her a try.  I didn't quite like the way she did it with mine because the layer she did was a bit too harsh.  Hubby had convinced me to go to her again.  He said since she is cheaper and faster, maybe we can afford to tweak it till we are satisfied.  Sounds good, right?  Well, the thing is that once you cut it too short, you can't do anything but waiting for it to grow back. So I am really kicking myself for giving her the second try after not totally impressed the first.

So here is a backlot OOTD picture before the haircut.  It has seem that the navy/martime style is in season now.  This is my take on it with what I have.

(Top: Anthropologie Topsy Henley Bottom LOFT Navy Twill Sailor Skirt Necklace: Kate Spade Seahorse Pendant.)

On the same topic of hair, my daughter is very fascinated by the Rapuzel story even though she hasn't watch the movie yet.

This is actually supposed to be a puzzle, because she hide her name in the picture, Can you spy the letters? She is very pround when my attempt of finding the letter V fails the first few time.  Then of course, I thought the unicorn was the letter E. 

Just a quick edit for today:  Lisa from CONFESSIONS OF A CALL CENTER GAL just awarded me with the Stylish Blogger Award.  What a surprise!  Thanks Lisa, I am so flattered.  I will have to wait for tomorrow to do the rest with what you supposed to do with the award, but I am so happy to get this award.  It is a nice pick me up.  

Reinventing from the past?

It is funny how the week back from the vacation is always the busiest.  It is almost like you need another vacation for it.   Here are some pictures from the vacation so I can  take a mental vacation from time to time.

This is my daughter trying to stuff herself with the Chicago style stuff pizza. Somehow watching her eat makes me smile.

This is not the first time, but Millennium park is always fun.

Let's match up our outfit with the color of this tricolor set of sculptures.

On our way, we saw this weird sculptures that look like legs and my daughter insist checking it out. I really don't get the modern sculptures, they are not visually appealing to me at all, but they are pretty fun :-)

OK, Back to today's topic, if I haven't strayed from that far enough.  Has anyone notice that in  LOFT's latest arrival, some of them look really familiar?

First is this dress, does this remind you Anthropologie's  Time gone by dress?

Here is another one, looks familiar? I don't remember the Anthro skirt's name, but I see it in a lot of Anthro's blog. Anyone knew which skirt I am talking about?

LOFT often has things similar to anthro but at a much lower price point.  I am curious enough to take the bait  with this weekends additional 40% off everything promotion. Let's see.

Windy City -- OOTD

It really felt like felling into an ice hole coming into the windy city. While the temperature is tolerable, the gusty wind is the real killer.  First day, other than going to restaurants to eat, we pretty much stayed at home.  My daughter soon got bored and wanted to go to the park.  We decided to take her to the aquarium today since it is indoor.  Boy, the line was long for a Monday.  The aquarium put a temporary tent on the stairs, leading up to the entry of the building to give the people waiting in line some shelter from the wind. My new trench was really put to test with this weather.  Other than my nose felt kind of sore from the wind, it kept me warm enough.  I especially appreciated the hood and the buttons that went on the way up.

Here is the outfit without the trench.

Here is one without the scarf

Details:

Cardigan: J Crew Cashmere Crew neck

Top: J Crew vintage top

Coat: Burberry Brit Hooded Trench with Removable Warmer | Nordstrom

Shoes: Hush Puppies Women's Avid

Jeans: Lucky Brand Jeans Lola

Bag: L.A.M.B. 'Dunkirk Marney' Canvas Tote

Packing list

Spring break is here and we are visiting grandparents.   Other than the busy security line at the airport, one thing I hated most is packing.  With two kids and one elopes whenever you are not watching, I need things light.  On the other hands, with kids, you end up always want to be prepared.  That means you have to shrink what your belongings to make rooms for what the kids might need. In a vacation, there will always be picture opportunity so I don't want to look too sloppy. According to the weather forecast, it is going to be raining on and off.  Not the nicest weather I would have hoped for.

Here is the list of things I am bringing.  I think I can interchange most items for an different outfit.  Not in the Polyvore is a graphic tee shirt.  Most likely I won't be wearing the skirt even though I wanted to.  The two key items are the overside tote where I can fit as much junk as possible.  The Trench is a bit of a splurge but with a hood and the inner warm liners, it can be quite versatile for the harsh weather.

I originally wanted  to bring the boots, but decided not to as it is not as easy to slip on as the booties and I don't have the room in my luggage.  With any travel, you always want to have the right shoes to walk on.

Packing list by inkmark featuring vintage tanks

With the large tote, I was able to fit the following in:

wallet and keys,
iphone,
Sunglasses
ER-6 headphone
Tea water bottle with Organic Chamomile tea and gochi berry
My daughter's security blanket... (She is 5 and still quite attach to it)
A bunch of chargers.
ipad



So what is/are the item/items you always bring a trip?

If you do a lot of business travel, there is an interesting tip at nordstrom.  I think it is fairly useful even for casual travel like mine. 

Chaos

Wow, time really fly by fast.  Last few days have been hectic.  Sunday we had a fun but tiring birthday party.  My rule in the past about birthday party is that the number of kids == age of the kid, but this time we broke the rule.  I think next year we should reinstate that rule.  The we get no room to relax because our bathroom remodel starts on Monday so we spend the rest of Sunday evening moving things out of our closet to make room for the new bathroom.  What a mess....

Last night when I get back, I saw how small the space is after the contractor gut out the 3 closets.  Our original plan fall out because the shower was on the way of the door.  The modification hubby and the contractor talked about created a lot of dead space and look awkward.   I almost wanted just call a quit to this project and make the whole thing a walk in closet instead. Then we had bought all the trimming for the shower and we will lose money for restocking if we were to return it.  So I spend all evening drawing out on grid paper to find the most efficient way to lay it out.  After I had my final drawing and I showed it to hubby and he said "You are a Genius!"  I think we are going to go with that.  I think that is part of living in the bay area, every inch counts and you really have to be creative.

With all the dust and mess, I was not in a mood for skirts or outfit pictures, so here is one from the past:

(Top: Anthropologie Deuxhill Cowlneck  Caridgian: J CREW femme  Bottom: Jeans: Arden B Skinny jeans)

Somehow I am always drawn to those big not to know what to do collar except I really don't know what to do with it other than just let it randomly hang....

So anyone grab any goodies from today's sale? I like those two items but I didn't buy.

Did you grab any goodies?  Please do share :-)