Aka "mule"

A co-worker told me her niece came visit from China through a summer camp.  First day coming to the states, the teacher took them to Union Square in San Francisco. The group of ten to fourteen year old went to a shopping spree, buying on average 6 or 7 regular price coach bags.  One boy even bought a channel for his mom. My first reaction was "wow, I don't even own a channel bag, those children are spoiled."

Hubbie's comment after hearing the story: aka mule -- I think that refers to some kind feature you can enhance yourself  to carry more weapons and goods in the Fallout game he played.

He's got a point.  Those bags are probably not for the kids themselves, but for the family and friends.  Parent probably ask them to bring those back because it is authentic and cheaper than in the China market.  They could probably even resell them at a higher price.

Still, it feels wrong.

If parents spend money to send your children abroad.  What is the purpose?  I thought they would want to let the children experience the culture.  It would be more meaningful to walk along the twisted street of lombard, or hop on a cable car, or witness the iconic golden gate bridge.  Shopping at Union square and be weight down by those luxury goods early in the trip just didn't seem to fit into my idea of camp. Adding the airfare and camp fee, I am not sure it is even economical.

Having said that, I did spend my birthday checking out the anthro store at Union square.  They have so much more selections than the Santana Row store, especially the sale items. Some items are sold out on line.  I end up getting the Mementos Maxi Dress with the birthday discount.  I think most likely I will end up wearing it on the weekend.  Somehow maxi dress says weekend and vacation to me. Is that just me? Will you wear maxi dress to work?

Dress: Nordstrom ECI print maxi dress.  Necklace: Anthropologie Curiosity Shoppe Necklace

Somehow pencil skirt spells work more seriously. I wasn't much of a pencil skirt person, but lately I had grown to love it.

Top: Expanding Horizons Tank
Bottom: JCREW Ikat skirt
Shoes: Anthropologie

Style inspiration: Ackee Pencil Skirt

I didn't expect to like Ackee Pencil skirt, even after seeing so many good reviews from other bloggers. I am not much of a pencil skirt type of person to begin with.  I try it on just want to see what the fuss is about and it grew on me. I even didn't mind the high waist as I thought I would be.

Styling it is a different story. I didn't want to wore my shirt over the waist as I normally do because I felt the skirt is meant to be a high waisted skirt.  but then I wasn't sure which top to go with it either.  I don't have much curve and somewhat thick middled, so wearing this is somewhat challenging.

So the skirt sits in the closet, till  July catalog came along featuring this outfit

I thought I could totally replicate the look with the things I have and I'll do just that.

(top: JCREW Perfect shirt in suckered mini-gingham, Bottom: Anthropologie Ackee Pencil Skirt, Belt: Rippled Ribbon Belt)

The outfit doesn't feel very me, however I  like try different things anyway. So what do you think?

Supersize

Have you read the news about the exploding Chinese watermelon story  where 115 archs of  watermelon exploded due to overdose of fertilizer?  Well, our zucchini isn't fertilized at all.  Actually it is rather neglected until my mom decided to cook some fresh veggies for the kids at lunch. Here is what she end up getting.

To give you some perspective, this is the size of it comparing to an American version of supersized banana (Banana in China is much smaller)

This zucchini is a bully, it crashed the other two baby ones and after it is being picked, the whole plant collided...

Dress up your tee

I saw this entry by Shopping with M the other day about how to dress up a tee.  That is such interesting topic because I have qutie a few graphic shirt and I usually wear it with jeans.

My favorite in the looks she showed in that entry is this one.

This is what I try to recreate with what i have. Hubby said I look like a student in uniform.

Top: JCREW polo and graphic shirt. Skirt: JCREW pleated poplin skirt (wow, so wrinkled at the end of the day)

We build the city

Hope everyone had a refreshing monday!  Weekend surely pass by quickly.

My daughter was at camp Galileo last week.  The theme is "Lost in forbidden city".  They gave a presentation on Friday afternoon, showing various craft they made.  Her age level built Chinese Pagodas and a building like thing(not sure what it was, but it looks like a parking garage to me :) They also make kite and mold a small cup.   My daughter end up building one level extra for everything they asked her to build.  Go above and beyond, that is the right spirit! One of the project for older kid did is to use recycle material to build a King's play ground. I thought it was kind of fun.  Even though the camp had it for older age kid, I thought it is totally doable for 5 year old too.

So here is what we end up making over the Saturday morning. We have a swing, a slide, a monkey bar and a place to crawl.

It was fun. My daughter probably had more fun playing with it than her real playground toys.

I am actually surprised how difficult it is for children this age to understand 3 dimension.  She really thinks 2 dimension of everything. I ask her how many poles she will need to make her monkey bar and she said two.  So I told her to look at the table as a model and that helped.

I also received my on line order from anthro Friday too.  I ended up returning most of them due to sizing issues.  Boy, I gained weight....  The only thing I kept was the Fiery Crossback Tank. The color of this top is very vibrant. Material is soft and comfortable.  The back is the best part but it is also the most troublesome because you'll need the right bra. So I just cover it up with the cardigan.

I got an Anthro's birthday discount too, however, I don't have anything I desperately wanted at the moment.  I wish my birthday is in the winter.

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?

Wishing from the past

Today I pulled out a dress I got from JCREW years ago. It was my birthday and JCREW happened to have the end of the season sale when they had the additional 30% off sale.  It is funny somehow the more I love a dress, the less I wore it. It is like I am waiting for the right moment to wear it or something. I was more of a t-shirt and jeans kind of gal so I felt very self-conscious about wearing a dress to office.

(Dress: JCREW Cardigan: JCREW island cardigan (buy it here) Shoes: Anthropolologie)

There was a time JCREW's dresses are fun and colorful.  I wish they would bring some of that back.

So do you have a favorite item you wish from the past?