The Lovely Cipher

Colour Me Tribal

Explosion in the Sky

Beautiful day today traipsing along the river in my heels. Saw Columbiana with the boy and I have to say that Zoe Saldana is unbelievably sexy. Seeing her be a badass on screen gives me plenty of incentive to work harder in the gym and clean up my diet. Pretty soon I’m going to be busting out my tanks, vintage Levi’s, and parachute jackets for some tough, on-the-go looks. Until then, beautiful summer is on its way out and I need to make the most of my blush pink Chloe skirt and Raybans. 

NYCFW is heeeere!!! And I am SO excited to get out and have fun with friends who are flying in from all parts of the country. I’ll have plenty to share later this week. <3

Lastly, everybody watch out for the supernova that’s showing bright and beautiful on September 9th. On average, supernovas only happen once per century per galaxy so don’t miss out on this rare natural phenomenon. There’s nothing more mind-boggling and inspirational than the beauty of nature.

Goodbye Summer

Settling back after a long week and getting ready to laze out for Labor Day Weekend. Baby is back in town so I’m ready to unwiiiiind. Love love love ya’ll <3

Travel Monster

Had a beautiful time in Las Vegas this weekend. The conference was fabulous, my paper, Luxury China: Miss Du, Guanxi, and Little Emperors got great feedback, and I got to spend a wonderful two days with my parents shopping, watching Cirque Du Soleil: Ka and eating amaaaazing food. I also had the most enlightening conversation with designer, Francesca Paca, who was famous for designing the outfits of Las Vegas’ greats, most notably Liberace. I was able to pick up some great pieces from her small boutique in my hotel. Below is a picture of Paca and I— I’m wearing one of the pieces she designed. The fabric she used was extra fabric Emilio Pucci had on hand…  

This woman is truly amazing. She was born in on the border between Italy and France and has had such an amazing run in fashion. Her recommendation to me was to go to France to really experience fashion at its best. And I think I’m going to take her advice pretty soon…. call me a travel monster ;) The greatest thing about her designs is that she hand-makes exactly three of each, one for every size. This makes her work truly unique and provides a flashback to the time when haute couture was individually designed for niche clientele. 

Her boutique, Charisma, looks like an archetypal definition of a Las Vegas boutique complete with rhinestones, technicolor, and sequins. But Paca’s designs are literally hidden gems and I’m so happy that I got the opportunity to meet her. With a client list that included cultural icons like Liberace, how could she not be one of most interesting persons I’ve ever met? 

The view from my hotel…

oh hay there….

Adios Las Vegas! It’s been real :)

V for Vegas

After a particularly frenzied day, I’m finally sitting in the airport terminal waiting for my flight to Vegas. As beautiful as the lightning is against a pitch black night, the flights that are getting delayed because of it are adding up and peoples’ patience are proportionally wearing thin. A group of people behind me just got into a screaming match over a flight that was delayed for 5 hours.

This reminds me of all the horrific airport experiences that I’ve had. There was that time United Airlines lost all my research [three tubs in all] the day before the national tournament for the the National Forensics League (arguably the high point of my high-school speech career). Or that time I was flying back from China and the engine of my airplane blew up mid-flight, forcing us to make an emergency landing in Taipei. There was that time during Christmas when my flight was delayed 9 hours because of snow, refueling, and a broken plane. After finally getting on the runway in the 9th hour, we were turned back because of the ice and dangerous conditions. I spent the night, courtesy of my brother, in a nearby hotel. Which was about a million times better than the time I got lost in the Benito Jaurez International airport in Mexico because I couldn’t read Spanish signs fast enough to make a flight connection. I ended up sleeping under a closed ticketing desk that night. I could relate more but I think I’ve made my point. I’m no newcomer to the stress-inducing, migraine-causing, stomach-acid producing environment that is the airport. 

This brings us to my current situation. I’m sitting in the JFK airport suppose to be taking a flight to Las Vegas for a conference that I’m presenting at tomorrow. I’ve spent 8 months working on the paper and right now, there’s a fair chance my flight might be cancelled.

How do I feel? A little nauseous from the airport air, but otherwise quite happy.

That’s the thing about getting older. You realize that things aren’t as black and white, that it’s not do or die all the time. There’s no use in yelling at the flight attendants or airport employees. They can’t control the lightning anymore then you can control the rising sun. 

So, with an undetermined amount of hours in hand, I did what any young, working girl would do in this situation.

Duh. I took advantage of the airport’s duty-free status.

What was that I hear? 4 scarfs (1 tribal-print!!) and 2 bracelets calling my name?

Indeed. Be excited for my next few posts :) A preview of the goods. Well, good.

On Life

“Imagine that it is 24 hours before you are born. A genie comes to you and says that you get to design how the world will be before you enter it. You say, ‘That sounds great. But what’s the catch?’ The genie says, ‘There is only one catch. You will go to that barrel over there filled with 6 billion tickets. You will pick one ticket at random, and that ticket will define who you will be in your world. It could say male; it could say female. It could say you will be born in the U.S.; it could say you will be born in Bangladesh. It could say black; it could say white. It could say intelligent; it could say retarded. It could say rich; it could say poor.’ 

You should design the world in a way that is independent of what ticket you get.

You got your ticket. If you now had the chance to pick 100 tickets from that barrel, but you had to give up your current life and to be one of the hundred picked, would you do it? Chances are, maybe 4 or 5 of the hundred will say you will be born in the U.S. Maybe one will say you are above average intelligence. Maybe one will say you have above average income. Would you play? [pauses] …Of course you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t play, which means you are in the top 1% of society. We are so lucky; most people in the world would give anything to play.”

- Warren Buffet

and then she said

Spent the weekend in the city visiting Lucy (The House of Peanut Butter) and hit up Barbs, Flatiron Lounge, Babylon, and Le Parisien over my one-day stay. Then I came back to Stamford and paid $56 for less than 24 hours of parking at the Stamford Commuter parking lot. SO not pleased. The weather was less than favorable but at least the company was excellent :) 

What’s a girl to do with all this rain? You know, besides sloshing around in a grey rain jacket taking pictures like a paparazzi… Good thing I slosh so well!

I might be gritting my teeth in this picture or actually smiling. I can’t tell…

what i do when noone’s looking

I’ve been spending way too long looking for a stupid coffee table….AHHHH. Still working on decorating the apartment but this is where Lana and I are at right now. Lots of room to fill still :)

One of my more eccentric outfits here. Found these awesome pants in a small boutique back in CA. My mom thought they were SO cute and I thought they were SO ugly. I’m coming around…as you can see. :) Ugly is my new thing.

some extra reading

Whoever said you can’t mix fashion and intellectual horsepower is just…wrong. My reading for the next few weeks. <3

And she’s gonna scream out ‘this is great’

Since my favorite photographer is out of town, it’s just me and my lonely camera. Took this after I got back from work yesterday. So exhausted. What a great way to end the week…and I’m excited for next week when I’m presenting my research paper, Luxury China: Guanxi, Miss Du, and Little Emperors, in LAS VEGAS :) yeaaayuh!