hello... lover!

meet jimmy, the python.

first body scan post cancer-free status

i started my low-iodine diet the day after thanksgiving. this time, the diet lasted 2 weeks instead of 10 days. the 4 extra days is even more excruciating. and having to endure 3 holiday parties while on this diet is torturous. i also missed a baby shower because of this damn diet. boo...

nov 24th, friday - start low-iodine diet (no black friday for me!)

dec 5th, monday - get 1 of 2 thyrogen injections at o'connor (and not in upper butt cheek this time! big surprise!)

dec 6th, tuesday - get 2 of 2 thyrogen injections at o'connor (side effects were major fatigue, i wonder if that is the difference between the types of injections)

dec 7th, wednesday - i-131 pill to be administered in nuclear medicine at o'connor (no bloodwork required!)

dec 9th, friday - whole neck and body scan in nuclear medicine at o'connor

results of the scan after were clear. in fact, dr lim (in the past, dr yen has been my nuclear medicine physician) indicated that my body reacts to iodine the exact same way, every time. if you threw up all of my scan results (this was my 8th, i think), you wouldn't be able to tell when which scan happened as they all look exactly the same.

jan 26th, thursday - official scan results and follow-up with dr bruhn

booties!

on the left, these booties are grey, stretchy and have a 4 ⅛" heel. the other pair have an open toe and are in plum. the heel is 3 ½". they were both 70% off!

birthday goodies!!!

as i have in previous years, i spent my birthday with my dear sister. she took the day off to go to the city with me.

the rings above are from her. they represent us and our birthstones, in the form of diamonds. they are cognac diamonds on yellow gold (topaz for november) and blue diamonds on white gold (turquoise for december).

i picked up this pair of shoes for such a bargain! i picked up some other goodies too. we finished our day in the city with a birthday dinner at the house.

the monday i returned from my birthday week off, my office staff surprised me with these flowers. this was the first year that my staff has done something like this for me. they are too sweet.

and this was my 3rd year taking all of thanksgiving week off. i'm hoping to make it a tradition.

ugh, i have to go on a diet

today, i saw my endocrinologist for a follow up after getting a not-so-normal lab result from my annual visit with him 3 months ago. i think i have mentioned my admiration for him previously. but i need to say it again. i ♥ dr. bruhn. he is the best. every time i see him, no matter how fat i feel, he always tells me that i am beautiful.

apparently, it is time for me to get my i-131 body scan again. in 2008, when i was declared cured, i was told that i would only need a body scan every 3-5 years. it's been 3 years so i suppose it's time. when i get scheduled for the body scan, i must go on this 10-day low iodine diet. this year, however, it's 2-weeks. 4 more days than usual! trust me, this is really hard. basically, i can't eat anything processed, which is good for cleansing but still not easy to do. one year, i lost 6 lbs in 10 days!

when the nurse asked me when i wanted to start the diet, i responded, after thanksgiving, please? so she scheduled my diet to start the day after thanksgiving. that means, no leftovers for me. :( wish me luck!

diana's 30th

me with my dear dear cousins at xanh restaurant

happy 30th, diana! ♥

black swan

for halloween this year, my good friend invited me to a party in the city. i haven't dressed up in years.

in early october, as i looked around my apartment for costume ideas, i found an old dress i bought in high school. for my senior prom, i made my dress but i bought a back up dress at guinne sax. see the top image of the dresses below. when i put it on, i thought... dark ballerina! which then lead to black swan. this was actually an idea my cousin gave me this summer while traveling together in new york. she had planned on being black swan. thanks debbie!

this dress is almost 20 years old and finally worn! it was very exciting.

as you can see, i first removed the horrendous long sleeves. then i moved the petticoat up and cut the dress in half. i added feathers and gems to the bust of the dress. i bought a tiara and basically colored it black with sharpies. now, i had to figure out the make up. and thanks to a youtube tutorial, i was able to get the make up done myself. i walked in 6-inch heels for over 3 hours and the make up lasted about 8 hours. i was pretty impressed with myself.

dear wedges,

how do i love thee,
let me count the ways
one pair, two pairs...

♥ from kip

venue: slim's
artist: pains of being pure at heart (pobpah) & twin sister
who: joe
when: 7 october 2011 (friday)
doors open at 7p

joe was visiting for about 5 days which is always nice. we got a work out in there, a couple trips to the city and of course, shopping! we also had tickets to see peter bjorn & john (pb&j) the weekend he was in the area. unfortunately, they cancelled. and in an effort to make the most of his stay, i got us tickets to see pobpah. coincidentally, at the same venue that pb&j were going to play.

we got there early enough to get a prime parking spot, something to eat and seats upstairs. from our seats, we could see the merch table and who was manning it. for a good period of time, it was kip berman, the lead vocalist for pobpah. i decided that i would check out the merch and maybe add some vinyl to my growing collection. i have a record that is white vinyl and another one (from the recent jens show) that is clear vinyl. so i wanted to get a record that is special. i have their second album, belong but only a couple of songs off of the first album. kip mentioned that the record has a marble pattern to it. this of course is the exact type of thing i wanted. to top it off, kip signed it for me (see image above). he was also very nice.

the opening band, twin sister was horrible. all due to their singer. her vocals had potential, however, she did not. the look she was sporting was terrible. it was some sort of homely-yet-slutty look. the two do not go together. it was dreadful. as far as their music, i clearly forgot because i needed to. nothing special.

for some reason and perhaps it was because of twin sister, but i liked pobpah much better when ro and i saw them at gamh back in april. i still enjoyed them, just not as much.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

you should wear rubber, always wear rubber

go put
your rubber boots on,
your rubber boots on,
stand up
walk on.

my shoe corner...

because everyone should have one. :)at the end of september, my sister moved out. with her, so did a large piece of furniture that previously occupied a corner of my room. since it was now empty, i thought i'd make good use of the space. i've always wanted a wall of shoes, however, i have so much crap that it was pretty impossible. so, rather than have a wall 'o shoes, i have a shoe corner. and this does not hold all of my shoes, mind you. it does conveniently remind me of the shoes i used to forget about that were formerly stored under my bed.

orchestral manoeuvres in the dark

that's right, as in the band who wrote if you leave.

venue: the warfield
band: omd with washington
who: my brother and sister (our dentist, her brother, my friend thao and her friend)
when: 3 october 2011 (monday)
doors open at 7p

this was the first concert that three of us siblings went to together. i thought we'd gone to see the cure together in 1992 but no one seems to remember that far back. omd has a new album out called history of modern. usually, when bands go on tour, their playlist consists mostly of new music in order to promote the new album. not quite the case at this show. in fact, they played most of their classics. more than they did at their show at the fox theatre earlier in the year, apparently.

the opening band was washington as in megan washington, an artist from australia. her vocals are upbeat, a little bit sexy and very lovely. we all thought her set was quite good for an opening. i want to get her album.

omd was one of the few bands i hadn't seen live, that i really wanted to see. they toured during my senior year in high school but i was only 17 and couldn't get into the 18+ venues they were playing. that cd, sugar tax, is a good one. that was really the last album i listened to. andy mccluskey has a voice to swoon to. i remember listening to them when i was in middle school and just falling in lust with him. believe it or not, he's still got it. even at 52. he still gets down like it's 1990 but like i said before, he's still got it. i was quite impressed.

also impressive is the song, electricity. mccluskey said he wrote it in 1976, when he was 17! it's still a really great song. they played most of our favorites, all of the classics that we could remember. towards the end, everyone in the audience (even us on the balcony floor) got up and danced like it was 1999. for the most part, everyone there was around our age. however, there were people much older (white hair and/or no hair) getting down to omd. it was so much fun. i would definitely see them again.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

nearly caught up! i'm in october now...

jens lekman at nightlife

venue: california academy of sciences
artist: jens lekman
who: ro
when: 29 september 2011 (thursday)
doors open at 6:30p

it has been two years since we last saw jens. plus, it was twice in 2009 and twice in 2008. he's spoiled us! he is still so so adorable! he has a new ep out and plans to release the new album sometime in the near future. which hopefully means, we'll get another double dose of him. i can't wait!

for more on jens and how i heart him, please click on his name below in the "labels" section.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

nestldown wedding

at the end of august, my sister-in-law's sister, jade got married at nestldown. it was gorgeous, as you can see from the images above and below. it's amazing what floral design can do. my sister-in-law's mother did all the floral arrangements. she is a genius.
after the wedding, i realize i didn't take enough pictures. the ones i did take enough of were the flowers. nestldown is a park located in the middle of nowhere along highway 17 on the way to santa cruz. it took some effort to get there, thanks to my navigation system. we were told to wear comfortable shoes as it is basically surrounded by forests and on dirt roads. i didn't really listen and decided to wear my nearly 5" heels. there were many times where i almost fell. and i wasn't the only one, quite a few of the ladies at the reception tripped and nearly ate dirt. the image at the bottom was at the reception. i took it from my seat. the best thing about this wedding was a surprise performance by my niece and nephew. she was at the mic doing the vocals and he was on the drums doing back up. this is what happens when you hire their music teacher's band to play. it was the sweetest thing.

new york food!

after lewiston, debbie and i flew to jfk to hang out in new york city. we stayed in midtown close to hell's kitchen, i thought it would be a fun area for a first timer (my cousin's). we were there for a couple of days for shopping and eating. despite the sweltering heat (high 90's), we survived.

the first day, we came across some issues. baggage issues. apparently, our bags did not get transferred and were stuck in boston. they were not due to be delivered until the next morning. for dinner, we decided to go to becco for some italian which was conveniently located about two blocks away. they had this great prix fixe deal, all you can eat pasta, and $25 bottles of wine. we thought we were hungry enough but we were wrong. at least i was wrong. i could barely have a second helping. there were three different types, all but one was edible. the other two were bland and plain. honestly, we have much better italian food in north beach.

the next day, we ventured out for some shopping in the soho area. it was a lot of walking and a lot of sweating but hardly any buying. i was sorely disappointed. however, we coincidentally ran into debbie's friend, fred and his girlfriend kate, whom we were planning to meet up with anyway. after shopping, we met up with an old friend of mine, avi at barcelona bar in midtown. we had harry potter shots there. when avi asked what was in it, the bartender who was dressed as harry potter, answered 'magic.' for dinner, my cousin was in the mood for ramen. luckily, totto ramen was on the way back to our hotel. it was an hour wait but definitely worth it. as you can see below (in the center image), i had my ramen with avocado. it was mmm good.

clockwise from center: totto ramen in midtown; spring rolls, egg rolls, phở bánh mì and phở, all from nhà tôi in williamsburg.

on our last day, i thought it might be interesting to do something touristy, for debbie. we decided on going to the empire state building. i went to the empire state building previously in 2003 during my first trip to new york city. it was in february and freezing. i seem to only go during extreme weather. when i was there back in 2003, we went right before closing so there was really no line. this time, i was not so lucky. the wait was at least an hour and it was pretty packed. we managed to get some good pictures anyway. see my empire state building collage below. afterwards, we headed over to williamsburg in brooklyn to check fred's place, nhà tôi. as you can see in the food collage above, we had quite the feast. his specialty is the phở bánh mì. bascially, he puts the ingredients that you get in phở sans the noodles. it was quite delicious. so much so that i ate the entire thing plus some of the other dishes. the phở was quite hot to have in the heat we endured. his place is tiny and like an open stand, quite authentic feeling if you ask me. very good for people watching. we stayed for several hours hanging out with carl, the brooklyn artist and drinking margarita/mojito drinks. it was a tuesday during the summer and his shop was consistently busy. the next day, we left new york with a full stomach and money in my pocket from the lack of shopping!

new york... finally!

sorry for the delay... i've been quite busy.

this past summer (specifically at the end of july), i actually went on a summer vacation. it was the first real one since 2009. i went to new york for a wedding and a summer break. new york is not ideal for a summer vacation as it is excruciatingly hot. definitely not the weather for two spoiled, girly californians. i had a wedding to go to in lewiston, upstate new york. my dear dear muffin was getting hitched. and my lovely cousin came as my date.
lewiston is next to niagara falls. and we were very excited about seeing the falls. it was quite humid and cloudy at first, but the sun eventually came out and it was beautiful. we went on one of the tours and our bus broke down in the middle of the tour even though they promised we'd be through with the tour in time to get to the hotel and get ready for the rehearsal dinner. during the tour, we ran into ness and tahu who i haven't seen in ages! they too were coming for the wedding. if you look closely (or just click on the image with the terrapin point horseshoe falls sign) at the picture on the left, you'll see ness with her little ones and tahu walking along.
we eventually left the tour before it was over. at least we saw most of the sights.
the wedding was fabulous and conveniently located across the street from the hotel we were staying at. the after party was also a lot of fun. it was at a bar outside of the reception and next to the lake. the next day, debbie and i left for new york city. and the lovely bride and groom left for france very soon after.

hello! is it me you're looking for?

i can see it in my eyes
i can see it in my smile
you're all i've ever wanted... i ♥ you

my baby's first concert!

venue: great american music hall
artist: thao & mirah, bobby & led to sea
who: chunky & ashley
when: 23 june 2011 (thursday)
doors open at 7p

i finally got the opportunity to take my niece to her first concert. we've been talking about it for a while and honestly, i think i was more excited than she was. we went to tommy's joynt (my usual place w/ ro) for dinner. i got the combo corned beef and pastrami sandwich on a roll au jus. i told my niece that we could share the sandwich and then have dessert at the concert. initially, she wasn't too sure about the "jus de viande" served on the side but tried a little. before i knew it, she was dipping her fingers in it to eat without any meat to go with. needless to say, she liked it.

i tried to get her to take a short nap in the car before the show, however, she didn't. we got there early, before the doors opened. i wanted to make sure we got the best seats, not just for her to be able to see. the first opening was led to sea, a solo violinist from seattle. she was fantastic. i was pretty impressed and happy that i was able to expose this type of talent to my niece. she used the loop machine and was able to create various types of sounds with her violin. she also had an amazing voice. the next band, bobby was not as impressive. there were two lead vocalists, one male and one female. the guy also played guitar. he was over to the right. the woman was center stage but frankly, was more like a side-show back up singer. she was a pretty terrible dancer and had vocals to match. even my niece didn't like them.
i've seen thao perform live with the get down stay down twice. i was really excited about seeing mirah live. and seeing them together is like 3 shows in one. unfortunately though, they didn't get on stage until 10:30p and that's when my niece began to fade. she lasted about 20 mins and i decided to take her home. that gave me about 5 songs which i was pretty happy about. i hope my niece was too.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ½

and then there were two (pairs, that is)

these might look familiar and that's because i just bought them in black. the difference is not only in the color but also in price. they were about $30 cheaper. i am a big fan of getting the same pair in different colors, especially when they are super sexy and comfy. this is shoe #6, a break from all of the black pairs.

the nordies half-yearly

believe it or not, i only got two pairs at the sale. this is shoe #5 this year and the 5th black pair. they are strappy and sexy, with a 3 ¼" heel.

gimme some

venue: great american music hall
artist: peter bjorn and john & the bachelorette (sold out!)
who: ro (& ashley!)
when: 13 may 2011 (friday)
doors open at 8p

when young folks came out in 2007, i fell in love. i don't think i was the only one. that album, writer's block was their best. i can't believe i have never seen them live before. i love love peter's voice. there is something about it that makes me melt. the bachelorette opened up for the trio. she makes full use of the loop machine as she is a one-woman band. she is surrounded by cool equipment that includes at least two laptops. it was really cool to watch and hear her put the songs together.

peter bjorn and john were awesome. so much that i wanted to see them again the next night in la at the el rey since i was going to be in the area. unfortunately, that show was sold out too. they are coming back in the fall and i am definitely planning to see them again. i can't wait...

during the show, peter made his way down to the audience (twice!) and that is when i spotted my dear friend, ashley, who was wearing a matching horizontal stripped long-sleeve with peter! she was right behind him at one point. it made the experience even more fun. the vibe on stage and in the audience were so incredible, i almost wished i was down there. but i was stuck sitting next to the couple on their first date, talking loudly the entire time! grrrr...

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ gimme more

belong

venue: great american music hall (sold out!)
artist: pains of being pure at heart (pobpah) with catwalk & twin shadow
who: ro
when: 19 april 2011 (tuesday)
doors open at 7p

ro and i headed up to the city at 5p so we could have dinner at tommy's joynt. we got there so early, we had prime parking. this is rare in the tenderloin district of the city. i had the corned beef and pastrami sandwich. it is the most tasty meaty sandwich, ever. that is my default item there. we finished in time to make it into the great american music hall just after the doors opened and scored prime seats in the balcony. as we looked around, we saw others filling up the balcony seats in the same situation we were in. we were now too old to stand at concerts. so we get there early to get these seats. previously, in my days with my former partner in crime, betty, we barely made the show as she was always late. i am so glad those days are over.

the first time i saw pobpah, i was sort of on this blind date but not really. it was when i met my ex, john, through a college friend of mine. she asked for a favor, to take her friend out during his first trip to san francisco. he and i ended up at the pobpah show in the fall of 2009. i spent the whole time chatting with john that i didn't get a chance to see what the band looked like. if i had, i might have freaked out. ro warned me that when he saw them at sxsw, he thought the lead singer (kip) looked a lot like my ex, ted. i didn't believe ro at first but when they came on, i had to get over the initial reaction that kip looked so much like emo-ted. i couldn't watch him for a bit.

for once, the opening bands were pretty good. catwalk was surprising. and then twin shadow came on and it was as if he was headlining. i have an inkling that the show sold out because of him. the crowd below went wild when he came on. his music was reminiscent of 80's new wave with a hint of rock and roll. it was very catchy and a bit too pop for my taste but i'll have to give him another listen before i can make a proper decision.

when pobpah was preparing to get on stage, i noticed this large gap of space between the mic stands and the drummer. i mean, he was way back there. i'd never seen bands set up this way. then i found out why. kip, the guitarist and bassist all use this space to dance (sometimes in unison) or stretch out their legs. i wasn't sure which. they do this one step back thing. kip's vocals are soft and almost feminine. i should say dreamy but it is more fem than dreamy. they are clearly influenced by the shoegazer genre. their songs are romantic and some are on the edge of cheesiness. their latest cd, belong, is quite good. i am still enjoying it in its entirety.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ heart in your heartbreak

so tired of being sexy

venue: mezzanine
artist: css (cansei de ser sexy) & opening bands: princeton & hottub
who: joe
when: 15 april 2011 (friday)
doors open at 8p

last month, joe was in town and wanted to see a show. originally, he wanted to see the two door cinema club at the fillmore but we couldn't get tickets online. so, we decided to see css, an abbreviation of "cansei de ser sexy" which is portuguese for "tired of being sexy," taken from a reported quote that beyoncé had said about herself. easy, beyoncé.

joe and i spent most of the day together. it started with my picking him up at the fremont bart station. we stopped by the new nordstrom rack to check it out. for some reason, my allergies are really bad in fremont. i think i am allergic to that city. it happened again when i was there in early may. afterwards, i had to go home for a nap to recover from the allergies. we went to joe's new fav place in sf, the house, for an early dinner. and even made it in time for the best egg tarts ever, at golden gate bakery in chinatown across from where we were in north beach. i love both of those places.

we arrived very early at the mezzanine. so early, there was time to hang out at the sf shopping center for coffee and window shopping. when we returned to the mezzanine, not only did we have to get in line for will call but we had to get into another line to get into the venue. lame, if you ask me. i don't really care much for the mezzanine but am sometimes forced to go there. the venue itself is kinda cool. but the stage is tiny and the sound is pretty horrendous. it's better as a dance venue than one for live music.

since we got there so early, we secured seats on the second floor. the opening bands were pretty mediocre. though during one song, princeton made joe and i give each other that "OMG, this song is awesome" look. there are two singers in princeton and they are twins. but the song we actually liked was with the minor singing twin. and hottub was a sad trio version of salt-n-pepa. css is a brazilian pop group with a sassy and fun appeal. i think it's mostly due to their lead singer, who refers to herself as lovefoxxx. plus, she is awesome and adorable. she is japanese, german and portuguese. her lyrics are fantastically entertaining and upbeat. usually, her outfit matches the entertaining and upbeat aspect of their songs.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥
if the sound wasn't so bad at the mezzanine, i think they would have gotten 4 hearts instead of 3.

europe - last stop: zürich

st gallen was my first time in switzerland. despite the conversion to the euros, lisa and i still had to convert our money in each country. the swiss use swiss francs because they are special. on friday evening, we made our way to zürich. lisa's good friend from high school (thao) married a swiss guy (martin) and has lived in zürich for about 6 years.

switzerland is a marvelous place. the trains are always on time. everything seems so clean and well maintained. when we traveled from milan to st gallen, the italian train broke down so we had to switch trains and ended up arrived 10 mins late. we had a 3-minute connection that we missed so it took us another hour before we were able to meet up with brianna in st gallen. oh well. at least we made it, right? back to zürich... it was great, martin met us at the train station right as we arrived. he also helped us get our bus tickets and guided us back to their place. thao came home shortly after we were able to settle in for a bit.
we spent the weekend chez thao & martin. i personally had a fabulous time getting to know the couple and look forward to seeing them again either by returning for another visit or hanging out when they are in the states. on saturday, we explored zürich (out and about for gifts). unfortunately, it rained most of the day. the sun decided to show itself on sunday. thao & martin took us to the swiss alps in lucerne. it was a truly wondrous experience. You can find some photos here. we hung out in old town lucerne afterwards. it's interesting how nothing is open on sunday. so we couldn't do much. luckily, the businesses at the train station were open (packed actually) and we were able to pick up food there. lisa and i flew out the next morning back to london for half a day, equipped with enough swiss chocolate to last a year, or so.

after which, we spent a few hours at harrod's and shopping. funny how after shopping in zürich, london seemed cheap. and the next day, it took us over 20 hours to get home between layovers and delays.

europe - stop #3: st gallen

on st. patrick's day, we left venice and took the train with a stop in milano to st gallen. we were there to visit brianna and steve. it was really wonderful that brianna was there, otherwise, i would have never made it to st gallen. *thanks brianna!!*
we were only there for half a day but it was a full day's worth of st gallen. brianna and steve took us to their favorite st gallen eatery: restaurant marktplatz, which is conveniently located up the street from where they live. once our cute swiss waiter found out we were americans, his english came out. even though steve was trying to use his german, the swiss guy insisted on speaking to us in english. i had a big plate of crinkly fries and schnitzel which i nearly finished but couldn't, to my dismay.

the next day, we went to the abbey. the interior of the abbey (as seen in the top right of the collage) is beautifully ornate. the abbey dates back to the carolingian era (8th century). we also visited the library, according to wikipedia, is one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. there is an amazingly detailed ginormous astronomical globe that is an exact copy of the original globe, currently presiding at the swiss national museum. apparently, the original was stolen from st gallen by zurich troops during the battle of villmergen. while they returned some of the stolen goods to st gallen, they didn't return the globe. in 2000, st gallen prepared to reclaim the globe. as a resolve to keep out of the courts, zurich was ordered to make an exact copy of the globe to present to st gallen. honestly, i think the copy is much nicer (compared with pictures of the original). the colors and images are so much sharper, vibrant and defined. unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures.

brianna also took us to café pelikan. brianna and steve were on a quest for the best cappuccino. the cappuccinos at café pelikan, won unanimously. i don't know if i could consider myself a capp connoisseur, but i do enjoy a good capp every now and then or everyday. and not only was the cappuccino quite delightful but the ambiance was uber adorable. both lisa and i agreed. later, we tried to do some shopping but it was slightly disappointing. the style and prices were completely disproportionate. anything i liked, even slightly, was $$$$. :(

europe - next stop: venezia

it was my first time in venice. we had a conference on hebrew literature co-hosted with the ca' foscari university which was the first business university in venice.

lisa and i arrived at the venice marco polo airport around 4:30p. we took a bus to the piazzale roma and checked into our hotel by 5p. we missed the opening talk but thankfully, made it to the dinner reception. the reception was hosted by our very gracious italian hostess at her typical venetian home which was absolutely amazing. something from the 16th century or so. she had this great room where there were about 30+ of us, hanging out comfortably. we had good food and good drinks. it was lovely to finally meet the people i had corresponded with in the last few weeks.
the next day, we headed over to the piazza san marco (st mark's square). we were there a week after the carnevale of which there were still remnants of (confetti everywhere). we walked around for 4 hours and barely made it back for lunch. venice has so many small alley ways that all look the same. it is very easy to get lost. in fact, we got lost every time we went out. unfortunately, it rained very hard on our last day there. so much that we stayed cooped up in our hotel room. it finally eased up in the evening and we decided to set out for some shopping... to our dismay, we only had one hour. it took us quite a while to get back to the hotel but we did eventually get back. luckily, venice is super safe and a great place to get lost, even at night.i bought two pairs of shoes in italy. this pair was the one that was more fun.

europe - first stop: london

wow, i can't believe i haven't blogged about europe... yes, it's been that busy.

in mid-march, my sister and i went to london, venice, st. gallen, zurich, back through london and finally home. there was a bit of a snafu getting to london where we arrived half a day later than planned. but we arrived at london heathrow late sunday night (~9pm) and after about an hour or so getting through customs, we finally checked into our hotel by 10:30p. we hadn't eaten anything since the breakfast that was served on the plane so we made plans to go to the hotel restaurant at 10:45p, before the kitchen closed.

our hotel was conveniently located between buckingham palace and westminster abbey. we got up early and left to go sightseeing at 7 in the morning. we caught the monday workday rush. first stop, westminster abbey. next to that was big ben and then over to house of parliament to the queen's garden next to it. we took some silly pictures with phone booths on our way to st. james park. and more silly pictures through the park on the way to buckingham palace. it was amazing, it took us only 2 hours to see all of this. we had time to go back to the hotel, pack up and then head over to a coffee shop to leisurely have coffee and pastries.

and then at 1p, we caught our flight to venice.

chopped

i cut my hair and this is the first picture of me from the smashbox photoshoot. see how excited i am?

heaven's on fire

venue: the independent
artist: the radio dept. (sold out!)
who: ro
when: 14 february 2011 (monday)
show starts at 8:00p

this is my first show of the year. i first started listening to the radio dept. back in 2007 or so. they were part of the swedish pop mélange i'd come across that i couldn't get enough of. they offered something different from the others. dream pop. and oh, how i do enjoy dream pop.

the openings were terrible. dj axelson and some local band from belmont. the band was horrendous. not only did they sound bad but they had no stage presence. there was no one pretty to look at. the instruments were too loud and you could barely make out the vocals. when the radio dept. finally come on, my ears were in heaven.

apparently, this trio is quite popular here. they played two nights (monday and tuesday) and both shows were sold out. johan duncanson has the sweetest vocals. he's a bit of eye candy as well. so being up front wasn't terrible. their drums were programmed which was surprising but good for my ears. their tunes are danceable and seeing/hearing them live definitely gets you into the mood. as the 20-something drunk girl who kept bumping into me could attest to. i'm just hating because i couldn't be drunk. i had to work the next day and i'm not 20-something anymore (thank goodness!!).

and unfortunately, they only played one song for the encore but by that time, i was ready to get home.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

happy belated v-day shoes!

any reason to buy shoes, right? ok, so i bought both pairs in the same week and i actually got the boots on the 14th. i know i don't need a reason but it makes me feel better when there is one, wouldn't you agree?

plus, these are my very first pair of d'orsay pumps. i know, i can't believe it either. they are patent leather with a nearly 4" heel. they feel comfortable (so far) and are super sexy.

happy new... shoes for me!

despite having purchased 5 pairs of black shoes in the last 2 years, i still find myself with a shortage of black shoes. i've been looking for a pair of black wedge boots for a while. finally, i found them... these are ankle boots with 3¾" wedge heel and a fleur de lis zipper.