Thank you! 2011!

Yes yes yes! It's almost 2012! One more silly thing I'm doing is to count down with the world. That gives me a lot of new learning too! The first country and also the last to have new years is Samoa. I started from Apia, Samoa and then keep going west.  New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan... After 8am in the morning counting down with friends and family in Taiwan, I was so beat. Now after a good 5 hour sleep, I'm back on track to count down at Iran, Athens and now it's closer and closer to us!!!! Overall 2011 is really a great year! There was a lot of things going on. We're all hoping for a better life in a new year. Which makes everyone so excited. The concept of "tomorrow is better" definitely is giving people hope and energy! Thank you 2011! It's been a wonderful year! 2012, here we come!!!

Dress: Giambattista Valli for Impulse
Short Cardigan: Club Monaco

Happy Holidays

Ahhh... It's almost end of the year so it's been really "busy" for me to celebrate the holiday seasons. I'm not 100% sure what I've accomplished but overall I tried a lot of new different things and I got married (okay, that was the major accomplishment.) Work has been busy for a while but it's warming down as Christmas was around the corner.  What's gonna happen next year?? One major thing we're going to do is to have our sabbatical!! 8 weeks of vacation, we're planning to go to Europe!! It'd be "Amazing Race" style no kidding. We'll be hopping through cities.  My dear friend Jakey and his wife are in South France now so I couldn't wait to meet them there! It'd be a hell of an experience!! Although it's still too early to talk about next year's plan. There are 15 days to the end of the year and I have couple major things to do.  Celebrate my hubby's birthday, Christmas, send out all the wedding Thank You cards, oh and we just ordered our first holiday cards!! Hopefully they'll come in time for us to send them out. Life is full of joy in holiday season!!

Cashmere Top: BCBGSkirt: T by Alexander Wang
Ankle Boots: Kenneth Cole
Wallet: Samantha Thavasa  

Coat:Club Monaco

28 Degree. Winter is definitely here!

I know I'm not living in cities like NYC or Chicago and I have no rights to complain about cold weather. But I really have to say 28 degree is definitely already FREEZING for me!! It's probably great for the holiday season but there's no snow either!! I guess that's the only thing in winter that I'm looking forward to.  Although Intel factories here definitely creates its own climate.  Because the moisture that the fab produces, even it's completely dry somewhere else, if it's cold enough, we'd have "Intel Snow" in a mile range. It's actually really pretty. I have been noticing that it's not as festive this year as past few years.  Maybe because the economy is so low that stores and streets are not decorating excessively with holiday decors.  Christmas songs are definitely occupying the radios, but it's just not as joyful.  Hopefully the holiday spirit picks up a little bit.  I guess I could start from myself? Alright, that's a good motivation to send out our very first holiday card this year then.

Trench Coat: i.n.e.
Ankle Boots: Kenneth Cole
Purse: Black by Moussy
Sunglasses: Versace

stylish trench coat

Happy Pre-Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Despite the non-stop rains I do love the holiday seasons. It gets very festive everywhere.  We had a date night out for the movie - In Time.  It's interesting story and concept but too bad that I was a bit confused by the ending.  I'm not going to spoil the movie for you but let's put it this way, I think the writer doesn't know how to solve the problem he created.

Now back to the holiday season, actually one of my favorite time of the year when you see all those red cups from Starbucks showing up.  That warm fuzzy look with the cup of JO in it just simply makes me happy.  A lot of people dislike Starbucks big time but for some reason I like their "consistency".  We have a lot of great local coffee roasters that hold the fame of their great coffee. To name a few: Stumptown, Public Domain, Heart and etc.  I segregate these fancy coffee from starbucks based on the mood.  If you're having a casual laid-back Saturday, a great cup of latte made with love and an urban coffee shop to hang out at is absolutely fabulous.  But if you're dashing to the office with loads of work piling up in the morning, Starbucks starts your day perfectly.  Especially with holiday designed cup!!!!  Okay, too much coffee talk.

Happy Thanksgiving again!!!

Wrap Dress: Diane von Furstenberg
Heels: Michael Kors

It's Almost Friday.

Wrap Dress: Kenneth Cole
Ankle Boots: Kenneth Cole
Laptop Bag: Porter

Shoulder Bag: Michael Kors

Lots of my coworkers asked me why I was dressing so nicely today and my official answer was "It's almost Friday!" It's about how you feel like being for that very day when you were picking your outfit in the morning.  Oh and I also was interviewing a candidate today and why not give them a good impression? It's a cliche that you need to feel confident about yourself first before others believe in you. And I have to say it works for me.  It's almost Friday and it's worth celebrating.

Beach Weekend. Not the usual tropical one.

This weekend we are at the Oregon beach celebrating our friend Holly's birthday. The required gear or correct outfit for Oregen coast is actually a sweat shirt cuz it's just too windy and cold. And I noticed that I'm not the only one.:) we've got UW, ASU, Duke and etc here. And of course you have to see me rocking in USC!

Maxi Dress: Cop-Copine

Shoulder Bag: Coach
Shoes: Steve Madden

Casual Business

I'm pretty lucky that I have a lot of freedom of what I could wear to work. That's a perk of being an engineer. No one is expecting you to suit up as if you're working in the bank.  Also if my full day activitiy involves sitting in front of my computer coding for straight 8 hours, Something semi-comfy would be what I'm going for.  Is a pair of shorts inappropriate for office space? Not if your coworkers are wearing t-shirt and flip flops. I'm considered to be "dressed up" believe it or not.

Blazer: Metro Park
Top: MNG by Mango
Shorts: 7 for all mankind

Shoes: Marco Santoni

Sunday Movie Night

Ahhh!!! Summer is over! You could tell when you need to turn the camera to "cloudy mode".  It was our couple friends - Chuck & Andrea's birthday that we went celebrate with Happy Hour at Stanford's and then saw the movie - Contagion.  The decision of wearing high pumps was based on my careful calculation of sitting my butt for most of the time. The movie was "SO SO", I could see where the story was trying to say but overall there's no highlight and somehow serious.  But I won't say it's a bad movie either.  So if you have time and like Matt Damon I think it's not a bad movie to chill at the theater.

2nd picture I look really "athletic".. sigh... proud of my volleyball legs. But from "photographer-wanna-be" point of view, it's a great shot, so I put it here. Hopefully you'll see me slimming down or more toned later on!  But again, I gotta work with what I've got right? =)

Tunic: MOUSSY
Denim Legging: SLY

Shoes: Rock & Republic
Bag: BLACK by MOUSSY

Last Week of Summer

Top: Club Monaco
Necklace: Gemma Redux
Skirt: I Heart Ronson

Shoes: Steve Madden

It's probably the last week of Summer as I already smell Fall with chill breeze brushing my skin. Considered it has been already a pretty beautiful Summer in Portland, I got nothing to complain even with my car's broken AC.  A cup of coffee to start the day is quite essential to me. I think you could always see me holding a cup of coffee going everywhere.  It was an image from one of my favorite TV Shows - Ally McBeal hard-printed in my mind that a successful working woman requires a cup of coffee in her hand walking to her office.  I guess that's where this habit came from. *grins*  

Fall Wedding?

We just got back from a lovely wedding of our friends Linling and Joseph in LA over the weekend. 9.10.11! How fun was that! It's so good to be back to LA especially we just got married 2.5 months ago in LA ourselves. (Check out our wedding blog !) So much good memories.  


I thought it would be a "Fall" wedding but I was wrong. In LA it's always a Summer wedding. Although I think the dress still worked out. At least I was "owning" it. The only thing that I wasn't certain enough was the shoes. I was concerned with the strap over the ankles. Worrying it would cut my legs short. However, it's always the pitfall that I like the shoes too much and would rather risk the chance of it unflattering me. =P

Dress: Alice + Olivia

Shoes: Steve Madden Luxe

Clutch: Kate Spade

And I'll show you what part of the shoes that I was obsessed with. It's all about details. See the bow and the stripe details on the heels!

It was a very short weekend and involved lots of traveling.  God bless Southwest Airline that they still have 2 free bags policy.  We brought back tons of stuff from wedding in June that we couldn't pack up.   Now I have a task of what to do with my wilted wedding bouquet. Tossing away is definitely one but the last option. :)

Why goofy bean?? My hubby always calls me that. And so it's all about me, my style and my life~~