Christmas time is almost here.

Wearing: Thrifted vest, AE white button-up, F21 shorts, bordeaux stockings from TJ Maxx, Bandalino boots, Longchamp doctor bag

Started decorating our place with little pieces of "Christmas." We strung ornaments onto our miniature tree, lit some candles, hung our stockings, all while listening to classic Christmas oldies. The place looks ten times cheerier and it definitely puts me into the Christmas spirit! Yes, Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet and we're already getting prepared...I have much to be thankful to God for, even though I throw in an occasional complaint here and there.




I was inspired by the beautiful (but pricey) ribbon link necklace from the Anthropologie catalog. I decided to buy several spools of ribbon and re-create my own version of a "ribbon-link" necklace. It took some time, but I was quite delighted with the results! I intend on making more when I'm bored and in the mood for experimenting. 

Material goods.

Dakota Fanning sporting a leopard Rodarte dress.

It's that time again, where designers create a line exclusively for Target. This time, Rodarte will be the featured brand. This clothing line was founded by Kate and Laura Mulleavy, who are sisters! They graduated from UC Berkeley and are actually from Pasadena! I wonder if they'll make a guest appearance at the Pasadena Target store...

Saw this Rodarte for Target dress in my GLAMOUR magazine and I was in love with the lace, bows, detailing, everything! And for $40, it's the price you'd pay at F21! I intend on ordering it online right when it comes out, otherwise it'll probably be out of stock like the Anna Sui line for Target.

Forever 21 has been carrying some cute shoes lately, the only thing I'd question is the comfort. The black lace-up boots look like a polyurethane knock off of the ones by  Burberry, but for $35, you really can't complain. I love the tan colored booties, especially with the bows in the back, as I'm a sucker for bows. Now I'm tempted to walk over to F21 just to see if they carry them!

Food and fashion are two things that I love separately and equally, so you can imagine how excited I was to see the American Fashion Cookbook, a cookbook featuring fashion designers and their own favorite recipes. It features,"Isaac Mizrahis Mushroom Truffle Spaghetti, Carolina Herreras Pommes Toupinel, Mark Eckos Adults Only Chocolate Chip Cookies, Derek Lams Yellowtail Crudo, John Varvatoss Calaloo Soup. Published with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and with a foreword by Martha Stewart, American Fashion Cookbook is a chic objet containing recipes and original illustrations by more than 100 American designers. Brimming with color, flavor, and personality, here are the fashion communitys favorite dishes and preparation tips (Amazon.com)."

Okay, so I caved in and stopped my shopping freeze this month...

YSL look-alikes by Carlos, except I paid about 5% of the price. Don't let the heel fool you, the hidden platform make them surprisingly comfortable.

Found this vintage leather chain strap clutch at a thrift shop in Alexandria, Virginia during our DC trip.

Leather gloves with little buttons on the side from Target. They have a great selection of leather gloves on sale for 14.99 this week! The jade-colored stone bracelet was found at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History gift shop for 7.50 : )

Animal print scarf from Walmart for $5.

Anna Sui for Target brocade blouse. They actually had a few items left at Target and I was eyeing this during my shopping freeze in October. Turns out, the Hubby purchased it for me as a surprise for Christmas. Unfortunately, I found it while putting his clothes back in the drawers. This always happens to me...I love surprises, really I do!

I've been accumulating quite an amount of stockings lately, due to the fact that they're usually cheap and instantly update your wardrobe. Urban Outfitters was also having a sale last week and I found some for $2.50! Some other places with great prices are Ross, TJ Maxx and Loehmanns. 

Sigh, there goes saving up for a Chanel bag! I don't think I have the patience or restraint to wait two years, and by the time I would've saved enough, I don't think I could bring myself to spend all of my hard-earned cash on a bag. 

Street-style Photography

Image credits: Style and the City, The Sartorialist, Stockholm Streetstyle and Garance-Dore

Just perused through the photos taken by the The Sartorialist for his collaboration with Burberry in Art of the Trench. Scott Schuman has such an amazing eye for the little details that contribute to an extraordinary outfit. His photos are definitely inspiring and beautiful. Ordinary street photographers with an eye for style are becoming the new fashion photographers and it's exciting to see through their eyes. 

My fascination for street fashion photography all started with my curiosity to see what others around the world were wearing, preferably those in France : ) Anyway, after stumbling upon websites such as The Sartorialist, Garance-Dore, Facehunter, Style and the City and so forth, I've been exposed to a whole new meaning for the word "fashion." It's nice to know that we all have a bit of common interest; makes the world seem smaller than it really is.

Speaking of street style photography, I present to you:  Something Brilliant, a collaborative fashion blog my friends and I created. The purpose of this blog is exercise creativity, unity, and most of all, fun. A passion for fashion is something all of us share, so why not collaborate our interests into a blog? 

Black and white.

Wearing: Blouse from Banana Republic, chiffon tie taken from my dress, thrifted leather skirt, thrifted woven beaded belt, Exchange by Charles David pumps  

I got to see the in-laws' new shih-tzu puppy yesterday and she was soo adorable! She was a ball of uncoordinated roly-poly-fluffiness. She doesn't have a name yet, but some of us like Dao-fu (aka "Tofu") Mocha was definitely jealous upon seeing her, as she is used to lapping up all the attention. 

After putting on this outfit yesterday, I realized I looked like a Japanese schoolgirl. It was totally unintentional, but this is what happens when you're Asian, look like a high schooler and have bangs. Perhaps it's time to go blond, just kidding. I don't think I'd ever do that.

Dark night.

Wearing: Band-aid skirt, striped shirt from macy*s, DIY bracelet turned necklace, silver knit shirt-turned vest taken from Gramma, Faryl Robin platforms

Had an anti-climatic Halloween. I really look forward to Halloween each year for some odd reason (childhood deprivation for Trick-o-treatin'), and the past few have been letdowns. Other than wrapping a piece of foil on my wrist to get a free burrito at Chipotle, I wasn't in the mood to "dress-up." I've given up on throwing a Halloween party due to a flakey turnout the first time. I think people our age just want to use this festivity as an excuse to dress promiscuously without being called a vile name, immerse themselves in debauchery and wake up with hangovers. Kind of over that. 

The pros this year were seeing my friend's awesome "Pirate's Cove," a scarier version of The Pirates of Caribbean, which her family built from scratch as a Halloween tradition each year. They literally brought the entire neighborhood and beyond. Second plus was seeing our friend's daughter dress in an Ariel costume we got her. We went Trick-o-treatin' with her last year as well and it sort of made me want a child of my own, hah. Ended the night watching Coraline with the Hubby and my cousin until we were super sleepy and ready to crash. I loved the stop-motion art involved in this beautifully done film. I can't even imagine how long it must've taken them to do each scene. And that was my Halloween.