Must. Be. Organized.

I can't believe how many papers I've been hoarding since 2000, it makes me feel old but I'm sure there are other people out there with more trees stacked up around their humbles abodes than I.

I reduced all my paper clutter, bills, leases, random documents, paycheck stubs, blah blah blah blah, and nonsense, all into this ONE filing bin.


Very refreshing. But I feel like an idiot, for having probably 20 times the amount of this just hours ago. And organizing it in the middle of the night, and then blogging about it.

I looked at my birth certificate, I finally realized how old my dad is. I swear for some silly reason I've been thinking he was 50 ever since I was in 2nd grade. That's the past, almost 14 years. :shakes head:

But in other things, there is always a time for over the knee, flat suede boots. Rain or shine! Actually the picture isn't a very good one, but whatever. And my belt collection continues to grow with the addition of this Raina wait belt. The buckle is actually two rams "kissing," a bit Derek Lam-ish if you ask me.

Gahhhhhh the painnnn!

In just the past weekend alone, I overspent on my best friend's birthday present and trimmings, plus I got something extra to hold onto for christmas to add to her christmas package. I also got:

• an awesome amethyst or agate geode ring, by Dara Ettinger (on sale at Anthropologie for $30) today
• I got a sheer knit V-neck cardigan from Free people over the weekend too, also on sale for $30
• sold some clothes at Buffalo Exchange and got a red plaid Betsey Johnson New York dress that fits just like DvF wrap dresses, $28
• and a studded leather Madison Marcus jacket from Buffalo Exchange too, $22! Someone cut off the cuffs on the puffed short sleeves, so to return the favor, I deconstructed almost the entire thing, I'm going to make it more me, and. fix. those. sleeves. Whatever idiot decided to cut the cuffs off the puff sleeves should be reprimanded. :{
• Nude, neon Yellow, emerald Green, and cobalt Blue silk rolled-sleeve shirts from Express, $19.50 each. Thank goodness for price adjustments
  
• as well as a large amount of things from Forever21 online, and in-store

The silk shirts from Express, largely because I am obsessed with silk lately, were must haves to me, perfect layering pieces that won't add on bulk, and perfect alone! I'm also hankering for a silk trench, no function in that though. Otherwise, I'm pretty positive that I will not buy from Express for another year or two, unless they crank out more silk basics. I despise Express, but allowed myself this purchase after not buying anything from them for the past year or more.

Gasp, someone should make silk v-neck t-shirts, I would be all over that. The muted silk though, not the shiny silk. I'm guessing someone has already thought of this though.
By the way, Tea & Honey silk tops are amazing! I have 3 that I ordered from Bluefly after we got two of them in the store.

I don't even want to think about any other purchases I've made in the past two weeks alone. Not to mention my digital perm from a week ago, set me back $150. :sigh: I love it though, it's great to not have to worry about my head. It's really non-fuss! Though the process of getting it was quite nerve-wracking, considering I knew no Korean, and the hairdressers knew no English. And yet, I let them touch my head, not knowing for sure if I was getting what I wanted. Thankfully, it did not turn into a disaster. Photos soon someday!

It's on sale, and I just can't afford it, or rather, I just can't let myself buy it. But I MUST have it! Ugh. It sickens me how much I'm fighting with myself about not having it. I have just spent wayyyyyyyy too much lately. In fact, the whole country has spent way too much lately. Most likely. Technically the sale price isn't even that great, but its sold out everywhere, so it's impossible to find now. Erm, well eLuxury has it for full price still, but where's the fun in that?

I did use my $90 store credit last week though, from PinkMascara.com, when they were having an extra 25% off their sale merch, but then two days after I placed the order, they upped the promo to an extra 30% off sale items. Oy, of course. I got a yellow silk (obsessed with silk lately, too obsessed) Jovovich-Hawk top with a scalloped embroidered hem, and brown espradille wedges that don't fit me.

Over the Valentine's weekend, I spent it alone, despite that I do live with my boyfriend. I watched and watered a bouquet that my boss from the office sent to every lady in the office! But I kept wondering why the flowers were slowly dying already even though I changed the water everyday. Well duh, there was no flower food, and today I realized, "oh god, I didn't even trim the stems all weekend!" So it's only been 5 days, and the bouquet is pretty much done for. But I still moved it to a smaller vase, and even though it's falling apart, I arranged my first bouquet. Shoddy attempt, but I mean well! I'm sure the tulips disagree though.

Someday,

Someday, this 3.1 Phillip Lim Silk Trench coat will be mine. Probably not soon enough. It's bound to go on sale eventually, right?

Valentino. Nude Studded Maison

I saw this in Vegas at the Plazzazo back in August, still. in. love.

I have a $185 gift card for Saks, and I don't know what the hell I should do with it. I can't afford anything, and it isn't enough to make a significant impact on something that's $2,495. :{ Or something that's $880. :sigh: Darn Vernis LV Zippy Organizer

I'm starting to lean towards using it on some Arista G-15 Ray-Bans, but the thought of using it on sunglasses seems a bit silly.

So Close.

I'm still shocked that he said he wants this to be our wedding song. I knew this song was familiar when I heard it over and over, but I didn't even have the remote inkling that it was from Enchanted when we watched it together in the theater a while ago. Actually, it makes me feel bad that I don't remember where I had heard it until he told me.

Needless to say, it is a beautiful song.

You're in my arms
And all the world is calm
The music playing on for only two
So close together
And when I'm with you
So close to feeling alive

A life goes by
Romantic dreams must die
So I bid mine goodbye and never knew
So close was waiting, waiting here with you
And now forever I know
All that I want is to hold you
So close

So close to reaching that famous happy ending
Almost believing this one's not pretend
And now you're beside me and look how far we've come
So far, we are, so close

How could I face the faceless days
If I should lose you now?
We're so close
To reaching that famous happy ending
Almost believing this one's not pretend
Let's go on, on dreaming for we know we are
So close
So close
And still so far

Adorable!

Leighton is a strange name, but she is adorable. And I have to find out where the heck this colorful diamond dress is from.

Oh Joie!

I loveeeee these! I can't wait till it's May-ish or so when they get marked down.

Isn't this stunning?

PERSONALLY, I was speechless when I saw this in the search results, I absolutely adore the contrast in colors.

I don't know why, but I've never seen yellow calla lilies before. Then again, I haven't seen many flowers before. Today I went to the asian market, and there were leftover chrysanthemums from Chinese New Year this past monday. Bright, BRIGHT yellow, with a hint of pastel. They were beautiful, and I wanted to take them home with me, but I know they wouldn't really stand a chance in my apartment with no sunlight. :sigh:

My stepcousin took a picture of a bride's bouquet that her sister caught, and it was gorgeous, so I started googling yellow calla lilies. That's what I came up with. Er, Google, came up with.

At Least One Wish

I seriously do hope, that by the end of my lifetime, I'll be able to go to a Celine Dion concert.

That would be friggin awesome. I know I'm just 21, but her music and voice is just absolutely amazing, and I've grown up listening to her.

Hopefully she's still doing concerts when I can afford to snag tickets to her concert! I just found out a couple minutes ago, that she was in Texas at Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio--THREE WEEKS AGO.

AUUUUUUUUUGH.

What does the economy and local stores have to do with me?

Money that sucks out of my wallet, and into their pocketbooks.

So last weekend was Austin's Le Garage sale, needless to say I was overly picky and walked out with relatively nothing. With sales going out the wazoo, I refuse to buy anything at a reknown boutique sale event, that isn't at least 60% off. And it had to be things I didn't already have, or things I didn't need more of. Who am I kidding?

So I walked out with a tweed dress I don't like anymore because it was one of those handmade vintagey types that was reconstructed into a dress. I love the fabric, I need to figure out how to rescue it.

Yesterday, I got an e-mail about my favorite shoe/jewelry store closing. Well, I've never bought anything not on sale, from them. Because I simply couldn't afford it. But I love that their buyer loves enamel jewelry, cause I do too. In fact, I'm obsessed with enamel pieces.

So I went, and it was a total frenzy, needless to say I am going back tomorrow or a couple days from now. I talked myself out of buying the white enamel earrings I liked, since jewelry was only 50% off, while all other things (tons of shoes, boots, clothes, belts) were 75% off everything.

What did I leave with? Another belt to add to my sudden plethora of belts, and black suede ankle boots!!

I only recently thought about ankle boots, to relieve myself from wearing full knee-high boots under my jeans because they are hemmed to be worn with heels. :{ So I was looking for ankle boots to solve my problem. Found them today!! They're simple, seasonless, and adorable.

I'm also thinking about a pair of olive green Frye ankle boots, but I don't know if they're my style. And I want to go back and see what clothes are left that I'd like... or not go back at all and save my money. I'm glad I didn't find all that much at Le Garage, it helped me feel a lot better about the ankle boots I found today!

Outfit for the Day

Trying to pull together all this beautiful nonsense I've bought in the past two months.

old Free People skirt I stopped wearing because I never had tops to wear with it before...
Marc Jacob wedges with thick cross straps, $100
fuschia silk ruffle Forever 21 top, $21.50
Vintage-looking yellow/black enamel stretchy belt, $35

Navy or White?

I just revisited my love for the Balenciaga Day in gold giant hardware. I still love love love love love the Day in White Pearl with GGH,


but the navy/marine in GGH has probably just stolen my heart. There is nothing like colors bringing out the best in gold.

Even though I'm in love with it, we probably can never be, since it's just too common. It's not THAT common, but it's popular enough. But it could be mine someday.

It looks so smooshy in her hands.

The new Mulberry Bayswater Clutch...
not quite available in stores just yet, but the more I look at it, the more I love it, and the lipstick pink is growing on me. It just looks so smooshy in her hands. But I'd rather have the pale pink, which kinda looks like a faint off white.

It does come with, what seems to be, a decent length shoulder strap, so I think it's more convincing to buy. But as with all new things, they will go on sale. Hopefully Shopbop will get this in stock, and hopefully, it will go on sale in June.

Until then, only pining will have to do for now.

Things to do...

1. Study
2. Start consumption journal
3. Work on two website mockups.
4. Soul cleansing, a.k.a. closet purge
5. Cook Vietnamese dishes

My boyfriend is going to be out of town from Friday to Friday, so for a week I get to sprawl into who knows what. I think I'm going to spend that time studying, and drawing credit card statements too maybe... Or just all my extraneous, non-grocery-or-nourishment-related purchases. And making returns where I can. (Now that I think about it, none of those things can be returned.)

I would eBay a lot of things that are due to eBay, but he's taking my digital camera... so I'm a little stuck there.

That can't stop me from purging my closet though. I need to reorganize it by color. Re-steam everything. Create and move my discards to Buffalo Exchange.

It's going to be a busy week! (after I shop Le Garage)
I wish there was someone I could shop with for the event, but my manager and co-worker shouldn't watch me get tempted by just about everything.

What I hate most about being short, is needing jeans in different lengths. What I love most about being short, is having a ton more options for passing things as dresses with the simple cinch of a belt.

Hopefully this semester, I'll actually get to be able to design and print my business card, and have a real portfolio running online. But, I don't know when I'll get to do that. :{

Next week is Chinese New Year. Every year I get something new, and red to wear for Tet. Coincidentally, I found something new and red that came in one of my packages. It's in one of the posts below. A little body conscious, so I need to wear my jacket over it, but it's still red and new, so that should suffice for starting the "new" year.

In addition, I also need to learn how to make these things:

Chicken & Lotus Stem Salad

Vietnamese Curry Chicken

Braised Pork, but without the egg

Vietnamese Spring Rolls, NOT eggrolls

Che Thailand, almost looks like the picture, but the way my Grandma makes it

Gah! I have a lot of cooking to learn. D:

Consumption Aside

Consumption aside, I discovered a really neat person, who draws everything she buys. And since September 2004, she's been drawing each of her credit card statements, until she pays them all off. Each transaction, every single little word and fine print.

Yesterday, I was dabbling in the free Quicken that came with my laptop. I then found Quicken online for free, but I can't get my Saks store card, Saks Mastercard, and my Neiman Marcus store card to be added to my list of accounts.

I know my spending has been out the wazoo lately, and the stint I spoke of last entry, didn't really go into effect. Someone decided I should have increased credit limits! What blasphemy.
This weekend, is Austin's bi-annual Le Garage Sale of boutiques putting their stuff on clearance. My head is swimming with possibilities with the newfound day off I'm getting on Saturday. Where am I going? I think we know. I can't not go, I just can't.

Actually, it's quite simple, don't get in the car, and don't go there, but there is a 3.1 Phillip Lim kelly green skirt (with pockets!) that I have to have, and I'm sure Luxe Apweroaiul;knf will be putting that on additional markdown, if it makes it to Le Garage.

It's funny, though each day, my list of general things to not buy, grows (like, anything black, clothing-wise), my list of extremely specific must haves, increase! :{

Excessive Consumption.

Eeeeeeeeeek, like I'm not the zillionth person in the United States to say that lately. Yesterday I picked up my altered JMM embroidered jacket, it's gorgeous and now perfect.

This whole, getting things at the click of a button is really taking its toll lately. Observe snapshots of consuming.

But in other things, isn't this awesome? Art and functionality.

Don't be a _ _ _. Don't be a _ _ _.

But yeah.

Thankfully, I'm putting myself on a spending freeze. Unfortunately, I don't have a genius method for it, but I'm maxing out my credit cards by using them to pay for my tuition. Good cause, bad move. But, it's better that way... but I guess it will only last until I get paid mid-February and then I'll be back in that mode. I suppose.

That doesn't meant I can't pine though! I have to figure out what to use my $180 GC from Saks on. But I can't think of anything I can justify putting it towards. I mean, I could get another pair of shoes, but I don't like what my local Saks carries. And I don't need a new wallet, key case, or anything. I do WANT the amarante vernis Zippy wallet, but that's well over $800 after tax. So getting $180 off would do nothing really.

Suddenly, I really want to get that Stephen Sprouse LV scarf/shawl thing, but I just justify the $725 at all for a flimsy thin material that unravels and gets caught in things easily. :{ I'm generally not into animal prints, but it looks like a cute quick accessory. I saw a smaller, short leopard scarf from Jenni Kayne that's kinda similar, and I like that print better, but it's $75-ish and was already damaged, so I couldn't justify purchasing a damaged, unraveling scarf. Oy.

"I'm Obsessed!"

A new year! And I'm sick. :{

I always thought this was a peculiar phrase when Claire said it randomly about things she liked, but I think it's growing on me.

And maybe the store and Claire are growing on me too. First it was her cute black tweed jacket, next was Miroslava Duma's adoraaaaaaaaaable Autumn '08 tweed blazer.


So, Tweed. Okay there's good tweed and bad tweed. Obviously Chanel is going to have good tweed. Obviously I can't afford that right now even if my life depended on it. Ignore the huge blatant logo, here's a close up of Miro's tweed on a different Chanel jacket.

However, sales have been out the wazoo, and I've spent waaaaaaaaaay too much. Stuck with purchases that I regret and about 5 buttery nappa purses to sell off. D: Valentino, Fendi, Chloe oh shoot.

I so need to soul-cleanse my closet. :sigh:

Five Obsessions:
1. Dresses - technically, fun ones I can wear now, and when I'm another decade old or so. Sometimes I wonder why I'm thinking about my closet in the future, but it usually prevents me from buying things, except for this past month. Here's the most recent one of five that I've gotten in the past month alone... D: I know it looks a little silly, but I'm beginning to fall in love with tweed. What can I say. This looks frumpy on the mannequin, but it fit me to a T when I tried it on, I just couldn't resist! Oh, Helen. There's a cuter photo on forever21's site, but I'm too lazy to screenshot it. Definitely cutting off the tulle/organza-ish frill at the bottom though.
2. Belts - ahh too many to name. I can't even get into that.
3. TWEED. My cheap thrill for tweed, that I luckily found at the insanely huge, newly renovated, XXI in my hometown. I was so sad last week when I couldn't find it online when I finally noticed the picture, and once I found the jacket... of COURSE the matching $19.80 skirt is hanging right next to it (with pockets!). But they didn't have a Small, so I got the XS with hopes that I could get myself into it. Thank god, I can. But, I still need to work on my tummy, so it'll be a motivator for now.
4. Jackets. Besides the tweed jacket? Recently, I got a timeless, bubbly black leather bomber jacket. It's not fitted at the sides, but that's okay, it's about making it work. I regretted it even though I dived into buying it, but since the temperature has been dropping, I've been reminded again and again that this was probably one of my "smartest" expenses. It's unbelievably warm, and I can't deny bubbly leather.
Next, is a JMM embroidered jacket, the details are too amazing to resist, it's at the tailor's now though, the sleeves were too long.

Next again, this navy BB Dakota blazer. I'm usually not a fan of BB Dakota because the quality is not there, but this one fits surprisingly well! I am debeating about whether or not to keep it. I have a thing for the "right" lapel, and this is one of them.

5. Functional Leather. Right now though, a high-waisted leather skirt by Jenni Kayne (with pockets!). Oh my goodness, I tried this on at a local boutique for kicks, but I had no idea it was form-fitting and absolutely amazing once I put it on. Gah, I fell in love. There's only a 4 and 8 at the boutique, I'm waiting for Shopbop to make an additional markdown so I can snag the comfortable, bubbly leather in a size 6, if my uh, funds let me have it when that happens.

-----------------

For another tangent, Miro's so cute whenever I see her wear the LV Stephen Sprouse leopard scarf, but heck, I don't have $780 plus tax to purchase one scarf. If I did, I would have already bought the Jenni Kayne leather skirt! :{ And some Chloe loafers. And some-- okay. You know what I mean.

What I do need are 3" or so ankle boots so I can wear them with my jeans. I hate being short. I can't deal with having jeans in different lengths. So I might as well look more put together more often than not. So I acquired like 3 or 4 pairs of Joe's Jeans and got them hemmed a little long. Sometimes I regret it, but when I walk out the door with my look for the day, I feel a little better.

But I have to say, my closet so does not fit my life. Well, actually, it won't once I stop working at the store, which is inevitable (but not soon, I hope). I'm working on it! It's half too casual, half a bit fancy, so I'm working on my middle ground. It's what you make of it, right.

I'm always shopping in my head when I'm restless.

Decisions, decisions.

A couple weeks ago, and even up to a couple days ago--I found myself VERY jealous. It was silly, I'm happy with what I have, I am just prioritizing. I've come to terms, and realized, I just can't be a _ _ _. It's silly to waste time over something I don't feel anymore. And, this just reconfirms my belief that, once your mind passes the "high school" phase, you come to know what is and isn't important to you. You'll stop including "everyone" in your life (doesn't mean you whittle your social circle to one single person or five people, this is of course, dependent on you), and you'll realize that when you love someone...
you don't see or hear anyone (or anything) else.
And when you watch somebody else love someone, you can tell,
they don't see or hear anyone else.

If you want something in life, just go for it. But what do you do, when what you want, doesn't want you? What about the people on that end of the stick? How are they supposed to "just go for it" if nothing wants them too? Should they keep trying, becoming that rock in the way that "nobody" wants, or should they just give up? Well, if you give up, then you're not really just going for it, but then again there is no point, if it's not reciprocated.

I'm not referencing my situation, I'm just thinking about both sides of the story.

Change is good. That has been, and still is my motto for life. I have no problem with taking risks and not regretting things I have changed after I've made my decision.

I guess you could say that this is my convoluted way of saying, "Helen hasn't made her next decision yet."

Today is my 2 year anniversary with Jimmy. I can't even believe this much time has even flown by. It really makes me feel like before I know it, I'll be old and beyond all these things that I won't even remember 1/5 of the things I think about now.

Channeling Elle Woods

It's been almost a year since I got my bright pink agenda. Pink this, pink that. I can't even imagine life without it. Flipping back and forth looking for random notes of things and reminding myself of errands and important dates.
Since the Fall semester started, I've been using my agenda as my wallet too. I wish the agenda was cobalt! :{ But that's okay, I think I've pretty much retired my cobalt Prada zip. Time to find it a new home.


It wasn't until a couple hours ago that I finally changed my calendar pages to 2009, I've been lost without any 2009 pages to write in for the past 8 days. Oy. My life isn't that eventful, but I have much more than my brain wants to remember.

Sometime soon I need to take pictures of things I need to sell off on eBay or Craigslist.

Sometime soon I will probably take pictures of the ridiculous amount of things I've accumulated through sales in the past month. I swear, the bad economy is totally throwing me for a loop. All the stuff could cover my entire bed... :ahem: D:

Jimmy spilled pomegranate juice over my nude nappa leather Miu Miu bow wedges today. I was incredibly sad because it is basically getting thrown out now. It's silly to be sad over such things, but I can't help it, they're pretty. I fall for pretty things. Jimmy felt bad, so he's helping me buy new shoes, but it just won't be the same. Besides, I can buy shoes by myself.

Though I have to say, at least I'm somewhat spending a little smarter, though it would be MUCH WISER to spend nothing at all as the value of the US Dollar goes down. At the least, I can look at my recent acquisitions and be confident that I will still be wearing them a decade from now, at work, or out and about. At least, I don't feel like I'm succumbing to trends blindly.

Maybe someone else can be the judge of that when I post those things.

Whenever I need to accomplish something, I always find myself dabbling in other things.