Gong Hey Fatt Choy!

We rang in the Year of the Ox with a Feast! Thanks to my aunt & grandmother who were with us this festive season. All the dishes have significance - everything had to be in tact. You wouldn't be believe how difficult it is to find a decent whole chicken with head & legs! I guess most North Americans don't like to look at their food whole. The menu of the night included:

Sweet & Sour Pork

Shitake Mushrooms

A whole Hainanese style chicken

Our family traditional "zai" (vegetable stew)

Braised pork knuckle

Spicy prawns

Sticky rice

Steamed fish

*BURP*

Happy Chinese New Year!

COOL!!!

Remember my little mention of iloveyoumorethan? Well here's the result of my little post! You rock Paperwhite Studio! Can't wait till Valentine's!

New Year's Resolution?

I'm not one for New Year Resolutions and I realise it is the middle of January but ever since I purchased my 1st tube of red lipstick, I have since enjoyed wearing my new found lip shade. As mentioned before, I've always been a lipgloss kinda girl - its easy, its effortless, it also reminds me of high school. Then there's lipstick, which I've stayed away from because I've always thought it to be for older women. My grandmother wore it, my mom wears it, those ladies who lunch wear it. I have countless memories of watching my mother get ready in her dressing room and her rows and rows of lipsticks in various shades, all neatly sitting in the those plastic organizers on her vanity table. Corals, reds, pinks, burgundy, plums - lipsticks of every shade, brand and degree of wear. So very 80s. So very grown up. Which is why I've never bought them for myself.

These were the things not meant for little girls like me. But now, I am older, much older than when I was watching my mom get ready in her dressing room and I think I should be entitled to feel like a woman every once in a while, despite acting like a child high on sugar most of the time. And did I mention, I love my new red lipstick look? So just a few days ago, while out with Dad, I picked up another shade of lipstick in Rose Lustre to add my collection of 2 tubes.

Love notes

I found this great little website.

And the first thing that came to my mind was:

I love you more than my Macbook.

Ha. Now how about you?

Golden Globe Gowns

I'm pleased that Slumdog Millionaire won, it was well-deserved but the Golden Globes are more than just movies and television. The gowns this year were fabulous. Neutral palettes in cream & white and flowing silhouettes, bare necks and one-shoulder gowns. Bringing back Hollywood Glamour, here are some of my picks, Eva Mendes being my #1 favourite of the evening:

The french do it better

illustrations by Garance Dore

I've always been fascinated by the French. Marie Antoinette, French food, Parisian Macarons, Fauchon's Madelines, La Tartine Gourmande and now Garance Dore. I love Paris and long to go back, there is so much of France I've yet to explore.

I came across this fabulous Parisian blog, Garance Dore and read a great Q&A on how to dress like a French Woman. The French have always been known to be alluring in their sense of style and are always nonchalant, mysterious, sophisticated and subtly sexy. It can be summed up with the following:

• stripes - lots of them
• layering, lots of layering - the more unconscious it looks, the better.
• sexy details
• the less effort it looks to put together, the more French it is
• long hair
• scarves, lots & lots of scarves
• heels
• the smokey eye look
• confidence

These are my sentiments about our current weather conditions in Vancouver

Courtesy of Natalie Dee.com

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2009. It's a New Year and I've been inspired by several blogs to recall the year that has past. Like all years that have gone by, there were highlights and lowlights.

Great times, good times & not-so-ok times.

It's been filled with lots of travel thanks to obliging family & a globetrotting significant other.

There have been hot, hot summers and very cold, snowy winters.

I've also had 3 glorious months of enjoying the company of my better half being in the same city.

There were sleepless nights, restless nights and long summer nights.

There was road trips, weekend getaways and spring breaks.

I've graduated from my post-graduate program with far better grades than I'd ever received in undergrad and understood that the power of passion makes doing what you love so much easier.

I've also learnt the importance of love, family and spending quality time.

That good friends are hard to find and I appreciate all the wonderful ones I've made in my new home of New York.

I've toasted the town, stumbled into bed and woken up next to the man who hasn't tired of me after 2 years and loves me for who I am.

I am grateful for 2008 and I look forward to a better, brighter 2009.

Happy New Year Everyone! I wish you all Love, Life & Laughter (as quoted by my dear cousin's tri-colored ring)