I came and triumphed

This was day 1 in Paris. After a mishap in the metro involving someone's sticky fingers (yes people, pickpocketing is serious business over here), I safely made it to see this beauty a few minutes away from the hotel.

From there, I walked straight to the Louvre.

My first day was a roller coaster ride. After getting my wallet stolen, encounters with locals were either really enjoyable or quite unpleasant. One shop girl was extremely nice though. She barely knew any English, but was very kind and even walked me to a local thrift shop (she didn't know what thrift was, until I said "old clothes"). I bought this shirt from her for 40 Euros, and it's currently one of my favorite things to wear (suede elbow pads!)

I wore this outfit the next day and John, over at Hippy Market, snapped a picture of me!

(Sand on the boots from walkin' to the Louvre beeteedubs)

The store, reminiscent of some thrift/vintage stores in the Lower East Side, is full of leather jackets, leather handbags, short a-line skirts, and patterned button-up shirts. I bought a very cute scarf from them for 12 Euros. It's perfect for tying around bags or wearing on your head.

If you're ever in Paris, definitely check them out! You can find the location and see more Hippy Peeps on their facebook! http://www.facebook.com/hippymarketmarais

Why you can't put me in the same room as . . .

Well, there are several things you can't put me in the same room as. Some things start or end with the word "chocolate" (or it could be the word itself!) Other things include Food Network stars or bands.

But clearly, you can't put me in the same room as a single sharpie and a paper bag from a certain warehouse sale, because I will be inclined to draw hands and other worldly things.

I usually try to draw realistically, but this time I just decided everything should be mangled. And my sea creatures should be angry. And my tomato should not really look like a tomato.

Speaking of that warehouse sale, basically what went down:

I waited early to go in, and took no time at all to get in. But once in, there were just women EVERYWHERE. Clothes were on the floor (oh no, my brands!) and women were trying on all sorts of shoes.
I saw those gold Givenchy boots I posted about before (yeah, dream shoes right THERE) but they were still pricey. So watch me check in around September to see if it's still there (no one seemed interested when I was there).
I left with a pair of pants (will pop up in the blog in the future).

But now that we're on the topic of fashion, let me show you what I found recently.



THIS JACKET IS BOMBER. Not the style, I mean, THIS IS AWESOME.

Lately I've been into two things:

1. The combination of black and brown.
Years ago, I thought it was taboo because of that one episode of Will and Grace where Jack says it's basically terrible if you wear black shoes with a brown belt (and gay men are almost always right). But now I really like buying pieces that mix the two colors together.
2. Beaded
I don't know what it is, but I'm so into beaded embellishments all of a sudden. During the warehouse sale, I kept staring at the really expensive designer clothing and looking at the bead work. Also, lots of vintage has beading.

Hence why this jacket I found at Beacon's Closet is like, WOAH. I also like velvet jackets so it was like win. However, I felt broke and it felt big, so I felt unsure and I didn't buy it.

Now, a recent outfit.



And a face shot (Look! I can smile!)



Lowdown:
-Long wig
-Urban Outfitters printed shirt
-Uniqlo yellow shorts
-Urban Outfitters lace leggings
-Booties found at Buffalo Exchange
-Bag found at Daffy's

I wore that to karaoke with my friends I haven't seen in a while. Here's the lunch I ordered there!

I love salmon!


Maybe a week or so ago, I went to the new Crumbs bakeshop in the financial district and picked up some cupcakes. They have a promotion special going on until Sept. 5th that on weekends, you can buy one cupcake and get the second free (coupon here)

The chocolate covered strawberry wasn't as good as that coconut one right next to it. Chocolate and coconut just rock together!

Finally, I tried the ULTIMATE in waffles and food trucks, Wafels and Dinges.

The first topping (dinges) is free, so I got the BEST SPREAD IN THE WORLD. It's called Spekuloos (as is on the menu, but when you search for it, it's actually spelled with a "c"). It's a sort of cookie spread, but it was such a "Move over Nutella!" moment.
I recommend them if you find their truck somewhere because although a tiny bit pricey for waffles, it's delicious and the guys are super nice!


So this post was nice in that it summed me as a person: fashion, art/sketches, food. Now to go and walk around Manhattan for no reason! See you guys later!

I've been pretty lazy . . .

Highlights again~!

1. Did half a dirndl (no "e"!!!) skirt for Flat Pattern only to find out I got a C on it because I forgot to draw seam allowance on my pattern. That doesn't really make sense to me though because I would prefer to draw the seaw allowance on the actual fabric so I know where the original line is. Bah, whatever, I still have a few more shots in the future.

2. I watched some more Chopped Champions today. That guy/cook Cody (if you know him, you know him) is so smug all the time, it sorta bothers me. Oh well, I guess more confidence is better than absolutely none at all.
Oh, and I remember talking to my friend on the phone once about how depressing the show is. Well, she thought it was depressing because they basically stick you in a room and give you random ingredients and expect you to create masterpieces in 20 minutes. That, and for me, Ted Allen doesn't smile which makes me go [sad face]. But I do indeed love that show because there's something about cook-offs that excite me, and it's another reason to watch Aaron Sanchez (IF HE'S ON THAT IS)

3. I can't go to Vera Wang because train tickets ended up being more than we thought and I'm a college student which makes everything self explanatory.


Today I felt like doing a photoshoot. And then I accidentally fell asleep. I looked out the window, and it was raining. Whoopeeeeeeeeeee <--------------- not So that plan was gone. Instead, I decided to be crafty, got out some nautical Japanese whipped cream sweets maker kits, and created some lovely plastic goodies for friends and me-self. I still have a ton of "whipped cream" left over so now I'm kinda just rummaging around for anything hard flat and plastic to cover in said cream. I would kinda do over my phone again, but then it'd be such a hassle to take what's already on it off, so I'm just not even going to deal with that. In other news, I found a lovely drapey black cotton shirt at Buffalo Exchange! It was like 2 sizes bigger than me, but it looked fine since it was supposed to look drapey and I wear big things all the time. That, and I could wear it almost like a dress.

Sadly, didn't get it because it was kinda more money than it should've been for second hand. Also, I think I can make it if I sat down and decided I had to. So I just didn't get anything that day.


What I did get though was some tasty homemade granola bars at Whole Foods. I would post pictures if I HAD any (fail), and I would draw it if I could draw a detailed picture of it's yummy awesome-ness with all it's seeds and dried fruits and thick oat goodness packed in a square, but since I can't, please let your imagination run wild.

That's all from me this time around. Now I need to properly tag this because I always forget to the first time around.

Tokyo Joe is the definition of "disrespect"

Obviously people who have read up on this tiny little consignment store in the East Village will know what I'm talking about, people who have endured it as I did yesterday will understand it to its full extent, and people who have no clue, well, be happy you're blissfully unaware and if you want to keep it that way, don't read on.



I frequent Tokyo Joe for it's collection. Not bad stuff for not bad prices. But after yesterday, I don't think I'll be going back.

My friend and I went over there yesterday so I could grab some cute shoes I saw a few weeks ago that happened to still be there. But of course, since it's a clothing store and it's nice designer stuff for moderate prices, I decided looking around to see if anything else would suit my fancy didn't seem like a bad idea.

Now, I'm Japanese, born in NY. I know English and Japanese both fluently, but if I'm with a friend who doesn't know Japanese, OBVIOUSLY I would not be speaking Japanese to her. I guess for some ridiculous reason they must have thought that I was not Japanese then (which is the stupidest deduction) and therefore safe to do what they did next.

After maybe perusing for a good 20 minutes, looking through their dresses and shirts and jackets, I hear the girls chattering away again (they're like mocking birds, they don't stop chattering about the most pointless things). Then the girl right behind my friend and I look over at us and says to her staff friend "I don't know what they've been looking for all this time but they're getting super annoying."

True, they could've talked trash about how we looked or what we were talking about or whatever whatever, but it just made it worse that they had a problem with us browsing. The whole point of coming into a clothing store and browsing is to figure out if we want to BUY something. If you have a problem with people looking through your store, then obviously you should be working else where. It was also the specific phrases she used to say "they" and "annoying" that made it even worse.
That comment was only made worse by the fact that I remembered at that point they were saying things when I was trying on the particular shoe I wanted as well.

I thought about leaving on the spot, but decided I would get the shoes because it's not like the shoes were at fault. I waited for one of them to get the other pair, took out my credit card, and waited to sign. Then as I was signing, I knew I just had to say something. So I looked at them and said, "By the way, next time you say bad things about other people, make sure they don't know Japanese." I took the shoes and left after that.

They were pretty silent when I said it and they didn't bother looking at me afterwards so I'm sure they got it. I could've asked for an apology in Japanese, but didn't even want to deal after that.



If I'm ever in the area, I'm going to Buffalo Exchange right next door. All the staffers are friendly there, and you don't end up leaving, ticked out of your mind.