Christmas Goodies

As promised, here are some pics of the items I received for Christmas! I hope everyone got everything that they wanted from Santa this year! What were some of your Christmas gifts?

Leather Motorcycle Jacket from Nordstroms
courtesy of my parents
Had to exchange the size. Waiting for it to come in the mail!


Valentino Book
courtesy of my brother
It's a whopping 500+ pages, and it's amazing!
It showcases his work by decades-great pictures

Patent Leather Mary Janes in Dark Brown by Manolo Blahnik
Had to exchange for a smaller size, so waiting for it in the mail as well!
courtesy of my boyfriend--good work!

Stuart Weitzman's Portside Peep Toe Pumps

They're here! They're here! They're finally here! My Stuart Weitzman Portside Peep-Toe Pumps came in the mail last week from Gilt and I couldn't be happier. I wore them around the house to break them in, and was shocked by how tall I was--I grew 5 inches! I think these are the tallest shoes I own, so walking around took some getting used to. I felt like a horse, clunking around, but they're pretty comfortable. The best thing was when I went to Neiman Marcus a few days ago and saw them "on sale" for $251, but I got them for $188! LOVE bargains

On a sidenote: Happy 200th Post!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope Santa brought everyone everything that they wished for! I know Santa was good to me this year--I will post pictures soon! The picture below is near the area I work at (San Francisco's Union Square). It's so beautiful around this time of year!

image courtesy of brandon ferney

Early Christmas Present: Fleur De Lys

Sorry for the lack of posts--I was on a roll too! It has been a pretty hectic week with the holiday season, especially in the retail world--so when I come home from work all I want to do is just lie in bed and do absolutely nothing! So today, I have a day off, and decided to post something real quick before I head to the gym.

I've always been a fan of the show Top Chef, and even watched the spin-off Top Chef Masters. On that show, I fell in love with Hubert Keller. He was the nicest chef, made good food, and was just so humble. So when I found out he owned Fleur De Lys, and it was in San Francisco, it was a done deal for me. My two friends from high school are foodies, so we all agreed to go to Fleur De Lys as a Christmas present to ourselves. We made reservations for Tuesdsay, December 22 back in November, so I have been counting the days ever since. Needless to say, the day had finally arrived! Here is my experience:

• Best service I have EVER had--the hostess was Chantal (Hubert's wife!) and she went around each table a couple times throughout the night asking how everyone was doing. We never had to ask for anything--the waiter knew exactly what to do! He was so friendly and patient. One of the people in the table next to us, went to the bathroom as the main course was coming out, and the waiter immediately brought out silver covers to cover the food so it wouldn't get cold. The level of attentiveness is out of this world! It's not a frilly restaurant either, which I love. It's a nice restaurant, but some people are still dressed more casually (jeans, etc) than others. But they treat the people wearing the 3-pieced suits the same as people wearing jeans.
  
• I had the 4 course meal--Appetizer: an assortment of items which included caviar and foie gras Seafood Dish: Sea bass Meat: Lamb Dessert: Apple Tart. I wish i could describe it better, but I have to say, it was the best meal of my life. If had to pick a last meal before I died, I would want anything from Fleur De Lys.
  
• Highlight of the night, I asked if the Chef was in the restaurant. They said he was at his other restaurant, Burger Bar. However, our waiter suggested that he can call and ask to see if they can arrange for us to meet him. He talked to Chantal, and she called Burger Bar to let them know we were coming! Chantal hugged and kissed us good-bye like we were old friends and sent us on our way.
• We walked into Burger Bar where the hostess informed that he would be out shortly. He came out, we shook his hand, and he was so genuinely nice and humble. He signed our Burger Bar cookbooks, and took pictures with each one of us. We thanked him for his time, even though he was very busy, but he insisted we were not taking up his time. I mentioned that he was my favorite on Top Chef Masters, and felt that he should have won. In response, he laughed and just said it was a really fun show. Love him! He is going up on my fashion wall--I will make an exception. He may not be a designer of clothes, but he's a designer of foods!
  

A Roman Holiday: Miu Miu Heaven

Fun fact of the day about Miu Miu:

Miu Miu is positioned as the daily-oriented, younger clothing line from the Prada fashion house, opened in 1992 and headed by Miuccia Prada, the Italian fashion designer for both Prada and Miu Miu. The name of the collection is taken from Miuccia nickname.

This was the window display at a Miu Miu store in Italy. I LOVE the gold mannequins.

A Roman Holiday: Part Deux

Again, thanks to my best friend for sending these over. I have been trying to be as patient as I can to receive these pictures via email. She says there are more! I am dying of excitement, I can hardly contain it. I didn't know I would get such a rush from some store window displays--but hello! It's Chanel! After I wrote an email back thanking her incessantly, I noted that when I die, I would like to be buried in Chanel.

Checkered jacket? Genius!

On a side note, I got my daily email of the sales that were being featured on Gilt. I have never been lucky with Gilt, but I decided to peruse anyways. How surprised was I when I found the Stuart Weitzman Portside Peep Toe Pumps that I have been craving for quite some time? The best part was that it was going for $188 originally $375...that is a deep discount! I couldn't even get it at that price with my Macy's discount. Score! Now I just have to wait for them to arrive, and pray to God that they fit. Can't wait to be 5 inches taller!

What I Wore Today: Jeans and a Tee

I don't usually plan my outfits the night before, but I need to decide quick the morning of, since I have to get to work on time! Today, it was just one of those days that I wanted to be in a jeans and a t-shirt. Although I have the luxury of wearing jeans to work, I can't show up in a plain tee, so I found this metallic tweed blazer in my mom's closet, that she got from New York & Company, and threw it over my plain ensemble. I've been obsessing over tweed, and this metallic blazer with fringed edges is just the perfect piece to dress up a simple outfit.

Tweed Jacket: New York & Company
White T-Shirt: Target
Jeans: Paige Jeans
Shoes: Gucci

A Roman Holiday

I am so jealous that one of my best friends is vacationing in Rome. Instead of taking pictures of the architecture or the food, she sent me these fashion pictures while strolling the streets-she definitely knows what I will appreciate most! These are what she snapped so far, but I have asked that she take as many as possible to fill my craving for Italian fashion! Hopefully, she'll be able to capture more pictures.

Dolce & Gabbana window display

A Ferragamo display of the Varina ballet flat.

In celebration of the 70th Anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, a new version of the Varina flat was created. Here it is up close:

Love.Love.Love

What I Wore Today: Muted Colors

Necklace: Forever 21
Dress: Ella Moss
Tights: Target
Long Cardigan: Target
Booties: Mervyns (r.i.p.)
Purse: Prada

My mom and I went to brunch at the Hyatt on Sunday, and I decided to wear my new dress that I got at Macy's (It was a steal! Originally $150, got it for $28!). It's so comfortable and fairly loose, that I was able to hide my food baby while chowing down on my cobb salad and split pea soup. I woke up at 7am today (essentially, 30 minutes late) and I had to leave by 7:15 in order to catch my train. Needless to say, I was able to do my hair, put on makeup, and dress myself all in 15 minutes. However, with no time to decide what to wear, I played guilty as the "repeat offender."

In the details...

I love the zipper down the middle. I'm obsessed with zippers

I love that my purse is ombre and shiny. So fall, and it fits all my essentials!

Sunday Funday

Well it looked like this today, so my mom and I spent the day trying new recipes that we saw on the Food Network, particularly Giada's show, Everyday Italian. We made a trip to the grocery store to get all our ingredients, and almost died when we saw how much cheese we had to put in this dish. My cholesterol probably just spiked 50 points. But all in all, we spent the afternoon cooking, and it was fun! Here is what we made (brace yourselves, it's a two-parter!):

Giada De Laurentiis: Spicy Baked Macaroni
For the complete recipe, click here

sautéing onions, mushrooms and garlic in olive oil

adding tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and spinach

mix, mix, mix!

adding the pasta, nutmeg, and the endless amounts of cheese

buttered the dish, and added bread crumbs and more cheese as the "base"

scooping it all in the casserole dish..ready for baking!

Final product: delicious!

Trader Joe's Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix

I decided to try out this Gingerbread Cake and Baking mix that I saw at Trader Joe's. I originally wanted to make cookies, but when I saw the words "dough" and "chill" and "roll it out" I immediately ruled that idea out. The idea of me making dough really scares me, and I know it will ultimately fail. So I opted for the cake. The only ingredients you need are: vegetable oil, one egg, and water..and voilà! It's done! It's pretty good in flavor and texture, and I recommend it if you like gingerbread. My mom isn't a fan of the spiciness of it all, so I think it'll just be me tackling this thing for the next few days. Someone will have to wheelbarrow me out of the house.

Dear Santa, if I give you gingerbread cake, will you give me everything on my wish list? ;)

Current Obsession: Lanvin Jewelry

God I love Lanvin jewelry...drool...
Happy Sunday!