An ode to winter break

Things that I have done during break in no particular order: spent time at home, seen family, seen high school friends, went to a real college party, went to a party in Brooklyn, watched a lot of tv (hello suits!), slipped on the ice and hurt my knee (there is still a sizable scar on my knee), started using a clarisonic, caught a cold, walked around the city by myself, perused a bookstore, ate really good food, celebrated a birthday both with family and then with friends, saw two movies (seriously a record), did some cooking and baking, earned some money, spent some money (including two lipsticks which I love), made new friends, went to a concert at Carnegie Hall (and from the fourth row!), got a flu shot (it's the worst flu epidemic in a long time), modeled for an amateur photoshoot, went to Flushing to eat hotpot (which turned out to be extremely expensive), probably watched too many youtube videos, got a haircut from a new stylist, ate at my favorite banh mi shop in soho, rediscovered an old game, started playing a new game, lusted over the Neiman Marcus x Target collaboration (only to be disappointed), got two of the Marc Jacobs pouches when the collab went on sale at Target, lusted over the new Prabal Gurung x Target collaboration (I am obsessed with the First Date print and the first look), attempted to buy an ipad mini and failed twice.

Things to do in the remaining seven days of break: see more friends, eat more delicious food (going to Mission Chinese Food on Tuesday!), start a new (and hopefully last) internship, second annual girls weekend, buy an ipad mini.

Also, please check out my "photoshoot" from this past weekend in Central Park photographed by my friend Ben!

#SSSS: Second Semester Senior Status

I may be prematurely calling myself a second semester senior as I will not be completely done with the semester until 4pm Tuesday afternoon, but I already feel like one. This semester went by so incredibly fast. I can't even imagine what it's like to be graduating right now because they're just done. That's it. No ceremony until May. I'm not one of those people who wants to stay in school forever, but I certainly don't want to miss out on the Senior activities that take place in the spring!
This semester I ended up really enjoying two of my classes. I had heard really good things about the social media class (which was new last semester) and it fit into my fields of study, so I figured why not. The professor is amazing. So good that I wish I had taken senior media seminar with her this semester (though it is very likely that I wouldn't have gotten in). And she is the main reason I am taking fashion and power next semester. I would say I'm not a huge social media enthusiast. I love using social media (duh), but I don't really think about the cultural concepts behind the usage. The class definitely taught me some really interesting theories about technology that I literally use every day. The second class I enjoyed was TV Nation. I've always watched a lot of TV, like when I was in high school, whenever we got any tv show's season dvd set, I would watch the whole season as fast as possible, staying up all night and telling myself "just one more episode." I kind of explained the concept of the class in my last post, so I'll just tell you about our final pitch. My group was Bravo, and we picked up a reality competition show about window dressing called On Display. The tagline is "whose dreams will be shattered next?" and the send off line is "I'm sorry, you're no longer on display." The host would be Simon Doonan, and the judges would be Nicola Formichetti, Scott Pask (Tony award winning set designer of Book of Mormon) and Sarah Jessica Parker. I didn't really like SJP as a judge because I didn't understand how she was an expert in the field, but I got my way with Simon Doonan as host, which I think was more important. Our team did really, really well. The class was overwhelmingly positive with the critique--many students even said they would watch the show. But, we ended up losing to AMC and their show Olympia.
Now that both the semester and my internship are over, I'm shocked with all the free time I have. I'll go from working 7 days a week to working anywhere from 2.5 to 5 days. Next week I'll only be working 2.5 days at my weekend job, so I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. Do a little research and see what exhibits are where, hopefully do more cooking, definitely want to go to Flushing with Xiali at some point, maybe a trip to Housing Works? The options seem endless!
Yesterday, I did go to the Open House New York Hello Kitty! Hello Art!, which is showing this weekend only. There was a lot of pop art inspired by Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters. They also had a silver tinsel Christmas tree with all plush Hello Kitty ornaments. aka my dream. I had to get the coffee table book that accompanies the exhibit from the gift shop. I also took a picture (well, several) with these giant Hello Kitty light up Christmas decorations. Super happy I went, since I by chance found out about it at the last minute.
On a random side note, I am supremely surprised and disappointed by Blogspot's 1GB picture limit. I seriously had no idea there was such a thing, and I hate not having pics in my posts. I've kinda been considering switching to Wordpress, because it would force me to learn more of the technical stuff (yet another thing I want to learn!), but I've had this blog for three years as of 12/13! I have to keep it up at least until I graduate. I literally started this blog one night, at the end of freshmen year exactly three years ago (it was also Santacon Saturday!) really late at night when I was supposed to be studying in the library. Literally the first and last time I willingly studied in the library. My how things have changed in those three years, and I feel like this blog documented all of it. I don't want to give it up quite yet. Decisions, decisions.

Mid-semester check in

Can't believe it's already half way though first semester. I've been super busy (I didn't realize it's almost been a month since I last posted!) with school, internship and weekend job. Same old same old. But the new courses for next semester were posted today, and I don't know if anybody knows this, but this is my favorite day of the semester. Nothing brings me greater joy than perusing thousands of courses and the potential for the next semester. Right now, it's looking like I'll only have classes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which is not really ideal. I don't know if I'll be able to intern only two full days (and Monday and Friday...opposite ends of the week), but it is what it is. I did find out that a professor I currently have (and really, really enjoy) will be teaching a fashion class next semester! I had actually never planned on taking Fashion and Power (supposedly the hardest class in my major), but the professor who started the course and has always taught it isn't teaching. And I figure, I'm a senior so why not?! I'm actually hoping to take another fashion class in CAS (the liberal arts school), as well as an anthropology class and two film classes. At 18 credits, it's not exactly the relaxing last semester I imagined, but I've never taken fashion classes before so this will be a welcome challenge.
We had a fall break this past weekend, so I got to go home for five days!! Very relaxing. All I did was eat, read (I shockingly read two books in the past week!) and watch tv. We went to the cider mill, and I got to go to some homecoming events for my sister.

cinnamon role french toast

Before I went home, I went to two new places (to me) on the LES, twice in one week. La Montanara is the only fried pizza place. What they do is fry the dough, and then make the pizza and bake it like normal. Afterwards both times, I went to Il Laboratorio del Gelato, which I've been meaning to go to. The first time I didn't go to crazy, and got coconut and mexican cinnamon. But the second time, I felt much more adventurous, even sampling olive oil gelato (not very good). So I got honey lavender and cheddar cheese. And I finally got my gift from Elgene! Excited to use the nail polishes, especially my very own Chanel polish!!

Leftover fashion week plus last week in food

This season, I've been really good about pinning my favorite looks to my runway pinterest board. Most people I know have pretty much abandoned pinterest at this point. I'll admit to being a fairly infrequent user (compared to twitter or tumblr at least), but I do like having a virtual mood board of runway looks, bags I'm coveting, etc. Here are the looks I liked from London and Milan fashion week (all images via nymag).

Matthew Williamson

Clements Ribeiro

Blugirl

Burberry Prorsum

Blumarine

Issa

Moschino Cheap & Chic

Missoni

Cynthia Rowley

Last week I had dinner with two friends. The first night, I went to Bowery Diner, which I had read about last spring. I ended up getting the seasonal pie milkshake and mac n cheese. Both were really, really good and very rich. And the portions were quite generous. The next day, I went to Joe's Shanghai and feasted on soup dumplings! Afterwards, we got ice cream at Blue Marble in this food market in TriBeCa called All Good Things.

been craving mac n cheese, this more that satisfied it.

Burnt sugar ice cream in a pretzel cone

Enviable hair

First week of senior year

One (almost two!) weeks done, only I don't know how many left until graduation. I can't believe that it's already my last year of college. Ever since I came back from abroad, time has gone by so fast. Seriously, junior year went by so fast. I feel like I say this a lot, but this year I actually want to do all the things I've never had time to do. Not sure how I'll fit that in with school, internship and work, but I always seem to manage. 

This past week was fashion week, so looking at the collections kept me pretty engaged every night. Check out my fashion week post for a round up of all my favorite collections and looks. One of the biggest trends I'm excited about is colored hair extensions! I tried coloring my hair (somewhat unsuccessfully) over the summer, and seeing all the collections might be the push I need to actually commit and bleach my hair......but baby steps for now.

Besides fashion, my week was filled with my usual. Food, new friends, new classes, new notebooks, etc. My suitemates and I went to Social Eatz to celebrate senior year. Everything was amazing. I got the asian market salad and ribs appetizer. But the fried chicken (which my suitemate got) was outstanding. Next time I go, I am definitely getting the fried chicken. The drinks were fruity....but super strong. ick.

the lychee mix in is amazing. Kelvin needs to have it more often 

new kitty ring!

new (but painful) shoes

obsessed with my nails.

my not so lazy days of summer

I can't believe it's already the middle of August....this summer has literally flown by.

Things that are currently on my mind:

• worrying about the new intern who will take my place (and everything I will have to teach him/her)
• worrying about my next (potential) internship at a very well known publication (and no, it does not start with V)
• worrying about my school schedule and those pesky wait lists
• worrying about moving this week
• worrying about packing
• worrying about my weekend job schedule

Sounds depressing....but I have little things to look forward to. Like a sweet treat at the end of the day in the form of Trader Joe's Coconut Bon Bons. Amazing. Also, just looking at all the beautiful clothes at my internship. These days, I am obsessed with the French brand Carven. I love their prints, bright colors and amazing platform shoes. 

Here are some pics from the last month, including my trip to California for my cousin's wedding!

delicious cornflake encrusted french toast

my sister, posing on our hike

new pair of AS sunnies, courtesy of Elgene

the LA sunset from my cousin's house

super yummy yogurt with strawberries and oreos mixed in

I promise once this summer is over, I will be back to my regularly scheduled, weekly posts.

I've been a little m.i.a. recently....I blame this on my new job. Working 7 days a week is definitely not as easy as it sounds (not that it sounds all that easy). Instead of recounting everything I've done for the past 4 weeks, I'll post some highlight pics. Plus, I'm also working on two more posts for the near future. One about my hair and another about my recent diy friendship bracelets.