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.

Remainder of Winter Break

I've been quite bad about posting as of late. School started this week, and I'm still very much not in school mode. Because of my exam schedule last semester (or lack of) my winter break was extra long—five weeks! But now I am back to my busy busy life, which this semester consists of 6 classes (18 credits) and interning in Brooklyn three times a week.
Here is a glimpse of my birthday celebrations (both at home and in ny with my friends) and our first #girlsweekend where my mum, sister and I saw Darren Criss in How to Succeed!!

clam pizza at Otto

Raspberry-lychee bellini at Mercer Kitchen

Tuna wasabi pizza

salmon and mashed potatoes

almond ice cream bar

Four flowers juice: orange, pineapple, banana and pomegranate juice

lemon ricotta pancakes

ramen at Ramen Setagaya

My week in inconsistent weather

I started off the week by seeing my roommate's show, The Triangle Project. It is based on the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire, and this year marks the 100th anniversary. Half the play was outside, in the northeast corner of Washington Square Park. Actors were placed in a circuit, and the audience was split into three groups and rotated around the loop.

I mentioned last week how I'm obsessed with sweet potatoes. I still am. This week, I decided to make mashed sweet potatoes, using the same ingredients as the fries. Check out my earlier post for the recipe!

Thursday, in Union Square they started setting up the holiday shops! I can't wait to take advantage of all the yummy food vendors! Thursday was also unseasonably warm. In the morning, I comfortably walked to the gym in shorts and a tshirt.

Friday, at work we had the first day of our sample sale! I was able to snag a blouse and a headband before the doors opened. Good thing because the blouse rack was ransacked!

before 

this lady brought her extra fluffy doggy!!

I also really liked my outfit on Friday, but sadly I wasn't able to snap a full length pic. I wore a white collared shirt, light grey cashmere sweater, black cropped pants and my glitter oxfords. I got a lot of complements on my shoes! But I certainly felt foolish for my bare ankles!

Snapshots from the week:

switched pencil cases. (left is the old one)

Macy's windows 

Herald Sq 

Brooks Brothers Flatiron 

baby parade in the distance! 

hk decorations!! 

Jeep PR stunt

my week in (free) food!

This week was quite busy. I had two presentations (including one for ~Stern) and a midterm. ick. The week started off on Sunday with a group meeting for my EMI presentation. To make things more cheery, I wore my macaroon t-shirt! Of course it was cold, so I had to cover up the macaroons with a sweater.

Tuesday morning, I had an interview for next semester's internship. gah. I hate interviews. I'm not entirely sure how this one went, but I hope I get it! It was pretty cold, so I wore one of the jackets I got made in Shanghai for the first time! I love the shape and the furry collar! I wish I had another one in black!

Tuesday night I had another group meeting at 7:30, so it just made sense to stay on campus and do work until then. I saw on twitter that Artichoke's Macdougal location was doing a 2 for 1 deal for NYU students. So my friend Rose and I went! We both got the crab slices. Yummy!

Thursday I got a free lunch from Rickshaw Dumplings and Kelvin Slush!! Thanks to Mastercard, every Thursday until November 17 the ten best food trucks in the city will have free lunch for #PricelessNY! I hope the locations will rotate every week. This week Rickshaw Dumpling and Kelvin Slush were on University between 13 and 14th st, so I went right when they opened (or were supposed to open) as a study break. I got the Thai Chicken and basil dumplings and the special slush of the day, Arnold Palmer with cherry mix in. I really liked the peanut sauce that went with the dumplings, so much that I ran out with two dumplings left! And it was also my first time trying the Arnold Palmer slush, (I usually get a citrus base with a fruit mix in) and it was so good!

Saturday, it snowed! A record breaking one inch!! I couldn't believe it until I saw the big, fluffy flakes from my window. I certainly did not go outside yesterday...I heard it was miserable.

Snapshots from the week

near WSP

I was entranced by how fluffy her vest is!!

that weird time period between fall and winter.

ok, I couldn't come up with anything clever, but I think the title is pretty self explanatory. In New York, we've definitely reached that period (temperature wise) where it's pretty chilly to just wear my fall coat, but not quite cold enough to wear my winter coat. I was telling my mom about this sometime last week, and she suggested I start layering one of my fur vests underneath my coat. One word: genius. I don't care how ridiculous I may look, I'm sooo warm. At first, I was a bit self conscious about having this giant furry collar-esque thing peeking out of my coat, but now I love it! I love the way the "grandma fur" peeks out and contrasts with my military jacket. so cute.

Uniqlo +J shirtdress, Nordstrom faux fur vest, H&M military jacket