Morning after days are always spent in sobriety, under a hot shower silently rebuking myself for the bacchanalian nights before. Even as the steam flowers out and my mind is clouded with the guilt of the calories consumed in various drinks, their potency latent in ugly yellow cups.  In between the shopping jaunts, concert madness and partying frenzy I never took the time to consider, with bewilderment how interesting life has suddenly gotten. Before, school was a clockwork of assignments and tests with no time, money or energy left to have even a semblance of social life. How things have changed. From having gone to zero concerts to two on consecutive days. These days, I wake up whenever I want, do however I please and buy whatever I want with consideration for little. Of course my life as it is, cannot hope to be infinite. I will gradually settle down in Japan, with a (good) job hopefully, contributing to the house mortgage, pursuing graduate studies and paying off my student loans. Life will again be disciplined and grounded. The thing about being in America is that I’ve always associated this country with endless vacations. With my  parents as a child, then a teenager and now for my husband as an adult. An extended vacation is what it feels like, because I’m not fully integrated into the system and the main reason is because I don’t have school or work to anchor me down to assorted responsibilities which is essentially what life is about, these days. Curiously, happy as  I am, there is some nostalgia for honest, singapore days where I knew the value of time and money. Every minute was more words you could write in an exam, perhaps another point for extra points. Every cent went into beads and the collective investment in my business.These days, out of compulsion, money fritters away to feed my outrageous spending habits. To be fair, its hard to keep my greedy little hands off the cute purses at the Coach and Juicy Couture outlet stores with the foresight that these will be considerably more expensive in Japan/Singapore. Having an indulging husband who shares the same view also doesn’t help. But perhaps his indulgence is the result of a guilt borne from too many nights of separation from his job, money and gifts as material compensation in his absence — a trait he inherited it from his father.

Regardless, days like these are best spent in contemplation and uploading pictures of guilty purchases so here’s the loot from saturday and monday’s visit to the Queenstown outlet mall.

If only for the bling

$20 bucks, beat that! ( purchased on sat )

I love love love the bag and the tissue!

juicy watermelon tank I got on monday

SO summery and cute

how not to refuse such a buy?

you bet I’m going back

BCBG was next

Incredible deals, and khaki shorts for the summer are a must.

CK next to get Patrick a gift.. and found myself a pair of linen bermudas that I got for $34

Shopping in america makes me feel skinny bc of the sizes

surprise for my beloved hubby

juicy couture tracksuit I got on ebay for $75 only!

thats how much the pants and sweatshirt originally cost EACH :/

i love the glitter!

Next week I’ll be hitting up some other outlet malls outside the vegas strip, I hear they have Gucci and betsey johnson. It’s on!

// on a side note

its funny, thinking about shopping even cheers me up.

For those on a perpetual diet, here’s a nifty website I chanced upon online randomly. Best suited for ladies ( and blokes ) who want to shed those extra pounds or just watch what they consume:

http://caloriecount.about.com/

Its excellent for keeping tabs on what you eat everyday according to the calories you consume in each meal, and how much you compensate in activities albeit their brevity or vigor!

The whole weekend has been pretty amazing but Sarah and I are on a time crunch to do as much together as possible beore she drives back to Raleigh tomorrow. And in one day, within 11 hours we went to Eden’s Center for some good ole pho and bubble tea, headed down to DC, drive back up to Ocean City to the outlet mall, back down to Annapolis mall for H&M and for me to pick up a brush from Sephora and then home. It was crazy but incredible! Needless to say we spent too much at the malls and consumed too much calories at the cheesecake factory yesterday haha! All in the name of fun, and we eventually worked off all the calories today by walking around SO much, and ate asian food and subway both of which have lesser calories haha.

On a related topic, I am quite irritated at how long my assorted mail is taking to come hither. I am paranoid that things may not get here on time for our impending move next Monday. Like Crystal’s pen, my box of 50 envelops which is taking FOREVER to get here because the shipment has been delayed till the 28th originally for the 24th and it seems like its stuck  in CA so I dont know what the fuck is going on and hope to god that it gets here on the 28th. Also, my coat and dress from asos.com. The coat was said to be mailed out like a week ago but it still hasn’t shown up. And the dress was shipped out on thursday so hopefully they all get here on time. I’m most worried about the dress because its shipped out soo late and if the coat isnt here already the dress probably will take more than a week, and I may miss it.

Worse part is that when we are driving we are  on a time crunch bc we need to get to vegas on the dates set up with Kim and Jim already.

Argh.

On a happier note, sushi tomorrow woot and oh PATRICK GETS BACK IN A WEEK.

Don’t you just hate it when you can’t find something, or don’t remember where you left it?

Now imagine that you can’t find something and most of your shit has been shipped out anyway. I am uber frustrated now because a while ago, Crystal and I were talking about pens and the brand Waterman came up. Our our wedding present, dad gave Patrick a Waterman fountain pen and now I can’t remember for the life of me where I put it. I have a feeling its in its original box probably stashed away safely in the drawer. But I’m also deeply uncertain because when part of the cap came loose, I glued it back and for a while there it sat on the mantelpiece forsaken and forgotten. I remember that Patrick suddenly thought about it again, either randomly or because we were packing for the movers to arrive. He took it back and now I dont remember if I took it back from him and put it in its box. And its killing me that all our shit has been packed up so I can’t go down to my room to check.

sigh

And of course at this poignant moment of my neuroticism, Pat has to be inaccessible at work so I can’t call him to check either.

We used it at our wedding to sign the marriage cert:

Suddenly I am exhausted even th0ugh I woke up 5 hours ago. A nap shall be in order after the postman arrives with my birkenstocks. usd$30 what a deal!

Listening to Mozart’s requiem kyrie eleison when its storming outside is darkly beautiful in a sinister way not unlike a seánce. I took a walk in the woods and around the neighborhood at the calm before the storm. It was surreal, the air crackled with electricity and everything was still. Not a sound nor a whisper, it was as if even the trees feared even to rustle. A wild hare fled when I tripped on some branches. I never felt so alone and yet the solitude was captivating. There is something very alluring about a canvas of grey outlined by the ghostly silouettes of bare branches and when lightning splits the skies in two, the ghastly illumination turns the skies a diabolical white in a flash.

Spring showers are always so hopeful, with a bountiful of  promise that the rest  of the year will bring. Its hard to be miserable when you are warm inside with a heart full of quiet content.

I’ve always wanted to go to Vietnam, not because I am fascinated by the militaristic history of  Uncle Ho, or my epicurean obsession particularly with Pho but also because its starkly different from all that I know. From the skyscrapers of New York City, the rococo carvings of Paris, to the unsullied gravel roads of Singapore, Hanoi with its simplicity will warm my heart. Trips like these are always intimately beautiful both in their sights and sounds as well as their soul rendering effect. I’m hoping for another experience akin to Siem Reap, impoverished and profoundly despairing but I doubt I will find it in a big city like Hanoi tha is arguably much wealthier. Still, there is something surreal about Indo-China. I’ve decided to go in early to mid July after Pol Sci convocation ( on  Jul 6th, first batch to graduate on the 1st day of convo woot ). Crystal and I are looking to do this as a post-convo grad trip deux because flights are going at a steal, and hotels are like $20 usd for double rooms at a night. Unbelievable!

Let me know if you’re down for it and I’ll let you in on the dealio.

Tickets must be booked asap.

My turn this July, finally.

//update// : convocation for all pol sci majors is on Jul 6th.

Several months back when the housing market was at the brink of collapse, I too got paranoid about the value of our house. Even though there has been several large developments in the area proxy to our house, like the building of a superwalmart like a 2 min drive away, a lowes, a costco, a lazy boy store, a chevy chase bank, I still wasn’t sure if our housing value would remain impervious to the flailing real estate economy. But after speaking to several realtors ( no, we werent thinking of selling our house ), I was convi nced that the dc-md area is an anomaly in itself, not only because it is 30 miles from DC/Baltimore and 15 miles from Annapolis and 4 hours from the big apple but because Maryland is a small state and given the per capita there will always be need for housing. It also helps that we live so close to the National Security Agency and 10 minutes from Baltimore Washington International airport ( BWI ). Sure makes early morning flights a tad bit easier with the extra 10 mins of sleep. Today I read this article on forbes about how DC is one of the top best cities for jobs with the new Obama led stimulus including a generous treasury bailout. Apparently DC is the place to be, and how else could you be in want when you’re bored with DC, hop over to Baltimore. Craving for a smaller city, there is always Annapolis with her charming academy boys and old town feel.

I tell Patrick we are lucky to be stationed at Ft. Meade because this area is where it’s at. And thanks to the housing bail out, we’re saving an extra $300 a month on mortgage with our refinancing option.

So far, the economy in shambles has only been generous to us not just in terms of housing options but also because everything is on sale, even outlet stores are slashing their already low prices by half. I’m prepared to have a blast at the Dior and Gucci outlets in Cabazon ( CA ) and Vegas outlets when I go. My aunt also said that Disney who faced huge dips in sales this Spring and who had to retrench a bunch of staff, has put up an offer of buy one get one free park tickets when people go during the weekdays. So even though I am reluctant ( I’ve had bad experiences of throwing up and screaming kids on rides both times I was there ) to visit disneyland I will go at the insistence of my husband and my aunt. Happily, Gas prices are at their all time low, and hopefully will stay that way during our upcoming road trip.

Sarah will be driving up from NC next week and I am SO psyched to have her at my place. Having another girl will be a nice change from staying with a bunch of bachelors, who are nevertheless an awesome, fun bunch of people. But omg I cant wait to see the cherry blossoms in DC with Sarah and eat pho again at Eden’s center, hit up the Annapolis outlet malls. Its gonna be a while before I see her again after our DC rendezvous.

( us jumping off the steps of the UNC when I visited chapel hill for a week during spring break 08 )

Life is good

I was trawling tthe purse forum yesterday to authenticate a dior I’ve been eyeing but also because PF is my newest fixation when I came acrossanother lady on the forum who has TWENTY hermes birkin. If you are a purse philistine, I will have you know that one o those purses are at least $30,000 to 50,000 depending on the material used ( ostrich, crocodile etc )  and she has twenty of those motherfuckers. That is about the cost of our house!! Its insane, my eyes were literally popping out when I saw her pictures. She claims her husband is the owner of an IT consulting firm, well I guess that explains some but still if Jerry Yang’s salary is at a pallid 250,000 ( a year i think so it says on wiki ) which translates to 25,000 or the cost of ONE birkin a month how the fuck can someone who owns an IT consulting firm that isnt’t google make more? Crazy! Anyway her husband is a lot like mine, always surprising and buying her purses except Patrick’s gifts are COACH purses, one chanel and 3 guccis no where as extravagant as fucking hermes. That lady’s closet is chocked full of hermes boxes, louboutins, manolo blahniks ( both brands cost 500 to a thousand per pair ), chanel coats/jewelry/purses/shoes. FML! I highly doubt I will ever reach that kind of financial situation, especially not one like hers!! This is the stuff my dreams are made out of. Oh fyi she has the most awesome walk in closet, the one Patrick built me doesn’t even compare but I still love you darling for all the effort,time and money spent. I LOVE YOU!

But enough empty words, lets have pictures to prove

20 birkins!!

her entire top shelf is orange, orange for HERMES

MADNESS!

I’ve always had a thing for dollhouses and miniature furnitures so imagine how tickled I was when Crystal sent me a pink vanity mirror set all the way fr0m singy. SO CUTE. I’m even contemplating starting a collection of these only I’m sure they’ll cost a bomb But here are pictures for your amusement, it was a pretty day outside!