Something purple...

When I first ventured to Balenciaga, I noticed that they have so many pretty colors. Of course I have to check what my favorite color looks like. I first saw it in the regular hardware and even though I like it, I never felt that I *need* it. But after I saw it in giant hardware...It was love at first sight! I was originally looking for the City size, but ended up with Work...

*drumroll*

2007 Violet SGH Work!!!!!

No more Balenciaga for a while for me. I haven't seen other color that makes me want to buy it ;)

The first bag that made me fall in love with LV

I've been searching high and low for this bag ever since I saw it. It's a limited edition item, so the boutique does not have it anymore and people are selling it for crazy high prices online. Fortunately, I'm patient enough and I could finally get my hand on one of them...plus, I got the one that's not even sold in US!! Are you curious enough now? ;)

Without further ado...presenting Miss Watercolor Speedy 30!!!!

Isn't it pretty?!?! It comes with the base shapper too! Cannot be happier!

Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

I've recently gotten a dessert cook book from a darling online friend so I'm trying to bake more often and try each one of the recipes. One of the recipe that got my attention is the Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies. I've never made shortbread before, but it turned out really good and easy! Here's the end result of the cookies. I could not find hazelnut, so I substituted it with almond. It still tasted GOOD! Highly recommended!

Hazelnut Shortbread
Prep time: 40 mins
Total time: ~2hr
Yield: 48 shortbread rectangles

Ingredients:

• 250ml/1 cup whole hazelnuts, toasted, divided
• 250ml/1 cup butter(2 sticks), softened
• 175ml/.75 cup powdered sugar
• 5ml/1 tsp double strength vanilla(I used regular vanilla)
• 425ml/1.75 cup all purpose flour
• 125ml/0.5 cup chocolate hazelnut spread(I used Nutella spread)
• 1 square(1 oz/30g) unsweetened chocolate for baking, chopped(I used milk chocolate for baking)

Mix Dough.

• Preheat oven to 325F/160C. Line small sheet pan with parchment paper, allowing 1in, to extend past sides; set aside. Grate 3tbsp of the hazelnut. Place butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl, beat on medium speed electric hand mixer until creamy. Gradually add flour and grated hazelnuts. Mix on low speed until dry ingredients begin to blend with butter mixture. Increase speed to medium-high and beat just until mixture forms into a dough.

Bake shortbread and cut into rectangles.

• Distribute dough over bottom of prepared pan. Roll using lightly flour roller to create an even thickness. Bake 43-45 minutes or until deep golden brown. Remove pan from oven to a cooling rack. Cool 10 minutes. Lift parchment and shortbread from pan. Invert shortbread into cutting board. Remove parchment and immediately cut warm shortbread lengthwise into eight rows and crosswise into sixth to make 48 small rectangles. Spread rectangles slightly apart, cool completely.

Coat in chocolate and chopped hazelnut

• Coarsely chop remaining hazelnut using food chopper and place in coating tray. Place hazelnut spread and chocolate in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on high 60-75 seconds or until melted and smooth, stirring after 1 minutes. Dip one end of each shortbread rectangle into chocolate mixture and roll in nuts, coating all sides. Place on parchment-lined surface to set. If chocolate mixture begins to thicken, return to microwave 10-15 seconds or just until it thins but is not hot.

Busy month ahead

I'm going to be officially busy for at least a month. Indah is coming to town starting tomorrow and we have LOADS to do. Plus with the release coming up at work, I would be restless in October.

Current schedule:
* 10/2 weekend: Santa Rosa (Indah's packing)
* 10/6-10/9: Vegas girls trip!!
* 10/15 weekend: Erlin is here too and it's Indah's last weekend here, so we'll probably go somewhere and eat a lot.
* 10/18: statistic midterm
* 10/22 weekend: Doyo's wedding party
* 10/25: release date
* 10/30 weekend: archery

I hope everything will go smoothly. I know I would at least have so much fun, but kinda' worried for the release and midterm. We'll see how that works out.

Bags Acquired Recently

I've been so busy shopping for the past couple of months and my collection is almost complete! I'm only longing for a Trevi PM, which hopefully I will get sometime later this year. Here are my haul...I still have some coming, but I'll reveal those one by one :)

BV Med Ebano / Chanel Hybrid Jumbo
LV Azur Speedy 30 / LV Vernis Houston Indigo

MJ Mina in Navy Blue / LV Trevi GM
Hermes Bearn Etoupe Chevre / LV Vernis Roxbury Drive

Help me find my Trevi PM so my collection will be complete....at least for some time before I find something else I want to have :)

 

 

 

Jewelry Making

Ever since I started joining the beading club at work, I've been making some costume jewelries in my spare time. I bought so many beads from Indo last time I was there, but sometimes I just don't have any ideas what to make. I just completed three recently. A bracelet and two necklaces. 

 

The bracelet is a tad too big for me. but I LOVE the necklace. It took me a while to finish the bib one because there are so many layers to it, but I enjoy making it. Let's see if more ideas strike me so I can create more. Thinking of opening my own etsy store, but usually after a while I would get bored at it and just leave it hanging...kinda' like this blog... :(

My friend is coming from Indo soon, so I've asked her to bring some new beads for me. It's so much cheaper buying there than here, so hopefully she'll pick some good beads! Here are my current beads..

 

 

 

 

It's not a lot, but enough to get me started. Plus we have lots more beads at the beading club at work that I can use as well. Let's hope I won't get bored easily with this.

I'm back from my vacation. Well, actually it's mo...

I'm back from my vacation. Well, actually it's more than a month after I'm back. Life has been pretty busy lately and I didn't have time to update this blog. Seems like keeping a resolution to keep writing on a blog is not really an easy one for me >.<

We went rafting last weekend and it was SO MUCH FUN! We have 12 people in our group and we split into 2 rafts. It was pretty scary when we stuck on the rock, but other than that, everything went well :D

I made A LOT of new purchases and also sold a lot of my bags. There are so many things in my W/L right now, but I need to stick to several bags I *really* want: Chanel Medium/Large Camera Bag, LV Damier Trevi PM and Balenciaga Raisin/Sapphire with GH. I shouldn't buy more since I recently got one of my W/L item which is the LV L/E Speedy Watercolor 30!! Plus a medium Ebano Veneta! I'm in cloud 9!!

2 Long Weeks of My Life!

I haven't had time lately to update this blog and I'm still trying to keep my resolution of getting this blog updated every once a while. Not many interesting things happened this last 2 weeks. I spent most of my time in the office trying to finish everything before my trip this Wednesday. I finally finished everything today. Tomorrow is my last day before my 3 weeks vacation back to Indo :D

Gembul graduated last weekend. I'll post some pics later after I get it uploaded. We went cherry and peach picking in Brentwood last Sunday. It was freakin' HOT! I feel like I almost collapsed. We managed to pick 3lbs of cherry and 9lbs of peach. The cherry is pretty sweet and the peach is okay. We tried some nectarines and apricot as well, but those weren't that good. I haven't uploaded any of the pics, so I will update it when I do.

I don't have anything much to tell. Haven't really shop for a while. I only bought a Hermes scarf in my favorite color, purple, but I haven't taken any pics of it. I promise I will post pics when things after I'm back from vacay! See you in a month!!

What to do during long weekend? Eat...eat...and eat...

For Memorial Day weekend, we decided to go to Los Angeles for 3.5 days. We wanted to avoid traffic, so we left on Thursday night after work. We were planning to leave at 7pm, but there were a lot of complication when we tried to pick up the rental car, so we finally left ~9.30pm. We reached the hotel ~2.30pm and off we go to bed....straight until 12pm!

We woke up and got ready for our first eating adventure. The traffic is reeaaallllllyyyyy bad. We only have to travel 17 miles, but it took us almost 2 hours to reach the restaurant. We were there just 30 minutes before it closed. The foods are delicious! Some of it are a bit too sweet, but overall everything is really good. Presenting, brunch foods from The Griddles....

 

We had the alcoholic coffee drink, cream cheese and stuffed nutella french toasts as well as the classic egg benedicts.

After the so-called brunch, we went to Venice Beach for a bit and ended up in Culver City Westfield Mall. We didn't know what else to do as we didn't plan anything else but foods ;) Later that night, we were off to another food adventure. This time, we went to a yakitori place called Shin Sen Gumi. The foods are pretty much the same as Kokko, which is no complain good, but I thought I was going to try something new. Here are some previews. We definitely ordered more than these, but here are the ons that have good pictures.

 

 

We went home with full stomach and off to bed not long after that. We actually had some desserts in the hotel, but we'll post those later in the post. 

The next morning, we wake up a bit earlier, sometime around 10am or so. We had a lot of plan for Saturday. We started with Lunch in Little Tokyo @ Daikokuya Ramen where we met Donny. The ramen is not as I expected. The line is really long, but I think Ramen Dojo in San Mateo hands down beat this one. We ordered 2 different kind of ramens as well as the rice bowl and fried rice.

 

 

We walked around Little Tokyo for a while and ended up in a dessert place. We ordered some mochi-lato, which just taste okay. We then went to Universal Studio City Walk, but we just can't stand the heat, so off we go to Urth Cafe. The all round favorite is the Organic Green Tea Boba, followed by the popular Spanish Latte. I'll post pic of it later along with the desserts that I promised earlier. After cooling down for a while and the sun is not as bad as it was, we headed to Rodeo Dr. We went to Bottega Veneta to get my friend a bag. By that time, it's already past 6. We were planning to go to Getty Center an d Griffith Observatory after 5pm, because parking would be free by then. Luckily, traffic was not that bad. Getty Center is H.U.G.E.!! We only had ~2 hours to go around and it definitely not enough. We raced against time to go to Griffith Observatory. We stayed until it closed at 10pm and of course we went to get another foodies :D

We stopped by  Crumbs Cupcake to get some cupcakes for to go. And then we went to dinner at Toe Bang where we met with Paulus.  We were sooo hungry by that time. Fortunately, the foods were pretty good. But I didn't like the place that much because it's kinda' outdoor and people are allowed to smoke. Maybe for people who smoke, it would be okay. 
 

We were all exhausted by the end of the day. We went back and slept pretty early that night as we have to wake up earlier on Sunday to head home.

Sunday was the earliest we ever woke up for the entire trip. We woke up ~9am because we need to be ready by 12pm. We packed our bags and left the hotel ~12.30pm. The last meal of the trip was the best of all. We went to Newport Tan Cang Restaurant which is popular for its lobster. Usually the line would be 1-2 hours long, but we got really lucky and we barely waited 10 minutes there. Donny joined us for lunch again. We ordered a lot! They recommended us to order the medium size lobster, but, being greedy, I ordered the large size instead :p 

 

All of the foods are superb overall. The lobster was delish!! I would definitely go back. This restaurant wrapped up our entire trip. We stopped by Porto's to get some cheese rolls for coworkers and friends. We went to Angel's homestay so she could give back her keys and finally back to SF. 

Here are some dessert pics that I promised. Urth Cafe organic green tea and spanish latte, sweet lady jane chocolate cake and last but not least, different flavors of crumbs cupcakes. Sweet end of a lovely trip!

I've gone to the red side...

The last couple of days have been really hectic for me. Works have been super busy and I've been going home really late. But something cheers me up today when I come home...

Hint: it's not one of the ones in my previous post!!

Soooo...what is it?

It's the red bretelle with swarovski crystal!!! :D :D The crystal is really a bonus. It looks so pretty!

I was initially afraid that it won't fit since it's my first CL, but it fits perfectly! It makes me looks taller too, which is a big plus. I hope it would be comfortable when I wear it. I don't know where I would wear it to. The red is a bit too bright, I might have to buy a dress to match it :p

Louboutin Fever

 For the past couple of days, I've been drooling over some Louboutin shoes. I rarely wear kitten heels, let alone high heels. Plus I'm still trying to justify spending that much for shoes. It took me a while to justify spending $1000+ for bags and accessories and it already makes me broke! Let's just wish I won't have shoes addiction too :p I think peep-toe pump would work better for me because  my feet are pretty wide. Here are some that I really like..

 

Maybe in a couple of weeks, you will see another post(or posts) filled with Louboutin reveals ;)

 

Something sparkly arrived today..

I've been waiting for a week for this little something to get here. It was supposed to come yesterday, but noone is home to sign it. Finally today, after waiting since morning, it's here!!! Look at the white big box..

Hm..What's inside? Let's open it up!

And finallyyy...ta'daaaaa

My Balenciaga Stardust 09 City RH! I loveee the color. The leather feels different, but it's still gorgeous! I'm not a big fan of Balenciaga tassels, so I removed all the tassels and replaced it with my juicy charms. Here she is after the make-over..

Isn't she pretty? Definitely a keeper...at least for now :)

Baking day

Sooo last weekend, I don't really have anything to do and decided to bake something. Initially, I want to make a chiffon cheesecake. I bought all the ingredients and spent quite some time trying to make it. Unfortunately, that cake did not turn out as expected :( Out of disappointment, I google some easy dessert recipe and found this cake-pop. I immediately went to Safeway to buy the necessary ingredients. Instead of the red velvet cake, I decided to make a Vanilla cake instead. I mixed the cake with cream cheese frosting and made a cake ball. I sticked a coffee stirrer to make it looks like a lollipop :) Here's the cake before being dipped into chocolate..
 

 

And here's the chocolate melting on the stove..
 

I put the cake ball in the freezer for ~45minutes before I dipped it into chocolate and it does help the shape to stay still. I stayed until ~2am to finish this cake-pop and I should say it's well worth it!! Here's the final cake-pop this morning after getting dipped in chocolate and grated cheese(which is supposed to be for the cheesecake)...

 

 

 

First post!!!

Hi everyone! So this would be my next attempt to have a blog that I actually update. I've tried having a blog for couple of times before and ended up not updating it after 4-5 months, so first goal would be to regularly post on this blog for the whole year! We'll see if I can do that :D I don't know what kind of things I would post in this blog. It would range from my baby Whiskey, who is a 7-month-old pom/terrier puppy, my shopping addiction(bags and accessories and maybe later shoes ^_^), foods, my daily life or just some random babbling or favorite quotes at the moment. I really hope I can keep this blog alive for a while.

Anyway, it's weekend here. I don't have much plans for this weekend. Work has been very busy because of the tight deadline. Whiskey is still going to school tomorrow morning and I have a microderm appointment in the afternoon. We are planning to have dinner at Santana Row tomorrow night and I'm dropping off my lovely Chanel tote right afterwards. As much as I love the bag, I think I have to stick with classics. Plus I have so many unexpected bills to pay now >.<

Say goodbye to my lovely Chanel Expandable Tote...