Miu Miu Studded Bow Ballet Flats

I'm in love....

too bad they're $450.

impulsive shopping rocks.

yesterday i was feeling blah and became determined to get this pretty tory burch wallet (in black)...
so i ended up calling about 4 stores and finally found/bought it. and basically spent all of the cash in my [old] wallet. but I'm happy :) its pretty and has tons of pockets to keep me organized. woohooo. although the pattern isn't parallel to the seam on mine. i just noticed today. but oh well??

definitely, maybe is DEFINITELY a good movie (i'm cool.)

IT'S NOW ON DEMAND!

synopsis ala wikipedia:

Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) is a 38-year-old father who is in the midst of a divorce. His 10-year-old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) lives with her mother but is with him twice a week. On one of these occasions she questions him about his life before marriage. After her first sex-ed class, Maya first asks and then insists on hearing the story of how her parents met and decided to get married. Will gives in, but decides to change the names and some facts, thereby creating a love mystery, with Maya guessing which of the women will be her mom. The story he tells Maya is depicted in long flashbacks. From time to time the film switches back to the present, where Maya comments and asks questions.

i love this movie. ryan reynolds is hilarious. and sooo pretty. haha. the dynamic between him and abigail bresline is sooo cute. and the movie's full of the most adorable/romantic moments that just make you swooon. i may or may not have cried twice the first time i watched it..

check it out and tell me what you thinkkk

BABY G'S! HOLLER.

oh heyyyy lookie here. For all of you who aren't aware..these are Baby G watches, which were the obsessions of every middle school girl in the early 2000's. Well, technically they're all not Baby G's and some are just plain G-shocks..but whatevs, they look the same.

Courteney brought these watches to my attention while she was browsing shopbop at work a few weeks ago. A few days later at HP 6 (midnight showing, of course) Ellie told me her friend who's interning at teen people had mentioned to her that the mag was going to showcase the watches in various spreads. [Yeah these are from a while back...i've just been too busy to blog these days..sadface] I just looked on the official website and it's looking pretty fancy.

...um, so could these watches seriously be making a comeback??

At first i thought this was absolutely ridiculous. why the hell would shopbop be selling these; they just scream young, tween girl! But after some time, i'm starting to warm up to the watches and here's why:

1. They're functional. I, of course, googled the history of G-shock. Casio made these watches to withstand shocks and water. Talk about fancy! You'll know what time it is while doing ANY activity. woooo


2. They're on trend..ish. Bold colors and accents seem to be all the rage currently.


3. They're delightfully tacky. Its design is from the 80's. they're bulky and not something i'd automatically think as pretty. I'm staring to think that their clunky style is fun. haha. and also -- why not play up the whole ironic thing by rocking your middle school watch?!

So i've decided to start looking for my Baby-G and totes plan on rocking it back in the 'paign. yeahhhh wuddup.

(i'll post a picture of my beauty once i can find it!!)

sooo my mom's been out of town...

...and i've been living off of take-out and microwaveable foods. Especially these bad boys:

all vegan. and all fuckin addictive. it only takes 2 minutes from freezer to deliciousnessssss. I'm def bringing cases of these down to school.

"Much Better" by Jonas Brothers

I'm totally digging this song. And not in a omg-this-is-so-poppy-i-love-it way, but actually in a wow-this-is-quality-music way. anddd those hyphens were very uneccssary. anywhoo

Number one reason -- it bashes Taylor Swift...just kidding haha. I think the lyrics are really cute and seem genuine. The melody is pretty and I really like the structure of the chorus.

My only complaint is the guitar solo toward the end. It just doesn't really go with the song. The song is sweet and simple and I feel like the instrumental solo is soo cheesy and almost ruins that.

Would it be bad if I used garageband to cut it out??

aaaanyways, enjoy.

sooo i need glasses (round two...)

so yeah, the first round of glasses did not turn out well. I HATED all of them. and the one other frames they brought in for me sucked just as bad. i was quite angry. But we luckily found a new store with pretty frames that worked for me. yayyyyy. so yeah, I went back today and have narrowed it down to two (both of which i love so this is gonna be a hard decision..)
The black version has a white trim that just looks gross. sooooo how bout tortoise??

yeahhh we thought the tortoise-y color was more fun and classy. haha. The black was a little TOO plain.

sidenote -- soo the 2nd pair are made by oliver peoples. anyone else thinking that oliver peoples sounds familiar? I just remember it from american psycho. haha. and yeahhh i'm reading the book now. woooo

blahhhh i need more time to blog :(

wooohooo shopping for eyeglasses!

I'm between these two!! They're ordering them in a wider size and I get to try them on next week. woooooooooo

anthropologie makes me psychoanalyze myself. cool.

Look what I got in the mail from anthropologie -- a fun cloth card holder that came with a 15% off coupon to use during my birthday month!

The case probs didn't cost much for anthro to give out but it still cheered me up because they didn't neeeed to give them out...I still would've used the coupon fsho. especially since they're giving me 2 weeks to save up! haha

I looove extra details, even if they're seemingly small. They like, really make me happy. I think that's why I love wrapping things with ribbons and making colorful cards -- because they're my subtle way of showing people that I care for them (by taking the time to make whatever I'm giving them pretty). I once returned someone's retainer in a cellophane bag tied with a ribbon. true story.

So I ask all (3) of my readers -- What seemingly small/rando things really cheer you up?? What do you think that says about you..? Do you think it has to do with our subconscious faith in the golden rule aka "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." and we do it in hopes of ppl returning the gesture? just thinking...

haha later

ps--check out Let Them Eat Ricecake on my nails....hollerrrr

My foray into food porn (brown chicken brown cow...)

ohhhh the oddities of food culture. In case you didn't know, wiki defines food porn as:

a sarcastic term variously applied to a spectacular visual presentation of cooking or eating in advertisements, infomercials, cooking shows or other visual media, foods boasting a high fat and calorie content^[1], exotic dishes that arouse a desire to eat^[2] or the glorification of food as a substitute for sex.[3]

There are plenty of blogs that post pictures daily. (check out foodporndaily or the flickr group) My current obsession, Anthony Bordain, even did a special episode of No Reservations devoted to it a few months back.

So I thought I'd give it a shot. Here's what I made for my mom's birthday last week. get ur sleezy music going...

I delivered a box of brownies. These had walnuts and chocolate chips...

And then I also made dinner...

Heirloom Tomato Salad. Heirloom tomatoes with EVOO, salt and coursely cracked black pepper. And I sprinkled some extra diced shallot I had on hand....bad idea, it looks weird and didn't really do much in terms of flavor.





New York Strip on a Bed of Arugula with a Sherry Vinaigrette. The steak was just pan seared and finished in the oven. I would've liked to have had extra black pepper or bleu cheese for more kick but Nancy doesn't like either of them too much. I don't know how she's my mother...



Baby Portobello Mushrooms Roasted in a Merlot Reduction. To make the sauce the mushrooms were roasted in, I made a roux in the pan I used to cook my steak, added shallots and garlic and then deglazed with some merlot. These turned out to be the best part of the meal. Should have made more..whoops.



wuddup.

UPDATE - Idk why the thumbnails are so blurry. arghhhh

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

This movie's being played on the HBO channels like no other and I decided to finally watch it. uh...great decision because I LOOOOVED it. This movie takes place right before WWII in London. In a nutshell, it's about a nanny who gets dropped from her employment agency for being "too difficult" and ends up working as a social secretary for an American actress. You watch the two of them spend crazy-filled day together, hence the name.

Since I love using lists to organize my thoughts....here goes another one.

Why swong liked Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day:

1. First off - it deals with the high society of London in the late 30's. Meaning the costumes and scenes are totally fab.
2. Amy Adam's character is adorable. Well, at first she's really annoying but the more you get to know her and find out about her inner struggles, the more you relate to/fall in love with her.
3. Same thing goes for Ms. Pettigrew
4. pretty boys in pretty clothes..?
5. i really like the movie's short timeframe. it's nice to think that the happenings of only one day can significantly change your life.
   
6. it's sappy but not in an omg-i-wanna-throw-up sort of way.
7. there's a happy ending! yayyyyyyy
   

So I found out that this was based on book written in 1938! (thanks google and wikipedia) Universal actually bought the rights to make it into a movie a year after it came out, 1939. But yeah...it never actually got made into movie until 2008. How weird?? It's kind of interesting that many of the issues from 70+ years ago are still relevant today. Anyways, I'm not a big fan of reading but I think i'll check it out.

hollerrrr

Free People Kona Ruffle Dress

soooooo I was checking out Free People's website and came across this beauty:

Reasons I love/want this dress:

1. I'm liking the purple.
2. It's short!
3. It has a dramatic neckline and back.
4. There's a fun, sparkly tank that (i think) comes with
5. It can be casual or dressy.
   
6. THERE ARE RUFFLESSSSSSSS
   

But I'm wondering if it's too similar to a dress I already have...(mine's black)

Thoughts??

Urban Outfitter's Yard Sale

Let's Go!

spending a day in the city on a budget.

so my girl, sarah, is being all fancy and chilling in paris right now. but she's coming back soon, yayyyyy. i can't wait till she's home and we can play in the city. but problem--we're both pretty much broke. but that's not gonna stop us from having fun.

well the first thing I decided to do was to look at was metromix, of course. And woohoo, they actually have list of FREE events going on this summer. Check it out here.

These are some of the free events that caught my eye:

workout in millennium park! umm..THERE'S ZUMBA. and we all know how much i looove zumba. the body combat class also caught my eye. um..workout class for free? awesome. andd it's in millennium park meaning we get to enjoy chitown's beaaaaaaaaaaatiful skyline.


Outdoor movie screenings! there's the chicago park district's Movies in the Park and also the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival in Grant Park.
They allow you to picnic and BYOB (yayy). a cute picnic while watching a fun movie..I'm in! ANDDD it'd be cheaper than going out to a restaurant for dinner!


Oh, and Summerdance but I already mentioned that in my last post...

And they also have a pretty extensive list of festivals that are going on. Festivals are great because they occupy a large chuck of your day (ie getting there, finding parking, walking, checking stuff out...) and you usually don't have to spend that much money. And it's always great checking out different neighborhoods. The only sucky part is falling in love with stuff that you know you're not supposed to buy. but yeah! there's a shitton on this list.

Lastly..i know going shopping probably wouldn't be the best idea for us. BUT - going to bucktown wouldn't be too bad, right?

here's why i think we'd be ok:

1. first off- brunch at bongo room (pictured). the portions are HUGE meaning we can just share stuff. AND you can order single pancakes!
2. there's the marc by marc jacobs store with a tonnn of cheap and fun knick knacks. the last time we went there, I got a really fun ring for only $10.
   
3. And if we did wanna buy clothing, there's beta boutique. to put it simply--it's a year round sample sale. so i mean yeahhh we'd be spending money...but it's on good deals!

soooo yeah! COME HOME ASAP MS TUCHLER. AND LEMME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. holler.

let's swing! (east coast swing, that is)

anyone remember/still watch So You Think You Can Dance?

I never really watched the show but I ended up seeing the second season's tour (shoutout to samy, minj, and wesley). It actually turned out to be a fun night - the show was pretty entertaining, we got krispy kremes, and we also ended up driving through o'hare parking deck after getting lost. another highlight was hearing that kt tunstal song 638504 times in one night. so yeah, the winner was this boy named Benji Schwimmer.

(the one one on the right, duhh)

Schwimmer..? Yes, he is related to the oh-so-adorable David Schwimmer. I think they're cousins. jk, i know they are. haha.

anywayyys the reason I bring this up is because I was checking out articles from the Daily Illini and found out that Benji's currently by chambana filming a movie. It's some rando independent movie that according to the DI, " is a coming-of-age story of a ballroom stage mother and her daughters figuring out their roles both within the family and on the dancefloor". ummm yeahhh. sounds lame. BUT AH BENJI SCHWIMMER IN THE C-U. too weird!

...and that got me thinking about West Coast Swing, aka Benji's area of dance expertise. Being the avid Googler that I am, I looked up what exactly WCS was and if there were any cheap classes available.

According to to wikipedia:

West Coast Swing (WCS) is a partner dance derived from Lindy Hop. It is characterised by a distinctive elastic look that results from its basic extension-compression technique of partner connection, and is danced primarily in a slotted area on the dance floor. The dance allows for both partners to improvise steps while dancing together.

There aren't any cheap classes for WCS but there's a FREE East Coast Swing lesson at Grant Park June 27th! (Apparently ECS is the more common form of swing..) I mean, it's not Benji Schwimmer's area of dance...but I think that'll be alright. haha. lemme know if u wanna go! cuz i def do. did i mention it's FREE!??!?!

otter pops vs. flav-or-ice

chatting w/ anashe right now.

homegirl just got back from study-snack shopping and told me how excited she was for the otter pops she just bought. um...otter pops?

google search time!

THESE are otter pops:

...defintely SO much more awesome than flav-or-ice.

i've never seen otter pops before! I wish they sold them in the chi. ahhh the pictures of the otters are so adorable! i'm sure they probably taste the same but I'd rather have the ones with cuter packaging. duhhhhh.

thoughts???

EDIT: I just found out they're made by the same company....

so this is jaimie foxx's entourage..?

so wanna know what's on tv at 4:30 in the morning? not much...shocking, i know. I'm watching music videos on vh1 right now. Shown above is a screenshot of the beginning scene of "Blame it on the Alcohol". Anyone else perplexed by the choice people going to the club with jamie foxx?!?! Jake Gyllenhaal, Forrest Whittaker, RON HOWARD?!

interesting....

organizing advice from swong??

yes, as we all know...stephanie wong may not be the most organized person. So what if I've lost three phones in the past year??

But here's something that's actually a good idea. A small expandable, 13-pocket folder to hold your receipts. It comes with labels for every month so it's pretty easy to figure out how to organize ur shit. Why would one need to do this..??

Well here are two stories--they're relavent, so just go with me.

1. Yesterday, ms. caroline lavery and I went shopping/job hunting for me. We stopped by Cusp and saw that the shoes she bought a few weeks ago were now on sale. by A LOT. Well since she bought them within 30 days ago, she could just exchange them and get the difference, no biggie...right?? ohhhhhhh but ms. lavery had no idea where that receipt was. meaning...she just lost out on the huuge discount. i know i've done this many times. and its such a bummer :(
   
2. Today i went shopping in Old Orchard and bought these suuuper fun betsey johnson studs. i'll probably be rocking them all of the time so it's not worth posting a picture, haha. Anywayys i first bought them at Bloomie's. (THEY HAVE AN ADDTIONAL 40% OFF SALE GOING ON BTW) But...i later found them at a cheaper price at nordstroms! thank JESUS i had my receipt with me cuz i just returned the other ones and yayyy i saved money.
3. oh, another story -- my dad always asks to see my receipts and i never have all of them with me. haha
   

so...yeah, keeping your receipts is a good idea. You never know when you might need them. And also, it'll help me with the whole keeping-track-of-my-money thing. YEAHH. These folders are a great way to help you do this and they're less than $4 dollars! And think of the possible additional savings you could be getting...

(I looked on Office Max and Office Depot's websites and neither of them sell it online. Sorry.)

OH ps CL--i totes got you one :)

OPI's Let Them Eat Rice Cake

As you may or may not know, my new favorite nail color for the spring/summer is OPI's Let Them Eat Rice Cake (pictured). I discovered it on accident, thinking it was color I had tried on before.

I know the latest craze are crazy bright colors like coral, yellow and blue, but I just can't pull them off. They're really fun but I feel like my spring and summer clothes are too busy to have such intense nail colors.

That's why i LOOOVE this color. it's a really soft pinkish lavender. it looks a lot different on than in the bottle, ps. i love it because it's still a pop of color but neutral enough to match with anything.

ANYWAYS. I finally went to buy my own bottle because the whole getting-a-manicure-every-week thing is kindaaa not the best idea at the moment. I went to THREE DIFFERENT ULTA STORES and couldn't find it. arghhh. After a quick google search, i found out OPI discontinued this color. um.. I'M SO ANGRYY. haha. I found some places online that I can order from and I plan on buying like three bottles. haha. lemme know if ur interested too so we can split the shipping costs.

good deal!

...woohoo for having the worst sleeping schedule ever. but hey... an old episode of Good Deal with Dave Lieberman is on!!

i loved this show! dave presented delicious, easy and cheap recipes that were impressive enough to entertain friend with. GREAT CONCEPT. he went to yale and got into the food biz after doing a local cooking show and earning extra cash catering meals aroud campus. what a cutieee. i never understood why his career on the FN was so short lived. I mean, i guessss he was kind of awkward in front of the camera. but w/e. haha. anyways, I decided to see what he's been up to.

here's what i learned:

• he has a new website! and a blog. and a twitter account
• he's working on a cookbook that should be out in a year. (i really hope the culinary POV in this book is similar to Good Deal)
  
• he's currently traveling around the world as a contributing editor for Saveur magazine
  
• he's working on "a few tv projects" (woot!)