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!)
  

jobless, but still shopping.

thanks jcrew....FOR THIS FUCKING LETTER TELLING ME I'M NOT HIRED. ugh. i didn't even know they sent letters to reject people. annnnd i'm still without a job. cool.




in other news, got this slub cardigan by splendid for $15 at the e-street tent sale! well, $16.20 with tax. AHH YAY. huuuuuge savings. it's more of a dark kakhi color and i love it. it's comfy, warm (ish) and makes an everyday outfit a bit more dressy! i actually ended up wearing it to dinner haha. with a white tank, black skinnies (yes, i know, bad for my health...) and my lovely brown fryes. wooohooo

20 years ago....

...this happened.

it's scary to think that a government could do something like this. i can't imagine a *civilized* country literally plowing people with tanks. sorry for my lack of eloquence, but wtf. it's even scarier to think about all of the secrecy that surrounds this thing. it's estimated that upwards to 5,000 people were killed. but who knows? like legit...no one really knows.

The LA times wrote a chilling article about how ordinary today was in Beijing. check it out here.

i can def attest to the article. i visited Beijing 3 years ago in the summer. all i can say was that going to tianamen was awk. i know that's my favorite word to use, but it honestly was awkward. before getting there our government-assigned tour guide just told us he wasn't going to answer any questions and there wasn't going to be talk about anything that might have happened. he was usually a fun and silly guy during the tour, but he was sooo serious on this day.

idk, I kind of expected a memorial or at least a somber mood when we got there. yeah, i was wrong. it was just another tourists' spot with happy tourists walking around taking pictures and chilling in with their matching hats. you would never have guessed that anything horrible had happened here. here are some pics i took...

did you know -- china's google is different. search "tiananmen sqaure" + "june 4th" and nothing will come up. if google here was restricted...idk what i'd do. i love knowing i have access to any info i want...even if it's on some stupid interest of mine.

i don't really have anything philisophical to end this with. but i thought i'd be important to bring up this thing. enjoy your day. holler.


-steph

yay, i'm blogging!

HEYO. so now that i'm home for the summer, currently jobless and don't start my class until next week, i basically do nothing with my life.

In case you were wondering, here's the typical day of Stephanie Jane Wong:

• 11ish - wake up, fb, gchat, watch some tv
• 12pm - get out of bed, wash up, eat something, fb/gchat some more
• 12:30pm - change into work out clothes and eventually go for a run
• 2pm - shower, mosey around the house, finally get ready
• 3:30pm - run meaningless errands (ex: get a manicure, get gas, get a second lunch...)
• 5pm - have dinner, figure out something to do for the night
• 7:30 pm - head out, do something random. stay out as late as i can. which is only until...
  
• 12:30am - lol, the parents don't like me out too late.
• 3/4am - finally fall asleep...
  

yeah, very lame.

i'm waiting to hear back from some places i sent an app to. let's hope that happens soon because well, i clearly need a job. in addition to occupying some time of my day, a job would also provide some extra money so i can do fun stuff. and by fun stuff i mean...buying pretty things. haha.

Things i've found roaming the web (click the pics for the accompanying link!):

this silk mara hoffman dress is on sale at tobi.com. love love loveeee. too bad i'm on a "budget". and even if i weren't it'd still def out of my price range. but anyhoo, it has everything that's perf for the summer! i'm a big fan of the fading that looks kinda like tie-dye but a bit fancier. and check out the dramatic neckline and funky twisted straps....swoon! i will be on the lookout for a more accessible (aka CHEAP) version of this.


max azria- please explain why you're teaming up for a line with MILEY CYRUS. and oh, SELLING THIS LINE AT WALMART. i mean, i'm def a supporter of designer colaborations (ie Target's GO and Matthew Williamson's line at H&M) but ughhh. i'm not a fan of this one. at all.

but hey...speaking of target and H&M, they're considered budget shopping, right?!



so...studies show that skinny jeans are bad for your health. (click the picture to see the article). even more reason to wear leggings as often as possible? i think so!






are those sperries and drivers i see on the jonas brothers?? (click for a bigger pic!) love it.




so there's apparently a lot of hate on cupcakes. anthony bordain and mario batali said "enough already!" or something like that when asked about them at a recent talk in Seattle. i'm glad the LA times believe that cupcakes are here to stay! it's actually a pretty interesting article, whether you're a cupcake fan or not. ch ch check it out.

Tomorrow my 3:30pm meaningless errand will be checking out the E-street tent sale. then probs some window shopping in hp. oh hey...i can start looking for thing from my birthday. i'm def going to williams sonoma for that. lemme know if you wanna meet up!!


later homies,
-steph