Erika S. fun stuffs, outfits

Mad for Plaid

Fall is finally starting to creep in here and temps are starting to become tolerable.  Good thing, as I’ve recently picked up a couple flannel shirts from Uniqlo and have been dying to experience some 90’s nostalgia while listening to Alice in Chains.

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sunnies, jeans (my favorite for the last year and so ridiculously cheap) and necklace: f21 – flannel: uniqlo – belt: j.crew – bag: freitag – shoes: vans

Uniqlo is my new favorite store, “fo real for real” as the teens like to say.  Basics with a little bit of flair for super reasonable prices.  Case in point, this $20 (normally $30, there was a special going on) flannel.  It’s warm, will carry me through fall and winter, I’ve been mad about plaid for some time now and the soft flannel makes me super huggable.  I need hugs.

ImageAlso, my mom is in town this week.  This means playing tourist through the 3 major chinatowns of New York.  Flushing’s chinatown/koreatown is the best, hands down.  A couple snaps of a scene in Manhattan’s chinatown: a square full of gambling old grandmas and the people who watch them.

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Erika S. fun stuffs, seriousness

“You should smile more” and other irritating comments.

Every time people (strangers and friends alike) tell me I should smile or ask why I’m so serious, I want to punch them in the face.  I’m not mad, that’s just how my face looks.

Leave me alone and please read this:

Don’t You Dare Ask My Why I Look Mad

image from here

Erika S. fun stuffs

dog biking

I took Bambi for a ride.  It was a trial ride, and she seemed fine for the most part.  She got antsy at one point, but I think it was just because she had to poop.

She got her need for speed in when B ran sprints with her across the main lawn at Prospect Park.

Erika S. fun stuffs

a little somethin somethin

instagram wrap up

Bombay Bicycle Club @ Webster Hall – check them out here.

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens – summer school field trip, the kids’ favorite part, the koi.

New computer!!  The weight difference between this Macbook Air and my old Macbook is amazeballs.  My shoulder can stop aching now, and my mom can replace her 9 year old dinosaur with a 2.5 year old dinosaur. (also, yesterday was my birthday.  yay for aging)

New clutch/carry all from Target.  I like the print, the color, but feel the price is a little high for the quality of the fabric.  I love the design of this, but not crazy about the color.  Should I get it for the fall and risk looking like a Coachella fail?Running poop on 5th ave.

American Museum of Natural History – not as great at the California Academy of Sciences, but pretty awesome in it’s own right.

Bambi is home!  I’m so happy to have my baby with me again.  She’s adjusting to apartment living, the heat and the new space.

Naruto Ramen on 5th Ave – my new neighborhood noodle place.

Kind of gross but kind of awesome lamp sighted at the Brooklyn Flea.

Erika S. fun stuffs

stuffs

stuff.

1.  brekky.  Reintroducing dairy into my diet with the biggest blueberries I’ve ever seen.  Also, this iced coffee mixed from this cold brew concentrate is amazeballs.  seriously.  It’s like Blue Bottle‘s New Orleans style iced coffee….always in your fridge.

2. My desk is all set up, and very cluttered already.

3. & 4. new glasses.  I visited the Warby Parker showroom last week to get my old Huxleys adjusted.  My eyes are still getting worse (-6.75 now), so I took the time to try on every single frame they carry for my new prescription.  Meet my new Becketts.  I still really like these and still want them, but I can’t justify paying over $150 for glasses (with Rx lenses) anymore since I discovered the plethora of online optical offerings such as Warby Parker (my fave), Bonlook, Mezzmer, and Tortoise & Blonde.

5. & 6. new pullover.  OMG so adrobs, right?  Who doesn’t like meerkats?  Yes, I know it was expensive ($80!! don’t tell my mom!), but I couldn’t resist.  So. damn. cute.  Sold out online, hop over to a Madewell store if you agree this cuteness is worth $80.

Erika S. fun stuffs

nailing the nails.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything for a number of reasons I won’t go into yet.  But here are some nails I’ve been banging out lately.

As you can see, I’m never perfect with nails, and it’s a constant battle to try and keep them from getting all messed up while waiting for them to dry.  I enjoy the process more than the end product.  I pin nail art, peruse for inspiration and get working.  Inspiration for some of of these designs came from here, here, here and here.

 

Erika S. fun stuffs, outfits

Dekalb Market

B and I rode our bikes over to Dekalb Market today.  The weather has cooled a bit and I’m getting used to riding my single-speed (no more jello legs).  I know I need to stop comparing NY to SF, but the Dekalb market is a larger version of the Proxy Project in Hayes Valley.  It’s pretty cool and I love the design sensibilities of a “mall” out of old shipping containers.  Salvaged materials, an urban farm, artisanal foods, an Etsy pop-up with a vintage tool shop and you’ve got yourself a thriving hipster mecca.  We overheard some dude with an epic beard lamenting the presence of a jump-house and screaming kids–> “there should be an adults only hour or something if they’re going to make this cool”.  Like B says, at least they’re in a cage.  I really wanted to buy a bike basket/Bambi holder from this shop (seriously cute stuff), but alas, the weight limit is 12lbs.  Bambi is a fatty.

I have been on the search for a great pair of denim shorts for a while.  Granted, I need another pair of shorts like I need a hole in my head, but I want a good fit with a high waist to offset my freakish long torso/short appendages proportions.  These fit the bill, and they’re not ridiculously expensive.  Normally BDG stuff is made for stick-like teenage girls and aren’t made to fit my birthing hips.  Surprisingly enough though, these do.

sunnies: f21 – tank: madewell (on super sale last weekend, similar here) – shorts: BDG from UO – shoes: vans – bag: freitag – nails: revlon scandalous

Erika S. fun stuffs

DC again

I took the Bolt bus down to DC again this past weekend.  B was in Berlin for a work meet-up, so I figured it would be a good time to visit again, and before I start working again.  That’s right folks, I got a job!!  I’m super excited to be joining the team at Expeditionary Learning School for Community Leaders this fall.  Things are happening fast though…I’m heading to a week long training program in Boston next week, then immediately into teaching a summer intensive program for my new school’s ELL (English language leaders) students.  So I’m waving goodbye to my summer this week.

While in DC, we celebrated my brother in law Dave’s birthday with cake and a family brunch.  Isn’t my sister’s dog ridiculously cute?  Woody is such a cuddle bug.  Army is camera shy, but I managed to get her in the background with her tongue hanging out as usual.

We also managed to get in a lot of shopping, so I have more than a few new additions to my closet.  Madewell was having a major (extra 50% off!!) sale!  I got this dress right before I left, when J.Crew had an extra 30% off sale items (still going on at jcrew.com).  A great deal at $24.50.  Whenever B goes out of town, I go shopping.  This time I did quite a lot of damage, so I need to start a new shopping ban…after I buy myself a birthday present of course!

dress: j.crew (mine is sold out, but solids are still available) – purse: f21 – sandals: worishofer

Erika S. fun stuffs

things

A few things that have been tickling my fancy lately:

Kiehl’s essential oils I found on sale at the Nordstrom Rack in Manhattan (I think they’re being discontinued, thus the sale).  They’re small, strong and I love the scents mixed together, grapefruit and gardenia.  I once had a saleslady tell me that gardenia was the scent of old ladies there therefore it was not for me.  My mom loves gardenia.  I’ve been keeping these at my desk so that I can roll them on right after my morning coffee.  Right away they smell like you’ve been wearing them all day…like your skin smells like grapefruit and gardenia naturally.

Small dish I got from West Elm on crazy cheap sale.  I got B a “B” one also.  I use mine as a coaster most of the time, but sometimes to hold my little pocket nick knacks, like my Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm.  I’m not a mama, but I like the Mama Bee body oil as a moisturizer.  It smells lightly of honey and lemon.  I just have to remember that I’m not allowed to touch B’s iPad with my “grubby hands” after I use it.

New artwork I got from this Etsy shop called Retrowhale.  I love it, it makes me smile on the inside every time and sometimes on the outside also when I look at it.  I’m totally rooting for Team Darwin, all the time.  It reminds me of Eric Chase Anderson‘s illustrations (the shop also has a lot of work straight from the Wes Anderson movies) .  I want to get this one and this one also.

Cheap $2.50 tanks from F21.  I like the fall colors, the slight 70’s V-cut at the bodice and the soft smooth fabric.  Not to mention the price.  Ridiculously cheap, because they’re probably made in a sweatshop with little tiny children hands.  Joke, but kinda/probably true.  I’m a bad person.

Anchors B and I brought from SF, and a winter creature also from SF.  We don’t really have a decorating theme or anything yet.  Just a bunch of white Ikea furniture.

Erika S. fun stuffs

going paleo

I love carbs.  I really do.  I love carbs so much I would marry carbs.  I am a rice queen, pasta addict and bread lover.  When I gained 20 lbs “out of the blue” after high school, it was because of my bread and butter diet.  Then I started baking a lot and that didn’t help. The first thing I bought when I moved out of my mom’s house in my early 20’s was a rice cooker.  I eat carbs for every meal, and lots of it even in between meals.  So when I met B — who is 6’4″ and rail thin, I was shocked when he told me that he doesn’t eat bread.  He claims that bread in Australia (where he’s from) is superior in taste and texture, and he just doesn’t like the bread we have here in the US (even amazing Tartine/Acme bread). “What a freak”, I muttered under my breath at the time.  Guess who’s been on a carb ban for the last 15 days?  me.

30 Days: only whole foods, no sugar, no grains, no potatoes, no beer.

Now anyone who knows me well, also knows that I do not have the greatest level of self control ever when it comes to food and alcohol (and in the past, cigarettes).  My willpower is basically crap.  So I’ve cheated.  Pizza and beer in DC, beer on 4th of July (and the day after), and a handful of Swedish Fish the other day.  So my 30 day challenge is turning into a 26 day challenge, but I’m ok with that.

I miss noodles and rice the most.  I can eat carbs again on July 23rd.  I plan on changing my diet permanently though and eating less carbs over all and trying to stick to a low-glycemic diet (thanks Eric, for that article!).

Some visuals of what I’ve been eating lately:  10+ veg stir-fry, chinese greens with mushrooms and bacon, chicken-kale-cabbage-zucchini-yellow squash-onion-pepper curry, aussie style breakfast

To date, I’ve lost 0 lbs.  Fat or otherwise.  Maybe I’m doing it wrong.