Archive | October, 2010

Tiger vs. Zebra

25 Oct

It’s getting harder and harder for me to take outfit photos because of the damn daylight. I used to take all my photos in the morning on my way to work. Now it’s dark when I leave, so that’s out. Then I don’t leave the office until around 5:30 pm or so, so I only have now around an hour of daylight after work. It’s not preferable being I usually look totally beat at the end of the day, but it will have to do for now.

This is one of the few outfits I’ve repeated in the past few weeks, mainly because I didn’t get good photos of it the first time around. I’m totally in love with this skirt, which was a thrift store find.

It’s funny have you ever noticed that tiger print is not all that different from zebra print, just the colors are different. In-ta-resting. Me and my animal print.

Do you fashion blog? When do you take your photos?

What I’m Wearing:

Shirt: Old Navy
Skirt: Ralph Lauren, Thrifted
Belt: H&M
Booties: Mixx (purchased from LuLu’s)

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Vegan Weekender Bags

22 Oct

image source: http://www.hickerphoto.com

I have to travel a lot for work.  It’s not something I like to do, but it’s necessary and luckily it’s not a regular thing but more of a seasonal thing.  My road work can include flying to other cities for business meetings or doing long road trips and teaching seminars.

My hubby and I have also within the past few months have gone on a few weekend trips, which has been great.  It’s fun to explore a city just for a day or two and then return home.  It’s like a mini-vacation, which is great for my psyche considering the hours I work.  Sometimes a small break from Brooklyn is all I need to stay sane.

I’m super organized when it comes to traveling and with the holiday’s coming up soon as well as some business travel that must be done in December and January, I’m already starting to think about what needs to be done prior to.  You can see my last OCD business trip packing frenzy by clicking here.

My last weekend trip with my husband I realized we really don’t have a good “weekender” bag.  We have my carry-on rolling suitcase I use for extended business trips, but sometimes that’s too much for a quick weekend trip where only a change or two of clothes is needed.  It’s also too much for a quick overnight business trip as well.  I could easily get away with a smaller duffel bag and a purse.  I’m one of those rare women who actually packs light.  It’s funny, on many of the business trips I go on (in my male dominated industry) I actually pack less than the men.

Surprisingly enough, there are a lot more vegan weekender bag options out there than I had thought.  Here’s what I found quick on a quick Shopstyle search.  The bag on the bottom right is a Rachael Zoe for QVC bag I had seen a while ago and really liked.  All in all, I don’t think I could go wrong with any of these options.  I’m leaning towards one of the bottom three.  Which one do you think I should go with?

Rampage, Mossimo

 

What sort of bag/luggage do you pack your items for a short, 1-2 day trip in?

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Pass Out in 20

21 Oct

Earlier in the week this week I had my first session with my new personal trainer.  I totally knew I was in for it when I was 5 minutes late (due to a doctor’s appointment), frantically getting changed in the locker room, and the trainer busted in yelling “Are you Corrie?  Come on let’s go I have another session after you!!”.  Ooops.

My trainer was notified about my marathon history by the owner of the gym, and while having me jump rope for 5 minutes to warm up had mentioned it was a good sign for me I had run marathons in the past that I should be able to rebuild my endurance back pretty quickly.  Considering I wanted to pass out after jumping rope for only a minute, I have my doubts but I trust her nonetheless.

She then had me do the most simple yet kick ass routine I’ve ever done.  It took around 20 minutes and I wanted to pass out/throw up/die after.

  • 10 Kettlebell Lateral Swings
  • 10 Jumping Jacks
  • 10 Burpees.  I’ve run marathons and have never felt pain like a burpee.
  • Jump Rope for 1 minute (trainer let me skip this being I was so out of breath but I have to build up to it during the week)

To complete the routine, after you finish a set, for the next set you drop a rep.  So for example, the first set you do 10 of each.  The next set 9 of each.  Then 8 of each, etc.  You continue all the way until you only do 1 of each, and then you’re finished.

The great part about this workout is it only takes 20 minutes and I have no excuse not to fit it into my schedule.  The bad part is I wanted to die I was so tired doing it.  I was given instructions to do this each workout this week and to email her with my progress so she knows I’m doing it.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

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Random Style Thoughts

20 Oct

I'm addicted to animal print

Documenting my style evolution and outfit selections on this blog so far has been very useful in helping me to identify my actual, personal style.  Truth is I never really in my adult life considered myself as having one at all.  It’s allowed me to do and realize a few things.

  • I don’t think I’ve worn the same thing twice since I started the blog. That’s a HUGE departure for me.  I used to have my same boring go to ensembles and having this blog has really encouraged me to be more creative and frankly give a crap about the way I look.
  • I have a lot of jewelry, but jewelry just isn’t me. I’ve always had issues choosing jewelry and styling it with what I’m wearing.  I have difficulty finding pieces of jewelry I absolutely love.  So when I wear it, it just doesn’t do it for me and I think I look silly.  Like I’m trying to hard.  I wish I could wear jewelry like Kelly the Glamorai (whose style I adore) but it’s just not me.  So you won’t see any on me besides my wedding rings in the next coming weeks.
  • I really hate wearing color. I love neutrals, including blacks, grays, navy, white, and brown.  As far as patterns go I’ve always loved stripes, dots, or animal print (all of which are kinda neutral).  It’s funny watching how the outfits I post that I personally love the most are all neutral palettes.  At most I’ll include a single, small pop of color, like my hot pink pumps.
  • I LOVE animal print.  Like, really love it.  It’s a problem.  I’m 99% sure it’s genetic and just the Italian American side of me wanting to be gaudy and flamboyant.  I just happen to be lucky it’s totally in vogue right now.  I could totally kick myself though.  Prior to the magazines suddenly declaring it a trend, I had this great faux fur leopard print coat I loved but my hubby always thought was too “loud”.  So taking his opinion to heart, I gave it away at the Score Swap Meet.  I had it all wrapped up in a trash bag along with a bunch of other coats and I just so happened to be walking past the volunteers as they opened my bag.  A fight between the female volunteers immediately broke out over the jacket.  I totally had regretted giving the jacket away at that moment, but now even more so that I see practically the same exact jacket in every magazine I open.
  • My celebrity style icon is Kate Moss. Reading other gals fashion blogs everyone talks about who their closest celebrity style icon is to their own personal style.  Putting all the above together, as well as looking at my own personal inspiration image journal it’s pretty obvious to me Kate Moss’s style is closest to my own preferences.  Her wardrobe is also very neutral and includes a lot of animal print.  I also notice she styles a lot of similarly to the way I do, like wearing a biker jacket with an evening dress.   I’ve probably found this most interesting of all because considering the fashion icon she is, I never in a million years would be able to identify my own style being similar to hers without documenting everything on this blog.
  • The stuff I choose and love now is not that different from the stuff I chose and loved in junior high and high school. This one was the weird one for me.  It’s like I’m digressing but I’m not because my choices now are much more grown up and polished.  Truth though is I was actually way more interested in what I wore in high school and made way more of an effort back then.  I also was one to just wear what I liked and not really care what everyone else was wearing.  It’s been pretty liberating getting myself back to this way of thinking.  I remember I went through this phase where I refused to wear jeans and would only wear unique pants.  I had paisley pants, animal print pants, vinyl pants, and my favorite (which I wish I still had!) vintage neon pink high-waisted bell bottoms.  I wore a ton of vintage stuff back then.  I also realize now back then I was way ahead of trends.  I was rocking knee-high boots, which at the time were super hard to find in junior high in the early 90′s.  All my favorite jackets were faux fur.  One in particular that sticks out in my mind was bright red too.  I was way hipper back then than I am now, but I feel like I’m finally getting back to my old self.

I’m sure this definition of my own style is subject to change as a go along, but it’s fun to be able to identify my personal style today the way it is.  I look forward to seeing how it may change as I blog along.

Have you had an “aha” moment in regards to your own style?  How do you define your personal style?

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Germany Marie in NYC

19 Oct

This past weekend I was so excited to have my close friend Gina Marie, her boyfriend Rene and friend Oliver visit all the way from Germany.  All of Gina’s friends loving refer to her as Germany Marie since she moved from the states last year to Germany to live with Rene.  They were in town basically just for the weekend, and were afterwards attending a martial arts conference in Connecticut.  They’re a bunch of ninja badasses and I’m jealous.

Saturday started with brunch at our favorite brunch joint Oak Cafe, and then a visit to PS1.  I had met Gina while in art school (my husband also coincidentally attended the school just a few years ahead of us), so it was only appropriate we go see some art while she was here.  They had the Greater NY 5 Year Review show still on display which hubby and I had been dying to check out for a while.  All in all, the show (to us anyway) was just kinda blah.  It’s funny my degree is actually in video art and despite the ton of video art being shown overall I didn’t really care for anything besides a single piece I only understood because it was about my neighborhood.  The only pieces we really all collectively enjoyed were Tauba Auerbach paintings.   They were in terms of artist process and technical difficulty some of the most interesting paintings I had seen in a long time.  From afar the paintings look like screen-prints of folds and creases in fabric or paper, but when you get all up close to the canvases, they’re painted in acrylic.  They also have kinda a cool, 3D quality to them.  Her paintings alone along with the actual PS1 building, which is an old school, made the visit totally worthwhile.

We then hopped the 7 train into the city for some window shopping and walking around.  We hit up the infamous Tiffany’s, and Apple stores, as well as visited Starbucks in Trump Towers (who has no soy milk, WTF!!).  We then walked along 59th street past Central Park to the Time Warner Center.  We had to head back to Brooklyn for a dinner reservation, and the trip back was a bit frantic.  We had expected to take the E train back to our stop in Queens by PS1 and when we arrived at the stop the MTA figured it would be a good time to not run the E in that direction.  We walked quite a ways to a few other stops with no avail, so we eventually cabbed it back to Grand Central and were able to catch the next train back to the other side of the East River.

Dinner was at Hachi in Brooklyn.  I wish I got some photos while there, but apparently I let my appetite let me lose my train of thought.  We were ravenous by the time we got there and ordered cocktails and appetizers immediately.  If you’ve never been to Hachi, I highly recommend it.  The cocktails and food are high quality and much less expensive than other area spots with the same, trendy ambience.

After dinner, Gina and crew headed back to NYC and Jim and I checked out Rasputina at the Knitting Factory.  Being a cellist and former band performer, they’re a group near and dear to my heart.  If you ever get a chance to see them live, I highly recommend it.  They’re one of those bands that although their recorded albums are fantastic, they don’t hold a candle to the energy at their live shows.

Sunday Gina came back out to Brooklyn for a quick shopping trip out to Century 21 and Target in Queens.  We only left with just a few toiletries we picked up at Target, but still had a great time catching up and shopping together.

Gina, I can’t believe I only now while writing this post and going through my photos noticed that during your visit we didn’t get a photo of the two of us together!  Bummer!  Hopefully next time we’ll remember.  Next visit the hubs and I have to come to Germany to visit you guys.

Gina & Rene

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Dead Kennedys

18 Oct

After a long day at work today, my husband and I headed to the city to Irving Plaza to see the Dead Kennedys show. Hubby is a long time fan of the group, and it was fun getting to see them live with him.

One thing I didn’t get was this chick. She must have been dating the frontman of the opening band (some unmemorable punk group from Philly) and through their entire set stood not even three feet from him in plain sight holding a flip camcorder or something in his face. It was so obnoxious and distracting. Initially I thought maybe she didn’t know everyone could see her but then she freaking waved at the crowd. Weird.

After the show we grabbed a quick burrito at Taco Bell and hopped back on the L train home.

This photo is my first photo showing off my new bangs. Ok I know I seem to change them all the time but this time it’s pretty different. I’m gonna rock the blunt cut bangs for a while. My hubby loves them as do I.

What I’m Wearing
Tank: Love Brigade
Jeans: Mavi
Moto Jacket: Target
Boots: Payless (last season)
Chain Purse/Clutch: Alloy

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Missing in Action

14 Oct

I can’t believe how totally missing in action I’ve been from blogging and for all things social media for that matter.  Yuck.

I’ve been crazy busy at work lately, and on top of it exhausted.  Literally.  Actually, I’ve been physically exhausted since late July.  After visiting several different doctors I’ve finally been given the diagnosis that I’m anemic, but more testing is still needed to determine the source of the anemia.  While most people might automatically assume my anemia is due to my veganism, truth is my mother is also anemic so it very well is most likely genetic.

Overall I’ve been incredibly frustrated that I’ve been so tired.  My workload at my job has actually decreased a bit due to me recently hiring an assistant, and yet I’m even more tired now than I was prior to.  I also used to be an avid fitness buff, running marathons and working out 5 days a week and stuff.  Now I get seriously winded just walking around and despite my best efforts have not been able to work out consistently.  My husband and I visited several art museums over our anniversary trip and I had to constantly sit down on the benches inbetween pieces they have for (old) people to sit on. 

I’ve been attempting to manage it the best I can to date.  Another thing that would frustrate me is after work just wanting to go to sleep but having to make dinner.  Keep in mind, I LOVE to cook.  It’s a passion of mine.  But just the thought of the cooking and dishes and whatever else involved and knowing I would only really just get to sit down at the end of the day at 8 pm when my day starts at 6 am would totally stress me out.  The hubby and I have been spending a small fortune on takeout, which isn’t good either.  To solve the issue this past weekend, after picking up my CSA share for the week I kinda went crazy and cooked, packaged individually and froze enough meals for the hubby and I to last us the next two weeks.  It took a few hours, but has saved me hours and hours during the week I can now use to just rest.  So far this week it’s been tremendously helpful for both my physical and mental well-being.

What I am happy about is that at least my doctors have figured out what’s at the root of the problem, and now all I have to do is wait for some additional testing and my treatment plan.  I’m also happy knowing my fatigue wasn’t just a mental thing (which I had feared). 

I’ve attempted to take some outfit photos and work on some other posts lately, but either I look way too tired and forced in my photos or I’m just too tired after work to put the posts together, so I’ve just been forgoing blogging altogether.  I’m of the belief if you don’t have decent content worth posting, not to post just anything at all.  It’s not worth sharing if it’s crap.  I do have a ton of photos from my anniversary weekend to post and will get those up soon.

I’m very much looking forward to this weekend, even though it’ll be a busy one.  Tomorrow evening the hubby and I are attending the Dead Kennedy’s concert and on Saturday my gal pal Gina is coming to visit all the way from Germany.  Oh, and I can’t forget Rasputina (one of my favorite bands ever) is playing at the Knitting Factory not to far from my apartment, so I’m going to hit that up on Saturday as well.  So two concerts and a friend visit all in one weekend.

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