Fashion Week

Funny that when I typed in "Fashion Week" for the title, Blogger auto-filled in "daydream" because my last post on Broke in the City about Fashion Week was entitled "Fashion Week Daydream"... and what a dream come true the experience was!

(Chilling with the paparazzi before the Rebecca Minkoff show.)

For those of you who don't follow my incessent tweets, I won a Mark cosmetics Polyvore contest with this set and was whisked away to fashion week to experience the Rebecca Minkoff show.  I still can't believe my incredible luck!

Mark & Go by widelyflung featuring a leopard print shirt

I made this set as an inspiration for my look the day of the fashion show, but ended up changing the top to a plum colored one because the seafoam green just didn't fit the mood of the day when I tried it on that morning.  Plum is much more of a bold, fall color, don't you think? ;)

Mark Contest: Rebecca Minkoff Show by widelyflung featuring a grey jacket

Here's the look with me actually in it:

Shoes: BCBGenteration

Skirt: Forever21

Top: Lands End Canvas

Blazer: H&M

Bag: Urban Outfitters

All Jewlery: Forever21 (they have a killer bracelet selection right now!)

As a 4 year anniversary present, the boyfriend actually ordered the classic black MAC for me so I had envisioned the outfit with it.  Unfortunatley, it hadn't arrived by the time I jetted off to NYC... so didn't get a chance to complete the look!  However, it's here now and it's beautiful.  He did well! I love that he looks at my polyvore account for present ideas.  So smart!
And here's a shot with Eugenia and Nadia from the always amazing Polyvore team.  Notice the bag?

It's not mine!  But it sure is gorgeous!  It's the Dee clutch created by f21obsessed.  I loved getting my hands on it (thanks Nadia).  The leather's so buttery soft and the amount of bling on it is perfection.

Later on in the day, my friend and I took on NYC... which basically meant that we ate our way through it.  I transformed the look by putting on boots (made for walking) and a cow skull tee I recently scored from H&M. I kept the jewelry the same.  This necklace from Forever21 can really be dressed up or down in a flash.

(With my friend Lauren on the Brooklyn Bridge.)

Next it was afternoon tea and scones at Alice's Tea Cup on the Upper West Side.  I had the raspberry and chocolate scone (on the left), while Lauren went for the goat cheese and basil (on the right).  We both had Alice's tea which tasted ever so faintly of roses.  It was... blow your mind delicious. I'm not the biggest tea drinker, so I went into this whole excursion (Lauren's excellent idea) with some quiet skepticism.  I walked out converted. 

Next we located the Chelsea Hotel since Lauren and I bonded over Ryan Adams and Leonard Cohen as random college roommates our freshman year.  

It was almost a chilling moment to finally see it in person.  So many words I've been inspired by were written inside those exact walls.  New York itself kind of feels like a big Chelsea Hote in way. So many great people with great ideas have hammered out their dreams, won and lost, struck it big or died in obscurity on that tiny, little island.  California feels so new sometimes.... even living in the midst of Haight Ashbury like I do, I don't get the sense of history I always get each time I visit NYC.

  I can't count how many times Lauren and I listened to "Hotel Chelsea Nights" and on repeat as we "studied" in our room (a.k.a. talked).

Leonard Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel #2":

A big thanks to Lauren for being such an excellent photographer and letting me "steal" all these photos!
Happy 8 year friendship anniversary, Lauren! (The trip was 8 years to the day from the weekend we first met!)

(Us 8 years ago.... with our other "roommates".)


And the hugest thanks imaginable to mark for the opportunity of a lifetime!

Next up: a recap of the runway! I love this time of year!  So much eye candy, so little time...

A Month of Sundays

"A month of Sundays" - idiom- Often used in the American South to convey a long period of time.

Wide Leg Pants & Belt: Forever21 (here)
Sheer Polka Dot Shell: Monteau, Los Angeles

So... I haven't seen you in a month of Sundays!  I've been lurking in the shadows of all of your blogs, reading, laughing, oohing, and ahhing along between 11:00 and whatever time my eyes start to close but I've been mostly silent.  I can't go a day without fashion blogs... but I've been taking in inspiration more than I've been ruminating on my own style.  Shame on me!  Thank you for lending me your inspirations though!
I've honestly been trying to work on that whole work-life balance thing.  But it seems work is winning by a landslide!  However... I kind of sort of love it a lot.  And so, I've been letting it win. ;)  Long story short: I am alive and well!
And so, to make it up to you... here are some OOTD shots, taken in horrible lighting in the wee hours of the morning.

Let's just pretend that gigantic cardboard box is a chic entryway table, okay?  I got a really great deal on it.
Orange Dress (worn as a shirt): H&M
Skinny Pants: Forever21
Leopard Flats: Forever21
Necklace: handmade from a gold dipped oak leaf (originally a Christmas ornament)
Bracelets: Forever21 and vintage


It feels good to be back!

The Art of Ganbatte

がんばって(ganbatte)- Japanese word meaning something similar to "fight!" or "do your best!" and sometimes "good luck!"  Those who have worked for any time in Japan often refer to ganbatte as a kind of sanity saving life force that can give you strength in times of crazy uncertainty.

I started working full time this week and there have been many moments of ganbatte and very few moments for blogging.  I will learn how to navigate work AND life soon.  However, right now.... I have focus on learning my way around work.  There is much to learn! I walked in my first day wearing the most conservative suit I could find and a smile.  I spent the day in a total daze not knowing where my classrooms were, what the copy machine code was, where my desk was, if I got a lunch break, who my boss was, or even if the students I was teaching were the correct ones.  But, oh the students!  They were the most self motivated and truly kind bunch I've ever had!  All in all, it wasn't a bad day in the least. Thank you Japan for teaching me how to ganbatte with the best of em'.

  My new desk!  Since I work at 2 different locations (maybe?), I have been carrying this snazzy box across Market street 3 or 4 times a day.  It is unknown if I really have a desk.  If so, I hope it's somewhere along Market street!  


Ganbatte is not just a skill, it's a way of life.  And without it?  You will cry many unhappy tears.  With it?  You will laugh.  Allow me to quote the Tao Te Ching, "A baby doesn't know how to smile but it is still happy."  In much the same way, I do not know anything really about what I am doing at work (except English, of course)... but I am still doing it.  I have been reading the Tao every morning.  It's a good reminder to smile.

  When I first started teaching in Japan, I would often have to locate rural schools for the first time by approaching a nice older husband & wife rice farming duo and asking them in broken Japanese for directions. More often than not, they'd insist on driving me (I never told my mom I was willingly getting in cars with strangers!) or they'd find some unsuspecting child in the neighborhood to lead me to it in a very convoluted manner.

A shot I took in the wilds of Kyoto prefecture while wandering around lost looking for a school.  Judging by the rice, I think it was sometime in late Summer when I was still very green at the art of ganbatte.

After locating the school, the real fun began!  I'd meet with the principal, drink some tea, and learn everything they had faxed me the week before was incorrect.  So even though I had planned on teaching the 1st graders body parts and dancing the hokey pokey... I would really need to teach the 6th graders in the gym all at once.  What topic should I teach them?  "Oh Amy sensei, you are very funny! Teach English conversation, of course!" The only proper response to this is, "Ganbarimasu!" which, of course, means "I will do my best!"

Anyways, by this Friday I  had observed enough of my colleague's work wear to realize that so long as I kept it professional, I could go back to my old nonconservative suit ways.  

And so, the tenor of the outfit posts on this blog will now probably be changing a great deal.  Goodbye casual freelance cowboy boots... hello shift dresses, dress pants, pumps, and blazers. I'll try to keep it interesting and real.  I promise!

Blazer: H&M

Dress: Just Taylor (scored at Ross on Market St. after a long day of work for just $12.00!).

Pumps: Steve Maden

"You can't have something
without nothing.
If no job is difficult
then no job is easy.
Some things are up on high
because others things are down low.
You know you're listening to music
because it doesn't sound like noise.
All that came first,
so this must be next..."
-Tao Te Ching translation by Rob Hogan in the style of Quentin Tarantino (check it out here).

so this must be next.