8.28.2010

Getting hitched and then Hawaii'ed!  Will be back in a week or so and will miss everyone terribly!  See you all soon!!!

Love,
Cindi

Rehearsal Dinner Dress Revealed

Hello all!  This Thursday night will be our wedding rehearsal.  Immediately after we'll be going to a nearby Italian restaurant in Ballard for a dinner and celebration.  I can't wait for it as it'll be one of the few times I get my family and friends in one room together. 

A momentous occasion like this deserves an amazing dress.  I decided I wanted to treat myself and get the Discovered Lace Dress that I loved so much.  I'm glad I did because my size ran out quickly after I bought it in my store and all sizes are running out fairly quickly online.  I also am against buying dresses for one occasion, so with the fall coming, this little number will transition great for work.

To add drama, I decided to pair this with the new Jessica Simpson pumps I recently purchased at DSW.  With these shoes on, I tower over all my friends, but it also makes me feel super skinny!  Haha.

I will be posting pictures up to show everyone the ensemble when I'm all dolled up to give you guys the full affect!!! 

Today is also my last day at work until after Labor Day.  For the next few days before the wedding, Chris and I have a bunch of little errands to run during the day and prep work during the night so I apologize ahead of time if you notice fewer posts and comments on your blogs.  It doesn't mean I'm not reading them.  =P 

I wanted to wear one of my favorite purchases for my last day at work before our vacation.  Of course it's the Acting Out Skirt!  And yes, that is the Showtime Tee you guys are seeing with it.  I loved this tee so much after I tried it on and decided to get the pink version.  I still love it and it's so comfortable.

Cardigan - J. Crew Jeweled Button Cardi

Tee - Showtime Tee, Anthropologie

Acting Out Skirt, Anthropologie

A Weekend Recap

This weekend was full of good times, great laughs, and even greater food.  My best friend Jenny of 21 years and her boyfriend, David, flew in around midnight on Friday night.  I was so excited for their arrival, I had coffee at night just so I can stay up past midnight.  We spent all of Saturday together to show them the essence of Seattle.  I always love it when out of towners visit, because it gives me the opportunity to see Seattle for what she really is.  We take it for granted sometimes of the city we live in, because we avoid touristy spots.  But showing people around gives us a chance to visit these places again.

Here's Jenny and I on top of the hill before we walked down to the Pike Place Market.  It started out being a pretty cloudy day but it soon cleared up and the forecast hung around in the low to mid 70's.  It was perfect!

Here's the cute couple...Jenny with David.

A pretty famous landmark at the Market is what we call "The Gum Wall".  It's this alley way (in Post Alley for those of you that know the area) and the walls in this alley are covered with chewed up gum!!!  It's kind of gross when you think about it, but interesting.  Can you see it behind us?  Ahh...only in Seattle!

One of the best things to buy at the Market are flowers!  We saw these beautiful yellow spider mums and Chris couldn't resist from snapping some pics.

I'm really not sure what I'm doing here but thought I'd include this.

For lunch, we went to a place called Matt's in the Market.  Boy was it good!  Chris had the sloppy joe with an egg on top!

I had the pork belly banh mi.  A banh mi is a vietnamese style sandwich usually sold in Vietnamese and pho restaurants.  They're typically made of bbq'd pork or chicken, but Matt's added a twist and decided to stuff this puppy with fatty pork belly.  It's not the wisest thing to eat one week before the wedding, but it was OH SO GOOD!

For dinner, we went to a local Mexican place in the Ballard neighborhood called La Carte de Oxaca.  It's one of the best hole in the wall Mexican restaurants out there and here we are, waiting for our table while dunking down some margheritas.  This bartender literally fills the glass up with tequila before splashing just a dribble of sweet and sour.  A couple of these and I felt grrrrrrreat!!!

What's the best breakfast/brunch food after drinks the night before?  Pho of course!  The next morning before driving Jenny and David to pick up their rental car, we stopped by our favorite Pho place, Thanh Brother's.

Here's my bowl...red as usual.  I like it hottttt!

This was my OOTD Sunday for pho and running other errands.  Sorry it's hard to see, but while walking around Saturday, Jenny talked me into getting a pair of classic Tom's.  And might I say that these are one of the best purchases ever made!  Not only is it for a good cause (they donate a pair of shoes for every pair you buy), they are also so comfortable.  It's so breathable so for those of us that have feet that sweat easily (sorry TMI???), it's a great closed toe shoe...especially living in Seattle.

Jenny and I got the memo and matched in flannel.  Maybe it was her tribute to being in the Pacific Northwest...thinking that we are all flannel and birkenstock wearing hippies!  :)

After Pho, Jenny and David picked up their car and drove up to Vancouver, BC.  They'll be back in Seattle Thursday for our rehearsal dinner and wedding the rest of the week.

Speaking of rehearsal dinner, stay tuned for tomorrow's special edition.  I'll reveal what I'm wearing for the dinner which will take place this Thursday!

Have a wonderful night!!!!

Bridal Shower Part 2

Hi everyone!  It's the dreadful Sunday night and as usual, I'm hating that work is tomorrow.  But I had a great weekend and can't wait to tell you guys about it.  First though, I'd like to share some additional pictures from my bridal shower.

My girls know how much I love my italian meats!

Mmm...proscuitto wrapped honeydew!

Spinach strawberry salad with pesto pasta salad!

Home made cupcakes!  Cream cheese frosting...my favorite!

Wine glasses were the favors for the shower.  And each wine glass charm spelled everyone's initials.  But mine had "C heart C" which stood for Cindi Loves Chris!

Here I was that day blogging away!

My girls found these wine bottle covers made to resemble the bride and groom.  They're on the fire mantle...I hope you can see it.  It's just darling!

I don't know what I was doing here...maybe just taking the moment in to enjoy the fresh air before everyone arrived.

Again, I had a great shower!  Thank you again to all my wonderful friends.  I'll be back tomorrow with my recap of the weekend.

Have a wonderful Sunday evening!

Friday Preview...

Happy Friday, everyone!  I can not wait for this day to come sooner.  I have a few good reviews for you guys so here goes...

Showpiece Tee - $58

I first saw this tee on Aimee's blog of all things aimee and loved it right then and there.  I was happy to see it at my store and grabbed the Medium immediately.  The fit is perfect and the ruffley detail around the neck is lovely.  I tried on the navy, but I prefer the pink motif over this.  The tee has a described "cowl neck" but it's not your typical crumb catcher type...it's actually very subtle.  I loved the fit of this but like the climbing cowl neck tee, the arm holes are a little big and this might bother some people.  If you're looking for a layering piece though, this would be great for it.

Boucle de Souffle Jacket - $128

 My eyes always pop open when I see a nice cream colored jacket but I'm always wary about purchasing one.  If I were to wear this jacket, I'd wear it blazer type and not as outter wear.  I'd pair it as part of an outfit, but the cream color would get so dirty in the sleeves.  And this jacket in the black just isn't the same.  It's cute and I liked it on myself, but my fear of "white against the world" made me walk away.  It was fun trying this on though!  Sizing wise, I grabbed the 8 and felt it felt well.

Brief Meeting Blazer - $148

Three pictures = LOVE!  I have a  hard time finding blazers that actually work for me because of my shoulders.  For some reason, blazers just don't lay right on me.  But this one, OH MY!  It's also not your typical blazer either.  The cut is cinched at the waist and the buttons are angled down the jacket, flaring out a little at the bottom.  I only buttoned the top two buttons which is why the second button pulled a bit, but I believe this jacket was meant to be buttoned halfway.  Buttoning it all the way would make it look too "military".  Also, I love the scrunched sleeves, which made my arm look skinnier!  LOVE!!!  For sizing, I grabbed the 8 in this.  Online sizes 10 and 12 are already sold out and there are only 14 of the size 8's left.  They are pretty limited now.

Gifted Skirt - $78

I finally saw this at the store, and might have just missed it the last few times I went.  It looked so great on some of the other bloggers, but for me, I didn't feel it.  I have to be pretty careful with flared skirts as they can make my legs and butt look bigger.  I'm usually a straight A-line or pencil skirt type of gal.  I didn't hate this, it just didn't wow me.  The pockets are lovely though and the feel of the fabric is very nice...comfortable.  We hardly see any skirts at Anthro for $78 so if someone did love this, it's worth the price.  This is a size 8.

White Noise Skirt - $98

After seeing Sara review this and how cute she looked in it, I knew I had worn this skirt wrong!  I hate it when clothes are smarter than me! :)  This skirt is basically a piece of sweater fabric with snap buttons you enclose to fit around your body.  The buttons run all the way down the front of the skirt for you to enclose but I must have snapped them wrong because the skirt just looked awkward on me.  It also accentuated all the wrong areas.  I grabbed a Medium in this but it just didn't do anything for me at all!  Pass for me.

Bouquet Toss Dress - $168

This dress definitely had a 70's retro feel to it.  I loved the color and the silky fabric of course felt nice but this is a dry clean only piece. I can see this dress transitioning very well into the fall with my cute brown boots I just bought.  The key hole enclosed collar is nice, which is suiting for the upcoming colder months.  The sleeves are 3/4 length with a button enclosure.  For those that have bigger arms, you might run into the same issues as the Two-wheeler.  Sizing wise, this runs big.  I grabbed the 6 and as you can tell, there's still a lot of room left in the dress.  I have never worn a size 4 in Anthro dresses but I would have to with this one.  However, sizing down means the arm holes get smaller, so I might run into that issue. 

That's it for this week.  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

21 Years In The Making

I'm super excited today because it's Thursday...but that's not totally it.  Tomorrow night at approximately midnight, my best friend of 21 years, Jenny, is flying in from NYC with her boyfriend, David, to start her visit in Seattle for our wedding.  I am giddy with excitement right now because the last time Jenny and I saw each other was in 2007.

Jenny and I met one another in the 4th grade.  I was the only Asian in the class, so at the time I remembered our teacher told me to take Jenny outside into the hallway so I can speak Chinese to her and learn more about her...then report back to the class.  Little did our teacher know that Jenny already spoke English, but we decided to take the opportunity to hang out anyway.  We stood outside for a bit, kind of awkward, but finally got to know each other during our first recess.  That was how it all started and we've been best friends ever since. 

Two years after we met, after 6th grade, I moved from our small town to Seattle.  She remained in that town for two more years before her family moved to St. Louis.  From there, she's moved to New Jersey, Cincinatti, Boston, and now resides in NYC.  But through all of this, we've remained in touch.  For 19 years, we've never gone more than a few days without writing one another.  Prior to email, we'd send pages and pages of handwritten letters.  Letters filled with mostly news about our latest crushes on boys.  Now we email almost daily and I can not be happier to have her be present at my wedding.  Friends like Jenny are hard to come by.  She's my blood sister...literally!  In 8th grade we agreed at a certain time, we'd poke our fingers and let our blood drip out on a piece of paper and then mailed that piece of paper to one another.  That was how we became sisters!  Silly, I know...but we're THAT close. 

Note to self: Jenny and I don't have enough pictures together.  I need to remember to take lotso while she's here.

Another note to self: I really like my hair this length...I need to chop this fussy hair off immediately after our honeymoon.

OK, so onto my OOTD.  This top was bought at Nordstrom years ago and I don't even remember who it's made by.  Probably either Free People or Flounce.  I bought this as a clubbing outfit, but it works for work as well!  Ha! 

One more day till Friday everyone!  Hang in there!

DSW = Double Shoe Wednesday!

I swear I was only going to Target to get a mop and a bucket for our wood floors.  We have a lot of preparation and cleaning up to do this week because my best friend of 21 years is coming in for our wedding starting Friday night from NYC.  We've known one another since 4th grade and haven't seen each other since 2007, so I'm super excited.  Expect a special post dedicated just for her soon!

Anyhoo...so back to Target, yes, I wasn't familiar with this Target and its whereabouts but when I drove into the parking lot, I noticed a DSW next to it.  I thought...meh...why not!  I'll stop in just to take a look.  Well, with shoes, you never just look!  You try on and once you try on...you buy!  Or at least I buy. 

I darted straight towards the boots section and tried on a couple of brown ones.  I have very wide calves and boots are usually very hard for me to find but I saw one that was for wide calved girls and tried those on.  Ladies, it worked!  I love it.

Sorry for the small picture but these were the only ones I can find online.  They come with the usual side zipper, but next to the main zipper, there's an additional zip that you can use to expand the calve area.  Isn't that just genius?  I'm so excited I found these.  And for $60...I mean come on!  I couldn't walk away.

A girl also can't have enough black pumps.  I have only one pair that I wear over and over again, so I've been on the hunt for awhile.  I saw these and tried them on:

These are by Jessica Simpson and I have to admit, I've never owned a pair because I've always thought they're way too high, resulting in them being uncomfortable.  But I decided to give these a try and they are surprisingly very comfy.  Great support in the balls of my feet as well.  Not to mention, they are super sexy...black suede with the cute flower detail near the back heel.  Lovely!

So folks, I'm now two pairs of shoes richer.  :)  Here's what I wore today though:

Ahh...work shorts again.  These are the second pair I own which I have not worn for about 2 or 3 years.  I do miss them though and glad I grabbed these today. 

Cardigan - J. Crew
Tee - Anthropologie Faint Lines Tee
Shorts - Banana Republic
Shoes - Seychelles