Useful Tuesday: Use a (hard) lunchbox.

My current lunchbox is a soft reusable bag from Bare Minerals. Look what my commute did to my bananas and mini banana cream pies. Very sad face. :(

Marketing that makes women feel insecure works.

Walking on sidewalk to orthodontist appointment and a sandwich board guy for eyebrow waxing looks at me and laughs under his breath. Now I'm totally self conscious about my eyebrows. Should I go in and get them done? O.o

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqc7nnbIYCjWadGDYDgPwDrGkkmtm63YDFJ2sxkYDLk53sV27fWtadvwEcehHWd6VnPXCVsOL37Kb3uTd_s1unIvmnXu0AojnnqJJ4TPG6fvopXYAQKjMdyubspEGyy3B4n9E2jzv2/s1600/bushy+1.jpg

The man who looked at things.

And to acknowledge the passing of a man who looked at things: http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/ (via my good friend WM).

What is wrong with these men?

Image source

So a guy friend brought this to my attention a few years ago: the two voicemails left by "Dmitri" for Olga.

But this other crazy guy via the Internet is new to me (via intern in my office): i-banker's email about being led on.

Seriously, where do these guys come from?  What is their deal?

Their neuroses are not actually what I have a problem with.  To be honest, it sounds exactly like the post-incident super-analysis a (normal) girl would do.  WITH HER GIRLFRIENDS.  IN PRIVATE.  WITHOUT EVER SHARING THESE THOUGHTS WITH THE GUY.

The truly notable thing about these two incidents, other than the fact that they were made public and viral via the Interweb, is the amount of time and energy that the guy put into their response (to the girl's in/action).  Most guys are either "into" a girl or not.  And when a girl dismisses a guy she's NOT into, it usually gets brushed off.

You don't see a whole film genre or subset of TV shows revolving around men getting together and discussing/analyzing their love lives (HIMYM might seem like an exception but it's about one guy telling his kids about his dating life - not sitting around with his guy friends at brunch dishing about his weekend escapades a la Sex and the City).  Although I'll admit I'm seeing a lot more of "sensitive guy dealing with girl issues" in the past few years, it's usually just one part of the guy's character - the show or movie itself is not about the sensitive guy sitting around over-analyzing his girl problems with his bro-sephs (movies like "(500) Days of Summer" - albeit still at the rate of perhaps 1 or 2 films a year).

I'm not gonna get all sexist and generalize and say that men shouldn't have feelings or thoughts.  But you see things like the voicemails and email above and you just wanna say, YOU'RE A GUY.  SHE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU.  GET OVER IT.

So, here's my PSA: Dudes everywhere, please don't be a creepster.  I'm not gonna lie, sometimes ladies can be confusing: some girls are shy and we're told to deflect attention or play hard-to-get.  So if you must, then please push GENTLY, ask her out once again BUT NICELY.  If she still says NO, or nothing at all, let it go.  You are not going to convince me/us/her to date you with your horribly offensive overanalysis of my mental state and childhood experiences based on our chance encounter in the street (in the case of Dmitri) or your crazy overanalysis of our one dinner date (iBanker).  Trust me, there's enough of that overanalysis going on over here from the lady's POV.

Edit: This latter example of a "crazy guy" in the form of a "JPMorgan Don Juan" was just brought to my attention - although I must say this is a quite different context, it still merits a mention (the 1st two being overcritical "Why don't you like me?" pleas after an initial contact that resulted in no followup and this JPMorgan guy being someone who is taking a breakup UBER-badly - in a lying crazy stalker way).

Posting problems.

Will return soon.

How I Met Your Mother: Symphony of Illumination

Was it just me, or did anyone else cry at the end of this episode?

I've always been told I'm uber-sensitive, but the way Ted takes care of Robin, saying how he doesn't need to know why she's upset but that it'll always be his job to cheer her up... GAHHHHH!!!!  (synopsis here)

My mom's always told me that true "wealth" or "riches" comes in the form of true friends.  The kind that will do anything for you and love you no matter what - the kind of friends who are there for you and will pick you up when you fall (especially when you fall and don't want to get up).


Maybe it's part of getting older, growing apart, living in different places.  But I felt like I had those kinds of best friends in college and now I'm not as sure.  Maybe I'm just not in such a bad place - and if I were those friends would come running, infantry charging.  Because that's the good thing about "forever friends" - you don't have to be the kind that talk everyday or see each other all the time - you've already forged that foundation and you have someone you can count on.

I do miss it though - miss having someone you can tell anything to. Someone to call anytime and they are there for you.  Without judging.  With absolute discretion.  Someone who is outside of your situation but on your side. Someone who may not get what you're going through but is a good listener and supporter nonetheless.  Who knows how to just let you be you without the pressure to be perky and happy and perfect all the time.  Someone who doesn't pressure you into being just a "fun" friend.

I've watched the entire SATC series and both movies and I have to say, I'm not jealous of the clothes, shoes, parties, fabulous apartments, etc. I'm so admirous(? do I mean envious?) of their bond.  In the first movie when all the girls drop everything (job, kids, family, etc.) after SJP gets stood up at her wedding to support her.  That's what I want - not (just) Manolo Blahniks or a beautiful UES apartment or a fabulous job, I want just a handful of women who I know would come be with me at the drop of a hat. Just because I need it.

And THAT, kids, is why I cried at the end of HIMYM - because Ted is that kind of a friend to Robin and it was SO BEAUTIFUL AND HEARTWARMING!!!

Inspiration and Execution: A *casual* work look!

More work outfits!  Sorry my life is so boring - I wish I could do posts of fun outfits, but I really do just wear work clothes and having always interned and worked in law offices rather than in fun fashiony jobs, my work clothes are rather tame.  But hopefully, I can use this as a space to reflect on how to "jazz up" a rather boring template.

So, here's a rather casual Friday outfit.

Inspired by Belle from Capitol Hill Style (for her - featuring the peeptoe flats again but for me, I liked the pairing of the casual blue shirt with a black pencil skirt).

I also came across this Polyvore set I'd saved a while ago (I have no idea what I would've saved it for - normally I look up specific pieces that I have trouble with and save a bunch of sets that use that one item but I don't recall looking for any of the pieces in this set - maybe brown boots?).

I don't have a chambray shirt, honestly I'm not a "casual" person (lol!) and have no idea how I would wear it in real life unless I were... calling in the ranch hands after a day of "working the land."  Nonetheless, using these two casual inspirations, I was able to create an outfit around a blue oxford polo shirt I had worn somewhat often to class and found much too casual to wear to work.

I actually liked doing a casual shirt with the black pencil skirt because it made it easy to wear brown and black together (with the brown helping make the black more casual).  Wore a dark brown belt and lighter brown ankle boots.  I think I wore a dark grey turtleneck but now think I could've done brown as well.  I wore black tights because of Belle's 2 out of 3 rule and my brown tights looked a little weird.

Good?  Bad?  Should I just give up trying to casual myself and stick with the formality that I'm comfortable with?

What does this say about me?

Last night I received the two following videos from friends via email:

From college guy friend: "this reminds me of your fighting skills"



From college girl friend: "THIS is how you meet your new husband...."

Inspiration and Execution: Sheer black blouse and Chanel-y jacket

I have this Milly blouse that I love but could only wear it out to bars with friends because I couldn't figure out how to make it more day/work-appropriate.  So when Belle at Capital Hill Style posted this Three Ways she helped solve one of my work conundrums: how to make a sheer black blouse work-appropriate.

My take:

My jacket is a little less Chanel-y than the inspiration jacket, but it's a white knit jacket with ladylike ruffles.

I'm horribly unphotogenic even when you can't see my face (how sad is that?).  I swear the outfit was SUPER-cute in person.  I got compliments at work and even my mom was super-impressed that morning and commented that I had put together a really good outfit.

I need to figure out how to take better pictures.  This is just getting embarrassing...

Blaghhh!!!

So late for work today. Bus is leaving now... Overturned tractor trailers will do that to one's schedule you know. AND I need to leave the office early... Must make up some serious time next week! :(

Useful Tuesday: PR Pros Share Secrets on Getting to the Next Level

I think I saw this short article on Twitter somewhere and sent it to myself to read later.

Nothing too groundbreaking or new, but nothing wrong with a refresher.

I've always heard that the part I quote below is one of the hardest things for women in the workplace to do.  We're just not "taught" that this is acceptable behavior.

How important is tooting your own horn—how do you do it? What if you feel awkward about “bragging”? How can a woman overcome that?

Toot your own horn, just not too loudly. Strike a balance between passive and pesky. It's tricky, especially if you feel awkward about touting your accomplishments. One effective way is not only to pat yourself on the back, but also to pat others harder. When working on a team, don't just highlight the good work you are doing, include and promote co-workers' contributions as well.   

I was at the Harvard APALSA conference this past spring and attended a panel entitled "Women in Leadership."  I forget the exact list of speakers Here's the list of speakers (they were impressive).  One of the women said that you need a brag buddy - this is easier for women than bragging about yourself.  She said to get yourself a brag buddy, which is like a (lady) wingman but for networking events and such instead of bars and broads.  I really liked this idea because it seems a lot more natural and perhaps even more sincere when a friend is singing your praises rather than doing it yourself (of course, this might be harder to do within your own organization - especially if it's rather competitive - but you can find a brag buddy in a different department or specialty to do this for you with your own superiors at work events - and of course you should reciprocate!).  I've been trying to do it (secretly!) with one unni of mine at networking events I drag her to - I hope it works!

I will say, though, their last tip is one of the easiest and super-importantest ones to do.

What kind of paper follow-up do you need after an introduction or interview?

Send an email within 24 hours of the conversation; then a handwritten note within the week of the meeting; and make a follow-up phone call or email two weeks after the meeting if you haven't yet heard back. If you opt for the latter, it's always good to dig around for some industry news or relevant article tied to your conversation that you can share to show that you are still engaged.

 I don't know about the handwritten note (unless I was invited to coffee at the person's home or something similar that took more effort) but I try to email people that I've recently met (usually at a networking or bar event) within the next few days following up on something we discussed and asking if they wouldn't mind continuing that conversation.  Most people I've done this with have been very receptive.  Some people are very busy but even those people usually respond and say email or telephone works.  I'd highly recommend following up quickly though - you want to be one of the memorable ones!

Inspiration and Execution: Club Monaco Layers

I don't feel like thinking this week(end) so my pre-written, scheduled posts shall continue to be Inspiration and Executions.  This one is "fun" because it's not strictly a work outfit.  Although I think if you worked in a more casual office or switched up the pants for some trousers, it would be totally work appropriate.

A pretty layered look from Club Monaco's Spring 2012 collection (I believe).  Yup, just checked and I got the image from Mizhattan.

Wore my version of it out to lunch in the city this past Saturday.

Luckily, I already had all the basic pieces.  I did switch out the springy lightwash for a more season and weather-appropriate darker wash denim - but kept the (what my mother calls) "pantalones" shape, what I guess would be a wider leg trouser/bellbottom cut.

Club Monaco styled it with a brown bag and I like how it grounded an otherwise pale and potentially washed out palette.  I wore it with my Louis Vuitton Speedy 35 in Damier Ebene.

What do you think?  A pretty close interpretation, no?

Swearing in ceremony outfit: NJ edition.

So, I had posted a few weeks ago about what to wear to my swearing in ceremony for NJ.  I had quite a few helpful suggestions from my question over at Corporette (I'm comment 14).

I ended up going with the skirt suit because something about pants suits screams "CASUAL" and "HILLARY" (as in Clinton) to me.  And I pulled a hybrid for my shirt.  It was both a button-up and a silk blouse.  I wore a silk button-up blouse with a fancy ruffle collar (I wanted to wear something fun and festive and fancy to signal it wasn't just any other work day!).

Here are close-ups of the ruffle details from eBay (so you can see it's not just any old button-up):

Whole blouse (mine is gold)

Collar and cuff detail

Isn't the blouse lovely?  I think it was originally $495 or so at Saks but my wonderful mother purchased it on crazy-sale in the fall of 2008 (purging of merchandise when ppl stopped shopping after the financial mortgage crisis/collapse of the big banks) for something like $100.  I usually feel a bit too uncomfortable to wear something so luxe to my government workplace but it was perfect for a special event!

Originally tried black tights but something seemed a bit off.

And as the kind commenter AnonInfinity pointed out, collar out seemed a little wonky, so:

The official outfit in full was collar in, nude-for-me hose (except the sheen on the hose makes my calves look uber-wide):

Food on Friday 8. Birthday Cake.

So, late again - but here's today's Food post.

Being a recent graduate school grad and working at a government fellowship left me (more than) a little low on funds this year, so I offered to bake my sister a cake, ANY cake, she desired for her birthday.  This was a simple enough request and I received a simple enough answer: funfetti cake.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with funfetti cake, a picture below:

Funfetti Cake

So, being an aspiring gourmand, I looked up homemade versions of a white cake and even looked up how to make homemade sprinkles from scratch!  But no, she didn't want ANY of that.  She just really wanted funfetti cake with NO icing.  I mean, I'm not a fan of icing either but a cake with no icing just looks ugly and naked.  I wanted to make her a BEAUTIFUL FABULOUS BIRTHDAY CAKE.

Finally, I convinced my sister to let me make a frosting for people who don't like frosting (of which I am one).  And she caved.  The process, below.

The recipe for the cake is from the box.  I found the frosting recipe at Our Best Bites, and OHMYGOODNESS they are my new favorite website in the WHOLE. WIDE. WORLD.  Seriously, I've bookmarked every recipe they post, sweet, savory, meat, dessert, ALL. OF. IT.  I've made a few of their recipes since discovering their site (you can see my links from previous Food on Friday posts).  Also, I love that there's such a devoted following of readers who try the recipes and add suggestions and comments.  I've read through their hundreds of comments to tweak a few of the recipes.

Now, onto the CAKE.

Prior to assembly

Clockwise from top left: an upside-down cake cooling, mint green frosting, and bottom layer already frosted with star sprinkles. 

The upside-down cake is the 2nd layer and about to go onto the frosting in the middle "gluing" the 2 layers together, I wanted to make the bottom was completely cool and wouldn't melt the in-between frosting.  And although the frosting recipe warns against adding too much liquid element, I found that it dealt with the liquid food coloring just fine.

Frosted and encircled with star sprinkles

I could definitely learn to frost a cake smoother.

Final product!

Cross-section of a slice

Definitely could've made MORE frosting and put MORE in between the 2 layers.  Also, could've used 2 boxes of cake mix and made a bigger/higher cake.  Also, perhaps I ought to invest in a cake slicer/leveler.  It'll depend on how many more cakes I foresee baking.  I have to admit, I really like cupcakes as an alternative as "mini-cakes."  You'll see some mini-pies coming up soon!

P.S. If you have not heard me rant about this frosting in person, just know that I have been baking things JUST to serve as frosting receptacles, aka a vehicle to get the frosting into my mouth.  It's THAT good.

Inspiration and Execution: Twist-front top and suit.

Maybe I'll think of a better name (especially if this becomes a regular thing).

In college I started to keep a notebook with clippings of outfits I've liked (from catalogs and magazines mostly) and now I have a digital folder with outfits and pictures from the Internet.  I started this because my mom got tired of me calling her in the morning (when I was away in college) and asking her what I should wear (yes, I'm aware that I might have some attachment/mommy issues).

Anyway, I sometimes feel like I get stuck in a style rut and like to keep images for inspiration.  I also started photographing my daily outfits - first because I liked documenting outfits that I really liked but then it turned into a bit of a documentary project.  I found patterns and habits and comfort zones.

For example,  I wear a lot of solid colors.  Most of my wardrobe is solid and it falls into two color/season categories.  My fall/winter clothes are black/grey/navy and my spring/summer clothes are yellow/pink/white.  I own hardly any blue, green, purple, red (no saturated colors, really) and not that much in the brown/khaki family.

I have NO prints - sometimes I get as adventurous as a wide-stripe or a polka dot accent.  So, I started to try and buy some more clothes with prints on them.  (I'll have to document some examples of my old habits and new trials sometime).

Anyway, the point of THIS entry is to share an inspiration outfit and my actual outfit.  So here goes,

The inspiration outfit was from a series called "Three Ways" by the lovely Miss Belle over at Capitol Hill Style.

I didn't have a grey top like that - but I did have a black one so my version of the outfit inverted the colors.  I wore a charcoal grey pinstripe skirt suit with a black knot/twist-front jersey shell.  (Sorry about the horrible lighting - you can barely see the contrast in color).  And as per Belle's suggestion, I wore rather large-ish-for-me earrings.

The color contrast is a LITTLE better here - but I'll try for better lighting/contrast next time.  And I know her "Three Ways" if focused on the shoe - but for me, it was really the outfit that I'd liked.  I just don't like peeptoe flats.  I don't find them attractive on my vamp and I think it's just a little, too, forced (hard to explain).

What do you think?  Was this a faithful "execution" outfit?  Should I have stuck closer to the inspiration?  What would you have done differently?

December???

Looked at a calendar.  WHAT THE WHAAAT?!?!?!!!!  How is it December already?  Remember when it was New Year's?  Then my birthday?  Then graduation?  Then the summer?  Then the bar exam?  Then work?

OMG.  Time seriously flies.  Can't believe it's December.  I feel so unprepared - like, emotionally for the end of the year.

Well, at least I have all my Christmas traditions to look forward to.  I love them.  Already saw my goddaughter in The Nutcracker (this past Saturday) CHECK!  Next?  Gotta watch Elf (one of my favorite movies of all time).

Seriously - trying to make the most of each day left in this (less than) last month of the year.

I could ask what you'd hoped to achieved this year (y'kno, like what was your new year's resolution) but it's probably much less depressing to ask, What Christmas traditions do you look forward to?

Pig of Happiness.

Available on Amazon.com

What a lovely idea.

I don't even remember where I saw this but it just struck me as so lovely that I snapped a picture of it so that I could look it up.

I wish I could see the BEST in EVERYONE and EVERYTHING.  Seriously, that's truly how one could become happy.

Someone buy me this book for Christmas, please?

(P.S. This counts as a Useful Tuesday post because it is VERY useful to have a positive attitude and to be happy!)

My weekends.

True story of my life.  Except I bake first, then sit and eat the fruit of my labor while lounging on my couch.

Teehee.  It's just a time-thing.  I'm full of energy on Sunday night and Monday, even on Tuesday and make all these grand plans for the weekend.  Then it's Friday at 7pm and I can barely keep myself awake and I slip in and out of dreams about whatever doc review I've been doing all week.

Sad, but true.

TGIF!!!

Woken up at 5am every morning and either left work late or brought it home every night this week. Worked past 12:30 last night. Just got out of all-day deposition and so happy to be headed home. Lincoln Tunnel/Route 3, please don't be a nightmare!

Fingers crossed!

Food on Friday 7. Halloween Candy Corn Cookies!!

So I previously blogged about what to bake for Halloween.

I made these adorable Candy Corn Sugar Cookies.

I used the same sugar cookie recipe from this post about jam thumbprint cookies but tripled it.

Followed the food coloring directions - it was weird and marbled at first but the more I handled the dough, the color evened out and the dough came together (remember how I said it was so crumbly last time?)

I actually think pictures are really helpful for this recipe.

Then you line a bread pan (I used a narrow shoe box) lined with cellophane.  Just go in the right order and try to get your layers as flat as possible.

Cross-section

Then, refrigerate/chill for QUITE SOME TIME so they'll be easier to cut/handle (it feels SUPER-long b/c you get so excited about making/eating the cookies!)

Use the overhanging cellophane to lift the tri-colored block out of the box, then cut 1/2 inch slices.  I followed some reviewer suggestions and coated my knife in powdered sugar (instead of flour) so you don't make it too doughy/taste too flour-y.  You can see a flat slice in the top-right of the picture below.

Then cut the slice into triangles!

On their way into the oven! So, when you cut the flat rectangular slice on diagonals to make triangles, inevitably half of the candy corns will come out with the colors reversed!

They get a little rounded as they bake so I found the sharper you cut them, the better.  Also, you can really see what I mean about my wonky oven.  The back of it has much stronger heat than the front (perhaps it's drafty?).  So I've taken to rotating the pan halfway through the suggested baketime (for whatever it is that I'm making).  And that helps with no noticeable increase in baking time.

A sample of two cookies (you can see what I mean by upside-down colors).  I saved these from my co-workers (I brought in 50 at least! and they were gone in an hour!).

Oh, and I added just a touch of cinnamon (1/4 tsp) to make it taste more fall/autumn-y!