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As mentioned before, I love weddings! I just love everything about them - the food (of course I list this first), the happiness, how everyone dresses up - so I'm always excited about attending them. Luckily, I attended one last night and couldn't wait to go. It was a bit tricky deciding what to wear since it is Spring yet it's still quite cold out and it was unfortunately pouring all day and night yesterday so I had to nix my original plan on wearing my CLs. On the plus side, I got to take out my Burberry Billington Peplum Jacket to wear since it wasn't too cold last night and it was raining so hard. I'm also happy I finally got to wear my new ASOS dress that I've been holding on to for a special occasion. :)  Dress: ASOS(old but similar here and here ). Shoes: Enzo Angiolini 'Mistle' Pumps (old). On another note, I'm very excited to share the below recipe for baked samosas, which I found on Mind Over Munch . Her recipes aren't always hit

There never seems to be enough time in a day so I find I keep gravitating towards the usual work uniform of a blazer, skinny black pants or jeans, and heels, as you can see here . I just want to point out that throwing on a piece of statement jewelry really does make a big difference towards looking more polished and less casual. I haven't been doing so myself lately, but as you can see from the photos above, just one piece of statement jewelry can make a big impact on how you look, making it more suitable for work or going out and giving the impression that you put effort into looking more presentable. The necklace I have on is from Forever 21 (similar one here and a Spring version here ). I'm also wearing my favorite H&M blazer (old)  in both photos and hope it will hold up from all the wear it's been getting recently. Below are some more options but there are also great inexpensive and stylish options you can easily find at Forever 21 and H&M too.

I really am trying to cut down on shopping because I can't fit anything in my closet anymore. The good thing is that I definitely spent a lot less last month than in January. Here's a summary of what I purchased last month: I really do like this exercise of logging everything I buy at the end of each month into a spreadsheet (I use Google Drive so I can access it anywhere) because it's made me much more aware of what I'm spending my money on. If I were on a budget, I would add to the list as I shop, which would be even more effective and is something I may do when I need to budget myself. I recently purchased the Fitbit Flex band in Lime Green (my favorite color) and am very happy with the change since it's a nice bright pop of color for Spring and I love that the lights are green too. I've retired the blue one and this will be added to my March haul snapshot. I just want to note that since it is made of silicone and is lighter in color, it's already

I recently received an Athleta circular in the mail. I never paid much attention to the brand but know that it's affiliated with Banana Republic/Gap/Old Navy/Piperlime. After flipping through the catalog, I really liked a lot of their hoodies and zip-up jackets. Since A is getting ready to really start working out again once the weather is warmer and he's been buying his own fair share of zip-ups and lightweight jackets, I really feel I need one or two too. Conveniently, I was near the uptown location of Athleta over the weekend so quickly popped into the store to try on some of their items to see how they fit since they do offer size XXS. As expected, the sleeves were a bit too long on me but I noticed a sign in their fitting rooms that says all hemming needed is free! This is exciting news since the body of most of their pieces fit be pretty well throughout as you can see in the photos below. The only downside is that features and details such as the thumbholes on the sleeves

Since it's a new year and this blog has made me much more aware of my purchases, I've decided to calculate how much I really spend each month on clothing and accessories. Below are snapshots of my January purchases and I will continue with these summaries from now on, most likely posting them two months afterwards since indecisiveness and returns take time. I know the day will come soon when I have to cut back on my spending so why not start early by being more selective with what I end up buying? From doing this, I can already pick out some items I regret buying when listed next to how much the item costs. I'm hoping this will make me more conscious and selective going forward when I'm shopping. I've tried budgeting websites such as Mint.com but it didn't stick so for now, I'll just be using my trusty spreadsheet. I've been cooking dinner every night for the past two weeks for A and I after coming home from a long day of work and it's reall

I was flipping through Teen Vogue when the Giovanna Battaglia iPhone 5 gate cover caught my eye. Excitedly, I looked up the color options, which are Black, Gold, Pink, and also Silver. I just received the case and while the quality doesn't seem like it's very good for its price, the design is unique and pretty enough for me to want to keep it. Here's a pic of it below with me and my new haircut. :) Blazer & Top: H&M (old), Belt: Ann Taylor (similar here ), Necklace: Stella + Dot (old but similar here ), iPhone 5S Case: Giovanna Battaglia . Also over the weekend, A and I picked up some dry-aged steak to cook. Ever since we started cooking it, we've never turned back. We feel that cooking it ourselves always tastes better than eating it at restaurants, and it's cheaper too! Below is the recipe I adapted from Emeril Lagasse and I have to say it's fail-proof for perfect steak: BRIETTA'S DRY-AGED STEAK RECIPE Ingredients: dry-aged T-bone ste

I've heard about Pinterest but never used it until this year and boy, it was extremely addicting at first. I was constantly looking at it and was just overwhelmed with how much interesting stuff is posted on there. I just want to share that I primarily started using it to get design ideas for the renovation of my house later this year (which it has been great for) but so far have also found great recipes, gotten motivated and amused by quotes and memes, shopped, and even ended up saving money more efficiently (more on that soon). Here's a quick snapshot of all my boards (and you can see what I most recently pinned in my sidebar down below). It's definitely more fun to type in an ingredient I have laying around the house to see the yummy photos of things I could possibly make with it rather than searching for recipes on the internet, which I never did anyway. I've had some hits and misses so far but some things that were good (but not good for your diet) are the Cin

While browsing online, I spotted the Alexander Wang Rockie Duffel Bag in Spearmint and fell in love with the color. Despite the high probability that it would be too long on me and also all the negative reviews about how difficult it is to open the bag and how heavy it is, I decided to purchase it anyway to see for myself (I tend to learn things the hard way). Bag: Alexander Wang Rockie Duffel Bag , Top: LOFT Hidden Button Blouse . Pants: Madewell (old). Shoes: Kenneth Cole 'Slip On By' . As you can see from the photos above, the Alexander Wang Rockie Duffel Bag really is beautiful and it's a great size but it's too long on me as expected and also super heavy as everyone says. On the bright side, it'd be a great workout to heft this bag around with a bottle of water and book inside it. The quality of this bag is definitely very nice considering the price and I really do love the design of the bag but it's true that it's hard to use. I don't thi

As I've mentioned before, I'm never one to toss away circulars without at least browsing through them first. Firstly, I just want to say that the new updated design and layout of Victoria's Secret's catalogs is really great and makes their product look so much more appealing. Not only that, but they accept returns in stores now, which is a big incentive to purchase from them even more now. This outfit below really caught my eye when I was flipping through their catalog so I impulsively purchased both pieces to try. Unfortunately, the Pleated Mini Skirt is too big on me but I love the clean simplicity of a pleated pleather skirt in white. Though the skirt didn't work out, I loved the Sleeveless Ponte Top as much in person as in the picture. What attracts me the most is the unique cut-out neckline and how I'm also partial to ponte because it's a more structured material that is comfortable. Top: Victoria's Secret Sleeveless Ponte Top . Bottom: O