Category Archives: Random Musings

Forzieri Gloves

10 Tuesday Mar 2009

Posted by in Random Musings

≈ 9 Comments

The other day I came across the perfect colored leather gloves online at Forzieri. I’ve never actually heard of this site before until now, but it sounds like the Italian version of Intermix. The gloves I’m in love with are from the in-house brand, Forzieri. The design is simple and classic, and most importantly, it comes in a rainbow of vibrant colors!

forzieri-gloves

It isn’t lined with anything (that would be an extra $20-40 thank you), but they look quite well made (they are made in Italy after all). They’ll be fine for accessorizing when it is positive farenheit- anything below that, you should just put on ski gloves and limit exposure to the outdoors anyway. I still think they are a bit pricey at $87 , but I thought I’d throw it out there for anyone else dying for a pair of colored leather gloves. Personally I’m going to keep my eye out and hope that spring comes early this year (or maybe it’ll go on sale?).

Incidentally, for an investment, I am really considering the black gloves with pink edges (bottom right). They are leather and lined with cashmere i.e. decently warm. The design is simple and elegant. The color is classic and practical, while the pink outline gives it that little pop without coming in the way of your outfit choice. Not bad for $118.

Image Source: Forzieri

The Quarter Century Mark

05 Thursday Mar 2009

Posted by in Random Musings

≈ 10 Comments

This weekend one of my girl friends will be turning 25 and we’re going to dress up and celebrate with a three course dessert and a night out. Since she is reaching the quarter of a century mark, I thought I’d get her something fun and special- like a pretty birthday tiara with a 25 sign on it! I’ve seen such age-specific hats many times and figured that I can easily find one in any party favors store online or off.

Since there are no party favor stores within a mile of me, I started googling it up and I couldn’t find any! They have little sections for 16, 30, 40, 50, 60 etc but no 25. You’d think that retailers would capitalize on any cause for celebration and produce some 25 specific merchandises (remember in October when they had the “Sweetest Day”? What IS that if not a commercial holiday?), but no, the quarter of a century mark is apparently not important enough to warrant age-specific party favors.

Turning 25 may not seem very significant to those who have already passed that age (I’m sure you have even more significant milestones to worry about) or those who are far from it (when I was in my teens, I thought the twenties 25 was a distant blur), but trust me, to those in who ARE turning 25 or are in their early 20’s, the quarter of a century mark is a big deal. It is kind of the turning point betweeen “still growing” and “aging”- especially for a girl! As my korean friend’s mom puts it, a girl is like a Christmas cake, once you hit 25 you start to expire. I thought it sounded a bit conventional and antiquated back then when I first heard it, but I’m beginning to think that there may be a grain of wisdom to it. Sunscreen will not be enough and it is probably a good time to start using anti-aging products. Yes, I know aging is a natural process and that we’re suppose to embrace what the future holds because it can only get richer and more beautiful with age and experience, but having been raised in an environment where youth is equivalent to beauty, it is a hard concept to grasp. Even though guys age better, this phenomena is not limited to females however. I talked to a guy friend who is turning 25 soon and it sounds like a big milestone to him too, because it signifies that you have just lived 1/3 of your life (assuming we all live till 75), and it is really a time to take stock of what we have achieved and where we are heading. The time when we can just take the risk, fall and quickly pick ourselves up again is fast running out!

I’m probably overdramatizing and freaking out when I’m not even turning 25 yet, but you get the picture- it’s a milestone! What does a girl have to do to find a pretty tiara with a 25 on it?

The Girl with the Green Scarf

27 Friday Feb 2009

Posted by in Fashion, Random Musings

≈ 14 Comments

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The first thing I said upon stepping out of the cinema after watching Confessions of a Shopaholic was, “I want that green scarf!”

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I’m not much of a green girl myself, but  this rich kelly green scarf swayed me- especially seeing how it matched seamlessly with Rebecca’s orange plaid coat and electric blue outfit underneath without even a hint of “carrot-ness.” The crinkly design also very simply and elegantly distinguishes it from a regular plain green scarf making it special. And trust me this scarf is special. After spending a LOT of time googling trying to find it (if it is indeed $120, then I definitelywant it), I discovered that it is an one of a kind inspired by Dolce and Gabanna a few years ago.

intermix-scarf

The closest one I found was this Yigal Azrouel scarf from Intermix. I’m definitely not about to fork out $288 for a jersey scarf though (for that price, it better be cashmere or silk!). Sigh… it will probably take high street a few months to come up with a decent replica.

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The next comment I made was, “I want bright and bold colored leather gloves!” It never occurred to me I wanted them before, but throughout the movie her bright gloves just kept popping out at me. Not everyone can afford the whole Becky Bloomwood wardrobe of bold colors and prints, but we can all take a tip from her and invest in a pair of bold colored gloves to brighten up our winter wardrobe.

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I even know what shade I’d like. Ideally I’d love a pair of magenta or bright blue (above center) colored leather gloves. Unfortunately, I’ve already checked most places I can think of (Forver 21, Urban Outfitters, Bloomies, J Crew, Club Monaco…) but haven’t come across the one yet.

Note to self 1: Not that you need anymore coats, but keep a lookout for a black peacoat with white checks (above center).

Note to self 2: If you ever go to Japan in the near future, also watch out for aborable cropped magenta puffy jackets and and purple boots with cute furry snowballs dangling.

Side note: Anyone notice that the white Milly coat with black plaid (right), was also worn by the bag lady at the end of the movie? I didn’t catch it myself, until I read about it online.

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I DID however come across a pair of lilac colored leather gloves at a small boutique at 20% off that made me feel a little like how Becky must have feel in the picture above. But HG convinced me that if it is not exactly what I’m looking for then I should wait. Hopefully high street will hear my call for crinkly green scarves and bright colored gloves for next season.

As for the movie itself, it did not quite measure up to the book. But on its own, it is still quite a cute movie. Who can resist a movie with a cute guy with a British accent that speaks Prada and lots of gorgeous outfits?

Image Source: Blue Fly, Intermix and Yahoo Movies

Bonus Season

26 Thursday Feb 2009

Posted by in Office, Random Musings

≈ 2 Comments

One of the good things about my company is that, through good and lean times, they maintain a certain level of compensation. In the good times, we’re underpaid and they rely on a friendly, laid back company culture, great hours, excellent benefits, educational stipends and paying out bonuses in increments over time to retain employees. In the lean times, they try their best to maintain this minimum level of pay and so far has only stopped matching our 401Ks and cut our annual educational stipend in response to the current economic environment. We’re on a hiring freeze, but we did not rescind any of the thirty something offers we extended back in fall and have not had any pay cuts or layoffs (not any major ones anyway). In fact, this year, they’re even giving out bonuses to reflect profits from the better half of 2008 (though they made sure we knew that next year will probably not be as jolly). It’s not a bad place to be during the lean times.

Even in a friendly and laid back company culture however, office politics exists. There will always be those sneaky few that one should always be careful of – especially during bonus season. Bonus season is like high school when your grades come out. Everyone clamors to know what everyone else got, because their “happiness” with their own grades depend on how they did relative to everyone else. Most people grow out of this and realize that how one feels about their own achievements should not be measured relative to how other people did.  Or rather most people know that this is how they should feel now as mature adults and desist with the whole competing thing (or go about it much more discretely).

But I guess some people never grow out of high school. The day after we got our bonus, I got instant messages from two of my colleagues. Colleague #1 was fairly harmless. He asked me if I got within such and such range, and left me alone after that. Colleague #2 was much more persistent. He asked me outright, “I got XX%, do you mind sharing what you got?” I told him I was uncomfortable sharing my number with him but that I was happy with what I got. Unfortunately he didn’t get my not-so-subtle hint and persisted with, “Oh, does that mean you got more than the average of XX?” I told him that it was open to interpretation and that it could mean that I got less, the same or more than the average, and logged off at that. I guess no one taught him the art of social finesse and that talking about money- especially with someone who so obviously does not want to talk about it- is taboo.

It is not that I’m deliberately being mean and secretive for no reason. It is just that I’ve talked to enough people to know that “thou should not give away your bonus number,” because it is a lose lose situation whatever bonus you got. If you got less, than the other person will feel unnecessarily smug and superior about themselves and we all know that a number does not signify all. If you got the same, this will not affect you immediately, but be ensured that this number will go beyond the person you tell and not all bonuses are given out equally. If you got more than the other person, than you don’t want to make them feel bad about themselves and thus jealous of you. This can cause a lot of trouble later on. Usually people who know that they got more than everyone else tend to play it down and avoid the topic, because one should always avoid an outright lie if possible, since they will come back to haunt you. Later I found out through the rumor mill (the much more discrete way of competing) i.e. from someone who accidentally saw the breakdowns earlier in a meeting with my manager, that colleague #2 actually got a lot more than the XX% he mentioned. Now we all know that he is a sneaky liar. See what I mean about lies coming back to haunt you?

New Lows

23 Monday Feb 2009

Posted by in Finance and News, Random Musings

≈ 4 Comments

Last week was a low for many. One of my friends got her wallet stolen at Borders (I know, how blatant is that?), many lost of lot of money in the markets and many more just feels blue for no particular reason. Even steak and chocolate failed to bring our spirits back up. Maybe it is because there hasn’t been any new TV shows out in a long time (where is Gossip Girl?) and they keep cutting the good shows (Lipstick Jungle, Dirty Sexy Money… and I hear that they might be cutting Privileged too!). Maybe it’s just that time of the year where everyone has the winter blues, because we have passed the holiday high, and there is still quite a bit to go before Spring. Or maybe it is everyone’s favourite excuse for feeling blue- the recession.

The market reached new lows since November last week. At the beginning there didn’t even seem to be any particular reason (very similar to how everyone just somehow felt blue). There was slight controversy when Berkshire’s portfolio was reported and it looked like Buffet had been selling America instead of buying it as he said he was doing. But I stand by that the argument that he sold J&J etc in order to raise funds for his GE and GS deal, which were obviously more lucrative (opportunity cost and all that). GM and Chrysler asked the government for more money again to survive. They should really just let them die. We will still need American banks in 20 years, but we can always buy Asian and European cars. There was also rumors that Citi (followed closely by BofA) was going to be nationalized this weekend, which didn’t seem like such an impossibility when Citi stock dropped below $2. As a result, all bank stocks plummeted like crazy Thursday and Friday morning (I watched Wells Fargo dropped from $12 to $9 in a few hours- seriously scary stuff!), until the government announced that they were all for the private bank structure and said that they were not looking to nationalize any banks this weekend. Since it would look pretty bad if the government DID nationalize Citi this weekend after that announcement, the market went back up a bit. Ironically, today (Sunday) there are rumors that Citi is pressing the government for another capital injection to increase their stake to up to 40% (or anywhere below 50%)- just short of a nationalization. Asia seems happy with this though and has rallied thus far.

This has probably all contributed to my winter blues (and consequently my writer’s block and thus my infrequent updates and completely random post about dying flowers). But one can only go up after reaching new lows right? Hopefully this will be a better week 🙂

The Thing About Flowers

19 Thursday Feb 2009

Posted by in Random Musings

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The thing about flowers is that they look so perfect in the picture online. They look so lively and fresh in the fridge at the flower shop. They look so warm and beautiful when you receive it. They look so pretty sitting in the vase in your apartment. But then the first bloom starts to droop and the edges of the petals start to curl up (from the dryness), and you are reminded of how transient they are. Once that happens, the utility you get from them starts diminishing at an astonishing rate. In fact, your utility curve starts entering negative territory and the dying flowers actually start making you feel sad. You are reminded of how short life is and what an inadequate caretaker you are that you can’t even keep a plant alive! You try to preserve it for as long as you can. You give it water and put it next to the window for some sunlight as they instructed you to do in biology 101 (the components of photosynthesis, no?). But ultimately, basic biology fails you and they die. You are left with the very painful task of throwing out $80+ that you’d only enjoyed for a few days.

You could try hanging it upside down and letting it dry. But I’ve tried that and it doesn’t end up looking very aesthetically pleasing. Looks very brittle and dried up i.e. dead. Maybe if I’d put the flower in a plastic bag and stuck it inside a really heavy book for a month instead, it would’ve turned out to be a better looking bookmark…..  Or you can hope that you recieve tulips. My friend recieved lovely purple tulips this weekend and she put them into a pot. Personally I’m not sure how good they look in a bouquet, but I heard they were very sturdy plants. Even though they only bloom for a few weeks a year, they will come back the next year (fingers crossed for her!). It makes me wonder if the initial rush of joy from flowers worth the painful aftermath.

Smooth Talkers

12 Thursday Feb 2009

Posted by in Finance and News, Random Musings

≈ 4 Comments

I just wanted to say kudos to the Wall Street CEO’s (and their strategists). You got to admire how they handled themselves under the rapid fire at Capitol Hill yesterday. They were calm, smart, logical and amiable. We can all learn a lot just by watching!

Lesson number one. When asked a tough question, get nit picky with the details. When asked about the government loan to Citi and whether Citi expects to profit 100% from the upside while making the government share 90% of the downside, Pandit responded by getting really precise about the numbers and insisting that this arrangement is like an insurance. When the parliament member said that insurance was not mentioned in the documents, Pandit admitted not having enough time to read the documents properly since it was given to him over lunch (another smart move). And then time was up! I thought he played that out really well and he was actually very amiable throughout the whole grilling too!

When Pandit and Dimon were asked whether they were deliberately reducing loan in Michigan, because it was really hard to get a loan there these days, they both fell back on the general rules and said that they were not discriminating the State and that everything is treated on a case by case basis. This was very suave and diplomatic. If it were me, I would be tempted to point out that banks are now following a more stringent lending policy (as well they should) and citizens of Michigan are probably finding it hard to get loans because they don’t meet the qualifications, which is not surprising given the current state of the Michigan economy. The parliament complains about banks taking TARP money and not using it to lend money, but there is such a thing as lending responsibly.

Another important lesson is standing up and simply admitting that you made a mistake a la John Mack.

“I think the entire industry bears responsibility, and I’m sorry for it”

This is probably one of the oldest lessons of all, but it works every time. You got to admire someone (esp a banker) who will stand up and admit that he made a mistake and apologize on national TV. Morgan Stanley stocks went up!

The neatest trick of all though, is how they can go on for a long time talking very intelligently like they know what they’re saying, trying to be very cooperative and helpful, but at the end of the day, the audience is left wondering whether they were too dumb to understand what was just said, or whether their question was actually answered.  They are all such incredibly smooth talkers! I wish I knew how to do that.

It is no wonder that they are paid between $600,000 to $1.5 million a year in salary alone (not including bonus) to do their job. As for the whole public anger etc over the exorbitant salary/bonus that Wall Street recieves, I’m of the camp that people don’t go into finance to save the world (those people are called doctors). Besides, if you calculated how much they’re actually earning by the hour, you’ll realize that the regular banker is not really earning that much more than the rest of us. Considering how much tedious work they have to do to just put a pitch book together, I’d say they need their bonus.

Happy Birthday HG

08 Sunday Feb 2009

Posted by in Random Musings

≈ 4 Comments

Old habits die hard. Every year for the last four years, I have done a post for HG‘s birthday and I can’t help but do one this year too, even though we’ve moved on. Her birthday was on Thursday, February 5th, but better late then never right? So here goes, my virtual list of gifts to you:

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These Chanel earrings and matching necklace we’ve been admiring from the SS09 collection. The camellia and pearl combination never gets old.

 happy-bday-hg-vanessa-bruno-dress

I can SEE you in this Vanessa Bruno dress. It looks like the sort of simple, casual but cool dresses you are always telling me about that you love.

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To complete the outfit, you can’t go wrong with a simple Chanel bag. And a pair of vibrant purple Miu Miu pumps would be just the thing to add some color to any outfit!

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Some nice La Prairie eye serum to help you combat the aging process.

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And some cupcakes to celebrate! I wish I was there to celebrate with you. Happy Birthday darling!

Image Sources: Chanel, Net a Porter, Saks and Deelite

A Random Encounter

04 Wednesday Feb 2009

Posted by in Random Musings, Relationships

≈ 11 Comments

Dear London Writer,

I just wanted to say thank you for following me into Neiman Marcus the other night and chatting me up. Your pick up line was a bit cliche, but it totally worked. I did indeed felt very chic and stylish walking down Michigan Avenue in my black trench coat, maroon tights and knee length brown wedge boots. I too thought my white ear muffs look very cute. Your compliment made it almost worth it for me to freeze my legs off in the cold in order to wear my skirt and maroon tights.

I liked how you went straight to the point and addressed your creepy behavior before I even realized what was going on. Indeed, I initially thought you were some ‘modelling agency scout’ out to scam me, a charity representative trying to get me to donate money/sign up for something or a stranger asking for directions. I was actually flattered by your “surprise” when I admitted that I don’t get chatted up on the streets by random guys very often (make that never).  I know, I am a sucker for empty flattery.

I also admired how smooth and confident you were. You completely carried on the conversation by yourself, making smooth transitions between topics, leading it to where you want it to and requiring the minimum effort out of me. There were not even any awkward silences! “Oh you’re from London? (that is probably why my trench coat caught his eye- it was like a hello from the motherland!), yes I’m working here, yes it is really cold out there (the classsic conversation filler), oh you are a writer? Aren’t you a bit too young to be?, yes I love to travel… blah blah”. It was nice, brainless banter. You also successfully made yourself sound very wordly and cool when you started talking about your friends from all over, traveling around for your writing etc etc. It almost made me curious about you and take your bate when you started asking about cool places to go to/hang out at in Chicago.

But alas, my mom’s edict about talking to strangers started drumming in my head, so I not-so-discretely looked down at my phone clock pretending that I was late to meet someone (which is actually the truth. That someone just happened to be late!). I’m impressed by how quickly you took the hint and made a graceful exit. That was possibly the most non-awkward potentially-awkward conversation with a stranger I’ve ever had. So even though I was probably not the most friendly or receptive participant, know that the exchange brought a smile to my face. I will probably not recognize you should I ever meet you again (I have facial recognition issues), but I will definitely watch out for a random young London author the next time I go to the bookstore (even though it will be difficult since I don’t even know your first name).

Best of Luck,

BG

Ps. To other random guys on the street: don’t try this if you are not at least decent looking  or half as smooth and charming.

Pps. This is NOT one of those random blog posts/craig lists posts to look for random strangers that people “connected” with on the train from an exchange of glances