So all this shopping chatter has really gotten my appetite going. Once the eyes are stimulated by fashion candy, the belly follows suit and all I crave is some really good VN food. Or a sinful chocolate cake. The former reminds me of one of the spectacular meals (that my mom didn’t make, though she knows how to crank this dish out quite well herself) that I had with my parents in Dallas days ago. It was at an almost-hole-in-the-wall place that specialized in cá nướng, or grilled whole fish. My dad refuses to eat catfish–and if i tell you the reason why, you will also stop eating it–so my mom had called ahead and ordered the smallest fish they had for just herself and me.
And my oh my, when the fish arrived, my eyes jumped out of their sockets. The fish was the size of the state of Delaware. This was small??
Anyway, you’ve seen my posts before about how to roll the fish…
After 4 rolls or so, you feel like you might die. But it’s a pretty light meal and that feeling of bloatedness won’t last…it’s just grilled fish and tons of veggies and herbs. Now I may be biased, but I think VN cooking makes the best diet in the world–healthy, fresh, and so rich in flavor. If you have never tasted it, do it at least once in your life. Your tummy will thank you for it.
Look at my dad, a product of 70 years of eating VN food. The proof is in the pudding (or phở)!
I can only hope to look this good in my 7th decade. Without botox. Or the knife.
Tags: Cá Nướng, grilled fish, phở
OK, so I didn’t sleep in that jacket after all, but it is hanging prominently in my closet so that I could swoon over it every time I walk by. Men would never understand this, but that’s what those of us with the XX chromosomes do. We’d dissect it, discuss it, obsess over it, and when we finally own it, well…repeat.
But on to other sales news 
. Remember how I was bemoaning the fact that beige is really hard to match for me? Well, after this sale season, I can finally shut up.
My sales associate called these oh, those Dr. Scholl’s clogs, which made me laugh and cringe at the same time. But I have to say, I think these will be my go-to sandals for the summer. Now, if only the black version had also gone on sale…
Tags: Dr. Scholl's
It started with this…
…a blurry view of a jacket hanging forlornly on a rack at a Chanel SS11 trunk show on February 17, 2011. But that was all it took. A gasp was silenced in my throat by my pounding heart. The SA and I scurried off into the dressing room with a few other items in hand. She meticulously lined up the pieces on the rack…
served me some sparkling water, then left, but all I wanted to do was this…
and this…
and finally this:
The sample was two sizes too big (albeit cut down to fit the tiny but tall models), but in that moment I felt about as close to wearing couture as I ever could. It was hard to believe that this jacket was considered Ready-To-Wear. How many nimble hands did it take to apply all those beads on the trims? Is it really possible to mass produce this kind of workmanship? I can’t really describe the fabric to you except to say that wearing it was like being gift wrapped in a sheath of lamé ribbons that I was scared to unravel. But Chanel being Chanel, the real fear was the sticker shock. So I removed the jacket and mentally added it to my Holy Grail List, which is different from my Wish List. The Wish List is actually a list that I start at the beginning of each season then whittle down to an usually much shorter Buy List to keep me from impulsive purchases. The intent behind the Buy List is to wait till sales…Intervention 101, as it were.
Months passed and editorials (courtesy of style.com and Hirshleifers) crossed my path…
to the point of fueling my obsession with this now called “Dream Jacket” into a small flame. I searched for it everywhere, including while overseas, but never found it in my size. The operator at the Chanel hotline (yes, it does exist) told me it was sold out.
Almost exactly four months after my first encounter with this jacket, the fashion gods toyed with me. While randomly looking through the racks at a boutique for presale intel, I found this jacket, in size 36. Alas, it was still one size too big, and certainly the alterations on this jacket would wipe out any savings on it from the sale. I tossed and turned that night, thinking it was silly to spend money on something that didn’t fit and possibly couldn’t be fitted properly. The old me would have bought it anyway; the new me walked away.
That’s how it is to be a mere mortal in the fairy tale world of fashion. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And most of the time you’re just pining away for a piece of that fantasy.
But would I have told you this whole story if it didn’t have a happy ending? Well, dear readers, at this blog, we are all about the sappy Hollywood endings. Let me just cut to the chase and say that after those fashion gods were done playing with me, they led me to the prize in a rather uncomplicated way, in my true size 34. And today, exactly 126 days after that first glance, I can finally be in my own private editorial. Now, I love me some Vanessa Paradis…
but I think I can rock it even with my gym shorts
I’m calling it my Michael Jackson jacket because of the bling. I’m not sure where I can wear this jacket to, but for tonight, I might just sleep in it. Isn’t that what a fashion fantasy is?
Could you stand looking at two more pairs of sale shoes? Both courtesy of Chanel:
Luckily, not too many problems with matching today…
Enough with the shoes, already! you say. I promise in the next entry we’ll get to the good stuff.
Tags: Chanel
So another pair of sandals from sales turned up, but I’m having trouble fitting them. The size 36 I tried on at the store was too long in the back and loose around the ankle, but the 35.5 sent to me is too short in the back. So not too much luck here even if they would have been cute with my black (or white) linen pants. Not that I need more shoes, but I’m hoping the rest will fit better.
While waiting for the rest of the sales loot to arrive, let me post a picture of the olive (vert fonce) mini flap against one of my favorite cardigans from 08. When I bought this bag it immediately occurred to me to match it with this sweater, but what do you think…matchy-matchy or find a bag with better contrast?
