viva la sk

marni every day

2012-01-21T20:39:00.002-06:00

these marni necklaces make the perfect gift.

bijoux bijoux

2011-11-30T21:49:00.001-06:00

I remember the first time I saw Dior's "oui" ring on the now defunct eluxury.com

But... I kind of love the super-affordable "love" ring more - featured on this holiday list.

Cannot even write where this ring is from. Totally unexpected, right??

molten

2011-11-29T19:13:00.000-06:00

this is perfect.

demure and flashy.

mulberry!

thanksgiving this year

2011-11-26T19:35:00.000-06:00

this year, my closest friend and i went on a trip to portland, maine for the thanksgiving holiday.

the people in maine are so friendly and accommodating. the food was fresh and local, the boutiques and shops weren't crazed about black friday, and for thanksgiving, we had a perfect korean meal made by my college friend anna who is now living in portland!

we had time on our last day to take the ferry to peaks island, just one of the thousands of islands off the maine coast. it was amazing to be in such a historic part of the country and i kept imagining all the ships and boats that had traveled the waters to discover a new land.

patagonia

2011-11-25T22:14:00.001-06:00

thank you, patagonia, for reminding us to consume less, and reuse as much as possible.

your message strikes clear and sound while other retailers are busy promoting feel-good purchases.

common threads initiative

celebratory dinners

2011-11-25T22:04:00.000-06:00

I would like all celebratory dinners to emulate everything in this photo.
The warmth, the smiles, and most importantly, the wine!

via happenstance photo by sarah rhoads

a bit of tape and creativity

2011-10-25T22:29:00.000-05:00

these girls really know how to make their dorm rooms pop.

via r29

my weekends

2011-10-22T17:12:00.001-05:00

The MTA likes to do construction on weekends, and sometimes it requires way too much effort to get out of Brooklyn. At first, I thought it was the end of the world, but now that I think about it, I would much rather spend my entire weekend in Brooklyn than trek out to a crowded Manhattan where I have to wait for an hour to have brunch. (Ok, not all places are like that but you get the point.)

I start my weekend waking up not to an alarm but the bright sun soaking into my studio apartment, and then I put on my usual weekend outfit of skinny jeans and a thrifted oversized cashmere sweater. Perfect for lounging. With a pair of flats I'm off to the Brooklyn Flea and make a beeline to the food stalls in the back. With a full stomach and a cup of hot apple cider in my hands, I'll zigzag the aisles and rows of Fire-King glassware, handcrafted jewelry, and vintage furniture - usually leaving with nothing, but today I found a few unique Fire-King mugs that my boyfriend helped me pick out.

Tonight, I've convinced by college friends to come out to Brooklyn for a night in Williamsburg. The Meatball Shop is our first stop, and then hopefully a lane will open quickly at Brooklyn Bowl.

I love my Brooklyn weekends.

head in the clouds

2011-10-18T21:06:00.000-05:00

how adorable is this hat from kate spade new york? it'll make those cold winter days so bright! head in the clouds ski hat - even the name is cute. love!

spenglorean*

2011-10-12T00:05:00.000-05:00

do you ever want to speak a language that no one else knows, so that you can write whatever you want and still feel the exhilaration of posting it on the internet but not worrying about what other people will think? when has the internet become such a public smorgasbord? or where has my confident, nonchalant personality disappeared to? have i become a self-conscious, overly serious adult?

my old xanga makes me cringe at times - but at least i was honest.

what is this illusion that we portray through the various channels that are available to us online?

*spenglorean = my totally made up word to describe the combination of spanish, english, and korean that i think and dream in...

rome gains a gold-hearted girl

2011-09-25T10:00:00.002-05:00

my friend michelle is currently living in rome and photographing the city and her travels beautifully. having lived a year abroad (and not having done a great job at blogging about it) i am always eager to see how my fellow blogging friends share all the good things their friends and family back home want to hear. michelle pulls it off effortlessly with beautiful photography and thoughtfully divided layouts and posts.

catching up with michelle in los angeles at alcove

see michelle's blog: gold-hearted girl

wdyl?

2011-09-25T00:36:00.000-05:00

have you visited google's what do you love? try it and tell me a few things you love! :)

i love: plush toys, iceland, and roadtrips!

and the collar bone is connected to the...

2011-09-24T21:03:00.000-05:00

After a few months of traveling and moving this summer, my nameplate necklace I got custom made in Taxco, Mexico was tarnished and needed some polishing. Stuck in an apartment without any silver cleaning product - I resorted to the internet and found this simple, natural way of cleaning silver! And it worked like a charm! (or just a really cool chemical reaction.)

my "viva" necklace is back to floating around my collar bone :)

just one of those girls...

2011-09-12T23:02:00.000-05:00

Shin Min Ah is just one of those girls you can't take your eyes off of.

W TV: Shin Min Ah for W Korea September 2011 from Eiffel In Seoul on Vimeo

equivalents

2011-08-08T20:56:00.000-05:00

Market week is just about to come to an end for our international team. Almost all of our accounts have flown in to NY to see the Spring 2012 line, have been placing their orders for the first three months of next year, and they have all been keeping me quite busy. Today was probably the latest I stayed in the office (left around 8:40 pm) and on my way home, I felt the same amount of heaviness around my shoulders and my head as I felt when I came home from work at the W in Mexico. Except in Mexico I only worked until 7:00 pm (when there were no events) and almost always had a legitimate lunch break.

I've realized what made me so much more exhausted after a day of work in Mexico vs New York was the language difference. I was exercising my brain so much when the majority of my day was dedicated to speaking, writing, working in Spanish. I also think a lot of that time was spent making sure I was learning to say things the right way.

My new work now has me focused on Asia. The growth in Asia is tremendous - but can you really blame me for fully believing in the potential that is Latin America?

new beginnings!

2011-07-29T22:39:00.000-05:00

I am now living in New York doing international business in the fashion industry. I currently work exclusively with Asian accounts but I hope to use my Spanish in the near future to introduce the brand to Latin American markets. I've only finished week three but the company's goals for expanding globally have kept me busy and running around! I've realized how important it is for me to completely understand the brand as my team is responsible for directly representing the company to our international accounts. I'm excited to see how my role will develop with time.

11 year old me who made a time capsule 11 years ago.

2011-06-05T02:35:00.002-05:00

When I was 11 years old in the year 2000, I made a time-capsule that was meant to be opened ten years later, in 2010. I made two capsules and last month my parents found one of the boxes while moving. I opened the box tonight with my family and we found:

a letter
an envelope with a crisp $10 bill (did I think I would need the money? or did I already know how happy I would be to find money after all this time?)
a straight A report card from Ivy Hall Middle School
a history exam that I got an A- on
a bundle of Time Magazine for Kids
copies of the Chicago Tribune from December 31st - January 2nd.

Other than the fact that I was a pretty sentimental kid, I realized that I also got Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide confused and got a little hasty when writing about evolution. For a few laughs on what a 11 year-old girl from Buffalo Grove, Illinois might have been expecting of the world, read on:

In the year 2010 and the FuTuRe.
In 2010 I think that I will be a singer some day. I would be really famous and would sing really good. I would get married at the age of 23 in the middle of June on a Saturday. I will get married in Korea and have a humongous engagement in America. I would finish college. There will be no pollution and presidents would not be bad. Also schools would let students use the office phone, and take food out of the cafeteria. All the popular people that were in my school would get fat and have bad clothes.
All chemicals such as carbon-monoxide would go away. New species of animals in the world. There would be better technology and scientist and archaeologists would know things about Homo Habilus, Homo Erectus, Homo Sapiens, and Com Erectus. It would be so cool.
Fashion would be mini skirts with techno eye makeup. Every girl would be so pretty except the really ugly ones. This is what I think may happen.
By: Sunkyung Park

something in between

2011-05-23T19:34:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share this excerpt from Tina Fey's (rather hilarious) prayer for her daughter:

"Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels.

What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit."

Click here for the whole prayer.

breakfast disaster

2011-05-19T01:24:00.001-05:00

One of the hardest things to find while living in Mexico was a good, hearty, American style breakfast. I'm not sure if it was the altitude that affected my taste buds (Mexico City is about 7000 ft above sea level) but I could never find the breakfast or brunch I craved! Now that I'm back in the US I can finally hit that spot.

Class of 2011

2011-05-15T18:28:00.000-05:00

On May 6th, 2011, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Northeastern University! What I initially didn't think was a big deal... ended up becoming a big deal. Graduating from college felt like such an accomplishment! I was so thankful to be able to see my friends and family again after spending a year living in Mexico. My advice to soon-to-be grads, have fun at graduation and the days that lead up to it!

"Going to a 4 year school is like leaving a party at 10:00 p.m."

crossing borders interview

2011-04-01T15:21:00.000-06:00

An interview I did last fall while I was studying at UDLAP was recently published online! It's always interesting to read about someone's impression of me and read back on what I was thinking, feeling, and expecting a few months ago. If you want to practice your Spanish, take a look!

A big thanks to Mike, who apparently thought I was a very smiley person!

(click for full article)

"a nice jewish boy"

2011-03-28T00:25:00.001-06:00

I just ran out to the 24 hour pharmacy around the corner from my apartment to buy a few things, and while I was waiting in line to pay, I found a young Jewish man conservatively dressed with a yarmulke standing next to me in line.

"My future" being the current trend of the ~~month~~ my whole life, "where am I going", "where should I live", "should I be dating"... have all been a never-ending series of questions that I have been asking myself. I know I'm at a point in my life where it is perfectly acceptable to be indecisive and unsure about my future. So long as it doesn't last longer than the generous grace period provided by Sallie Mae. Grace period my ass.

Anyways, seeing the Jewish boy and waiting for a few more minutes in line reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad when I was in LA last weekend...

My dad is a natural conversationalist. Working in sales he loves to bring out different cards, and to my knowledge the daughter-card is his favorite one. He'll tell his clients that his daughter is living in Mexico City and it instantly draws people in. The first question, undoubtedly, is "how do you have a daughter who is 22 years old?" (my parents married young), and "how in the world did you send her to Mexico City out of all places?". To my surprise, my dad jovially told me that he answers the second question pertaining to Mexico's bad reputation with a "She lives in a safe neighborhood called Polanco, apparently where all the rich Jewish people live! Maybe she'll come home with a nice Jewish boy to marry!"

My reaction: "not surprised. not surprised at all, ahppa"

To speak a little bit about my background, I grew up in a nearly 90% Jewish suburban town in Greater Chicago and by the time I was in seventh grade, I was going to bar and bat mitzvahs every single weekend. I impressed my Jewish friends with my knowledge of Sh'ma Israel (I was in a children's choir and sang in Hebrew often) and my parents who are devout Christians, invited my Jewish friends' parents to dinner at our house and gifted checks of auspicious amounts at my friends' mitzvahs. Needless to say, my family became quite familiar with the Jewish-American culture.

Tonight, as I walked home with my purchases in hand, I realized that although my parents have thankfully never restricted me in dating or befriending a certain type of person of a specific background or race, they do have a preference when it comes to faith. Christianity being the obvious first choice - whether it be a friend, a significant other, or potential husband, having faith, being spiritual and believing in God will always be the next contender. Even if it means it's just the Old Testament.

One thing immigrant parents must learn to accept, is that by immigrating they are agreeing to raise their children in a world that is not necessarily the world they grew up in, and that their children will be exposed to different cultures, customs, and languages as they grow. The chance that their daughter or son will fall in love with someone of the same heritage or of a completely different one is nothing that can be controlled. In fact, I believe controlling can often lead to complete backfire. To my relief, I think my parents accepted the chance they took when they decided to move to the U.S.

pack up and go

2011-03-18T15:43:00.004-06:00

vogue australia

it's good to know that change is coming
but it makes it harder to wait through the repetition and routine of the present.
i'm ready to move on to bigger, better things.
graduating from college in a little over a month!

look up

2011-03-16T01:51:00.001-06:00

hi there,

i have to say i've had better days. it seems like everything, all at once, has decided to pile on and on - and it leaves me feeling very confused on what is making me feel this way. i've tried to solve things on my own, have even bought a plane ticket to LA for the weekend, but i'm pretty sure nothing is really going to give me an immediate answer. i tried to cut off what i thought was making me feel so unstable, unsettled, but i realized that that wasn't the problem - it's a whole amalgamation of things. growing pains.

in other news, i'm a part of a photo project with eight extremely talented people (some of whom i have yet to meet) and i just posted the photo above in the theme "look up". take a look at our project: collective focus

merrily merrily merrily merrily

2011-03-02T22:08:00.003-06:00

life is but a dream

why try so hard to savor these moments if i know my life is going to get infinitely better? living in the moment and trying not to worry so much about needing to enjoy it. i need to make some tough decisions in the near future but i have to say, i think this is one big exciting roller coaster ride. what i learned this week is that what i think are dilemmas are actually options. i have options and i'm lucky. this time in my life is a challenge for an indecisive, curious girl like me, but what can i do. this is how i've always been :)