Category Archives: Fashion
June 10, 2013 5-Minute DIY: Shoe Cushions
Don’t you hate it when you find a pair of cute flats or heels and they rub on the back of your heels and just kills them? This happened to me with this pair of adorable Banana Republic flats I found for a great price at Buffalo Exchange. The back was quite hard and uncomfortable, so I tried to find a way to make them comfier with stuff I already had in the apartment. And I came up with these scraps of fleece fabric I had lying around. They were soft and thick and perfect for this purpose! So all I did was cut out 2 strips of fleece (I think felt would also work) of about 0.5″x2″, stuck some double-sided tape on them, and stick them to the back of the shoes where they were rubbing my feet.
And that’s it! They worked wonderfully! Just make sure to stick them a little below the top edge of your shoes so that you can’t see the fabric when you are wearing them.
I know you can also buy these stick-n cushion strips at shoe stores, but why spend money when it’s so simple to just make your own?
Note: I know I haven’t posted in a while and I have a lot to catch up on! Posts coming up include: Mexico trip recap, updates on the dental school front, a cute and simple DIY project, and a few restaurant reviews!
March 30, 2013 DIY Color Block Sandals
This is not so much a real DIY project as a simple way to refresh and update some shoes that might have marks and scuffs on them. I got these cute pewter wedge sandals from Target last summer, but after a season of wear they now have these little scuff marks on the heel area. This might not bother most people, especially since you can’t really see them when worn, but they really bug me for some reason.
So I thought, why not cover up the scuffs and also make these shoes a little more interesting with paint? And thus this project was born!
Project: color block sandals
Difficulty level: easy
Step 1: Gather your materials. You need masking tape, acrylic paint in your choice of color(s), acrylic medium (optional), a paint brush, and a container for mixing paint. Also cover your work surface with newspapers or something so you don’t accidentally get paint on it.
Step 2: Use masking tape to cover the areas around where you plan to paint.
Step 3: Paint your shoes! I decided to keep the neutral look of the sandals so I used black, but you can use any color you want. These sandal already kind of have different block areas, so I just painted the heel part and on of the straps at the front.
Step 4: Let the paint dry and paint another coat if you want. Take off the masking tape when the paint is completely dry and that’s it!
Now I have a pair of new-looking sandals! I can’t wait to wear these babies for another season.
This is a really simple way to refresh a pair of old shoes. You can do this with flats, heels, wedges, anything really. And you can use masking tape to block off areas to paint (you can paint the heel or even make a cap-toe) or ever create cool geometric patterns. The possibilities are endless!
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- Posted under DIY, Fashion
March 26, 2013 Something to Smile About
It’s about time I did a quick update about the status of my dental school apps. Since I last posted on the subject, I’ve decided to put my deposit down for UCSF. I’ve been wait-listed at Harvard, and rejected by Columbia (no love from the alma mater). I’m really excited about UCSF though, and I’m very happy with my choice. I think of all the interviews I went on, UCSF left me with the best impression. I think the program is a good fit for me and I can’t wait to start in September. I’m not holding out for Harvard, but if a miracle happens and I get in, I’m really not sure what I’ll do. But for now I’m happy just focusing on moving things forward with UCSF.
Now, for the real subject of this post. Ever since I decided to go into dentistry, I’ve been on the look out for teeth-related things. I don’t know about anyone else, but I think teeth-shaped stuff are actually pretty cute. They make awesome home accessories, like these salt and pepper shakers:
Or this cookie jar:
Or this toothbrush holder:
Am I right? So cute. In addition to home decor, they also make for cute and unique jewelry. Like this cool necklace:
Or these new earrings that I bought a few weeks ago:
They also come in gold:
How awesome are these? Such unique pieces sure to be conversation starters. I can’t wait to add to my collection of teeth-related items in the future!
Tags: earrings, home decor, necklaces, pre-dental
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- Posted under Fashion, General, Home decor
March 6, 2013 DIY Polka Dot Denim Shorts
Polka dots are such a cute and fun print for spring! I wanted to get some polka dotted jeans or denim shorts, but then I realized that it would be so easy for me to just make them myself. Doing full-length jeans was a little daunting, so I started with a pair of denim shorts I’ve had since high school. It’s a great way to breathe new life into such an old piece of clothing!
Project: polka dot denim shorts
Difficulty level: easy
Step 1: Gather your materials. All you need is a pair of shorts (or jeans or skirt or whatever you want to polka dot), a ruler, and a white paint marker. I used this one, which I got 2 years ago when I painted these sneakers for Yufei.
Step 2: Measure and start drawing dots! You can put a piece of cardboard or something under the fabric just in case the paint bleeds through to the other side. You only really need a ruler for the first row you’re doing. I made my dots 1 inch apart. After the first row, you can just eyeball it and make the next row of dots shift over so that you make little equilateral triangles between the dots.
Step 3: Keep dotting!
Step 4: You might want to go over the dots twice so that they show up better. Here you can see that the bottom half of the shorts have 2 coats of the paint, while the top only has one. It’s up to you; if you want a more faded look you can just leave it at one coat.
And that’s it! Now I just need the weather to cooperate so I can wear these cute shorts!
This is a very simple DIY project, though it could be a little time-consuming. I worked on mine off and on for about a day and a half. And there are a number of ways you can add the dots. I used a paint marker, but you can also use acrylic paint and a dotting tool (like the eraser end of a pencil) or even bleach pens.
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- Posted under DIY, Fashion
March 2, 2013 A Valentine’s Day After Valentine’s Day
Yufei and I celebrated Valentine’s Day on the Monday after this year, and it was fantastic! I made us brunch with pancakes, eggs, toast, and chocolate covered strawberries in the morning:
Yufei got me flowers. Aww…
And at night we went out to Dixie for dinner. We had a voucher for a 5-course dinner with wine pairings for two, which was a great deal. The restaurant is located in the Presidio, surrounded by trees. It was dark when we got there, but I can imagine that it’s a pretty setting. The interiors of the restaurant was warmly lit. It was also really spacious, which I liked, and we got seated in a booth.
The kinds of food they serve I guess can be classified as new American with a southern twist. We started off with some canapés, which included hush puppies, deviled eggs, cured ham, and pickled okra.
The first course was a sunchoke panna cotta with smoked oysters, crispy fried brussel sprouts leaves & dandelions. Since Yufei does not eat shellfish, they made his without oysters. We were a little disappointed that they did not substitute something for the oysters, but oh well.
It was an interesting dish, unlike anything I’ve ever had before. I liked the crispy brussel sprout leaves, which kind of reminded my of kale chips. It was an interesting blend of textures and flavors. In the back of the photo you can also see their bread service of the night, a wild rive lavash flatbread served with black eyed peas. It was really good!
The next course was acorn grits with a soft poached egg, duck skin crackling and sea urchin butter. This time they replaced the sea urchin butter with regular butter for Yufei.
I should have taken the photo a few second earlier before the butter shavings all melted. They looked really pretty. It was a pretty good dish, not too memorable though.
Here are the first of the two wine pairings, a sparkling wine and a sherry. The last wine we got was a Malbec (not shown).
The next course was my favorite, the chicken fried quail with king trumpet mushrooms, spiced pecans, and bourbon butter. It was crispy and delicious and left me wanting more. But it was a 5-course meal after all so I guess the serving size was perfect.
And the final savory course for the night, grass fed beef with a red wine, mushroom & coffee sauce.
This was Yufei’s favorite course (not surprising since he’s a big fan of beef). I don’t really eat a lot of red meat but the portion was small and I enjoyed it. It was tender and pretty flavorful.
After the savory courses, we were presented with a small citrus granita palate cleaner before dessert. I kind of wanted a full serving of this, haha. So sweet and refreshing!
The dessert course, a banana foster soufflé with malted milk chocolate ice cream.
It was a nice light dessert to finish the meal. The little espresso cup the soufflé came in was too cute!
The meal overall was very good. The food was great and the service was very attentive. We tipped generously and even with the voucher, it was a pretty expensive meal. Everything was great, but I’m not sure if I would pay full price to come again.
After we got back home, we exchanged our presents for each other. Yufei got me chocolate truffles and these super cute foldable figures of us from foldable.me! Aren’t they adorable and funny? (Foldable Yufei is even wearing the same purple shirt as in the previous picture!)
Thanks to Yufei for spending this awesome day with me celebrating our 5th Valentine’s Day togehter :)
Tags: brunch, cooking, dessert, dinner, food, love, san francisco, southern, wine
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- Posted under Fashion, General, Love, San Francisco
November 19, 2012 Help Me Pick a Dress!
So I haven’t talked about this before, but I made a deal with Yufei that if I get into Harvard and/or UOP for dental school, he would treat me to dinner at The French Laundry. Ever since I found out about and ate at Per Se, I’ve been wanting to go to The French Laundry. And now that we live in SF, it’s a lot closer and much more of a reality. I don’t find out if I get into UOP until Dec. 3 at the earliest, and Harvard even later than that, but I already got interviews at both schools and we are really excited to eat at The French Laundry, so as soon as I received my UOP interview, Yufei booked us a reservation in early December. We wil be having dinner there on Dec. 9, which is after Dec. 3, so I better get accepted at UOP or else it’ll feel like I didn’t earn the meal.
Anyway, so I am ridiculously excited about The French Laundry, and I’m starting to think about what to wear to dinner. I’ve always wanted to try Rent the Runway, so I think I will rent a dress from there for the meal. This is where I need your help! I’ve narrowed it down to these two dresses, and I need help picking one. Both are purple lace shift dresses (have to leave room in the tummy area for 9 courses!) and I love both.
Dress 1: Nannette Lepore Rustic Plum Lace Dress
Dress 2: Trina Turk Portrait of Elegance Shift
So here’s a little poll for you to cast your vote! I’d also love to hear your comments about either/both dresses, as well as suggestions for shoes and accessories to complete the outfit, so leave your thoughts in the comments!
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- Posted under Fashion, Food
November 4, 2012 What I Wore – 10/25/2012
Woohoo! First What I Wore post in SF! Several things to note about this outfit:
1. I love pairing colorful cardigans with more neutral, muted colors (as well as the reverse – neutral cardigan to tone down a colorful top. I just love cardigans I guess).
2. Bright kelly green goes really well with navy.
3. I’m in love with ankle boots right now. They look great with cuffed jeans!
Tank top from Banana Republic, cardigan from H&M, old jeans, ankle boots from Taget, bag from Payless, glasses from Tiffany & Co, old necklace, tiered trench coat from eBay (similar to a Burberry one I obsessed about a couple years ago)
PS: Sorry about the bad lighting, it’s hard to find a good time/spot in the apartment that has good natural light!
Tags: bags, boots, cardigans, coats, fashion, jeans, tops, what i wore
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- Posted under Fashion
