East Idle

My favorite living room in the gallery. Love the combination of grey-tones and beige-y colors and the pink accents. Hello, piano. The ottoman(s) look so comfortable. I also love the linearity of the details of the room (exclusion: circular chandeliers which add a subtle contrast to the overall sharpness of the room). This would be an ideal living room option for me. Tonight, I made Ina Garten's Parker's Split Pea Soup and it was so hearty and delicious. More on that some other time. For now, the focus will be on ottomans in living rooms. I was on Architectural Digest and went through several of their galleries. This one with the ottomans in living rooms caught my interest the most at the time. We have moved into a brand new house; my mother loves ottomans so I made sure to pay attention to the details in case they will spark up an idea for our home. These photos definitely provide inspiration for our living room. The photos* in this post are only a handful from the complete ...

For some reason, I had always thought Ann Taylor was just for workwear... well, now I know that this is not the case. Sure, you can wear most of their clothing to create a full-on workwear ensemble, but you can also create casual looks with them. Or dressy-casual and everything else in between. There is an understated elegance and simplicity to Ann Taylor's pieces and they can be very versatile as well. See the outfits below... everything is from Ann Taylor (you can mix-and-match) and 40% off! xo, I P.S. I find that Ann Taylor almost always has a sale going on, so I advise to not purchase anything full-price from AT. Keep an eye out for sales! :)

Whenever I decide to watch the Food Network and am so fortuitous to end up seeing Ina Garten on the TV screen (her show, Barefoot Contessa), I simply cannot hide my excitement - my face lights up and I am all smiles. Ina Garten is one of my two favorite Food Network hosts (the other is Giada De Laurentiis ). I. Adore. Her. I idolize her and I can only attempt to emulate her cooking prowess and manual dexterity in the kitchen. Not to mention she is such an eloquent and soothing orator that I instantaneously become entranced in a state of calm and relaxation when I watch her show. What is there not to love about Ina Garten? Peaceful show and narration, simple and delicious meals. Everything's perfect about her! One second, do I sound like a creeper? I just read over what I wrote. Yep, I totally sorta sound like a creeper. Okay, laying it out here: I am a normal person but a HUGE fan of a TV personality. Please do not be frightened. I just sit on the couch for the sole purpose of wa...

In the fall of 2014, I had emptied both of my Comptoir Sud Pacifique sprays and was debating whether or not to purchase a new bottle of perfume . One part of me (Brain Part A) was telling myself, "You practice and workout basically half of the day and walk around campus in workout gear - you do not  need to put perfume on. There would be no point." This was sensible. It would be fruitless since I would end up sweating from lift/tennis practice a few hours later (or during a workout I call "walking up and down Comm Ave. hurriedly to get from class to class"... W alk faster, I! Walk. Faster! )... of course I took this into consideration and was chary to allow myself to combine both perfume and hard work sweat scents. Can you imagine that? Un. Pleasant. I would also embody the idea of a human repellant. Yikes . On the other hand, another part of me (Brain Part B) was saying, "But the perfume might work well with your body chemistry (important when choosing a per...

Happy Monday! This year, I have come to realize that my nascent love for the color navy is not something to downplay (thus this post to document this so-called color reality of mine). It has the potential of becoming one of my favorite colors (like baby pink: see here and here and here ). Thinking of how this came to be is somehow enervating... I used to abhor anything navy-colored (only exclusion: denim) so I have been dedicating much of my time to fathom how (and why) I now add navy-colored items into my online-shopping-cart-in-which-I-do-not-actually-purchase-things-from without so much as even a flinch or eye(s)-blink-wink. Both strenuous and shocking to engage in this behavior... I have tried to reason with myself that I am not going crazy.* (By the way, this is all no offense to the color navy, or any other person who loves navy... I really am loving the color now and am joining the people-who-love-navy coalition, just coming to terms with it.*) I think it's because I am now...

TGIF! It has been raining all day in the Bay Area (California) and I am cozy-ing it up right now in my bed . I took a trip to Napa this morning and boy, oh-boy was the drive a challenge. The rain was splattering so ferociously against the highway roads and my windshield that I, along with the other rainy-day drivers, had to decrease our speed limits by roughly 20mph. Everything was grey and foggy so we had to be extra cautious! I was taken aback by the rain since I have not been checking the weather and, consequently, did not anticipate this sudden irregularity with the precipitation. This not only affected the change in my driving mph, but also my workout today. I have been playing tennis since I was seven-years old (so for 13 years now) and I love how great of a workout I get from it. It is a full-body sport and it works every muscle. I typically play around an hour or two each day, but since it is raining, I will just do a weights workout with  ten-pound dumbbells . Lunges, squ...

Drumroll please... *drumroll*... Shopbop is having a major sale! 15% off orders over $250, 20% off orders over $500, and 25% off orders over $1000. Yes, like I said, it is major ! If you have been eyeing something, now is the time to purchase it. Grab that opportunity, take that chance, pick the golden apple from the magic tree (bear with me please, I am overly excited for this sale). If you are like me and do not purchase things full-price 99% of the time, then this sale is everything. There are very minimal exclusions on designer brands (think Stuart Weitzman ) and... hello 25% off $1000! I would order what has been on my wishlist (or in Shopbop's case, "hearted"-list) and take advantage of this land of shopping opportunity. Oh, and I must not forget to mention: free 3-day shipping and free returns. And if you are an Amazon Prime member (ahem, me, ahem), then it is free 2-day shipping. What is there not to love about this (other than shelling out hard-earned money...

Essie Nail Polishes ( Image Source ) Today's topics: mangos and Essie nail polish... (Truthfully, I originally came here to blog about Essie nail polish, but then I felt compelled to include mangos as well since I have been eating them nonstop.) So yes, mangos. And Essie nail polish. These are a few of my favorite things... I will start with mangos. They are my all-time favorite fruit in the whole entire world. I do not know how this came to be, but it is the way it is. I did not choose the mango life, the mango life chose me. And to emphasize my love for mangos, I could never abnegate eating them... never. I mean, never . That would be too cruel and I am confident I would no longer be a sane person (as sane as a person blogging about mangos can be). For breakfast every morning, I have been eating one mango (baby one, not large) - along with my three scrambled eggs and half an avocado. I truly believe the consumption of the mango is how I am able to power through my day. Well, mayb...

Jennifer Lawrence - Dior  | Brie Larson - Gucci Saoirse Ronan - Calvin Klein | Rachel McAdams - August Getty Atelier Did you watch the Oscars on Sunday? I did not, but I did follow up on the Oscars fashion (of course). Beautiful gowns were everywhere and I could not have been more envious. I did not attend a prom in high school and I have yet to wear a full-on gown to a formal event. (Wishful thinking one day I will be able to!) In addition to the four beautiful gowns above, these ones below are my favorites from the 2016 Oscars awards. Olivia Munn - Stella McCartney | Daisy Ridley - Chanel Emily Blunt - Prada | Charlize Theron - Dior My two favorites of these favorites are Rachel McAdam's emerald green dress and Olivia Munn's bright orange dress. I gravitate towards solid colors and love both necklines. I love Rachel McAdams' halter neckline and Olivia Munn's one-shoulder neckline. Both dresses are stunning. Also, as you can see, 5/8 of these gowns have a deep-v cut...