impromptu girls dinner

two nights ago, the girls [daisy, han, rose] and i met for an impromptu dinner at khe-yo, a laotian restaurant opened by restaurateur marc forgione in tribeca. we had originally planned on doing dinner, drinnks, and a movie at our loft, but canceled that when kevin's business trip to virginia was cancelled. as usual, daisy came to the rescue with a list of handpicked restaurants which had availability and made the reservation day-of.

the restaurant is relatively dark when you enter, and opens up to a nicely sized, well-lit dining area with a few large booths towards the front of the restaurant for larger parties. it has a chic yet warm feeling due to the black colors and wood. 

we ordered a bottle of white wine to begin with and quickly decided on which dishes we would order. we had the sticky rice with bang bang, grilled laos style sausage, crunchy coconut rice, smashed green papaya salad, chili prawns, berkshire spare ribs, and skirt steak wrapped in betel leaves. the portions were relatively small, so i don't think anyone was overly full at the end, but happily full we were. in my opinion, the tastiest dishes were (and i've never had laotian cuisin before btw) the coconut rice, chili prawns (especially the THICK ginger scallion toast that comes with it  and thai basil sauce), and grilled sausages.

i think everyone was in a good mood that night and although we'd gotten together a few weeks ago with kevin and dustin, there was something different about going out with just the girls. lots of interesting work stories from han, updates from rose's open houses, as well as european travel plans coming up for daisy and han. not so much on my end, just unpacking and decoarting - ha.

i had two glasses of wine, which is two more than i've had in months. it was the perfect way to spend a cold february evening.

getting organized

my company didn't publish its annual company desk calendar as it has in previous years, so i made my way to kinokuniya and picked up this little guy. while we have access to calendars in many formats - in our email systems, on bloomberg, and on my big red 2015 standard diary, there's still something cute and convenient about at a visual monthly calendar, especially when it comes to planning fun things.

so this is my desk layout under my second monitor (second of six). aside from the utilitarian scotch tape dispenser and swingline stapler, this is where i keep some of my favorite things. leftmost is my new s'well bottle, a 9 oz birthday gift from rose! save some trees, guys! then my clinique moisture spray for those dry winter afternoons, my new calendar, and on the far right, my valentine's day present from jess a few years ago. it's my all-time favorite mug :)

i can't show the rest of my desk because it's embarassingly messy with some piles almost covering the monitors ...

on another note, we finally got our backsplash installed! to stay consistent with the minimal look and feel, we chose a white back-painted glass backsplash with four vertical seams. unfortunately i chose this subcontractor myself and kevin and i gave the final product a 6.5 out of 10.

while the glass itself looks great, the difficult part is in the details, which could be better, to say the least. now i'm going to have to go to my contractor and beg him to help fix it so it's on-par with the quality with the other 99% of the renovation.

the good news is that kevin recalled my parm reggiano craving from a few days ago (i complained about wanting to eat an entire wheel of parm for a few consecutive days) and surprised me with two new murray's goudas:

ewphoria (lol, yes, that's what it's called)
and another nutty one whose name i can't recall right now.

delish! and to think, i didn't even like cheese a few years ago!

a cozy night with friends

there was a snow blizzard this morning! but even that couldn't stop good friends from getting together for a nice dinner at bar primi tonight :)

it was the perfect way to end the first week of the new year and the first full week back in the office. and who knew management consultants had such "interesting" job training?

bonjour, paris!

we woke up to sunshine and panoramic views of the paris from our flat bedroom window today. it made it very difficult to get out of bed much less get out of the flat.


olivier and charlotte's little nespresso machine helped do the trick! and we were off walking along rue de bac through the tuileries and opera, awe-struck by the long lines at all the little japanese restaurants in the opera.
nestled not too far, we found one of the nicest travel bookstores: voyageurs. the interiors, the books, and the endless maps ... if i had a library in my house, i would want it to look and feel like this place :)

we walked from opera to the centre pompidou and le marais, a bohemian area with lots of cute shops and boutiques. this is also where we experienced the sloooooweeesssst parisian dining experience ever over a 2-3 hour creperie lunch. it turns out they had forgotten about kevin's dessert crepe! lol. despite it all, they were super tasty!

the rest of the afternoon was filled with bvh shopping ~~ i got some SANDRO dresses! and saw this adorable pillow which reminded me of rose & dustin. unfortunately it was EUR 50 or i would have picked it up for them @_@

we finished off the evening with falafel and kebabs in le marais. it wasn't l'as du fallafel which kevin's friend had recommended, because he got so excited seeing the falafel shops on rue des rosiers that we just entered the first one we saw and sat down immediately and ordered. lol. it's purple in this picture because it was purple in the restaurant. it was disorganized, we were sitting back to back and thigh to thigh with people around us, but the service was great and the food was excellent!

red-eye monday

after a relatively pleasant 4-5 hr nap, arrived at newark airport and following in my friend, daisy's footsteps, i used the public transport system for the first time to get home. pretty easy with just a carry-on and about 55 minutes door to door.

work work work ... in my next life, i would like to have a career where thanksgiving, christmas, and independence day holidays are slow, rather than the busiest times of the year! (>.<)

best: early dinner with girlfriends on a monday evening! what an amazing way to start off the week ... 

worst: at a loss for words all day (all weekend for that matter) due to leaving my brain in the wrong time zone! i'm terrible with time zone changes, even 3 hrs :/

smile: rose and i are about to embark on the cuyana lean closet movement! or some version of it anyways. in search of ways to simply our lives and our homes, we will do our own massive closet purges and then limit ourselves to future purchases. the terms are to be determined .. getting ready for 2015!

too many whites

monday again and today was BEAUTIFUL out.

even after a blueberry muffin for breakfast, i felt hungry by 11am and RAVENOUS by 12:45pm when dais and i went to buy lunch. therefore, i treated myself to a large market lunch at diginn, a yakimochi, and a box of sesame biscuits from cafe zaiya. i was quite stuffed afterwards :)

the work day flew by and before i knew it, it was time to head out for my weekly meeting with the contractors. the meeting was quick and it sounds like they are working to finish by 12noon this friday, october 31st (one week earlier than their original projected timeline), in time for our move-in. how sweet! i have had a wonderful experience with russ, mike, and grant, and all their subs at fulton landing and would definitely recommend them to friends and family based on our experience.

then off to home depot to pick out materials and order window treatments - done! and back to the office for some late S&P announcements and a quick dinner at tappo (their margherita is awesome!), before returning to the apartment to ... yes, MOVE MORE BOXES.

apparently we didn't move enough out of the master bedroom on saturday so the painters couldn't finish the ceilings. it might sound a bit wierd, but it's fun to get involved in the remodel, even if it is just moving boxes. and it's a little empowering to accomplish something as a couple (boxes moved - check!). maybe a little like nailing the first dance at your wedding?

backsplash colors and materials - we decided to go with glass because we like to cook a LOT and i didn't want to have to deal with stained grout lines, which you can get with tiles. although i LOVE marble herringbone backsplashes! i think they're probably more pretty than practical. now for glass, our options were acid etched or back-painted glass? acid etched gives a soft milky look, but again, i think oil and cooking particles can get easily caught in there, so back-painted glass it is. now colors ... cool white, polar white, chantilly lace, matte white, lace white, wedding white, on and on ...  i think we chose the one in the middle ("matte white").

and finally our pendant lamps are up :) though their heights will need a little fine-tuning.

best: relishing the fact that i have amazing supportive girlfriends! i mentioned the possibility of a france trip over the holidays to them over email this afternoon and i was floored with the quick and comprehensive responses with regards to accommodations, places to eat and visit, and other suggestions based on their recent trips. love you guys, dais, rose, & han!

worst: eating too many sweets! im not putting in our usual mileage these last two weeks so probably need to tone it down with the treats ... 

smile: osmin at home depot shades dept was amazing to work with! she was friendly and efficient, and very thoughtful when answering my questions about the differences in shade materials. i have had a very good experience with HD's shade dept and would highly recommend them in the future.

in good company

friday friday friday !!!!! i heart jeans fridays! TGIJF!

man times have changed. i remember starting work at lehman brothers in 2003 fresh out of university and it felt great to put on a suit every morning. everyone looked so trim and proper, and to be honest, it allowed you to focus on your work and less on what the woman at the end of the next aisle was wearing. in addition, the wardrobe rotation was simple - ten suits and then mix and match tops and accessories. brilliant!

sometime in mid-2009 (after the brunt of the financial crisis), when i joined nomura new york, the work dress code changed from "business formal" to "business casual". what this meant essentially was the same outfit, but drop the jacket, five days a week. fairly simple.

flash forward to december 2012: upon joining instinet, i learned that every friday all year round was JEANS FRIDAY! it was a little appalling to me at first and the sight of my coworkers in their unruly tops (which apparently range from tshirts to hoodies to polo shirts to crisp dress shirts) and varied jeans style made me want to gag a little.

started off the beautiful crisp friday morning with an apple cinnamon cake donut from the doughnut plant. two thumbs up! the doughtnut plant rarely disappoints!

after a non-stop afternoon of working on a few different forecasts and notes at work, i finally finished - thank you s&p for not making a slew of announcements - around 5:45, totally exhausted and brains fried. i don't like afternoons like that ...

the evening made up for the crazy afternoon as we met up with good friends for dinner at cafe mogador in williamsburg. the restaurant had rustic decor and a very comfortable and fun vibe. also noticeable was the spaciousness in the restaurant relative to manhattan restaurants. despite the roominess of the resto, we still ha trouble fitting our drinks, apps, and entrees on the small tables, even with our tiny dinner plates!

we shared all the dishes and ordered: slow-cooked meat-falling-off-the-bones lamb, chicken with couscous, seated salmon, hummus, naan with various dipping sauces, and a greek salad. everyone was in high spirits and we finished the night off with desserts at momofuku milk bar and a little tour of the loft.

i couldn't have asked for a more relaxing and fun evening with our great company.