Spring has sprung and newness is trickling in.

The collection, a collaboration between MAC and Chinese fashion photographer Chen Man, was inspired by love and water — two things essential to life. The not-so-essential: pretty packaging.

Mineralize duo eyeshadows were baked to form the yin and yang symbol — a neat detail. But I swear by Force of Love lipstick and fluid line gel liner in Waveline.

I was able to salvage these collars from old uniform blazers. Add little Chinese ball buttons to make it more cohesive to our theme and they are the sex!

Also, completely off subject, but over the weekend my mom played this song while riding in her car. She’s so groovy!

I’m a huge advocate of personal blogs. It’s a neat way to stay tuned into what’s been going on with friends and family, especially when there’s so much distance between us and everyone is just so goddamned busy.

Whenever Tina and I go on break and enjoy a plate of pasta together, we always touch on how important it is to live passionately, but how lately what we’ve become is just a couple of couch potatoes. Well, now that I’ve switched from working graveyard to regular day/night shifts, I feel like I’ve regained some sort of homeostasis and I’m ready to hug the world again. And last week, Tina cleared out her old room and started painting again–she just completed two orchid still lifes (one in watercolor and one in acrylic) to get the hang of working with different mediums again. As it turns out, the only mediums we’ve gotten accustomed to working with these days is makeup on other people’s faces.

What I really want to make more than anything is connections, or even making missed connections would be enough. I want to draw and salvage old dresses and read stories before bedtime without feeling the heavy pull like blinds over my eyelids. Talk about accessories and the last pair of shoes I popped a boner for. And do some yoga with my girls under the sun until we’re all NC 42. And sip on some margarita’s along the shoreline while Roni teaches us how to shake our hips the Tahitian way.

I want to write about nothing at all, which is to say, everything. And appreciate terribly mundane incidents. Stuff that we often overlook when at the end of the day, it’s really what makes living that much more bearable. Like when my dude smiles and takes a mental picture with his eyes. Or that one time when I handed her her change, for 3 seconds our fingers touched and it was electric. Or how I wish more people would hug me the way you did before boarding the plane that morning. Like I existed and you knew I was there. I mean, you hug Marcus Aurelius like that and even his cheese would melt.

All that good stuff, if I understand correctly, is what Amy Hempel calls connective tissue. The space that looks empty initially, but adds up to form something complete when seen from afar. In an interview with The Paris Review she says, “If used honestly and not as a gimmick, these spaces can signify the way the mind really works, noting moments and assembling them in such a way that a kind of logic or pattern comes forward, until the accretion of moments forms a whole experience, observation, state of being.”

I like this song.

Three things about Hong Kong: Originally colonized by the British, its official languages are Chinese (spoken Cantonese) and English. It’s the most densely populated city in world. If it is your first time visiting, you might want to book your trip for longer than a weekend.

Ralph Lauren shirt (from Francis’s closet), UO bag, Jeans from outlet mall, Dolce Vita boots
We stayed at the Imperial Hotel on Nathan road just next door to Chungking Mansion. This is where Chungking Express was filmed. Now all I need is my sunglasses, Burberry trench and a Marilyn Monroe wig and it would be enough to say, “eat your heart out, Faye Wong.”

If you are a born and bread island person, there will be a lot of firsts for you.

Things like commuting via metro

coming out to play in Disneyland

The live theater show, I enjoyed most of course

riding a crystal cable car suspended 112 feet high

goofing around the Avenue of Stars, wataaah!

vintage sweater, Korean boutique pleated skirt

meditating in sacred places

I am like totally zen

Neneee romper
and generally experiencing the hustle and bustle energy of a big city.

City people weren’t always as curteous as the island peeps I am so accustomed to, but you have to hand it to them for keeping it real. “You no buying, no take pikchar. I am not actress,” said the starlet above.

One thing I was super looking forward to was shopping at H&M, but it was pretty much a let down. Over rated and not so different from shopping at Macy’s or any other commercial department store on Guam, even shopping at Disneyland was way more exciting. The provincial markets on Temple street, Tsim Sha Tsui and fisherman’s village yielded the best novelty prezzies to take home.

Bruce Lee tee, various types of Chinese teas: jasmine, pu erh, lychee, ti kuan yin, white and orchid, Little Prince marshmallows–if only for the packaging, Mickey Mouse chocolates, classic Mickey tee (which would look even better after a one billion washes), MMJ make-up bag, remote control helicopter, lots of black workwear, cheap clothes, expensive shoes
“Bring two empty luggages and a lot of money.” That’s what Mieko said when I told her I was going. It’s a good thing I kept it in mind and also stuffed an extra duffel bag into the front pocket of our check-in baggage.

Eat your vegetables!

If there’s such a thing as buyer’s remorse, even worse is the antithetical nonbuyer’s remorse. I’ll forever regret not buying those miniature wind-up dancing robots and funny splatballs from the old man with no voice and kind eyes at the Tsim Sha Tsui market. Our intuition is good; the problem is we ignore it. I need to learn how to be more implulsive. Like when we decided to have 3 dollar 32 ouncers (amazing!) literally smack dab in the middle of the street. Those were really nice served with poached snail thingamagiggies in a dark chili sauce. I forget what the dish is called, but if anyone knows, please please please drop a line.

Last week I finally scavenged eBay only to find those little dancing robots and splatballs I so wanted but tried to convince myself I didn’t need. I bought them anyway. So I don’t need them per se. So what? They are just cool things to have around. Like in case of emergency, break glass and play with these, they’re fun! And since they are being shipped from Hong Kong, I imagine they are coming from that same kind old man in that same crowded old market.

A final note on commuting in Hong Kong: drivers are either suicidal or insane. Or both. Every time we decide to hop in the back of a cab or bus, I find myself hanging on for dear life. All the while The Smiths are playing There is a Light That Never Goes Out” in the back of my head. That song could pretty much sum up the entire duration of our stay.

16 ways to annoy people:

1. Specify that your drive-thru order is “to go.”

2. If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.

3. Start each meal by conspicuously licking all your food, and announce that this is so no one will “swipe your grub.”

4. Name your dog “Dog.”

5. Insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions “to keep them tuned up.”

6. Reply to everything someone says with “that’s what you think.”

7. Claim that you must always wear a bicycle helmet as part of your “astronaut training.”

8. Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with a can of Lysol.

9. Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.

10. Do not add any inflection to the end of your sentences, producing awkward silences with the impression that you’ll be saying more any moment.

11. Adjust the tint on your TV so that all the people are green, and insist to others that you “like it that way.”

12. Sing along at the opera.

13. Leave the copy machine set to reduce 200%, extra dark, 17 inch paper, 99 copies.

14. In the memo field of all your checks, write “for sensual massage.”

15. Practice making fax and modem noises.

16. Write the surprise ending to a novel on its first page.

via dbooth

3 ways to wear a skirt:

Look 1: by the hour… glass
I took Dave Matthews seriously when he said, “hike up your skirt a little more.” You can pull long skirts up to your chest and sport them as a dress instead. Try belting it to add a little more shape.

Sally Scott skirt (gift from Marlena [thankies, Marlena! I love it xD])
vintage glasses and brooch
LeTigre cardigan sweater
hot pink belt (swapped with Lydia)
nylon socks from ebay
Melissa shoes

Look 2: trapeze swinger
Same skirt-worn-as-a-dress trick, except in a trapeze silhouette—it’s most forgiving on days when you’re feeling bloated. Also, did somebody say all you can eat buffet? Bring it on.

vintage denim vest
Mickey Mouse watch (gift from my mom)
Slow and Steady wins the Race oxfords
thrifted Polo brown leather belt
straw boater hat from ebay

Look 3: skirting the issue
Of course, sometimes a skirt is best worn as such. I like the idea of balancing out the demure length and fancy style of this one by pairing it with a casual cropped sweatshirt.

American Apparel heather grey cropped hoodie
friendship bracelets
self-made necklace and studded bangle
Pierre Hardy for Gap shoes