Pinch of Chic
chic eats

Fly like Paper

American Apparel lightweight Dylan trench in Paperback
Ecru lab Shakepearean Luv silky button-down cami
Zara white wide leg trousers
Yves Saint Laurant Nude Wrap Ankle Block Heels
Sunglasses (Similar here and here)

Perhaps it’s time to acknowledge that I have a brunch addiction. It’s pretty evident and real. And no, I’m not ashamed. Truth is, it’s an actual expense I put aside for…for each and every weekend, if possible. It’s the joyful time I look forward to each weekend while vigorously going over geo-locations and foodie blogger Instagram’s  for enticing food photos.

Had the great pleasure of kicking off my brunch adventures at Bar Reyna on Cumberland St. with Darlene of The New Girl. The space was nothing short when it came to interior and exterior decor and the food itself. Impeccable Greek fries with shaved feta, delicious oysters and tasty shakshuka. (If you’re looking for a good Shakshuka— I recommend the one served at the ONE Hazleton restaurant.) Oh, and a nice glass of mimosa of course. In a extremely odd way— it’s almost therapeutic for me when I’m sitting down and eating brunch…after a long period of shooting the untouched food. Maybe it’s just good food in general moves people like that..  Or maybe I developed this love for food through being raised by a chef as a father and stay-home mom that cooks phenonmenal Vietnamese food. Don’t be jealous! x

All in all— I love brunch. I have a shirt that says it. And no— an all day breakfast wouldn’t count!  

Photography by: Darlene Anderson

chic eats

Face to Face

 

 

The Fifth label ‘Face to Face’ playsuit
Jeffrey Campbell Cutout Western Boot (Similar here and here)
Rayban Aviator Sunglasses
PROENZA SCHOULER Black Calf-Hair Ps11 Classic Bag (Similar here and here)

See below for similar options!

 

 

Thanks to mother nature— the temperature has dropped and so has my addition to wearing all white. If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ll see the tone in my photographs and outfits get a little more darker and I suppose ‘edgier.’ I like to think that I’m being more playful with my looks..by flipping back and forth between ultra femme, light looks with chic, vampy ensembles.

With dark ensembles, stems my love for black, western-inspired boots with cool engraved details paired with this sleek menswear-inspired playsuit. You can always pair this look with some nice, clean Stuart Weitzman nudist heels or some Zara pointed ballet flats with buckles. 

Got to catch brunch at a restaurant I’ve been longing to visit in Yorkville called ONE with my best pal, Vincent. Had the most amazing and rich Shakshuka, along with the most amazing crushed almond cherry pie. Would definitely come back for more of their desserts. If you ever find yourself in Yorkville, do grab a dessert dish or two from there. Next thing on my list would definitely be the S’mores sundae. #fatkidforever 

 

 

I’m going to talk about a weird, grey, blurry area that very few have uncovered answers to.. That first part was an anecdotal claim.

There’s an uncertain and overwhelmingly annoying feeling when you re-evalutate the relations you have with all the people who have come in and out of your life. Whether it’s an old friendship you may not have visited for a while or a fresh tinder date who you’ve gone out sporadically here and there. 

It’s completely weird for me to say because of the career I’m in that the digital landscape has caused and scraped the humanistic aspect of maintaining a solid and stable friendship or relationship. To believe that a simple ‘like’ or view implies you’ve given enough efforts in your relation is crazy. For social platforms— apparently a ‘like’ is sufficient enough than a phone call or text. (Can you tell I’m not that big into texting?) For dating platforms— we become more shallow and ignorant about the people we view and encounter. Simplifying dates into numbers, to skimming through your checklist of preferences, to ‘ghosting’ on people because it’s so easy to find another option and you’re too ‘busy’ to deal with confrontation. This cool ‘ghosting’ concept can be applied to friendships as well by shading replies with the ‘I’m busy’ response. I mean very well when I say that I believe it’s possible for everyone to be able to drop a quick line of text that speaks to either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. That or you just didn’t make the cut on the priority list. Ouch.

Maybe that feeling could be described as ‘beating around the bush,’ or having the Dunning-Kruger effect aka the ‘I don’t know’ syndrome. Seems to me that not enough people like the idea of being upfront about how they feel or giving an idea of what they like in return because of the fear of sounding too sensitive and losing the ‘upper hand.’ I’m sure not all of us know what we want for ourselves but an idea to move towards sounds much better than absolutely nothing. I find it so hard to imagine that the rest of the world around me could possibly understand what I want or expect without me putting out some sort of lead or options. Now— I’m no psychic or professional psychiatrist but I consider myself a very reasonable and understanding human-being. I don’t believe that my age factors in whether I can relate to people or not. Experiences could shape my answers but that why there’s the listening component to having conversations with one another. 

It’s safe to say, or just plain obvious that a lot of people, young and old need to snap out of this world of guessing and brushing others off because of their ‘busy and un-relatable’ life. I mean— try me. I’m sure you’d appreciate someone who is more upfront, real and honest than someone who is aloof, sporadic, and maybe even sometimes inconsiderate. If our intentions and ideas, don’t align— at the very least, now I know. Right? This idea of holding back to see what the other person comes back with is a load of bull if you tell me. Let’s cut back the guessing game time and just serve the good upfront, just like the way you’d like to be served. #caseclosed 

Photography and handbag: Vincent Ko
Hair by: Studio 67

 

 

chic eats

Evening with La Société

MUSSELS
East coast mussels, fennel, cider, fresh herbs and grilled bread

RUSTIC TERRINE
Venison, pork, mustard and grilled bread

B.C. SALMON
Lentils, apple, spinach and créme fraîche

ROASTED LAMB
Ratatouille, olive, feta, and lamb jus

And of course wine!

Many thanks goes to the staff at La Société,
Andrew, Julia and Justin for the dinner. 
Photography by yours truly

outfit

Elegant Entrance

To point out at the title of this post…I thought it was quite fitting considering I went to brunch looking like this. Wouldn’t tone it down one bit either! #girlboss #alittlebitlame

Le Chateau Double Weave Notch Collar Wrap Coat
Anthropologie Laced Funnelneck Pullover
Urban Outfitters Porter Slouchy Ankle Pants
Zara Leather High Heels (Similar here + here)

Special thanks to Le Chateau for the coat.
/ Check out below for similar options!

Sometimes….Actually most of my evenings.. I find myself spending a lot of time in bed after work. Whether it’s laying on my side scouring Instagram and the interweb for relevant and irrelevant reads on my phone or other than editing… sitting hunch-back hamster-style in my blanket while hovering over my laptop doing the same thing.

I spend a lot of time doing researching and compiling countless mood boards…kickstarting my wonderful budding ideas, planning shoots, feeling out my creative industry and seeing who’s doing what, how they’re doing it and how can I get there in a similar way. I ask myself: ‘How can I fuel this burning desire for creative and success?’ Because how I see it… comparison is the death of creativity and passion. There are times where you really drown in the body of great work accomplished by others— that you forget where you left off. At that moment, you really need to check up on yourself. When you’re halfway through an idea or production of a project, you might find yourself tired or distracted when you view other work that doesn’t belong to you. This is where I try to steer my headspace and ask myself ‘why are you doing this?’ Because no entrepreneur doesn’t feel this way.

Other questions I have the tendency of asking myself are ‘How do I become better blogger? Or a better photographer and UX designer? Or better yet… entrepreneur?’ ‘How can I quantify social interaction other than using online analytics tools?‘

For one… blogging was never glorified before. The fine arts wasn’t as valued as studying medicine or engineering. Today, becoming a successful blogger is much more accessible and easier to get into the tech and fashion industry as long as you can carry the weight of social under your belt. With third party platforms which connect influencers to readers or brands to influencers, or the mere objective to grow a successful following on Instagram rather than your blog, it makes more challenging for others to favour you. What a f*cking mountain to climb, eh? This kind of line of work is competitive and expensive but it also should be truthful. Our job is to make it look glamorous but in reality it’s actually a ton of work… don’t forget the emotionally draining aspect when you’re doing most of the labour.

You have to love your work and the craft that you do to be able to fully complete anything— may it be thoughts, award-winning ideas, or the making of a project. Much like having a relationship with your craft. In this case it would be photography, design, creative directing and writing. When you’re pushing yourself to understand why you’re doing this, you’ll eventually arrive at the peak of creativity and the need of why. These reasons become your supportive rationale. When you choose to push yourself to think about why you are doing that, you arrive back to creativity. You should fuel your curiosity. With that in mind, it’ll eventually push you to practice and reach out. Remember how happy you are when you have fun and the progression you develop. For me, I try to be extremely cautious about how frequently I complain. This usually happens when I’m by myself rather than with others. Reality is, you will miss your weekends and evenings because it’s not just a part-time endeavour. If anything, your creative work is practically integrated in your life. In the choices you make when you dress up, the places you go, the nice furniture you pick up for your home or even the kind of food you want to eat while considering how aesthetic would it look under the iPhone camera. I live in abundance with ample of inspiration and triggers around me; therefore in retrospect, I should never feel sorry about myself.

‘Does the value of your self-worth and happiness spill from your job?’ – Susan Hang

Photography by: Artiese Studios

Cool Reads:

30 Under 30: 450 Gamechangers | Forbes
How to Be Powerful, Likeable, and Female | NYMag: The Cut

PS. Happy International Women’s Day! 
Google says: Share your #OneDayIWill to celebrate this day.

style file

Impeccable Pinstripes

Forever21 Pinstripe Navy Boyfriend Blazer
H&M White Scallop Trim Tank
Urban Outfitters Pinstripe Navy Pants
AMIClubWear Denim Ankle Strap Heels c/o (ONLY $13.50!)
Kindling & Co Baguette Horizontal Rings c/o
Kindling & Co Tiny Initial Dog Tag Necklace c/o

See below for similar options!

Hello loves! It’s been quite a while since I wrote my last blog post. A lot has been going on in my life right now and it has shaped my schedule to be very restricting in terms of making time to write let alone photograph and post on my social media channels.

For the past month or so I’ve entered a new role at my new job. My new workplace has given me exposure to the other side of the city that I normally don’t ever visit because it’s all the way on the east end from where I currently live. This area I’m referring to is called the distillery District. Within this area includes lots of restaurants, stores, bakeshops and cafes. In this post I’m featuring a restaurant called Cluny. Here ordered the lamb veal with gnocchi and garlic bread as well as a burger. I’m honestly such a sucker for French restaurants that not only have decor on point but if food and I mean great food is involved– then it’s a ‘must-go see’ for me.

Can you tell that I’ve been taking most of my time or what time is remaining from my work schedule to eat well. But hey, you only live for so long… why not eat well, dress well and experience what you’d like to experience whether it’s with good company or good alone time with yourself.

I recently picked up called ‘love style life’ by Garance Dore. Within the early pages of her book she writes a snippet –” we want love. We want to feel beautiful. We want to be good friends, good partners, good sisters, the daughters. We want to know how to never buy the wrong pair of shoes again. We want to feel fulfilled but the work that we do whatever that work maybe. Most of all, we want to find our place in this world. And to be very stylish along the way, of course.”

While reading that little tiny snippet in her book, I found myself thinking about how I carry out my life to be this ideal lifestyle for myself or so I’d like to think. I now understand that it’s going to take a lot more than imaginable to reach this ideal life of mine while taking on so many roles as an individual. I also remind myself that there are mistakes to be made and big obstacles to take on which contribute to building a strong character and be one step closer to success.

Photography by: Carlo Calope


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