what to do if you can't get your morning coffee*.

[*by coffee, i'm not referring to the poop-flavored/colored water they serve at starbucks.]

i was originally going to title this entry, "how to survive a day without coffee", but that's impossible. caffeine addiction is a serious ailment. i would know, i have it. inspired by CH's how-to lists, i've decided to compile this emergency guide for the caffeine deprived. this one for the slightly less addicted that don't want to turn into meth addicts - but hey, whatever works right?

1. go back to bed.
2. if this isn't possible, ponder the repercussions of unemployment. no one should be around the caffeine-deprived/me until i've.. i mean the deprived been caffeinated. i kind of resemble a feral ceramic garden gnome in the morning - violent, uncompromising, immobile, hunched over.. (ok, i know what you're thinking, but more so than usual)
3. if you feel like keeping your job, go to work and google gruesome crime scene photos and i'm not taking about that g-rated CSI shit. or if that doesn't float your boat, "how to appear awake while napping" (e.g. propping up your head with your palm while moving your mouse around simultaneously)
4. if you do not have the coordination to accomplish the latter, sneak power naps in the bathroom and blame yesterday's late night taco bell run (88% beef?? yeah right!)
5. if you're not that shameless, try to bribe your co-workers to do your work for you with cash or cookies (both are equally valuable in my eyes)
6. if all of your co-workers are goody-two-shoes/bitches, use your withdrawal symptoms, which should have manifested by now, as an excuse to get out of work early. these should include tremors, bloodshot eyes, dizziness, general malaise.. addiction is real people! you will look and feel like shit.
7. if your manager still won't let you go, leave anyway because your manager is a shithead, and you shouldn't be working for them anyway!
8. if you can leave, go home and back to bed immediately, but not before watching an episode of intervention to remind yourself that your life is not that bad.



sulawesi chemex at ground support. for myself. at 3pm.



the other side of barcelona.

no post-processing necessary.

ahhhhh, i miss this. this was taken above guell park after getting very lost on our vespas for two hours, but it served as a wonderful impromptu tour of barcelona. so worth it and so much fun. :)

cupcakes, wine, and rocco.

this particular meal was five months in the making. it wasn't particularly epic or anything, but my friend and i just happen to have very "flexible" scheduling mentalities.. it's probably why we get along so well. i don't know what took me so long to make it here as it focuses on some of my favorite things in life: cupcakes and wine. apparently, this place was named as one of the "best cheap date spots" in nyc, which was very apparent by the fact that my friend and I were the only non-couple there. i thought this place would be a lot more gimmicky given its name, but it resembled more of a quaint cafe that just so happens to specialize in wine/beer and cupcake pairings. as a cupcake aficionado, i was initially overwhelmed by the wide variety of cupcakes they had to offer, but when i finally whittled down my choices to a few some ten minutes later, the waitress informed me that they only serve their four signature cupcakes daily and rotate their speciality cupcakes on a daily basis. i was mostly relieved but a little irked that i had spent some much time choosing a cupcake...s. naturally, given their wide-ranging cupcakes combinations, i ended up with the  craziest of all combinations: 'pure' (vanilla buttercream/vanilla cupcake) - i don't deal well with stress.

i'm glad i finally made it, and i can finally cross it off my never-ending list of places to try in nyc!

i haven't posted pictures of rocco in a while. he's going to be four months this friday! they grow up so fast!! these are some shots from the first week i got him. 

tourist for a day.

lazy monday post. these are a couple of pictures from a beautiful day back in january. i decided to play tourist for a day and finally visited the empire state building for the first time since my wee teen years. it was so nice to see the city from a different perspective for once since it's so easy to get lost in the daily hustle and bustle of the city at ground level.

it was eerily quiet up there.. ugh, this week is definitely dragging. i'm already looking forward to friday and spending a nice weekend back home in jersey with my puppehhh.

no jackets required.

saturday brought on unseasonably warm weather, enough so that i could amble around a city without a jacket. i happened to also finally receive my brand spankin' new celine leopard print loafers that i absolutely looooooveeee that day. i thought i'd take them out for a spin, and seeing as i'll probably never appear on the sartorialist, i thought i'd have my own little - completely gratuitous - photoshoot with them on the high line. however, my favorite accessory that day ended up being my warm jacques torres cookie (i haven't given up my cookie blog yet!) that later found it's way into my favorite carry-all of all, my stomach. stomach's are convenient like that, aren't they?

i didn't realize how awkward posing for the sake out of your outfit could be, but then again, i hate taking pictures of myself in general. i look at fashion blogs on a daily basis, and it always seems so easy! it definitely didn't help that the high line served as a playground for serious and amateur photographers alike that day, all sporting crazy expensive cameras (both film and digital) with their equally crazy expensive lenses. i even spotted one of those 1920s vintage camera in action (aka someone standing guard while his picture developed). i definitely felt a little camera/lens envy, and it didn't help that some of them were carrying said cameras while toting their crazy expensive birkin bags. anywayyyy, picture time!

trying my best not to put on my customary bitchy face.

celine leopard-print loafers / jacques torres cookie [ignore the chocolate stains..it was gooey]

i haven't seen a full-length shot of myself in a while. ah, winter chubs! i definitely need to lay off the cookies before spring arrives.. but doesn't the camera add 10 pounds? so by my calculations, i need to gain 5 pounds? right? right.

however, today turned out to be even warmer, so i ventured out the central park (withajacketbuti'msureicould'vedonewithoutitifiworeasweater). apparently, i wasn't the only brilliant one with this idea as central park was packed. i tried to find a somewhat empty spot so that i could take photos in peace, but obviously, i failed. there was not a nook that a tourist did not fill. what a fail.. but not bigger than my complete fail with my new film camera. i unwittingly adjusted my exposure settings to -1.0 (i.e. all my photos are trying to compensate for light that was not lacking at all on this cloudless, sunny sunday).. wompwompppppp. i'm not excited to develop my film at all, but i'm still extremely curious to see how they turned out. anyway, i did manage to find one of my favorite spots in central park, the shakespeare garden, somewhat secluded. love that it's relatively unknown as i definitely needed some privacy to constantly adjust and readjust all the settings on my film camera, but here are two shots from the digital camera, which i definitely neglected a bit today..



shakespeare garden / en route to levain!


picked up a WARM oatmeal raisin levain cookie afterward. best cookie ever. no pictures obviously because i don't think there's fast enough shutter speed to capture the cookie before it's annihilated.

lush.

the title of this entry refers to both my inability to hold alcohol (well, i am asian!) as well as the interior decor of mary queen of scots, a scottish-themed bar located in the LES. i went there for a 3-course scotch and wine pairing on yesterday, and much to my surprise, each course was paired with a complementary glass of scotch AND wine.. plus a complimentary 10 year old scotch to start. i downed my first glass of scotch like i would a shot of tequila (ah, remnants of my college days..), and the night quickly spiraled downward thereafter. i kid, i have learned a few things since college, one of them being that i should/need to pace myself - slight slip with the first glass of scotch though. for the most part, i enjoyed the subsequent six glasses of scotch and wine at a more leisurely pace, but that could probably be more attributed to my recently developed affinity for photographing glasses of whiskey (scotch especially, bourbon glasses always seem too difficult for me). i just love the their rich caramel color and the glasses they are served in, and it doesn't hurt that i always find myself sipping a glass in swanky settings. too bad i often find myself in some rather embarrassing angles attempting to capture all of these elements. the table-level shot  that i love so much required me to sink really low into my seat.. to the point where my shoulders almost touched the bottom of the seat. i only managed to get that picture because i was pretty tipsy and didn't give a fuck. good drinks, good food, good night. too bad every wednesday couldn't be the same.

10 year old arran malt to start the night..

the arran malt (pomerol cask) / foie gras with cranberry chutney

i wish i got more shots of the interior, but i was sequestered in the corner as any lush should be. oh well, friday tomorrow!

prague revisited.

i've been feeling a bit wanderlust-y lately and went through my pictures from when i studied abroad in prague back in the fall of 2008. i was only armed with a humble nikon d40 that no idea how to use. thinking back, i don't think i changed a single setting on that camera once. luckily,  europe is good-looking enough to make-up for my complete inability to use a dslr. (a fact that is still sadly true now.) i didn't take nearly enough photos as i should've, but there were still a few winners in the bunch. with some reprocessing in photoshop now, i think they're semi-blog-worthy. this one remains one of my all-time favorite shots:

band on the charles bridge.

such an incredibly beautiful city. i wish i had the chance to photograph it now.

i had a more ambitious post planned, but that's all for today as i am slightly drunk from a scotch and wine-filled dinner, so more to come later.