CnC Living Travel Log; Switzerland holiday sights and lights (and a weird Chanel window display)

So I was feeling almost 100% today and was able to make it into Zurich briefly. But my friend convinced us to go out to Zurich a little earlier so that we could see some of Switzerland's sights by night.  The train stations themselves were immaculately decked out.

Here is the Zurich train station with a Swarovski crystal tree.

(fuzzy but they were individual crystal stars - crazy fabulous right?)

This is a similar crystal tree in Zug.  Simple and gorgous elegance in the display.

It's nice how these Christmas markets pop up in Europe around the holidays.  They sell small trinkets, snacks, and toys.

We walked along Bahn Street (Train street) in Zurich.  More Christmas trees and lights.

 

The strange Chanel window....no don't quite get why there is an accessory carousel around her head, but would lovingly accept any of those accessories!

Sigh, champagne and chocolate?  You had me at cham...

Finally, mulled wine...the perfect end to a brisk walk around town.

NYC and LA brides - Vera Wang and Monique Lhuiller sale alert

Alright bridal friends and fans in NYC and LA - you lucky girls get to go to designer sample sale and get ready to wear or bridal gowns for up to 90% off.  Umm, heck yeah.  Thanks to Perfectbound and the Knot for sharing.
I wouldn't mind this dress, you know for cleaning the house or something...btw true story my friend got 5 Vera Wang bridesmaid (really just evening dresses) for $100 a few years ago.  Ridiculous right?

Vera Wang Bridal Collection Sample Sale

Bridal and Bridesmaids dresses up to 75% off!
Saturday, December 3rd, 2009

8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Hotel Pennsylvania

Penn Plaza Pavilion, 401 Seventh Avenue, NYC

Monique Lhuillier Sample Sale

40% to 90% off Bridal and Ready to Wear
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
10am to 4pm

1201 S. Grand Ave, Los Angles, CA 90015

Sick in Switzerland

I'm a bad Nablopomo blogger.  But I do have a good excuse.  I've been sick since yesterday and have only been able to stomach pretzels and 3 tortilla chips today.  Ugh.

I did have some of this deliciousness yesterday though (prosciutto and melon, pepper poppers not so much, ham, mushroom and pear stuffing, and cornbread).

There has been a lot of sleeping in the last 24 hours.  At least I have my friend's warm blanket (dutifully showing his UCLA love in every respect).

How has your weekend been?

Happy Thanksgiving and Who are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!  Have lots of stuffing, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, and of course turkey and gravy (we had Italian today but will have the whole deal tomorrow).

It's been quite a journey, but we have had a fabulous time in Switzerland today.  We met a few friends here and had the best time sitting around, reminiscing about parties in Sri Lanka, and enjoying drinks with good company.

So I'm thankful for good friends.  I won't see family for a few months but I'm glad to see good friends for a few days.   I'm of course thankful for good blogger buddies as well, will be catching up on blog reading soon!

Who are you thankful for?

Snack Styles - Cake balls (red velvet cake dipped in chocolate)

Sigh, today has been a tough day.  Sometimes everything seems great, and the next second it becomes undone.   Well here's to hoping I can work things out.  Either way I'll be seeing great friends in Switzerland tomorrow - concentrating on the positive!

Anyway, I realized that there are so many awesome snacks I haven't shared with you lovelies.  I mean cool snacks too (can't wait to introduce my funny crisps another week).

But first we have...cake balls!

By Crunchy Jewels

I think these would make almost anyone feel better.  Umm, red velvet cake, cream cheese frosting, DIPPED in chocolate and then coconut.  Le sigh.  Well I might skip the coconut sometimes, but everything else sounds peachy.
Ooh how about chocolate sake - chocolate baked with sake and a dash of espresso and cinnamon.
Or pumpkin and white chocolate?!  Cake Balls has a great selection.

This would be a great addition on the dessert buffet for my bridal buddies and for anyone looking for a unique gift for the discerning hostess (or someone that just loves cute little cake bites). 


Now if they only had these in London...which flavor cake ball would you want?

My Birthday - passionfruit cheesecake, Yumi Kim, Fit Flop sandals and Swiss Chocolate

I almost forgot but today is my birthday!  Woot!  You know some years, there's just so much else going on that you kinda forget your own birthday.
So this past year has been a whirlwind:

• graduated from grad school
• entered the wonderful world of blogging
  
• got married
• moved to London
• and soon (crossing fingers they agree to my pay proposal) starting a new project in London and getting that other job I've been lusting after
  

Since I didn't want to spend a ton of money and we'll be hanging out with a bunch of friends next week anyway, we went out to a small Vietnamese restaurant in Soho.  Mmm spring rolls and grilled pork.  Although our waitress wasn't Ms. Sunshine, the food was good (seriously Americans, we are spoiled by mostly good wait service).  The best part was going to one of my favorite Italian bakeries, Princi and picking this beautiful passionfruit cheesecake (more like mousse) up.  Seriously, please go if you are in London or Milan. Yep, it tastes divine.

Otherwise, pretty simple wishes for my wish list.  The Mr. and I have left our old lives, friends, and family behind so he could really pursue this degree and the job he really wants to do.  I hope we both get the jobs we want and it's a great year for our careers.

But of course I wouldn't mind some little things like these comfy boots (I NEED them since I have a weird foot pain now, please go on sale!)

Of course I've been lusting after a Yumi Kim Shelly.  Totally getting it.  On sale of course because Yumi Kim is having 30% off everything for "Pink Friday" until Nov. 30 (enter code ykpinkfriday).  Loves it!

 

Oh and totally going to Switzerland for a long weekend.  Living in Europe is pretty awesome.  In the time it takes to go to Chicago, I can go to another country.  I'll definitely eat some chocolate for you and take pictures!

Cocktail ring loves

Sometimes size totally matters...especially when it comes to cocktail rings.  I remember seeing a vendor at an old job and being totally mesmerized by her pink cocktail ring.  So bright, fun, and shiny.  Since the season of bright shiny rings is coming up, I wanted to post some of my favorite rings:

This Kate Spade Les Fleurs ring gives me a happy spring feeling.

How adorable is this Marc Jacobs Mouse ring?

 Love the wow factor of this emitations ring - halo settings rock!

 

Finally a happy lily from Anthropologie and a happy birthday shout-out to Jeannie from Lilies and Grapes - this is for you babe!

 

How do you like your cookies wrapped? (and how do I transport cute favors 8000 miles away)?

So remember I told you I was a little domestic goddess wannabe and made cookies for our NYC wedding?  Well I'm thinking about what favors to give at the Taiwanese wedding and the same cookie theme sounds appropriate.  Although this time I'm going store bought because I don't have time to actually make cookies when I'm in Taiwan.  They are going to be chocolate cookies though so I can represent America's favorite cookie (oatmeal raisin would be awesome too but I can't find them here!).

From here

Now I just have to worry about how to package up those suckers.  I saw this tutorial on how to make your own boxes and was totally inspired.  I mean, this is pretty adorable.

But the time and effort just wouldn't be worth it.  Can you also imagine me transporting 30 of these little boxes in my checked in luggage?  Nope, me neither.  But they would be a cute little touch for an intimate homemade wedding.

So I'm planning on bringing assembling and transporting 30 little cookies and boxes from London to Taiwan but want them them to be at least passable.  Perhaps I should just wrap the cookies in pretty craft paper and put our stamp on it?  Wedding details are draining and this time I'm keeping it simple while still giving guests a treat.

I hope the fam still likes it!  

Twilight Wedding inspiration

Weekend shout out ladies (sorry I'm a day late on posting but a certain husband wanted to sleep and umm I live in a studio).  But I'll also finally post my Jimmy Choo for H&M finds today as well.

I saw this genius inspiration board over at Bride Chic and had to share her inspiration board based on the main Twilight wedding.  I think Twilight Team Edward lovers like Mayra and Hanako wouldn't mind a little fantasy role as Bella in this case.

Of course I just remember reading about the lovely vintage style dress and thinking "Would have been nice to have fabulous fashion all picked out for me already!"  I think a dress like this (but more a silver color) would have been fitting too because I think Bella wore a mermaid dress right?

 

Taken from here

 Oh and I'll share some luxe bridal sale info later with my brides friends.

Anyway off to the Sunday markets,until then I leave you with this romantic thought....

FFF - Holiday windows and classic Saturday Night Live/SNL at Barney's

TGIF darlings!  Seriously this week has been super busy so I hope to catch up on blog posting/reading and relaxing this weekend!  But I do have a new job (well project for now) offer and possibly another one on the way!  Should be exciting!

Anyway, it's THAT time of year again.  Twinkling lights, super cheery carols, gingerbread latte at Starbucks, and of course holiday window displays.  I loved looking at the amazing window displays at Macy's and Lord & Taylor in particular.

I think the Barneys window displays are super cool this year because they've collaborated with SNL to celebrate 35 years of Saturday Night Live on television.  These window displays will be at Barneys stores nationwide.
Pat, the Coneheads - it's awesome!  View the pictures here.

Oh and to bring you back, here is a classic clip from the Coneheads movie - Michael Richards, Drew Carey - so '90s!

Have a good weekend and I'll post my goods from Jimmy Choo for H&M soon!

Jimmy Choo for H&M - Worth the wait (and sleeping on the street in the rain)? Part 1 of 2

Jimmy Choo for H&M launched this past Saturday to hordes of anxious shoppers.  I am lucky enough to live in Central London (aka we pay a lot to live in a studio the size of your pantry) so I was within walking distance of a H&M store.  I had distinct plans to wake up at 6 am only to fall back asleep in my warm, oh-so-comfortable bed.  I finally got up and out and was in line a bit before 8 am (the store opened at 9 am).  At first I saw the line and thought "Whoa, is this really worth it?"

I mean, this looks kinda scary at 8 am right?

But I decided to brave it because I was already up right?  I also decided to stay because the H&M people told me I was among the first 160 people to arrive so I would definitely get in (whether I would get what I want was of course a different story).
They gave out this flier listing our shopping procedure and I got the blue wristband so about 100 people were in front of me.

The flier lists the times each color band was allowed to go in the store.  You could only shop for 10 minutes and get 1 of each style.  So it somewhat baffled me when I heard staff saying that someone started lining up at 5 pm the day BEFORE to be the first in line.  I talked to the 10th person in line and she said she was there at about 3 am.  It was raining in London that night and the morning of the launch.  Hmm, I just like my bed and my husband too much to sleep on the streets.

So how was my first possible mass-hysteria hyped up shopping launch experience?  Pretty good actually.  I was impressed by how orderly H&M ran the process.  The 10 minute shopping rule and abundance of staff (80 were working in that small branch that day to accommodate the crowds) really kept things moving along quickly.  They even gave out free umbrellas when it started raining in the morning.  A lovely Swedish girl covered me before I got an umbrella.  The bonding is also another funny thing I didn't expect.  People in line were pretty friendly .  The teenage boy behind me was there to get his mom a pair of shoes.  She bribed him with a new Macbook.  Nice.

Why yes, that is a Macbook plated in GOLD.  Chic indeed.

After we got our bracelets, we also took turns taking a break from the line and quite a few sweet people offered to get me coffee as well.  Instead I  went back home and snuggled with my husband for 10 minutes.  When I went back to the line, we were up next and all the girls around me welcome me back and said they were worried I'd missed it!

We were let in a little early (at 10:35 am) and raced up the stairs.  Of course a lot of the good shoes like the gladiators and boots were gone.  I got a pair of shoes I ended up returning and a few accessories.  Overall I was able to get some things, but the selection wasn't awesome.

Up next my tips for the Jimmy Choo for H&M shopping and a lookbook!

What I'd wear...for an interview at a beauty company

I've been inspired by a cute little piece from Kate Spade below and an interview tomorrow for this week's "What I'd wear..."

First of course, gotta have a jacket. I don't know why but I just love bell sleeves and I love Nanette Lepore.  I think a little more drama on clothing is also ok at a creative company.

Then of  course I'd need a simple and elegant dress to go under the jacket.  A blouse and pencil skirt dress- brilliant!

Slightly punchy shoes like these from Asos would be nice.

Finally the accessories - some sweet pearls like this Kate Spade Park Avenue Triple Row Necklace.

Finally a talking point and "Why you should hire me at your beauty company!"  This Moon River Charm Bracelet also from Kate Spade.

What else would you wear?

Photo Love: Remember to take this picture with your partner and our dance party selections

This photo means you were having fun with each other and not realizing a photo was being taken.  Always have fun together and dance like no one is watching.  If they are watching, shake it and invite them to do the same.

From Oh Darling Photography 

In other news, it has been 100 days since Mr. Gadget and I got married.  We celebrated by having a dance party.  And my aunt helped us book a restaurant for the Taiwanese wedding.  Yay!

First kicking it to a classic - east coast/west coast - as long as it has a great beat, I'm down with it.

Video here - Drop it like it's hot

Then taking it back a notch with some reggae sounds.  I never realized the video is SO 80s! 

What are you dancing to right now?

Decor Thoughts - French State of Mind

What is a French state of mind?  I imagine lazy days, lots of cheese, great wine, and of course great company.
Some of my greatest memories last year were of the small house I shared with 3 other classmates in the countryside.  We had a small courtyard and a ridiculously large, floral, and totally awesome couch as well as a piano in the living room.  Our house grilled when we can but as I've mentioned before baguettes and cheese were definitely a mainstay.
Our cleaning lady also told us Johnny Depp lived nearby.  CRAZINESS right?  I regret not doing a little more stalking when I had the chance.

Here it is (I told you it was very floral right, our land lady decorated and the couch is half the room!)

Anyway, I saw a few things that bring that French state of mind anywhere!

First this classic candelabra to be used for either long summer nights or those cozy winter ones.

From Jayson Home and not bad at $125

Can you imagine putting your rings and knick knacks in these french love letter boxes?  Sigh just adorable.

Only $25 also from Jayson Home

How about putting your feet up on this silk loveliness after a long day?  Le sigh.

From Paris Hotel Boutique $1450 which is actually pretty good for an antique piece.

Something about these bowls are so adorable.   Maybe because they remind me a little of madeline cookies?

From Amazon at $17

If these things are a little out of reach, at least you can make your own French inspired stationary via the Style Guide.

What puts you in a French state of mind?

Modern Art date with a few ladies - Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy of Arts

So I had a lot going on this weekend (will post about my Jimmy Choo for H&M shopping trip later) especially today.  I had an art date with a few friends from grad school to see the Anish Kapoor exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts (btw, always pays to go with a friend who has a membership or work discount!).  This exhibit has been marketed heavily throughout London and I was definitely curious.

Anish Kapoor is a key modern artist who has explored form and space and used colour and material in his contemporary sculptures.

Here is the view in the courtyard of the Royal Academy.  This is "Tall Tree and the Eye".
It actually looks like a glorious mix of Christmas ornaments or silver bubbles suspended on top of each other.  It is supposed to multiply its surroundings and produce mathematically complex sequences.

 

"Non-objects" was a collection of objects with mirrored surfaces, but some reflected upside down notions confusing our notions of time and space.  Kids and adult loved this exhibit.

Then there is "Svayambh" which was an amazing large wax block that slowly moved through each of the classicaly doorways of the main gallery.  This sculpture used the building to shape its form and the word means "self-generated". 

Finally "Shooting in the Corner" was literally a cannon shooting red wax every 20 minutes in a way combining art and sculpture.  The red wax just made the exhibits more tangible, visceral, and kinda scary.

All pictures were slyly snuck in by yours truly.

We had some tea and cookies after the exhibit. A perfect end to an art date with ladies. :)