The Diva's Wardrobe

06/30-07/01

2009-07-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

06-30-09: I went to pick up a TV stand and a couple of side tables for the bed. That took me literally the entire day...

At night, KC and I joined the gym. This place has so many different classes ( yoga, strength, belly dance, hip hop dance, etc... it also has a pool, sauna, and steam room ), basically everything I wanted!

The gym here has interesting rules.

1) You must wear indoor shoes at the gym ( no outside shoes)

2) You can NOT wear shoes in the locker room

3) You are not allow to show ur tattoo, if you have one, you must cover it.

4) No pregnant women allowed.

My little plant is not little anymore. It's a big boy now!!!

07-01-09: More shopping today. Not for the apt, but for myself. Shopping was fun!!! Hehee.. love the red soles and the CC.. hehee..

We went to the movie for the first time in Tokyo. Transformers!

The theater food here is not ridiculously priced, 600 yen for a medium drink + a medium pop corn. Not bad!

The movie was really good, full of actions and hilarious. I'll definitely buy the Blue ray when it come out!

06/26-06/29

2009-07-01T01:24:00.000-07:00

06-26-09: It was a really nice day out and I decided to take a walk. I walked around Harajuku, Omote-sando, and then went to Shinjuku.

Dinner: KC had a call again, so we decided to stay in. I made Chicken wings, ramen noodles, eggs, and mushrooms. Something simple.

06-27-09: I woke up early today for a pair of shoes. I rushed to Isetan in Shinjuku right when the store opened, 10am. I got there 5 after 10 and the store was already packed with people. Japanese LOVE to shop and it was no joke. I got a pair of flats and a wallet from Miu Miu, both in purple. =) Love them!

I went back home after and joined KC for lunch. We went to Manhattan Deli again, the cheeseburger never failed us, delicious!

After lunch, we went to Omote-sando for more shopping. KC bought some clothes from Prada, too bad I didn't find anything I liked =(. We walked from Omote-sando to Shibuya. There were sale signs everywhere and the street was very busy with hundreds of people. We bought more clothes and home stuffs!

Next stop was Otemachi. We went to Bic Camera and bought a TV, finally we got a TV!!!

Dinner- Pizza and pasta

I got a pair of slippers today. It was yoga toe + fluffy slippers combined. Very comfy and cute!

06-28-09: I made pancake for breakfast today. It was my first time making it ( hehee, never thought making pancake was that simple).

We walked around Midtown for more home stuffs, yes, it was like a never ending thing. Furnishing a place from scratch was not simple.

We met up with James, Angus, Annie, and Douglas for Chinese Dim Yum. It was one nice Dim Dum place. The decoration was unique and the food was good. We were there for 2 and a half yr and we all had a good time.

We then went to Shinjuku for rice cooker. Yay, we finally got one! No more spaghetti. lolz..

** Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Mei Mei.

06-29-09: I chatted with lulu on line for hours.. we had too much fun and I almost forgot about the TV delivery. I rushed to Roppongi hills to buy movie tickets for July 1 (you actually pick seats here, and you could only buy tickets two days in advance), went to the supermarket to buy food and, ran back home.

The TV arrived at 4pm. Living without a TV for a month ( almost) was pretty painful. I appreciate it so much now!!

The TV is sitting on the floor cuz we don't have a TV stand yet. =(

Dinner tonight: RICE ( yes, rice, hehee), steamed silky eggs, chicken wings, spinach, and Japanese preserved veg ( very tasty).

06/20-06/25

2009-06-29T01:56:00.000-07:00

06-20-09: KC had to study for his exam this weekend. We spent a few hours at home and then went to my favorite place, Starucks, to read some magazines

Dinner- Nicole's ichiban Chicken wings, Saute cucumbers and mushrooms, and spaghetti with clam sauce.

After dinner, there's a DJ show at Midtown. More coffee + fun!

Here's a small clip form the night. Nice dance! LOLz.

06-21-09: KC had to go back to the office today.

The rainy season has started in Tokyo. It's not as bad as I thought.

There are a lot of clear umbrellas in Japan. I love them. Isn't it nice to see through it? I wonder why they don't have it in the States?

Japanese love to go out and they are very eventful. They had a candle night on the 21. The theme was to save the world and consume less energy. There were hundreds of candles lighted up by the park. Everyone of them had a message written from people around. I had actually written one a few days ago and was going to look for it with KC. Too bad it was raining that night. We couldn't walk close to the candles.

06-22-09: I went walk around in Shibuya today. There were a lot of interesting stores. I enjoyed shopping around this area!

I was done reading the Shopaholic Ties the knot. I liked it. This one is a lot better than Shopaholic takes Manhattan. One more to go..

06-24-09: I went to my favorite place again. Starbucks, book stores, and Roppongi hills.

I was eyeing on this for a long time. The bottle is nicely decorated with swarvoski crystals. They call this the luxury water, because it's a very expensive bottle of water. I'm planning to refill it and use it as a water bottle. So pretty!!

Dinner: Wagu steak, sautee pepper & onion, and minced pork spaghetti ( Chinese style). Delicious!

06-25-09: I spent a few hours talking to my gal friends online. It was fun chatting with them. All the gossips and love stories..

I went shopping at Ginza in the afternoon. BIG NEWS! Summer sale starts 06-27 ( some stores starts on July 1). I had already picked out a few items, hehee.... I couldn't wait!!!

After-tea: I went to this fancy coffee shop on the main street. The cake was good. New book. Shopaholic and Sister!

I couldn't believe I walked in these for 4 hours..

Dinner: I met up with KC and a few of his co-workers for dinner. Owen, Benny, Julian, and Mr. don't remember =P. They brought us to this local authentic Chinese place. The food was pretty good. They are all very Hong Kong and funny. We'll all go to Karaoke next time. Yay!

June 16-19

2009-06-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

06-16-09: Breakfast- white toasts + egg & shrimp omlete. I rented The Ramen Girl on itune. It was an interesting movie and a perfect time for me to watch since it was filmed in Tokyo.

Currently reading: Shopaholic takes Manhattan.. Ooo I miss the city..

I walked around Roppongi hills and got myself some of new clothes... hehee.. a small treat, you know what I mean? I wore my new Valentino ankle boots today, and it was pouring out after shopping. OMG, I didn't know what to do?? Maybe I could buy myself a pair of shoes to change into? Since I didn't want to ruin my shoes nor buy anything, I decided to stay in and had a cup of coffee @ startbucks, I sat there for like 2 hours? Studying Japanese, read my new book, and waited for KC to get off work so he could brought me a pair of shoes to change.

It's official the monsoon season, I met up KC and we headed to big bowl noodles for dinner.

06-17-09: It was a sunny day out. I made some white toast and had a cup of yogurt for breakfast. Since it was a little boring working out at the gym in the building, (there's hardly anyone in there), I decided to do something different today. Jogging outdoor.

Jogging was so much harder than I thought. I never liked running anyway. I jogged for a few minutes and walked a few minutes... needed to alternate a little.. never the last, it was my first time!! OOOo it was hard. After jogging, I laid down by the lawn area and rested for 30 minutes, that felt really good. Maybe I could go to the beach one day?

I bought something small from the Manattan deli ( fish and chips, literally 2 small pieces of fishes and like 10 fries). hahaa.

I showered up, changed into a nice outfit went down to the outdoor area for more sun. Of course, I had to have my coffee + a book.

KC came back early today. We went to a Yakitori place nearby. It's by far the best yakitori. Very neighborhood and very authentic. It was also a plus because one of the waiter there speaks English! We had a couple of interesting things there, a fresh squeezed grapefruit liquor + a delicious spice (I'm in love with this spice).

06-18-09: I went to a couple of language school last week, but I didn't really like any of them. I looked online and found a good once in Shinjuku. I scheduled a time to go in today.

It was easy to find following the direction they provided on their web-site. This school is perfect for me. It's located at a busy/trendy area (a lot of shops and restaurants around) and also the class has more than 15 students (which means I am going to meet a lot of new people). YAY!

I walked around the area, checked out a million of stores.. and did some shopping.. Ooo I couldn't resist. They were so cute.. a strawberry donut ( a kitchen scrub), a lavender air refresher, and a few bath salts. One of them is named "Cinderella bath", how cute.

I had lunch Spanish for lunch. It was only so so, but I finished my book. =)

It's a late night for KC. He had a conference meeting at 8.30. I had a curry pork chop for dinner ( and saved him half). Someone recommended this place on a blog, it was really good.

I also bought a cake that KC and I had been eyeing on every time we walked by that place. The cake was just soooooo good. (I am not a cream person and I love it)

KC didn't come back till 10, we went to the gym for a little bit and each of us had a slice of the cake. Yummy!

06-19-09: KC had a class to go to today and he didn't have to leave till 12:30. We had lunch at a italian restaurant. The pasta was good. KC told me that the reason why Japanese makes good Italian food because they know how to cook pasta ( noodles) and they never over-cook it. Make sense?

I went to pick up a couple more books today. Shopaholic ties the knot and Shopaholic & Sister..

I had 3 hours to spare, so I decided to spend it @ Roppongi hills again.

I started Shopaholic ties the knot. Becky is just hilarious! I love her!!!

I got some goodies @ Anna sui. There's butterflies everywhere. (Butterflies are pretty) I started liking them more since my dearest girl friends got me a gorgeous butterfly necklace ( made from real butterfly) from Baltimore. Love you girls!

Met up with KC at the electronic district. We had McDonald's for snake.

Mc Pork ( just okay, not very tasty)

Shaka Shaka chicken ( very good, better than KFC)

A Small fries and a soda ( The smallest soda I'd ever had @ McD).

Dinner- James recommended this Hot pot place by Akasaka. We figured we would give it a try?

It was DDDDDDDDelicious! The soup base is as good as little lamb with the top notch quality of food. Decoration was upscale and unique.

Appetizer: Taiwanese sausage, horse meat sashimi, and a dried cod roe

Traditional chinese herb soup base ( Spicy and herb).. very tasty, we didn't even use any soy sauce.

We ordered a set menu. It comes with pork, fish, a lot of vegetables, and 6 different types of mushrooms. The mushrooms were super delicious ( without exaggeration).

The meal ends with a bowl of "healthy" noodle and almond tofu ( dessert).

June 11-15

2009-06-15T01:12:00.000-07:00

06-11-09: I woke up early because the big plant was being delivered this morning.

Breakfast- I had some chicken congee that I made the night before. The rice is different here ( short grain) and it's more sticky and chewy. The texture of the congee came out to be really nice.

Lunch- It was a lazy day for me. I went to the park in the late afternoon and bought myself a slice of pizza, a hot cappuccino, and a mini chocolate muffin. It was a warm and sunny afternoon. I spent like 2 hours reading the book and felt very much relaxed! Like a massage!

I was planning to make dinner, but KC wanted to eat out instead. We went to the Italian restaurant in Midtown. We ordered crab cakes for appetizer, I had black truffle with pork pasta, KC had garlic prawn pasta. This place is low key but delicious. We will definitely go back.

06-12-09: I skped with lulu for like 2 hours??? It was a endless conversation and we both had a lot of fun!

I headed to Daimon around noon to pick up the residence card ( Japanese ID card). We must bring the ID card with us at all time, it'll be a big trouble if the cop caught us without it because they are taking this really seriously!

There are vending machines everywhere in Japan. It's super convenient to get something to drink.

After Daimon, I went to Ginza ( the fifth ave of NY) for a walk. There are a lot of department stores and small shops in Ginza. You can find all the pretty things there.

I also picked up a pre-paid phone on my way home. I've been looking for this phone for a week.. been to a million stores and finally found one today! Yay!

Dinner- I met up with KC and James (his co-worker) for dinner @ Akasaka. Friday night is always a busy night to eat out, just like NY. We waited over 30 minutes for a table. The restaurant was nice enough to offer each of us a free drink ( alcohol). Their white sangria was really good. We had a great meal ( Spanish cuisine)!

06-13-09: Yay, our bed frame, sofa, and rug arrived as scheduled. We finally got something to sit on!!! Woo hoo!

Before...

After...

It was furniture shopping day for us again. (I love the weekends even more now, because I get to spend time with my hubby) <3.

Lunch- We went to a ramen restaurant that James recommended for lunch, then we took the JR train ( like the LIRR in NY) to Funabashi. We bought a whole bunch of stuffs today. We're like 80% furnished. Still missing the TV tho..

Dinner- we went to the Singapore hai nan chicken place again. The chicken was super tender like the first time and it was just the best hai nan chicken I have ever had!!! Not kidding.

(KC and I might take a trip to Singapore next month, i wonder if the nai nan chicken rice is even better?)

00-14-09: KC and I both woke up early today to go to the gym. After gym, I made us a delicious + nutritious brunch!

Scrambled eggs with rosemary, sausage, toasts, and fresh fruits!

KC's colleague is having a BBQ at his place. James picked us up around 2! I met a few people today. One of the guy's wife is from HK too, she was talking to me in Cantonese. Food was delicious and we all had a great time.

06-15-09: The stuffs that we bought on Saturday was scheduled to be delivered between 9-2. I woke up at 9... waited and waited and waited.. till 1:30pm..

My original plan was to go to the gym before lunch, but since they came so late, I already had instant cup noodle for lunch! Oh well.. I'll go tomorrow.

I hung out at the bookstore for like 2 hours and had a grande latte ( read 6 American magazines and had my dose of some hollywood gossips) lolz.

I'm making dinner tonight.

1) Sauté brocolli

2) Onion pork chop

3) Spaghetti w/ garlic, olive oil, prawns and fresh basil

Interesting Tokyo

2009-06-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

06-08-10: I started the day with a huge lunch. Instant ramen noodles. This is the first meal I'm making in the apt. The instant noodle is not very instant. I went to the supermarket and picked up a few items.

Ramen noodle + spinach + egg + sausage, and a cup of iced coffee.

After lunch, I did the laundry and walked around Midtown. Spent 1 hr at the gym and then headed to Roppongi hills to meet up with KC for dinner. Japanese silky tofu again. Delicious but very salty!

06-09-09: Lunch at Manhattan Deli again. I ordered the chess burger again ( it was just too good that I've been thinking about it). I only had half this time. I packed the 2nd half and saved it for lunch tomorrow.

I then went to a couple of language schools to check out the schedules. Both of them are not bad. They are both one station away (by train). I'll wait till the end of this week to decide on which one I should go to. Class doesn't start till July anyway.

-->Shinjuku to shop for more house stuffs--> meet up with KC @ Otemacho--> Bic Camera ( like the best buy in the US) to look for a TV and a rice maker--> Roppongi for yakitori. I had a Sashimi rice bowl and KC had a chicken rice bowl. The sashimi here is very fresh and the texture is just perfect! We also ordered a few skewers of yakitori + beer + plum wine.

06-10-09: I had the 2nd half of the burger from yesterday, it's still very good. After lunch, I went to Shinjuku and Harajuku to look for a cell phone.

No luck with the cell phone =(. All the pre-paid phones are sold out. I guess I just have to wait for the next shipment.

Then I spent 2 hours at the coffee shop and read my new book. Shopoholic and baby. I'm loving Sophie Kinsella, she has a great sense of humor and Becky is just a hilarious character!!

After my afternoon coffee, I went to food shopping for dinner. Tonight's dinner is Ramen noodle ( since we don't have a rice maker yet, the other option is noodle/pasta), auteed chicken with shishito pepper and bunashimeji mushrooms, and sauteed spinach. First dinner at the apt.

I also stock up the fridge with drinks.. Green tea, diet coke, black tea with milk, OJ, plum wine, energy drinks, chips, snakes, chocolate cookies.. hahaa..

It's 11 pm and we just came back from the gym. Time for dessert. Pudding!

2nd week in Tokyo

2009-06-10T01:56:00.000-07:00

06-02-09: We didn't have any cake on my birthday because both of us were really tired at the end of the night. We went to a dessert place in our complex and had a couple pieces of chocolate cakes there. Without knowing what the menu said, I ordered a piece of hazelnut cake ( hazelnut is my favorite)

06-03-09: I went to the apt to unpack and bought myself an interesting lunch. Japanese Hamburger. This burger is made with " Chinese steam bun (man tao) + Avacado + Wasabii + burger steak of course. It's amazingly delicious. What a cute version of burger.

I went to the gym in the late afternoon and rented a couple of movies. " In her shoes" & " Something about Mary" ( It's like the 3rd time I'm watching them). I bought a dinner box from the food court. It's very elegant and delicious! 3 types of rice, grilled fish, and some side dishes + some mango plum wine. Got a little buzz at the end of the night.

06-04-09: I didn't feel like doing anything that day. I rented the TV show "Cashmere mafia" and had a TV show marathon. I watched all of it. Yes, ALL of it. I like it a lot, the 4 main character reminded me of sex and the city.

KC and I went to a Singapore "hai nam" chicken rice place that Jenny Lee recommended. OMG, it was SO GOOD. They even passes out the recipe if u are interested making it at home.

06-05-09: There are so many different types of sushi rolls here in Japan. Look at this.

It's literally 2 inches wide, with all sort of things in it. Shrimp, avocado, eggs, squid, mint, etc.. You'll be full just eating 2 pieces of it. lolz.

At night, we met up with a friend of a friend (Scott) who's originally from NY and moved to Tokyo for work. He came along with a couple of his co-workers. All of them are so funny and easy going. We went to a local Yakitori place by Otemachi. Beer + yakitori ( they are the perfect match)!

06-06-09: Moved in to the new apt. There's nothing but empty boxes pilling up in the living room. The mattress arrived in the afternoon. Yay, we finally got a place to sit/ rest on. We went to Shinjuku in the afternoon and bought some plants. 1 big one and 3 small ones. We went back to Roppongi for dinner ( Korean). The tofu is really silky and soft. I like!

06-07-09: Woke up really late, it's the longest we've slept since we got here. Very nice. We had a American brunch, I had a super delicious cheeseburger and KC ordered eggs Benedict. I can stop but keep saying how delicious the food here. I'm in love with the food!

There's a Lamborghini car show going on at our complex today. There are like 30+ lambos parking at our backyard (lolz, the park)

KC had a lot of fun taking pictures with these hot "girls"... We then headed to Ropponggi Hills to pick up a vacuum cleaner. We had some indian curry for dinner. Itch itch after dinner, it's the same reaction after I had Indian at Gen's bday last year. I swear I will not have Indian curry again. There's something they use that I'm allergic to.. aiye!

06-02-2009

2009-06-03T00:15:00.000-07:00

06-02-09: Air shipment arrived at 9 in the morning. We spent the morning unpacking and then had lunch at the "big bowl noodle". It was really delicious.

In Japan, you are allowed to slurp, in fact, it's totally acceptable. They brought over a bib just like the one they have @ red lobsters. Lolz, KC actually put it on so that he can try to slurp.. The bowl is huge.. i guess that's why my friend Jenny call it the "big bowl noodle".

05-30-2009 Realize..

2009-05-30T18:08:00.001-07:00

It's been cloudy here in Tokyo.. rain season will start pretty soon.

Hubby and I spent the entire day furniture shopping, it was not easy, but we won't get discouraged. The furniture prices here in Japan is outrageous, we really don't get it? How can local people afford them? They must know something that we don't know.

We met up with a friend who's here for business. It's good to see a familiar face in the new city. We had yakitori + beer/ plum wine. It was delicious. Japanese takes the food seriously. Good presentation + good taste.

After dinner, I come to realize I won't be coming back to New York for a while. Should I treat this as a long vacation?? or maybe a new life???

05-29-2009 玻璃之城

2009-05-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

I can not believe what I am watching on TV. It's my favorite Chinese movie, "City of Glass" in Cantonese. Channel 201.

玻璃之城

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ_Fo1GTXTQ

黎明 - 今生不再

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMjn3u7LSrA&feature=related

I cry everytime I watch this movie..

05-28-2009 First day in Tokyo

2009-05-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

The flight to Tokyo was not bad. I watched three movies on the plane. Bride's war, The Confessions of a shopoholic, and The reader. I like all three of them, especially the bride's war. It reminded me of my girlfriends, the friendship bond will never change, no matter what happened. I miss my girls..

I brought Purell and wore a mask on the plane. People looked at me funny, but I rather be safe than sorry.. You never know. Safety is # 1.