In 14 days I will be making my way back to the US! The prospect of not having to hear boisterous Hanoi motobikes is exciting!   And while the prospect of unemployment and finishing my thesis menacingly loom in my future, I try to quell my fears by considering “alternative extracurriculars” and things that I could potentially get in the states (my recent introduction to Fab.com fuels this a lot). Whether I am in Hanoi, Baltimore, or Chicago, I can always account on the aforementioned activities as proper distractions from more important things in my life.

1. The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammed Knight is a fictional novel that established Islamic punk rock (taqwacore).  It’s incredibly amazing to consider how much of an impact one book had on inspiring young Muslims to actualize an imaginary world rooted in freedom to individually question and interpret Islam.  Obviously this isn’t the sort of book that I would be able to get in Hanoi, so I’m looking forward to reading this when I return to the US.  The Taqwacores, Amazon, $10.36

2. I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a month ago and I spotted this ukulele from the street! A FLYING-V AMERICAN FLAG UKULELE. I liked it so much I was willing to awkwardly haul it around (PS the Nomadic Wise-Walker backpack is very useful when it comes to hauling a ukulele). I have been playing Lady Gaga “You and I” on it a lot, but I suppose I should try to play more Americana songs on it given this ukulele’s appearance…like Bruce Springsteen.

3. Long, long ago I interviewed the Bubble Process.  This Frightened Rabbit screenprint is great. (Side note: also great is Frightened Rabbit live). Frightened Rabbit Poster, The Bubble Process, $20

4. After 4 years of wearing TOMS, I tried to return back to Vans slip-ons.  I would recommend against doing this as my Vans slip-ons are very uncomfortable and rigid.  Herringbone Classics, TOMS, $54

5. A dear friend of mine got me Father Panik knuckle tattoo mittens that said “BAM!” “POW!” which is extra amusing when the weather is unpleasantly cold.  I still dream about getting a pair that say “HOT” “DAMN.” Almost exactly a year ago, I was at the Container Store in NYC with a friend, and one of them fell out of my pocket!!! It was really devastating! It was also embarrassing when I had to draw a picture of the mitten for the Container Store staff so they could lookout for it.  But! A Christmas Miracle! I got my mitten back! No one stole my lost mitten! Finger Knuckle Mittens, Father Panik, $32

6. As you might already know, cats are “hot” right now.

I could watch cat videos all day.  I have been accused of watching cat videos all day. To all of you who have accused me of doing such a thing, you are wrong. “Now stop it.” Cat Paper Clips, JetPens, $6.73

7. It’s unfortunate that sequins are synonymous with holidays.  Is it not acceptable to sparkle in March? Vila Black Sequin Shorts, ASOS, $36.36

8. SO. One of my side activities this fall has been contributing to a Tumblr that my friend and I started.  HTTP://HUMILIATEDANIMALS.TUMBLR.COM As the URL suggests, it is a tumblr of humiliated animals.  Since its inception, we have learned that people enjoy animal misery and embarrassment as much as we do.

Next week there will be a JETPENS GIVEAWAY!!!!!!! So stay tuned, and perhaps you will get the opportunity to fill an electronic cart with cat paperclips (or more desirable items).

Okay, what the hell does the title “Maria’s Fall of Currently Obsessed” MEAN? I don’t know. I am too lazy to change it.

1. I’m just getting into Swedish pop artist Robyn‘s 2010 album Body Talk. But what I really love about Robyn is her sense of style, especially in the music video “Call Your Girlfriend,” in which she wears a weird cropped fuzzy shirt and crazy printed leggings, and then dances around a warehouse in a single take, and tells some guy to call his girlfriend and tell her he’s found someone new.

2. Speaking of Robyn’s leggings, she recently wore the above pair by Alexendar McQueen when she was featured in Rye Rye’s “Never Will Be Mine” music video.

3. Speaking more of Robyn’s leggings, she’s worn some sweet gas pump leggings by Jeremy Scott. Kate Perry recently wore his “poof ball” dress on a magazine cover. You can check out his weird fashions (like a bookshelf skirt!!!!) at Fruition. But you probably can’t afford them. Or I can’t.

4. After Tricia’s recent currently obsessed, which featured women wearing bow ties, we have been in communication about the newly popular style of androgyny. I loved Lady Gaga’s VMA stunt where she came on stage as her alter-ego, Joe Calderone and sang her single “You and I.” Jo Calendrone also appears in the official music video. After raving about Gaga dressing as a man, my friend told me that Annie Lenox already did this whole stunt in 1984 while singing “Sweet Dreams.” I say, good job to Gaga for bringing it back, but I love how Annie just went up there and started singing without any semblance of an explanation.

5. Finally, I’ve become obsessed with poet Edna St. Vincent Millay after reading Nancy Milford’s biography of her called Savage Beauty (so good!). Millay was a great poet, who was also very sexy and alluring (I’m not sure that this is a particularly common among famous poets). She had many affairs with men and women, and showed some androgynous attributes herself (and people called her Vincent!). Here’s a nostalgic/sad Edna St. Vincent Millay sonnet about old hookups.

Sonnet 42

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning, but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

Fall is my favorite season, and I’m a little sad I’m missing it (for the first time!) this year.  ”But Tricia. Fall happens everywhere.”  Living in Illinois and upstate New York accounts for approximately 87.5% of my life.  I subsequently strongly associate fall with crisp air, steamed pitchers of apple cider at the cafe I worked at, magnificent color gradients of leaves, and the coarse noise of crushing leaves beneath my feet.

Yes, leaves get to be mentioned twice.  But, look!  This is Illinois in the fall!  Wow!  And Ithaca’s fall is great too! Woah!

I have a difficult time accepting the Hanoi fall, and I’m unwilling to alter my perception of the season.  It rains nearly everyday.  A considerable amount of time has elapsed since my lungs have felt exhaust gas-free air. And most of the time I sweat through my clothes-a state that reveals that I am indeed not a local.  Thus, my lust for fall has manifested in a long overdue currently obsessed post.  Enjoy.

1. Lady Gaga released the second edition of her ear buds this past summer, and I aspire to one day find a job where I can wear these without getting reprimanded.  Although the design is supposed to be a reflection of Lady Gaga’s leather jacket studs, the headphones remind me of my former roommate’s nOir four stud pyramid ring.  Lady Gaga also designed this model too, which would be just as geometrically puzzling to my boss as the ones featured above.  Heartbeats 2.0 by Lady Gaga headphones, Amazon, $130

2. Foods that I have to pay an ex-pat premium for in Hanoi!  This print probably would not have made this edition of currently obsessed if Illinois was assigned a food that wasn’t deep dish pizza.  melangerienyc is a great etsy shop-you can even order customized VIEWMASTER INVITATIONS! State-By-Food print, melangerienyc, $20

3.

via Gone Movie

I’ve been coming across a lot of pictures of girls wearing ties online (cross over tie: alexa chung! bow tie: some random sartorialist girl!), and I can’t help but think about Diane Keaton in Annie Hall.  I think I will go ahead and declare a bold statement: everyone wishes they could exude Annie Hall’s mystical coolness. It is also quite fortuitous that my previous roommate, yes the same one who owns the nOir ring, makes really well-made bow ties.  Although I bought the last red polka dotted bow tie, during these past couple of weeks, knotbytiffa has been releasing the fall collection. Bow Ties, knotbytiffa, $30-$45

4. I associate peter pan collars with liebemarlene, the only blog that I have been consistently reading for the past couple of years.  This is the first time I’ve seen a leopard printed peter pan collar. Pull Safari, sandro, 155 €

5. My sister gave me a Night Owl Paper Goods card when I left for Hanoi.  The hedgehogs are pretty cute, and there are lots of other precious-critters-on-wood like this orca. Hazel Hedgehog Journal, Night Owl Paper Goods, $18

6. It’s funny to think about how I would normally be wearing a coat right now.  Clarification.  It’s funny to think about how I would normally be wearing a coat right now while I’m eating delivery ice cream and sitting in an air conditioned room.  With the fan blasting on my face. (IN FACT, that is exactly what is going on in this apartment right now).  Haute Coat-ure by Jolaby, Modcloth, $450

7. I have a little collection of reusable bags that I used to bring to stores (a practice that I can’t really do in Hanoi).  My most prized bag is probably a Chico bag I got from Stone Brewery.  BAGGU makes collapsible nylon day packs, and light cotton backpacks which would be great for groceries because your hands can only old so much. At least…my small hands. Daypack, BAGGU, $24; Backpack, BAGGU, $32

PREFACE: It really is not in my best interest to share this, although I’ve already internet spammed nearly everyone I know about this glasses collection.  And you know, it’s limited edition.  Given that I won’t be able to potentially order these until January, there lies the intrinsic value of keeping my mouth shut.

But, in the spirit of altruism, I will continue.

I’ve been in Hanoi for exactly three weeks.  Although I am always at work, when I return in the evenings (after miraculously crossing the streets unscathed), I am still compelled to turn on my computer and putz around on the internet.  For a while now, I have been wanting to order glasses from Warby Parker.  I even went to the showroom in NYC, which is pretty neat.  You can try on all of their glasses, while considering how you’re with your glasses-wearing brethren, and pah pah-ing all of those miserable people who made fun of you for wearing glasses when you were a child.  I really felt akin to the Huxley Crystal (part of the steven alan collaboration), but I’m really indecisive, and I was leaving for Hanoi right when I decided I wanted them.

Nowadays, I think about how I will one day rejoin people that won’t persecute me for wearing my teal Moscot glasses, and longingly find myself drawn to looking at glasses online (especially at Warby Parker because the website is so aesthetically pleasing and has no offensive fonts).  That’s when I noticed the Hazelwood collection!  It’s a really pretty color! I immediately sent the link to my friend Kate (who has been considering both Warby Parker glasses and getting bangs), and that’s pretty much the end of the story.  A long story to share how great I find the Hazelwood collection, and how I am now torn between crystal and hazelwood.

Above: Colton (in Hazelwood!) glasses, $95, Warby Parker

I just discovered the wonder of wedges. They are like high heels, but you can walk in them! I love having a painless little two-inch boost. There are so many styles, from classy to whore-y. They can function as high heels for a nice dinner, or sandals for dress-down days. And they come in so many colors! There is basically an entire aisle of them at Target for $20-30.

Here are some I found on the internets:

1. RED Canvas Lace-Ups, Anthropologie, $168
2. ORANGE Freed From Amber Wedge, ModCloth, $145 (A little pricy, but ModCloth is wedge-city, esp for unique styles and colors)
3. YELLOW Ed Hardy Casablanca Wedge Pump, Amazon.com, $60 (also comes in hot pink) (PS Ed Hardy is a retired tattoo artist)
4. GREEN, Cork Principles Wedge in Thyme, ModCloth, $104
5. BLUE Tie Dye Stripe Espradrill Wedge, Calypso St. Barth for Target, $30 (many more styles with the new Calypso line, which is very beachy)
6. RED? INDIGO? VIOLET? TOMS Wedge
7. BONUS RAINBOW WEDGE Spectacular Spectrum Wedge, Mod Cloth, $150

Also, I want to remark on the brown and sandaly wedges… these are good for summer. Also, the gladiator sandal trend looks TERRIBLE on me and my thick runner legs. They sort of make your feet look all bound up and cut off at the ankles, so you kind of end up looking shorter. These kinds of sandals look much better on me in wedge form because of the added inches. Another hint: if you get the shoe in a color similar to your skin, it makes your leg look really loooong instead of looking cut off.

(Left to Right, then Top to Bottom)

1. Traipsing About Town Wedge, ModCloth, $55 (that’s half off!)
2. Ecote Gladiator Wedge Sandal, Urban Oufitters, $38
3. Classified Jec Gladiator Wedge Sandal, KMart, $30
4. MIA ‘Viking’ Gladiator Wedge Sandal, Overstock.com, $45
5. Nicole  Hot N Heavy Gladiator Sandal by nicole, amazon.com, $45-105 (looks like the coral version (not pictured here) is much cheaper)

I know, I haven’t posted in EONS! But I am obsessed with JewelMint. I found them first in Teen Vogue, which, YES, I still subscribe to even though I am in my MID TO LATE TWENTIES.

The basics: it was created by Kate Bosworth and a friend, and is like the Columbia House Records of jewelry, but not quite as sneaky as Columbia House when they send you like 10 CDs you never asked for. You begin by taking a quiz, and then each month new jewels are selected for you, but you don’t have to buy them. I never buy any of them because I don’t have $30 to spend at the moment (sometimes they email you a coupon and you can get them for $9-18), but I think one day I might. I just look at them online. (You can look at all selections and don’t have to buy the one they suggest.)

I *love* this jewelry because there are some unique BRIGHT COLOR options, but there are more classic designs, too, and lots of silvers, blacks, and golds. They also suggest what you can wear the jewel with, and have pictures of the jewelry close-up as well as on a model, or occasionally a celebrity.

Just wanted to share!  (Maybe I’ll do another post soon — my year in grad school is just finishing and my computer just came back from the shop.)

I say, the holidays should be full of shine – especially New Year’s Eve. Here is some of my favorite SHINE, links & detail pictures below.

Knock Your Socks Off Heel (Modcloth.com, $135) – Because simply sparkling is not enough. One must sparkle in a multitude of colors.

TOMS glitter shoes (TOMS, $59) - Also in silver, pink, & black glitter varieties! If you buy a pair, another pair goes to a child who needs shoes. Good deed for self, good deed for another.

Happy Birthday Deborah Lippmann Nail Color (amazon.com, $18) – Confetti nails! (Make sure you select “Happy Birthday” from the drop-down list.) (If you can’t afford the confetti shoes maybe you can make some of your own…)

American Apparel Shiny Ruched Front Tube Bra (american apparel/amazon.com, $14) – I picture wearing this under a dress with an open back (ie, the one below).

Tinsel Town Dress (Modcloth.com, $90) — Too much? Or too perfect?

Maria = MIA for months and months? Yes. Life is complicated. AHHHH. Yes. But very soon I will be eating Pecan Pie. So.

(1) Bear To Do Notepad. (Little Otsu, $6) Grocery lists. Beer lists. Wine lists. Room assignments. All the better if your to-do list is encouraging — flip the page after you To-Did-It, and the pad itself exclaims, “You Did It!”

(2) Fill-in-the-Blank Cookbook Log (The Small Object, $14). A unique way to organize your cookbooks. Better than post-its?

(3) Anne Taintor Paper Cocktail Napkins (Kitchen Kapers, $5). Subtly tell your family what you really think. (The “Ta-daa! Let’s have a cocktail!” napkin would be particularly apt for me.)

(4) Dysfunctional Family Bingo (Knock Knock, $8). Get the fun ones to play.

(5) Winter Iris Apron (Anthropolgie, $32). Because this is the only piece of clothing in Anthropolgie under $40.

(6) Big Wish Life Size Wishbone Necklace ($32, soradesigns on Etsy). So apparently Jennifer Aniston made a dainty little, tiny wishbone necklace popular because she wore it in “He’s Just Not That Into You.” I prefer my jewelry non-dainty.

(7) Wood Rings Bottle Opener (The Curiosity Shoppe, $34). Much harder to lose when attached to the wall.

(8) BONUS! Not included because has little to do with Thanksgiving!!! But, this is what I’d wear to T-day if I had $88 to spare:

(PJ by Peter Jensen Bunny Sweater, Urban Outfitters, $88)

via Doe Deere Blogazine (thanks, Carl!)

My friends assume I have strong positive feelings towards Hello Kitty.  Because I am asian. In reality, I am mostly apathetic towards Hello Kitty.

It has gotten to a point that this has become a running joke.  Last Birthday?  A friend even mailed me a Hello Kitty pinata from the grand land of Tijuana.  How do we feel about these Dr. Martens?  The white ones kind of creep me out, but the ones with Sanrio critters are a little cute…