We wish you a merry...

Top Items for the Holidays

Seperated by category:

A) If One Can Dream


1. Marc Jacobs Sienna hobo bag.
2. Gucci hobo - Fall/Winter 2005














B) Earthly gifts

2. Magazine subscriptions! Vogue, Giant Robot, and/or Time Magazine


Ever since my sister's grandma got me my first magazine subscription, Seventeen magazine, I've always devoured those glossies and for me, receiving something (other then a bill, ahem) in the mail is always a lovely surprise.

3. MoMa Salt-n-Pepper shakers!

Since I first laid eyes on these lovable figures, I fell in love w/ them.
Who wouldn't want to have these on their kitchen tables? So stylish.











4. Flower in a Can

I like flowers but I hate the whole process of chopping them up, prettily arranging them only to slowly watch them die at my window sill. This gift can only possibly nurture any seedling of maternal instincts I have (cough) in seeing these pretty blossoms bloom from start...err to finish.

The Young & Stuffed

This week commemorates my third anniversary w/ the boyfriend.

Aside from our hectic schedules, we managed to slip in time to celebrate our relationship w/ a posh dinner at Imlee Bistro, one of the finest Indian restaurants evaaah.

Dressed to the 9s, eh?

The boyfriend scowls alot in my photos so I had to make a cheeky comment to get that warm smile out of him.
Perv.













Meanwhile, I'm doing my best demure "Fair Lady" imitation.

Here's the romantic table we were escounced at:




Imlee Dinner Course:
Mango Lassi
Papadam
Vegetable Samosas
Chicken Tikka Masala
Aloo Mutter

Damn good stuff! We gorged and gorged and gorged.

All while engaging in stimulating intellectual discourse, of course.



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Until we stumbled blearily out of the restaurant looking like this:

Do You Feel Lucky?

Wilma came through here 2 weeks ago and knocked South Florida out.

I just got my cable/internet back over the weekend after having to come into work early to catch my regular blog reads, etc.

The low point of my Wilma experience?
The night after the storm where I and Nick shared a romantic evening dinner together over candle lit table:


Cindy: Gawd, is there anything to eat around here other then PB&J?
Nick: (scratches head)
Cindy (lights up): Ah ha! By George! I think I got something! (walks over to frig and pops out w/ a plastic package)

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Jamaican beef patty and Hillshire sausage!

Nick: (speechless)

The sausage was yummy, especially when you're sticking them directly into the candle light turning them pitch black while your boyfriend mutters "Better not not be lead in those wicks".
Mmmmmm...Danger...never tasted so sweet.

Aside from that, I had the weekend to commemorate a family anniversary but before I went to see my family, I checked out the South Florida Auto Show and must say, I don't really get cars.
The most expensive cars I saw made me yawn whereas I saw a Hyundai SUV that made me more excited. What's the point of having an expensive ride when its interior cockpit is so complex, I have no idea how to even turn on the radio, eh?


Did take a nice shot on my way out, I do love dusk in Miami.

Last "Weekend"

I was really happy to see my brother during my "weekend" off from work.
Since he lives far away, it's rare for us to see each other other then a few times a year and I was glad he could spend a day out here w/ me enjoying Miami for all its worth.

Top Recommended Reads

Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975...
Khaled Hosseini's stunning debut novel The Kite Runner follows a young boy, Amir, as he faces the challenges that confront him on the path to manhood—testing friendships, finding love, cheating death, accepting faults, and gaining understanding. Living in Afghanistan in the 1960s, Amir enjoys a life of privilege that is shaped by his brotherly friendship with Hassan, his servant's son. Amir lives in constant want of his father's attention, feeling that he is a failure in his father's eyes. Hassan, on the other hand, seems to be able to do no wrong. Their friendship is a complex tapestry of love, loss, privilege, and shame. -- Publisher Excerpt

Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffennegger
Clare meets Henry for the first time when she is 6 and he is 36. Henry meets Clare for the first time when he is 28 and she is 20. They marry when Clare is 23 and Henry is 31. Although Clare has known Henry nearly all her life, Henry has only known Clare for three years. Sound confusing? Not in Niffenegger's capable hands. Henry DeTamble is the first person in history diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder. In short, he time travels, thus making it possible for an older version of Henry to visit his "real time" wife when she is still a child, while the 28-year-old version of himself has no idea who she is when he meets her for the first time in October 1991.

The Stand - Stephen King
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the108-year-old Mother Abigail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.--Book excerpt

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer.
Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working her case. The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of his changed family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. -- Publisher

3 AM: Random Thoughts

Don't deny it.

Girls like looking at girls. Right now I'm harboring a major fascination w/ the women in Wong Kar Wai's flicks and how Christopher Doyle can make everyone look so damn hot. "2046" showcases 1960s Hong Kong and the beauty of Ziyi Zhang. This smoky movie makes me want to wear retro cheongsams with stilettos, hair elegantly twisted in an up-do, and leaning against some wallpapered wall in a sexy fashion.

I never really liked Ziyi Zhang, of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, because she always looked like any ol' Chinese girl with big eyes that are a dime a dozen in Beijing/Shanghai/HK--plus she's nearly pigeon-holed herself into the wuxia genre (House of Flying Daggers). But, in 2046, she was a sex-kitten in a very classy Bardot-Hepburn combo.

G L A M O R O U S ! Two snaps and a bag of chips.

Tony Leung is the man. Favorite Role: Lovelorn Cop 633, Chungking Express[633 sees a towel dripping]

Cop663: It was such a relief when I saw it crying. It may look different, but it's still true to itself. It's still an emotionally charged towel.

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Cop663: Would you let a person on board with a boarding pass like this? It's dated today, but it got blurred in the rain. I don't know where it's taking me. Do you?

Faye: No idea, but I'll give you another.

Cop663: Great.

Faye: Where do you want to go?

Cop663: Wherever you want to take me.

Deviltry Has Arrived

BANG