Tag Archives: Loring Park

Sweater Story

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There is nothing like the smell of wet wool! It was a rainy day today in Minneapolis, and I got caught in it while I was on the phone making my next $16 haircut appointment at the Aveda Institute…

This sweater came from Goodwill in Hopkins last Saturday as I was thrifting for something striped for my Refashion Runway contest! It caused a big discussion at work today too! But one thing for sure – it’s one of the most comfortable sweaters you want to wrap around yourself on a day like today, and if this is the route our weather is taking this year, I am sticking to my decision!

Z

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I am Wearing:

Sweater – Alcott & Andrews // Jeans – Express // Flats – Nine West // Top – Target

PS. What do you think of the sweater?

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My Perfect Red

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It’s a well known fact that red lipstick does wonders, it’s practically a miracle worker (well, that’s if you believe in miracles <— You can tell I just watched the latest Star Trek). It doesn’t only make your teeth appear whiter, but your nose smaller, it basically draws attention to your lips, away from all the other features (that’s only if you want it to) And even though there are people who are so very against it, all I have to say is suck it up and give it a shot!

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I AM WEARING:

Dress – Unknown Brand (Designed in France though) // White Tank – Forever 21 //

Purse – Vintage Kenneth Cole (available in my Etsy store) // Watch – Marc by Marc Jacobs//

Sandals – Target

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Who is my perfect red then? This little guy by Faberlic - from the Premium Lipstick collection, #4295. I know that most of you States side are not familiar with this brand, but if you live in Europe, I am sure you heard about it. It’s very similar to Avon and Mary Kay! I was offered to try out some of their products a while back and this red lipstick was one of the items I picked out:

PicMonkey Collage

Who is your perfect red and do you wear red lipstick in general? I think it’s perfect for the summer, can’t wait to show it off more often!

Xo,

Z 

What’s going on?

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I quit my Beauty Advisor job at Macy’s to go be a toddler teacher. I couldn’t be more excited! Imagine working Monday through Friday, having weekends and holidays off. Oh, wait that’s how you all live and function out there. Anyways, I am one of you now! My husband couldn’t be more excited too!

We are also trying to decide whether to stay in our current apartment or move. After we saw the other available apartments in our building, my hopes went kind of down. We currently live in an apartment facing the highway, and I can’t sleep on top of the highway anymore, but we have a lot of sunlight throughout the day, the ceilings are high, and I have a ton of storage space. One of the apartments we saw yesterday was all carpeted, that immediately made me feel claustrophobic. The other one was nice, but the bedroom was facing the dumpster, there was no ceiling light in the living room, and no storage space. And they want $800 a month for those? UGH I am frustrated at the moment. So if you live in downtown Minneapolis and know of a great 1 Bedroom, let me know! Thanks!

I also decided to splurge and take advantage of my Macy’s discount for one last time, and get some stuff for myself (and tomorrow we are shopping for Sam). So I got some Origins!

 

I got Modern Friction and Clear Improvements, have already tried the first one, love it! The samples are of  VitaZing, which I own the full size of and LOVE! and Plantscription Anti-Aging serum! I also got this awesome Origins Mug, and you can decorate it the way you want to! That inside piece comes out and you can stick whatever you like in there :) I tried Modern Friction last night and it’s amazing! The idea is kind of similar to Clinique’s 7 day scrub, but the ingredients are completely different, and so is the effect! Skin is more radiant and soft. Plus it’s not as harsh as Clinique’s scrub, and has a nice scent (as you know all Clinique products are unscented). Okay, you probably all think that I hate Clinique now, I don’t, it’s just there are things that work for some and don’t for others!

I think I will write more about why I decided to quit retail later this weekend, there are some things that I just want to share and get off my chest! One thing for sure – I’ll miss my awesome co-workers!

Have a fabulous day everyone and an awesome Labor Day Weekend!

Cheers,

Z

 

FOTD and why sometimes I don’t want to go home

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It was boring at work… Wait, let’s put it this way – there were no customers, and I have already organized all the drawers… Anyways, my coworker from MAC decided to do my make-up. The rules were simple – she could pick whatever she wanted and I couldn’t see what it looked like until she was done. Easy peasy :) Here is what we ended up with:

Today after work I didn’t want to go straight back to the apartment. Even though I got done at 8, it’s something about not wanting to go to the place which you spent the whole morning cleaning (and by cleaning I mean some serious cleaning – you could eat off of the kitchen floor!) in fear of finding it all trashed by your own husband. Anyways, I went to Loring Park instead, to finish my book (How did you get this number?) and watch the bunnies (I only have a mild obsession with those).

And in spite of today being the hottest day of the summer so far (the heat advisory was from 1pm-8pm) I really enjoyed my time. In times like this I remember how important it is to find alone time, to be a little selfish and do what you feel like doing, not what others want you to do. It’s times like this that people call – stop and smell the roses (or the flowers, whatever the expression is), but you get what I mean.

So here it is – here is a small snapshot of my moment today:

XO,

Z

PS. Did  you find the rainbow?

Earth Day Outfit

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Happy Earth Day everyone, I hope you had a great day and reduced, reused or recycled! Here is what I got out of this day:

I recycled an almost empty tinted moisturizer at the Origins counter at Macy’s and got a full size Age Defense Moisturizer with SPF 25 – it usually comes in a jar, so don’t be confused by the packaging ;)

I also scored a free reusable bag at Target, don’t know what I am going to use it for yet, but it’s good to have!

The L’oreal sample came from the May issue of Vogue magazine.

And finally – free coffee in my reusable RBC mug from Caribou :)

I had to work today, which meant wearing black for the 4 hours that I spent at Macy’s, but then Sam and I went to a concert, and I went all out for that:

Shoes: Nine West Vintage America

Jeans: Ragstock

Shirt: Old Navy

Sheer Blouse: Ragstock

Jacket: BCBG Max Azria

Bag: Coach

Watch: Marc by Marc Jacobs

The show we saw was pretty good, we only stayed for one band (Step in Clouds), but they were giving away free CDs. I personally thought they sounded something like Augustana.

Earth Day is now one of my favorite holidays ;) What did you do today?

XO,

Z

Поздравляю всех с Днем Земли, я надеюсь что у вас был отличный день и вы каким-то образом помогли нашей чудесной планете! Вот что я вынесла для себя из этого дня:

Увлажняющий крем от Origins с SPF 25 – я сдала почти пустую бакну от tinted moisturizer фирмы Physicians Formula и получила полноразмерный крем бесплатно! Обычно он выпускается в банке, а не тубе, так что если вы пользуетесь фирмой Origins, не думайте, что я вас путаю!

В магазине Target мне дали сумку для продуктов многоразового использования, такие очень популярны в Америке! Я еще не знаю как буду ее использовать, потому что она небольшая по размеру, но в хозяйстве пригодиться!

Пробники от Л’Ореаль были в Майском номере журнала Vogue.

И наконец – бесплатный кофе из кофейни Caribou – я просто принесла термо кружку и все!

Я работала сегодня, так что в течение 4х часов я была одета во все черное, но вечером мы с Сэмом пошли на концерт, и я разрядилась на славу ;)

Ботильоны на танкетке: Nine West Vintage America

Джинсы: Ragstock

Розовая футболка: Old Navy

Прозрачная белая блузка: Ragstock

Пиджак: BCBG Max Azria

Сумка: Coach

Часы: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Концерт был неплохой, мы послушали только одну группу (Step in Clouds), они также раздавали бесплатные диски! Они чем-то напомнили мне группу Augustana.

С сегодняшнего дня – День Земли – мой любимый праздник! А чем вы занимались сегодня?

XO,

Z

Blogger Reality Check

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When your every morning begins with checking all the social networks you are on, and morning coffee goes hand in hand with reading what your blogger-friends from across the world have mentioned, and when you are asked – How many social networks you are on? – and it takes you more than 10 minutes to remember and list them all – then you are like me and probably many other bloggers around the world and you need a reality check!

Remember this?

Yeah, let’s not become completely and fully dependent on our Macs, Dells, Sonys, etc… And go have fun outside – like I did today! One of my best friends  - Kara – helped me with that!

It was a GORGEOUS day in Minneapolis:

 

 

We had fun playing with the leaves:

 

 

And checking out the local squirrels ;)

- the grey

- the black

- and the ALBINO!

So don’t sit at home all the time, go outside every once in a while!

It’s always good to fall back into the childhood!

Xo,

ZhenyAH!

PS. I really appreciate Kara taking a lot of these pictures, she is just great like that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feeling Fat

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This is one of the reasons why I don’t like Saturdays, there is nothing to do. I have ESL lessons even on Sundays, and it kinda brightens up my day, and creates a bit more of a schedule.

This morning Sam and I watched Pirates of Silicone Valley:

and I was pleasantly surprised by that movie. I was also pleasantly surprised with myself with not falling asleep on it. Maybe it was the early morning, or the fact that I woke up at 6.20 am telling Sam that we forgot to set the alarm and that I don’t want him to be late for work. That’s when he told me: It’s Saturday, babe…

 

 

 

At around 11am we went for a walk around      the North Loop Neighborhood (aka Warehouse District) of Minneapolis. I promised to show Sam all the fun looking lofts.

 

On the way back I was starving, literally starving. And when I am starving, I get super cranky and start complaining. I think I am worse than a hungry man! I eventually made it home, and this is where hell broke loose.

I ate a chicken sandwich, 2 tomatoes, a granola bar and some trail mix. Not counting the multiple glasses of lemonade.

Later I decided to make a cake, Sam’s been asking me for one, and I was dying to try some of the new pans we’ve got as wedding gifts.

After a long consideration we decided to make carrot cake.

I made too much batter, and it all started overflowing in the oven, then the frosting wouldn’t turn out, and finally, the smell of butter made me so sick, I couldn’t stay in the apartment any longer. So I went outside for a walk, and someone was having their wedding reception in Loring Park, and it looked like so much fun…

I know today is just not my day, and most of you will probably tell me to go and shut my 117 lb mouth up, but I am feeling extremely fat and ugly today. So I am gonna go work out, and then finish my book. Thank God there is still some motivation left around!

 

Thrifting for Treasure: Vintage Coach Bag

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Ever since I moved to Minneapolis, I’ve been dying to check out the local thrift stores! Of course I googled the nearest ones to Loring Park. And ended up with quiet a few results. The first store I decided to check out is called Steeple People Surplus Store, which is located on the corner of W Franklin and S Lyndale Ave. Turns out it is an outreach project of Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church (HAUMC). The store opened its doors in 1979. Which makes the store vintage on it’s own :)

The store immediately reminded me of Housing Works in NYC. The atmosphere, the items for sale, it’s all so warm and welcoming. I was going to the thrift store because I needed a new cross body bag. Marshalls didn’t have anything that I liked, and Macy’s was too expensive. I was 100% confident I would find something at SPSS. And I did! A vintage COACH bag, for $10! How cool is that? I didn’t even know it was coach, until I looked inside. The outside of the bag is pretty worn off, but that adds to the vintage feel. And it matched my Urban Outfitters Dress perfectly, so I had to have it.

Please don’t mind my facial expressions or my McDonald’s T-shirt :)

I also got this cool macrame hand-made clutch. I showed it to my mom on Skype today, and she knew it was macrame right away! She’s got the eye of the professional indeed!

What thrifted treasures did you find this week?

Have a great weekend and Happy Thrifting :)

 

Carrie Bradshaw Habits Die Hard

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Having lived in NYC I often find myself contemplating over what it’s like to be Carrie Bradshaw. Before I moved to the Upper West Side she seemed to be quiet a realistic character, after having lived there, she became the complete opposite. Why? Well maybe in the end of the 90′s you could make a living writing a weekly column for a local newspaper, but definitely not nowadays. The writers definitely fix this dilemma and take care of my confusion as the show moves from season to season, and she starts getting more jobs, like writing for Vogue, and turning her columns into a book, which is pretty neat, and I wish Candace Bushnell would write a book like that! I think it would be fab. Anyways back in Season 2 episode 14 Carrie talks about her pattern. I know that not because I am a freak and have memorized all scripts from all episodes, but because there is such an amazing thing as Google.com, where by simply typing in – sleeping till noon – Sex and the City, I found what I was looking for. So here is what she says: “I was thrown right back into my old pattern: Greasy Chinese, sleeping till noon…and feeling restless”.

Somehow I can really relate to this, this past week has been really strange, I have been sleeping till noon continuously, eating some crap food, and the restless feeling often came in the middle of the night preventing me from going to sleep. The only other time I remember myself sleeping till noon was the year I met my best friend Kat, 2000. She would call me on the phone, waking me up, and we would talk for hours. Well what else was there to do? We were teenagers. I honestly think my body is getting ready, it’s preparation time. What am I preparing for? The wedding! Marriage! Married life. Waking up early to make breakfast, pack lunch and see my husband off to work. Over the past few days I started cooking again. I am still amazed at how easy it comes to me. Surprisingly easy. So I am trying to plan ahead of time, and try to predict my future pattern.

I think it’s going to look something like this

But in all seriousness, I think I am going to become an early riser and a napper. The opposite of me being a late riser and a napper right now. I will also be a lot more selfless, since I will have another person to care for (my husband). I will definitely need one of those thingys

Or a cheaper printable version that you can get on a variety of different websites. I will definitely show you what I am going to go with when I actually come around to it.

And of course I will go back to my pattern of making comfort food, and that means BAKING. So dear future neighbors in Downtown Minneapolis, you are in luck! Just don’t piss me off, or I will put laxatives in your zucchini bread!

Have a happy 4th of July weekend!