Here's the shirt I mentioned, it really is gorgeous, a little short, but no matter. I like how the lack of collar and the fact that the buttons don't continue to the hem keep this shirt from looking like a "work shirt." The skirt is from H&M, probably my favorite purchase of last winter.
Well, here we are on the other side of the autumn equinox, and the weather has suddenly shifted from super hot and humid (just a handful of days ago) to dry and cool, even when it's clear and sunny outside. So long Tokyo summer! Nobody's going to miss you!
And it's supposed to go down to 20 degrees during the day next weekend! AMAZING.
This midweek Tokyo was blasted by a rather strong typhoon, not the stuff of disaster movies but crazy enough to make walking outside an unwise move and downing nearly every train line in Tokyo. Overland trains were stopped for obvious reasons, and subways were flooded (I think, I really have no idea why the subway wouldn't be somewhat protected against such a thing). Work was cancelled that night, but fortunately/unfortunately it was our day off, so we couldn't cash in on the cancelled work-but full pay trophy. But I guess it was fortunate, since our slow to decide company only officially cancelled rather late in the afternoon, so I would've been made up and dressed or even at the office already, and I would have been PISSED if I had to turn around and figure out how to get home from freakin Shinjuku. As it was, we were only about 20 minutes from our place, so we squeezed onto a packed bus (the driver let us on without paying, given the emergency situation, and that there was no way we could squeeze through other passengers to get to the pay spot) then had to walk/run five minutes in heavy rain/wind to our place. So we got soaked, but we were happy to be home. Right after we got in, the typhoon really went nuts. We dried off, then spent the rest of the evening killing zombies on the PS3. Not a bad evening, actually.
Recently I wore my new H&M skirt, which I LOVE. I will love it even more in the next few weeks once it gets cool enough to wear with a form-fitting black turtleneck and black tights. Can't wait! Also, I am alone in thinking that the black/green combo will forever remind me of Slytherin House out of Harry Potter? Probably not.
Ugh, need to get a haircut soon. I don't know about you, but I hate going to the hair salon. At least they have plenty of US/UK fashion mags to read, since I could never afford to buy one myself (they cost almost $20 here!)
Wow, hair actually looks good in this one.
Skirt (H&M F/W 2011), black tie-neck blouse by some random Japanese label, pearl bracelet (anemone Japan)
Just realized that all the shows are starting their fall seasons now. It's weird to go from having next to no TV to download/watch to having almost too many shows to keep track off!
Nothing new to report, no new clothes to share. Like the rest of Tokyo, we're just struggling to remain upbeat through the final weeks of the horrible, humid, and annoying summer. Even all those people who profess to love this wretched season because they like the increase of beach visits, barer limb sightings, beer guzzling, or whatever seem to have had enough.
As for me, I'm just counting down the day until I don't have to shave my legs everyday or make my way to the office only half-dressed. Until then, I'm focusing on the little pleasures to get me into October (my favorite month!).
1. New books!
My usual distraction of choice at home (besides the internet, obvs) is usually of the video game variety, but I regularly check the Amazon fiction and bestseller lists to see if anything catches my eye. Recently, there have been a fair amount of interesting debut novels so I'm happy to say I'm reading more than usual (though nothing will ever top the amount I read when I was a child, to be honest I think I burned out reading-wise in high school haha). And of course, I was bitten by the Game of Thrones/Song of Fire and Ice bug like everyone else in the English-speaking world, so I'm rapidly making my way through the five books.
2. Something Sparkly!
Speaking of ice, gotta love how a cheap sparkler from Forever 21 can instantly lift one's spirits. Granted, it's going to rust like mad and fall apart any day now, but it was like $8, so whatever.
3. Banana juice!
This may be just a German/Euro thing (courtesy of Dad), but damn, I love banana juice. Most people I know wrinkle their nose at the idea, though it's very similar in texture to mango juice. I never expected to find it anywhere in Asia, but recently I stumbled upon this banana/mango blend in a nearby convenience store, of all places. And it's surprisingly good, not too sweet and thankfully lacking a chemical aftertaste. This is Tokyo, so I imagine it will be discontinued come October, but I intend to enjoy it as long as I can.
4. Tuesday Treats!
On our Saturday, we had a nice dinner at at amazing pizzeria near our place, and picked up some desert at the Payard counter. I had the amazing cassis (blackcurrant) mousse (just wish it came with more raspberries... my favorite berry every but they cost like $1 each over here) and the fiancee had a pumpkin/chestnut tart that tasted exactly like pumpkin pie. And I mean real American-style pumpkin pie, not the Japanese squash version (delicious as a veg, but as a dessert? Uh, no). Needless to say, he was in heaven.
5. YouTube favs!
Love the funk song he makes up on the fly towards the end of the video, had me in tears.
Watching my fav Youtuber DarkSydePhil (DSP) play his way through the new gaming releases (September is that start of the hard-core 2011/2012 gaming season, so my wallet will soon be suffering). What I love about him is that he just enjoys the hell out of playing and can just happily amuse himself and his fans without taking it too seriously. Rock on, Phil.
And, unfortunately, one thing that was definitely not appreciated this week. Our "weekend" kicked off with us finding out via Facebook that one of our favorite TV stars lost his battle with cancer. Spartacus is one of our favorite shows, and we loved Andy Whitfield as the titular character. He was a beautiful man and an incredibly talented up-and-coming actor, and he seemed like such an awesome guy in real life, too. So the next day, we made sure to make a toast to Andy when we had our Tuesday date night.
For most Japanese, the start of September equals the advent of fall, no question about it. Despite the fact that most days are still hovering around the 90F mark, stores are filled with fall motifs, seasonal fall goods (Autumn everything, from bakery pastries to coffee concoctions to beer), people once again don wool suits, and on any cloudy or not so super humid day, some people even sport jackets and scarves. When it's like over 70F. Crazy.
But there are some truth to these delusions, I suppose. At night, the breeze has a slightly cool hint to it, unlike in the summer months, when there was no breeze at all. The days are already getting shorter, the sunlight weakening well before 5pm, and, mercifully, the sun no longer rises at the unholy time of 4:30am. The office is not so crazed anymore, as clients enter the busy year-end season at their own companies and their freer summer days seem like a distant memory (haha, good for me, sucks for them).
So I may be a bit deluded as well, which is probably why I decided to wear a long-sleeved outfit on a still relatively hot and sunny day. Granted, I only started work at 6pm and therefore didn't even get dressed until 4. And until I reached the office I was wearing just a t-shirt and my new favorite tan Zara jeans (that are just non-denim enough that I can get away with wearing them at work), but once I had arrived and cooled down enough, on went this awesome F21 lace top:
Zoolander?
Scalloped hems and cuffs? I'm sold.
Pretty please, can we just skip this tropical typhoon season nonsense and have a real autumn now?
Wow, just realized that this outfit is 100% Zara. Poet-sleeved blouse, orange and white undershirts (yup I was wearing three layers that day), tan jeans (new, love them), even the unseen belt are all from said store.
Wax-seal medallion necklace by anemone Japan
You know when you find a piece of clothing that you love so much you wish you could buy it in every available color? That feeling doesn't steal over me too often, but recently I came across this blouse at Zara, and I'd be lying to if I said that I didn't run back to the shop the next day to see if they had any other color options. They did, but only black (I like black, but not in loose-cut clothes), a horrible neon yellow and an intriguing deep bright blue. I considered the blue for a few moments, but realized I wasn't loving it 100%, so back on the rack it went. If only it came in green!
I actually forgot to take a photo of the long back zipper (which is awesome, since it allows you to simply step in and out the blouse), which is gold-tone and framed by tracts of magenta grosgrain ribbon. The only complaint I have is that I wish the wrist cuffs were elasticized; I'm too lazy to deal with the fussy buttons so instead I gingerly work my hand through the pre-fastened cuff. Probably not the smartest idea, I know, but I'm not going to spend five minutes in frustration cussing out the buttons as I'm racing to get dressed in the mornings.
This weekend we have the first of the official autumn typhoons descending on Tokyo, though luckily it seems that we'll just be getting some slightly heavy rain and wind instead of an all-out tropical cyclone. But September is a super-rainy season, so I'm looking forward to wearing my Hunter wellies more often!
