Clearbright's blog

huggable hangers

do any of you have huggable hangers? i ordered two sets from HSN the other day because i have really limited closet space and i'm tired of fighting to hang up/remove clothes from my packed closet. not only does the slim profile of huggable hangers free up tons of closet space, they're covered with velvet flocking that prevents clothes from falling off and puddling into a messy heap on the floor (a common problem for me).

i got silver/grey and hot pink with chrome hardware (brass pictured here):

they were having a special that included various clips and storage boxes:

breaking dawn

i went to target at 10 am yesterday and picked up a copy of breaking dawn - no preordering, no lines, easy peasy (but no swag or cavorting with crying teens, boo. hehe). i didn't have time to start reading until this afternoon. as of a few minutes ago, i just finished book 2 (about halfway through the book) -- and all i have to say is OMG. lol. it'd been a while since i'd read the other books, so it took me a while to get back into twilight mode, but i am definitely sucked in now.

wow.

autumn is here!

it's been feeling a lot like autumn around here, and i'm glad because it's one of my favorite seasons! i love the brisk sweater weather, the changing colors of the trees, the occasional rain, and let's not forget the pumpkin desserts. ;)

a couple of days ago, i drove into the city to run some errands. when i got into my car outside of my office, i found a perfectly red leaf on my windshield and had to capture the moment on my camera.

closer view of leaf

if that's not a harbinger of the changing seasons, i don't know what is.

oh and i will be baking the aforementioned pumpkin dessert this weekend for a friend's bday. will post pix and results (and recipe) after the fact!

pretty kitty

i adopted a kitty! her name's chloe and even though she's no longer a kitten (she's 1 year old), she's the cutest thing. :) pictorial evidence is below.

hehe!

update on vacation and maui help!

things are coming together for my hawaii vacation next month. we're going the last week of september, staying in oahu for most of the trip and then flying to maui for 2 days at the end. i'm soooooo excited! i already booked the hotel in maui -- i couldn't believe the sky high prices for hotels! the decent ones were at least $400+ per night. then i found out about priceline deals at the westin in ka'anapali (usually $500/night), so i put in a bid for $125/night and it was accepted! yay! can't wait to sleep on their trademark heavenly bed. :) now we have to decide on a condo for waikiki that we're sharing with a friend (who wants the cheapest deal possible... whereas i don't want to stay in a ghetto place, so it's kind of hard finding a place that meets both our criteria). :P

Westin Maui Resort and Spa

does anyone have suggestions for maui? i've been to oahu before, but it'll be my first time on maui and we only have 2 days! we're planning to do the road to hana but would love to hear input on places to stop along the drive, along with suggestions on where to eat in maui. and is seeing haleakala worth it?

thanks! :)

getting organized

Elfa door rack

like any other girl (or should i say many other girls), i have a large and unruly collection of toiletries, including makeup, skincare, hair products, styling appliances, lotions, shower gels, etc. etc. i finally decided to get organized and buy this elfa door rack from the container store to hold all of my various products. you can customize the configuration -- the baskets come in several different sizes and they hook easily onto the support frame. i'm proud to say i installed this myself (okay, it was easy.. but still). and now, my sink counter is nice and bare! i think i'm going to put a plant (maybe the faux lotus below) and some candles or something in the corner to spruce it up, now that i have the space. :) yay!

Lotus

latest obsessions

food:
cereal (quaker oatmeal squares, barbara's puffins, multigrain cheerios) with rice dream instead of milk
haagen dazs ice cream (creme brulee, cinnamon dulce de leche)
morning rolls/buns (whole foods has really good ones)
guacamole (again, whole foods makes their own and it's usually good, or i get the "avocado's number" one from trader joe's)

material goods:
marc jacobs bags (again)
makeup (again)

speaking of material goods, here's a pic of the target bag that i've been getting tons of compliments on -- even from guys! i got it target, but it's designed by rafe, a high end handbag designer that did a special collection at a lower pricepoint for target.

Target rafe floral satchel

activities:
various online forums (makeupalley, the purse forum, yelp, etc.)
shopping/browsing online
grocery shopping (i go to trader joe's and whole foods at least once a week, with safeway to supplement)
tv (lost, grey's anatomy, heroes, various food network & hgtv shows)
sleeping

QotD: Not Allowed In The Cart

What item(s) do you have to prevent yourself from buying at the grocery store? 
Submitted by Places Unknown.

ice cream and chips. *sigh* oh and if i'm at whole foods, pastries such as morning buns and chocolate croissants. YUM! at TJ's, frozen chocolate chip cookie dough (so good!), guac, and the assorted cookies/sweets that they display above the frozen food cases (i'm pretty good about not buying those though).

cold stuff for hot days

it's sooooo hot! and it's windy too, which means lots of pollen is flying around, and is probably the cause of the headache i've had since early this morning. :/ my office doesn't have a/c (and it usually doesn't need it, seeing how we're practically on the bay and the weather is usually temperate), but today is unusually hot, and my office feels like an oven, even with the windows open and a couple of fans going.

hot weather makes me think of cold foods, and today the cold food i'm obsessing about is ice cream! i just bought the most awesome ice cream scoop from crate and barrel, with "non-toxic, self-defrosting fluid sealed in the handle" (aka antifreeze) to make scooping a breeze:

Ice cream scoop

now i'm trying to decide which dessert bowls to buy:

Lotus bowls

Footed bowl

Petal bowl

i'm leaning toward one of the first two. as for ice cream, my faves are either haagen-daz or ben & jerry's. mmm!

capiz

i want this lamp! it's made of capiz shells, and it's from west elm. i just love capiz and mop (mother of pearl), it's so elegant yet with a beachy/casual sensibility.

Capiz lamp

does anyone else watch color splash on hgtv? i loved david's latest look with the capiz chandelier and floor lamp! i don't have use for a chandelier but i really want the floor lamp... i wish i could just have david come and re-do my apt; i love his work!