Online "Window" Shopping

I just want to share some fun items I've been looking at happily online.

I've always wanted a pair of Cynthia Vincent wedges and I totally missed out on the whole Target collabo a few season back. Anyhow, Target has been carrying some amazing affordable wedges.
I just picked up the following two pairs "Tawny Wedge Sandals"
The photo really does not do them justice, they're way cute in person on the feet and also incredibly light and comfortable!

I bought them last week online for $22 / pair, and I also shopped at Target through Ebates so I got 3.0% cashback on my order : ) I cannot believe how much these cashback purchases ADD UP! Sephora through Ebates offers 8.0% cashback..spend $100 at Sephora get $8 back (that's a pretty darn good deal!)

I like em! They're pretty high but there's something about them that make them feel effortless to walk in. I would recommend these to everyone if you're into this kind of style. I know not everyone is, but I love em!
Wally's like WTF Mom? lol What the Tawny wedges look like from the top. The fit is really nice, I would say I have wider than normal feet and I had no problem with the fit.

If you don't use Ebates, you should. I didn't "get with the program" until years later. I remember my cousin telling me about it 2 years ago lol. It went over my head. It wasn't until I kept seeing all blogger after blogger talk about how awesome Ebates were lol.
I guess now it's my turn to freak out and express my love for Ebates!

I love the black pair best, I don't know why but the stock photo makes them look so not classsy lol. But hey in person, they look good :D Marisa and I were at Target earlier today as well checking out & trying on the new shoes :D

I feel like I want to wear more white..or at least lighter shoes and bags for Spring this year. I dunno! I just feel like lightening up ;D

My friend Marisa came over yesterday night at 11pm to help me with DSK stuff (she's only 21 but I swear she takes care of me like a TIGER MOM sometimes) lol. I love having her as a friend because I love her innate Chinese-American characteristics lol. I just see them shining through as she gets older. I met her when she was under 21. lol She has typical motherly caring instinct. Back when she worked for me she noticed I didn't eat much rice..so one day she brought over plain steamed rice for me. LOL. It's just the little things that make her so damn caring lol. I see her as a little sister now-a-days. I have to understand that she's newly 21 and loves to go out. While I'm more excited about catching Oprah and Dr. Oz on TV at 23 (turning 24 in 2 months).

She's very responsible when it comes to maintaining a clean home. She will be over here hanging out (not on work time but friend time) and would just randomly start cleaning my dishes (she handwashes them b/c she says NO to dishwasher b/c they waste water LOL that's how my Mom thinks!!). I was the same way until Minh introduced me to the wonders of a dish washer. She would start cleaning and scrubbing the sink, oven, and microwave while yelling/lecturing at me like a TIGER MOM would lol. She's like YOU NEED TO BUY THOSE SCRUBBER THINGS. STEPH, YOU SHOULD CLEAN YOUR STOVE AFTER YOU COOK EACH TIME OKAY?

Anyhow, if she gives me too much ishh, I TIGER MOM her back and get on her case about school lolllll. If she even dares talk about slacking at school or wanting to skip class I verbally smack her lol. She's in her third year of college and I just try to encourage her to make a stronger effort. I think she knows better than to even mention wanting to skip class in front of me anymore. :D

The whole popularity of the WSJ article and book Tiger Mom has become such an inside joke between Marisa and me. She even went out and bought the damn book. haha marketing works on her!

Anyhow..I get my act together and tidy the apartment a bit before she comes over or else I won't hear the end of it. haha : ) Except..she didn't approve of my microwave today. : ( *sad/SCARED face*) lol

Marisa used to help me often back in the day until I moved into the city. She was pretty much my right hand assistant for the longest time (I prob drove her to madness lol). I'm very disorganized, while she is super organized!

Anyhow, she spent the night and we spent over 24 hours together! It's always nice to reconnect with someone after not seeing them for months at time. :D It was nice to have her company. Timmy and Wally get WAY too excited when Marisa is over. She was actually with me and Minh the day we picked out the puppies! : ) So I guess she's their Auntie lol. Inside joke..AUNTIE.
AUNTIE... reverseeeeeee reverseee reverse, reverse, reverse! lol

You need to watch this Youtube video. This Youtube video really brought Marisa and me close together when we first start working with each other.

"Auntie Reverse Parking Fail"
If this isn't one of the best "Asian" videos on Youtube, my name is not Stephanie. :P

I also picked up Rooney's first album haha b/c I needed to qualify for free shipping over $50!! The two pair of wedges came out to be around $44 or $45 lol.
I have the Ronney album back home in Michigan..but I've been falling back in love with Rooney's music so I just had to get it : ) I forced Marisa to listen to the album on repeat in the car while we went out and about today. She thinks I'm so "white" because I grew up in the Midwest. It's true..but I can teach her what it's like to have friends who don't know what the hell sushi is..and she can tell me about her experience growing up with mostly all Asian friends (oh the drama). It's so so rare to have ALL Asian friends in the rural suburb parts of America. You'd be lucky to know of a few Asians at your high school.

More things I look at almost everyday, sighhh

I just read Elle's comment and I'm on it girl! :D
I've already contacted my sales associate at Nordstrom Flagship here in Seattle to see what bags they will be getting this Spring. Here's the list :) Remember Nordstrom can ship mostly anything to your local Nordstrom store or directly to you aka you can buy over the phone.

Hi Stephanie!

Thanks for thinking of me. I’m your girl for Balenciaga.

Here is what I have for both Resort and Spring.

Resort 2011
Giant City (choice of Black, Praline, or Militaire) with Rose Gold hardware
Giant Town (choice of Black, Militaire, or Grenadine) with Rose Gold hardware
Giant Hip (choice of Black, Militaire, or Grenadine) with Rose Gold hardware
Giant Day (choice of Praline or Militaire) with Rose Gold hardware

The other styles for Resort are from the Milky Way Collection. If that is of interest to you, please let me know and I will provide the information necessary.

Spring 2011
Giant City (choice of Dark Night or Bianco Light) with Rose Gold hardware
Giant Velo (choice of Black, Bianco Light, Grenadine, or Praline) with Rose Gold hardware
Giant Day (Grenadine) with Rose Gold hardware
Giant Town (Bianco Light) with Rose Gold hardware
Giant Hip (choice of Dark Night or Bianco Light) with Rose Gold hardware
Classic Town (Ardoise) with the Classic hardware
Giant City (Anthracite) with the Giant Nickel hardware
Giant Velo (Anthracite) with the Giant Nickel hardware

I am here tomorrow till 5pm if you want to chat over the phone and discuss your likes/dislikes. I can put you down for one of these bags, since many are not yet released.

Thanks in advance.

That's how amazing Nordstrom's customer service is right there! :D
I have two bags on reserve so she'll let me know when they arrive so I can be one of the first to run on over and check them out in person. Ahh, I'm so excited for Spring!

As of a few days ago..LV had a price increase. LOL
So funny I took a screen shot the other night for my blog..and then I check it today.
ROFLLLLLLLLLL
Online browsing is really amazing, except it's depressing when you just cannot own it all.
I have a semi-shopping problem, but I'm trying to grow out of it. I want to save more than I do now..but it's so hard! My tips for saving? Send the money home to your parents to hold onto (that is if you trust your rents!) lol. Usually they'll hold it hostage for your own good.

My homegirl Jennifer and I spent a good hour talking about budgeting lol.
It's all so foreign and new to us. I was just happy to relate to her : )

I made my first Gilt.com order today! : ) <-- lol so against my imaginary budget. Special thanks to my friend Jean for the tweet this morning. You rock @PetiteAsianGirl
I would have not known about the sale since I delete all my Gilt.com, Hautelook e-mails before I get tempted to looking at them lol.

They had Deborah Lippmann (not the glitter) nail polishes on sale starting this morning at 9AM!
I've been interested in trying more of her polishes as I already own most of her famous glitter nail polishes. It was nice to see the prices at buy 1, get 1 free - ish deal at Gilt.

For those of you who don't know of Gilt, it's very similar to Hautelook, ideeli, etc.
Gilt.com is known more for carrying the higher end brands. I honestly have tried to steer clear from Hautelook & Gilt just because I know I do get sucked in because of the "exclusivity" of the sales. Competition in shopping helps Hautelook & Gilt customers make quicker shopping decisions. They think, "If I don't check out now, someone else is going to buy it!" Hautelook has done an amazing job at making their shoppers become "faster" shoppers. The pressure really is on because you can't help but feel overjoyed when you have secured a purchase and to know that the item(s) you have bought will be sold out soon.

The following is Boring Business / Retail Talk from Steph's Paradigm

If you ever are bored, you should definitely look into learning about Hautelook's business model and company history. The creator is quite fabulous and not that old of a guy. You'd be very surprised how these types of "exclusive" sale websites have become so successful in such a short period of time. I'm somewhat proud to say I'm a very casual "business nerd." My hobbies have always included listening to lectures by CEO's of company x, y, and z (I went to a ton of 6-8pm lectures at MSU..some famous CEO that graduated from my degree program include the Former DOC / Lens Crafter, Bath & Body Works).

I love to learn and understand successful business models to the best of my ability. I was proud that I was ballsy enough to raise my hand and take advantage of the Q&A after their presentation. I look back and I'm so proud of myself for applying my knowledge of their company and asking them interesting questions. They usually are excited to answer questions since that's why they came back to their Alma Mater to "give back" and pay it forward to the future. It never hurts to shake someones hand and maybe get a business card and contact of out it : )

I also really enjoy reading success stories as well! I really admire and respect those who can build a business from ground up on their own using the proper resources. I really admire the husband and wife team that created Modcloth.com. They built a 50 million dollar company in a matter of 8 years. Did I mention they're both still in their 20's? Their business started out of a college dorm. :D


But back to online retailers such as Hautelook. This is how I see it (well how I have read and interpreted this business practice), designer merchandise found at Hautelook is really just designer finds at a discount retailer such as TJ Maxx, and Marshalls (except it appears much more fancy but at the end of the day same concept..designer goods at a discount). The reason Hautelook has gain such popularity is because they make the sale items look more "not so last season." They just market it well (exclusive daily e-mails, only available online, sale start/end dates, etc). But also now-a-days, since the popularity of e-retailers, designers have come to make amazing business deals with vendors such as Gilt and Hautelook. I haven't kept up on my interest in their business models, but as you can see..there's still so many new ideas out there to capitalize on.

Minh's family once owned a discount retail store in Washington State (they sold it because they were already running multiple successful businesses) so it's always fun for him and I to discuss the flaws & achievements of his family's business as well as my family's businesses. Anyhow, at Minh's parents "surplus discount store" it was all about buying overstocked items for cheap (sometimes buying palettes of mystery stock at $5,000/palette -- you never know what you're going to get sometimes, and then you re-marketing them to resell items individually for a profit. That's what retail is all about : )

If you ever wondered why TJ Maxx always has such random stuff it's because of this reason, they have buyers who make these decisions to buy these palettes of overstocked goods. Of course the items from those palettes would be distributed (most likely through their distribution centers) among all the TJ Maxx stores in the US for example. Quite fascinating to you?, it is to me!? I'm such a weirdo I know. I just really miss having business educated friends to talk to ... As much as I felt like everyone was a prick in my business classes it was still fun to being around others who got super excited to talk about the ins and outs of retailers for example.

I'm going to just write it all down here on my personal blog (for later reflection lol).

Anyhoo, Minh's parents have an amazing business sense, as well as my Mother (and pretty much all 4 of her sisters lol They all own successful businesses). Minh and I both learning from their examples (whether it was the good or the bad. I myself try my best to understand it all so I can apply the good to my own business or suggest the advice to someone else if it ever came up. All in all, I've learned that most businesses are all about high risk taking. If you're ballsy, strong willed, and are willing to lose it all over night .. you are business owner material lol.

But always have a back up plan! I think that's why many Asian families own successful small businesses (liquor stores, hair salons, nail salons, beauty supply, dry cleaners, restaurants). Usually it's one spouse who holds "real" career (for health care, 401k, etc etc), while the other spouse runs a business. Small businesses are amazing, but I feel like many who do own small businesses (especially the older immigrant generation ex. my parents). It's fair to say most immigrants have a strong work ethic. However, many small business owners just limit themselves from expanding because they're in such a comfort zone.

My Mom's hope for me is that I am able to apply my "American" education with my "Asian hard work ethic" mentality and use that to my advantage to grow a successful business.
I am still exploring and finding my own business model and mentally noting the next few steps I take for both DSK Jewelry and helping Arrow Law Group along the way. ^_^
It is really hard at time to balance a life and business. My life get consumed by my work very often and I have mental breakdowns lol. But hey don't we all?! Haha I had a mental breakdown over high school, but I got through it. I had a mental breakdown in college.. I constantly have breakdowns over Seattle weather.. but hey look at me now, look at me today I'm writing this blog post for you to read about my experience. I don't see anything wrong in freaking out and stressing out as long as you can find the power and will in yourself to pick yourself back up. (Having a support system is also vital to life in general). lol I love my family, my boyfriend, and I love all of you. You all give me the energy to snap out of being overly depressed or dramatic and better the situation.

Minh studied political science in his undergrads years so I love that he praises me for my business mindset : ) He tells me all the time how much he appreciates me. I miss my partner in crime. I never realized how long 2 weeks really is!

But back to small business owners!

I can see why many small business owners fall into their own traps of settling. "I live comfortable, life is good, lets just play this on repeat." What drove me nuts about many of my friends and families' small businesses is the fact that they don't make it more presentable! For example, think Chinatown grocery store...why do they need to take a million fliers to a bulletin board? Sometimes I look and things have been on there since year 2001! What the heck..as the owner don't you think throwing those out would make your business look more "clean." lol
It's my pet peeve. I cannot stand it when a window with finger prints on it goes uncleaned for weeks, months, years!?! Foggy glass is SO not attractive lol.

I don't want to be like that, I want to take the opportunities I have to expand and grow, grow, grow. I don't fully believe in a career where your potential earning is capped. Minh feels the same way. Money should always grow more money. (That's why investments are so so good. Minh and I have been talking more each day about our future. We've come to the shared goal of investing in property (one day).

So here's our game plan,

Work on our businesses > Save profit > Invest in properties. We want our money to work for us.
We know so many amazing people who own a home where they pay $800/month mortgage and rent out their home for double that! You can hire a property management company to manage everything for you for roughly 10% monthly fee. (Completely worth it if you're going to be pulling in a large profit off your rental property regardless.)
I understand that I have readers from all different stages of life, but if anyone can relate to what I'm talking about please feel free to share your thoughts on this topic of investment properties.

Thanks for stopping by and if anyone reads all of this, eprops lol. Apologize for any spelling, grammatical mistakes always. I'm not the best writer, but I just like to keep it real ;D
It's just my 4am ramble. Time for sleep! My laptop battery is almost out!

Steph : )