Hello from Seattle! I'm home!

Hello from Seattle! I'm home!

My very first FOTD on Instagram! My screen name is DSKJewelry, surprise surprise. Find me if I haven't found you yet! :)

I love Instagram so far! It's effortless to add a film to any photo you take with your phone! It makes your photos look so cool. I also think it makes everyone 2x more attractive than they could get away with in raw photos lol just like the Japanese photobooth photos! #justsayin'!

Oh! My lashes are growing super long! I am so in love with my natural lashes these days thanks to Maximum Lash, and L'Oreal Lash Serum. : ) The L'Oreal Faux Cil Fiber Mascara is still my current favorite too. :)

Minh and I switched over to the iPhone 4S from Blackberry Bold while we were in Michigan. :) I can't believe how much we've been missing out! The iPhone is amazing! Blackberry were great for e-mail, but that's as good it gets for the Blackberry data plan. We both couldn't be more happy with our iPhones on the Verizon network. : ) It's SO much easier to share photos and communicate with everyone with an iPhone! You definitely will be seeing me more active on FB, Twitter/Instagram and Blogger! ^_^

View from my parent's house in Michigan. Now this is what snow looks like!
You can't even see the road. lol

Minh and I bought my parents a surprise gift while in Michigan. : )
We have this same TV, but last year's model and we absolutely love it! It's a Samsung 55" LED 8000 series. It's the best SmartTV ever! It's so cool because the 2011/2012 model fixed all the "flaws" consumers complained about! The remote is also a keyboard on the flip side. The TV comes with 2 pairs of 3D glasses. The bundle deal at Best Buy got us a Samsung 3D Blu Ray player, and an extra two pairs of 3D glasses! You can't beat that!
My dad is so happy! lol My dad really loves Minh because he teaches him how to use the TV, computer, etc. Minh's a great teacher. :D We also switched my parent's Direct TV plan to HD. They didn't know they weren't getting the best quality! I don't like it when sales people "trick" my parents. I always call and correct their error. Minh's parents got "tricked" also into signing up for the non HD Direct TV box. There's NO extra charge for HD. It upsets us so bad when things like this happen to our parents. Good thing they have American born children who can speak to any customer rep supervisor and explain the situation! : )

My Dad, Minh and I went to test drive the new Acura RDX. My Dad wanted to surprise my Mom with one when she got back from her trip. : ) She currently has a Honda CRV so the RDX is a great size car for her. My Dad is getting her a silver or graphite grey color after she test drives it. :D We love Mom!

I took Minh to meet my favorite cat cousin Nunu for the first time! :) He also met my Dad's older brother and his wife. It was his first time meeting them too. Nunu is even more of a cat-dog than our family's Tobey! Nunu will force you to play with him. :D I probably have over 50 pictures of Nunu on my phone! (My aunt says Nunu is a French name so it's okay that he's a boy named Nunu). lol His sister is Nana, but she's super shy, we just left her alone.

Minh and I went to get our annual teeth cleaning with my cousin Dr. T.
Someone had two cavities! It's great that Dr. T gives us a generous family discount. :) He rocks!
We're trying to get him out to Seattle to meet one of Minh's single cousin. ;) Minh knows my cousin is a great guy from a great family. And I know his cousin is a great girl from an amazing family as well. It will be perfect! I trying to get him to visit us in March!
On the last day in Michigan I earned my Gold card at Gun Lake Casino! I was in Michigan for 1 month and probably visited the casino 5 or 6 times. I earned 20,000 points in days! Play big to win big!! lol My dad has the Gold card and I was always jealous. Precious is finally mine! The next and final level up is the black card..which no one really has according to their Rewards center. I'm happy with my Gold card and flaunt it proudly at Gun Lake. They know you're big time if you're wearing the Gold! ; )

Gun Lake Casino is near my parent's house and everyone pretty much knows them there now. lol They frequent so often since both of their baby birds have flown the nest. One to Seattle, and one to Boston! : ) Anyhow..Gun Lake is such a fun casino! Minh won $1k minutes in, it was definitely pay out time that night. :D
Here's my latest picture of our family's 12 year old dachshund Heidi. She's such a sweetheart. She slept in my bed every night I was home. :) I miss her! I don't spoil Timmy or Wally like I did Heidi growing up. I don't want them to become too dependent emotionally on me. It was super hard for my Mom to leave for her trip because she knew Heidi would be sad. That's a big reason why I flew back to Michigan for a month's stay. Heidi's a big part of our family, and we want her to be comfortable at her age. ^_^

After we got back to Washington from Michigan (where we suffered a 7 hour flight). lol We met up with Minh's siblings and cousin for Korean BBQ at Blue Ginger in Bellevue. I've been here once before and it's pretty good. I think it's a tad bit over priced for Korean BBQ, but overall delicious. :)
Minh and I went home and passed out after dinner while everyone else went out to party. We heard all their fun drunk stories the very next day at Hue Ky in Viet Town. We all had their famously delicious Braised Duck Soup. :)

Minh's super sweet cousin Loan was visiting from Denver, which meant so were all of Minh's siblings and significant others. What's a more perfect time to use my Groupon for a dozen of Seattle's delicious Trophy Cupcakes (University Village location)! :) It was also Nikki's birthday (She's Minh's brother's adorable gf).
I'm so blessed to have so many new friends who I already consider my family. ^_~
I love them!! I think I finally grew up and realize how forever important they all are to me. They're my Washington family!

I went bowling for the first time since the 5th grade and I scored 2 strikes in a row! It was an amazing experience! I'm going to go bowling more often now! :)
Those first two strikes did come with a price! Each time I would be up to bowl, I'd break off a piece of my thumb nail. How am I supposed to nail blog now? lol Must take more Biotin!
This is Minh's new Dad Toyota Tundra. He let us borrow it since we're in the process of moving. :) His parents are also vacationing in Vietnam right now. This truck is incredibly hard to park in our building garage! All the spaces are so compact. lol Trucks aren't meant for city life at all.

Maxi Lambskin $4700 (The Maxi's were the only classic available at Nordstrom Flagship).

Maxi Caviar $4700. He brought this one out from the back for me. I guess they have to call back to get approval to bring out a new bag. It's interesting. Frederick told me the price increase on the small classic flap is $500, m/l increase is $600 and $700 for jumbo and maxi.
The WOC (wallet on chain) usually only increases by $100. I don't know if it will increase on February 1st. He says they don't increase too much on the WOC's.

$4700 for the Maxi. He almost convinced me to buy one, but my friend stopped me and told him a firm no. lol My goal is on the Chanel Jumbo Black Caviar Silver Hardware which they didn't have, of course. The wait list is 38 names long at Nordstrom! Fortunately, for me my friend was able to have her Neiman Marcus SA locate one for me from Houston, TX. :) She's big time, and I love it!

She busted out her monthly Nordstrom Notes to pay for her purchase and my jaw dropped. lol
The SA helped me arrange the notes so I could take a picture! She says this isn't the most she's gotten in one letter. lol You get a $20 note for every $2k you spend (sometimes you get double or triple points). But still..that's a lot of notes! : )

I really fancied the Mademoiselle clasp. But my friend reminded me my eye were only to look at the Classic Jumbo. :) She's such a great friend!

I was so happy to see the Camellia WOC and wallets! I've always thought they were super cute.
The WOC is $1600 if I remember correctly and the zippy wallet is $1000. I was debating between this WOC and the PST for my mother.

I left with the PST for my mom. Before I went into buy my bags, I called in to Nordstrom to make today my Triple Reward Points Day! It's so cool they offer this now to their card holders. You can pick the day you want to shop and get rewarded for shopping in Nordstrom Notes! I'm officially a Level 3 at Nordstrom out of 4. I get $300 worth of alterations and 3 personal Triple Reward Points Days!

I'm going to save this bag until her birthday in September! The light blue film on the hardware means it's new because it hasn't been peeled off and touched yet. :)
I am a lil bummed I can't use my triple points on my jumbo, but I'm really grateful that my friend is helping me get a jumbo from NM in Houston, TX shipped to the Pacific Northwest. *hearts*
I also picked up a pair of pearl drop CC earrings I know my mom has always wanted too. :) They will be her Christmas present next year. I love my mother and father! :D They really are the best! Minh's parents are amazing as well! I feel so blessed to have them in my life.

That's my friend's grey patent leather jumbo. Isn't it dreamy? She was wearing it the first day I met her and I knew we'd instantly become the best of friends! ^_~V

The Chanel pearl necklaces were gorgeous! I would love to own one someday!

Pearl-licious!

The sparkly blue WOC was super cute too!
I did pass on the enamel stud earrings because they just didn't feel high quality. They felt like a light plastic toy. The enamel was clear with a black background. They looked like toy plastic earrings on. They were priced at $300 (which is on the higher end for studs).
Studs currently are $265-$300 from my experience buying them today. I picked up 3 pairs in total. I will share pictures of my haul soon! : )

*iDrools*

I picked up the pair of earrings that are hidden in this gorgeous display.
They're an elegant silver crystal studs with black pearl drops (~10mm size). They're really cute! I love them!

Do you like Chanel jewelry? I think the designers there are amazing! They do such a great job at creating fabulous fashion jewels. My lifetime goal is to collection 50 pairs of Chanel earrings by age 50. I love and adore Chanel jewelry. I don't think I will ever get into fine jewelry apart from my engagement/wedding band. However, I do want the biggest and prettiest ones we can afford since I won't be asking for more in the future. Hint, hint! lol

Minh (on the left with his drink) and I came home after meeting with our friends to learn that the fire alarm had just went off in our building (again!) I felt so bad for all the food delivery guys! They all had to wait. The doors, the elevators were all "frozen." One of my neighbors told me he was locked in the parking garage the last time we had a fire alarm (real smoke/fire on my floor). The parking garage door wouldn't open to let cars leave! Isn't that crazy? The only way out was to take the stairs down to the street.
But yeah.. the building automatically locks all the access doors into the elevator lobby so we all were stuck waiting until the fire department came to save the day. We had the option of waiting outside too, but since we all knew it was a false alarm we all stayed warm inside! It's frigid out in Seattle tonight!
I love our current home. Can you believe we've lived here for nearly 2 years?
They always have something for us at the concierge desk. Today it's boutique dog biscuits from Scraps! I love that doggie boutique. It's 2 blocks from our place next to Whole Foods. They sell price-y pet accessories, and treats but it's still super fun to visit and browse. :) My neighbor bought his dog Cody a $100+ Swarovski crystal collar. He once asked if I got Wally a similar Swarovski collar there and I said no..I found it at TJ Maxx for $10-$20 and watched his jaw drop. lol He didnt' look like he's the type to even know what TJ Maxx carries. lol I bought Nickel a coat and harness there for nearly $60! lol They do give you a cute punch card though. I do like to support the local businesses. : ) That's how I justify paying higher prices for a specialty (probably unnecessary) item for the dogs.
I will miss you free fancy doggie treats and random coupons on the counter. I will miss you random free massages in the lobby. I will miss you the smell of free freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookies everyday even though I never eat you. I will miss you building summer BBQ's and free random wine & cheese. I will miss you daily bulletin that tells me what's going on in Seattle. I will miss you community bulletin of what my neighbors are selling in building. I will miss you Met Tower's version of FB that allows me to know exactly who lives in what unit, and their occupation if they chose to share it. But most of all, I will miss hoarding all my neighbors recycled Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons. LOL

Anyhow...the men in uniform came to our rescue! (We live two blocks from a fire department and one block from the police station). Sirens have become a part of my sleeping life. I won't miss you sirens that wake up my dogs and encourages them to howl in unison in the middle of the night. lol There have been so many struggles living in a building with furbabies. There are just too many furbabies in one building! Everyone has 2 dogs..the dog restroom area is always used. Doggies can't potty when other doggies are present. Sigh. They just want to sniff each other and play! It's a lot of work to be so dog owner social. I won't miss all the time I've wasted waiting with my dogs on another dog to poop in the designated doggie terrace area!!

But back to the local Seattle heroes!

Firefighters! Aren't they sexy? Minh LOL-ed so much at my "oh yeahhhh" commentary around our neighbors. It's okay, we're moving! You have to admit though..men in uniform are hott!
Get to know your neighbor time because the real fire alarm went off even though it was a false alarm alarm. Apparently, we all like to wear black at Met Towers. We're moving soon and we will be writing a review about our building and end unit Space Needle view living experience. I think we will be posting it on an apartment review website to help those who want to move here get the best for their buck. A few of our friends have inquired about living here, and it will be a great way to guide them into this building, or not. : ) Overall, I really enjoy our downtown living experience. I love the people who live and work here. I love the location, the views, the city. I will miss it very much.

Today I officially became a "home owner." lol It's a long story, but we're both very happy and moving forward! It's time for us to settle down and move away from the city to start a more calm life together with the dogs. I will be living down the street from my amazing new friends! They have two Maltese doggies and I know we all will have many future play dates with our doggies. My next big attainable goal is to become the president of my home owner's association (HOA!) Or at least be a member on the board of directors eventually. I'm completely into this stuff! I guess you can say I enjoy to spend my time in odd ways. I like to do things rather than leisurely do nothing. Granted, I spend most of my time at home, but I spend it all networking online and meeting new friends. I know Timmy, Wally, Nickel and I will be the best neighborhood watch ever! lol Chihuahua Penny might move in with us too if Minh's Mom lets her. :)

Yay! This year has started off on the right foot for us! Fo' sho.
Bow chicka wow wow. jk. lol
They had to bust open the door to the elevator lobby. I think it's a magnetic door.
It was quite exciting to watch them at work. But yeah..we're safe and comfortable now in our apartment unit. : ) The dogs are asleep. Minh and I are tuning into Late Night with my older man crush Craig Ferguson. Minh thinks I have weird taste in "celebrity men." I also find Alec Baldwin might attractive. lol But to keep it young, I do like Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling! I'm a normal American girl!

Who are your celebrity crushes?
Leave a comment below and I will pick my favorite and gift you with a DSK Fresh Water Pearl, 14K Gold-Filled Necklace! I will ship anywhere!
: ) Thanks for reading everyone! I'll talk to you soon!