Twinkle By Wenlan

I challenge anyone to stand beside tall models all day, and not have a slight crisis of confidence.  It takes a lot of positive self-talk to feel beautiful after a day of photographing models.  Especially when every straight guy you know is begging you for every detail of the hot models coming in the door.  All of sudden, they are interested in fashion!

I feel short!!

I sometimes like to do tedious works because I can be away thousands miles from my problems, complicated thinking in my mind. Just think about one thing…A tag.
Do you have hundreds ideas in your mind? Let’s make tags here. I cut, you tie!

How many people can you check-in during a Twinkle party?  Not enough!!  Thank goodness it didn’t rain, but it was humid enough to have partygoers eager to get inside in order to save their well-coiffed heads. It was fun to work with the staff from Lucky and I am grateful to Lucky interns, Lizzie and Sarah, who just jumped in and got dirty with us.  It’s never easy to do set-up in three inch heels and your new favorite Twinkle dress, but we managed.  BUT someone stole my MAC powder from the host stand!!  Ewww!  Well, all in the name of fashionable parties I suppose.  But I did give questionable looks to any girl who looked like she might wear NW 15!

Today Philina and I got to color different looks for the Holiday collection.  It was a lot of fun picking out different colors for each garment. 

Sayumi actually trusted Steph and I to offer her some ideas today. We helped her by color blocking some of the holiday collection. I was pretty proud that Wenlan actually took one of my tops as a suggestion! Am I becoming a real fashion designer?  I think so!

It’s a little known fact that I have amazing feet, and aside from my aspirations of becoming a high-level marketing executive, I’ve always wanted to be a foot model (ridiculous, I know. But true!). Today, Wenlan needed a 7 ½ sized foot to model three gorgeous pairs of Manolo Blahnik shoes for her and the assistant designers. And of course my precious pedicured feet are a perfect 7 ½ …prancing around in those stunning confections was a dream come true. =)

During Fitting

On the runway

Fashion week chaos is not just about seeing 300 models in 1 week, or the crazy schedules for booking, fitting, and product delivery of gift bags. On top of that, when i was drinking my Starbucks today, the lid was not closed properly, and half of the cup spilled all over my shirt and jeans. But you know what? I wasn’t upset at all, instead,i crazy laughed at myself. You know those crazy and funny moments that hits you when you are so busy concentrating on finishing the million things thats on your “TO DO LIST OF THE DAY”? That’s right! Lately everyone at Twinkle are busy running around trying to reduce that 1 item from our list of millions. Okay, exagerated a little too much, but you get the point. I really enjoy this up beat lifestyle(good thing its only twice a year), afterall, only “KooKoo” people can resist this lifestyle in fashion. After spending 15 minutes in the bathroom sweating out to clean out the stain, immediately when i stepped out the door, Joanna started to burst out laughing. Wenlan looked at us curiously, with a huge question mark on her face. Yes, I had a huge water stain on my jeans, in the worst spot it can be. Well, its just one of those laugh it off thing during the crazy busy fashion week. Let’s see if i can get the stain off my favorite pair of jeans.

So while everyone was chatting up a storm about The Hills (which I openly love and adore – TEAM LC!), I was stranded on the other side of the studio taping together extremely large sewing patterns. As you can probably tell from the picture, this task sounds far simpler than it actually is. Luckily, I’m almost done!!

What is more fitting to celebrate the night of the Olympics opening ceremony than to hold a fun competition of your own?  Only, instead of finding the best athlete, we were on a quest to concoct the best homemade Mojito!  A clear, empty glass stands alone, ready to hold the best of the best!  Let the games begin!

A standard Mojito requires 5 basic ingredients – mint leaves, lime juice, sugar, rum, and club soda.  Of course the variations are endless, as we would soon see.

There’s nothing cooler than fresh mint!

7:00PM – Warming up

The night began with preparation for the experimenting process.  All participants, acting as judges, contributed a slew of liquor, including mango and coconut flavored rum, plus the original white and spiced rum.  All types of sodas were put on the table, as well as seltzer and a Collins Mixer.  A platter of fresh mint, cut limes, and exotic fruits were also necessary for the presentation points!

8:08PM – The Olympics opening ceremony begins

With a spectacular lights and fireworks display by an army of professional drummers, the 2008 Olympic games officially begins in Beijing. The giant lit footsteps arriving to the stadium was awe-inspiring.  The flying acrobatic figures symbolized harmony and peace, and conveyed magical spirit.  The dance calligraphy performance on a large scroll of parchment was simply breath-taking.  All it needed was a giant fridge with alphabet magnets! 

In our living room, we were about to mix our first recipe.  We were lacking a muddler, a usually wooden tool to mash spices, so a trusty fork was used to knead the mint.  It is important not to shred the mint, but release the aromatic flavor.  Next we added in about an ounce of bottled lime juice and sprinkled in some white sugar.  White rum and ginger ale were poured in.  We tossed in the ice cubes and passed the glass around the circle. 

Not too bad…but what about brown sugar this time?  And more alcohol definitely. 

Each round of Mojito making became blurred as we tossed out measuring utensils and went with our gut.  We tried all sorts of sugar, even brewing a sugar syrup, which we found not really necessary as you can pretty much control the sweetness with the type of soda or with the trusty Canada Dry Collins Mixer – fast beginning to be our preferred mixer.  The coconut rum was a bit too strong, especially when the Mojito is supposed to be light and refreshing.  We also began crushing our ice cubes, a feat rather precarious on a glass coffee table.

11:45PM – Eye on the gold

The Mojito started looking more festive, with convoluted steps – “Let’s splash in some mango V8 before the rum! – and even more elaborate finishing touches, such as embellishing the rim of the glass with cantaloupe slices.  By the end of the night, many other cocktail concoctions also entered the race.  Our taste buds and judgment were finally a bit unreliable, but the liquor of choice for the Mojito was a DonQ Puerto Rican white rum.  With unanimous agreement on what went into the evening’s best mixes, all we needed to do was prepare the concoction to display in our still empty glass. 

Spreading the remainder of the mint and fruit in the center of the table for the photo-op, we proudly draped the gold medal in front of the Mojito.

And with our own sticky glasses held high, we saluted our efforts and brilliant creativity just as the final torch runner, Olympic champion Li Ning, reached the giant Olympic cauldron in Bird’s Nest stadium and set it to a brilliant blaze.