[Simple Life] Declutter - Espadrilles Slip-On Shoes

 

Espadrilles Slip-On which I really enjoyed and made the most out of!

I purchased 4 colors of the same style, when I was with my previous company
(yes, you heard me right, I bought 4 colors of same shoes. I used to be that person...)
and brought only the 2 colors with me here in HK.

But this blue one, I am proud to say, I wore it sooooo many times!
Firstly, with Dresses for casual dates, and after it got weathered, for easy wear to go out to supermarkets.
I think slip-ons are one of the most comfortable shoes you can wear. Nothing to tie, nothing to think about, you just put your foots in and that's it.
But one downside of these styled shoes is that
when you wear it enough, your sole becomes weathered to much and there is no way for your to fix it.
I am known for well maintaining my shoes and clothes, but this one.. it happened so fast.

But I am really happy that I used the most out of it vs. what I've actually paid.

I'm letting it go now.

Bye!

[미국 여행] 뉴욕 루이스 리전시 호텔 리뷰 - Loews Regency

이번에 뉴욕에서 묶게 된 루이스 리전시 - Loews Regency 호텔 입니다.

Luxury Hotel Near Central Park | Loews Regency Hotel

The newly renovated Loews Regency Hotel is an iconic resident of Park Avenue. This luxury hotel near Central Park has a spa, wor...

www.loewshotels.com

여기 사람들은 그냥 리전시 호텔이라고 하더라구요.

저 혼자 촌스럽게, 루이스 리전시 라고 했다가 택시기사님이 못알아듯는 상황 

가격은 좀 높은 5성급 호텔인데, 사실 위치가 최고 메리트인 호텔 인 것 같아요.

540 Park Avenue에 위치 하고 있어서, 한 블럭만 가면 Madison Avenue / Barneys,

반대쪽으로 가면 Bloomingdale's 및 많은 패션브랜드들이 밀집하고 있는 Lexington Avenue가 있습니다.

참 쇼핑하기는 좋은 위치의 호텔 

 

540 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10065, United States of America

그리고 뉴욕의 중심에 있어서, 밤이 되면 미드(?)에서 보던 뉴욕의 느낌을 제대로 느낄 수 있는 것 같아요.

 

전체적으로 엄청 깔끔하고 모던한 느낌의 호텔입니다.

 

일단 위치가 너무 좋아서 추천 드리는 호텔입니다!

근데 뉴욕의 중심에 있어 그런지 비싼 가격에 비해서, 어메니티는 그냥 없다고 생각하시는 것이 좋아요.

물도 없고. 하물며 칫솔/치약도 없었다는.. 저는 다행히 제가 개인적으로 사용하는 칫솔/치약 쓰는걸 선호해서 가지고 갔지만

아무 계획없이 가시면 다 구매하셔야 될 거 예요. (딱 면봉, 화장솜, 샴푸/바디샴푸, 비누 있습니다)

전. 조식도 포함 안되어 있어서- 아침에 룸서비스로 베이글 세트 

비싸기는 했지만, 맛있기는 했어요

커피가 좀 고파서, 라지로 시켰더니 저따만한 커피가 왔다는. 깜짝놀랬어요 ㅋㅋㅋ (저 은색 주전자가 다 커피... ㄷ ㄷ ㄷ)

[Simple Life] Declutter - Black Pen Holder

Black Pen Holder

It's a real simple, black colored pen holder.
So when I first saw it, I was like, this is totally what I was looking for!! and had to purchase 2 of them.
But, after simplifying my life, I don't want to have this many pen taking over space on my desk anymore.
So after putting the pens in my pen dedicated zip lock bag, and I am letting this pen holder go.
Without this pen holder, I hope my desire for stationary fades off slowly.

Bye!

What is the simple way of payment - Cash or Credit Card?

When I think about living simple life, I cannot leave "Finance" part out of it.

And biggest dilemma I had for few years was, should I use Cash or Credit card when I want to live financially simple life.

Many of people I know believe that carrying just few credit card is the way of living simple,  financially.

You neither need thick wallet clogged with small bills nor have to carry around heavy and annoying coins. I don't blame people to think, just carrying around one simple credit card in small card wallet is the simpler way of living financially when you can easily swipe for pretty much everything - And now that we have Apple pay, (Yes, Hong Kong also started the service, and my friends and colleagues are so thrilled about it) it's now even more easier to live wallet free life.

Since I wasn't sure which way of payment was simpler, I tried both. 

(To be honest, I went back and forth several times)

Whenever I was using cash, I saw my friends using simple credit card and thought, yes! using credit card is so much simpler than using cash. Why the hell am I trying to pay in cash and receiving coins as change when I can't even earn mileage? and I went the lifestyle of using credit card.

First few days (or weeks) of using credit card, I thought

' I cannot believe I tried to live off of cash when there is so much easier and simpler way of paying! I am never going back to cash!!"

But you know what?

Even though carrying credit cards were way more simple behavior then carrying cash, my mind felt very clogged with declutter. WHY?

Because I constantly had to think about next Credit card payment date, if I had enough balance for next payment.

More importantly, I felt like I was always in the haze of, am I spending to right amount for this month? Can I afford this? Do I have enough money left over to spend on this?

And let me tell you, if you thinking about these holding credit card, the answer is YES most of the time.

And always by the end of month, when the statement is issued, I felt horrible about myself. 

Even thought it wasn't crazy number, I was not proud because I could not control myself.

If we think about simplifying your "mind", the payment you should go for is, without a doubt, CASH.

Currently, I am back to using cash and even though carrying cash is not so simple than carrying credit card, I no longer have to worry about, can I afford this? how much will I have as this month's final statement?.

I do use credit cards for big purchases (of course, mileage is not harmful if you use it wisely).

But then I put cash back right in, so that it is same as using Cash.

Hope you this helped you guys to decide on which way you want to pay when you want to live simple.

If you have any feedback or experience to share, please feel free to write comment down below.

Thank you :) 

Why you will absolutely love living simple life

My living simple journey has begun about 2 years ago.

And I strongly suggest that you try this way of life. Why? Why is living simple so fantastic?

Here are some of the Pros of living simple life.

-          You get to enjoy the things you love!

When you think about minimalism, you think of people living with only the things you can count.

I figured I could never live like that. I am fashion buyer, and that is part of who I am and that is the most I enjoy.

But when you live simple, you don’t have a number that limits how many things you can own in your life. There’s no limit on how many things you can own. There just need to be priority, and for me that is fashion.

-          Financial Freedom

You won’t know what it feels like to have emergency fund running and not having to worry about how you are going to pay your next credit card bill, if you’ve not experienced it yet. Biggest change this brought me, was that I was finally able to think about my future. I could plan ahead. It is such a good feeling.

-          Clear mind

I didn’t think having less things would affect the way my brain works. But it does! Now that I have way less stuff that I used to, I feel like my mind is more clear and I don’t have to use as much as energy on thinking than before. De-cluttering your stuff also de-clutters your min. Just try.

-          Esthetic  surroundings

I don’t know why, but when I as holder, I used to think, “the more beautiful stuff I own, the more beautiful my surroundings will become” Nope. That is totally not true. The more stuff I had, regardless of how pretty they were, it just cluttered my surroundings making me feel exhausted. Now, I look at my surroundings, it being either my room or office desk, I feel so relaxed and free.

I believe there are more Pros but I'm stopping here. 

Cause I've already stated the big advantages I am experiencing right now.

It is totally worth trying this life style on above Pros let alone additional advantages.

Now, stop hesitating and let's start the journey together!

[USA] Applying for ESTA Visa for US for Koreans (90 days)

Hello All !

It's finally the last day of 2016! Are you all excited?
But is it just me? or that it does not feel like end of the year this time...😘

Well, before even starting to feel the holiday mood, my boss just messaged me to go on trip to NY on 2nd of Jan, 2017.
Thank you for letting me know so in advance.

I told him I'm not sure if my visa will be issued before I leave, especially when everyone should be on holiday and he was like, oh you can easily apply for ESTA for US visa.
Oh, thanks again for being so nice about it...💢

Anyhow, that is the short story version of how I ended up applying for ESTA visa just 3 days before I leave. And I wanted to share the key points to remember when applying for ESTA for people like me.
(Especially for Koreans)

First thing you need, is Electronic Passport! (unfortunately, if you don't have electronic passport, you will not be able to apply for ESTA through online)

And then search for ESTA on Naver which will show you the link like below.






If you enter the website through Naver, the default language setting should be Korean.
I recommend you proceed the process with language selection as Korean first.
Website has such a detailed explanation on every single input you need to enter.
But if your language is English, it might confuse you a little bit.
(if you are not Korean, please select the language of your preference)

Very important to thing to remember, tho, is that
All information you put in should be in ENGLISH!!

Just because the explanation was in your mother language, if you enter information in your own language... you have to start from the beginning. And you don't want that.

When it comes to actually putting the information in, it's not so complicated.
All information should be either on your passport, or the ones you already know.
You just need to put in all the information as ACCURATE as possible.

If you have any info you are confused of, put your mouse on to "?" mark next to the blank.
It will show you as much as information you need for each blank.

Since I was in a special situation where I could not accept any one mistake,
I read all the "?" button next to the blank even though I knew what it was about.


After putting all the information you need, a summary page pops up so that you can review again all the information for the last time. Review for the last time, and enter your passport information for confirming, than Tada! you are DONE!

Next step is paying $14 for the visa.
Your application does not go through unless you pay for it. So please make sure you have the credit card ready with (the one that can be accepted abroad) you before starting.

After paying, you will be able to see the result right away.

One pause here!
When I read other blogger's how to posts, it said they were able to see "Accepted" right away.
So I didn't really expect anything other than that.

But!!! what the..
My status was "permission held off"!!!!!!!
What??? why!!!!!!!!! I was so cautious of information I put in!
I was so frustrated and searched like crazy for the cases like me.
And all I could find was, that you will get your reply within 72 hours.😩
No.. Even 24 hours is not enough for me!

And then, found a case that says, when he re-logged in after 10 min, the status were changed to "Accepted".
So I tried! with my last hope!! and YAY!!! saw "Accepted" on my screen!!!~~~~~😄😄

Actual time I spend on putting information in was only about 20 min, but I was soooo stressed out during the process, it felt more like 3 hours.

Now, I really have to go on this trip with no excuse whatsoever.
Hahahahah...
What an amazing way to start 2017! (I'm being a bit sarcastic here.)

Wish all of you the happy new year ! 😊

[미국 여행] 미국 90일 비자 ESTA 신청 방법

안녕하세요!

드디어 2016년 마지막날이네요! 이번 연말은 왜 이렇게 연말 같지 않은지 모르겠어요..😘
하지만 말이 무섭게.. 갑자기 회사에서 다음주에 당장 출장을 가라네요?
것도 미국으로 ㄷ ㄷ ㄷ

연휴라~ 비자가 그렇게 빨리 나올지 모르겠다고 은근슬쩍 돌려말했더니,
ESTA에 당록하면 바로 받을수 있다고, 어찌 그리 친절히 얘기해주시는지..
참 친절하고 고맙네..💢

그래서 어찌저찌 심장을 졸여가며, 미국으로 떠나기 3일 전, 부랴부랴 미국 비자 신청을 해 봤어요. 저처럼 당황하시는 분들을 위해서 ESTA과정 중 중요한 키 포인트! 공유합니다.

일단! 전자여권! 준비하시고 (전자여권이 아니신 분들은, 아쉽게도 ESTA 사용이 불가능 하다고 하네요)
네이버에서 ESTA를 검색해줍니다!







네이버 통해서 들어가시면, 기본 언어설정이 한국어로 되어 있으실 거예요.
혹시 한국어가 아니시면, 오른쪽 위 언어설정에서 한국어로 변경하시고 진행하시는 것이 편합니다.

설명이 어찌나 자세히 나와 있는지.. 하지만 언어설정 영어로 하고 하면, 설명 읽는것 부터 머리 아플 것 같아요.
단! 모든 입력정보는 영어로 입력하셔야 해요!!
설명이 한국어로 되어있다고, 한국어 입력하시면 처음부터 다시 시작하셔야 된데요.. ㅠㅠ

정보 입력은 생각보다 어렵지 않아요.
다 여권에 나와있거나 알고있는 내용을 하나하나 "정확히" 입력하시면 됩니다.

혹시나 헷갈리는 내용이 있으면, 입력 칸 옆 "?" 물음푱 마우스를 가져다 대시면
더욱 친절한 설명을 읽을 수 있어요.
저는 워낙 한번에 허가가 나야 해서, 실수를 용납할 수 없는 상황이였기 떄문에, 알 것 같은것도 "?" 물음표 하나씩 다 읽으면서 했어요.

모든 정보를 정확히 입력하시고 나면, 다시 한꺼번에 모든것을 확인할 수 있는 화면이 나옵니다. 여기서 최종ㅎ 확인하시고, 마지막으로 한번 더 여권 및 개인정보 입력하시고 나면!

끝!!!

그 다음은 US$ 14불을 지불하시면 되요.
지불 완료되기 전 까지는 신청이 들어가지 않으니, 미리 해외 결제 가능한 신용카드
옆에 준비하시고 하시면 좋을 것 같아요.

결제가 완료되고 나면, 바로 결과가 나옵니다!

여기서 잠깐!

제가 신청하기 전에 다른 블로그들 확인 해 보니, 바로 진행상황에 "허가 승인"이라고 뜬다고 하더라구요. 그래서 뭐.. 별 문제 없겠지 하고 결제를 완료했는데!
이게왠걸!!! 허가 보류!!!!!!!!!

허가 보류라니요!!! 내가??? 내가???? 정말 너무 당황해서 심장이 쿵쾅거리고 온 네이버를 다 뒤졌는데 -
72시간 안에 답변은 올거라는 얘기밖에..😩
저에겐 24시간도 모자라는 상황인데 말이죠.

그러다 어떤 분이 까페에, 10분 뒤 다시 들어가 보니 허가승인이 되었다고 하시는 분이 있어서.
지푸라기라도 잡는 심정으로!! 다시 조회.
"허가승인!!!!!!!" 예이~~~~~~😄😄

신청하는 과정은 20분도 안걸렸는데, 너무 마음을 졸이면서 해서 한달은 늙은 것 같아요.

기쁨도 잠시.. 허가 승인이라 출장가야 되는군요.
이제 빼도 박도 못하고.. 으하하하하

2017년 시작부터 다이나믹하게-
화이팅!!

이웃님들도 모두 새해 복 많이 받으시고
2017년은 즐거운 일들 만 가득가득 하시길 바랄게요 😊

[Simple Life] Declutter - Internet Cable

 

I do not understand myself either, but I always feel like I will be needing one of these cables.
(Even though I don't use physical cables anymore..)
Finally letting them go!

Bye! 

#simple

#simplelife

#simplyfabulous

#livingsimple

#minimal

#minimallife

#minimalism

#declutter