The Fellowship of the Bling.

Ostentatious cocktail rings always catch my eye because I like how something small can at the same time add serious bling to an outfit. It can be the only piece of jewelry you're wearing and yet it will say— Hey, I am serious about accessorizing. I'm always jealous when I see people who can rock a cocktail ring without it interfering with their daily lives. I have to moisturize my hands a lot, so I don't think they'd work for me, plus they don't really make them in sizes for my child hands. I was particularly sad that this one was way too big for me:

| Betsey Johnson, "Under the Sea" Octopus ring |

A dear friend once pointed out though that cocktail rings are the sort of things that would make great gifts for girl friends if only everyone knew each other's ring sizes. So I am asking all of mine to post or message me your ring size, so I have it on file for some occasion long after you have forgotten this blog post when I can surprise you with a cool ring. Do it.

| Photo Credit: Zappos |

Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher.

One of the pluses of moving to a city that is often gray and drizzly is having an excuse to shop for boots. I couldn't decide whether I wanted the classic Hunter rain boots I have been eying for years, or something that screams my girly style, so I ordered all of these from Zappos to see what they'll look like in person. (Zappos + their easy return policy = best online retailer ever.) Opinions on which ones I should keep are welcomed in the comments.

|1. Hunter, Original | 2. & 3. Kate Spade, Randi | 4. Pikolinos, Turin |

Also, here is a fun video of people lipsyncing to Eileen's 1966 French cover of "These Boots Are Made for Walking".

Updated on 10|28|10:
Lifestyle Tip: If you are considering ordering some Hunter rainboots, be sure to size down. I usually wear a US 6.5. I tried on a size 37, which was indicated on the box to be a US size 6. The boots obviously have no zipper and after putting one on, I could wriggle my leg and foot out of it without actually touching the boot with my hands.

| Photo Credit: Zappos |

Introduction and Purpose Statement

It has been about three years since I originally started the The Yuppie Lifestyle blog, and I decided it was time for a change. After struggling to make a comeback from my several-month wedding-planning and post-wedding-planning sabbatical, I realized that the older Me was having difficulty trying to conform to the writing style I established when I was three years younger. In other words, I am too lazy to write long entries, and I am sure you are too lazy now to read them. Learning how to be like me may not be a simple but the instructional materials should be. And so, dear Readers, I am presenting to you a somewhat new (for me) blog concept where I plan to bring you shorter sentences and more visuals to capture how I live my life*. (*Subject to change and after this entry, of course.) I don't really know what that means or where I am going with this yet but I do know that I am awesome, therefore I need to document my awesomeness by way of the Internet.

I leave you with an excerpt from today's Wikipedia article on "Yuppie", in which neo-con political commentator and Fresno raisin farmer Victor Davis Hanson defines "yuppism" as:

a late-twentieth-century cultural phenomenon of self-absorbed young professionals, earning good pay, enjoying the cultural attractions of sophisticated urban life and thought, and generally out of touch with, indeed antithetical to, most of the challenges and concerns of a far less well-off and more parochial Middle America.

I also leave you with this photo, where you can clearly see that the city of San Francisco cleared out Market Street for my photo shoot.

| Photo Credit: Aubrey Trinnaman |