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Saturday, December 31, 2011

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?


2011 was a wonderful year for me. I graduated from University, staffed a CISV village, made new friends, reconnected with old ones, spent three weeks in Europe with one of my best friends and started my own business, earning money doing what I love. Tonight I'm going out with my all my family for a nice New Year's Eve dinner, I'll probably dance a bit and watch the fireworks and cheer when we welcome 2012.




Here's to 2012, and to the joys it will bring. 



When the clock strikes 12, 



P.S. Here are two cute New Year's Eve videos. One is a song by Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt and the other is my favorite version of Aulde Lang Syne from the soundtrack of SATC.


Photos All from We heart it.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Girls Who Read


My brother sent me an article about Dating Girls Who Read. After reading it, I immediately forwarded it to my fellow female bookworm friends. One of them responded saying, "I love this. PROOF. proof that it isn't weird to smell books and talk about characters like they're real and laugh/cry hysterically by yourself while reading :)) We aren't alone!! :P" Another friend shared the article entitled You Should Date An Illiterate Girl.

Ahh, the polarizing power of books. Do you love to read? Do lines and events from books run through your head all day, connecting everyday events to things you've read? Do you like the smell of books? 




Photos via Weheartit 1, 2 & Bouncytrouncyfun

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Perfume


I just love how adorable this Lanvin ad is. Such a cute perfume name too.

Photo via

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Holiday Link List



How are your holiday plans going? Have you bought and sent all your gifts? (I haven't at all! Eeep!) Have you gotten yourself some lovely new clothes for all the holiday parties? (I'm still searching!) But I do have a list of some lovely holiday inspired links, that get me in the mood for Christmas, the gift wrapping and getting gussied up for the seasons parties.

Checkout Design Mom's list of Top 20 Christmas Books

Beautiful wrapping ideas by Creature Comforts

Ezee's amazing online Holiday magazine Gifted.

great guide for pairing earrings and hairstyles this holiday season.

I'm planning on using these, Spin Pins  by Goody to make chic holiday chignons. I'm thinking a bun would look great with a side braid, simple eye make up and red lips.

I want to try Ginny's list of favorite Red Lipsticks.

Riveting Choose Your Own Fashion Adventure Video. I keep watching it over and over, making new choices each time.

Fun and Funky DIY Nails Designs for the holidays.

I adore this Tiffany & Co. holiday campaign (its from 2010 but still lovely). The brand also has an accompanying video.


Photos of Tiffany and Co. Holiday Campaigns via We heart it and Echoadime

Christmas Decorations






I love these Christmas decorating ideas from Interio, the amazing Swiss Home Shop. I particularly love the idea of decorating the space between the inner and outer windows and filling up a nice glass vase with ornaments and weaving a string of lights through it. The effect is modern, classy and still very Christmasy. All  Photos by Interio.




Christmas Makeovers






I love these before and after images from Interio's Catalogue. Sorry for the slightly blurry images. I scanned these myself from my own copy of the catalogue.

Interio is a lovely Swiss home store. Rosie and I wandered into one of their shops while in Lucerne this past October. I fell in love with their products and picked up one of their free store catalogues for inspiration this holiday season.


Photos from Interio





Friday, December 2, 2011

Fragonard: The Scents of Southern France

I love perfume and dream of amassing different scents that I can pick and choose from depending on my mood. I like fruity, floral and citrusy scents.


While in Grasse, France last month, Rosie and I took a tour of the Fragonard perfume factory. We learned about the fruits, flowers, herbs and plants perfume scents are sourced from and how the scents are harvested to create perfumes and other scented products such as soaps and lotions. Our guide also let us smell different Fragonard scents and they even gave us small sample bottles to take home. Sweet!


After the tour we got a chance to explore the factory store. I was in olfactory heaven and in my opinion we didn't have enough time in there. Nonetheless, I ended up getting two eau de toilette bottles as presents for my sisters.


A bottle of Etoile, French for Star. This was the first perfume I smelled and the one I like best. This scent is described as a "woody, floral scent with citrus accents."




For my younger sister I asked the saleslady to recommend something appropriate for a young teenager and she led me to Mademoiselle Amour, "a mischievous eau de toilette brimming with tenderness, offering a tangerine, strawberry and apple top note, a rose, jasmine and sweet pea middle note and a raspberry back note." This sweet little scent came in a cute cosmetics pouch with a heart motif and was accompanied by a small pocket mirror. 


 For myself I ended up with a lovely free sample bottle of Marche aux Fleurs, described on the website as "a magnificent floral, fruity mixture of melon and black currant with a hint of sweet pea, lily of the valley, vineyard peach along with a lasting scent of jasmine, orange blossom and musk that lingers."


 It's a lovely scent, bright but gentle and I find myself trying not to use up my little bottle so quickly so as to keep it lasting longer. Scents have such powerful memories attached to them and when I smell this one I'm transported back to that lovely day in Southern France. 



What perfumes and scents do you guys love?








Photos from Fragonard perfume and Swiss Spring.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Never Regret Staying Home With A Good Book: Wonderstruck

It's been awhile since my last book recommendation, over a year in fact. I tend to lean towards a lot of young adult literature in what I read, and today's pick is no different. It's Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck.


To quote the blurb on the book's website,

"A boy named Ben longs for the father he has never known. A girl named Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room, and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.

Ben's story, set in 1977, is told entirely with words, while Rose's story, set fifty years earlier, is told entirely with pictures. The two stories weave back and forth before ultimately coming together. Rich, complex, affecting, and beautiful—with over 460 pages of original artwork—Wonderstruck is a stunning achievement from a uniquely gifted artist and visionary." 

It's a wonderfully written and illustrated book (Selznick is a Caldecot medal awardee) and I really appreciate Selznick's ability to tell two different stories in such rich detail using two different mediums. I also love how Selznick pays homage to another great book, I adore.

Do check the Wondestruck out. Chacic posted some images in her reccomendation post Wonderstruck Friday

P.S. Selznick's other book, the award-winning,  The Invention of Hugo Cabret has just been released as a film by Martin Scorsese called Hugo and its been getting good film reviews. I haven't read the book or seen the movie, but I plan to do both.

Book cover photo via Ringo the Cat

Giveaway! Hop on Over!

My good friend Carla is having a giveaway to celebrate the 1st year anniversary of her online clothing store Carla's Closet. It's over at her wonderfully photographed blog Carla Reads the World! The giveaway is open until December 28, 2011 so hop on over there and get a chance to win some pretty neat clothes, bags, jewelry etc!


Monday, November 14, 2011

Advice I Need To Remember






Sources:Unknown (Meaning I forgot where) YMCYMCSwiss Miss and another unknown except I know its from tumblr.  

Saturday, November 12, 2011

HEMA

We took a three week sojourn to explore Europe together hence, the blog neglect. We left in late October and arrived home last Thursday. While exploring Amsterdam, one store in particular caught our eye, Hema, a homegrown Dutch brand that designs and manufactures a plethora of items ranging from clothing and cosmetics to food and dining items at reasonable prices.

I fell in love with their party materials. Including

 
 these cute floral and plaid print containers

 
these sunny printed napkins in floral and nature themes



festively packaged apple and strawberry drinks
 
and their festive party streamers.

And for cleaning up lovely 4 packs of dishtowels for 5 Euro and in a variety of colors.


All images via Hema




Sunday, October 16, 2011

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask a creative person how they did something, they may feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after awhile. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people have.” - Steve Jobs



steve jobs

One of the most innovative men of the 20th century.








Steve's inspiring 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech, gave this blog a name. Read the text of the speech here.

Photos via: Apple and Last of the Independents

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Hooked!


Have you guys played the card game Monopoly Deal? 


It's a modernized and much faster adaptation of the classic Monopoly board game (which can go on for ages). 


My brother received a pack from my Aunt as a late birthday present. I learned to play earlier this week and am hooked. My younger brothers say its all the rage in both university and high school. People skip lunch playing it during breaks between classes.

Photo via UK Pogo

Monday, October 3, 2011

Manila








I heard this song today and the 2nd and 3rd verses describe how I feel about my city. 

 This city is my city
And I love it, yeah I love it
I was born and raised here
I got it made here
And if I have my way, I'm gonna stay


From every corner
To every block yeah
And whether it's warm or storming or downright stupid hot, hot
From the problems all the way to the solutions yeah
Forget all the drugs and gangs, corruption and pollution no


Cause this city is my city
And I love it, yeah I love it
I was born and raised here
I got it made here
And if I have my way, I'm gonna stay here
For life, uh huh
For life, uh huh
For life, uh huh
For life, uh huh
For life, uh huh
For life, uh huh
For life, uh huh
For life, uh huh


Photo of Manila Bay via Travel Philippines Now

Miss Representation


Miss Representation 8 min. Trailer 8/23/11 from Miss Representation on Vimeo.
Here's an interesting documentary on media and the power of women.
Via Shiny Happy People

Friday, September 30, 2011

Missed Connections

In the missed connections section on Craigslist, people write about the fleeting connections they had with strangers, hoping they meet  again.



Sunday, May 9, 2010
-m4w -19 (2 or 5 train)
You were the gorgeous brunette sleeping on the train. I was the guy sitting next to you. I just wanted to apologize for my repeated lack of consciousness onto your shoulder, we both got off at flatbush. Hit me back up if you think this is you.


The artist Sophie Blackall illustrated some of the connections (like the one above) and they became a book.

While this Lady Antebellum video reminds me of the missed connections above. 
It makes me smile.



  
And if you live in Manila, there's Missed Connections Manila.

Photo via: Sophie Blackall 

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Carved Out Trees



Toilet paper rolls, always remind me of Neil Buchanan and his amazing Art Attack creations. These images are a further example of what can be done with these simple, ubiquitous cardboard rolls.



Images via Katrina originally from Where the heart is...

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