Last Night

Went to Areaware's Pop Up store opening at the Port Authority to support Chad who played the best soul music in town and of course to support our local designers. The store is a lot of fun if you are in the market for gifty things, here are some of my faves:I don't have room for another pillow in my home, but I do love Fauna pillows, how cute is the squirrel one on the lower right?!

Sorry for the bad picture, there were too many people hovering around Kiel Mead's jewelry case, I love the simplicity and innocence of his designs, see the badminton birdy lights above, and especially the delicate forget-me-knot, which I have blogged about a while ago.

If I were to buy something at the store, this would be it, a Tarmoset leather fly swatter! I could really use one this summer!!!

Yes the Annie Lenon hairy necklaces are cool, but I adore the little flower earrings!

And last but not least Chad the Mr. DJ man.

I'll Be There

(I know the header is cheesy but I can't help myself!)
Spike Lee, whose film production company is located in Fort Greene (actually right next to my old apartment), is planning a block party to celebrate Michel Jackson's 51 birthday next Saturday, August 29, at Fort Greene Park. DJ Spinna will DJ for the event, as a proud Fort Greene resident and a sometimes MJ fan, I will surely be there. But the whole reason why I want to blog about this is because of the flyer, I love how the silhouette of his hair is text! Drop me a note if you are going to the block party and we can all sing "ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa" together!
images: Huffington Post

The Most Beautiful Stamps

In the past I've mentioned about how boring US stamp designs are, so I am really happy to discover these King and Queen of Hearts stamps that were released in May. The drawing is referenced from 18th Century French playing cards but the design is retro- circa 70's. There are so many things to love about these stamps, like the Queen's crown, the heart motifs on the King's costume, and the sweet little "love" hand-writing! I'm going to a book of these stamps this week, which leads me to wonder how many stamps do you use per month?
image: USPS

Where Have I Been?

Hello hello! I'm back and I owe all of you some explanation why I stopped blogging for months. It started when I got a freelance gig at this great company and it kept me really busy for a while, and during the time Chad and I were looking to move out of our apartment where we made lots of squirrel friends. We looked at more than 50 apartments and ended up with the worst one we could have picked, I was miserable, could not sleep due to the noises and terrible neighbors, stressed and angry for the entire 5 months we were there. So we broke the lease and moved into a new place in July and I am so happy here. I'm now finally moved in and have the chance to relax and catch up where I left off back in December. The one good thing about moving to that crappy apartment was the neighborhood, we made a big move to Fort Greene, Brooklyn from the city, how brave were we?! (just kidding) We love love love the neighborhood and we're so lucky that our current apartment is only 2 blocks away from the last one, but it made a world of difference! Here are some pictures of our place, we have done a few home improvement projects and we have more to do. The painting in the first picture is by Shannon Lucy, a good friend of ours, the second picture is Chad's pride and joy- his record shelves, and the third picture is our window in the living room, we have some little plants and the dachshund pillow is a gift from a friend and it's created by another friend Aaron who lives just a couple blocks away! Below are my birthday presents from Chad, this labbit by Amanda Visell is probably my favorite toy figure from Kidrobot. The touching hands bangle bracelet is from Eley Kishimoto, I think it's the sweetest thing ever!

Blossoms

A few snaps of the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I went on Tuesday afternoon to take advantage of the free admission and the weather could not have been nicer, but very hot! In fact half of the blossoms have already past peak, the lake is usually surrounded by cherry blossoms during the festival which takes place this weekend. I'm a new Brooklynite and it was a really nice way to really see the neighborhoods by walking a lot, I walked from Fort Greene via Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights to the Botanic Garden, sounds like a lot but it took only 30 minutes. Oh yes, hubbie and I moved to Brooklyn from Manhattan in February and we LOVE Brooklyn! The apartment, on the other hand, is a different story.

Flea Markets in PA

We went to a few flea markets in Pennsylvania over the weekend, it was a lot of fun, didn't buy anything except for an Anne Klein II belt from the Salvation Army, here are some of my favorite things from the markets:

Hubbie bought a few things and these 2 are my favorite!

THE Passport Case To Get

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fun holiday season. Mine was pretty stressful which I will tell you later why. I've been looking for the perfect passport case for the longest time, I need one that is long so it can hold the e-ticket and prevent it from wrinkling. This Muji Passport case is it, the design as you'd expect from Muji is simple, and I am sure that it is very well made (haven't seen it in person), it is definitely long enough to hold your e-ticket, there are slots for cards and ID, as well as money, the best part is, it's only $12.50! Think I'm going to get one today, you can get yours online here.
photo: moma online store

Gone For the Week, Happy holidays!

I'm off to Nashville, Chad's hometown for the holiday, hope we will get on our flight some time tonight (the snow over the weekend has caused a lot of backed up flights). Have a safe and happy holiday and see you next week! I promise I will post more on my blog next year!

Need to Get that Last Minute Gift?

I went to Moma store yesterday and I instantly fell in love with these lacquer pencil chopsticks by Takumi Ishida. Each set comes with 8 sets of chopsticks, 4 white and 4 black. The design is so smart that even people who don't normally use chopsticks would love this as a gift, don't you think???
photo: moma

Great Bedding Sale

I went to Dwell Studio's Warehouse sale earlier this month, where everything is 70-80% off. The sale has been going on for a few weeks now and it ends on Christmas Eve. I bought the Sketch Duvet set that I really love and I'm going back for more, hopefully for the Draper Stripe Duvet set, the coverlet and the Pin Dot sheet set, wonder if the prices have slashed even more since my last visit?! It is at 54 Greene Street and Broome in Soho.photos: Dwell Studio

Amazing Works by Lab Partners

I haven't looked at works by other designers/artists lately and I was so thrilled to see such beautiful works by my favorite San Franciscan duo Lab Partners. I LOVE the holiday promo piece that they did for a design studio & wine company, it's a Jack with movable parts (above). I feel kind of like a proud mama when I see their Gocco prints (below), they're doing multi color prints now! I also love the letterpress cards that they did with Hello Lucky (below), good job, Sarah and Ryan! You can read my little interview with them here.photos: LPSF

Limited Run Opening

We went up to Beacon for the annual print print that I'm in, and my new friend Kendall brought her band Mascott to play that night, it was so great that Kalene of Open Space Gallery put my poster close to the "stage" (in case you don't know, I did a poster for one of Mascott's songs on her new CD. The show was so inspiring, and it features some of my favorite artists like Wayne Pate, Amy Ruppel, Caroline Hwang. One new discovery is this little art star called Bryce Edwards, he did these limited edition of 3 stencil artworks, watch out, this little guy is going to rule the art world in a few years! We bought the black owl print by Wayne, Chad got a zine, and a very interesting print which I will write about later. Beacon is a quiet little town that I've grown to really love, thanks to Dia and Open Space Gallery for the cool art scene, it is very worth a trip if you have the chance. I wish that I went up there for Andy Rementer's first solo art show that ended right before the print show, I'm thinking of getting this shoe print...images: wonting, Open Space

Special Offer on Holiday Cards

There's no place more perfect than my own blog to pimp my cards! These are 3 cards sets that are $8 each, what a deal, and each card is hand-pressed 4 times (front twice, greeting inside, and my logo in the back). I'm offering a buy 3 get 1 free special, just contact me to specify which set you'd like as your free gift. The lovely couple one is almost sold out (I have only 3 left), but I have plenty of the other 3 sets in stock, grab them soon before I use them as my holiday cards!!! Get them here or here.

Limited Run

That's the name of the print show that my prints will be in, for the second time, at Open Space Gallery in Beacon. I didn't get to go last year but this year we are going to make fun trip out of it and I am so excited that my friend Kendall of Mascott will be performing at the opening next Saturday, December 13! It's so perfect because the poster that I did for her will be in the show (I hope?) I love Beacon and this is the best excuse to go up there! Click here to check out the list of artists who will be showing their limited-run prints and zines.photos: wonting, open space

Perfect Make-Up Bag

Most make-up bags are too feminine or girly, but this pencil bag by my favorite talented couple TADO is just perfect, it can hold a lot of make-up and brushes, great for traveling. It's super cute and a little nerdy, it comes with a Fat Cap zipper charm. Get it here now, it's 25% off! I also like the flat pouch, it's big enough to hold your travel documents.
photos: Kidrobot