My dream fine china

via Toast and Tables

I had a dream a week ago about a gift from a knight in shining armour (okay, it was black and white pinstripe Italian suit). It was a custom made Kate Spade coffee AND dinner service in daffodil yellow and white. It was simple... and so so luxe! Next scene in my very vivid dream was this gorgeous gift displayed in a simple while dresser behind glass in a sunlit all white apartment in New York.

Now. Of course I don't know the name or face of said knight... but what I do know that it was a pinstripe suit, the dinner set was yellow and white and from Kate Spade. And I do know that it was in a white dresser in a white apartment in New York. The way you know things in dreams :P

via Toast and Tables

To be honest, I have been looking for several months for a favourite yellow and white fine china dinner service... so maybe this is the source of my dream!

So I haven't been able to get that image from my mind (again, not so much the knight...)...

Late last night I went surfing. I found that Kate Spade did do a yellow and white dinner service, the Kate Spade's Rutherford Circle tableware in Yellow (discontinued), but the style of the cup was different in my dream.



The cup was more in the fashion of the June Lane series:



Actually the June Lane series pretty much is the set in my dream, bar the dragonfly and in a daffodil colour.

Simple, banded Limoges-finish fine china, as is my favoured, in that colour are slim pickings. China like my mother in law's or the kind favoured by Rachel Ashwell, while absolutely gorgeous and pretty... is not my style.

I did however, stumble across 2 designs.

The closest one to my dream (albeit too orangey but at this perfection, who's to complain??) is from Haviland, the Laque De Chine Mandarin Gold:



Also found Match, who produce these beautiful pewter tableware and in their Convivio line is a spectacularly exquisite gold/yellow set.



I also do like the bold, art deco style of the lovely Shelley fine china, in their Yellow Star pattern, but these are rare and often expensive...



I guess the only way left for me (since budget is un-limitless!) is to compile a set, much like I did my all white Johnson Bros octagon dinner service.

Clockwise from top left: Marc Jacobs Waterford "David" Canary Dinnerware Collection, Kate Spade's Pinney's Beach, Kate Spade's Rutherford Circle tableware in Yellow, Michael Aram for Waterford "Jaipur" Dinnerware Collection.

or in pink:

Clockwise from top left: Marc Jacobs Waterford "David" Scarlet Dinnerware Collection, Kate Spade's Pinney's Beach, Raynaud, Tropic Pink, Kate Rutherford Circle in Pink, Michael Aram for Waterford "Jaipur" Dinnerware Collection.

I also spotted some stationery I'd love to see in some fine dinner service... my favourite being Elum Design's desk set in charcoal grey, yellow and white:



Places to look for fine china:
Michael C. Fina
DeVine Corp

So You Think You Don't Like Poetry

Since I'm relocating to New York for the next five weeks starting tomorrow, today's selection is one of my favorite poems about New York. I first encountered it the summer I worked as an intern at The Poetry Center in Chicago, where I was tasked with listening to audio recordings of 30 years' worth of poetry readings hosted by the Center. Mark Doty read this poem and it has stayed with me ever since.

Broadway

Under Grand Central's tattered vault

--maybe half a dozen electric stars still lit--

one saxophone blew, and a sheer black scrim

billowed over some minor constellation

under repair. Then, on Broadway, red wings

in a storefront tableau, lustrous, the live macaws

preening, beaks opening and closing

like those animated knives that unfold all night

in jewelers' windows. For sale,

glass eyes turned outward toward the rain,

the birds lined up like the endless flowers

and cheap gems, the makeshift tables

of secondhand magazines

and shoes the hawkers eye

while they shelter in the doorways of banks.

So many pockets and paper cups

and hands reeled over the weight

of that glittered pavement, and at 103rd

a woman reached to me across the wet roof

of a stranger's car and said, I'm Carlotta,

I'm hungry. She was only asking for change,

so I don't know why I took her hand.

The rooftops were glowing above us,

enormous, crystalline, a second city

lit from within. That night

a man on the downtown local stood up

and said, My name is Ezekiel,

I am a poet, and my poem this evening is called

fall. He stood up straight

to recite, a child reminded of his posture

by the gravity of his text, his hands

hidden in the pockets of his coat.

Love is protected, he said,

the way leaves are packed in snow,

the rubies of fall. God is protecting

the jewel of love for us.

He didn't ask for anything, but I gave him

all the change left in my pocket,

and the man beside me, impulsive, moved,

gave Ezekiel his watch.

It wasn't an expensive watch,

I don't even know if it worked,

but the poet started, then walked away

as if so much good fortune

must be hurried away from,

before anyone realizes it's a mistake.

Carlotta, her stocking cap glazed

like feathers in the rain,

under the radiant towers, the floodlit ramparts,

must have wondered at my impulse to touch her,

which was like touching myself,

the way your own hand feels when you hold it

because you want to feel contained.

She said, You get home safe now, you hear?

In the same way Ezekiel turned back

to the benevolent stranger.

I will write a poem for you tomorrow,

he said. The poem I will write will go like this:

Our ancestors are replenishing

the jewel of love for us.

teman-teman apiq semua...
satu lagi yg apiq dari tim kreasi apiq...
gift box and accesoriesnya...
bisa dipesan sesuai ukuran yg dibutuhkan...
untuk informasi harga silahkan kirim email ke apiq.kreasiapiq@yahoo.com atau YM : evan_phe@yahoo.com atau dez_zoechroe@yahoo.com

CP: gita (081931958053)

Katalog Part -2-

masih kelanjutan dari sebelumnya...
untuk mengetahui price listnya silahkan kirim email ke : apiq.kreasiapiq@gmail.com
YM : dez_zoechroe@yahoo.com / evan_phe@yahoo.com
CP : Gita (081931958053)

satu lagi buat temen2 apiq semua...
dari kami para pecinta produk dalam negeri...untuk anda semua yg juga mencintai produk dalam negeri...
asli buatan tangan manusia neh....tangan para kreator kita...
order segera via email : apiq.kreasiapiq@gmail.com
YM : dez_zoechroe@yahoo.com / evan_phe@yahoo.com
CP : gita (o81931958053)

come on...jangan sampai ketinggalan...

Salam APiq...

On Comfort and Convenience

Below is a re-creation of a scene that took place at Logan Airport on July 16, 2009.

Katie, a short, spunky brunette carrying a duffel bag, approaches the ticket counter.

KATIE: Hi, I'd like to check in?

UNITED AIRLINES AGENT: Great, can I see your ID?

Katie hands over her driver's license.

UNITED AIRLINES AGENT: Would you like to upgrade to Economy Plus for an additional $39?

KATIE: Um, what is the difference between Economy and Economy Plus?

UNITED AIRLINES AGENT: Five more inches of legroom.

Pause.

KATIE: That's it? Five inches?

UNITED AIRLINES AGENT: Yes.

KATIE: Then....no.

THE END

$39 bucks for 5 inches? And according to United's website, it might not even be a true 5 inches:
"Economy Plus is an exclusive area of 6 to 11 rows in the United Economy® cabin, offering up to an additional 5 inches of legroom."

United is all about offering incentives to its various tiers of frequent flyer membership, like the ability to not wait in line to check-in and get priority on standby lists. And of course, the privilege to get on the plane first.

But I've never understood why pre-boarding is such a big deal. I hate being on planes; they're cramped and always smell kind of stale. I like to minimize the amount of time I'm on the plane; ideally, I'd board last and get off first.

And the special elite separate line for Red Carpet Club Members? It's right next to the pleb line. And unless you're the only Member on a given flight, which is unlikely, you're going to have to wait in it. That's right, you're going to have to WAIT YOUR TURN TO BOARD LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

On my last trip, I got to sneak a peek at the Denver airport Red Carpet Club because my friend Jon is a Premier Executive or something. It was nice -- they had free fruit and copies of the Financial Times which I did not read.

What I did read was David Foster Wallace's brilliant essay on our culture's obsession with luxury and comfort, entitled "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again." Wallace chronicles his experiences on a 7-night Caribbean cruise, where people pay thousands of dollars for the privilege of being waited on hand and foot and doing absolutely nothing. The essay is hilarious -- I'll conclude this post with his description of the high-tech "fascinating and malevolent" toilets in the cabins:

A harmonious concordance of elegant form and vigorous function, my toilet has above it this sign:
THIS TOILET IS CONNECTED TO A VACUUM SEWAGE SYSTEM. PLEASE DO NOT THROW INTO THE TOILET ANYTHING OTHER THAN ORDINARY TOILET WASTE AND TOILET PAPER.

Yes that's right a vacuum toilet. And, as with the exhaust fan above, not a lightweight or unambitious vacuum. The toilet's flush produces a brief but traumatizing sound, a kind of held high-B gargle, as of some gastric disturbance on a cosmic scale. Along with this sound comes a concussive suction so awesomely powerful that it's both scary and strangely comforting--your waste seems less removed than hurled from you, and hurled with a velocity that lets you feel as though the waste is going to end up someplace so far away that it will have to become an abstraction.

Vintage tea tins

So... in my last post, I wrote a little about my love for vintage tea tins.



I love my own tea tins. Only just 2. Recently they've been sitting in my kitchen... last week I put some winter roses in them and had them grace my desk.

But I thought I'd do some surfing for more inspiration on how to use these pretty tins...

I love this vintage set I stumbled upon on blog Reading Rosie

I discovered Uniquely Tea, a great blog for some tea tin inspiration! These are some of my favourites:

A table clock.... or a lamp! Pretty easy to do too.



Use them to display flowers. I find it best when you just fill the tea tin... I placed the water and flowers into a plastic cup and placed that into the tin...

Image from gathering spriggs

Image from gathering spriggs

Store Q-tips!



I keep various craft & sewing paraphernalia in these pretty colourful tins too.



Holly from decor8 also posted about tea tins last year... with some great photography and tips.

Via decor8

Or fill them with wax and use them as candleholders. I must say I really like this idea, although I can't really be bothered with locating wax beads, wick, boil them etc etc.



Make them into pretty vintage pendant shades via Junk Market Style!



My beautiful blue Asian-inspired bird vintage tea tin is now a holder for my new African violet. I love looking at this while I wash the dishes :)

A Blast from the Past 80s

Okay.. I HAVE to start with a disclaimer: I am NOT a Hello Kitty fan.

But. I am a fan of gadgety gear.

I am also a very selective fan of memorabilia from my childhood.

Today at Ikea, whilst walking rapidly towards the bathroom accessories section, I was hit.

Via Flickr user *Iron Lace*

Did you have one in the 1980s in school?? Everyone had one of these in school in Malaysia then!

The buttons on the left open up a pencil sharpener, a magnifying glass, a thermometer, eraser tray and one will even lift the pencil tray in the top layer up an angle! The inner lid face had a plastic pocket we could jot our weekly school timetable on. The BOTTOM of this case is ANOTHER opening for rulers and more pencils, and maybe a comb. I think mine had a mirror someplace.

When I got home from Ikea, I went on a hunting frenzy online. I didn't find anything UNTIL THIS.

Thank you *Iron Lace*!!! This is not only similar to the one I had, but it is the exact one!

Man. I now want one desperately.
Have you seen one?
Have you GOT ONE?

Disney sell them.

So do Japanese stores... ebay has some, check under "pencil case".

The magic action! (not exact match, just similar)

Via Flickr user Sakurako Kitsa

But I want me my VINTAGE one! (plus I reckon they're better made and the buttons are sleeker.)

Did these images send you back a million years too? Share, I'd love to hear!

Hiking

About halfway up the mountain, I remembered: I don't much care for it.


I'm currently in Telluride, CO with college friends. Yesterday we hiked up the Bear Creek Canyon and today, we tackled the Jud Wiebe Trail, which ascends 1,200 feet.

Maybe the problem is that I'm not a good hiker -- I get winded pretty quickly and no matter how much insect repellent I put on, I still seem to be the flies' favorite.

But I think I also just don't really get the point of it -- you hike up, then you hike down. You snap a few photos along the way.

I have similar issues with non-destination walks, of the "let's just go for a walk" variety. I know it's supposed to be about the journey and not the end-point, but I'd prefer to figure out somewhere that I'd like to go and walk there rather than just wander aimlessly. Walking with no destination makes me anxious for some reason. Or if there's no particular location, I need a time frame, like an agreement with my walking companion that we will walk for 30 minutes and no matter where we are at that point, we'll stop and perhaps get a cocktail.

Sometimes I wish I were more outdoorsy. But usually only for a few seconds.

How I did it.

A few readers have asked me how I created those little things for Hannah's dollhouse. So I thought I'd reply with a post.



As you might know, Hannah is my daughter and she's about 3-and-a-half. So getting her the best dollhouse/miniature furniture often gets lost on little children and she often breaks them accidentally. So I didn't want to spend loads of them (do you know how much the good ones cost??). I also knew most furnishings could come straight from my craft supplies...



Must have tools:
Glue gun
Some glue paste
Double-sided tape

The transparent grandmummy buttons are great for glass bottles or pomander. Better if it's a thick transparent with some bevels and grooves. Just attached a pretty pink button on the top... and you have a pretty vintagey pomander.



I have plenty of Swarovski beads that I use for invitations or jewellery. I used them to make perfume bottles and shampoo bottles for Hannah's bedroom and bathroom. I love it when the sunlight hits it and it becomes so ... perfumery! :)



I also attached a plain green button one of my glass button and it's now a bathroom accessory.

I made the shower curtain from vintage ribbon :) Just hop to Spotlight or any craft store, and get stiff wide ribbon. I attached it to the rod by folding over a length and secured it with double-sided tape.



And because all of those cupboards and drawers open and close, I wanted to signal to my 3 year old that one in particular was for dresses so I attached some buttons to the fronts. Helped that I had handy some dress buttons!

So it's buttons and beads again in the kitchen. Like the pile of plates in the kitchen and the plates on the dining table.



I filled the green button plate with glue from the glue gun. With my beading tweezer, I put a selection of beads that emulated sushi and Japanese bits.

I made a pile of red buttons and placed it on Hannah's dresser... to be like a vase or some art sculpture. :)



For the clock, I just got a pretty flower button and drew the clock hands.

So... I guess I'm at the end of show-and-tell. The other bits... were scrapbooking papers for floors, walls...

First Dates and Last Dates

Unfortunately, sometimes they are one and the same. Especially if you wear this shirt on the date:


I have romance on the brain this week, possibly because I attended my first Jewish wedding on Sunday and love was definitely in the air. The bride and groom, both friends of mine, are a perfect match and their courtship was effortless. Which just reminded me of how difficult and rare that is, to find someone you click with enough to make it past the first date.

My current boyfriend and I like to play a little hypothetical game where we take turns finishing the sentence, "What would you have done if on our first date I had [insert horrible, bizarre thing here]?" i.e. what would have been a true deal-breaker? We've filled in the blank with everything from "shown up wearing a t-shirt with your face silk-screened on it" to "told you I had a rare nerve disorder that makes me stick out my tongue every 30 seconds." It's a fun game, especially on car trips or waiting in line at amusement parks.

The only time someone actually did something on a date with me that pretty much ended the date then and there was on St. Patrick's Day in 2004. My roommate Allysha set me up with a guy she had met at the bar where she worked and insisted that we would hit it off. This guy, let's call him Jordan, showed up and to Allysha's credit, he was attractive. We started talking and he asked me where I was from. I told him "Missouri."

His face lit up. "Oh!" he said, "Let me show you something. If you're from Missouri, you'll love this."

And then he proudly showed me his cell phone, which had a Confederate flag plastic cover on it.

I laughed nervously. "Um, is that supposed to be ironic?"

He gave me a serious look. "No," he said. "It's not like that."

To this day, I'm not sure what he meant. There are two options: a) he meant "it's not like that" as in, he was racist and truly believes the South shall rise again or b) he didn't know what "ironic" meant.

I didn't stick around to find out. I think I faked a stomachache and got into the nearest taxi. Though later, when I told this story to friends, we all agreed that him not knowing the meaning of "ironic" might have been more of a deal-breaker than him being racist.

Tonight on the T, I saw a couple that appeared to be on a first and, sadly, last date. They were discussing taste in films and when the girl confessed to absolutely loving the most recent Indiana Jones movie, the guy visibly flinched. Poor girl. For her sake, I hope there are plenty of bad-movie-loving fish in the sea.

Addition to pink table

I have found another gorgeous pink table for my pink dining table inspiration :)

Via Australian House and Garden

Colours

I haven't written much because life has been busy for me... and simply because I haven't been inspired by much lately. I don't like to write about things that others write because it's the in-thing or because someone else has done it... I like to blog about inspires and moves me.

Lately, the economic crisis has not left us unscathed. To add to that, there so much eye candy out there that it's better I don't surf the eye candy!! :) I mean, I already want a pink dining table, 10 Chippendale Chinese dining chairs, a white and black bureau/secretaire... and loads more!

But I thought I'd practice my photography skills and capture closeups of some of my favourite things in the home...



I love vintage tea tins. But finding ones I really really really liked... is hard! The vintage tea tin one on the right I've had for years. I could not resist the one on the left on eBay recently for a song.



I was so inspired by using them to store flowers... or candles...

Top image from gathering spriggs

I think I should explain about the amount of birds I have in the home. Growing up for me was not easy, I started likening myself to sparrows and taking comfort that God cared for each and every one of this small, insignificant birds. So I've had a printout of a sparrow on the walls of my various bedrooms.



Then I got to know birds on a real intimate, personal level, with my then-boyfriend's family having them as members of the family... eating on the dining table at the same time as the rest of us, demanding bath times in the kitchen sink by running to and fro near the kitchen sink... by sipping ice cream from our spoons (after we finished, of course!)... Until then I never knew they had very distinct personalities. (Still doubtful about the little finches.)



One of the highlights of my honeymoon was a visit to the Jervis Bay reserve, South Coast, NSW. There's a park that's visited by kangaroos and birds. We hadsome of these beauties join our meal of sandwiches... and I was enthralled!



So, I've loved birds way way way way before the recent bird-trend in interior design. I'll also love them way way way past.
So I'm unapologetic for having that many birds art/pictures in my home - it's not a trend!

Oh and I collect greeting cards! And this is one of my favourites... because it shows the love for vintage-shopping and a close relationship with another female friend... also into vintage-shopping. I gave an identical one to my mother-in-law! She's my vintage-shopping friend. :)



Hope you enjoyed a few shots of my home!

Don't Forget to Tip Your Waitress!

When I came in to interview for a server position at Exotic Sushi and Tapas, the owner, Cathy, looked over my resume and seemed surprised to see that I had graduated from Yale. When she e-mailed me to offer me the job, she wrote that she was worried I was overqualified and would be "bored" working as a server. Similarly, my boyfriend's family is baffled by my decision to wait tables. Wouldn't I prefer an office job, something more suited to my Ivy League skill set?

The answer is no.

I'm living in Boston to go to grad school and get my MFA. I need a job to pay my bills and while yes, I almost certainly could work part-time in some administrative capacity and take advantage of my knowledge of Excel spreadsheets, I am choosing not to. For several reasons:

1. I need a job that does not tax me mentally because I need my brain for class and for out-of-class writing. If I spent all day in front of a computer, I would not want to come home and sit in front of another computer to write papers or stories.

2. I don't need any kind of benefits because I get benefits as part of my tuition.

3. I find being a waitress to be rewarding -- I'm on my feet, being friendly, and multi-tasking. I'm good at it and I make good tips.

Having spent five years in New York, where I'd estimate 90% of the servers and bartenders are aspiring actors, musicians, artists, directors, photographers, writers etc, I am often surprised when customers treat me with condescension, presumably because I'm "just a waitress." Very few people are "just" anything. I don't expect special treatment because of my Yale degree but I also don't deserve scorn because I choose to wait tables to pay my way through school.

I'll conclude with this footage from the musical "Working." This number, performed here by Rita Moreno, is called "It's an Art" and I'm sure you can guess what it's about. This is exactly how I feel about being a waitress!

The Five-Year-Old Mind

I'm on Cape Cod for the holiday weekend (and thank God the weather decided to behave), spending time with my boyfriend and his family, which includes his five-year-old twin nephews, Adam and Jack. They are energetic, hilarious little guys and this weekend, they were introduced to the zany fun of Madlibs. Can you guess which words in the following completed pirate story were supplied by Kindergarten-aged boys?

Jolly Roger

The black-and-white penis that waved in the breeze atop a pirate ship was called a Jolly Roger. There are many theories as to how the Jolly Butt got its yellow name, but most eyeballs agree that the red flag was designed to scare the living leaves out of the captains and crews on merchant trees. And indeed, it did. When a lookout shouted, "Barf ahoy!" and the captain sighted the dreaded skull-and-crossinchworms through his spy-cup, not only did it strike terror in his vagina, but it sent chills up and down the poop of every member on the chair. However, nothing generated as much stupid fear on merchant tattoos as the hoisting of a stinky red flag on a pirate spit. The red flag signaled that mercy would neither be asked for nor given--no farts would be spared.


Not that I'm a fan of gross bodily function jokes, but the simplicity of their humor is kind of awesome, no?