Feb 24, 2010

La la means I love you / Classic Dogre

Tonight while we were critiquing collages, the dogre interrupted our class. Unexpected. In uniform. When the lecturer was in mid-sentence.  To present me with a bouquet of flowers. To which the whole class, in unison, cried "aw" and sang to me. And then chuckled at me the whole evening... I'm a sensitive girl. And I can certainly be emotional. But I'm not a romantic. And, I'm quite content with the wallflower role. After witnessing and being the focus of this public display of mushiness, I was one sweaty and beet red dogress. Deliciously cheesy—perfect dogre-ism! I could barely keep my head up and mumbled a few incoherent words. Also, I'm painfully shy when it comes to carrying flowers in public. Painfully. But I really appreciated the surprise attack and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Just, please don't ever scare me like that again, dogre! The bouquet was super large and heavy so I separated the flowers into two vases, lovingly arranging the favoured flowers and tossing together the rest. 
Now I scamper off to feed my belly, tidy up, and try to correct my poor sleep schedule. We'll be picking up a box spring and frame early in the morning (craigslist. coincidentally, she lives in the next building. I'd like to mention that it was my first ever attempt at haggling and we'll be paying ten dollars less than the asking price! if haggling means asking her politely if she wouldn't mind charging a bit less and in the same sentence expressing how much we really want them, then yes, I haggled). 
Looking forward to posting photos of my birthday festivities. High tea time at the Windsor Arms Hotel and two mystery dates (the mystery being the venue, not my date).

Feb 23, 2010

I played pretend between the trees / Camera crushing

Since I'm tired of using cleaning as an escape from studying, I've now resorted to online window shopping. I must say, after years and years of schooling, I'm very good at it. We're moving on from gold things to vintage feeling cameras. I've always wanted to learn photography and at one point even owned a fancy Nikon DSLR (for about a week and then guilt about the cost kicked in). Now I'm trying to learn the magic of tweaking my digital camera and Photoshop. My Sony Cybershot (in hot pink and free with my Shoppers Optimum points!) has been good to me but is starting to malfunction. So, I've been pleasantly daydreaming about old fashioned cameras.

 

I've always wanted a Polaroid but couldn't come to terms with how pricey film was. I picked up a super old AGFA Box ($5) and was gifted a Lomography Fisheye camera but oh how my greedy fingers ache to hold one of the above cameras! The potential to be awesomely pretentious and cool is out of my grasp. Le sigh. Maybe it's time for me to get to work!

Please please please let me get what I want / Dog-eared jewelry

I really think that my love for yellow gold has to do with aging. Same with floral patterns. I don't know why this topic merits a blog post but I just felt like sharing the many pretty items I've bookmarked on my Firefox.* By the by, I have a folder titled Wish List that I consistently update in hopes that the dogre will have no difficulty in getting me the perfect gift. So far, it hasn't worked...Maybe because everything is at a distasteful price range?

So, before I present what I've got, I'm going to bore you with nonsense about my relationship with jewelry. The one piece I wear every day is, obviously, my wedding band. I we fell in love with it (the Tiffany milgrain bands) when we first spied it online—sweet little details and all. I refused to look at any other. As for the engagement ring, I don't bother because a) it's a white gold band and I'm not interested in mixing white and yellow gold, b) I'm not really comfortable with wearing a fancy diamond ring on a daily basis—not that it's large, c) wedding band sans the engagement ring better suits my style and taste. Actually, when we were discussing rings, I had preferred something unconventional like a precious stone with a pop of colour that I could wear from time to time. The dogre, occasionally a traditional man of sorts, said nay to unique gems and I was very much against wasting spending thousands of dollars on a ring. He ended up with a beautiful and free (from his mum) diamond. So anyways, I'm a minimalist when it comes to jewelry (even though I'm a clutter bug in the casa) and will wear an additional piece only when I'm feeling adventurous. Even then, I stick to a small selection of necklaces/rings while the rest sit and collect dust. Oh well, they serve the purpose of adding character to the room!
So yes, our folder of wedding-related rings grew larger and larger. Since a wedding band is worn daily, paired with all kinds of clothing, for all types of occasions, I wanted something very clean and unassuming. Click image to enlarge and see all the intricate details.

What's that? You have money to burn and would like to treat me to a little gift? Sure, buy me one of the rings! I especially like the metro, nickola and black diamond stack rings. What? You'd like to know what other pieces I've dog-eared because you'd like to do even more? How about the Leica! Oh, okay, how about one of these...
*The dogre and I share my laptop and have a silent agreement that he uses Safari and I use Firefox. Ah, modern day married life.

Feb 22, 2010

Linda @ Shops at Don Mills

Delicious Thai curry at Linda. In order of photos: mango salad, calamari, king oyster mushroom with soft tofu, golden curry chicken, salmon, emerald curry, green curry beef, and the birthday girl, who ordered from the prix fixe menu, sampled tropical fruit ice cream and poached pear.
followed by cake at the house, of course!

Feb 18, 2010

Long ago it must be / Urban Tree Salvage

Pretty cool store. They salvage about 9,000 fallen trees (due to urban development, storm damage, et cetera) each year, preventing the spread of insect infestation and disease to the rest of the tree population. They then make unique furniture pieces out of the rescued material. Also, we're talking about trees within the GTA! Short distance to transport the trees to the facility (so environmentally conscientious!) and as an owner of a piece, you can brag to your guests that your table is Torontonian! Me likey.
{photo credit: urbantreesalvage.com}

Clouds in my coffee / A further look into Jenna Lyons' home

So after learning that the last closet below belongs to Jenna Lyons, creative director of J.Crew, I really wanted to see the rest of her place. Thanks to Habitually Chic and my sleuthy sleuthing (there were tons of sites and images. plus, it's old news. but shh!) I saw more than enough to please my chubby little heart.

Click here for the full set.

You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht / Closet space

I've always been envious of Carrie's walk-in closet but lately, I've been dreaming bigger. Larger than a closet. Larger than a walk-in closet. Boutique-style! How full of myself would I have to be to dedicate a whole room to rolling racks of clothes, mirrors, and a bench? Very. But I'm willing to try.
Let's offset my "vanity" by judging the closets of a few Hollywood celebrities.
{photo credit: plastolux; decorology blog; elementsofstyle blog; domino}